Wednesday Writing with author Johnnie Alexander

Johnnie Alexander stopped by the Storyteller Squad again to talk with us about writing. Johnnie has written many books and her award-winning debut novel, Where Treasure Hides, is a CBA bestseller.

She has also written the Misty Willow Series, consisting of three contemporary romance: Where She Belongs (2015), When Love Arrives (2016) and What Hope Remembers (2017).

If you didn’t read the first part of my interview with Johnnie, please check it out on The Storyteller Squad, July 8, 2019.

WELCOME BACK TO THE STORYTELLER SQUAD, JOHNNIE!

I think it would be difficult to write a cozy mystery.  Do you have any trouble coming up with ideas and twists and turns?

No matter what story I’m writing, I have to give myself a pep talk that goes something like this: “You’ve done this before. You can do it again!” The doubt is always there. I plotted out the mysteries ahead of time which made the stories easier to write. But, yes, they do take a lot of thinking and imagining and “what if” brainstorming.

Where do you get your ideas for your books? What inspires you?

Where Treasure Hides was inspired by my fascination with the looting of art by the Nazis during World War II. My love for an 1850s-era house I lived in as a teen inspired my first contemporary romance, Where She Belongs. Other ideas have been rooted in a historical event, a setting, or something that simply tugs at my heart.

Do you write by the seat of your pants or do you carefully plot your novels?

I do both. The novella I recently finished for Barbour’s Homefront Heroines Collection (releasing January 2020) was a seat-of-the-pants project.

But now I’m working on three novels for the Inn at Magnolia Harbor Series (Annie’s Fiction). I’ve already written the chapter summaries and a detailed synopsis for each of those stories.

What do you like to do in your spare time?

I love to talk about writing, so I co-host a weekly online show called Writers Chat, and I record interviews with other inspirational novelists for my website, Novelists Unwind.

Johnnie, thanks for visiting The Storyteller Squad. Come back anytime!

Johnnie serves on the Serious Writer, Inc. executive board, co-hosts an online show called Writers Chat, and interviews inspirational authors for Novelists Unwind. She also teaches at writers conferences and for Serious Writer Academy. Johnnie lives in Oklahoma with Griff, her happy-go-lucky collie, and Rugby, her raccoon-treeing papillon. Connect with her at www.johnnie-alexander.com and other social media sites via https://linktr.ee/johnniealexndr.

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