Hello, everyone! Thank you for having me as a guest, Delilah, and thank you for stopping by!
I’d like to talk about genre switching and how I decide what to write. I loved reading medievals, and eventually decided to write one. An idea for the first scene popped into my head (see excerpt below). Figuring out why the heroine was riding a horse, who would see and what happened next led to my becoming a pantser, meaning I write from the seat of my pants rather than plotting first.
After purchasing many research books on 15th century England, sticking with that time period made sense. So I wrote three more. One, actually the second book I wrote, still remains “under the bed,” as they say. I love the story, but I wrote it via multiple characters’ points of view, while most books focus on the hero and heroine. I haven’t quite figured out how to tell the story with two points of view….
After a version of my first book, AT HIS COMMAND, won Romance Writers of America® national Golden Heart® award, I had high hopes of publishing it with Harlequin. Unfortunately, after two years and two requests for revisions, they said no. So I self-published that and three other medievals. The most recent, MY ONCE AND FUTURE LOVE, adds paranormal and Arthurian elements. Too many, or does the amount of genre blending you’ll accept depend on the story? I started a second in what I hope will be the Unsung Knights of the Round Table series.
Meanwhile, Kathryn LeVeque invited me to write a novella for her Kindle world. She assigned me the story of her hero’s best friend’s parents, which meant the setting had to be around 1200AD….much earlier than my familiar period. A lot changed in more than two hundred years! I ended up in France, because I wanted to incorporate an actual event, the siege of Chateau Galliard…where people were trapped outside in winter between the French camp and the English-held chateau.
When I get an idea, I want to see where it goes. So I’ve also written two humorous women’s fiction books and a time travel to Elizabethan England, all of which I plan to release this year. Do you follow authors you like if they genre hop, or do you prefer they stick to one time period? Anyone who comments will be entered to win an e-book of AT HIS COMMAND, in which the king commands her to marry a lord, but she’s falling for the knight sent to protect her from undesirable suitors.
Excerpt:
Sir Nicholas Grey’s scout leaned forward in his saddle, holding up two fingers to let the others know two horses approached. Nicholas heard only the slight jangling of harnesses blended with wind rattling through the trees, but relied on his scout’s uncanny ability to hear what no one else could.
He and his eight men sat alert, deep enough in the forest to avoid being seen while maintaining a clear view of the road through leafless branches. Nine armed men could frighten travelers. ‘Twas best to let them pass.
Each man watched, each horse sinking deeper into chilling mire as a mud-covered, black palfrey plodded over the rise in the road, its long mane whipping in the frigid winds.
“No rider,” Martin, the scout, murmured.
“Look again,” Nicholas replied. At first he too had thought the horse was riderless. Now he could see a woman collapsed on the animal’s back. Her dark hair draped down its flank, mingling with the horse’s mane. The palfrey placed each step as if trying not to jostle its burden.
Another horse, this one a brown rouncey ridden by a thin, balding man, galloped after the palfrey. A look of triumph brightened the man’s face as he spotted the horse ahead of him. He bent forward, extending his hand. Fingers like talons grasped the woman’s tangled hair.
“Mine!” he cried.
MY ONCE AND FUTURE LOVE
Morgan ap Myrddin must rescue his father, Merlin, from imprisonment. But enemies have wounded him, draining his powers. Annora of Amberton flees her castle to seek proof that she’s not a lunatic as her uncle declared when claiming wardship over her and her lands.
Morgan stumbles upon Annora’s cottage and enlists her aid. As he helps her in return, respect and undeniable desire spark. But he won’t succumb to the lure of a mortal woman as his father did. She’s wary of caring for a man who won’t discuss his past. When he tells her he’s a Knight of the Round Table, she fears he’s the lunatic. Secrets, danger and destiny thwart the power of love.
About Ruth
Ruth Kaufman is the author of MY ONCE AND FUTURE LOVE and the Wars of the Roses Brides trilogy, AT HIS COMMAND, FOLLOW YOUR HEART and THE BRIDE TOURNAMENT. Accolades include 2016 Booksellers’ Best Historical and Best First Book award winner and Romance Writers of America® Golden Heart® winner.
An actor and speaker with an M.S. and J.D, Ruth has had roles in independent feature films, web series, pilots, national TV commercials and hundreds of voiceover projects. She enjoys chocolate peanut butter milkshakes and singing in a symphony chorus.
Website www.ruthkaufman.com
Blog: Gainfully Unemployed https://www.rjkaufman.blogspot.com/
Twitter @RuthKaufman https://twitter.com/RuthKaufman
Facebook: Ruth Kaufman Author & Actress https://www.facebook.com/ruthtalks
Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7454412.Ruth_Kaufman
Amazon Author Page Ruth Kaufman
Comment
I have come to realize that if I like an author’s work in one genre I will usually like anything they write. I found a new favorite author through her historical m/m romance and then learned she also wrote a series about werewolves and loved it, too.
Another long time favorite writer of romantic suspense wrote a fantasy novel – which didn’t really appeal to me at all originally. When I finally sat down to read the ARC I had I loved it and also loved the second book in the series.
So I guess what I’m saying is if the writer is good that comes through no matter what the genre.