For my next Author Spotlight I’m joined by the wonderful Louisa Masters. We talked about her upcoming release, being a complete pantser, and how romance has influenced her life.

Take it away Louisa…

First things first, please introduce yourself!
I’m a hopeless romantic and rabid reader of romance from way back when. In my real life I’m a wildly introverted Aussie who loves her family, but in my head I’m constantly going on adventures RL me would never dare to.

Tell us a little bit about your writing style.
I hate hurting my characters, so for the most part my style is lighthearted. Funny paranormal is my current love, but I do have contemporary series as well… also funny. Most of my books are in first person, present tense.

Describe your books in only three words.
Hilarious. Escapist. Lighthearted.

What’s your next book about and when is it coming out?
Spirited Situation releases on February 17, and it’s the first book in the Ghostly Guardians series set at Mannix Estate, which is haunted AF. Josh is a medium who’s desperate to get out of the city and work somewhere ghosts are no big deal, but when he starts his new job, he discovers he’ll be working with his last one-night stand, Ewan.

Out of all your books, which one are you most proud of?
I’m so incredibly proud of them all! It still seems surreal at times that I’ve actually written whole books. But if I had to pick, I’d say Demons Do It Better. I wrote that when I was going through a lot of emotional turmoil, and I’m so proud that it got finished and turned out as well as it did.

What or who (or both) has influenced you most as a writer?
There’s no question for me that I’ve been most influenced by the romance genre as a whole. I love fantasy and would really love to write fantasy romance one day, but for me, the concept of always having a guaranteed happy ending is one that fulfils me. There’s so much uncertainty in life, so I love knowing that the romance genre has a guarantee.

What inspired you to start writing?
I wanted to share the stories in my head. I’d played around with getting them down on paper a few times over the years, but never with any purpose. Initially, it felt like a good hobby to try!

What’s your writing process like? Do you have a typical “writing day”?
I’m a complete pantser, so my writing process is “sit down and see what happens.” These days, I set myself a goal of a certain number of words every week, and the number of hours I write depends on how long it takes me to achieve that.

What comes first for you – the plot or the characters?
I usually start with a concept or a scene idea. The characters grow from that, and they dictate how the plot goes. It’s all very vague in my head when I begin.

What’s a book that you wish you’d written?
A Little Love Song by Michelle Magorian. It’s stuck in my head for so long, and I don’t think it gets anywhere near the love it deserves.

If you could only write one trope for the rest of your life, what would it be and why?
Workplace romance. I firmly believe that they rarely work out in real life, but my books are full of them!

What would be your three desert island books?
Hahahahahahahahahaha no. I’m bringing my Kindle. You can’t make me choose!

If one of your books could be made into a movie/TV series, which would you choose and who would you cast?
Oooohhh this is hard. I think the Hidden Species series would be a lot of fun on screen. I have no idea about casting, though–I’m terrible at visual stuff like that.

What do you like to do when you’re not writing? Do you have a secret passion or hobby that we don’t know about?
Reading. I’m not that interesting. Books are a huge part of my life.

Finally, what’s your favourite dinosaur?
Diplodocus, because it’s name is so much fun to say.

Louisa Masters started reading romance much earlier than her mother thought she should. While other teenagers were sneaking out of the house, Louisa was sneaking romance novels in and working out how to read them without being discovered. She’s spent most of her life feeling sorry for people who don’t read, convinced that books are the solution to every problem. As an adult, she feeds her addiction in every spare second, only occasionally tearing herself away to do things like answer the phone and pay bills. 

Louisa has a long list of places first discovered in books that she wants to visit, and every so often she overcomes her loathing of jet lag and takes a trip that charges her imagination. She lives in Melbourne, Australia, where she whines about the weather for most of the year while secretly admitting she’ll probably never move.

For more information on Louisa and her work you can find her on her website, Twitter, Instagram and TikTok. You can also join her reader group, RoMMance with Becca & Louisa, for more news and updates.