Author Interview with Courtney Milan
Thursday, January 22, 2015
Hi there, everyone. I am excited to present to you an author interview with historical (and now contemporary) romance writer Courtney Milan.
TRIVIA
Favorite color- Blue/Red
Zodiac sign- Cancer
Place of your dreams- I like variety, so if I could go back and forth between London and Telluride I'd be happy.
Favorite writer(s)- Way too many to list! I have a list on my website, though: http://www.courtneymilan.com/whattoread.php
Favorite romance novel(s)- Agh, again, how am I supposed to restrict myself? I love Tessa Dare's A Week to be Wicked. And my latest obsession is Nalini Singh--and I don't think there's anything better than Heart of Obsidian.
Now the questions:
RC- Trade Me is your first contemporary romance. How was writing a contemporary new adult romance different from writing a historical romance?
CM-That is a really difficult thing to describe. For me, I felt like I had a lot more direct experience that I could bring to bear in writing the contemporary. For my historicals, I have to do a little more extrapolation of "what would this feel like" and "how would we deal with it" and that kind of stuff.
I also had to do a lot more research for my contemporary--everything from current video technology to reading biographies of, for instance, Larry Ellison and Bill Gates, to reading multiple books and articles about modern-day China.
RC-The main characters Tina and Blake are pretty much polar opposites: Rich-poor, good looking-average looking etc. Generally, what kind of main characters do you like to create or read about?
CM-I don't think Tina and Blake are polar opposites in many ways. Yes, Blake is rich, and yes, Tina is poor. That's just about it.
I don't think Tina and Blake differ so much in objective attractiveness, except to the extent that Blake has had stylists picking his clothing and doing his hair since he was a kid and so has always presented himself as the most attractive version of himself.
Tina and Blake are actually quite similar: being at the extremes of wealth as they are, they've both been put into positions of responsibility that are unusual for their ages, and they respond to that in each other. In that sense, they're older than their peers.
RC-Is the life of a writer how you imagined it to be? How is it different?
CM- I don't know that I ever imagined what a writer's life would be like except in the very abstract. There's certainly a lot more time wasting, and a lot less time spent furrowing my brow over word choice. I spend a lot of time figuring out what I'm writing.
RC- What is a typical day in the life of a writer like?
CM-It varies. I have no typical days. And I'm sorry if that sounds like a cop-out, but there are days I get nothing done and don't even try, and there are days I work 19 hours and sleep furtively because I have things I need to do.
RC- What hobbies/interests do you have other than writing?
CM-I walk, a lot--right now I'm training up for a walking half-marathon that I'm doing with friends. So after I hit send on this, I'm going to go out and get an eleven mile walk in.
I do a lot of reading, and I try to read on lots and lots of random topics.
RC- Please tell the readers more about what they can expect from this series and from you in the future.
CM- Readers can expect (a) more of Cyclone Systems, (b) more of Adam Reynolds, the foul-mouthed founder of Cyclone, even though he won't be sitting in the CEO position, and (c) more characters in interesting situations who I hope you will relate to.
Her latest book Trade Me has just been released. You can find out more about this book and her other works on her website- http://www.courtneymilan.com. I will shortly be reviewing Trade Me on Review Carnival.