Interview with Nancy Warren, Author of The Great Witches Baking Show

What can you tell us about your new release, The Great Witches Baking Show?

Well, the title’s a bit of a giveaway that this book is a spoof/homage to the fabulous Great British Baking Show and all its spinoffs. I absolutely love those baking shows. I get so involved in the contestants and how they’re doing and worry about the ones who are struggling. I choose who I think should win star baker and then hope the judges agree with me. I love baking which definitely helps. Writing a paranormal cozy mystery series within the framework of a competitive baking show really worked as you’ve already got the close group of people, in a gorgeous English country setting with baking. I just needed to add the murders and the witches and I was done:) It’s been so much fun to write.

What or who inspired you to become an author?

Like most authors I think I started with a love of reading. Then I was inspired by a couple of excellent school teachers and finally, one day, read a book and had that aha moment when I thought, “I think I could do this.”

What’s on your top 5 list for the best books you’ve ever read?

Pride and Prejudice, which I know is everyone’s favorite book, but I can’t help it. It’s my favorite too! Next in line are the rest of Jane Austen’s novels, then I think Rebecca by Daphne DuMaurier, It Had to be You by Susan Elizabeth Phillips, Still Life by Louise Penny and Venetia by Georgette Heyer.

Say you’re the host of a literary talk show. Who would be your first guest? What would you want to ask?

I’d probably interview Louise Penny as I love her Inspector Gamache series of mysteries. We’d talk about writing mysteries and building a successful series set in Canada (we’re both Canadian). I’d also want Charlaine Harris on the show to talk about writing paranormal mystery and then I’d get Helen Fielding on the show as she’s so funny.

What’s your favorite thing about writing?

Honestly? It’s reading a review where someone not only loves your book but gets what you were trying to do, or sees something in your work you didn’t even realize was there. Second to that is writing The End. Then there are the moments when you’re so in the zone it’s not work, it’s this joyful practice where you can’t type fast enough to get all the ideas down. That doesn’t happen nearly often enough, but when it does it’s such a gift.

What is a typical day like for you?

I try not to have typical days as I get bored very easily. I always walk my dog, try to get some exercise, write my words for the day, check social media and then do some cooking or reading. I love to travel so I write all over the place.

What scene in The Great Witches Baking Show was your favorite to write?

The baking scenes were fun. I had to make up the challenges and the various things contestants came up with, then describe them. I really felt the pressure and imagined the cameras were on me while I was trying to bake this complicated pie. It was really stressful! Second to that, the scene where Poppy, my heroine, discovers a dead body is quite fun.

Do you have a motto, quote or philosophy you live by?

Be kind, be courageous and don’t take yourself too seriously.

Nancy Warren is the author of the new book The Great Witches Baking Show.

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