Finding Motivation: Kate Hewitt on her International Billionaires Book
18 Comments July 3rd, 2009 in author, books, miniseries, secret baby Posted by Amykeywords: secret baby romance novel, author Kate Hewitt, International Billionaires series, The Sheikh’s Love-Child
by Kate Hewitt, author of The Sheikh’s Love-Child
When I was asked to write one of the books in the new International Billionaires series, I was delighted. Unlike some of my illustrious counterparts, I don’t know the first thing about rugby–the sport featuring in some way in each book–so I did quite a bit of research, and have fellow authors India Grey and Abby Green to thank for helping me with many of the details!
The hero of The Sheikh’s Love-Child, Khaled, is the heir to a desert island kingdom, Biryal, and a star rugby player. Before the story starts, his career is ruined by a serious knee injury. He leaves rugby, England, and most importantly, his lover, Lucy Banks.
Now four years later, Lucy, a sport physiotherapist, is coming to Biryal–and to Khaled–to tell him about the son he never knew he had.
This is the basic premise of the book, and it was given to me by my editor. While it certainly interested me, it also presented a challenge, and that was to make this story my own. The big question in my mind is why would Khaled leave his lover without explaining or even saying goodbye? How could that kind of act not only be justified, but forgiven?
Presents’ heroes are often found doing what seems cruel or unforgivable, whether it’s an act of revenge, a forced marriage, or even a bit of blackmail. These actions only work in a story if they are justified and honorable in the heroes’ own minds–and of course, eventually, the readers’!
So in the case of Khaled I really had to think about what would make him feel leaving Lucy in such an abrupt manner was the right thing to do. I thought about what might have happened to a man to make him feel leaving his lover was the best thing not just for him, but also for her. Khaled’s history–especially living with his invalid mother–has a lot to do with why he chose to leave rather than burden Lucy with his injury, although he isn’t able to explain this to her until later in the story.
Of course, while thinking about why Khaled would walk away, I also had to consider how Lucy felt about him leaving-and why she would be willing to come back to tell him about their son. What could bring her to a point, four years after they last saw each other, to want to see Khaled again? And how she would react when he makes another decision for the two of them–that he is going to be involved in his son’s life?
Working with an already-developed premise feels a bit to me like working backwards; I’m given the characters’ actions and then have to develop personal histories to explain and support their behavior. Usually I work the other way round, developing characters and then breathing life into their story. Still, it’s a challenge I enjoyed, just as I hope you enjoy Khaled and Lucy’s story.
What would, in your opinion, ever justify walking away from someone you loved? And if you were the one being left behind, what would you be able to forgive?
Tagged with: author Kate Hewitt • International Billionaires miniseries • secret baby romance novels • The Sheikh's Love-Child
Hmmm, I’ve been thinking about Kate’s question but I’m having a real tough time coming up with what I could forgive — and I hope my boyfriend doesn’t put me in the position to find out!
My love has clearly — and thankfully! — been mostly drama-free thus far. Though I know I wouldn’t be able to forgive cheating — the lies and betrayals would ruin any trust.
I find it ironic that one thing people who don’t read romance think is that there’s a formula or stock plots that authors write to all the time…if only they realized that the few times a storyline is decided first actually makes things harder!
~Amy
Kate,
Great post. You’re absolutely right about needing LOTS of motivation to make something like Khaled’s leaving seem like the right and honorable thing to do. It’s an issue I’m struggling with right now in the book I’m working on. If I can’t admire the hero (however misguided his actions might seem on the surface, he needs to be admirable for me to want to write about him), I can’t get anywhere. The heroine might not understand him, but I have to!
And Amy, yes, when the story line is decided first it is MUCH harder. There’s no ’second chance’ in which you can say, “I didn’t mean that,” and go back and change things. It’s like reality — as an author you’re stuck with it! Now you have to make the best of it.
Drama-free relationships are good, Amy! That’s why we read Presents–for a good dose of drama & fantasy!
I agree, infidelity is pretty unforigvable, and generally doesn’t belong in a romance novel. I suppose the kinds of things I *would* be able to forgive would be actions a hero (or my husband!) took because he *genuinely* thought they were in both of our best interests, even if it didn’t seem so on the surface. However, deciding something for two people has more than a hint of high-handedness, and that in itself is something that can need forgiving!
Anne, great analogy about it being like reality! You’re stuck with whatever you’ve got.
Sometimes it feels like I have all the puzzle pieces but no picture of what it’s supposed to look like, so I end up pulling & jerking them trying to make them fit.
Kate
My answer to this question? Shirley Valentine, Reginald Perrin and Tony Hancock in The Rebel – possibly even Mrs Dalloway.
In Shirley Valentine’s case she left everything because she had lost the person she was.
In Reggie Perrin’s case (the books, the original series and the recent BBC remake) it was because Reggie worked in sales and promoted products that he didn’t believe in -plus the rat race overtook him to the point that he lost all humanity.
In The Rebel, Tony Hancock plays a character very similar to Reggie, except that he’d a clerk in an accountancy firm where everything is regimented, everyone looks the same (”The only reason I know I’m me is because of my initials on my briefcase!”) and all imagination has been crushed out of him by the daily grind. So he decides to become an artist – but he finds that to be a success in the art world is just another mode of the rat race he has left behind.
I mention Mrs Dalloway because it’s probably my favourite book by Virginia Woolf. It’s an odd romance because Mrs Dalloway has married the wrong man and although provided for she lives in a dead marriage. Every day she takes a walk in the park. She imagines what life would have been like if she married the other man. The other man, Peter, is not rich in the financial sense but had he married Mrs Dalloway the two would have reformed society.
There’s a lovely re-write of Mrs Dalloway at the end of Crocidile Dundee where we have the scene on the subway station: “She’s not going to marry Richard!”
Sorry if I’m sounding out of turn, but sometimes I wonder about the existential side of Presents heroines – whether a rich man would satisfy her in the long run.
Hi Kate,
What a challenge! Starting with a premise given to you really gets your mind working on why characters would behave in certain ways. s you say, without a believable reason there’s a danger your hero could be unsympathetic. I know that’s not what you’ll have written into your book. Do you find that working out the motivation for a character and how that interlocks with the rest of the story can be the most time consuming part of writing?
I’m looking forward to reading your story and seeing why Khaled acted as he did.
Annie
Kate, as a former physiotherapist (before I started writing) I can’t wait to read this book!!!
Annie, that’s exactly it… I don’t want my hero to ever appear unsympathetic, even if his actions seem questionable–I want the reader to think, ‘I wonder why such a wonderful man would do such a terrible thing!’ rather than ‘what a x#$%^!’ It’s a fine line though sometimes…
Discovering Khaled’s motivation was definitely the most time consuming part of the book. Once that fell into place, the rest was–relatively–easy!
Nicola, I hope I got the physiotherapy angle right! I did quite a bit of research but it’s always challenging when you’re writing something you knew very little (or nothing!) about before you started!
For some reason, my earlier comment is not showing up so I’m cutting and pasting it here:
Drama-free relationships are good, Amy! That’s why we read Presents–for a good dose of drama & fantasy!
I agree, infidelity is pretty unforigvable, and generally doesn’t belong in a romance novel. I suppose the kinds of things I *would* be able to forgive would be actions a hero (or my husband!) took because he *genuinely* thought they were in both of our best interests, even if it didn’t seem so on the surface. However, deciding something for two people has more than a hint of high-handedness, and that in itself is something that can need forgiving!
Anne, great analogy about it being like reality! You’re stuck with whatever you’ve got. Sometimes it feels like I have all the puzzle pieces but no picture of what it’s supposed to look like, so I end up pulling & jerking them trying to make them fit.
Kate
Hi Kate
You’re right – I prefer to go to ‘Presents’ for my daily dose of drama, rather than experience it in real life. There’s no escape from a tricky situation in RL, which is why I’m going to enjoy finding out how you rationalise Khaled’s behaviour. It’s bound to be a real page turner!
Hmm, what a challenge! It sounds like a fab story!
The only way it could be forgivable would be for the person to have a very strong motivation, a strong belief thet what they were doing was the best thing for the other person. Though as you say, the act of deciding for the other person, thinking that they knew better, would in itself be an additional thing to forgive! There would need to be a darn good reason for that as well, probably that they were concerned the other person would make the wrong decision for themselves out of a sense of self sacrifice.
I’ll look out for this story!
Exactly, Christina. The kind of drama I find in my life would not be suitable for a Presents–it usually revolves around too much laundry and running out of milk or diapers at very inconvenient moments.
I completely agree, Mulberry, that it has to be out the person having a very strong belief he/she is doing is right, and as you said a darn good reason for making such a decision! Although in this story Lucy doesn’t buy Khaled’s reason at first
This was a very tough question to answer, I couldn’t put it any better than mulberry. She explained it so very well, there better be a very good reason why they would walk away for me to forgive them.
Well, I had made a reply to this yesterday but for some reason it’s not been posted. I’ve thought on the matter a little further:
“I’m given the characters’ actions and then have to develop personal histories to explain and support their behavior.”
Interesting. Sometimes, that way of thinking draws on a character’s hidden strengths. It’s in dealing with “Why did X have to happen?” that some of the other issues come to the fore.
Mulberry did give a really good answer, nicolerko! I love dealing with issues of healing & forgiveness, so this premise was actually a really good fit for me and my writing style.
Lauren, I think you’re right–I ended up giving both Lucy and Khaled very detailed back stories, so in the end I felt I knew them as characters really well–perhaps even better than some characters I’ve created completely by myself!
Further to my above post, I’ve been finding a book by Stanislawski very useful. It’s called “An Actor Prepares”, and it’s basically about “method” acting. He sets some examples for constructing a character – say, what kind of clothes he/she would wear, etc. Sometimes I browse in second hand shops and look at old clothes, old watches, that type of thing. The next stage is to ask: how did it get like that? Why is this old watch worn in this way? Pretty soon the character emerges almost fully formed.
Kate, I loved the book.
Christina you can’t imagine what a page turner this book is and even though at times painful to read because of Khaled’s struggle it’s a magnificent story!
Thanks Marilyn! I’m glad you enjoyed it
Lauren, what a good idea–I trained in drama in college and so read Stanislawski for acting, but I never thought to read it from a writer’s perspective.
Another book written for actors, but a fantastic help for writers is “Audition” by Michael Shurtleff.