Feature on Kate Walker and her A QUESTION OF HONOR

This week's Author Feature is on UK author Kate Walker.

Kate Walker on the Web:

Facebook          Website       Blog

Over to Kate now...

Tell us about yourself?

I live in Lincolnshire UK with my husband (we’ve just celebrated our Ruby Wedding anniversary) and one grown up son. Oh, and two cats Charlie the Maine Coon and Ruby the black and white kitten – they rule my life and  demand lots of attention (and the best spot on the bed!). I was  a Children’s Librarian for several years before I left work to have my son and then started trying to write full time – I never went back to the library!  I’ve been writing for Harlequin for 30 years  - celebrating my 30th anniversary of publication in December this year  - and in that time  I’ve had 60 titles published, with my latest,  A Question of Honor the latest one published in Mills & Boon Modern and Harlequin Presents.. I’ve also written an award-winning guide to writing romantic fiction – the 12 Point Guide To Writing Romance.  I’ve recently revised and updated this and I’m now self-publishing it on Kindle for Amazon.  I love reading all romantic fiction – and anything else I can get my hands on! And I love teaching writing – I’ve just been asked to run a new set of courses this year with Relax and Write  as well as the ones I’ already run for Writer’s Holiday – so it’s a busy time.

What inspired you to be a writer?

I always wanted to be a writer – and I was always making up stories when I was a child.  I wrote my first ‘book’ (all 40 pages of it ) when I was  eleven and I carried on scribbling stories whenever I could  - sometimes in the maths lessons if I was bored! A friend of my mother wrote for Mills & Boon as Margaret Baumann and I thought that she had the perfect life so I dreamed of doing the same.  Before I was accepted by Harlequin Mills & Boon I had some short stories accepted for magazines  but  then I remembered how I used to love Mills & Boon romances and I went back to reading them and trying to write for them. My first book was rejected completely, the second was also a rejection, but with a message of the letter that said ‘please try again’ – so I did!  My third attempt, The Chalk Line, was accepted and published in December 1984  and I’ve been writing for Harlequin ever since.

How did you choose your genre?

My genre chose me! As I said in my previous answer, I’ve always wanted to write and enjoyed telling stories. When I first started out I tried writing all sorts of things – short stories, historical novels,  children’s fiction – but when I set myself to trying to write fiction full time I had just renewed my interest in writing romance. And when I looked back at so many of the things I’d been writing, I wound that they had a romantic relationship at the heart of the story.  I also had the example of my mother’s friend who wrote for Mills & Boon  so I started trying the romance genre. I loved it – it seemed that it liked me!    I was published at my 3rd attempt and I’ve enjoyed writing romance ever since.

What made you tell this story and why did you write this book?

This book is really rather special for me. There is a romantic story in my family – my mother’s  ancestry  - about  a loyal supporter of the Stuart king James II and his son. In exile in France, the King arranged a marriage for his son with a Polish princess  and sent Charles Wogan – my great –great-great (etc) grandfather to fetch the princess safely to marry her prince. There’s a story that on the journey they fell in love  but because he was so loyal to the king, he  had to  give her up to marry her prince at the end of the journey. I wanted to write this story with a happier ending.

How did you come up with the title?

A Question of Honor (or  A Question of Honour if you live in the UK!) was my working title while I was writing this book. My hero is sent on this task because he is very much a man of honor – so he  can be trusted with Clementina’s safety.   He is determined to follow his code of honor, no matter what – and Clemmie does try to dissuade him!  So that was the title I put on the book when I sent it in  and when it was accepted the editors  in UK and USA decided that it fits the book perfectly so they used it for the published versionj.

What is your favourite scene?

I wanted to write a scene that was very far from the royal courts and desert kingdoms where Karim  lived and where Clemmie was meant to be Queen  so I marooned my hero and heroine in a tiny cottage on the  Yorkshire moors in a snowstorm.  Trapped there with no electricity and needing a distraction from the sensual attraction between them, they unearth an old box of children’s games. They end up playing  Snakes and Ladders in the half-light and I really enjoyed writing this scene because it’s sensual, intimate and very revealing about Karim’s character in particular.

Tell us a little about your book?

A runaway princess...
It should have been easy. Karim al Khalifa, crown prince of Mazarkhad, had one task—retrieve rebellious princess Clementina Saveneski from her hideout in England and return her home to be wed...to another man.

His to find, or his to keep?

It is not for Karim to notice her alluring scent, those seductive curves, the enticing glances she sends his way. No, his family's honor, and his own, require Clementina to be delivered—pure and untouched—to her unwanted bridegroom. And he must resist all temptation to keep her for himself!

Buy Link:

Amazon

Amazon UK

Harlequin

Mills & Boon