Romance Week Interview: Shannon Richard

Today I would like to welcome Shannon Richard to Romance Week. I had the pleasure of interviewing Shannon about her career writing romance novels. Hope you enjoy and check out Shannon's book after the interview.

Book 4 cover coming soon!

What drew you to writing Romance to begin with?

I like my Happily Ever After endings, not that romance is the only genre that has HEAs, but I’m partial to my love stories. I love reading them and I love writing them. It wasn’t so much that I set out to write in this genre either, I just wrote the story that was in my head.

Would you ever write outside of Romance? If so, what genres? If no, why not?

If a story came along that wasn’t a romance with a HEA, I’d write it. I don’t know where the stories in my head come from, but I don’t question them. When I get that inspiration, I just go with it. I have a New Adult series rolling around in the recesses of my mind. They’re shelved for now, but I hope to one day bring them out into the light. I also have a New Adult fantasy trilogy that I’ve been thinking about for years (YEARS). I might not be writing either of these series at the moment, but I’m constantly figuring things out with the story lines. They are always getting added on to.

Describe your book in 140 Characters (a tweet).

Northern girl moves to southern town. Paige doesn’t understand Brendan or his country ways. He pursues her w/ a vengeance, she can’t resist.

If Undone were to have a theme song, what would it be?

I went on a Sugarland binge before I started writing Undone, and I listened to their CD’s nonstop for a couple of weeks. I heard their song “We Run” and there is a line in it that goes: “Come undone like a string on a sweater that you pull but you know better, but doing what you shouldn’t is half the fun. So we run.” And that line really stuck with me, obviously as I pulled the title from it. For Paige, falling in love again is terrifying. She just had her heart stomped on by her ex and her life fell apart in the midst of the trampling. But with Brendan, Paige hears “the lever on his voice, it’s a calling not a choice, and [she] can’t keep herself from following the sound.” And follow she does.

How do your playlists for each book come to be? Do you set up a playlist before writing or do you add songs as you write that inspire you?

Music is very important to my writing process. One of three things will happen when it comes to a song being added to a playlist.

1. I hear a song that corresponds to a scene that’s already been written.
2. I hear a song that fits perfectly to a scene that’s in my head and is yet to be written.
3. I hear a song and say “Oh. My. Gosh.” this needs to be a scene in the book.

I will admit that when 2 or 3 occur, that song is played on repeat as I write whatever scene it is. So it’s a little bit of both setting up a playlist before I write, and adding to it as I’m writing. I have songs on playlists for books that are so far down the line that it’s ridiculous. But when I discover a song belongs to a books storyline, I have to add it. 

Check out Shannon's playlists here.

About Undone:

Things Paige Morrison will never understand about Mirabelle, Florida:

Why wearing red shoes makes a girl a harlot
Why a shop would ever sell something called “buck urine”
Why everywhere she goes, she runs into sexy-and infuriating-Brendan King

After losing her job, her apartment, and her boyfriend, Paige has no choice but to leave Philadelphia and move in with her retired parents. For an artsy outsider like Paige, finding her place in the tightly knit town isn’t easy-until she meets Brendan, the hot mechanic who’s interested in much more than Paige’s car. In no time at all, Brendan helps Paige find a new job, new friends, and a happiness she wasn’t sure she’d ever feel again. With Brendan by her side, Paige finally feels like she can call Mirabelle home. But when a new bombshell drops, will the couple survive, or will their love come undone?
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“A fine debut novel, Richard populates her appealing small town with quirky secondary characters, a feisty heroine and a hero to sigh for.”
-Lori Wilde, New York Times bestselling author (source)

About the Author:

Shannon Richard grew up in the Panhandle of Florida as the baby sister of two overly protective but loving brothers. She was raised by a more than somewhat eccentric mother, a self-proclaimed vocabularist who showed her how to get lost in a book, and a father who passed on his love for coffee and really loud music. She graduated from Florida State University with a bachelor’s in English literature and still lives in Tallahassee, where she battles everyday life with writing, reading, and a rant every once in a while. Okay, so the rants might happen on a regular basis. She’s still waiting for her Southern, scruffy Mr. Darcy, and in the meantime writes love stories to indulge her overactive imagination. Oh, and she’s a pretty big fan of the whimsy.

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