“It Happened at Niagara Falls” Author, Melanie Robertson-King – Interview by Joan Y. Edwards
Thank you, Melanie, for being a guest and allowing me to interview you on my blog. I can’t wait for everyone to learn about you and your books.
You’re welcome, Joan. It’s a pleasure to be here.
Let us begin!
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How many books have you published? 14, including my latest It Happened book – It Happened at Niagara Falls which is the fifth book in the series.
- What fuels your ideas for new books in your It Happened at series? The series started after I read a series by another author who wrote one about a family with six brothers. Each book was a different brother’s story, but the other siblings also appeared. I thought I could do something like that. So, I came up with my list of characters. Five siblings in one family (Christopher, Roger, Melissa, Michael and Amy Scott), and two (Serenity and Erik Layne) in the other.
- What is your process to go from idea to published book ready for purchase online?
Step 1: Idea: With my It Happened series, I created a spreadsheet with all my characters listed by first names. That way, I could avoid too many names starting with the same letter at least in the same book. I also include birthdates, death dates (where applicable), hair and eye colour, height, weight and build, and occupation. That way, I don’t accidentally change someone’s eye colour partway through a book or the series.
Step 2: I decide which sibling’s book am I writing. Step 3: I decide the where. I’ve tried to come up with picturesque Canadian locations, and if I can tie in an actual event, that’s even better. I used the Fort McMurray wildfire from 2016 in It Happened at Lake Louise, so even though it was the fourth book in the series, the timeline was before the other books.
In the book, It Happened at Niagara Falls, which takes place in 2018, I’ve also used actual events related to my one character’s occupation – an archaeologist.
Once I have my who and when (tied to actual events where possible) and where I’m almost ready to write -
Do you draft plot line first? I’m not much of a plotter, but I’m not really a pantster either. I guess that would make me a plantster. Normally, I need to know the ending before I start to write. Getting there is half the fun. With romance books, the number one rule is it has to either have a happy ever after ending, or a happy for now ending.
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How do you scope out characters and traits? The character spreadsheet only gives me the bare bones of my people. This is where the fun comes in. What strengths to give a particular character? What foibles? I use Scrivener for my writing and it has a character sketch you can add for each person.
Here are items from Scrivener Character sketches. Name, Age, Location, Role in Story, Goal, Physical Description, Personality, Occupation, Habits/Mannerisms, Background, Internal Conflicts, External Conflicts, and Notes. I find this is sufficient to get my characters fleshed out, but I have one that is even more detailed that I can use which brings in hobbies, political and religious affiliations, and more. -
How do you decide what situations to put your characters in? In this series, the initial meeting of the characters is facilitated by one of the character’s dogs. In It Happened at Niagara Falls, Zeus, Jennifer’s pug, instigates their meeting. I sometimes give them a tragedy in their past so they have to work through the grieving process which makes them stronger in the end.
In Book 1, It Happened on Dufferin Terrace, I made Serenity’s father a work-shy, drunk. He wasn’t that way until after the factory he worked in for years closed down. Her mother couldn’t cope with life and spent most of her time in her room watching TV. And to make the family even more dysfunctional, her brother, Erik, was a drug addict. So, I made Serenity teetotal, driven to work. Like Doris in Miracle on 34th Street, no time for intangibles.
This series uses movie tie-ins. So I have to find at least two movies so I can have a tagline movie 1 meets movie 2. That way, the reader has a bit of an idea what the book will be like. In keeping with the Dufferin Terrace example, the tagline for it is Miracle on 34th Street meets Sleepless in Seattle. For It Happened at Lake Louise, the tagline is Must Love Dogs meets Serendipity. - How and where do you write the draft of each book? I write the draft of each book in Scrivener which makes it easy to move chapters or scenes forward or backward if the flow works better that way. It means a lot of renumbering chapters but I try to leave that to the end. I try to set aside 3-4 hours per day to write. I can set targets – total word count, and the date for first draft to be complete. That gives me the number of words I have to write each day. The previous books in the series all came in at between 45,000 and 55,000 words, so I was totally gobsmacked with It Happened at Niagara Falls came in at a whopping 81,450 when I’d set a target goal of 60,000 words with a deadline of Sept 1st. Well, I was way ahead on both fronts.
- How do you edit your books? First of all, I print it and read it on paper. Make notes of errors or what’s not working. Then I go back to Scrivener and make those changes. I use Grammarly, ProWritingAid and AutoCrit during my editing process. The first pass through one scene at a time is with Grammarly. Then I go to ProWritingAid and AutoCrit. I find AutoCrit has some different reports I can run so I make use of them. The Fiction Analyzer allows me to go through a project chapter by chapter, then a summary of the book and finally the character.
I have someone else read and edit each book. I have a couple of people I turn to for reading and editing. One prefers hardcopy, the other electronic. The one who prefers hardcopy is a phenom with a red pen. The other reader sends me a list of things that need attention.
If I haven’t already done so, I have the computer read the book back to me. That way, I catch anything that might have been missed. I normally do it before I send it off to folks to read and edit for me. -
How do you format your book for a print version? From Scrivener, I compile the manuscript to a word document so I can do the formatting on my PC rather than my MacBook where I write. I have a template that I use for print books. It’s painstaking work copying and pasting one chapter at a time, then adjusting the font size and the line spacing.
- How do you format your book for an ebook version? Formatting for ebook is relatively simple by comparison because I upload a .docx file to Kindle, Kobo and Nook. The only thing I have to change is the page breaks from the original file before uploading them.
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When do you create the cover? I create the cover after the final edit. I design my own covers using stock photos I get from various websites. I’ve used Dreamstime and Shutterstock (both of which you have to pay for the image) and more recently have started using Pixabay, Pexels, and UnSplash which are free.
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Who has been your biggest cheerleader with your career as an author? My husband, Don, is my biggest cheerleader. While he may not read my work, he’s still supporting me in other ways. My website was his doing. I told him what I wanted, and he wrote the code to make it that way. He also went one step further to make it mobile-friendly. We cook together, or if I’m not cooking, I cook, and he cleans up afterwards. We share all the household duties. He can tell when I need a break, so he gets me up and out of the house for a walk. On market days, he sets up my canopy and brings all the required display elements from the car to my site. And at the end of the day, he helps tear it all down and carts it back to the car. I’d be lost without his help and support.
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What is your advice for writers that you are so glad you know now and wish you had known earlier? Writing the book is the easiest part. Marketing is a toughie. You don’t want to be shouting from the rooftops “Buy Me! Buy Me!” Still, you have to come up with subtle ways of saying it without ramming it down prospective readers’ throats.
If you’re determined to go the traditional route, be prepared for rejection either by the editors of the publishing house or an agent.
And if you decide being an Indie author is what you want, then everything falls on you. You can hire editors when you’re ready for that stage. Same with cover designers. But you still have to search them out and decide if they’re right for you.
Melanie, thank you for sharing your steps in writing your books.
You’re very welcome. I would like to hear your readers’ comments and questions. Also, I would appreciate your readers giving me suggestions for places in Canada to have for the destination for my sixth and last book in the It Happened in __________ series.
What is It Happened in Niagara Falls about?
Must Love Dogs meets Serendipity
Scarred by a devasting accident that killed her parents and younger brother, Jennifer Fox finds solace in the embrace of Niagara Falls. Her pug, Zeus, holds the title of her best Friend. Undeterred by her physical constraints, she maintains a bartending job in one of the city’s many bars.
Since graduating from university, archaeologist Michael Scott has been on many prestigious digs. The discovery of Richard III in 2012 has been the pinnacle of his career to date. His dedication to his profession has prevented him from having many personal connections.
A chance encounter with a runaway pug leads Michael to invite Jennifer to the charming village of Percé.
After accepting the opportunity to work with a team on a dig site near Cairo, he leaves her behind in Canada.
Despite their different backgrounds, can Jennifer and Michael find common ground and live happily ever after?
Melanie Robertson-King’s Books – “Where fact and fiction meet.”
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