Find Out Friday: Kate Allan.
2/10/2012 9:26:56 AM
Hello and welcome to author, editor and rather appropriately, because it is the start of Valentine Week, Festival of Romance organiser, Kate Allan.
Now, Kate, you will be unaware of this fact, but your involvement in the FoR was the inspiration behind this feature. I was and still am fascinated about what went into producing such a successful event. At the time, I recall asking if I could interview you, and here we are.
One twelfth of the year is over, which makes us a month nearer to the second Festival of Romance. How are the plans proceeding?
The second Festival of Romance will be taking place about twenty miles up the road from where we held it last year in the county town ofBedford. The main venues which are at the Corn Exchange and Bedford Central Library are booked and at the moment we’re talking to publishers and authors about the events we will be running. We hope to have a full schedule by April, so if you have any ideas about what you would like to see at the Festival, now is the time to shout.
Last year’s was such a major success, how are you going to trump it?
Feedback from our first festival was fantastic but an author who attended thought it could be improved by being in a town centre and when I thought about it, I agreed. A town centre setting would provide easier access to the events. Our move toBedforduses a variety of venues, all within a minute or two’s walk of each other and we will also have the facility of the town’s central ticketing box office.
What was the thought process behind the event?
There are a number of conventions in theUSfor the romantic fiction genre, and here in theUKwe have crime festivals in Harrogate andBristol, and also SFF conventions. I thought that romantic fiction should have its own dedicated event on our shores.
Romantic Fiction Online spawned from the FoR – tell me about that. What are the aims and purpose of the site?
The site started as a social community to support the Festival but once it started to gather pace, it was clear that it should be a year-round website where readers and authors could talk about romantic fiction. Now we have four hundred members, a number of active sub groups and the forums and blogs are being well used to chat about all kinds of topics related to reading and also writing romantic fiction.
Many writers I have met and interviewed are multi-talented, with many strings to their bow. How many aliases do you possess and who are you the majority of the time?
This is a good question for me. The majority of the time I’m a mum and wife, and after that comes work. I’m a director of an independent publisher, Myrmidon Books, and also run a small literary agency. I am involved in organising the Festival of Writing that takes place inYork each year and is the biggest event of its kind for aspiring novelists. Add to that the organisation of the Festival of Romance and what does suffer is my own writing. It is a real challenge to find time for writing, but I seem to manage to do a little, not every day but more in fits and starts when I have a quiet few days in a row.
Which role provides you with the greatest satisfaction and why?
Being a mum wins hands down.
You are known for writing historical novels. What appeals to you about the Regency era?
It’s the era of Jane Austen and Georgette Heyer and also the period when Lizzy Bennet could walk across a field unchaperoned. The Victorian age has its merits but I prefer the less fettered spirits of the Regency era. The 18th century appeals too but I am not sure I could write a hero wearing an itchy wig and powdered hair.
You have moved to writing contemporary romance. Is there a need for diversification within the writing world?
I certainly needed a change from Regency but my move into contemporary happened really be accident rather than design. I had a story idea and started writing it and the result with Secrets at City Hospital. I’d been in a large city hospital myself for a month and so the setting was just there, all researched for me already. A gift!
You are a member of the Romantic Novelists’ Association. When and how did you first become involved? Are you an active member?
I joined the New Writers Scheme of the RNA about ten years ago now and was in it for two years before I got my publishing deal. I just came across the organisation on the internet and it seemed like an excellent scheme as a proper novelist would read your efforts and critique them. Now I’m a full member I try and get to meetings but it’s been hard since having a baby.
I studied Rogue Male for English O’ Level. Having seen it as one of your recommended reads, I am wondering whether I should revisit it. As a fifteen year old, to me it was a book about a man hiding in a hole, attempting to assassinate a foreign dictator. Sell it to me, Kate.
Rogue Male is a classic and was one of those first teenage reads that set my pulse racing (with suspense and fear). I recommend you give it another try and see what Geoffrey Household is doing as a writer to give you that thrill of the chase.
Are there books you revisit as an adult and if so, what is it about them that makes them special, or is one read enough?
I recently reread The Mask of Dimitrios by Eric Ambler actually and thought it might have faded with the passage of time, but it hasn’t. Truly wonderful books stay wonderful I think. Or I wouldn’t still be finding new delights every time I reread Pride and Prejudice.
What are you working on at the moment and what can we expect next from Kate Allan?
I’m currently writing another medical drama romance, this one involving an animal hospital, and hoping to have it finished before the summer.
Thank you so much for taking the time to answer my questions, Kate and thank you for bringing the Festival of Romance into my life.
Snowbound on the Island is now available at Amazon.
Keep up to date with Kate on her website, follow her on Twitter or pop across to Kate’s Facebook page.