Interview with Author Gemma Stringer

Describe yourself in three words.

Ambitious, Driven, Chaotic

What are three facts about you?

I play netball.
I hate flying.
I have never drunk coffee.

What is your favorite book from childhood?

I used to love the Enid Blyton mystery books.

When you read, which authors are your go-to authors?

Sophie Kinsella
Mercedes Ron

What book has made the biggest impact on your life?

I wouldn't say any have had a great impact on my life. I do love reading romance though.

Do you have any book related tattoos?

I don't have any tattoos at all - My husband has about 13 though.

What is your favorite TV show or movie?

My favourite movie is Crazy / Beautiful. My favourite television show is probably Orange is the New Black.

What subject could you talk about all day?

Finance. I love personal finance and money. I think it should be taught to kids in schools.

What is your dream vacation destination?

Iceland is my dream holiday destination. I would love to stay in an igloo under the stars and watch the northern lights.

What do you do for fun when you aren’t writing?

I play netball five nights a week. I go to bingo. I enjoy ice skating, but I live quite far away from a rink. I game a lot on Xbox. I like to go out for walks to give me inspiration. I also like family bike rides and days out exploring new places.

Are there any causes you support or which are important to you?

My brother was born at 25 weeks in 1993 and survived thanks to the amazing children's ward he was in, so probably the staff there.

How did you discover writing as a possible career?

During covid, I guess I was bored. My daughter entered a writing competition and won with her short story and I went on to develop it into a novel. It wasn't very good but from there I found a critique group of friends, entered a few competitions, started writing more stories and then just went from there.

How did you choose your pen name?

It's not a pen name. But I do have one in case I want to write a different genre in future.

Where do you find inspiration for your stories?

Everywhere. I was on a walk with my family one day and we went past a residential home, and I plotted out a bit of the story on that walk, and voice noted my idea. My Heather and the Hedgehog story is inspired by my daughter finding a hedgehog in the garden of my grandmother’s house. Freya's mystery novel is inspired by our family holiday to Cornwall.

What is the weirdest fact you've found when researching for a book?

There is a specific type of tree that's really not a good type of tree.

What trope is your favorite to write?

Bad boy/good girl is my favourite. It's one of my personal favourites but I am trying other tropes and have plans to write various ones. My next one is going to be enemies to lovers. It's the third book of my series featuring the same characters. The first book was Hemmed In.

What is your favorite thing about being an author?

I love the people I have met at events, writing groups, and my worldwide critique groups.

What is your writing process?

I have a basic idea. I plot 10 chapters with a couple of lines on each one of what is going to happen. I fast draft the bare bones. I can get 20,000 words down in a week. From there I read through the whole thing making comments in the margins.
Then I go through and edit and add the skin essentially. So now we have the bare bones of a plot and consistency.
Now I go through it again and add some descriptions. It's my weakest point and I joined a few creative writing groups and poetry groups to get better at it.
So now we have a story. I read through again doing a spelling, grammar, and punctuation check.
Then I send it out to BETA readers.
I have started paying for editors now just to have a final read through and give big feedback, but also to do line edits.
Then it's ARC readers, and any feedback from those I try and implement.
Then formatting in Atticus, and finally publication.

What time of day are you most creative?

I tend to have long spells. It takes me ages to get into the zone and then once I'm in it I can be there for 5-9 hours, and I'll be really intense. Sometimes that's a Tuesday, sometimes a Sunday. I would say afternoons to late evenings is when I am more focused.

What is your ideal writing environment?

At home, laid on the couch, cup of tea by my side and a bar of chocolate.

As an author, what challenges do you face?

I think marketing is a challenge. Editing is a challenge. Sometimes the plot doesn't work, and I love having people to bounce around my ideas with to get them to work.

What is your least favorite part of being an author?

The fact you feel alone sometimes, and everything is on you. I am self-published so there's no one to do the other things for me. I have to get on and do them or pay someone to do them.

If there was one thing you could change about the writing/publishing industry, what would it be?

I'm not sure if there is anything I would change. I might put in a website where you can just put in your requirements and it comes up with book covers and you can swipe them whether you would read them or not, and then if you like them, you can read the blurb and go to the link. That would be pretty cool.

What advice would you give aspiring authors?

I think just write what you would love to read, because the editing process takes forever and you have to read your draft so many times you just get fed up with reading it.
And don't be afraid to ask other writers for advice.

What is something you’d like to write, but haven’t yet?

I would love to write something complex, deep and interesting but told through short poems. I love the idea but I'm not great at poetry. I keep trying.

Which parts of yourself are reflected in your characters?

I think a lot of my characters, especially in my romances, are quite ambitious. I like the fact that my main characters want something other than the romance.

Which of your characters have special meaning to you?

I really like Lucy Dawclark from my hotel series. She has such a transformation over the course of the three-book series.

How do you come up with character names?

Randomly. I also have a website that I look at that features hundreds of surnames.

What kind of readers enjoy your books?

My ideal readers are those who enjoy these type of movies / series - TSITP, To All the Boys I've Loved Before, Sullivan’s crossing, Off Campus, the After series, Our Fault series, The Kissing Booth, XO Kitty.

What is something you love to hear from your readers?

I love to chat about plots, and characters.

Where can readers find you online?

My website is www.gemstringerbooks.com and I spend a lot of time on TikTok.

Do you have any ARCs or free downloads readers might be interested in?

https://booksprout.co/reviewer/review-copy/view/320039/somewhere-between-hi-and-yours-truly

What is your latest/upcoming release?

Somewhere Between Hi and Yours Truly is my next release, coming the 1st December 2026. It's an epistolary novel - a young adult coming of age novella.

Steam Level

Mild - Closed Door