Today’s Interview is with Daisy Banks author of A Matter of Some Scandal, Fiona’s Wish, Timeless published by Lyrical Press. A Kensington Publications Imprint.
Your Heart My Soul, A Gentleman’s Folly and Valentine Wishes, all published by Liquid Silver Books.
Let’s start the interview with a very personal question- What book do you consider your “guilty pleasure read”?
This might sound odd but I’ve never felt guilty about reading a book. When I sat at the back of class as a student and read instead of attending to a history lecture, I didn’t feel guilty. The book I am thinking of in this instance was 1984, and I can say I learned more from that book than I might have done listening to the lecture on the Repeal of the Corn Laws. I read about them later.
I have read profusely since I learned to read aged about six. I used to sneak read in bed, read on the school bus and even now if I’m not writing I’m reading.
-What book was most influential in your decision to become a writer yourself?
The first stories I made up were recorded into an old reel-to-reel tape machine, as I was too young to be able to write. The need to write was for a long time fulfilled by poetry, college work and later my teaching activities, but when I developed an illness and could no longer teach, I began to write romance. My skills were limited and I have enjoyed trying to improve them, even when frustrated by my mistakes, I enjoyed the process. I still do. One of the most influential books has to be Lord of the Rings. I loved the way I got wrapped up in a new world and swept into a monumental saga. I find the link back to the ancient saga’s very interesting. The development of writing, of creating new worlds for readers has a fascinating history.
-If you could only read one sub-genre for the rest of your life, which genre would you choose and why?
I would guess fantasy. I love myths and legends, and retellings of them. I enjoy ghost stories, tales of love won and lost at the whim of the gods, and creepily, scary stuff. My father played a game with us as children; he would begin, “On a dark and stormy night and the wind did blow a gale.” We had to finish the story off and weren’t allowed to use the same idea we might have tried before. The game made long car journeys interesting.
Let us turn the focus back to your writing- what is your favourite part of writing?
I enjoy it when an idea gels in my head and I can roll on and let the story pour onto the page. I’m a pantster writer and I don’t always know where a story might lead me. I don’t plot, use schematics or write character arcs. I did try it as I’d been told it was the right way to write. I have discovered all authors are different and there is no definitive right way to work. Sometimes I see the end of a story before I begin it and then that’s real fun as I have to work backwards from the end to the start.
-Has writing affected the way you read or the types of books you read?
Yes. I get irritated when I find flaws I have worked so hard to try to eradicate from my writing. These days I try to read a snippet to assess a story before I go on to read it. I still have old favourites I return too regularly and I like some of the classics.
-Finally tell me about your latest/upcoming book.
My latest story is a different genre for me. It’s my exploration of a love story set in a dystopian society on a planet where water is scarce and the government corrupt. A Perfect Match, to be published in July with Taliesin Publishing, revolves around an enforced marriage between a national hero, and a young female ordered from the Temple Sanctuary to be his bride. I am very excited about this story coming out as it is the longest and most complex I have written so far. I am hoping readers will enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it.
I’d like to add here because I am very pleased to say so, later this year my story To Eternity the sequel to my story Timeless, will be published by Lyrical Press, A Kensington Publications Imprint. I took a long time to complete that story as I had much to learn to try to do it justice. I hope readers will think I have, when it comes out.
You can get in touch with Daisy via the following links 
Blog http://daisybanks.wordpress.com/
Website http://daisybanksnovels.yolasite.com/
Twitter @DaisyBanks12
Facebook http://on.fb.me/18iRC35
Pinterest http://bit.ly/16sF1XG
Bio
Daisy Banks writes sensual and spicy romance in the Historical, Paranormal and Fantasy genres. An obsessive writer Daisy is passionate about her stories. Her focus is to offer the best tale she can to readers. Daisy is married, with two grown up sons. She lives with her husband in a converted chapel in Shropshire, England. Antiques and collecting entertain Daisy when she isn’t writing. There are some rare occasion she makes a meal that doesn’t stick to the pan.