by Annie West, author of Girl in the Bedouin Tent (Harlequin Presents Extra, March 2012)
Years ago I heard Presents author Miranda Lee talk about creating a great romance. She said something along the lines of taking hero and heroine, putting them together so they couldn’t escape from each other. Then, once they were in that ‘crucible’, applying heat and watching them react.
Sounds mean, doesn’t it? Actually, to me it sounds like fun. But I suppose romance writers have to have a ruthless streak. We need to make things difficult for our characters so their love stories hold a readers’ attention.
It struck me as I wrote Girl in the Bedouin Tent that I’d taken Miranda’s advice to heart and was having a whole lot of fun with it. Amir is a strong and honourable prince, visiting a nearby renegade leader to negotiate a vital peace. Cassie is a stranger from far away, kidnapped and presented to Amir by his ruthless host. She’s to keep him entertained during his stay. To add insult to injury she’s been chained to the visiting prince’s bed.
Here’s a taste of what happens (from the inside cover):
Amir thrust aside the heavy curtain.
No sign of the girl.
He checked, senses suddenly alert, his nape prickling.
An instant later he threw up a blocking arm as someone leaped at him out of the gloom. A jingle of clashing coins at her belt warned him of her identity just in time.
Instinct saved him. Instinct honed by years spent perfecting a warrior’s skills and others spent learning less honourable ways to survive. He pivoted and snapped an arm around her wrist, just as a blade pricked the base of his neck…
Their meeting is dramatic but what I most enjoyed was writing the next several chapters where, no matter how they tried, Cassie and Amir discovered they were stuck with each other. There was no easy way out and for the next week they had to appear to the rest of the camp as lovers, sharing a large, luxurious tent in a remote desert encampment.
That’s when I got to apply heat and see what happened.
What happened was a revelation to each as they realised their companion was far more than they’d first thought. Cassie and Amir began to discover a bond between them, a growing respect and liking. And then there was the sizzling physical attraction, that for a variety of reasons they couldn’t afford to give in to. I loved writing that mixture of rising sensual tension and deep, deep emotion. By the time they left the encampment their lives were so intertwined there was no way they could simply walk away from each other. That’s when the story got really interesting.
Perhaps there’s something intrinsically fascinating about the idea of entrapment. Maybe it’s the mean streak in me – I love to see how characters react under stress – it tells you so much about them.
Lynne Graham wrote a wonderful romance (Prisoner of Passion) about a pair who get kidnapped and locked in a shipping container. They dislike each other intensely but that doesn’t mean they can totally ignore the other. Susan Napier began a book I love (Secret Admirer) with heroine and hero (and hero’s date for the evening) trapped in a broken lift. That was one intense scene!
How about you? Do you like ‘cabin romances’ where hero and heroine spend part of their time cut off from the world, stuck with each other, unwillingly interacting with a stranger? Where would you maroon a hero and heroine?
Annie, you managed to imbue this book with the same intensity of Lynne Graham and Susan Napier, who along with yourself, are some of my favourite authors. I loved the way you threw Amir and Cassie together and that opening has to be one of the best I’ve ever read!
x Abby
Abby, what a lovely thing to say! Susan Napier and Lynne Graham are two of my fave Presents authors so I love the idea of being linked with them. I’m so glad you enjoyed the opening. I had such fun writing it.
Hi, Annie! I love stories in which the hero and heroine can’t escape each other. You’re practically guaranteed fireworks with all that tension and friction going on between them.
Hi Vanessa. I think that’s what appeals to me so much. The friction between them that just builds and builds till fireworks are inevitable. Works for me every time!
I loved this book, Annie, and the opening is wonderful — rife with intensity and emotion. I love it when a hero and heroine can’t escape each other. The desert is the perfect place for that. Other favourites include neglected gothic houses or castles in remote locations. Hmm, or a sultry desert island.
Annie, what a great post. As you know, I adored GIRL IN THE BEDOUIN TENT. I’m a great fan of cabin romances – I think I’ve read Prisoner of Passion about ten times. It never fails to get me in – and somehow there’s a lot of humour in a situation you wouldn’t think would be funny at all. But the heroine’s brave and resourceful and has a wonderful way of finding the bright side of life and the hero has a wonderfully black sense of humour that really works in contrast to hers. You really believe that these two people, on the outside so different, fall in love in Prisoner of Passion. Anyway, I think GIRL IN THE BEDOUIN TENT has that same intensity and that feeling that somehow these two were meant to be together no matter what. Just love it!
Hi Michelle,
It’s fantastic to hear you had fun with Cassie and Amir’s story. Yes, I agree about the desert being perfect to ensure hero and heroine can’t get away from each other. I read a lot of gothic romances years ago where old houses and castles in isolated locations kept h&h together. Must say though that I really like your suggestion of a sultry desert island. Now THAT, I could enjoy writing. So easy to visualise, sigh. Especially today when I’ve got grey skies.
Ten times? You really do love ‘Prisoner of Passion’. It’s a classic, isn’t it? I’m chuffed that you think ‘Girl in the Bedouin Tent’ has that same intensity. I must say if I had to be marooned with a handsome, intriguing hero, a huge, luxurious tent with all the amenities isn’t too bad.
Anna, I got so fascinated by your comment I forgot to say, my last comment was in answer to yours! Sorry.
Annie – I love the sound of this book. What a fabulous opening. And funny you should mention Miranda and the cabin romance scenario because one of my fave ever romances was Miranda’s ‘Outback Man’. It’s probably 20 years old now, but it was a situation where the hero and heroine were stranded in the desert of Outback Australia. Personally (and only from a discomfort/hygiene level, LOL) I can’t less of a less romantic place to be stranded, but it worked a treat! Such fabulous tension.
Your books and stories have always lifted the bar and offered the reader an amazing experience on so many levels. So based on that alone, I know this book will be a treat for readers who love a great romance filled with intense tension and a fab story to boot. Congratulations.
Annie, I love stories where the hero and heroine are “stranded” together and forced to deal with each other and GIRL IN A BEDOUIN TENT is a fabulous read! Loads of delicious tension!
I’ve also read that Susan Napier story, SECRET ADMIRER and that lift scene you mentioned is memorable!
mmm, now you’ve got me thinking about where I could maroon my hero and heroine!
Sharon
Hi Kaz,
I’m trying to remember if I’ve read ‘Outback Man’ but the names not ringing a bell. On the other hand I tend not to remember titles so well. I’ll have to revisit my Miranda Lee books and see if I’ve got that one. I’d love to see what she did with a hero and heroine stranded in the outback. So many possibilities!
Thanks for the kind words about my books. That’s lovely!
Sharon, isn’t it fun, trying to find a place to strand a hero and heroine. I was thinking this morning of a large, limestone cave without any light. Brr. On the other hand I don’t think it’s quite the right setting for a glamorous Presents story.
Wasn’t ‘Secret Admirer’ fun? That scene in the lift really grabbed me.
I’m grinning here because you loved the ‘delicious tension’ in ‘Girl in the Bedouin Tent’. Just what I was aiming for. Thank you.
i think it’s quite fun when they trapped together and they can’t deny the intense reaction they had towards each other:)
Annie – I’m another fan of Prisoner of Passion. In fact I’m always quoting it when I teach – to show that a Presents romance doesn’t always have to have an exotic setting to make it work. I totally agree with the idea of that ‘crucible’ too -and enforced togetherness is a great way to do that. My second ever romance – Game of Hazard – was a cabin romance, with the hero and heroine snowed in in a small cottage – and he had amnesia so he didn’t even know who he was! I love writing that book and I think cabin romance have been one of my favourite themes ever since.
I haven’t yet read Girl in A Bedouin Tent – not for want of trying. But we have builders pulling the kitchen apart, knocking down walls, cutting off the electricity . . .so time to relax has been limited. But they’re starting to put things back together again now so I’m hoping I might even be able to find my TBR as the rubble and brick dust clears. SO looking forward to reading it
Kate, now there’s a coincidence – you using ‘Prisoner of Passion’ in your teaching. Yes, I thought Miranda’s image of a crucible was excellent. The poor h&h – nowhere to go and no one to rely on but themselves and each other. It’s one surefire way to get them to know each other quickly.
I didn’t know that about ‘Game of Hazard’. It sounds full of promise. I’ve got an old unpubbed ms I’d like to revisit one day and – snap – it’s a cabin romance too and he’s got amnesia! Like you I found mine a real treat to write. I think because the stakes were so high and the emotions so gripping.
Good luck with the builders. My memory of renovations is that they always take far longer and far more noise than you’d think possible. Good luck getting to the TBR pile one of these days!
Aretha, somehow I missed your comment before Kate’s. I’m sure it wasn’t there last time I looked! It sounds like we enjoy the same sort of story.