Take Five With Irish Author Sharon Black

Got to tell you that this book, set in Dublin, sounds really interesting.

Welcome to An Indie Adventure, Sharon.  Tell us, what inspired you to write your book Going Against Type.

Hi, Leslie, thanks for hosting me today. The inspiration for my novel came from an old Hollywood film, Woman of the Year, starring Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracey. I have seen all their films. In Woman of the Year, Hepburn plays a high brow newspaper pundit, who rubbishes sport. Tracey is a sports columnist who leaps to its defense and attacks Hepburn. In the film, they are forced to work together, and quickly fall in love.
For Going Against Type, I turned the stereotypes on their head, so my heroine is a sports reporter working in a modern, Irish newspaper. My hero is a fashion writer, and they start to attack each other through their anonymously penned newspaper columns. Meantime, they meet and fall in love, each not knowing that they are dating the enemy!

Have you been a lifelong reader of (fill in your genre)?  What are some the first books you remember reading?

I’ve always loved well written, commercial women’s fiction, and I particularly like humour. Which is why I wrote a romantic comedy. Two authors that I’ve always admired for their ability to write humorously, but still have depth in their writing, is the Irish author Marian Keyes and the English author Catherine Alliott. I read all the Irish authors now, and I am in awe. I picked out Marian because she was possibly the first I read and thought, wish I could write like that.

What do you do to rev your creative juices?

Sadly, I drink coffee. Not if I’m having a complete blank. Then I tend to go for a walk. But mostly I drink coffee. Sometimes I take myself away from my desk at the end of my kitchen (enter the area at your peril!!) and head down to my local Italian restaurant, where I will hide in a corner and write and drink excellent coffee. Usually nobody bothers me.

What would be your advice to people who are considering a writing career?

Have a plan. Don’t let anyone put you off, in fact, don’t talk about your writing at all. Structure your novel in advance, and write back stories for your characters. Write every day. Even if it’s only for a short time. Don’t give up, ever.

You’re having a dinner party.  What character from your novel do you hope doesn’t show up?  Why?

I wouldn’t like to have dinner with my heroine’s ex- brother in law. He treated Charlotte’s sister, Cathy, appallingly and still causes heartache, as he constantly lets his two children down. He’s arrogant and completely selfish.

Give us a brief summary of Going Against Type :

Going Against Type is a romantic comedy set against the backdrop of national Dublin newspapers. It’s the story of two rival columnists, who write under pen names, and who fall in love, without realizing that they are bitter enemies in print.

Buy Links: 

tirpub.com/gatype will take you to all the buy links.

Bio: 

Sharon Black grew up in Dublin. She studied history and politics at University College Dublin and then did post-graduate in journalism at Dublin City University.

She has worked for national newspapers, including The Evening Herald and The Irish Examiner. She had short stories published in U Magazine and won the 2010 Dromineer Literary Festival short story competition.

 
When she is not writing, she reads, walks and sees friends. She co-founded a local book club 14 years ago. She loves theatre, old Hollywood films, science fiction and good stand-up comedy.

She lives in Sandymount, Dublin, with her husband and their three children.

Social Media Links:  

sharonblackauthor.blogspot.comSharon BlackAuthor Page 

                              sharonblackauthor.blogspot.com sharonblackauthor.blogspot.com