Rionna Morgan with Carmen Ferreiro-Esteban

Carmen is a fellow Crimson Romance author.  I have absolutely loved getting to know her.  Her books have a romance flavored with the exotic!  Come on in, find a comfy chair and see what I mean.  

Author: Carmen Ferreiro-Esteban 

Drawing from the mysterious beauty of Galicia, the land of my childhood, and the tumultuous history of Spain, I’ve written three young adult novels that take place in a mythical world in which the medieval kingdoms of Spain are still fighting each other, a world of warrior kings in which girls are not supposed to speak their minds. The first Two Moon Princess was published by Tanglewood Press in 2007.

My paranormal romance Bécquer Eternal follows my adventures in search of a literary agent in a contemporary alternate world where the late Spanish poets Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer and Federico García Lorca are immortals.

I have also published four non-fiction books Heroin, Ritalin, Mad Cow Disease, and Lung Cancer (Chelsea House).

Currently, I live in Pennsylvania as a freelance writer, editor and translator.

You can visit me at my blog: http://carmenferreiroesteban.wordpress.com/ or at my website: www.carmenferreiroesteban.com

For information about my writing/editing/translating services, please go to WriteEditPublish.com

Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?
Carmen: I was born in Galicia (northern Spain), a land of rolling hills and green valleys surrounded by the ocean, thought in medieval times to be ‘Finisterre,’ the place where the world came to an end. I moved to Castilla, the land of the castles, in central Spain to study Biology and then to California as a postdoctoral researcher.

I have lived in the States for twenty years now and work as a freelance writer, editor and translator (English<>Spanish).


How did you choose the genre you write in?
Carmen: They say your first book is always autobiographic and, in my case, it is accurate. I based my first book, Two Moon Princess (Tanglewood Press, 2007) on my experiences living between two worlds (Spain and California).

Two Moon Princess is a coming of age story, a fantasy with a little bit of romance. My following books, The King in the Stone and The Revenge of the Wolf King, currently represented by Ginger Knowlton at Curtis Brown, are also young adult stories with a stronger romantic element.

In my latest one, Bécquer Eternal, the romantic element takes over while a new, for me, twist appears: a paranormal element.

So I suppose the answer to your question is, I didn’t choose the genre. I write the stories as they come to me and somehow, all of them, have a romantic element.

Do you work with an outline, or just write?
Carmen: I know the story arc before I start writing. I know the characters, the plot and the ending. Especially the ending. I do write an outline eventually but it’s pretty sketchy.

Can you tell us about your upcoming book?
Carmen: My upcoming book is a paranormal romance called, tentatively, Bécquer Eternal. It is scheduled to be published in September by Crimson Romance. But if you know some Spanish, you don’t have to wait until the fall, because the Spanish version is already available at Amazon.com (http://goo.gl/N5c8C).

Don’t be shy and give it a try, it’s easy to read because it has lots of dialogue which is perfect if you want to brush up your conversational Spanish.

Here is the pitch I sent to Crimson Romance:

Meet Bécquer.
He's handsome, well-read, and can get you that book contract you always dreamed.
Never mind that he's also an immortal and lives on human blood.
What would that matter?
Your relationship is strictly business.
Or so you thought.
Until Bécquer's life is threatened, and you discover that walking away is not an option,
Because he was hurt while protecting your son,
Because you are the only one who can save him now,
Because you care for him.
Welcome to Bécquer's world.
Please, come inside. He's waiting for you.

Is anything in your book based on real life experiences or is it purely all imagination?
Carmen: Bécquer was a Romantic Spanish poet. If you grew up in any Spanish speaking country you have studied him at School. And if you have, you have fallen in love with his poems of unrequited love.

The protagonist of my story, Carla, is a middle aged writer with two teens of her own and that much is real. Whether the part about her meeting Bécquer, who is now an immortal and working as an agent, is true or not, I’m not free to say.

What was your favorite chapter (or part) to write and why?
Carmen: I loved getting reacquainted with Bécquer, reading again his poems and legends and everything else I found written by him or about him.

What project are you working on now?
Carmen: This spring, I translated Bécquer Eternal into Spanish and published it with a POD publisher so it would be ready on time to be included in the Exhibit about Bécquer that is taking place in Sevilla right now. 

I plan to visit the Exhibit before it closes on June 25.

I have also been busy organizing a Blog Tour, so I haven’t been writing much lately.

Do you have any advice to give to aspiring writers?
Carmen: Follow your heart. If you are a writer, you will write no matter what I, or anybody else, tell you.

Now for the clever-silly question, if you were a t-shirt, what would you say?
Carmen: Cool question.
I would say, Dare to Read. Not very original as it is the name of my blog.

Is there anything that you would like to say to your readers and fans?
Carmen: Thank you so much for taking the time to read my stories. Your enthusiasm makes the craziness of this profession worth it.