I’m really excited to share an interview with a phenomenal debut author: Claire Cain! Her first book WHERE YOU GO was released just last week on October 2nd.
You can pick it up on Amazon as a kindle ebook or paperback!
Claire Cain lives to eat and drink her way around the globe with her traveling soldier and two kids, but is perhaps even happier hunkered down at home in a pair of sweatpants and slippers using any free moment she has to read and cook. Or talk—she really likes to talk. She has become an expert at packing too many dishes in too few cabinets and making houses into homes from Utah to Germany and many places in between. She’s a proud Army wife and is frankly just really happy to be here.
Cain in Paris eating a fruit tart– if there’s ever been romance in her life, it was this moment!
Jamie: Thank you so much for taking the time to tell us more about yourself! I know you already have a lot of fans and dedicated followers, but for my readers who don’t know much about you, can you tell us how you got started? Have you always wanted to be a writer? And was there a particular moment you thought, ‘I can do this!’?
CC: I have always wanted to be a writer, yes. I started writing fanfiction for boybands when I was a teen, and it was at that age I started wanting to write. It took me another twenty years, but eventually, I managed to write a book!
I started reading romance novels after becoming exhausted by other reading I’d been doing. I stumbled onto the genre thanks to a friend’s recommendation and ended up devouring book after book. After a point, it seemed so obvious. I kept thinking “I think I could do this. I think I could write a book like this that would make people happy.” It’s certainly a kind of arrogance, I guess, but I’m glad I just plowed ahead and tried. I might’ve been stuck trying to think of the next great American novel like I’d been for the last two decades. Instead, this freed me up to write a story that I’d both enjoy writing and reading and that would appeal to people in different circles. In many senses, it was a relief.
Jamie: Talk to us about your writing routine; what’s a typical writing schedule for you?
CC: I learned with the first book that I must outline. So, I take a few weeks to outline a book, then dive in to writing. I’ll admit that with all three of my books, though, I’ve written an opening scene before I did much else. I end up revising that scene as I develop the character profiles and overall plot, but usually my ideas for books start with how the couple meets pretty vividly. After that, the real work begins.
I’ve had such different experiences writing each of the three books that it’s hard to say how it’ll continue in the future. I’ve found that the writing goes in fits and starts unless I’m committed to sitting down and focusing only on writing for longer chunks of time (rather than a little editing, a little marketing, a little laundry, a little writing). That’s a luxury, of course, but when I can manage it, I can produce decent writing quickly.
I plan to write the fourth book in The Rambler Battalion Series this November during NaNoWriMo. I wrote book 2 last year, and it was an awesome experience. The feeling of plowing through with thousands of other writers at the same time is really motivating and inspiring to me.
Cain and her husband skiing in Austria
Jamie: What is something about you that people would be shocked to find out?
CC: Maybe that I hadn’t read a romance novel until January of 2017? I’d read a Nicholas Sparks here or there as a teen, but he doesn’t count. One other factoid is that one of my first loves was Arnold Schwarzenegger (actor, not politician). I had a steady diet of action movies thanks to my older brothers and Arnold was it for me.
Jamie: Look at that bod! Before we get too distracted with Arnold’s sexy biceps, let’s focus on the craft of writing. In all seriousness, your prose is very well crafted and it’s clear that you’re a talented writer. For you, what’s the hardest sentence to write, the first or the last?
CC: Absolutely the last. Endings are hardest for me. I suspect it’s because I never really feel like my characters’ stories are finished—like their love story is just beginning, so wrapping things up with one last thought feels very difficult. It’s something I’m working on!
Jamie: You’re definitely not alone with that! Since you’re a contemporary romance author, can you tell us what your favorite contemporary romance novel is?
CC: Sally Thorne’s THE HATING GAME. I just reread it and it’s just delectable. It’s an enemies-to-lovers book, one of my favorite tropes, and it’s just so well done. It’s her debut novel, and her next on comes out in early 2019… I plan on binge-reading it the day it releases if at all possible.
Jamie: What’s your favorite under-appreciated romance novel?
CC: Oh this is a tough one! Dare I say the entire genre? So often people look down on romance as a whole, suggesting that it creates unrealistic expectations or makes women think all those book boyfriends are better than real men. In the same way that I await my mail delivery by owl, I expect my husband to behave like a romance character—so, not at all. With that said, there are authors creating real and loveable characters who aren’t perfect, which is delightful. And, at the risk of soap-boxing too much, people seem to think the prose in romance novels is facile, but several of my favorite authors have me highlighting in my kindle to look up words in every book they write.
Jamie: I really like that so many authors are creating real and diverse characters. For your characters and storylines, what kind of research/preparation do you do, and how long do you spend researching before beginning a book?
CC: Since I’m writing contemporary, at least for my current series, I don’t research much before, but end up doing quite a bit as I go. The first book had very little research compared to the second, which had a few different topics like education in the active military, combative tournament rules, and statistics on veteran suicide. The third book involved a bit more since I’ve surveyed a population of people to help inform one of the characters, and I’m using a language I don’t speak in places for another! I suspect as I develop as a writer, the research will become a larger component, particularly as I tackle storylines that I don’t have any experience with.
Sweet Reunion (Photo by Melissa Oholendt)
Jamie: Well you certainly have lots of experience as a military wife, so it makes sense that the bulk of your research would be geared towards unique characters or specific details you might not already know. So, for any other aspiring authors out there who are looking to get started, what would you say is the best money you ever spent as a writer?
CC: Gosh, I really don’t know. So far I’d probably say it’s on buying books to read. I haven’t plunked down big money for anything just yet, but I’ve got an eye on a few programs and other things that I hope I’d list under this question in the future!
Jamie: How many unpublished and half-finished books do you have?
CC: I have one unpublished book with an editor now that will publish in February 2019, and another book I’ve just finished the first draft of, which I hope to publish in early summer of 2019. I don’t have any abandoned manuscripts, unless you consider my teeny bopper fan fiction, in which case there’s an amazing collection of short stories no one will ever see.
Jamie: I would definitely like to read that! ;) On a more serious note, what does literary success look like to you?
CC: To me, success is writing books that people read and enjoy. It’s that simple. I want to bring people joy and make them feel good. It’d be a dream come true to write someone’s favorite book someday.
Jamie: Before we let you go, do you have any advice for aspiring writers?
CC: In order to be a writer, you have to write. It seems so obvious, but I think we often trick ourselves into believing we need to be inspired or motivated to write. This is a false notion in writing just like it is for anything else—to be a writer, you must write. And, on that note, if you’re a writer and need a push, consider signing up for NaNoWriMo this year! Nothing like a crowd to make you put words to page!
Yours truly with a lovely copy of Cain’s wonderful book!
Claire, thank you so much for sharing your heart with us today!
For anyone interested in entering the giveaway above, you have just a few days left…
You can also follow this amazing author on Facebook!
