Interview Carolyn Ann Aish

by

Cheryl Norman

1. Tell us a little about your book KIND HEART.

KIND HEART contains a medieval hero, a king, who believes all women are troublesome and insincere, and a heroine who disdains all men. This causes the unmatched duo to clash before they even meet each other. Sparks fly, landing all around and setting fires for others to see. Halfway through this book, the scenery, and location completely change, and the hero and heroine are as far apart as they once wanted to be. It was torment to see each other each day, but nothing like the torment to be in separate kingdoms. The breathless reader will wonder if these two will ever see each other again, let alone be able to express their deepest feelings of love.

A masked man spans the gap between the two kingdoms and when his identity is revealed, there are many more problems and challenges. This is an epic story with murder plots and betrayals, telling a tale of true brotherly love that needs no blood relationship to seal it.

2. How did you decide on the book’s title?

The masked hero whose legacy spans several generations needed a name. Due to his unselfish, good and kind deeds of saving peoples lives and restoring freedom, they called him KIND HEART. Thus the name of this book was born.

3. When did you first realize you were a writer? What inspired you?

From the age of ten, I made little books from newsprint off-cuts, with pencil-drawn pictures and matching stories in them. When I was fourteen years old, I wrote a novel of 50,000 words and knew I was a writer. I read this novel, a chapter a week, to a group of nine-year-old girls at a local Sunday School.

My inspiration comes from my personal faith in God, and the need to write more than ‘just a story’ but to have a deeper meaning beyond the written words and the tale that is read.

4. What is your description of the 'perfect VILLAIN'?

For the woman ‘villainess’, Cruella DeVille is a ‘good’ example--lean, mean and so wicked she makes the spine tingle and the body tremble. She is one whose presence we hate to be within a mile of us. Keep away from her--or else!--More especially if she wants something that YOU have!

For the man, the perfect villain is unpredictable, moody, and is likely to imprison or kill someone ‘just for practice’. Rarely does the ‘perfect’ villain change his spots.

5. KIND HEART is your first published book for adults. How did writing this compare with your other works?

KIND HEART was more demanding as it is very complex and it needed time and effort to work with the characters of the different kingdoms and to tie it together so that total harmony is created nearer the end, and everything knits together at the conclusion of the story.

6. If Hollywood made a movie of KIND HEART, whom would you choose to play the hero and heroine?

Wow, this is a great question! Pierce Brosnam would make a perfect King Cyranius; Nicole Kidman as Jennava. King Maslen, who takes the stage for so much of this book, needs a mention here, and I believe Sean Connery would make him as memorable as he is in KIND HEART.

7. As a reader, what do you look for in a good romance novel?

I simply have to have a happy ending where the man gets his woman and vice versa. Heaps of conflict and I like it to be unpredictable yet, again, definitely a ‘happy-ever-after’ kind of finish.

8. Any words of advice to aspiring writers?

Write, write, write! And NEVER throw anything away, never touch ‘DELETE’. EVERYTHING you write is valuable and should be kept. By writing you are a writer. As in everything you do, practice improves your craft, so write, write, write! By being published you will become an author, so send your writing out to be considered for publication. And best wishes, for great success.

Thanks, Carolyn, for taking the time to share a little of yourself with us.