Maybe I'm a closet man!!

It's OK I am not about to confess that my real name isn't Pauline, or that I'm not a female (I think a quick viewing of the videos on the right will prove I am), it's just that I'm often asked why all my novels are written from the male point of view. I didn't originally intend to do this, indeed my first attempts at novel writing were with female lead characters. But I should have known then that I had an inclination to write with a male voice because I found myself much more interested in the men's actions in my books and how that impacted on others than the women's. But it wasn't until I wrote Tide of Death featuring Andy Horton that I knew this was right for me. A little light bulb flashed in my brain, something went ping and I knew I was home. That doesn't mean to say that I don't have strong and sometimes quirky and evil females in my novels because I do, it's just that I find it more exciting writing with a male protagonist. I guess it's my love of heroes and being raised on Bond films and its ilk that's done it. And then being married to a fire fighter... need I say more!

But it takes a writer a while to find his or her voice and style, and it is only by experimenting with various different genres and techniques that you find what suits you. For example, when I first wrote In Cold Daylight, it was in the third person, but it wasn't until I was revising it that I thought this isn't working. Why? So I changed it to the first person and bingo it was spot on. My thriller In For The Kill is also written in the first person, and I believe this is what makes thrillers fast-paced and exciting. The next thriller (which I plan to start writing in the New Year, after I have finished the fourth Andy Horton marine mystery) will also be in the first person. The Andy Horton novels Tide of Death, Deadly Waters and The Suffocating Sea are all written in the third person, and they are all from the single viewpoint of Andy Horton. Everything is seen through his eyes. You follow his story, engage with his emotions and experience his actions. It's interesting to write too, because nothing can happen off the page, or away from the character. And perhaps it is because I write from the male point of view that so many men as well as women read my books. One question I was asked, by a man and another author, was - do men have any problem with me writing from the male perspective being a woman? Well, I haven't found so yet.

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