This is a survey from https://saraflower.ca/author/saraflower/ on thehttps://saraflower.ca/2022/09/20/fun-book-survey-for-authors/
2022 Fun Author Survey
Which book was most fun for you to write? I wrote a book called ”A Hero’s Tail”. It hasn’t been published and sits on my computer needing a total re-write. It is about a teenager, who finds out he can turn into a dragon. I know it needs work and one day I will edit it, but my main focus is writing my latest novel ”In the Dark”.
How many books have you published? 3, but I have written three, which are only on my computer. Food for Thought, Orvieto, Scamp (a biography about my old dog) and A Hero’s Tail.
Which one of your stories is the closest to your heart? My self-published novel ”It Won’t Happen Again. I spent seven years writing, editing, writing more chapters, editing. Writing to publishers and agents, having no luck, so using Kindle to publish.
Do your characters usually represent you and your experiences, or are they their own separate entities? My first book, using a vanity publisher I won’t name, was written because I was a victim of bullying. It Won’t Happen Again, my latest novel was written because someone in my close family was a victim. We didn’t find out until she left him. Thankfully she found the courage and left. She is now happily married. She is the bravest person I know. We should have noticed the signs but didn’t.
Martha is her own person though, and not based on anyone.
What setting(s) do you write best in? I write in my front room, or my little office at home.
What genre(s) is your book(s)? Women’s fiction, although I have been told it is Domestic Noir.
(If you’ve written multiple books) If you had to choose only one book of yours to be published, which one would it be? It Won’t Happen Again.
Use only one tagline for each book to describe them.
It Won’t Happen Again – Martha, follow her journey from victim to Heroine -https://www.amazon.co.uk/Wont-Happen-Again-DIANA-COOMBES/dp/1655126148/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2A9U6DW18BPTD&keywords=It+won%27t+happen+again+diana+coombes&qid=1663705847&sprefix=it+won+t+happen+again+diana+coombes+%2Caps%2C183&sr=8-1
Sticks and Stones – Alison, bullied at school, feels like she has nobody else to turn to when her life is turned upside down. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sticks-Stones-Diana-Coombes/dp/1434358593/ref=sr_1_1?crid=9OJSOUK2YW2B&keywords=sticks+and+stones+diana+coombes&qid=1663706067&sprefix=sticks+and+stones+diana+coombes%2Caps%2C79&sr=8-1
I do think I have learnt a lot since writing my first book, but it doesn’t make me any less proud that I wrote it.
Writer Ravenclaw 
Yay I’m so happy you did the survey! 🙂 Ioved your answers and I’ll have to buy the print book of your story about bullying. I was curious about Martha and it’s interesting to know she’s based on someone in your family but it also her own character in the story.
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I published it with a vanity publisher, who I never used again, but you are welcome to read it. If I had the power to change it, I would because of what I have learnt in the meantime.
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Sorry to hear that. 😦
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It was a learning curve, and at least I learnt something from it. I much prefer doing things myself, and at least I am in full control. If I want to change something I can.
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That’s true you definitely learned from it. Its awful they take advantage of people like that. I was going to go with Strang Publishing House way back but my ex at the time stopped it. While I was annoyed with him for taking control he at probably saved me some money. It’s tempting to fall for a vanity publisher when you want to believe what they promise.
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I used to go on Facebook writing groups, before I started my website, and you can see a lot of people saying they are editors and charging stupid amounts of money for their service. I saw one person saying they paid thousands of pounds for an edit. Probably in the hope they would be getting the sales. We both know that isn’t the case, it is about building up a readership. There are people out there who just want to take your money. Looking at my book now, even their editing wasn’t brilliant. When I sent my new book to an editor (someone I knew from my writing group’s daughter was branching out) she talked to me about stuff I didn’t even realise. If anyone had said ten years ago my character needed to go on a journey, I wouldn’t have had a clue.
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