U is for...Unique Selling Point by Annie Burrows

On the first Friday of every month, Novelista Annie Burrows has been sharing a very personal view of what it is like to be a writer.  And is dealing with themes in alphabetical order.  This month, in spite of being hampered by Christmas and New Year festivities, she's reached U...which she has decided should stand for Unique.

When I started out as a writer I didn't want to have to do any marketing of myself.  In fact, that was one of the reasons I wanted to write for Harlequin Mills & Boon.  I thought I would just be sort of absorbed under the umbrella and become part of their brand.  I thought I could just concentrate on writing my stories, and my publisher would do it all the publicity for me.  And to a large extent, they do.

But I write in what is a very crowded market.  There seem to be dozens and dozens of other writers producing the same sort of book I do - Regency Romance.  And with the rise of self-publishing, the marketplace has become even more competitive.  Why should anyone want to pick up my book and read it, when there are so many others on offer?  What is going to keep a reader remembering my books, and coming back for more?

According to marketing gurus, what I need to do is offer a Unique Selling Point.  Something that will make me stand out from the crowd.

Fortunately for me, Mills & Boon have been brilliant about helping me develop my "brand".  When I first started writing for them, they had a reader panel, made up of fans of specific lines, who would send in a questionnaire about what they liked (or didn't) about each month's books, in return for being entered into a draw for free books.  This was a great piece of market research which I couldn't possibly have undertaken myself.  And eventually my editor contacted me with the news that what readers liked about my books was the humour.  One or two people had already told me that they had giggled when reading certain sections of my stories, so when she asked me if I would mind concentrating on that, rather than on what she termed "my dark side" (which made me feel as if I was perilously close to joining forces with Darth Vader) I agreed.

Because every writer needs to fulfil reader expectation.  If you pick up a Dick Francis, you expect the hero to be an unassuming chap who thwarts the bad guys within a setting which is something to do with horses.  If you read a Dean Koontz, you expect there to be something a bit spooky going on in the background of the thriller.  Even I could see, that within the Harlequin Historical line, some writers tended to create "bad girls", those of the demi-monde, who maybe turn to crime to survive.  Others are known for getting in a lot of historical detail.  Others write extremely tortured heroes, or go for unusual settings. 

I'd already had an Amazon review from a reader who was disappointed that the heroine of the book she'd just read by me hadn't been a virgin.  And when I looked back at previous books, I saw that this was something else I'd done without really thinking about it.  I'd made my heroines virgins, (at least, to start with!) and my readers had come to expect that from me.

So, thanks to the market research done by my publisher, and a disgruntled Amazon reviewer, I'd discovered what readers wanted from my writing, and I started going all out to provide it. It wasn't any hardship...just a slight adjustment to the way I went about thinking up my plots.  I can never resist deflating a pompous character, or inviting someone to share in a joke with me, and I'd already been doing that in my stories without really noticing I was doing it. 

But then my publishers did a series of webinars on marketing and branding.  By this time even I could see it wasn't enough to simply write the best story I could.  We've all moved into an era where we have to have an online presence.  Which, they said, should be consistent across all platforms.  Which meant thinking up a tagline which expressed what we stood for.

Ulp!  As if it wasn't enough learning how to write, and write to a deadline and a wordcount, now I had to promote myself too?

Fortunately, I'd recently had a revisions letter from an editor, saying that my current manuscript (at that point) lacked the "trademark Annie Burrows sparkle".

Aha!  That was it - that was what I wanted to offer readers, and what readers seemed to want from me - some sparkle.   So my tagline became "Sparkling Regency Romance".  Now a reader has a clue what they are going to find within the covers of one of my books.  Though I do aim for total historical accuracy, which demands a lot of research and double-checking, not a great deal of that actually makes it to the pages.  In the end, what I offer my readers is a light-hearted, fun sort of read.

 

That is my Unique Selling Point - the sparkle.

What is yours?

Annie's latest Sparkling Regency Romance is "The Captain's Christmas Bride", still available from Amazon, Mills & Boon and Harlequin, and other book stores.

S is for Stand Alone...or Series? by Annie Burrows

On the first Friday of every month, Novelista Annie Burrows has been sharing a very personal view of what it is like to be a writer.  And is dealing with themes in alphabetical order.  This month, she's reached S...so she'll be talking about whether to write Series or Stand alone.

I have taken part in a couple of series, where each book has been written by a different author, but never, so far, created one of my own.

Harlequin quite often creates mini-series, where each author is assigned a small part of a longer, over arching plot, whilst also writing a story which can stand alone.  And I've been involved in a couple for the Historical line.  I was responsible for part 5 of the Regency Silk and Scandal series, in which a couple of aristocratic families search for the man responsible for a murder committed in the previous generation.  My instalment, The Viscount and the Virgin, dealt with the fate of the Murdered Man's daughter.  I found it tremendous fun brainstorming the murder mystery plot, which became the backdrop for 8 individual love stories, with the other authors involved.  We drew up a complicated family tree, and created spreadsheets galore to keep track of who was doing what, when, and with whom.

There's a tremendous amount of extra work involved in taking part in such a series, and both times I've done one, although I've really enjoyed it, I've also found it a bit of a relief to coming back to writing just one story, about just one couple.

However, I often find that a minor character in one book will wander into another one.  And that the more often they appear, the more real they become, until I have to give them their own story.  Captain Fawley, for example, first appeared in "His Cinderella Bride" at a ball.  Then took a larger role in "The Earl's Untouched Bride."  So large a part, in fact, that my editor at the time made me cut him back severely.  But I did get permission to write his story (even though he had only one eye, one arm, and a wooden leg!)

A similar thing happened with Lord Havelock.  He appeared as a minor character in a Christmas novella, where he strode into a men's club and set the cat among the pigeons by asking them to help him draw up a list of qualities they thought would make a perfect wife.  I didn't know, then, why he needed such a list, but I couldn't stop wondering.  And eventually I had to write him a book to explain his odd behaviour - Lord Havelock's List.  (Eventually, I'm going to have to write the story of one of the other men who helped him compile the list - the one who said his wife would have to be intelligent, because he couldn't bear the thought of giving up his bachelor freedoms only to beget a brood of idiots.)

 

But anyway, earlier this month I went down to London to visit the new London offices of my publisher, Harlequin UK, and to have a serious chat with my editor.   I've just been awarded a four book contract, you see, but only had one full length book and one novella completely outlined and agreed upon.  I had a lot of vague ideas...dramatic meetings between characters who had tortured back stories...but no real idea of where to take them.

I sent these rough outlines to my editor and during lunch, (during which some wine may have been consumed), she gave me the most insightful feedback.  In one of the rough outline openings, I'd suggested that the hero pursue the heroine as part of a wager between himself and a group of his friends.  And she asked me whether I'd considered writing stories about these friends, and tying them together as a trilogy.

The moment she made the suggestion it became obvious how other snippets that I'd had floating about in the back of my mind for a while could become parts 2 and 3 of a trilogy.  It would probably have happened naturally, the way it's happened before.  But this time, as I set out to deliberately write a set of linked stories, I can actually plan my own overarching story which will tie them together more firmly, rather than having the loose connections I've come up with before.

And, more importantly, I can actually let readers know in advance that it's going be a trilogy.

Do you know, I feel as if I'm finally getting my writing life organized!

(It has only taken me until S!)

Annie's current release is "The Captain's Christmas Bride", available from Amazon, Harlequin, Mills & Boon UK, Amazon UK, Mills & Boon Australia, etc...

It is a stand alone book.

So far! 

R is for...romance (of course!)

On the first Friday of every month, Novelista Annie Burrows has been sharing a very personal view of what it is like to be a writer.  And is dealing with themes in alphabetical order.  This month, she's reached R...which stands for Romance!

When I was at the Romance Writers of America conference in New York this summer, one of the highlights, for me, was attending the Harlequin booksigning. 

 

In spite of what anyone may say, Harlequin romances are still incredibly popular, and if you don't believe me, just look at the queue to get in the door.

Sales may be down, but a lot of people were extremely keen to get their hands on the books that were being given away.

 I signed and gave away copies of my Waterloo book, A Mistress for Major Bartlett, almost continually for the two hours the event went on.

The only bit of the event I didn't enjoy was when a film crew came along to interview me.

(I'm not alone in that - the other authors ducked behind their stacks of books, then sighed in relief when the crew pounced on me, because I'd been too busy chatting to a fan to notice them sneaking up) 

Anyway, they cleared a space round my bit of the table, thrust a microphone at me, and said, in what I felt was a rather challenging manner, "Why do you love romance?"

My mind immediately went as blank as the first sheet of paper in a brand new notebook.  After umming and erring for a while, I came up with something inane along the lines of (I think) "What's not to like?  Doesn't everything in life mean more when you have someone to share it with?"

The reason I can't recall what I answered then, is because the crew went off into a huddle for a bit, then came back to me and said, "Could you say all that again, only this time look into the camera?"

Silly me, I'd answered the girl who asked the question, not the guy standing over to the side with half a ton of equipment strapped to his shoulder.

Anyway, by this time I was somewhat irritated.  Because I still couldn't come up with a clever, witty, answer off the top of my head.  And I felt a bit resentful that I had to defend my position as a writer of romance.  And as anyone who's ever tried to take a photo of me will confirm, I have an extremely expressive face.  So I don't think the second attempt to get a soundbite from me would have been any good either.  Not to judge by the tight smiles on their faces as they shuffled away, anyhow.

But now, three months later, I have finally decided what I should have said.  (Not that I've been lying awake at night going over and over how stupid I must have looked or anything)

As well as working out why I was annoyed at their slightly contemptuous attitude.  As if loving romance was somehow an odd thing for me to do.

All you have to do, I should have said, is to turn on the radio, to hear that love and romance is on just about everyone else's mind too.  There may be the occasional song that reaches a top slot in the charts about Medicinal Compound, or digging a hole in the ground, but the vast majority of popular songs are about love and romance.  Even the most cynical of news hounds would have to admit that finding a soul mate, that special someone who will understand you, support you, and share all life's trials with you, is extremely important to a lot of people.  And that without that special someone, life can feel bleak and pointless.

And nobody goes round asking pop stars why they love romance, and sing about it, do they?  It's just accepted.  Applauded even.  Programmes like the X factor or Pop Idol rely on the fact that huge numbers of young people want to get up on stage and sing about how much they long for the object of their affection to notice them, or to bewail the fact that their heart has been badly broken.

Has anyone gone up to Adele, or Sam Smith, and asked them why they sing about romance?  And made them defend their choice to do so?  And imply that they would somehow be more worthy if they sang about crime, or the human condition?  I don't think so.

So why is writing stories about romance regarded by the press, so often, as being somehow a bit silly, when singing about love and romance is not?

If I could write poetry, or hold a tune in a bucket, maybe I'd be up there singing about how wonderful it is to fall in love, or how badly it hurts when it all goes pear shaped.  (Or if I could stand being in front of a camera!)  Instead, I write about people going through the entire process of striving to find their happy ever after, in prose.

And what's wrong (to quote Sir Paul McCartney) with that?

If you enjoy reading romance, you can find a Annie's backlist on her website.

Her next book, The Captain's Christmas Bride, will be out in December, and can already be pre-ordered from Amazon

Q is for Quality. Or Quantity? by Annie Burrows

On the first Friday of every month, Novelista Annie Burrows has been sharing a very personal view of what it is like to be a writer.  And is dealing with themes in alphabetical order.  This month, she's reached Q which she says is for Quality.  Or Quantity?

Firstly, apologies to anyone who came looking for a blog post from me in August.  I took a month off blogging here, and went to the RWA conference in New York.

Which actually rather neatly leads me into this article.  Because one of the workshops I really wanted to attend was intriguingly called "Writing a novel in 30 days - tips tricks and cautions."  In 30 days?  I'd be thrilled if I could produce a book in less than 6 months.  Lots of other writers seem to be able to do it.  So why can't I?

One of the ladies giving the workshop opened by saying the fastest she had ever written a novel was 7 days.  When challenged as to its length, she told us it was 95,000 words.  There were gasps all round.  The second lady on the panel claimed 75,000 words in 3 weeks, and the third 60,000 in 6 weeks.  And they were all from start to submission.  They weren't talking about first drafts!

However, one thing they all agreed on was that they do good first drafts, which don't need much re-writing. They didn't do a lot of plotting either, as they considered it a waste of time.  In short, they all just sat down and wrote.

By this time I was feeling very inadequate.  My first drafts are generally a total mess and need going over several times before I feel confident about sending them off to my editor.  I can sit down and write a story in 4/5 weeks, but it isn't fit for human consumption!  My revisions take ages and ages.  And ages.

I was starting to wonder if I'm being too pernickety.  Perhaps I should just bash out a draft and send it off...

But no.  I can't do it.  I can't let anyone see my work until I'm sure it's of a certain standard.  And my first drafts definitely aren't.

However, as the workshop progressed, and people started asking how exactly these three women managed to write so fast, and still have a life, it became apparent that actually, they didn't.  Have much of a life outside writing, when they were going at that pace, that is.  One started writing from 8am until 5 pm when she became an empty-nester.  One had a husband who worked in a high profile job which meant he wasn't home until 11 pm.  And all three admitted that their health suffered.  And that they have had to cut back a lot.

Their conclusion was that you have to write the best book you can and don't beat yourself up if it isn't done quickly.  In other words, go for Quality, not Quantity.  I'd been getting worked up over all the advice I keep reading lately, that I need to bring out books really frequently to keep readers coming back.  But they're not going to come back if my book isn't any good, are they, no matter how quickly I manage to get it out there?

I came away from that workshop with the feeling that it isn't just quality of writing that's important, either, but quality of life.

If I lived alone, and needed to fill up my hours with something, then maybe I too could write from 8 in the morning until 11 at night, and produce 4 books a year  I could be proud of instead of 2.

But I have a husband, two grown up children, and a borrowed dog to take into consideration.  And elderly parents who live at the far end of the country. And I don't want to turn into a heap of blancmange racked through with aching bones from sitting hunched over my computer all day and into the night.  I want to get outside with the borrowed dog and go for walks to keep myself relatively healthy.  Keep my house the sort of place my husband will look forward to coming home to every night, and for my kids to want to visit from their far-flung homes.

I want quality of life, as well as feeling I've written books I can be proud of.

So it looks as though I'm doomed to only ever turning out 2 books a year - 2 books I can get excited about, that is.

So bang goes my chances of making a ton of money!

This year Annie has produced just 2 books.  A mistress for Major Bartlett, which is available on Amazon,   

 ...and The Captains' Christmas bride which is out in December, but can be pre-ordered here:

She is hoping to produce 2 more books in 2016.

N is for...Notebooks by Annie Burrows

On the first Friday of every month, Novelista Annie Burrows has been sharing a very personal view of what it is like to be a writer.  And is dealing with themes in alphabetical order.  This month, she's reached N

If you're serious about being a writer, you need to have a notebook (and pen) handy at all times, because you never know when inspiration is going to strike.  I learned this the hard way, when I had a brilliant idea to deepen my hero's conflict, but by the time I got round to sitting down at my laptop, and applying it to the story I was writing, I couldn't for the life of me remember what it was.  I still can't remember what it was.  But I can remember how cross I felt that I'd forgotten it.

I carry this one in my pocket to jot down things that occur to me when I'm on the move.  I love the design that makes the pen a clasp to keep it closed.  What I don't love is the fact that the pen has run out of ink already.  Which means I need to carry a little pencil as well.

I have another notebook in my handbag, in case I'm out without a coat.  Or I've hung my coat up in a cloakroom.  It's so battered that I'm ashamed to take a picture of it and post it.  People who have been to lunch with me will have seen it however and can vouch for how disreputable it looks!

I have another one on my bedside table in case inspiration strikes me at night.  My husband has got used to me suddenly sitting bolt upright and grabbing my pen.  "Got an idea?" he murmurs sleepily.  Not even expecting an answer because I just grunt at him, and keep on writing.  Inspiration is so elusive, sometimes, that even pausing to explain what it is will make it shimmer into a sort of mist that you just can't get a hold of any longer.

And then, there's my collection of big notebooks.  These are rough drafts of all the stories that have come to me over the years, when I've been away from a computer so that I couldn't type them straight into my "ideas" file.  A big notebook will always go in my suitcase if I'm going on holiday, because when sitting on a beach, I'd as soon be writing a story, as reading one.

And a confession about these notebooks.  Some of them have gone to work with me, when I was working in call centres, or as a temporary receptionist.  While other temps might sit about filing their nails, I was scribbling down my ideas, under the desk.  And sometimes resenting the phone ringing and interrupting me while I was in full flow!

Annie's latest release is "A Mistress for Major Bartlett", the 2nd in the "Brides of Waterloo" trilogy from Harlequin Mills & Boon.  In bookshops from June 1st, or available for pre-order from Amazon now.

You can find Annie on facebook at Annie Burrows 

You can also follow her on twitter @NovelistaAnnie

L is for...Loneliness by Annie Burrows

On the first Friday of every month, Novelista Annie Burrows has been sharing a very personal view of what it is like to be a writer.  And is dealing with themes in alphabetical order.  This month, she's reached L...and has chosen to talk about one aspect of working from home that many can find tough.

 

"But hold onto your loneliness and your silence.  They are part of what make you a writer."

I've got this quote pinned up in my study.  I cut it out of The Author magazine some time ago - I think it's by Terence Black.  Whenever I start wondering if I'm in danger of becoming agoraphobic, I read it and take heart.  And remind myself that I'm not abnormally antisocial, no - I'm just a writer.

Because, you see, I could quite easily be a hermit.  (Apart from the growing a beard thing - whenever you see a picture of a hermit it's always a man with a huge bushy beard.  I suppose I could throw away my tweezers...)  For example, when I go to put the bins out on a Friday morning, I sometimes realize that it's the first time I've been outside all week - and I'm not bothered.

I don't even like going out shopping.  The thought of wandering around, browsing has always seemed to me like a huge waste of time.  If I have to go into town, I try and get as many things done as I possibly can while I'm out.  I write a list, get everything done as fast as I can and get home.  And thanks to internet shopping I can have life's necessities, like groceries and books, delivered.  Nor do I have to visit an actual library very often.  I do most of my research online nowadays.

About the only time I really look forward to getting out of the house is to meet up with other writers, to discuss...yes, you've guessed it, writing.  It's only when I'm in the company of other writers that I don't feel odd.  They totally get that I have several stories drifting through my head at any one time, and that I would rather spend my day writing down the adventures of my imaginary friends, than going out for coffee with real ones.  I don't have much of a social life, apart from having lunch with other writers, or attending writers conferences.  But I'm not lonely.   

Not at all.

What I am, is a bit of a loner.

I think to be a writer you have to be.  You have to be content with your own company.  Prepared to set your own goals and reach targets nobody else cares about.

And only a writer would completely empathise with Oscar Wilde when he said:  "I'm exhausted.  I spent all morning putting in a comma and all afternoon taking it out."

That's pretty much my life!

 

Annie is currently working on her 21st book for Harlequin Mills & Boon.  Her next release will be in June. 

  "A Mistress for Major Bartlett"

You can follow Annie on Facebook 

or twitter  @NovelistaAnnie

 

And you can sign up for her newsletter (not that she has very much, according to this article) at her website

Writing What You Know... by Annie Burrows

Continuing Novelista Annie Burrow's monthly alphabetical rambling though the writer's life.  This week, she's reached the letter K, which is for...Knowing.  (Or not)

"There are known knowns. These are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns. That is to say, there are things that we know we don't know. But there are also unknown unknowns. There are things we don't know we don't know." (Donald Rumsfeld)

When you first start writing people advise you to write what you know.  The argument goes that you cannot write a convincing story unless you know your subject inside out and upside down.  The trouble is, I wanted to write fiction set in Regency England, which is a place I have never been, and never can go to.  All my knowledge of the era comes from books.

However, when I started attempting to get a publishing deal, I felt fairly confident that I knew enough to be able to create a convincing fictional Regency world.  I've read stacks of Georgette Heyer, Jane Austen and the like.  And whatever I didn't know enough about, I could look up, right?

So I bought loads of books about every subject I thought I might need to know about - fashion, the army, the navy and biograpies of people who actually lived in the time which would hopefully give me an idea of the mindset of people living back then.

I even go round stately homes to get an extra "feel" for the era, especially ones where I can dress up in period costume, or have a ride in a carriage.

All the little details of dress, manners, and so forth, help to create a world that strikes a reader as "real".

For example, an author may set a scene by having the hero check his cravat in the mirror.  The heroine curtsies to him.  Instantly we're in an age where manners are more formal than today, and the costumes easily dateable.  The hero asks the lady to dance the waltz.  She refuses lest she be thought "fast".  We're very firmly in Regency territory.  So far, so good.

The trouble is, there are things about the Regency world that I never knew I didn't know.  I didn't know, for example - until it was mentioned on an author loop I belong to - that a girl couldn't waltz in public until she'd been granted permission, by one of the patronesses of Almack's, within those hallowed walls, to do so with an approved partner.  I'd had no idea how close I'd come to the brink of writing one of my heroines into committing such a social gaffe.

And a lot of authors fall into the same trap.  As a resident of the UK, I cringe whenever I read of Regency bucks going down to Dorsetshire to sample the local whiskey.  Or having to banish their dogs to the stables after an encounter with a skunk on the South Downs.  For me, such slips of the pen ruin my belief in the Regency world the author is trying to create.  Though I don't suppose it has any effect on readers who don't know that in Dorset the local brew would most likely be cider, and that the only way a skunk would wander onto the South Downs was if it had escaped from some local eccentric's private collection of rare species.

Which brings me back to the inimitable Donald Rumsfeld, who has been soundly mocked for warning the world about the danger of the "unknown unknowns".  As an author, I can vouch for the peril of those pesky facts that hamper us in our creative endeavours.  I have had my own heroes and heroines unwittingly do and say things that a person living in 1815 would not have done.  I have had them use the word "hello" - which was not in common use until the 1880's except on the hunting field.  I have also had them perform a twentieth century waltz, having had no idea that in the Regency era, the waltz was nothing like the rather tame dance performed today.

Only look at the way these couples are cavorting in each other's arms...

However, if I was now to describe the dance with complete accuracy, I suspect that editors and readers alike would find it hard to believe in it if my hero performed an acrobatic leap while the heroine hopped to one side.  It would strike them all as bizarre, and would ruin their belief in my Regency world just as surely as it would had they arrived at the ball in question in a porsche 911.

So - I'll probably need to disguise what I actually know, so that a reader will be convinced I do know what I'm talking about.

Donald Rumsfeld might have fared better with the world's press if he'd done the same.

Annie's next book, "A Mistress for Major Bartlett" which is part of a trilogy "The Brides of Waterloo", will be out in July 2015

J is for...Journey by Annie Burrows

On the first Friday of the month, Novelista Annie Burrows shares insights into the life of a writer - alphabetically.  As we reach the turn of the year, she has reached the letter J...

The kind of stories I enjoy the most are ones in which the main character changes and grows, emotionally, during the course of whatever adventure the author has sent them on.  There are various ways of describing this aspect of story-telling.  Often writers refer to it as "the character arc".  I prefer to think of it as the "emotional journey", (probably because the word "arc" conjures up an image in my head of an object which curves right up, then ends up on the same level as where it started.)  I like to think I'm sending my characters on a journey, in which they not only have an adventure, but also learn to abandon their prejudices and hang-ups along the way, and end up better people. 

Perhaps the most obvious example of a story like this is "A Christmas Carol", by Charles Dickens.  At the start, Scrooge is a miserable skinflint - a man who makes everyone around him almost equally as miserable.  By the end, he's giving away turkeys, raising his clerk's wages, and generally spreading Christmas cheer.  The story is so powerful, and spreads such a touching message of hope for even the most hardened cynic, that it has been adapted over and over again, for retelling to a modern audience.  Over this Christmas season alone, four different adaptations have been aired on TV (that I've noticed) including my family's favourite - A Muppets Christmas Carol.  The story of this one man's emotional transformation never seems to grow stale.

It is particularly suited to telling at Christmas time.  Don't we all make New Year's resolutions?  Isn't the turn of the year the time when we examine ourselves, take stock, and vow that this is the year when we'll do better?  Stories such as A Christmas Carol, that show a character overcoming his own flaws and weaknesses, give us hope that we can do something similar.  Though I have to confess, I'd broken every one of my resolutions before the end of January 1st!  And yes, they did all involve eating habits, and exercise.

Scrooge changed (literally overnight!) because of intervention by supernatural beings - the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future.  But there are many other classic stories where the central character is transformed by the (often healing) power of love.  As a writer of romance, these are the ones that have always particularly inspired me.  As a child I couldn't get enough of fairy stories, such as Rapunzel - where the hero's blindness is cured by the tears of his beloved falling onto his eyes, and The Snow Queen, where Gerda's tears wash the splinters of the troll mirror from his heart.  (Oh, dear, it's always tears, isn't it?), or Beauty and the Beast, where the heroine learns not to judge by outward appearances, and breaks the curse to find the Prince inside the Beast.

Then, as I grew older, it was stories that contained a more romantic love that I enjoyed the most.  The ones where the hero's character and actions helped to unfreeze the heroine's heart in some way.  Or vice versa.  I think that is one reason why I love reading Harlequin romances - fairly often the heroine's integrity is what persuades the cynical hero to soften and open his own heart to love.  She "rescues" him from a life of cynical isolation.

On reflection that's probably what I love about Rapunzel, and Beauty and the Beast, and The Snow Queen.  Although the hero starts out with all the notional power, it is the woman who comes to the rescue in the end.   Rapunzel cures the Prince's blindness, Beauty breaks the curse holding the Beast in thrall, and Gerda travels through the Arctic to rescue Kai from the Queen's ice palace.

Gerda is the one fairy tale heroine who goes on an actual journey.  My own characters rarely do.  It is their inner journey, often from a dark place, that I love to describe.  I was half way through writing A Mistress for Major Bartlett (release date June 2015) before I realized my heroine was very like Rapunzel.  Although she isn't under a real curse, she has shut herself up in a psychological tower, into which nobody has access, apart from her beloved twin brother.  It takes a real shock to jolt her out of her self-imposed isolation, set out on a path to self-awareness, and open her heart and mind to the possibility of love.

Her hero, the Major Bartlett of the title, also has his own emotional journey to undertake.  Like the prince in Rapunzel, he has been wandering in darkness for a very long time.  And it (sort of) takes the heroine's tears to open his eyes to not only what he is, but what he could become.

Wishing you all the best as you journey into this New Year.

Annie

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H is for heroes

Novelista Annie Burrows continues her alphabetical meander through her life as a writer.  This month she's reached the letter H, which of course stands for heroes...

 

I've recently handed in a book that is going to be part two of a historical trilogy.  The three books in the series deal with the loves of three officers in the same regiment, who fight at the battle of Waterloo.  And about the first thing my co-continuity authors wanted to know about my episode was "What does your hero look like?"

Sarah Mallory and Louise Allen had already put pictures in our joint files of actors who'd inspired them when it came to imagining their heroes.

Sarah Mallory chose Peter O'Toole when he was  Lawrence of Arabia for the Colonel of our fictitious regiment.

 Louise Allen picked Sean Bean for her Major Flint.

My problem was that although I had a clear image in my head of my own hero, I hadn't based him on an actor.  I just can't do that.  Because for me, what the hero is like inside, as a person, is far more important than what he looks like.  I always start with the personality, and work outward.  And if I start picturing a specific actor when I write about my hero, I'm always worried that the actor's personality traits might sneak in.

However, Sarah and Louise - who write much faster than me - were already writing scenes where my hero would have to stride across their pages, and really, really wanted to know what my hero looked like.

Fortunately (for them!) about that time I found an image of Tom Hiddleston in a cravat, from when he'd been playing a nineteenth century gentleman.  That was about the nearest I could come to explaining what my hero would look like.  And it wasn't about his features.  It was about the cleverness you could see in his features.  The potential for wickedness beneath the charming smile.

Posting an image of Tom certainly inspired their imaginations.  Whenever they sent me a scene in which he appeared in one of their books, they had my Artillery Major off to a "T".  He was a flirt.  A charmer.  And devilishly good-looking.

Thinking about Tom Hiddleston kept them happy for a while.  

( Well, he seems to make a lot of ladies happy.)

 Tom Hiddleston

Until they wanted to know what his name was.  I had to explain that he hadn't told me yet.  In my defence, I explained that I was only on about chapter 3 by then, and he was only just waking up after having sustained a head injury.  He was confused, and concussed, and couldn't everyone just call him "Sir."

I can't remember exactly when, during the course of the emails pinging back and forth as we created our fictional regiment, we started referring to him as Tom.  And then, when I couldn't come up with a surname, Louise Allen coined the nickname Tom Cat, which really, really suited him.
 

This kind of procedure is how it usually goes for me when naming my heroes.  I know that some authors can't start writing their heroes until they have a name, but I find that mine don't tell me what it is until I have got to know them pretty well.  My secondary characters had to speak of one of my heroes as Lord Rakey Rakerson well into my second draft of his adventure!

And it's the same with the book I am currently writing.  I know quite a lot about my hero's childhood, and naval career.  At the time he meets my heroine, he's reached the rank of Captain.  He is also an Earl to an almost bankrupt Scottish estate.  So naturally, the heroine has been having to call him Captain Lord Scotsman.

But only a few days ago, his sister (who is a minor character in the story) bounced up to him calling him Alec.  Which is short for Alexander.  And since I knew her name was Lizzie Dunbar (because it's always much, much easier to name minor characters) that meant his family name had to be Dunbar too.  Which is just right, and sums him up perfectly.  Alec has a sort of cautious ring to it, somehow.  He is a solid, dependable sort of chap.  He is also the Earl of Auchentay (a Scottish area I invented several books ago, which has come in very handy)

 

And yes, I have the same slow process when it comes to naming my heroines.  I think it is because it is so important that they get a name that really, really conjures up an aspect of their character - something that will help them to come to life on the page.  I can't just pluck any old name out of a baby book, or something similar.  The name has to have a resonance.  Tom was a good name for my military hero - there's nothing stuffy about a Tom, is there?  And you can imagine a Tom being brave on the battlefield, insubordinate to his officers, and lethal with the ladies.  And once we started calling him Tom Cat, well...  

If you'd like to read more about Lord Rakey Rakerson, well, this is the book he became the hero of. (available at Amazon UK and Amazon.com  )

You'll have to wait until next Christmas to read about Captain Lord Scotsman! 

And if you should want to know about any of Annie's other books, there's more information on her website