Health & Fitness
Supernatural/Historical Author P.J. Roscoe is in the Spotlight
Today’s spotlight author is P.J. Roscoe. P.J. Roscoe is a supernatural/historical fiction writer who enjoys writing ghost stories. After the death of her son, 16 years ago, she was grieving so badly that one morning she picked up a pencil and began doodling on some scrap paper. The doodles turned into short story that grew into a novel, which over the years morphed into the novel ‘Echoes’. Check out the book’ success since its 2012 release.
Echoes‘ awarded Winner of the e-book category in the Paris Book festival May 2013.
‘Echoes’ awarded Honorable Mention in the New England Book festival Dec 2012r
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‘Echoes‘ awarded a Five star review from Readers Favourite Feb 2013- placing it in the semi-finals in July 2013
I am delighted to introduce the author of the novels, Echoes and Freya’s Child: P.J. Roscoe. Welcome P.J.? Where did you get the inspiration for this book?
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Both my books and the third I am writing now are all supernatural/historical thrillers. My belief in the spirit world has always been significant since seeing ghosts from an early age and I have continued to help spirit move on if they wanted. I was part of a group that was called to haunted locations and we counseled a lot of souls. Got a lot of evidence of life after death – maybe that’ll be my memoirs one day!
My love for history has also played a huge part in my writing. I love delving into the past and finding snippets of history and weaving a story from that. Being adopted I don’t have any history beyond my 42 years, so I love to find out about everyone else’s!
Would you please share an odd behavior you’ve picked up while writing? (An example: during intense scenes, my fingers pound the keyboard.)
As I write I feel every emotion I hope my readers will feel. Be it sadness, joy, anger, fear and my favorite, lust!
Share a pet peeve of yours (related to writing or otherwise).
Famous people get their books published just because they are a name. That annoys me. Just because they are well known, doesn’t mean they can write a good book, they get someone else to do it. I feel society holds too much on a name – give us every day storytellers a try!
Do characters invade your head the moment you stumble on a new writing idea? If so, how long did you fear that you’d gone insane before realizing this is the norm for writers?
My characters become real to me. I wrote an article on ‘Is writing a type of schizophrenia’ http://www.lpobryan.com/emerging-writers-guest-post-31-p-j-roscoe-is-writing-a-type-of-schizophrenia/ because I can ‘see’ them, ‘feel’ them and know everything about them. I have walked through town and seen a dress in a shop window and turned to my husband and said, “Bronwen would never wear anything like that!” to which he replied, “Well, of course not, she’s not real!”
I think you have to know your characters intimately otherwise how can you make them ‘real’ on paper? I never considered myself insane, but when I’ve finished the book, I do grief for them and it takes me awhile to move onto my next project. I have lived with the characters for so long, they become a part of me.
What is your day job?
Author! My part-time jobs are counselor and holistic therapist in a wellness spa and of course, Mum.
Did you conduct any kind of research in order to write this book (visit certain locales, etc.)?
I do a lot of research for my books. I try to get inside my characters heads.
For Echoes I visited Shrewsbury a lot, visiting possible sites for scenes and acting them out with my husband to see if they worked. The research libraries are also my best friends! And the pubs!! I talk to people which has been hard for me, I’m quite shy, so I’ve stepped outside my comfort zone.
For Freya I spoke to archaeologists and visited the site over a few months to see how it changed during the seasons and wrote down everything. Visited libraries and spoke to re-enactors about Viking life as well as locals who had stories to tell.
For my next novel, I again am visiting the area a lot, taking photographs, acting out scenes, speaking with so many people and working with libraries. (Haven’t finished yet!) One thing I have found since writing, there are a lot of kind people out there willing to help and I thank every single one for indulging me.
How do you overcome writers block?
Never had it! I’ll probably have it now – jinxed myself!!
Thank you P.J. for taking the time to speak with me. I am thrilled we discovered one another. I wish you the very best!
Here are the links to find P.J.’s books:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Freyas-Child-P-J-Roscoe/dp/1482579723/ref=pd_sim_sbs_b_1
Date published: Echoes – Sept 2012 Freya’s Child April 2013
