Author Answers with Lynn Viehl

Tomato, tomah-to, potato, potah-to, Lynn Viehl, S.L. Viehl... This week's author is Lynn Viehl (also known sometimes as S.L. Viehl) and has written 35 novels. Her latest release was Dark Need: A Novel of the Darkyn which was released just this month. In November, her alter ego (S.L. Viehl) has a new book coming out, Afterburn.

Viehl can also be found over at Paperback Writer where she posts lots of lists of helpful things for writers and some other funny stuff (Note: DO NOT DRINK coffee/tea/soda while reading today's post. ... consider this your warning from Word Nerd).

WN: Place you do most of your writing:
VIEHL: I write at home in our spare bedroom.
WN: What’s your writing process like from when you get an idea to when it gets published?
VIEHL: My process is very methodical; I think through, research, plan out and outline the entire novel in detail before I write a single word. Once that's done, I write the novel quickly, and don't allow myself to backtrack or waffle. When the manuscript is finished, I give it one final in-depth edit, ship it off and move on to the next project.
WN: Why did you decide to become a writer?
VIEHL: I've been writing stories since I was a kid, and when I retired from working to be a stay-at-home mom, I thought that I'd try in my spare time to get something published.
WN: How long did you have to work to get published and what made you keep working at it until your name was on the cover of a book?
VIEHL: It took ten years before I received my first contract offer. All the people who told me that no one would publish books written by a housewife from Florida kept me working at it.
WN: You write under different names (Lynn Viehl, S.L. Viehl) why?
VIEHL: I'm a multi-genre writer, and I've been fortunate to sell many books in very different genres. My publishers decided that it would be best to put them out under different pseudonyms, mainly to avoid shelving and reader confusion.
WN: What is the best/most influential book you have ever read and why did it inspire you?
VIEHL: I'd have to say "The Night of Time" by Rene Barjavel (retitled "The Ice People" in English.) It changed the way I perceived humanity and my place in the world.
WN: What piece of advice helped you out the most as a writer?
VIEHL: A few years ago author Susan Elizabeth Phillips was kind enough to talk to me about the industry, and she impressed on me how important it is to protect the work, and not allow anything to get between you and the writing. That advice still helps me every day.
WN: If you had to live the life of one of your characters, who would you pick and why?
VIEHL: I think I'd pick Louise from my Grace Chapel Inn books. She's a classical pianist who runs a bed-n-breakfast with her two sisters and gives music lessons to children.