M Pepper Langlinais will be awarding a $15 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter during the tour.
Welcome to A Writer’s Life, Ms. Langlinais. I'm eager to learn more about BRYNNDE, but first thank you for consenting to an interview. Readers like to know more about authors whose books they read.
Please tell us about growing up.
I grew up an only child in a small town just north of Austin, Texas. (It’s a much bigger town now.) We moved after fifth grade to the area outside of Dallas, but I went back to Austin for college.
I don’t know if I was shy, but I kept a very small circle of friends as a kid. I was definitely odd, and there were a limited number of people who were willing to engage with that. I was nuts for television and movies, and me and my friends played games based on our favorite television shows and films. Like, I had a friend who would play Moonlighting with me. Remember that show? Now you know how old I am. Anyway, I always had to be David.
Much, much later in life I found a man also willing to take on the bundle of weird that is me. We’ve been married almost sixteen years now and have three human children and three fur babies. We name all our pets after literary characters: our hamster is Thomasina (from Tom Stoppard’s Arcadia), and our cats are Crowley (from Good Omens) and Professor Minerva McGonagall (from Harry Potter).
I love your pets’ names—makes me wonder about the names of your children. ☺Who are your favorite authors and favorite genres?
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| M in a weird mood |
I love your pets’ names—makes me wonder about the names of your children. ☺Who are your favorite authors and favorite genres?
Oh, it’s changed over time. I go in cycles. As a kid I loved Judy Blume and Zilpha Keatley Snyder. I also read all the animal books, loved those. Later I would work my way through Michael Crichton and John Grisham. Dean R. Koontz and eventually graduated to Stephen King. Went through an Anne Rice phase, too, and Neil Gaiman.
I still read Stephen King on occasion, and I’ll even pick up a Neil Gaiman book now and then, but my favorites most recently are Tana French’s Dublin Murder Squad series and Ben Aaronovitch’s Peter Grant books. I also really like historical fiction by authors like Alison Weir and Philippa Gregory.
I think I’ve read all of Philippa Gregory’s books. Now I’ll check out Tana French and Ben Aaronovitch’s books. When you’re not writing, what’s your favorite way to relax and recharge?
I think I’ve read all of Philippa Gregory’s books. Now I’ll check out Tana French and Ben Aaronovitch’s books. When you’re not writing, what’s your favorite way to relax and recharge?
Well, I read, and I like to take walks. We have good places around our house for walking. I also enjoy reading tarot cards and astrology charts just for fun.
How long have you been writing?
How long have you been writing?
I started writing down stories when I was nine or so. We moved away, as I mentioned, from where I’d grown up and I would write stories and send them to my best friend. So I guess I’ve been writing in one form or another for about thirty years now.
Where do you prefer to write?
Where do you prefer to write?
I have a home office that is known as “Little London” because of the Anglophilic décor. I have to have quiet while writing, and I can’t have anyone else in the house at all. Even with a noise machine going, just knowing others are around dampens my ability to focus. I’ve decided if we ever move, we’ll need to get a place where I can have my own little writing cottage separate from the house.
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| M's "Little London" office |
Our family are anglophiles but my office is pink and referred to as "the pink cave". Are you a plotter or a panzer?
Isn’t a Panzer a German tank? Seriously, though, I tend to just start writing and, as I noted above, pause to work things out as I go along. I can’t outline, but I will plan a step or two ahead, and I always have a general sense of where things are going and where they will end up.
Do you do your research before you begin a new project, or as you go along?
As I go. I do it all as I go. Otherwise I get so engrossed in the research I never actually write.
I know about those research rabbit holes! Tell us about your writing schedule. Do you set goals? Do you write daily?
I know about those research rabbit holes! Tell us about your writing schedule. Do you set goals? Do you write daily?
I try to set deadlines for myself, but life sometimes gets in the way. I’d like to say I write daily, but it isn’t true. I do try to write at least every other day and contain my errands and appointments to just a couple days a week as well. So: Here is a writing day, and the next day is the day for shopping and such. That way I’m not interrupting my writing time and can focus. I cannot concentrate if I know I’m going to have to stop and do some chore or go somewhere.
Tell us something about yourself that might surprise readers.
Tell us something about yourself that might surprise readers.
I won’t eat meat off a bone? And I dislike poultry. Both these traits run in my family, actually. I can only eat chicken or turkey if it’s covered in so much sauce and seasoning I can’t actually taste it. Even the smell of turkey cooking can make my dad sick to his stomach. We always eat ham at holidays.
The smell of turkey roasting makes me nauseated, too. What do you hope your writing brings to readers?
The smell of turkey roasting makes me nauseated, too. What do you hope your writing brings to readers?
Pleasure. I hope readers fall in love with my characters as much as I do while writing them.
What advice would you give to unpublished authors?
What advice would you give to unpublished authors?
(1) Always get feedback. Don’t write something and just publish it without some kind of feedback first. Join a critique group or find beta readers online—something. At the same time, be sure the people giving you feedback are worth listening to. Joe Schmo may have a very loud opinion but does he know what he’s talking about? When getting that necessary feedback, always consider the source.
(2) Research the agents and publishers you’re considering submitting to. Absolute Write is a great source for this. Read the comments on Query Tracker, too. Not all agents and publishers are created equal, and it’s worse to have a bad agent or publisher than none at all.
(3) Don’t rush. Send queries in small batches, and don’t query agents and publishers at the same time. Decide which you’d rather have. If all the agents say no, start again with small publishers. Or if you want to self-publish, then be sure you’ve done all your research on that as well, and make sure your manuscript is sparkling before you send it anywhere—agent, publisher, or Amazon, Smashwords, etc.
(4) If you are self-publishing, don’t make your own cover. Unless you’re already a book design expert, just don’t. Pay for a good designer. It’s so worth it to put a beautiful cover on your book.
Excellent advice. Tell us about your latest release.
Brynnde is a Regency romance in the vein of the old Signet and Zebra lines. I used to love those. It’s a sweet, clean romance about a young woman in search of a suitor in order to avoid having to marry an elderly neighbor. She thinks she’s solved her problem when the handsome and witty Garrick proposes to her, but then their engagement is ended when Garrick’s younger brother causes a scandal.
Brynnde
by M Pepper Langlinais
GENRE: Regency romance
BRYNNDE Blurb:
Brynnde Archambault seems able to find matches for everyone but herself. With the help of the handsome and witty Viscount Burbridge, she manages to get his sisters, her brother, and a family friend paired off. But if she doesn't find a match for herself soon, she may be stuck with dull Mr. Dallweather. Can she find a suitor--or has the right match been staring her in the face all along?
BRYNNDE Excerpt:
After supper Brynnde had a break in the stream of dance partners, and she took advantage of it by stepping outside for some air. The spring night was cool and slightly damp; it smelled of grass and dark earth. Brynnde inhaled it deeply and wished once again she could go for a walk, alone and away from the pressing heat of the party.
She was checking her dance card to see if perhaps she had enough time for a short stroll in the garden when Mr. Dallweather appeared. “Miss Archambault,” he said, taking her hand rather abruptly, and Brynnde only just managed to keep from snatching it back. She didn’t want to hurt the poor old gentleman’s feelings after all.
“Is it time for our dance?” she asked, unable now to check her card.
“I’m hoping we have a lifetime of dances ahead of us,” said Mr. Dallweather. “Miss Archambault—”
“There you are!” a voice sounded from behind the columns at the far end of the house. Brynnde turned just in time to see Garrick Sommerford step out of the shadows. “Miss Archambault, I believe this is our dance.”
Bewildered, Brynnde started to say it was not, that he’d asked for the waltz, but Garrick went on, “But you do look fatigued. Let’s get you inside, out of the chill, and put some punch in you, shall we? Dallweather,” he added with a nod at the older man. Mr. Dallweather gave a stiff nod in return.
“That wasn’t very nice of you,” said Brynnde as Garrick ushered her inside. “Stealing Mr. Dallweather’s dance. I thought you wanted the waltz.”
“I did and I do,” said Garrick amiably. “I also wanted to save you both the embarrassment of him declaring himself to you.”
Brynnde gasped audibly. “That’s ridiculous!”
“That he planned to propose? Or that I wanted to stop him?”
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| M Pepper Langlinais, Author |
M Pepper Langlinais is an award-winning screenwriter, produced playwright, and published author.
M holds a Master of Arts in Writing, Literature and Publishing and a Bachelor of Science in Radio-Television-Film. She has a love of Shakespeare, having both performed and taught his work, and has also interned on Hollywood film sets. M worked for Houghton Mifflin and Pearson before deciding to devote her full time to her own writing (and occasionally parenting). She lives in Livermore, California with her family, cats, and hamster. Find out more about her and her books at http://PepperWords.com.
GIVEAWAY
M Pepper Langlinais will be awarding a $15 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter during the tour.
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