Exploring Romance Tropes: Accidental Pregnancies, oh my!

The second in my intermittent series of blogs for romance writers on romance tropes is a chance to muse on the strengths (and weaknesses) of one of my favourite – and most used – tropes... I mean, I've used the old accidentally 'up the duff' plot hook rather a lot and it's the big draw of my two bestselling books: Pleasure, Pregnancy and a Proposition, and One Night So Pregnant (gotta love those insane titles, right!!)! So I feel I'm a bit of an expert on its strengths and weaknesses...

What's interesting about both of those books - apart from the fact that the accidental pregnancy trope features VERY strongly in the titles (which probably explains why they're bestsellers TBH) - is that in both books I open the story with the shock reveal of the accidental pregnancy itself, not the lead up to it (ie: the scenes in which the couple got up the duff in the first place!). 

In my fourth published book, Pleasure Pregnancy and a Proposition, I also turned things on their head a little by contriving to have it be the heroine who is unaware of the pregnancy not the hero. Say what now?! How the heck does that work, you're probably thinking... Basically, in the opening scene of the book, I have my hero turn up at the heroine's work and demand she take a pregnancy test. She doesn't know she's pregnant, but he's been clued into her symptoms by a mutual friend, knows they had unprotected sex and thinks – given the acrimonious way their one night together ended – that she does know and she's deliberately keeping the truth from him... I did get quite a few critical comments not just because of the hero's totally overbearing behaviour in that opening scene – he literally carts her out of her office and marches her to a Harley Street Clinic to get the test which she is convinced will be negative - but also because some readers thought it was impossible for a woman to be three months pregnant and not have figured it out. Fair enough, getting the reader to suspend their disbelief is the author's job and maybe for those readers I didn't do the job well enough. That said, I did quite a lot of research about whether or not it is physically possible – of course it is! – but more importantly I made sure my characters' motivations also worked to make it more believable, that my heroine would be in denial about her symptoms and my hero would be very angry if he thought she was keeping the truth of her pregnancy from him. 

My hero's motivation to explain his overbearing behaviour also drives a lot of the developing conflict in the rest of the story... As my heroine struggles to come to terms with the fact that she is pregnant with this man's child, while he pressures her into agreeing to marry him... 

So, why is it that he is so outraged that the heroine might not have told him about her pregnancy? Basically, he had been born illegitimate himself - the son of a Vegas showgirl and a British Lord (well this is a Mills and Boon book, folks!) - who was grudgingly 'taken in' by his father after his mother's death when he was still a child because he was the man's only biological child. He had been made to feel ever since by his father, that the circumstances of his birth and his illegitimacy made him less than. That he was essentially unworthy and unloveable because of it, treated with distain by his father and ensconced in a series of British boarding schools until he came of age. As a result of that lonely and emotionally barren upbringing, he had never wanted to have children, but when he thinks the heroine is pregnant, he is determined that no child of his will be born illegitimate, that they will always be acknowledged by him. What he doesn't realise of course, until later in the book - and with a lot of help from my smart and reckless and compassionate heroine – is that acknowledgement is not enough, that having your father's name is not the same as having your father's love. In short, at the start of the book, the hero is convinced he has none of the tools to love this child, and TBH he really doesn't want them, because to open himself up to those kind of emotions will leave him as vulnerable as he was when he was a child after his mother's death... Luckily for him, the heroine – once she has accepted she is pregnant with this man's child and decides she wants to have it, and that she can love it, despite the fact she thinks its father is an overbearing jerk! – does have the tools not just to love this child, but to show its father that she will accept nothing less from him than love too if he wants to marry her. Of course, after that rather contentious beginning, they both have a long way to go before they can get to like, let alone love... But luckily a skinny dipping scene and a few weeks at his manor house in Wiltshire helps with that!! 

So, anyway, that's the book's essential conflict: the hero insisting on marriage – because he wants to find a way to do the right thing by his child without actually engaging emotions he thinks he is not capable of showing –  and the heroine refusing to marry him – until he proves to her that he has the capacity for love, not just for the child, but also for her...

And rather neatly, that conflict perfectly illustrates what makes the accidental pregnancy trope so compelling as it cleverly combines external and internal conflicts in the hook... Because what is essentially an external conflict - ie: the accidental pregnancy itself – immediately creates lots of delicious internal conflicts while also raising the stakes exponentially in a relationship by introducing the prospect of unplanned parenthood... 

Instantly you have so many delicious questions to ask your characters. How do they feel about having children? What were their own childhoods like? Have they been given the tools to deal with this shocking accident (hopefully not!!)? Or will they need to embark on a journey of huge emotional growth to deal with this situation (hopefully yes)? How will that conflict play out?And what of the ongoing relationship? If it's a one-night stand pregnancy - which I particularly prefer, because the less the couple know each other, the more the stakes are raised! - those questions will become more urgent but also potentially more contentious as the couple struggle to align on what to do next, not just about the pregnancy but also about their relationship... And we hope will have to dig deep into their own psyches and confront difficult questions about themselves and that relationship before they can even consider becoming parents...

So, what are the weaknesses/potential problems for a writer when using the accidental pregnancy trope? 

Well, while this will very much depend on the type of romance you're writing - ie, is it high romantic fantasy, or more gritty and realistic, is it a historical romance or a contemporary one, etc. For me, one of the biggest difficulties, even when writing high romantic fantasy, is making an accidental pregnancy entirely believable in this day and age, given all the possible avenues your couple will have to sort the problem out without ever having to answer any of those questions... Not gonna lie, the very low failure rate on most forms of contraception these days has caused me no end of problems when it comes to making this trope fly!! And don't even get me started on the morning after pill...

Finally there is also the question of termination... I always include a conversation in my narrative which indicates that a conscious choice has been made to have the baby. Although this question too can lead to lots of interesting conflicts... I once came up with the idea for one of my longer novels - So Now You're Back - based on one simple question: how does a man deal with an accidental pregnancy if he does not have the right to chose whether or not to become a father? 

Of course there have been some terrific romance books written where the choice was made not to have the baby, and I applaud those writers for tackling what was once a taboo subject in romance and really shouldn't be IMHO - not because everyone has to agree with a woman's right to choose, but simply because it is an experience that many women go through, and I don't think it should be taboo in romance for that reason. Abortion is an extremely polarising and also emotive subject and how we react to it as readers as well as writers will most likely come from our own believe systems as much as those of the characters we create, but I feel it's important that romance novels reflect the full gamut of human experience. That said, when employing the accidental pregnancy trope, of course one of the main aspects of the trope that makes it appealing to readers is that it introduces the prospect of parenthood to your couple. So can it work, if the decision is made not to have the child? Or does it become a different trope entirely?

Obviously these are all just my opinions, about the trope and the choices I make when using it in a novel, but I'd love to hear from other writers (and readers).... Do you love the trope, too? If so, why do you? Do you find it problematic? Are there elements of it that you struggle with, etc.

BTW if you're an aspiring romance author and want to learn more about romance writing from a USA Today bestselling author, I tutor a 7-week online course for the Professional Writing Academy in which we learn about subjects such as Creating Convincing Protagonists, Plotting a Romance, Crafting Effective Dialogue and Writing Compelling Scenes of Intimacy. My next run of the course kicks off on 22nd February 2021 and the early bird offer is available until 21st January.

Less Is More: How to write a Short Romance Story

I love writing short stories and novellas and it just so happens that this summer I got asked to write TWO in the space of a few weeks by Harlequin Mills and Boon.

The first was a 2k-word story for Mills and Boon's Places to Fall in Love campaign, which was celebrating the top ten best places to fall in love in Britain. The brief: my story had to be set at #8 in the poll, The Minack Theatre in Cornwall...

The second story had to be 1k words or less (eek!) and was going to be added to an exclusive 3-in-1 for ASDA supermarket next Valentine's Day. The brief: it had to be set on or around Valentine's Day!

Now obviously, you don't always get a brief for a short story. But the challenge of a short story, in romance as in any other genre, is always the same, managing to fit a whole story arc in the space of a few words. With romance that means managing to have an inciting incident, emotional turning points, a black moment and a resolution however many words you have! A popular misconception with short stories is to believe that they're easier to write because they're shorter... Umm, no. If anything the short word count makes them harder. But the really great thing about them, for any aspiring writer - or even a seasoned one like myself - is that they require you to focus on the best of your craft, while also letting your imagination run wild. Structure, pace, Point of View shifts, characterisation, setting, etc all have to be tightly controlled in a short story, but you mustn't allow that to limit the story you tell, quite the opposite really, your craft should help you pack in all that emotion and relationship dynamic in a powerful way...

My Pinterest Board for The Fundamental Things!

So here are my suggestions for figuring out how to do that while deconstructing a 6k-word story I wrote several years ago called The Fundamental Things for the Romantic Novelists Associations Truly Madly Deeply collection.

When attempting to write a short story or novella in the romance genre, the most important thing to do first of all is make sure the story you want to tell is suitable for a shorter word count. That's really the main guiding principle. Ask yourself several key questions: How much do your couple have to resolve? Can you establish and resolve those conflicts convincingly in a shorter word count?

So, for example, you could go with a shorter time frame (eg: my ASDA story takes place in a super-market check-out queue). Or simply finish the story at a positive place so the reader knows this couple will sort out their existing conflicts because they have the will to do so...

But don't think that means simplifying or lessening your couple’s conflicts, in fact the reverse can be true.

Here's how I developed The Fundamental Things structured around that principle: The first thing I decided to do was have the story happen all in one scene - so literally over about thirty minutes in real time - and in one location (so no need for lots of lengthy setting descriptions!). I didn't want any other people involved, because I wanted to keep my couple totally focused on each other, so that led me to the idea of using a 'forced proximity’ narrative - basically I had them get stuck in a lift together... Now obviously, if this had been two strangers it would have been very hard, if not impossible to tell a whole story arc in half an hour, so I decided to give them a massive back story to resolve! Namely they had been lovers as teenagers - which was 20+ years ago now - she had gotten pregnant, they'd agreed she would have an abortion, but he had left her at the clinic and then he had never responded when she told him she had decided to have the baby. And they never saw each other again, until they get stuck in the lift and much to her horror he recognises her. What she doesn't know is that he was shipped off to Italy by his mother and never got any of her letters (luckily this would have been the early 90s so no social media, email, mobile phones, etc - which was why I put them in their late thirties!!) so he doesn't know she's had the child or that he's a father! So when they got stuck in the lift together - her thinking he'd deliberately abandoned her and rejected their child and him still feeling guilty about the abortion he thought she'd had which he hadn't supported her through - it led to LOTS of things to resolve. But it could be convincingly done, because of course once the misconceptions were cleared up, and they'd both gotten over the initial shock, all the feelings they'd had as teenagers for one another, before that 'accidental betrayal', could be revisited but with their newfound maturity and the newfound knowledge of what had actually happened between them. He hadn’t deliberately abandoned her or their child – in fact, the reason he left the clinic was because he couldn’t bear to be there during the termination. The hero, of course, actually had more to resolve than the heroine - having always wanted to be a father (his marriage had eventually broken down several years before when he came to the realisation he wanted children and his wife didn’t) - to discover he is one and has been one for 20 years is both shocking and devastating and wonderful all at the same time. By the time they're let out of the lift, we know he's going to meet his now grown up son, and they do share a tender kiss which gets a bit heated, so there is also the suggestion that they still desire each other, but obviously there's still a lot to work through, because she's been a single mum all these years, she lied and told her son his father was dead because she didn’t want him to know his father hadn’t wanted him but also because it was too painful for her to talk about that betrayal, he doesn't know his son and has missed his son’s whole childhood, etc. But I left them in a place where hopefully the reader knows that they will both work really hard to make the most out of what they have found together again...

The important thing to remember with this example is that the more conflict you have, the easier it can sometimes be to keep the story focused and emotionally intense – which will also lift pace and reduce the need for long descriptive passages, lengthy examinations of internal thought, etc.

In other words, the most important thing is to construct a story that will benefit from that shorter word count, not be confined or restricted by it. Don’t attempt to concertina a story which needs more exposition, internal thought, secondary characters, etc into a shorter format or your story will feel rushed and incomplete.
 
When actually writing your story, the shorter the word count the more you need to keep a handle on your craft, make it work for you. But here are a few of my top tips to keep you focused on telling your story in the most focused way possible:

• Make sure you start on a point of action, so you're not wasting words on lots of back story or internal thought or scene setting.
• Only tell the reader exactly as much as they need to know, ie: they don’t have to know everything you know as a writer about your characters, they just need to know enough to understand their goals/motivations/conflicts.
• Remember less is more when it comes to description. Hone your writing to make those passages really pop in the reader's imagination. ie: – if the setting is integral to the story, find ways to describe it in concise evocative ways using more than just what it looks like. How does this place smell, sound, feel, too? Use dialogue and physical cues wherever possible to get your characters establishing and confronting and resolving their conflicts through their interaction with each other rather than in their internal thought.
• I find it's easier to use a shorter time frame for this format - having the action take place over a few hours, night, a weekend, a few days, etc. - because it keeps the action intense and focused. But that's just a personal preference of mine (and because I always like to make things as easy as possible for myself!)

Interestingly, many of these tips also work for a story with a longer word count, too. And explains why attempting to write a short story or novella is such a great way to hone your craft as a writer...

I once asked bestselling romance author Linda Howard at a conference lecture she was giving about her career how I should go about making the break from writing series or category romance books (ie: books with a 50k word count) to longer Single Title books – something she had been remarkably successful at. Her answer was simple but succinct: ‘write a bigger book’. But what she meant was, not write a longer book, but write one that requires that longer word count. Write a book with a bigger story to tell. Because the most important thing to remember when writing any type of genre fiction, whatever the word count, is that no words should be wasted, each and every one of them is important and should be doing something within your story, no matter how many, or how few of them, there are. For that reason, when writing a short story, you are also learning how not to waste a single word!

If you are an author interested in writing in the romance genre and would like to learn more about the skills required, wherever you are in your writing journey, I tutor Writing Romance, a 7-week online course for The Professional Writing Academy. We do weekly sessions covering everything from how to craft effective dialogue, writing compelling scenes of intimacy, to handling emotional turning points and much more using reading extracts and writing exercises. You'll be learning in the PWA's innovative online classroom with a group of other writers, getting lots of feedback from them, while also getting specific focused feedback from me on your work each week. And we always finish the course with a longer piece of writing - which can be a short story! I love teaching this course, because it gives me so much insight into this fascinating process, as well as sharing the love with other writers. Our next course kicks off on February 25th so why not treat yourself for 2019? 

My Amazing Summer, With Book Release News and more...

Ready to party at Bestival...

Moi en famille avec chien! At the amazing Chateau Les Arcis

So it's been a long hot summer here in the UK which is finally drawing to a close, and I've had one heck of a fabulous summer - going on a spectacular family holiday to an amazing chateau in Burgundy France (which is definitely appearing in a book one day!) and doing my annual jaunt to Bestival (a music festival in the South West of England) with my sister, our twenty-something kids and my mum's campervan. Somehow or other, in between the eating and drinking and sun-bathing and swimming and bopping to the likes of Rudimental and Chaka Khan and covering myself in glitter, I also managed to find some time to write!

Writing News

Hot, Hot, Hot! My Pinterest page for Claiming My Untouched Mistress...

So I'm over-joyed to announce that my 26th Harlequin book was accepted a few days ago! It's my first 1st person book - written in the first person of both the hero and the heroine – and was inspired by the film Molly's Game (ie: it opens with a very sexy poker game in the hero's Monaco casino) and my trip to the Cote D'Azur last year. Claiming My Untouched Mistress is scheduled for release next March, but before that I have TWO new releases coming out this month and next month - told you I'd been busy!

My Latest Releases

Bound By Their Scandalous Baby is my next Harlequin Presents/Mills and Boon Modern book and is on bookshelves RIGHT NOW! It features hot-as-hell hotel tycoon Lukas Blackstone, desperate virgin Bronte O'Hara, a secret baby (or rather toddler), a marriage of convenience AND an accidental pregnancy (as you can probably tell, Lukas and Bronte are over-achievers!).

The Rodeo Cowboy's Baby is the last book in Tule Publishing's 79th Copper Mountain Rodeo series and hits digital bookshelves on 18th September. It features lovelorn Irish journalist Evie Donelly, and gorgeous calf-roper Flynn O'Connell who have three hot nights at the rodeo that they are never going to be able to forget because... Well, the clue's in the title. BTW if you're a member of the fabulous Tule Book Club on Facebook I'll be taking part in a launch party for the series tomorrow at 3pm PST (which is 11pm in the UK!).

Ever Wanted to Write Your Own Romance Novel?

If you've got your own fabulous romance story locked inside you, or are simply looking to up your romance game as a writer, I'm going to be kicking off a new run of my Writing Romance course at the Professional Writing Academy on September 17th - this is a 7-week online course which I tutor. I cover everything from writing compelling sex scenes to how to develop unique, multi-layered characters and plotting a romance, we use extracts from some of my favourite books. You'll gets lots of feedback on your writing exercises from me and from the other writers on the course. And you can access the online classroom from anywhere on the globe so it's open to you wherever you happen to be. So if you've ever wanted to write a romance novel, check it out!

Newsletter, Schmoozeletter

As you have probably noticed I don't do a lot of blogging anymore - because I'm way too busy writing and bopping and generally being a bit useless about updating this blog. I'll still be popping in here from time to time, but if you want to keep more up to date with my current releases and competitions, etc you can always sign up for my newsletter here or by using the handy little form on the right.

So that's all from me folks, have a fabulous Fall and happy reading.

Being a Romance Writing Tutor: A Q&A

If you don't already know this, I tutor on online writing course called An Introduction to Writing Hot Romance with the lovely peeps at The Professional Writing Academy... They did a Q&A with me about the first course we ran last year which I'm posting here too, because I'm clever like that!!

BTW the next course opens on 20th February if you're interested.

Enjoy...

Tutor Q&A: Heidi Rice

The first iteration of our Introduction to Writing Hot Romance course has just finished with great success. We thought we’d see what our tutor, romance author Heidi Rice, had to say about our unique approach to teaching people how to write.

Q - Hi Heidi. We love your work on the Introduction to Writing Hot Romance course, but what do you enjoy most about teaching writing with the Professional Writing Academy?

Heidi Rice - I love the time and flexibility it gives me to really nurture writers over a 7+ week long time frame. When putting the materials together for the course it allowed me to look in-depth at the different craft aspects of romance writing, and it amazed me the different skills and experiences the writers on the course brought to these disciplines.

Q - How do you find the online course differs from teaching or running workshops face to face?

HR - Honestly, I love the flexibility it gives course participants to develop their writing on their own timetable. When giving workshops face-to-face it's also hard to make contact with each individual writer to the extent I can do in this format. Similarly, when doing face-to-face workshops myself, before I became a published author, I always felt under pressure to ‘perform’ when given writing assignments. To be spontaneously brilliant is a lot of pressure, and not how the process of writing works in reality for most authors (and certainly not for me). It can take hours, days to write and then edit any piece. Sometimes the writing flows, but often it doesn’t.

Also, all the materials are accessible and available throughout the course, so you’re not having to jot down notes and listen intently - it’s all there to access and refer to at your leisure when you have the headspace to do so - while at the same time the course gives you deadlines so you can’t prevaricate or procrastinate too much (which all writers tend to do given half a chance, me included!). Sometimes, too, the anonymity of online participation can give writers more confidence about displaying their work. It’s tough putting your writing out there for others to read, especially if you’ve never done it before, and being able to have that little degree of separation can be really empowering. Not everyone is an extrovert after all, and this can be particularly true of writers!

Q - Is there anything in particular that makes Professional Writing Academy so special?

HR - I think the way in which the Professional Writing Academy’s online classroom works is one of its greatest strengths. As the tutor, I love the opportunities it gives me to give each individual writer informed feedback on their writing exercise and also look at their overall development during the course. Perhaps even more important, though, are the opportunities it gives for the writers to support and encourage each other as they learn to critique each other's work.

Writing is an extremely solitary profession in practice. The support I get from other writers in my genre whom I interact with online is invaluable to me and something that this course actively encourages, so that when writers finish the course they have the potential to continue to use and benefit from those friendships going forward.

Q - Do you think group teaching is more successful than other approaches?

HR - Definitely. Learning to edit your own work is an essential part of writing, and the very best way to do that is to first learn how to read a piece of writing like an author. Then, it’s important to learn how to improve the qualities in that writing that you believe don’t work - while also acknowledging and supporting those aspects which do. Those are all skills that critiquing the writing of your peers teaches you.

Similarly, having your work critiqued by your fellow writers gives you an invaluable insight into how an informed reader views your writing. Seeing how other writers approach the same exercise also broadens your own perspective. You may think ‘wow, I wish I’d done that’, or ‘that’s an interesting approach’, or even ‘that doesn’t work for me’, but as soon as you read that piece - because you’ve had to do the same thing yourself - you’ll instinctively be looking at what they’ve written through the eyes of a writer as well as a reader.

The beauty of the group approach, therefore, is that it means you’re not just learning from your tutor. You’re also learning from every single other writer on your course. That’s a lot of extra bang for your buck (to put it bluntly!).

Q - Do your students ever struggle with peer critiquing?

HR - Writers often lack confidence in their work, especially if they’re new writers who have never put their work out there before. They may be apprehensive about having their work criticised, or conversely criticising the work of others. I always say that it’s okay to be nervous, but to always remember the online classroom is a universally supportive and inclusive environment. The other writers want to improve their writing too, and they know exactly what you’re going through because they’re right there with you.

By the end of the course I assure them that they’ll not only have learned so much from the experience of peer critiquing, but they’ll actually be really excited about getting feedback on their work.

Q - Have any students given you feedback about your work on the course?

HR - Yes, and it was great! Learning to write - in whatever genre - is hard, and it’s a journey that never ends, so I was really pleased that the feedback I got from students on my first Introduction to Writing Hot Romance course was so positive about continuing on their own individual journeys as writers. As a tutor that’s my end goal - not just to inform writers about the skills required to become a romance author, but also to enthuse and excite them about their own potential as writers.

Q - Heidi, it’s been great seeing a tutor’s perspective of teaching on the course, and I hope you’ll have just as much fun in the future. Thanks!

HR - It’s always a pleasure! Thank you.

_______________

Heidi Rice is a USA Today bestselling author of 24 romantic novels, novellas and short stories. She has sold over 2 million copies of her books worldwide, had her stories translated into 23 languages and has finaled three times in the Romance Writers of America’s prestigious RITA awards which recognise excellence in romance writing. Her first women’s fiction novel, So Now You’re Back, was published in February 2016 by Harlequin Mira UK and described by one Amazon reviewer as ‘a sheer delight’.

Visit Heidi’s website, and follow her on Twitter at @HeidiRomRice

Are you a fan of romantic fiction? Would you like to try writing fresh, modern romance, or learn how to inject some sizzle and spice into your stories? Introduction to Writing Hot Romance is a new, seven-week online course that will teach you the the secrets of writing bestselling romance, help you develop ideas, create effective plots and compelling characters, and begin to critique your work.

Course opens 20 February, 2017, applications are open now.

Losing My Podcast Virginity

Me, Abby & Chantelle Shaw

So two fortuitous things happened recently:

Firstly, I was asked by the lovely peeps at the Professional Writing Academy if I would be interested in doing a podcast to help promo my new online writing course with them An Introduction to Writing Hot Romance - the course launches on October 4th so if you want to sign up and treat yourself to 7 weeks of intensive but I hope completely fabulous sessions on romance writing you still have time.

The other thing that happened was I went to an author lunch in Central London (an annual event which is always a top date in my writing calendar) with some of my favorite romance authors – which of course made me think, if I'm gonna lose my podcast virginity, I'm going to rope them in too!!

First thing to figure out was how to work my iPhone's Voice Memo app. Yup, this took a while, because it turns out my smart phone is a lot smarter than I am... But once Abby Green and I had done numerous tests, and then actually managed to find the recordings on the phone without accidentally deleting them (not as easy as it sounds), I was ready to roll.

Showing off my latest cover at the party

Next up was cornering some of my mates. First up was of course Abby, who had foolishly helped me with the app and was therefore a sitting duck for my first soundbite.

The question was a simple one, though, for someone who writes searingly sexy romances: Why do you love writing hot romance?

Then I turned to Fiona Harper - I asked her why she loved writing romance, as her books are less hot but still wonderfully fresh, funny, heartwarming romance novels for HQ.

My fellow Fairy Tales of New York author Lucy King, who had made the mistake of camping out with us after the lunch and who writes wonderfully sexy, sassy feel-good romances got hooked in next...

After the author lunch each year Mills and Boon invite all their current authors to a glamorous drinks party in the News Building - right next to the Shard with wonderful views over London – and there I managed to waylay the legendary Sharon Kendrick – author of a staggering 102 books for M&B all of them scorchingly hot and deeply emotional reads – for a quick chat.

The fabulous Ms Kendrick

The next day I made a trip to Sheffield to talk on a panel with Sue Stephens (darn it, I should have whipped out my phone out and interviewed her too!) and M&B editor Flo Nicholl about why Mills and Boon books are so cool hosted by academic Val Derbyshire during the University's Festival of the Mind event.

So it wasn't until Sunday that I had the delight of figuring out how to use Garageband to edit the sound recordings and add my own thoughts (and yes, there was sarcasm in that statement!). After a long day spent fumbling my way through the highly intuitive (but not that intuitive to me) application, I had my podcast. And I have to say, I am mighty pleased with the eventual result. The people at PWA prettied it up with some photos and stuck it on YouTube, so I need to say a big thanks to them, and to my mates, who each had insightful and interesting reasons as to why they love writing romance (hot or not).

I'd love to know what you think? So here it is...

Now I am no longer a podcast virgin, I may be doing more podcasts - I love to talk about romance, so why not share the joy, right? In fact, the PWA may have created a monster...

The London Book Fair... And An Exciting Announcement

Fiona and Heidi go mad at #LBF16

When my very good writing mate and fellow Harlequin author Fiona Harper suggested heading to the London Book Fair I have to admit I was unsure... Wasn't this an event strictly for publishers and agents? Apparently not, as I discovered when Fi and I crashed the event this Tuesday.

Have to admit, if I had done this as an unpublished author I would have been totally intimidated, in fact even as a multi-published author I was a bit intimidated (oh, okay, a lot intimidated). Based in Kensington Olympia's imposing Victorian halls, the event is HUGE, with stands representing pretty much every publisher you've ever heard of vying for space on the ground floor and mezzanine level. After a shot of much needed coffee, Fiona and I headed for Author HQ (Fiona having downloaded the app and knowing how to use it!). This is a fairly new addition to the fair but is the perfect base for authors attending the event., providing career-orientated seminars in a cordoned off area tucked away behind the Children's Publishers section.

We nabbed a ringside seat for the first talk of the day... An Introduction to Publishing with agent Piers Blofeld of Shiel Land Associates and Macmillan Adult Books publisher Jeremy Trevathan... Which turned out to be illuminating. I have an agent and a publisher and even I was astonished at how little I knew not just about the relationship between the two, but also how massive this industry actually is... I particularly liked Piers advice to authors thinking of sidelining their agent to go straight to the source! 'Don't get a dog and bark yourself'.

Dinosaurs anyone??

The next seminar was equally riveting but for different reasons: The Independent Authors Journey featured a panel of three top indie authors – Mark Dawson, Mel Sherratt and Keith Houghton – who each gave us an insight into how they became successful indie-published authors after a disappointing response from the traditional publishing industry to their work... I've always shied away from the prospect of indie publishing on the grounds that I know nothing about marketing or PR and have no real interest in it. How wrong was I, these three made the whole indie publishing route seem both accessible and exciting. The top benefits, apart from getting a larger share of the profits obviously, included the control they have over their own careers and the interaction they get with readers. I love interaction with readers so this totally intrigued me. I also liked Dawson's assertion that the writing still comes first but he finds the business side a good counterpoint to the writing... And a lot of what they do, traditionally published authors are also required to do in terms of social media, etc. I wish I'd had a chance to pop over to the Independent Authors Stand afterwards. While I'm still happy where I am, it's nice to know that the other options out there aren't as scary as you thought and I was hugely impressed with these three whose drive and ambition and talent was massively inspiring.

Jennifer, Tory and the
Super Fab Marian Keyes

Fiona and I were also impressed with the seminar given by Jennifer Krebs, marketing campaign manager for our own publisher Harlequin, and Tory Lyne Pirkis of Midas PR, about successful PR and marketing strategies... Again this was ostensibly for authors thinking of going it alone, but it had a lot of good advice for traditional and hybrid authors. Who knew that Nora Roberts had spent ten percent of her advance money on marketing her books to complement her publisher's input in the early stages of her career, for example... Made me realize I've been pretty naive about the business side of my own career... And there was a lovely intro from the fabulous Marian Keyes – the Author of the Day – who we'd listened to earlier chatting about her career, make-up obsessions, Mammy Keyes's storytelling abilities and a lot more besides...

My favorite quote of the day definitely came from Keyes: "Be honest, be authentic, work hard." A brilliant writer and a pretty sensational woman too IMHO!

Now for my exciting announcement....  Drum roll, pur-lease!

During the lunch break I met three wonderful women – Christina Bunce, Susannah Marriott and Helen Shipman – who are the founders and directors of The Professional Writing Academy – an innovative online platform dedicated to delivering top-notch creative writing courses, and who have even developed their own bespoke online classroom specifically for writers. After a fabulous meeting, I'm super excited to announce that I'm going to be working with them to develop an online course entitled An Introduction to Writing Hot Romance this Autumn... Hopefully with a view to doing longer more in-depth courses in the future... After nearly ten years as a published romance author, with 24 books under my belt, several major award nominations and a USA Today Bestseller tag, I feel I've got the expertise to give new writers the tools they need to help and support them on this fabulous journey...  And joining forces with experts in the field of teaching online creative writing courses will make it an amazing experience for all concerned (me included!).. So watch this space if you're an aspiring romance writer ... More details to come.

Marian Keyes: Author of the Day.. Any Day Frankly
Bringing wit, wisdom and wonderful nails to #LBF16!