Welcome to Charlie Cochrane's guest blog!

Welcome Charlie Cochrane to Love Romances and More, thank you for joining us.

Thank you for inviting me. It’s great to be here.


Did you always want to become a writer?

No. In fact up until a few years ago I hadn’t done any writing. Then I got into fanfic and tried writing some. Lee Rowan liked my work and persuaded me to try my hand at original stuff. If it hadn’t been for her nudging me, it wouldn’t have happened.

What is the most, and the least interesting fact about writing?

Least interesting? Proof reading – that’s just a necessary slog through stuff. Most interesting? Putting yourself into other people’s shoes and maybe into another time and working out what they’ll do/say.


Do you have a special ritual for celebrating a book release?

Getting into a terrible panic. *g*


How did your family react to fact that you also write M/M romance novels? Have your family read your books?

My daughters pinned me in the bathroom and jumped up and down in excitement! My eldest has read my books and I think she enjoys them; she got a real thrill when they first appeared on Amazon.

Now they treat it all with healthy disrespect. Just a few days back, eldest daughter and boyfriend had been watching 'Most Haunted’ and deriding it. I heard her approaching.
Daughter: I can feel a spirit. It's in the study. It's a grumpy old woman sitting at a computer. Writing gay porn.


Most authors are also avid readers. Is this the case with you? If so, who are some of your favorites? Have any influenced your writing?

My bedside table is awash with books; I read as much as I can. I like Patrick O’Brian, Mary Renault and the non-fiction books of Max Arthur. The first two have influenced me as I try to aspire to their expertise in characterisation.


Your release date is really full, which I love as a fan of your books, do you have a problem with deadlines and have you ever suffered a writers block?

I’m fine with deadline; I just plan ahead so that I can meet them. I don’t get blocked but I do sometimes get bogged down, for which I usually try just writing through it. So I write anything, even if it’s a bit of fanfic or some stuff that I throw away afterwards as being rubbish, just to unclog the wheels.

Do you have living role models for your characters?

Sort of. (What sort of an answer is that, Charlie?) Some of the daft things Jonty does are based on things I’ve got up to. And when I write about a location I use the experience we’ve had of being there, so my gay werewolves in ‘Wolves of the West’ (Queerwolf anthology) are seeing through my eyes and sharing some of our experience. Not the lycanthropic ones, I hasten to add. .

Where do you get the inspirations for your books?

Everywhere. A place I visit. A song I hear. In the case of something I’m working on at present, a little scene between two people in a car park.

Do you find it difficult at times to write love scenes?

All the time. Mine aren’t in any way explicit, more lyrical, but it’s still like pulling teeth, forcing every sentence out and onto the screen.

If you could change places with one character from your books, who would it be and why?

Orlando Coppersmith as he gets to snog Jonty Stewart. Having said that, Jonty wouldn’t be inclined to snog me, but at least I could admire his beauty.

If you could travel through time to visit a special time period or famous person, what or who would it be and why?

I’d love to see what Alexander the Great was really like, to see just how inspirational a leader he was, and to find out exactly what his relationship with Hephaistion was.

Do you listen to music while you are writing and if so what music is it?

I either choose music – anything from Led Zeppelin to the Three Tenors – or sports commentary. Something to create a non-distracting background. (I always used to revise to music or sports commentary so it’s conducive to thinking.)

If you could choose of your books for a movie, which one would it be and who would you as the cast?

Lessons in Desire, so I could enjoy that Jersey scenery again and again. Jamie Bamber as Jonty, Patrick Stewart as his dad, Maggie Steed as his mum and Dan Stevens as Orlando. John Barrowman as Matthew Ainslie. (I think I’ve now melted into a heap.)


Are you working on anything right now, and can you tell us a teaser about these projects?

I’m working on a submission for a modern day story (my first), set in the theatre. I’m also part of an exciting project which is under wraps until tomorrow – sorry, so spoilers.

Big congrats to your latest releases, can you please tell us something about them

Thank you. Lessons in Discovery, the third Cambridge fellows book, was released by Samhain on September 4th. In this one, Orlando has a terrible accident, falling downstairs and losing his memory. He doesn’t even recognise Jonty, let alone know they were lovers. So it explores the recovery process and whether they fall in love again.


Book 4 in the series, Lessons in Power, is being released on 22nd September. It’s possible the darkest book so far as it deals with the abuse Jonty suffered at school and the ethical dilemma of searching for your abuser’s murderer.