FAQ Page - Angel McGregor

I like to use real places as a basis of many of the places you have read about in my stories, but I then mould them into what I need them to be in order to fit into the story. The towns are pretty simple to create, the more detailed places are the ones that I love to be able to see when I am reading. Places like the bay in A Handful of Secrets, and the clearing in the forest in Part of the Pack are places that I spent time understanding in my own head before I even attempted to put them down on paper. The bay which Luna uses is based on one of my favourite places to go, and a part of me actually struggled to make the necessary changes to it on order for it to fit the story line of the book.

Writer's block isn't something I have a problem with very often because I try not to put myself under too much pressure to write. I write because I love to do it and I never want that feeling to go away. If there is a day that I don't feel like writing, then I find something else to do, often that something is read, but it also includes getting out of the house. Being out and about in nature helps me focus and often gives me the inspiration to go home and get back to what I should have been doing in the first place. I have never had an extended period of time where I haven't wanted to write - I guess it will probably reach me eventually, and maybe then I will rewrite this answer!

Many of my characters start out their lives as real people that I know, however by the time that I have written them into the stories and moulded them into who they need to be in order to drive the plot and fit into a book, they barely resemble the person I started with. My main characters all started out as me in some way, they shared my physical characteristics or my personality traits; I find this is the best way of making them believable human beings as it makes them realistic and as I write in first person, it helps me get into their heads.

I like to think that I am a cross between the two. Generally I think that I am more of a Pantser because I do tend to just write, however I start with an outline and try to organise the main plot points into chapters. My characters have some background information behind them and I have floating information all over the place that just tends to fit in eventually, but I don't go all out and have post-its everywhere, or detailed lists of exactly what I want to happen. I have quite an artistic personality and I tend to find that planning too much just harbours my creativity.

Questions & Answers

Will there be a sequel to The Love That Binds Us?

How do you create your fantasy worlds?

How do you handle writer's block?

How do you get inspiration for your characters?

Are you a pantser or a plotter?