Interview With Author C. C. Burns
Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’m Claire, lover all things Regency! I’m not quite sure how this fascination began, but trips to my local National Trust house at Osterley Park were certainly part of my inspiration as a young girl and naturally lead to an overconsumption of period drama and nineteenth century books from an early age. I am interested in excavating women’s pasts and reimagining the little known-untold stories of supressed histories and narratives. I love research and like to mix well researched truths in with reimagined fictions, to fill out the historical clefts. I like to start with a valid line of enquiry and ask “what might such a past have looked like for a woman like this?” My current (debut) series seeks to consider what a lesbian lifestyle might have been like for a woman of the nineteenth century.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My series name was inspired by a very famous line by Jane Austen in P&P and seemed fitting to my protagonists character: “Diary of an obstinate, headstrong female.” The book title of my latest book within this series is: “Appetence.” The book is about longing for the forbidden, ardent desire and romance, so it seemed apt.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Hmmm, how would I know when they would not seem at all irregular to me? 😉 – I don’t think I have anything extraordinary to note. I’m what’s know as a pantser, in author speak, and sometimes my characters and storylines come to me in dreams and on the fly and I have to speed-write the details down before they are lost to me like a fading dream.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
So many… I have always enjoyed the wit and romantic plots of Regency authors like Jane Austen and Georgette Heyer. I also love Victorian works by Dickens, Gaskell, Emile Zola & Alcott. I have more recently discovered less known regency authors; Charlotte Dacre and Maria Edgeworth.
My favourite modern HF writers are Sarah Waters, Michel Faber, Imogen Hermes Gowar, Kate Manning.
What are you working on now?
I’m working on my third book in the series: “Cicisbeo” which I expect to complete this year. I have already done most of the groundwork for this book but It can take a little while to synchronise it all and give it the final polish.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I’m not sure yet, it’s early days..
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Join 20books250k for a wealth of indie author advice and experience on publishing and marketing. – Independent authors have to be writers, publishers and marketers – the latter can be a little daunting.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Question everything…
What are you reading now?
Zofloya, or the Moor – Charlotte Dacre.
What’s next for you as a writer?
Well initially to complete this current series which I anticipate will end up a six book series. After that, I have stacks of ideas queuing, and new ones always emerging from current research.
If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
Tipping the Velvet – Sarah Waters
Fingersmith – Sarah Waters
The Notorious Madame X – Kate Manning
Sprig Muslin – Georgette Heyer
Author Websites and Profiles
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