by India Grey
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Incredibly it’s been just over a year since I finished writing my very first novel, and got the call from Richmond to say that it had been accepted for the Harlequin Presents line. In some ways it’s hard to believe it’s been that long—I can still recall every detail of the day I sold and every word of the phonecall—but in other ways it seems like a lifetime ago, particularly when I think that in the last twelve months I have written two more complete books and am deeply embroiled in a further one.
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Mad as it may sound, that was something I had given no thought whatsoever to before I sold. I was lucky enough to sell on my first submission (after a few revisions!) so Raphael Di Lazaro, hero of The Italian’s Defiant Mistress, was the first hero I had ever created. In the two years it took me to write the book I fell completely in love with him; I could picture his face in my mind, see the way he moved and the mannerisms he used when he talked. I knew exactly where he would live, how he would feel about any given subject or issue, what he would say in any situation…
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And then I had to let him go.
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As the champagne hangover wore off and I gradually got used to saying the words ‘my editor’ it started to dawn on me that this wasn’t actually an ending, (though it felt like a ‘happy ever after’ to me!) but a beginning. I had to start all over again and make friends with a new heroine, fall in love with a new hero, conjure up a new setting in which they could discover each other. It felt really scary— what if I couldn’t pull it off a second time? What I had no more ideas?
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Initially my instincts were to make everything about my second book as deliberately different to the first as possible, so the hero and heroine became polar opposites of their predecessors, and the setting moved from the high glitz and frantic activity of the city, to the middle of the Mediterranean, on a yacht…. But by the time they got there I was so wrapped up in them as individuals, and in their issues and their conflict that I’d forgotten to think about Raphael and Eve from the first book at all. The Italian’s Captive Virgin was a joy to write, and as I finished the last few pages on a snowy afternoon in February, once again I found myself unable to bear the thought of saying goodbye. That evening I knew I should be celebrating reaching the end, but all I wanted to do was cry!
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All in all, I’ve learned so much in the past year—amongst other things that…
♥       Ideas and inspiration are magically forged somewhere inside of you that doesn’t stop working. (I don’t think… so far….)
♥       It is possible to fall in love with a different man every few months, but leaving them behind HURTS!
♥        Chocolate is not a sensible meal substitute while on a deadline, but it does make the heartbreak of the ending easier to bear!
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I’m still right at the beginning of my journey as a writer, and wonder how other writers feel about ending one book and starting another. Do you relish the excitement of a change of scene and the possibilities that lie ahead, or find yourself mourning the loss of characters you’ve come to know and adore? And readers, are there some books you just don’t want to end, some heroes you just can’t bear to leave behind, or do you love plunging straight from one Happy Ever After into the drama and passion of a new story? I’d love to hear how other people feel when they turn the last page!
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Hi India,
Congratulations on all of your books! I just finished ‘The Italian’s Defiant Mistress’ and really liked the humour–I think it’s hard to write humour in a Presents because of the emotional intensity, but you carried off both–the humour and the intensity–fabulously. By the time I get to the end of writing a book, I have to admit I’m generally ready to let my characters go. I feel like I’ve given them the ending they need and deserve, and now they can go off into the sunset just the two of them…
Usually around chapter 8-9 I’m already starting to think of the new book, and its characters, and by the time I’m in revisions they’re starting to elbow their way into the forefront of my mind. When I’ve finally finished a book completely, revisions and all, I take a few weeks to just *think* about my new characters. The temptation for me is to begin writing too quickly, when I’m not ready, and I get stuck. I try to make myself wait so I’m absolutely itching to start writing.
That said, I’ve only written four books so I’m hardly the voice of expertise! I’d love to read how other, more experienced writers feel about ending one book and beginning another.
Kate Hewitt
Hi India, lovely post! It’s bringing back all my memories too. Like you, the first book I did felt like the one and only one I could ever think about but then finally I got number two…three…and now I’m on number six! It doesn’t get any easier. Somehow I always feel a little disloyal to be thinking of new characters while the old ones are still fresh. But then I figure they have their happy ending, so another couple deserve a chance.
You know I loved your first book India and after having the privilege of reading the second, I can vouch for the fact that you have brilliantly created a totally different and equally wonderful read…! Roll on number three…
x Abby
India,
Like Abby, I found your post brought back so many terrific memories for me. Congratulaions on getting number two finished and accepted – I remember wondering whether one acceptance was all I’d get! It sounds like you’re powering ahead with your writing. Good on you.
I don’t mind letting my characters go at the end of a book because I feel that they’ve reached a point where they can get on well by themselves (G). However, I have to admit that I think of them as continuing their own lives happily while I work on the next story. Yes, they are that real to me.
Strangely, I can’t say that I feel an overwhelming thrill when I write ‘The end’ on a manuscript. A sense of huge satisfaction, yes, but the thrill is more likely to be when I get the book in my hands (I recently received the hardcover of my 5th and it was a tremendous feeling) or when I receive reader feedback from someone who liked my characters as much as I did.
Thanks for the great post.
Annie
Hi India
It’s great to ‘see’ you here and I loved reading your post. After so many years writing, I’ve said ‘goodbye’ to 50+ couples and like you I have ambiguous feelings about doing so. I’m always glad to see the end of a book – to know that the story has run its course and come to that HEA ending – but it’s hard to really move on to the next story until the old one is really ‘put to bed’ with the book revised where needed and accepted and scheduled. It’s something that does get easier with time and with experience. But one of the reasons why I enjoyed writing The Alcolar Family and other linked books is that I could revisit past characters and see how they were doing.
But I also think that not wanting to move on from your characters too quickly is a good sign. It means that you’ve really got close to them, learned their personalities, their motivations and so created characters who are truly alive and not just cardboard cut outs that you’ve moved through the story you’ve created. Dashing into new stories isn’t always the best way to go. I do think you need to clear your mind of the earlier couple so as to make the new one unique individuals.
I loved your first book and I’m really looking forward to reading the next one. Knowing that, like me, you get deep into your characters tells me that this will be another great read too.
Sometimes it is a struggle to think of a new story and move on to it from the old one . I’ve found different books harder than others. But I really believe that the imagination is like a muscles, the more you work it, the stronger it gets.
I have The Italian’s Captive Virgin on my book shopping list – can’t wait!
Kate
Kate, I know just what you mean about needing that ‘thinking time’. I find it quite difficult and frustrating sometimes to think my way into a new book, but it’s absolutely essential, as you say. Congratulations on 4 books– that’s an amazing achievement and I’m so looking forward to getting my hands on your Italian in December!
Disloyal is exactly it, Abby. After reading your first book I didn’t want to pick up anything else for a while either! Xavier was glorious, and the setting was so vivid… But then so was Caleb in your second book. It’s true, the magic just keeps on working….
Hi Annie! I think I was subconsciously influenced from a young age by the film ‘Romancing the Stone’! Did you ever see that– and the scene at the beginning when she’s finishing her book and it’s all so emotional and overwhelming? I really expected the ‘The End’ moment to feel like that, but each time I’ve got there I’ve just felt exhausted and emotionally drained! How exciting to have got your 5th book in your hands– can’t wait until it hits the shelves too!
Oh Kate, I was hoping you’d stop by! It’s a huge comfort to know that more experienced writers still find it a wrench, and don’t make the leap between books effortlessly, but also quite a relief to learn that it will get easier with time! I think one of the biggest eye openers for me has been how each book ‘feels’ completely different from the start. They’re almost like children– you love them all the same, but they exasperate and enchant you in slightly different ways and at different stages. Thanks for sharing your experience!
Hi India! Great to see you here.
Can’t wait to get my hands on The Italian’s Captive Virgin(ignoring the beige shirt obviously!). I read The Italian’s Defiant Mistress on holiday way back in early summer-it seems such a long time ago now,but I still remember enjoying it immensely–it really did sparkle.
As for the last page of a romance, I revel in it and enjoy the enormous feeling of pleasure at the happy ending but I must admit to being extremely greedy fiction wise. I will invariably pick up another book straight away so I’m not far from my next fix. I would feel extremely anxious if I didn’t have a big stack of M&Bs nearby-there’s probably a medical term for it!
Keep bashing away at that keyboard!
Lots of love,
Rach.
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India — congrats on being on your FOURTH novel for Presents. And I know they will be as good as your first one.
I think it is the intensity of feeling for a character that makes a good writer.
I know, personally in order to be able to do revisions successfully I have to have fallen in love with a new set of characters. It also takes my mind off wondering what my eidtor might think. This enables me to be more objective about tweaks when they come. It means I am also a bit different than Kate Walker, but it is the great thing about writing — there is no correct way to do it.
But I do need that intense first love when I am writing. If I can’t love my characters utterly and devotedly, who else can? However, once I am finished with a book, I have to let the characters go.The way I do it is to create more characters and it seems to work for me…thus far and I am on my 10th book for HM&B Historicals
As a reader, I can always tell in a series when a writer has not let the first couple go and they end up taking over the second couple’s story. I like to see what happened but it is not the FIRST couple’s story but the second. And what if I have read the books out of order? As a reader,I dislike seeing it happen so I always try not to have it happen in my writing. And I am a tension cum happy ending junkie so although I love rereading books, I also like going to the next one.
Ooh yes Rachel, I should think you’re definitely suffering from Romanticfiction-Obsessive Disorder at the very least. Or maybe even Happy Ending Dependency Syndrome. The good news is the treatment involves doing lots and lots of reading… and avoiding all strenuous domestic activities such as cleaning the fridge, of course!
Michelle, I’m really interested to read your take on coming to the end of the book, and how you obtain more objectivity in revisions by having moved on to the next one. I’m more like Kate (I wish!) and like to completely finish with one before focusing on the next, but I can see how useful it would be to do it your way. I’ll give it a try!
And ten books is a fantastic milestone– hope you’re going to be celebrating when you get to the end of this one! (which should, if I’m remembering rightly, be around Christmas time… Perfect!)
Congratulations India and great post, it rang a lot of bells for me.
I’m like Kate W and needing time between stories, even if two new characters are banging at me three quarters the way through the wip, wanting me to get on with their story. But then, they seem shiny and new and much more fun at that stage than the couple I’m currently trying to wrangle through chapter eight:-))
But I do need that down time. It’s partly the intensity of Presents stories, I guess, that they can be so emotionally draining from a writing point of view, all that emotion has to come from somewhere, and the well needs refilling at some stage. In between books is my time for refilling the well (not to mention catching up with the leaning tower of ironing!) And all that time is never wasted, as Kate H says, because the new characters’ story is simmering away back there somewhere and you know exactly when is the right time to get stuck in. At least that’s how it’s been for me so far.
It’s about that time for me right now. I’ve made a start and now it’s time to dive headlong into the book (so I may not be around for a wee while), but lovely to pop by and say hello.
Keep up the good work!
Trish, your comment made me smile! I think I’m the opposite to you, as when wrestling with my current couple I tend to think longingly of the last one, whose story seems so painless and easy in retrospect! (like having a baby!)
You’re absolutely right about the intensity, and needing a break to fill the well before plunging in again. I think that’s a vital part of keeping the ideas coming, and keeping them fresh– one of the really wonderful things about Presents stories is they have a very fresh, ‘of the moment’ feel and I’m sure that’s partly to do with the way the ideas are picked up during that resting phase between books.
Very best of luck with your new book… look forward to reading it at the other end of the process!
Hi India
Let me start by saying, I feel a bit inferior in the company of all you illustrious and fab authors. Trish Morey, Kate Walker, Annie West, Abbie Green, your all great. There’s just little old, ordinary me, just a reader! I envy you all, your ability to weave and imagine a gorgeous story about love and hope.
Your first book, what a triumph for you. A spooky thing happened to me this summer, your book (The Italian’s Defiant Mistress), was amongst the pile of M&B’s I took on holiday. The gorgeous front cover captured me from the start, the dress! What can I say, I WAS EVE! Now your asking yourself, where did I go on holiday. Yes, you’ve guessed it, Italy! And where specifically? Florence. I adore that city, its so beautiful, me and mum stood on the Ponte Vecchio bridge, we just soaked it all in. Your book captured the city and Raphael perfectly. What a man, he was very special. I swore that I stood outside his palazzo, my imagination ran riot.
I loved Eve, she was so sparky, the perfect foil to a fab man. And your right, your description of picturing Raphael’s mannerisms, gave the reader the exact picture in her mind. Oh my, swoon, I loved him. Congrats.
When I turn to the last page of a book, my immediate feeling is satisfaction, to a certain extent, but with your book, I didn’t want it to end. I want to know about the baby, and how the three of them are getting on with life. But as you can probably see, my over-active imagination has already drawn a perfect picture of family life. With them living between the UK and Italy. Do other readers do that? I have a terrible habit of going on with the story in my own mind.
When I finished your book, I did feel a little mournful for not seeing Raphael again, but India, you can be assured, that your gorgoeus book, will never leave my ‘TO BE KEPT FOREVER PILE’.
Can’t wait for your next book. Thanks for bringing Florence even closer to my heart.
There’s a thought, have authors ever wanted to go on with the story later? I have many fav books that I wish that for.
Best wishes
xx Karen
Oh wow, Karen, you made my day! (HA! Who am I kidding? You made my decade!!)
I’m beyond thrilled and delighted that you liked the book (and Raphael too) and it’s so fab to think of you actually reading it in Florence. I’m in absolute agreement about the cover– it was great, wasn’t it? Eve’s dress was just glorious.
As a reader (who, let’s face it, are the most important people of all!) I’m also with you on the need to know what happens to characters after the last page, and I think that’s why I’m such a fan of Epilogues. I really indulged in the Epilogue for my third book (which is out in August next year) to such an extent that I found it even harder than usual to forget about the characters, as I’d delved quite deeply into their lives a bit further down the line. There’s a cracking Epilogue in Abby Green’s latest book (The Kouros Marriage Revenge) and I always think Kim Lawrence does lovely ones too.
(As for Eve and Raphael… I like to think they’re living at the villa now Antonio is better and has moved back to the city. The walls, of course, will be covered with Raphael’s beautiful photographs of baby Ellie– who is now a plump, peachy toddler– and of Eve’s luscious, expanding figure now that baby number two is on the way…)
Thanks so much for all your lovely comments. (Am now going to print out this page and stick it up near my computer!)
Hi India!
Thanks for a great post! We sold our first books at about the same time, and I continue to think we’re some kind of sisters separated at birth going through the same kind of stuff at the same time! (The fact that we were both in car accidents while we were revising our third book…eerie!)
(err…better clarify that we weren’t actually *typing* while driving! Totally the other guy’s fault! I swear!)
And India, I haven’t read The Italian’s Defiant Mistress yet, but after reading Karen’s comments I’m gonna have to–it sounds amazing!!!
Jennie
Hi, India! I really enjoyed your 1st book. Am anxiously awaiting your 2nd one. You’re up there in my list of “books by authors I have to buy” even without checking the cover or without reading the plot at the back (especially when I have my hb run over to buy the current batch for me).
As a die-hard reader, it is so hard to let go of the characters of a very passionate, emotional and exciting story. After reaching the end, I usually flip to the beginning immediately and read it again. But this time, skipping some parts and going straight to those really heartwrenching scenes. I always get to the point of repeatedly reading all the emotional parts that I can memorize the dialogues by heart!:) I wonder if some readers are like me?
Jennie– it’s a great comfort to know that I have my ‘soul-sister’ experiencing all the same highs and lows of writing life on the other side of the world! One of the best and most amazing things about achieving that goal of publication was joining a lovely new international family of Harlequin Presents.
Olivia, thank you so much for your comments. I’m just like you and love going back and revisiting key scenes in a book I’ve just finished. It’s especially great when you find things you didn’t pick up on first time round, or when you see even more significance in certain gestures or words in the light of what comes later. Definitely a pleasure to savour!
(And lucky you having a hb who will keep you well supplied with books– he’s definitely a keeper!)
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