Author Interview: Julie Ryan

Author Interview: Julie Ryan

Today I am pleased to welcome Julie Ryan on to the blog with a quick interview! She’s come up with some fascinating answers!

Q&A

What is your favourite thing about writing books?
Writing ‘The End’. Seriously though, I love the fact that something that exists only in my imagination can take on a life of its own and become a physical thing. When the characters really start to speak to me and change the story then I know I’m doing something right.

Who is your favourite character in your book and why?
I will always have a soft spot for Jenna in ‘Jenna’s Journey’. To some extent the character is based on my younger self so she is very close to my heart. As the story progressed, so did my character and although she goes through a lot, she shows how strong she is. By the end of the book she had become a character in her own right.

What is your favourite drink to consume while writing?
Always coffee. Once I get engrossed in my writing I usually forget about the coffee. I go and make another one and the same thing happens.

Do you have any bad habits while you’re writing?
You have to have chocolate biscuits while you write, don’t you? Probably not a good idea to write in bed then!

How do you research your books?
It very much depends on the book. For the Greek Island mystery series I used my experience of living in Greece during the 1980s and then the Internet. I’m pretty sure that a research trip to Greece is in order though. My latest book, Finding Rose, was inspired in part by my grandfather signing up to WW1 as a seventeen year old. I used his journal and did a lot of background reading as research.

Are you a plotter or a pantser?
A bit of both. Well, a pantser really. I start with a brief outline and a couple of characters and see where it takes me. It does mean a lot of rewriting as the story is never the same as the one I originally envisioned.

If you could live in any fictional world, which would you choose and why?
Probably Enid Blyton’s world of the early 1960s. Life seemed so much simpler then. Long summer holidays, ginger beer and adventures galore. It all seemed such fun and not an electronic gadget in sight.

If you could befriend any fictional character, who would you choose and why?
I love Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple. I think that today we often underestimate the older generation yet here is an example of someone who is intelligent, witty and manages to outwit the police to solve the crime. Of course she also lives in an idyllic English village. I think I was probably born in the wrong time.

About the Author

Julie Ryan’s roots are in a small mining village in South Yorkshire. After a degree in French Language and Literature, wanderlust kicked in and she lived and worked in France, Poland, Thailand and Greece. Her spirit enriched, her imagination fired, Julie started a series of mystery romances, thrillers set in the Greek Isles.

Jenna’s Journey is the first novel in Julie Ryan’s Greek Islands Series, a series she did not set out to create but which took on its own life and grew, rich and fascinating. This is the first of three published so far and promises to delight readers looking for the hidden dark sides of dream vacations in the Greek Isles.

In a new venture, Julie’s latest book is a short rom-com called Callie’s Christmas Countdown.

A prolific and well-known book review blogger, Julie does her writing and reviewing from rural Gloucestershire, where she lives with her husband, son and dippy cat with half a tail.

Website. Blog. Facebook. Twitter.

Would you befriend Miss Marple?