Featured Author Friday – Regan Walker

Today, I’m pleased to present best selling historical romance author, Regan Walker. Welcome, Regan! Let’s get right to it – inquiring minds have a lot they want to know…

What characteristic makes up a Regan Walker novel? What can readers expect when they pick up one of your books?

Great question, Amy. Well, they can expect history, adventure and a love story wrapped around all of it to start with. Guaranteed every book. My readers tell me I excel at “world building” and “great characters” so I guess you will find those, too. Almost all of my books have an animal or two. I’m very visual and I see the story happening in my mind like a movie. I may write to a movie score so it just enhances the effect. And I’m into the details. I spend hundreds of hours researching each book to try and “get it right.”

 

Are there any other genre’s you are interested in pursuing outside of Medieval and Regency Romance?

All my focus is on historical romance. It’s what I love to read as well as write. I already have out a pirate romance (Wind Raven) and a Georgian romance (my newest release—To Tame the Wind, which also features a pirate of sorts), but as I say, Scotland will be on the horizon one of these days.

 

What is your favorite romance genre to read, and why? To write – what draws you to Medieval Romance or to Regency?

I love a good story, no matter the setting. For my Historical Romance Review blog, I read a different subgenre each month: Vikings, Pirates/Privateers, Irish, Classics, Scottish, Western, Patriotic, Exotic Locales and Bodice Rippers.

How do you begin working on a new story? With the characters or the plot?  A bit of both?

Another really good question. Typically it starts with an idea. It may be a character or a setting or a bit of history. Sometimes it begins with a thought or a song. Around that I build my world and the characters who live in it, their problems, their challenges to overcome and the ones they will love. Since The Red Wolf’s Prize, I now do Pinterest boards for my books which represent my research in pictures.

 

When you begin working on a new story, do you know how it will end before you start writing, or does that come to you as part of the writing process?

Yes, sometimes I do. It’s even possible I will write the end as I begin the book and work towards it. That is what I did for Rogue Knight and no, I’m not telling!

 

How do you deal with writer’s block?

I just did a post on that! It’s called What to do When You’re Stuck and is on The Write Way Café. It’s my own list of things I do.

 

What is your favorite type of hero? Heroine?

I like strong heroines and stronger, alpha males. I like a clash of wills between two noble-hearted people. But sometimes I find myself with a bit of a beta male. That happened with Sir Martin in Against the Wind and it’s true of Sir Geoffroi in Rogue Knight. In such cases, they must call upon their courage to rescue the heroine and do the right thing.

 

Share something about your latest romance, which is not in the blurb or any available excerpts.

Ok, I’ll share the advice Maugris the Wise gives to Sir Geoffroi as he leaves for York where one of the most despicable episodes in England’s history took place in 1069:

“You will give help to those who would otherwise fall and you will find an ally where you least expect it. But if need be, you must have courage to stand alone.”

You can see it on my Pinterest board for the story here: https://www.pinterest.com/reganwalker123/rogue-knight-by-regan-walker/

 

Describe your favorite place to read.

In bed or on a lounge on a beach

 

Describe your favorite place to write.

At my computer on a big table next to a window with a view.

 

Do you have scheduled times to write, or do you just write when you are inspired?

A bit of both. I try to write from about 10:30 in the morning till early afternoon, but sometimes the muse doesn’t set and I must do something else.

Of your novels, who is your favorite hero and why? Oh that is very hard. I really love them all. Lord Ormond is the kind of dark hero I love. And the Red Wolf is a warrior, a very compelling man among men.

 

What do you do in your spare time? Any hobbies?

Writing was my hobby. Now it’s my career and my passion. So I guess my hobby now is reading.

 

What do you do to relax?

Dinner with friends. If I’m alone, popcorn and a good TV series. My current favorites are Outlander, Game of Thrones and TURN—which I’m taping. I like period pieces, too. The White Queen is a favorite I have on DVD. My favorite movie might be Last of the Mohicans. It has everything and it’s a brilliant love story.

 

What’s next on the horizon for you as an author?

Well, right now I’m writing the second in my Medieval Warriors series, Rogue Knight. Then I have book 3 to write, Rebel Warrior. There might be a fourth, but I haven’t decided yet. I still have two books to write in the Agents of the Crown series: Echo in the Wind (Jean Donet’s story) and A Secret Scottish Christmas (the story of the Powell twins and the Scottish lass for whose love they compete). After that, I’m going to Scotland (in my head; I just traveled there last fall) to tell the story of the Donald clan on the Isle of Skye, starting with Somerled. It’s a series I’ve been planning for a very long time, even before I wrote my first Regency.

 

Thanks for joining me on my blog today, Regan! It was a pleasure to meet you.

 

To Tame the Wild Wind

 

  “A sea adventure like no other, a riveting romance!”

–Shirlee Busbee, NY Times Bestselling Author

Paris 1782…AN INNOCENT IS TAKEN

All Claire Donet knew was the world inside the convent walls in Saint-Denis. She had no idea her beloved papa was a pirate. But when he seized Simon Powell’s schooner, the English privateer decided to take the one thing his enemy held most dear… her.

A BATTLE IS JOINED The waters between France and England roil with the clashes of Claire’s father and her captor as the last year of the American Revolution rages on the sea, spies lurk in Paris and Claire’s passion for the English captain rises.