Shiloh Walker, bestselling author of the Ash Trilogy and the FBI Psychics series, took time out of her busy schedule to answer some questions for OBS.
1) Your books span so many genres from romance to the paranormal/urban genre. Which do you feel most comfortable writing in and why?
Usually paranormal romance and romantic suspense. I love just about every subgenre of romance, but those are the two where I gravitate when it comes to writing, for the most part.
2) What would genre would you like to try that you haven’t yet?
Straight urban fantasy without as much romance blending into it. I’m actually working on one now, but we’ll have to see where it goes.
3) What challenges you the most as an author?
It’s a waiting game…so much waiting is involved and I’m not a patient person. The writing part is the easiest. But the waiting, the promo, the business aspects? Those things kill me.
4) What inspires you as an author?
Life! Everything is a story. I tend to be very visual as a writer and pictures, things I see when I’m out can make me think of stories. But almost anything can do that.
5) You are the author of several series in different genres. Do the ideas for these books come to you as a series, or do they evolve after you’ve finished the first one?
Initially, it was always just the one story, but as I’ve grown as a writer, I’ve gotten a better feel for what may or may not grow into a series.
6) You are such an amazing, prolific writer, I think you must be so disciplined to write as much as you do – what is your writing schedule like, along with having a family?
Well, my kids are in school and the younger two go to a sitter after school, the same way they did when I worked outside the house. Basically I just stepped from one full time job to another, so I work when they are in school, at the sitter and then when they come home, it’s mama time, family time.
7) What is the fan reaction to your books that has stood out to you the most?
Ah, that’s hard…but one that has meant the most to me came from a reader who was a survivor of sexual assault. She’d read my romantic suspense FRAGILE; the heroine in that book was also a survivor and the reader told me that reading that book had helped her some on her road to healing. It’s one of those things that stays with me. It meant a lot to me.
8) You’ve stated in a previous interview that you love writing through a guy’s eyes, much like Nora Roberts – can you elaborate as to why?
I don’t know. It’s probably because I grew up with three brothers. I also was something of a tomboy and often spent more time playing with the guys in neighbourhood when I was a kid. It’s just…fun, I guess. I like trying to understand how they think, even if I don’t know if I’m anywhere close.
9) What is the best advice you’ve ever got as an aspiring author?
Keep writing. Always. It’s frustrating, it’s hard, be aware of the fact that you will have rejections, and probably a lot of them. But if you really want it? Keep writing. This isn’t a path for quitters. You have to stick with it.
10) What is the one thing you want readers to know about your books and your writing?
Ah…well…there’s a lot of them, and I bounce around. If you don’t like paranormal, I’ve got romantic suspense. If you’d rather try contemporary, I’ve got those, too.
Thank you Shiloh! It’s been great having you at OBS!!
