****Author Interview- Robin Leigh Morgan****

Robin Leigh Morgan Interview:

Hello Robin!

Tell us a bit about your book “I Kissed a Ghost.”

Mary is rather plain looking, and smart as a whip. When Jonathan moves to her neighborhood and joins her class, she’s volunteers to help him with his studies so he’ll be able to join the school’s baseball team.

The relationship begins to grow, despite his becoming popular with the other boys in the school and most of the girls. They both like each other for being themselves. But their relationship comes to an abrupt end. Mary has to move away because her father has gotten a promotion on his job. She decides to do something special, and devises a plan to give him a kiss, the first kiss she had ever given to a boy.

Once in her new house, she quickly discovers that she has a spectre living there as well. Their friendly relationship starts to grow. When summer is over, she’s finally able to start making friends; everyone had been away at camp. The only problem is they continually tease her about being haunted, and continually to go inside her house because of it. Little do they realize the house does have a real ghost living there?

George helps Mary with her homework, and starts to take her in his past, the past in which he was still alive. Eventually Mary begins to love going into past. The problem with her friends never wanting to come into her house is there until Mary decides to have a Halloween party, a Halloween party for which no one could refuse to go to. In the days after the party is over, her friends finally decide it would be okay go inside to play.

What does George do to help Mary with her homework? What happens when George takes Mary into the past? How does their relationship develop? What happens at the Halloween party to make her friends change their minds to play with Mary inside her house? Is there another kiss involved, and what happens if and when it does occur?

What would say is the genre for “I Kissed a Ghost”?

The genre for my first YA novel is a YA Paranormal/Time Travel/First Kiss romance. The reason for my writing this book in a multitude of sub-genres is the potential romance audiences it would appeal is broader than merely having it as a YA romance novel.

Where did the inspiration come from?

To tell the truth the whole story has been one of pure imagination, as I wrote it, I saw different ways of letting the story develop, and chose one which I felt could be built upon. In the beginning I did have a skeleton of an outline for the storyline and nothing more.

How did you come up with the title for your book?

Selecting a title for a book had been a very challenging experience for me; but after racking my brain over it, I decided to merely summarize the premise for the entire story in as few words as possible until I had something which could be used as the title for my book. Hence, since the story is about a girl [Mary] and her kissing the ghost [George] she had living in her house; the story had to be called “I Kissed a Ghost.”

How long did it take you to finish writing the book before the first edit? How many drafts were there in total?

It’s hard to remember the total number of hours it could me to actually from typing the first letter to typing that elusive final period. In the past I’d usually stated it had been about ten months, however this time I decided to go back and find the date I did my first save. When I did I realized it had taken me about a year to complete this process, a process which includes several periods of writer’s block and time outs from writing. As far as the total number of drafts is concerned, I’ll say it had been about four; however this doesn’t include the times I merely rewrote a few pages which I’d been currently working on.

Are there any characters in the book based on people you know?

Since my first novel has been one of pure imagination, I had no characters which had been influenced by any real individual.

How did you celebrate being published? Did you have a launch party?

Just had a private dinner with my other half at our favorite Italian restaurant

Would you care to give us an extract of I kissed a ghost?

Instead of giving just one, if anyone is interested in reading several UNEDITED SNIPPETS from the book, you can do so under the category of “GHOSTLY WHISPERS” on any of my blog sites:

http://www.mypennameonly.blogspot.com or http://www.mypennameonly.wordpress.com or http://www.mypennameonly.webs.com [my website/blog] http://www.mypennameonly.tumblr.com

How do you beat writers block? Any tips?

While I’d been writing my first novel, I just took time away from writing it, and allowed my mind to clear from doing anything connected to it. Now, writing my second novel, I’ve found responding to several of the writing prompts sites we find on the internet has allowed the creative juices in the little grey cells in my mind to start flowing.

Do you have any hobbies apart from writing?

Being retired I just relax by watching the television programs I’d enjoyed watching as a child, as well as those growing up on NetFlix; right now I’m about halfway through the final season of “The Wild Wild West.”

When you write, do you consider yourself to be a plotter or a pantser?

I’d probably say a little of both. As I said in the above, I made a skeleton of an outside, writing down the basic plot points I’d like to hit as the story unfolded; and as a sculptor starting with a wire base of what they’d like to have, I added material, then took some away, until I had the finished product I had in mind.

Do you have any advice for fellow writers?

Ever give up living your dream of becoming a writer, as you can from reading about me, I never did. Before you start looking for a publisher or even an agent you MUST have your manuscript edited, granted the editor you select might miss a few minor points, but at least it’s now in a much more presentable condition. Publishers want manuscript which can be easily edited by their own editing staff, without them having to correct countless misspellings and grammatical errors.

If I kissed ghost became a film- who would you pick to play the main characters?

Since I rarely see films where there’s a child star in the main roles, it would be quite difficult for me to offer any suggestions. But if I actually got to choose, I thing I would give the roles of the main characters to someone new.

I see you have new work in progress- care to tell us about it?

My work in progress is not exactly new. I had started to write a contemporary romance on/off for about nine years while I’d been still working, but never completed writing it because I didn’t feel it had been good enough to be published. I wrote “I Kissed a Ghost” after some suggested I should try writing for a younger audience; which is what I did. Now with my first YA novel self-published I’ve return to writing the romance manuscript I had started many years ago, and approaching it anew with the knowledge I’ve gained along the way in writing “I Kissed a Ghost.” The reason I’m writing it is relatively simple, I’ve always felt somewhat incomplete not having completed something I once had started out to do, and I now want to fill the void it has created in my life.

This contemporary romance has a paranormal element running through the storyline and starts off with Warren showing up at Jessica’s door at dinner time with a letter he’d just received, stating she’s ready to use his services as an architect. The only thing is the letter is from her fiancé who has been dead for the past fourteen months.

Will there be a sequel to “I Kissed a Ghost”?

At the present time I don’t envision myself writing one. But doesn’t mean I won’t bring back Mary and another character for another stand-alone novel.

Lastly, where can readers find you and your book on the internet?

My book is available on Amazon at: http://www.amazon.com/Kissed-Ghost-Robin-Leigh-Morgan/dp/1480030031

The book is also available on Amazon.co.uk Amazon.de Amazon.es Amazon.fr Amazon.it

Aside from the blog sites I’ve mentioned previously, I can be found on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/mypennameonly FaceBook: http://www.facebook.com/mypennameonly GoodReads: http://www.goodreads.com/RobinLeighMorgan

Thank you so much for participating – I have your book and looking forward to reading it!