by Christina Hollis, author of Her Ruthless Italian Boss (Harlequin Presents, February 2009, already published in the UK)
Reading is a bit like swimming. Once you’ve mastered the basics, you can do it anywhere. Pleasure isn’t guaranteed unless you know what you want, and what you’re letting yourself in for. When you make the choice between reading a long, ‘literary’ novel or a Harlequin Presents, it’s the contrast between slogging up and down a public pool for the good of your health, and taking a short cut across a Greek inlet. Chilly lengths, or the pull of warm, welcoming currents? I know which I’d choose on a wet Wednesday in winter!
So dive straight in…
With a maximum of 55,000 words, Presents novels need to jump into the action. Your hero and heroine both need a detailed past to make them fully rounded characters. Spending a couple of chapters explaining it all isn’t an option in modern romance. In my February 2009 release, Her Ruthless Italian Boss, Beth is a spoilt ‘princess’ who has fallen on hard times. She abandoned career soldier Luca when he refused to play along with her games. Now, five years later their circumstances have totally changed. Their careers and lifestyles are dramatically different, and so is their approach to one another. All this only emerges gradually, over the course of the book. In the first paragraphs, all we see is lowly Beth being buffeted along on Venetian public transport. She’s thrown into agonised confusion when a gorgeous businessman sweeps past in his expensive new speedboat. Could it have been Luca? If it was, why? What has brought him there, and what’s their history? Keep reading, for a chance to find out!
Feel the ebb and flow…
Conflict between your hero and heroine is vital, but for them to be at each other’s throats all the time isn’t romantic. It’s unsettling. Remember the seduction part of the Presents promise. Their attitudes may be on a collision course, but give them some time to capture the magic. It might be an unexpectedly enjoyable smooch on the dance floor, a ‘Cinderella moment’ when he’s transfixed by the sight of her, or the instant when her heart melts to discover the secret sacrifice he would have concealed from her forever.
And when you reach your destination…
Presents novels like Her Ruthless Italian Boss offer a happy ending, no matter how turbulent the journey. True love always triumphs. That’s the beauty of these books. We can all experience the highs and lows of torrid passion, without the personal pain. Presents readers emerge refreshed and relaxed at the other end of the experience, exactly as they would from a dip in a warm, sunlit sea.
What’s your tip for a fulfilling plotline?
Oooooh Christina I want to be swimming in the warm currents with you! Especially at the moment with sub-zero temps outside, brrrrrrr. What a gorgeous image you’ve evoked. I don’t think I ever want to go to a public pool again!
You’ve hit the nail on the head with everything you said, for me there has to be that tension and that certain something that keeps you on edge, wondering right until the last moment how on earth these two people are going to get together and why it should feel so important that they do…
x Abby
Thanks, Abby, it’s that sort of escapism I look for when I read Presents. Stories of a sultry hero and beautiful weather – just the thing for these cold winter nights!
Hi Christina, great post!
My tip would be something you’ve already touched upon – that characters’ histories must emerge over the course of the book and not straight away, i.e. don’t give everything away too quickly!
Characters’ actions, and therefore the plot, must be driven by very real emotions – hope/fear etc, but just as in real life, they won’t constantly be talking or thinking about the root of these emotions. Sometimes they aren’t even completely aware of these ‘emotional drivers’ themselves.
Revealing the past slowly gives a real page-turning quality because it makes us long to find out why the hero and heroine act the way they do, and as Abby says, how on earth they are ever going to overcome those tensions and get it together!
Sabrina xx
Hi Christina
This is such a great post, and I completely agree with what you said about knowing that my pleasure is guaranteed and I know exactly what I’m letting myself in for, when a Modern/Presents lands in my hands!
The waters will be comforting and warm for my swim.
When I get your book, (It’s already on order), I will know exactly how Beth will be feeling, on her water taxi in Venice, I was there 2 years ago. For me though, the glorious anticipation of getting off that taxi, onto the quay near St Mark’s, will always stay cherished in my heart. Venice was everything I imagined and more!
Thanks again.
xx Karen
Hi Sabrina – yes the ‘emotional drivers’ you mention ( I think you used the phrase in your blog, too?) benefit from being both obvious and concealed – the ‘Russian doll’ effect.
and hi too, Karen – yes, Venice is such a wonderful, unforgettable old lady, isn’t she? I hope you get to visit her again soon!
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