About Linda Griffin:
I am a native of San Diego and have a BA in English from San Diego State University and an MLS from UCLA. I retired as fiction librarian for the San Diego Public Library to spend more time on my writing. My stories have been published in numerous journals including, Eclectica, Thema Literary Review, The Binnacle, and The Nassau Review. Love, Death, and the Art of Cooking (2021) is my fourth romantic suspense novel from the Wild Rose Press, after Seventeen Days (2018), The Rebound Effect (2019), and Guilty Knowledge (2020).
What inspires you to write?
Most of my stories begin when two different ideas come together. The final spark that starts the words flowing is often an overheard question that goes unanswered or that I would answer differently. I then have to create a character to give my answer, and everything unfolds from there. The plot of Love, Death, and the Art of Cooking came from a what-if question in an entirely different story.
Tell us about your writing process.
I'm mostly a seat of the pants writer. Sometimes I have an idea how the story will end, but sometimes I have to wait for the characters to take me there. I wrote the first two chapters of Love, Death, and the Art of Cooking without knowing a body would turn up in the third. Usually the only outlining I do is when I'm well into the story and need to keep the chronology straight. I scribble notes, sometimes including entire scenes, in a notebook, and then cross them out as I add them to the typed manuscript. I write when the characters talk to me, which unfortunately is often in the middle of the night.
How do you develop your characters?
Sometimes I have a general idea of the characters, but things start to get interesting when they talk to me and to each other. Virginia Woolf describes a novel in progress as a river flowing through the banks of real life, and sometimes bits of the bank break off and fall into the river, where they are transformed into something that fits the story. For me, many of those bits are physical characteristics or traits that become part of a character.
What authors inspire you?
My greatest influences early on were the historical novelist Elswyth Thane and my older sister, who also writes. Authors whose style or narrative successes give me something to shoot for include Sheri Joseph and Gillian Flynn. I've written several captivity stories and those were greatly influenced by the memoirs of Jaycee Dugard, Elizabeth Smart, and Amanda Berry among others.
How do you keep going in the midst of distractions?
Most distractions don't bother me. Complete silence is unnerving. I usually write with the radio playing or in front of the TV. The one thing I can't do is write with someone behind me–next to me is fine.
What are your hobbies when you need a break from writing?
In addition to the three R’s–reading, writing, and research–I enjoy movies, Scrabble, travel, photography, and visiting art galleries and museums.
What romance genres do you write?: Romantic Suspense
Do you write in genres that are not romance related?
I write the stories that want to be written and leave categories to others. My published novels have all been some degree of romantic suspense, but most of my short stories are literary fiction. Many reviewers thought The Rebound Effect was a psychological thriller rather than a romance.
What formats are your books in?: eBook, Print
Where to find out more about the author
Website(s)
Linda Griffin Home Page Link
Link To Linda Griffin Page On Amazon
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All information in this post is presented “as is” supplied by the author. We don’t edit to allow you the reader to hear the author in their own voice.
