Excitement

 It's been an exciting week in the romance world - the week when the finalists in the Romantic Novelists' Association annual awards are announced. Judged by readers and spread over twelve categories the awards represent some of the best UK romantic fiction over the past year. Names you will know, some you won't, all competing for the accolade of being a winner. Even being a finalist is a great honour and a real buzz. I know, I've been a winner once and a finalist twice. As I have not had a book out for a while, I don't have a horse in the race - although I have hopes that maybe it might happen again. There are lots of friends in the various line ups this year, so awards night, which takes place next month, will be an event. If you want to know a bit more, and maybe get some high class suggestions for the TBR pile details are HERE

And reliving past glories - this is when I won the Joan Hessayan trophy for the best RNA debut in 2012 with the book that was then called Never Coming Home. 

The RNA Chairperson, the late Annie Ashcroft/Sara Craven is handing over the trophy. I don't remember if that was before or after I burst into tears! I will always be proud that my name is on the lovely little piece of silverware. 

Testing the water.

Being an author is like sitting in an ivory tower. You scribble away, never quite sure whether what you are producing is viable, or even if it makes sense. Which is why when someone at the writers' group that I attend in Hereford suggested we have a workshop to critique each others WIP, I jumped at the chance. I've done it before, but not for a while. It is a supportive atmosphere, the object is constructive criticism, with a bit of encouragement thrown in, so a good place to launch your duckling on an unsuspecting world to find out if you have a potential swan - or just a duckling with delusions of grandeur. 

There were 8 of us, everyone puts in 10 pages, anonymously, we hire a room and take the day to work through them, with lunch in the middle. Apart from the day itself, the first scary thing was seeing the other submissions. All very different, all scary good. It was at this point I began to get Imposter Syndrome in a big way!

As it was an early start and I wanted to be on the ball as my 10 pages were first on the list. I had a very nice night in the Green Dragon Hotel in the town centre. It made a real difference, as my journey time is two hours on the train, with a very early walk to the station. Fine for a social event and catch up with friends - not so good if you will be spending the day working. with an earlier start than usual to get everything in. 

And it was worth it. 

As I have said before, I am returning to the style I had when I first got published, a rather more gritty romantic suspense. I was particularly wondering about my first line and whether I had managed to get the hero right - I wanted mystery and an edge of danger. Turns out things were OK. I got some really good feedback about the whole thing, the things people wanted to see about my heroine and pointers on the setting. We had an entertaining discussion on whether seagulls fly in the dark. (They do, I have them nesting on my neighbours' roofs, but I probably need to have another look at that.) It has given me confidence to keep going, and we are doing it all again in October, so I can have another go with another bit. It was really good to look at everyone else's work too, read some really great stories and help other authors in the way they had helped me. And a lot of fun finding out if your guesses of who had written what were right. 

All in all a tiring and intensive but worthwhile day.

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Guess where I've been?

 

Yes - it was a few days in London - research and a day at the London Book Fair. The research was productive - first a trip to the Wallace Collection in Manchester Square. I visited a few favourites - including two paintings by Watteau that I have used in a book. Sorry to say I can't remember which book!  I think is was Masquerade. The main object of the exercise though was to see Caravaggio's painting of Victorious Cupid which is currently on loan from a gallery in Berlin. I have plans for a future book that will involve a missing Caravaggio painting - he led a pretty tumultuous life so there are a few of them, but I'm going to invent one - and with all drama he enjoyed I think it will be plausible. But - hey, it's a story - I made it up. The cupid was wonderful. A street urchin with eagle wings as the god of love. You can see it HERE  

On my last day I popped over to the British Library. The heroine of the WIP, Nel, will be spending some time researching there so I wanted to reacquaint myself with the place. I had a good prowl around, and reacquainted also with the shop, that had a three for two offer on the BL Crime Classics, so my credit card got an unexpected airing. I think I will renew my readers card so I can have the full experience next time. Got to get the paperwork sorted for that. 

And in between was the Book Fair at Olympia. It was big, and very interesting. I'd been before, many years ago. It's humming with publishers and industry professionals, doing business, and fascinating for an author to see a huge and dynamic industry at work - all the various publishers, UK and foreign - and extra services, from literary themed socks to tote bags.  I was interested in things related to self publishing and there was plenty to see. I explored and talked to a lot of people, attended a panel on Kindle Unlimited, connected with a few old friends, picked up leaflets and brochures which I now have to read and digest. I was particularly interested in the companies offering services like distribution and audio, such as Audible, Ingram Spark and Gardners.  I'm expecting that the WIP will be self published, so I'm looking forward to learning more. I'd like to be able to offer paperbacks as well as e-books and as most of my books have audio versions that would be good too, but it is all very ambitious at the moment. But we can dream. I especially fell for the paperbacks with the gorgeous sprayed edges. Yes please!!!

It was a good and useful day. Plenty of food for future thought. And for making plans, when the time is right. It will probably start as baby steps, but it is good to understand the possibilities.  

Now - write the book!!!!!!!!!!!

Tropes - or no tropes?

 Many of those who read romance are big on tropes. Which means writers are too. I've never been that big on them, or at least, not while writing the book. Afterwards you can see them - Summer in San Remo was enemies to lovers and second chance romance, but it didn't start out that way in my head. It was Cass and Jake, who had history - and it grew from there. 

As tropes are such a thing at the moment I've been wondering about a few for the WIP. But right now I actually can't think of any!!!

Writing romantic suspense maybe puts it a bit outside the categories, or creates some of its own? I know my hero has a protective streak, and he will not believe that he is the right man for the heroine - until we both prove him wrong. And my heroine? She's independent and competent, but her confidence has been badly shaken, so she is suffering a bit from imposter syndrome - and writers know all about that. 

And then there is the Dark Academia that I keep banging on about. Now that will have some tropes. Buildings, gothic style, I have a few of them lined up. Obsession - plenty of that from the villain of the piece. I've not got him/her picked out properly yet, but I know they will emerge from the fog when the time is right. There is the academic stuff - now that is my thing.  I'm having fun creating a subject for Nel's PhD thesis that is going to get lots of people into lots of trouble. Atmosphere - goes with the buildings, but there will have to be old books, and probably candles, and an autumnal feel, and plenty of art and history - which is certainly a thing. Remind me to tell you about the research into the painter, Caravaggio. It's not for this book, but I have plans. But in all these I cannot see me shoehorning in a forced proximity or grumpy/sunshine senario, unless it happens naturally. 

As far as this WIP goes, I have a beginning. I have a writers' workshop coming up soon when I will be trying out that beginning on some fellow authors. All friends, but that does not mean that there will not be opinions expressed. I've not done one for a while, so I am nervous. But it will be a good exercise to see if what I have so far has legs. Fingers crossed. 

A day out!

 This time of the year I don't get out much - weather and lack of light, but I did manage a day trip to Gloucester a few weeks ago with a friend and as I had never seen the magnificent cathedral, that was on the list of things to do. Along with a little light retail therapy, lunch and lots of gossip.  

The cathedral was fabulous, as they usually are. Completely amazing how such huge and highly decorated constructions were achieved so many hundreds of years ago and we seem to struggle putting up even small and ugly buildings. They were, of course, sacred places intended for worship, and I'm sure that would have made all the difference. But I digress. 

We patronised the cafe and wandered the cloisters, which really are beautiful. Harry Potter fans would recognise them, as they feature in several places in the films. That was a little research, as cloisters are a bit of a dark academia thing, so I am hoping to get them into the WIP at some point. Although they won't be in Gloucester, but Somewhere Else, courtesy of my imagination. The WIP is still in progress, you will be glad to know. I've put the opening pages into a crit workshop with a group of friends in a few weeks time, so am now chewing my nails about what everyone will think of it. And I'm digressing again.  

We prowled the cathedral proper and visited the tomb of Edward II, who was murdered in a very nasty way, if you listen to Christopher Marlowe. He is said to have died at Berkley Castle, possibly by murder, unspecified. A forced abdication in favour of his son,  Edward III. There is also a theory that he was not murdered at all, and  managed to escape captivity to live on for a number of years. Which begs the question of who is in the rather impressive tomb. It was all a very long time ago. 

It was a lovely day out. and well worth the train ride - although, as you know, I like trains. 

My new fascination

You've heard me talking about it already - Dark Academia. I want to write one, so I'm having a try. As I do not intend to give up my preferred genre of romantic suspense, it is going to be my version - maybe a sort of hybrid? We'll have to see what comes out.

I've read a few  over the years. Memorable ones? Donna Tart's Secret History, M L Rio's  If We Were Villains and Katy Hays' The Cloisters. Personally I'd also add KJ Charles' Death in the Spires to that list, although it is actually promoted as an historical  mystery. And Gilly MacMillan's The Burning Library also has overtones. And although no one has ever mentioned it, as far as I am aware, and I have to admit I've never watched it, lots that I've heard about the TV series The Traitors goes with the vibe. Castles, tartan, betrayal ...

As well as reading I've researched tropes and ingredients. 

Of course it starts with the pursuit of knowledge - that can be art or literature.  The protagonists have to be pretty expert at what they do and usually that's as part of a small and exclusive group.  The setting is gothic and we know I've wanted to try my hand at one of those ever since doing an evening class on gothic novels with Cardiff University's Lifelong Learning Department. The atmosphere is autumnal - not my favourite time of the year, but you can't beat it for atmosphere, There are cloisters, libraries, obsessions, secret societies, secrets, power. Plenty of scope in that soup for me to have some fun. Also apparently the right kinds of clothes are a thing - tweed, plaid, tailoring, blazers and loafers, leather bags, (Google it and you get all sorts of suggestions for a capsule wardrobe.)

One of the element that I do have a bit of an issue with is the assertion that the protagonists are morally grey. That does not go along with my romantic leanings. Those around them may be ambiguous, or even down right nasty, but my hero and heroine have to stay true to my genre. And there will have to be a happy ending. Although not for everyone. Body count is already rising.. 

Not sure what I'm going to get at the end of this, but I'm looking forward to the journey. 

The last February prompt.

 The Romantic fiction prompt for today is what film or TV series is most like your books? 

My earlier books are inspired more by other authors  - American romantic suspense from authors like Nora Roberts, Jayne Ann Krentz and Karen Rose. 

My most recent books - the Riviera series - those owe a lot of all those glossy TV series from the 80s. If I have to pick one I’m choosing the American TV show Remington Steele, but it could equally have been any of those glossy detective shows of the 1980s – Moonlighting, Scarecrow and Mrs King, Hart to Hart. Remington Steele gets the vote solely on the strength of staring Pierce Brosnan – the classic tall, dark, handsome hero. They were glitzy, sophisticated, action driven, with a central couple with a teasing will they/won’t they relationship (although the couple in Hart to Hart were married) – the kind of escapist entertainment that I was aiming for in the Riviera series. Of course my hero and heroine do get together – that’s why it’s romantic suspense.

And the WIP? Well, I'm really not sure about that one. It's early days. I want to go back to a grittier style - I'm not sure that I'm doing that, but the body count is certainly rising. I want to explore the gothic and dark academia, but at the moment I seem to be channeling a vibe from Raiders of the Lost Arc and The Da Vinci Code. There is a distinct treasure hunt feel going on. Not at all sure where it is going, but it is going and I am enjoying it, so at the moment it's all good. The pushing treacle up hill bit doesn't usually set in until later.