Allyson Simonian, Romance Author

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  • My Books
  • About Me
  • FAQs


Where are the titles listed on Goodreads?
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I've taken down a couple of my earlier titles. I wasn't happy with the plotting (in one book) and (in another) I disliked one of the characters.  I think I'll stop reading what I have published, though.  I don't want to take anything else down! 



How much do you write each day?


It's rare for me to write more than 1,000 words a day (although it has been known to happen, especially if I'm at the start of a story where the ideas are pouring out). The good thing, though, is that even by writing a little each day you can have a story completed within a few months. And then the editing begins . . .

Sometimes my husband takes the kids on an outing or to see their fun uncle, who lives a couple hours away. A quiet house—my own personal writer's retreat. But that soon becomes, "Wow. Perfect time to scrub the kitchen floor." And, really, I don't write in stretches longer than an hour anyway.


Least favorite part of writing?


The revising, for sure. Sentences are like a puzzle and you have to make sure they fit together just right. (I'm still honing my puzzle-piecing skills.) Also, the minutia really needs to be looked at, like whether you repeated a character's name in consecutive sentences. Otherwise, you run the risk of a reader being jolted out of the story.

And, I can't forget the intimacy scenes. It's hard to find new ways to describe the same thing!

I'm never, ever done revising. That's a blessing and a curse with ebooks—you can always change them. And whenever I've reread what I have published, I've always found something I want to change.


How did you start writing?


When I was 23, I began a novel, but I didn't finish more than 20 pages. Part of it was a fear of being embarrassed by what I wrote. Part was not knowing how to write (something that everyone can learn, by the way, by reading books on the craft of writing) and a great deal of it was not having enough adult life experiences to draw from. I picked up writing again in 2012. I was so touched by the emotion in the Fifty Shades series that I was once again inspired to create my own work. Now I definitely have more life experience to draw from.