Alexis:
Today
we are chatting with Contemporary Romance author Patrizia Murray
What
was the strangest thing that inspired a story for you?
Patrizia: My husband & I
met on a blind date arranged by mutual friends. The occasion was a wiener Roast
for my whole office. We were all adults, & had a lot of liquor, but we had
designated drivers, & no one was drunk or disorderly. However, it happened
that the spot in the country we had chosen for our gathering was on Indian
land, & we were raided by the RCMPolice (in Canada) They confiscated all
our liquor & stayed to make sure we all vacated the area. There are laws
that state non-residents of the reservation can’t bring booze onto the
reservation. This was the basis of my first novel, Mia’s Blind Date.
Alexis: How long did it take
you to write your most recent release? Why?
Patrizia: I’m a very fast
& prolific writer. I am an avowed pantser, & suffer somewhat from ADD.
I write the way I read, working on several books at once. When I get stuck on a
scene or direction for one, I Just start working on another book for a while
till I get stuck on that one. I’m usually working on 3-5 books at a time. I
publish 5-6 books a year, between my two names. The shortest time I have worked
on a book is 48 hours, when I wrote my book on 9/11, & the longest maybe a
year, working sporadically elapsed time is different, as I have a full time
job, so have to fit writing in when I can. If I could work on a book every day,
I think it would only take me a couple of weeks to finish.
Alexis: Everyone has their
own writing process…how they come up with ideas, how they name their
characters, how they choose the setting. Can you describe your writing process?
Patrizia: I name my characters
by choosing given names from my husband’s & My family trees. I get surnames
from towns, neighborhoods & areas where I grew up. I choose settings from
my past, my home town, my grandparents’ & other relatives’ towns where I
spent time growing up, my college city, my current home town & surrounding
towns, & places I have visited. I don’t really have a writing process per
se. Stories spring from my mind almost fully formed & I can’t get the words
down as fast as my mind can make them up. I once had a dream of an opening scene,
which I used for Lucinda’s Grooms. Once I had that opening scene, the rest of
the book just wrote itself. I only wish I had more time to get the words down
on paper. I already have two more sequels to Lucinda fully formed in my mind,
at least two more in my Olympic series, & three more in the Ladies Who
Lunch series. One thing I do as a process, is write the main story as quickly
as possible, without much dialog or description. Then once that’s done, I start
at the beginning and add all the dialog & description, which usually
doubles the word count. Then I start at the beginning again, looking for
continuity, whether the story flows well, & how everything fits together.
Alexis: When did you know you
wanted to be a writer?
Patrizia: I’ve been writing
since I was a kid. News & sports stories, newspaper columns, essays, speeches
for politicians, editorials, textbooks, blogs, grant proposals, you name it.
However, I only started writing fiction about five years ago. I wish I had done
this years ago.
Alexis: What made you chose
your titles?
Patrizia: Most of my titles
have a woman’s name in them. Justine’s Auction, Mia’s Blind Date, Freddi’s
Collection. That’s for continuity between the books, although all are stand-alone.
there are other titles, but the majority have my heroines’ names.
Alexis: Patrizia, thank you
so much for visiting Happily Ever After Thoughts. It was a pleasure to have you.
About
Patrizia:
Patrizia
Murray is the pseudonym of an Arizona columnist, editorialist, and reporter, an
author of essays, poetry and children’s stories, and published song writer. She
loves sunshine, family, Christmas, golfing, reading, cooking, entertaining, all
kinds of music, (especially classical, which she listens to while writing),
singing, playing piano, bridge, and attending live theater and concerts. She is
married with one son, and tries to write at least two hours a day, when not
working in her husband’s business, and enjoying her other interests.
My guardian angel is working overtime (why yes, she is
holding her head in her hands in frustration…how did you know?) and I am again
so fortunate. I have Carol Webb with Bella Media Management helping me with
this (I’ve seen other covers she’s done and they are excellent!). Working with
her has been a pure pleasure…..she is, in a word, fabulous! And so very
talented (not to mention, patient)! 
