Romance Under the Tuscan Sun, Part II aka My Week at “Romance Camp”

by Jennie Lucas, Caretti’s Forced Bride

Last month, I attended Sharon Kendrick’s creative writing course, “How to Write for Harlequin Mills & Boon,” in the tiny village of Posara, Italy. In my last blog, I described the setting and my fellow students. Now let me tell you about the workshop.Sharon was a little worried at first when she heard I was coming. “Why should you think you’d need or be able to learn something from me?” she asked. (Um, because I’m a brand-new Presents writer while you’re a beloved bestselling author with 70 titles on your booklist?!) She added, “But then I thought about it again and realized that every time I teach, I learn something myself and that the essential tools of writing can be applied to just about any genre. And that life is all about learning (especially in Tuscany!)”

And she was right.

The workshop

Aside from Rachael Lloyd, none of the students had ever submitted a manuscript; in fact, some hadn’t even started their first Chapter One. Sharon taught us how to write by having us actually create the characters and full outline for our own Presents novel. She would show us how to structure a book…by constructing one with us from start to finish.

First, we created a hero, “the most important factor in a Presents.” He needed to be tall, strong, and alpha. Mediterranean heroes are always popular, so inspired by the setting, we made him Italian. He would be dark-haired, dark-eyed and ruthless. We decided his father was a poor stonecutter of Carrera marble, from this same village of Posara.

Next, we needed a heroine. She would be a lovely British girl from a wealthy family who had also lived in this village, but not in poverty. When she was in her teens, she’d lived here in this villa, the Watermill. And that was where they’d first met.

Choosing names for our hero and heroine proved to be a difficult task. (Names are so important in defining character that it generally takes me weeks of frantic searching to find the right ones for my own stories!) We finally decided upon the name Luca for our hero, and the name Ellie (short and sweet) for our heroine.

Throughout the next week, Sharon helped us structure our story. Chapter one starts as Ellie, impoverished through no fault of her own, is losing her family’s villa to a mysterious buyer—then she discovers the buyer is Luca! But just buying the villa isn’t enough for him. After her long-ago betrayal, he wants his revenge…and her body. He demands that she be his one-night mistress.

But how to show their backstory and the original betrayal? I argued for “blending it in,” but I was overruled. We decided to show their history with a flashback in chapter two. (Even though I don’t generally like flashbacks, I must admit that Sharon is super talented at them—her desperate-mother-and-baby-in-the-rain scene in Italian Boss, Housekeeper Bride brought tears to my eyes!)

During morning and afternoon sessions, our class patiently created the story. Everyone came up with suggestions, and Sharon gently guided our group with “That could work!” or “No, that won’t work I don’t think, because…”

We went down some dead ends (like when we tried to give the hero his own Mediterranean island), but ultimately by the end of the week we’d created the outline for a passionate, exciting story. Set in Italy and London, it starts with Luca demanding that Ellie be his one-night mistress—and ends with her being his forced bride. But of course, you already know how all Presents novels end… Happily!

(BTW, Sharon, I’m still hoping that you’ll write this story. I would love to read it. Just make sure you mention us Watermill girls in your dedication!)

The “research”

After many days of hard work, we took a day off. We rode the train into the medieval walled town of Lucca for “research” into Italian culture. (Read: we wanted to see the famous Italian men, food, and shopping!) I tried my first gelato (yum), drank cappuccino in the town square and we went out for the most amazingly delicious lunch. Later, Sharon and I broke away from the others to do some shopping. She encouraged me to splurge on an impractical Birkin bag knock-off in lavender crocodile (sadly, we never managed to retrace our steps back to that shop, so I was unable to buy it), while I absolutely insisted she had to buy a white, sparkly Swatch she really wanted. It was an amazing day of fun, food and friends.

But at the end of the return train, the BBC was waiting for us.

The television crew

“But what about feminism?”

Sitting next to Stella Duffy, a well-known British literary writer and radio presenter, at dinner, a little stab of anxiety went down my back at her question. I’d heard so many tales of media hack-jobs, reporters gleefully cutting romance writers to a bloody pulp for sheer entertainment value, that I immediately feared the worst. I tried to explain that romance novels are for feminists—that while a hero might appear to have all the power in the beginning, he is utterly tamed by the heroine. He shares his strength; she shares her heart.

But still, I barely slept that night, dreading the filming that was to start the next morning. When Stella, Claire the editor/director, and Sarah the camera technician showed up, I could barely open my mouth during the class. (Definitely a first!)

Sharon (obviously trying to draw me out): “Jennie, how do you think Luca and Ellie feel after they spend the night making love?”

The camera whirls on me.

Me, squeaking: “Good.”

After an hour, I bolted from the class, pleading a book deadline. But after awhile, I missed my friends more than I feared looking stupid, so I went back to the afternoon session and finally forgot about the camera enough to join in the discussion.

That evening was my last night in Italy. (I went home a day early to spend my birthday with my husband and kids.) Over dinner, I was interviewed by Stella on camera and by this time, I’d realized she wasn’t intending a hack job and neither was the film crew. I tried to answer her questions as best I could.

Stella: “So you write fantasies for women?”

Me, shaking my head and interrupting: “But I don’t think it’s a fantasy. Oh, maybe the villas and the Ferraris are, but the love at the heart of each story is absolutely real. I honestly believe love can change everything, change a person’s life for the better and change it forever.”

Stella: “You really believe love can be like that?”

Me: “When I was a girl, I used to hope so. Then I met my husband…and now I know it is.”

Stella, smiling: “The same husband who’s taking care of your two young children so you can spend the week in Italy?”

Me, getting a little tearful, missing him: “Yes.”

At that, Stella’s lovely blonde features glowed as she held up a glass of sparkling wine. “To Pete, then.” I clinked my glass against hers. “To Pete,” I whispered.

And the next day, I flew the twenty-five hours from Pisa to Paris to LA to Salt Lake and finally home to Idaho, always focused on returning to my true romantic inspiration. It wasn’t Italy after all. It was my man at home.
Jennie Lucas’s third book for Presents, Caretti’s Forced Bride, is now in stores. Her second novel, The Spaniard’s Defiant Virgin,

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came out in May.

Sharon Kendrick’s The Greek Tycoon’s Baby Bargain is available for your reading pleasure.

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