Favorite Authors & the Author in Me

As a published author myself, I’ve been asked on many occasions who my favorite author is…who has inspired me most. Time and time again, I have responded—Jane Austen. It seems like an easy response, almost cliché. I mean how many times have you heard this same exact response from several authors?? But let me reiterate—I really love Jane Austen!

When we choose a favorite author, I suppose it is because we love their writing and can’t get enough of it, and as authors wish we were as good as they. That is exactly how I feel about Jane. Miss Austen had a special gift, a talent if you will, not just in writing but in knowing people. Think about it. Here is this prim and proper (though some would argue this point) Regency era woman, unmarried, and coming from the middle of the social pool—and she has this uncanny ability to write the most terrific characters. She wrote characters to hate, laugh at, and fall in love with. Some of the other greats of classic literature also had this remarkable ability—Dickens for instance and Shakespeare. Think of their casts of characters that once read will never be forgotten.

For me, a good book is dependant on well-written characters far more than plot. Yes, we need a telling plot to keep the story going, but it is the characters which take us on the journey.  I have only begun my adventure as a published author, having had my first book published in December 2006 and number ten released earlier this month; but when I come to the end of this excursion, I hope there is someone out there who can say ‘Cindy Green wrote characters that I will never forget..’

If there is one thing I have learned from Jane Austen it is to observe people and try to make my characters as real as possible. Why is it that the likes of JA and Shakespeare are still read and revered to this very day? It’s because they wrote people that are true of the human spirit which will never change. That is the kind of author I want to be when I grow up. I want to make you laugh, make you think and in the end make you remember.

Let me take the time now to introduce you to my latest release, Dilemma of the Heart. Available now from The Wild Rose Press.

Excerpt #1:

Placing her hat on the bench, she removed the golden charm from around her neck and held it in the palm of her hand. She opened it and admired the lock of lovely golden brown hair held inside. She touched the strands of Frederick’s hair, the softness causing deep emotions to stir within her. A hand came to her mouth to stifle the sob forming in her throat. With him, she had formed all her hopes and dreams. All that was gone. Now the future only seemed to spread before her like an empty, desolate land.

Lord, why? Why did you allow Frederick to die? Why did he have to leave me? Why? Huge tears began to tumble down her cheeks.

Snapping the locket shut, she shot to her feet as her hands bunched into fists. These thoughts were a poison to her soul. It was as if she was determined to make herself continue in perpetual grief. Her life had become a vale of tears and she was tired of it. She had to let him go if only to allow her heart to rest. She knew that would only come by allowing God to heal her pain but she couldn’t. If she permitted herself to stop hurting over Frederick, it would be like admitting she had forgotten him.

Excerpt #2:

“Cass, what are you doing here?” Frederick said quite casually, breaking the silence between them. He set the comb in his hand down on a bench and then tousled a hand through his sun-lightened brown hair. Though his eyes revealed no displeasure at her sudden appearance, he seemed unsure of her intent. At this point, she wasn’t sure what she was doing there either. Her stalwart resolutions back at home seemed to be disappearing into the inky dark night. If he had come home hoping to marry her as they had promised, then he sure wasn’t trying very hard to see that come to fruition.

“I…I’m not sure why I’m here.”

A slight smile curved in the corner of his mouth, the type of playful expression which commonly appeared on his features when they were younger. “It’s not like you to be indecisive, Miss Huddleston.” He said her name with a smirk as he leaned against a stall and crossed his arms.

Cassandra closed her eyes and tightly grasped the sides of her dress, trying to maintain her temper. “Will you please cease with the Miss Huddleston. It is becoming quite tedious, Mr. Adair.” She uttered his proper name with as much derision as she could muster.

He began to move toward her, his strides determined and sleek. “And how shall I address you when you’re married?” His voice drawled into a low and provocative tone, making her heart give a little leap.

She made the mistake of gazing into those deep, wonderful eyes of his and forgot to breathe as his eyes, no longer playful, seared into her, down to her beating heart. When she was finally able to gulp some air, her lungs began to pump again. “You may call me Cassandra as you always have…I hope.” Her voice came out breathy and weak.

“Oh, no, I don’t believe that would be proper.” He stepped right in front of her face and touched his forehead to hers. In that moment, it felt as if a dozen butterflies had been released inside her stomach. He grabbed her around the waist, but before he had the chance to kiss her, she returned to her senses. Pushing off from his chest, she moved down toward the stalls, keeping her back to him as she held a hand over her galloping heart.

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CONTEST!

Want to win a copy of this title? Send an email to cindy@cindykgreen.com with the subject: Dilemma and you will be entered into a drawing.

Stop by Cindy’s website to read about her other new release—a historical western—The Heart Never Lies.

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Cindy K. Green is a multi-published author with degrees in History and Education. Previously a middle school English & History teacher, she now homeschools her own children and writes in several genres: Inspirational, Contemporary, Suspense, Fantasy and Historical romance. Find out more about Cindy and her books at www.cindykgreen.com and http://cindykgreen.blogspot.com/. To join her newsletter email her at  newsletters@cindykgreen.com, and she will send you out all three parts of her FREE READ serial,  “Valentine’s Challenge.”