INTERVIEW WITH ALISON GOLDEN

​INTERVIEW WITH ALISON GOLDEN

Alison Golden was born and raised in Bedfordshire, England. She writes cozy mysteries and suspense novels, along with the occasional witty blog post, all of which are designed to entertain, amuse, and calm. Her approach is to combine creative ideas with excellent writing and edit, edit, edit. 

Alison is the creator of the Reverend Annabelle Dixon cozy mysteries, a charming, fun series featuring a female vicar ministering in the beautiful county of Cornwall, England. She also produces a Jersey-based detective series featuring Inspector David Graham and the Diana Hunter series, set in Vancouver. 

Her books' themes range from the humorous and sweet to harder hitting suspense. They are recommended for readers who like to relax and unwind with their books, who enjoy getting to know the characters, and who prefer the tougher side of life implied.

Alison is based in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband and twin sons. She splits her time traveling between London and San Francisco.

To receive three free books, updates about new releases, exclusive promotions, and other insider information, sign up for the Cozy Mysteries Insider mailing list at: http://www.cozymysteries.com.

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Welcome to Roxana’s blog!
 
Q: Tell us a little about yourself and your background.

I am originally from England. I moved to the US in my early thirties to get married. I now live in the San Francisco Bay Area with my husband and twin sons. I travel to the UK anywhere between two and six times a year. I started writing fiction two years ago and am now obsessed with it. Our boys are now 16 and nearly independent so I get to spend a lot of time on it.
 
Q: Do you think that your school years have had an impact in your writing career? If so, what were you like at school?

No, in fact I think it delayed it. At 12, I wanted to write stories for magazines. I thought I could do better than the ones I read in my mother’s weeklies. I was a fanatical reader until the age of 13 when I went to high school. Suddenly, I went from being able to read whatever I wanted to having to read assigned texts. They were books I’d never read out of choice! Although I learned a lot, this forced approach killed my love for reading and writing. I forgot all about writing magazines stories or any kind of stories and went into the corporate world when I left school. It wasn’t until three decades later that I finally had had enough good feedback to try my hand at writing stories again.
 
Q: Were you good at English or like Einstein you excel now in a field that was a nightmare for you as a student?

I was good at English. It came naturally to me. I never worried about being “good enough” in that subject. I simply wrote to a prompt, handed it in and never really thought about it again. Because it came so easily to me, I didn’t value it as a skill. Skills are what you slave over, right? J
 
Q: What are your future ambitions for your writing career?

To write more and more books, keep pushing my boundaries, and get better at my craft. I want to delight my readers.
 
Q: So, would you mind telling us what you have written so far?

I write three series:
The Reverend Annabelle Dixon cozy mystery series about an apparently ditzy, but really rather smart lady vicar from a Cornish village in England.
The Inspector David Graham mysteries about a small group of small town police officers headed up by Inspector Graham on the island of Jersey in the English Channel.
The Diana Hunter mystery series. Diana is an ex-spy who is working as a consultant to Vancouver Police Department. Together with her partner Detective Peter Hopkinson, she solves crimes and hopes to find out who killed her parents.
The first two are cozy mysteries, Diana is more suspense.
 
Q: Where can we buy or see them? 

You can sign up to my mailing list at http://cozymysteries.com and get the first books in each series for free. Subsequent books are at all Amazon stores.
 
Q: What are you working on at the minute?  What’s it about? (*if relevant)

I’m working on Books 4 and 5 in the Diana Hunter series. It is very exciting. I am quite exhausted working on it. I have to limit myself to four hours a day or I’m too beat to do anything else!
 
Q: What genre are your books and what draws you to this genre?

Annabelle and Graham are cozy mysteries, Diana is suspense.
 
Q: What was the name of your last book? Give us an insight into your main character. What does he/she do that is so special? What’s it about? 

My most recent book was Book 4 in the Inspector Graham series. David Graham is an ex-Metropolitan police detective who relocate to the small island of Jersey after the death of his daughter and the breakdown of his marriage. When he gets there, he finds the team he is in charge of to be a raggle-taggle group of questionable commitment and skill. The series follows them all as they grow as characters and police officers, facing their demons and developing their detective skills.
 
Q: Do you work to an outline or plot or do you prefer just see where an idea takes you?

I like to have 80% of the outline worked out before I start although I actually prefer to just start writing. I don’t have much patience, but I have learned from experience that winging it isn’t the best way to write a book, not a mystery at least.
I do, however, rely a lot on intuition in terms of the pacing of the book.  I can tell when a book needs to pop, when it needs to move along quicker or slower and when a character needs more development. I write for my internal reader and that works well for me.
 
Q: In your opinion, what is the hardest thing about writing?

Plotting, unquestionably. I am always so relieved when it is done. I find it very hard work.
 
Q: Now, what about the easiest thing about writing?

Doing the very final edits. I’m excited at this point. Also publishing is very, very exciting. I find it addicting.
 
Website: http://cozymysteries.com
Facebook: http://facebook.com/cozymysterybks
Twitter: http://twitter.com/cozy_mysteries
Amazon Author Page: amazon.com/author/alisongolden
 
Book Links: (* American, UK, etc.)
Reverend Annabelle Dixon series:
Death at the Café: http://cozymysteries.com/death-at-the-cafe
Death at the Café (UK): http://cozymysteries.com/death-at-the-café-uk
Murder at the Mansion: http://cozymysteries.com/murder-at-the-mansion
Murder at the Mansion (UK): http://cozymysteries.com/murder-at-the-mansion-uk
Body in the Woods: http://cozymysteries.com/body-in-the-woods
Body in the Woods (UK): http://cozymysteries.com/body-in-the-woods-uk
Grave in the Garage: http://cozymysteries.com/grave-in-the-garage
Grave in the Garage (UK): http://cozymysteries.com/grave-in-the-garage-uk
 
Inspector David Graham series:
The Case of the Screaming Beauty: http://cozymysteries.com/screaming-beauty
The Case of the Screaming Beauty (UK): http://cozymysteries.com/screaming-beauty-uk
The Case of the Hidden Flame: http://cozymysteries.com/hidden-flame
The Case of the Hidden Flame (UK): http://cozymysteries.com/hidden-flame-uk
The Case of the Fallen Hero: http://cozymysteries.com/fallen-hero
The Case of the Fallen Hero (UK): http://cozymysteries.com/hidden-flame-uk
The Case of the Broken Doll: http://cozymysteries.com/broken-doll
The Case of the Broken Doll (UK): http://cozymysteries.com/broken-doll-uk
 
The Diana Hunter series:
Hunted: http://cozymysteries.com/hunted
Hunted (UK): http://cozymysteries.com/hunted-uk
Snatched: http://cozymysteries.com/snatched
Snatched (UK): http://cozymysteries.com/snatched-uk
Stolen: http://cozymysteries.com/stolen
Stolen (UK): http://cozymysteries.com/stolen-uk