I’m an American married to an adorable English Goblin who makes me laugh every day. I have a degree in fashion design (which I plan to use one of these days). I love learning new things. I love the weird and the bizarre. I love studying history by studying individuals - King John is my current favorite subject (hence a visit to Newark where he died). I love clipped box hedges (they smell divine), the colour orange even if it makes me look like a pumpkin, France, the French, French which I speak badly, real romances, chairs (my family has a genetic disposition to loving and collecting chairs), old coins, old beautiful junk, real ghost stories and I LOVE hearing people talk about their relationships and romances.

I try not to tell my characters, friends and family what to do, but I am one of those obnoxious people who enjoys offering advice or my opinion. My specialty subject is ‘People’. Anything to do with people interests me; history, Sociology, psychology, human development, culture development, fashion, language, art, stories…the list is long. People fascinate me; I paint them, I sculpt them, I dress them, I take photos of them, I study them and I write about them.

The Myers Brigg Personality test (if you haven’t taken it I highly recommend it - there are free tests on line), the first time I took it at 19 I came out either an XXXP or an EXXP. Basically, I fluctuate between SP, NF and NT depending on what I’m doing or who I’m with. It sounds insane (and I probably seem insane to some people), but this comes in handy as a writer! (Understanding numerous points of view not being insane)

My characters never cease to surprise me. They say things I wouldn’t be able to think of off the top of my head and do things that would never have occurred to me. My characters have their own morals and values and opinions. I don’t give them anything; they walk into my head and start ordering me around. As far as they’re concerned I’m their ghostwriter and they don’t even have to pay me. My reward is to have one less character nagging me to write their story. They get very cross when I don’t listen well or type fast enough, but all they can do is sulk in silence which they know I hate. It’s like there’s this alternative reality where all these people live and breathe and they’ve found a way to contact me to share their stories. All my characters live together in one world. Many of them know each other; some went to school together…many are related. The English Aristocracy is really just a large extended family with a little too much interbreeding in some cases. I love watching the characters unfold on the page. They’ve taught me a lot about myself and widened my point of view. I haven’t been able to have children, so I suppose you could say my brain children have filled that emotional need to give life and nurture. I love hearing how they’ve made people laugh or brightened someone’s day.

My genre: Regency romances (historical romances set in late Georgian England)

Rated: PG13 (that’s PG13 as in 1985)

Similar to: The closest Regency authors would be Barbara Metzger and Marion Chesney. My stories don’t follow a formula, but even though I have three personalities, I’m still only one person so there’s bound to be similarities or themes that crop up.

Style: Tragi-comedy! Some characters suffer broken hearts, some are abused or die (and that’s never funny), but my characters often say funny things. All my stories make me laugh though the type of humor shifts depending on the characters’ personalities.

If you’re not one of my members (my stories are all online in the browser so there’s nothing to download and lose into the computer) I have a free short story, Lucky in Love, on my website.

Happy Reading!

Cari Hislop