New Adult Book Club discussion

Welcome to another NABC Q&A! Over the next two weeks, we have the wonderful L.H. Cosway joining us to answer your questions. She is the author of the awesome Hearts series, the Rugby series, the Painted Faces series, the Ultimate Power series, and the Florence Vaine series.

Leave your questions for her below!

Hi LH, I am such a huge fan of your Hearts series!!

My question for you is what are the hardest and easiest scenes to write?

Hello L.H.Cosway!!
I've loved all your books that I've read till now but my most favourite would be Painted Faces since the characters stayed with me for a long time after I finished reading it.
So,I would like to ask, what was your inspiration for Nicholas and Freda and their amazing banter?Do you let your story go along with what your characters want to do or do you plan out the plotlines?

Hello L.H.Cosway!!
I've loved all your books that I've read till now but my most favourite would be Painted Faces since the characters stayed with me for a long time after I finished reading it.
So,I would like to ask, what was your inspiration for Nicholas and Freda and their amazing banter?Do you let your story go along with what your characters want to do or do you plan out the plotlines?

Hello L.H. Cosway! I want to know what your favorite book is.

Love your books. What is/are your favorite genres to read?

Hi L.H. Cosway :) Where is your favorite place to write? Is there a secret spot where no one can disturb your creative process?

Hi LH. Six of Hearts is one of my most favourite books ever. How did you come up with those astonishing illusionist tricks throughout the story? What research did you have to undertake?

Hello LH Cosway!! What's your inspiration for The Player and the Pixie? Who is your dream cast? :) Thanks. xx

Where do you get your ideas from? X

Hi LH
Hope you are well?
My question is how do two people write a book together?
I can't get my head around how it works and who decides what. Do you brainstorm one night over wine? Come up with a storyline and then how do you decide who writes which bits etc.
Thank you, I know it's more than one question linked into one and apologies for that.
Pam x

Which one of your books was your favorite to write and why? Thanks!!

Which would you rather:
1. Go on a tour of a fancy hotel in Edinburgh with an eccentric old man?
2. Have high tea in a bar?

<3 :-D
Also, I LOVE YOUR BOOKS!

What are some of your favorite books, or some of your inspirations? Thanks :)

If you could write in any time period other than the current one, which would it be?

Hello LH! I was wondering if you happen to know in real life people who were like your hero in Painted Faces, if your other half was like that how would you deal with it? :) Thank you!

Hi LH! First off, I cannot wait to meet you at the FBBF in June in Birmingham! I'm so excited. My question would be, if you could co-write a book with anyone, who would it be and what genre would you want to write?

So excited for the Pixie and the Player!!

My question is, do you think there will be a third book in this series??

Betul wrote: "Hi LH, I am such a huge fan of your Hearts series!!

My question for you is what are the hardest and easiest scenes to write?"

Hi Betul!

For me the easiest scenes to write are the ones that are dialogue heavy. I can just sit back and type whatever comes into my head, and I love just seeing what the characters will say to one another. Sometimes funny. Sometimes weird. Often they surprise me. The hardest scenes are the ones that I have to do research for, like the magic tricks in Six of Hearts. I'll want to get all the details just right, so I have to do a lot of studying beforehand.

Shrimalya wrote: "Hello L.H.Cosway!!
I've loved all your books that I've read till now but my most favourite would be Painted Faces since the characters stayed with me for a long time after I finished reading it.
So..."

Hi Shrimalya :-)

My inspiration for Nicholas and Freda's story is mainly down to my obsession with gender and how it can be ambiguous at times. In my mind there are so many variations on what a person can be, rather than "all female" or "all male". With Nicholas I wanted to show a character who was an amalgamation of masculine and feminine, neither one nor the other. Their banter just came naturally. It was intrinsic to who they are.

Nowadays I always plot out my books, but with Painted Faces I didn't. This might be because it was my first contemporary romance and I was winging it slightly, lol. I just let the story happen as I went along, often surprising myself with the direction it took. In hindsight I think having no plan made the process of writing it much more exciting.

Hi,*waves*

What does a day in the life of L. H. Cosway look like? :)

Maria wrote: "Hello L.H. Cosway! I want to know what your favorite book is."

Gah! How to answer? I have a lot favourites :-) The one that's always stuck with me as a fave is Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys. I take my pen name Cosway from the main character Antoinette Cosway.

Becky wrote: "Love your books. What is/are your favorite genres to read?"

I'll read anything depending on my mood, but my favourites are contemporary romance, romantic suspense, horror and fantasy :-)

Christine wrote: "Hi L.H. Cosway :) Where is your favorite place to write? Is there a secret spot where no one can disturb your creative process?"

I wish I had a secret spot! That would be cool. Alas, I live in a tiny apartment so there aren't many places to hide, lol. Mostly I just write in bed or at the kitchen table...so, not very exciting. I do, however, like to go on long walks because I get the best ideas when I just wander around with no destination in mind.

Nicole wrote: "Hi LH. Six of Hearts is one of my most favourite books ever. How did you come up with those astonishing illusionist tricks throughout the story? What research did you have to undertake?"

Hi Nicole!

I read a lot of books about magic as research/watched youtube videos/went to a couple magic shows. I've also been a fan of the illusionist Derren Brown for years. A lot of Jay's tricks were inspired by his and some of them I just came up with myself. Like Jay, I thought of things that would wow an audience and tried to figure how you could actually make them happen :-)

Elle wrote: "Hello LH Cosway!! What's your inspiration for The Player and the Pixie? Who is your dream cast? :) Thanks. xx"

Hi Ellie! You need to go check out mine and Penny Reid's Pinterest board for the book. All the pictures there are our dream cast <3

https://www.pinterest.com/lhcosway13/...

Elizabeth wrote: "Where do you get your ideas from? X"

From my crazy brain. And the shower. And walking. And doing the dishes. The ideas usually come when my mind's a blank canvas. I think up magical things during mundane tasks :-D

Pamela wrote: "Hi LH
Hope you are well?
My question is how do two people write a book together?
I can't get my head around how it works and who decides what. Do you brainstorm one night over wine? Come up with a ..."

Hi Pamela :-)

It's really simple, actually. Mine and Penny's books are written in dual POV, so one person writes the girl chapters and the other writes the boy chapters. In The Hooker & the Hermit I wrote Ronan's chapters while Penny wrote Annie's. And in The Player & the Pixie we switched, so she wrote the boy and I wrote the girl. Though sometimes I tinker with Penny's chapters and she tinkers with mine. That sounds sort of rude, doesn't it? ;-)

H wrote: "Which one of your books was your favorite to write and why? Thanks!!"

My favourite to write was Painted Faces, probably because it was my first contemporary romance, so it felt like a whole new world of possibility :-)

Penny wrote: "Which would you rather:
1. Go on a tour of a fancy hotel in Edinburgh with an eccentric old man?
2. Have high tea in a bar?

<3 :-D
Also, I LOVE YOUR BOOKS!"

I'd rather go for Mexican in a grotty little roadside restaurant where the food is surprisingly tasty but I'm too jet lagged to appreciate it :-*

P.S. I LOVE YOUR BOOKS MORE <3

Katie wrote: "If you could write in any time period other than the current one, which would it be?"

I'm actually dying to write a romance set in 1950's Hollywood. Like the Rat Pack era. DYING TO. But I need to find the time to research the period. It will happen one day :-)

Hi LH

I was wondering if you have any writing hard limits? (Maybe HEA only, or you steer clear of a certain genre or certain types of scenes etc.?) If so, why? Stemming from this question, is there a certain genre or trope you'd like to write and haven't yet? If so, could you tell us what the genre/trope is?

Thanks! I loved the Hooker and the Hermit :)

What movie do you love to watch over and over again?

Hi LH,

I love your books but have to admit that Jack and Lille are my all-time favourites. Do you have a favourite character that you have created? Also, if you could be a character that you have created, who would you choose to be and why?

Thanks,
Bec

Hi LH,

I love your books but have to admit that Jack and Lille are my all-time favourites. Do you have a favourite character that you have created? Also, if you could be a character that you have created, who would you choose to be and why?

Thanks,
Bec

hi! what's the best thing being an author? :)

Thanks so much for this awesome opportunity!! I have to ask, if you could be real life friends with any of your characters, who would you choose?

Who's your favorite author to read and why? What author would you love to meet in person to pick their brain?

how did you feel on your first signing? love your books!

What is your favorite quote from one of your books?

Will we ever get to meet Lola from Hearts of Fire again? Maybe even as a protagonist.
For some reason, she's one sub-character that's always stuck with me and I can't help but want to know more about her and want a happy ending for her. Maybe with Liam?

In fact, now that I think about it, we might enounter King and Alexix but will we ever meet Jay, or any of the others? But especially Jay and Matilda?

Who are your favorite writers or influences? Thank you!

I have only actually read the Hooker and the Hermit by you, which I loved. What book of yours would you suggest to read for someone who is a newbie to your books and why would you choose that book?

Where do you find your best inspiration?

Hopefully this hasn't already been asked before... but have you always wanted to be an author? When did you decide to pursue it? And thanks for your awesome books! I love them! :)

Thank you for answering to our questions :)
Do you have a favorite genre?

How do you deal with writer's block?

What's your favorite book?

Hey ladies!
How did you guys came with the idea of writing a book together? And how did you meet each other in the first place?

Hello! Who has been your favorite character to write and are any of your characters based on real people? Love your work!