When you're plotting a novel, one of the things you have to establish early on is the profession of the main character. Sometimes, the plot springs organically from the hero or heroine's job, while other times what they do for a living may be a requirement of a submissions call.
Please help us welcome our guest author Elizabeth Coldwell to the blog today.
When it comes to plotting a piece of fiction, one of the things an author needs to consider is the setting. That might not be so important when you’re writing a short story, but in a longer work, the location in which the love story (and it usually is a love story we’re talking about here) takes place can almost become one of the characters. This is usually most notable in film – think New York in Manhattan and Nick And Norah’s Infinite Playlist, or Paris in Before Sunset. But Cornwall is almost wired into the DNA of literary romance.
Who hasn’t dreamed of being a movie star at some point? It has to be high on the list of fantasy jobs – the worldwide fame, the magazine covers, the multi-million dollar pay cheques, the film premieres, the Oscar night acceptance speeches… Of course, it helps to be as good looking as Bradley Cooper or Ryan Reynolds, but in fantasy land we can all be that hot and charming, right?
Hi, and thanks very much for letting me talk about myself and my work on your fabulous blog.
I suppose I could be classed as a veteran when it comes to writing hot and steamy fiction. My first stories were published in the pages of Forum magazine when I first started working there in the late 1980s.
Totally Bound speaks exclusively to Helena Maeve, Elizabeth Coldwell, Wendi Zwaduk, Aurelia T. Evans, Nan Comargue and Lucy Felthouse about Wild After Dark, our new MFM anthology featuring vampires, werewolves and the paranormal.
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Hi Penny, and thanks for giving me the opportunity to sharethe thoughts of the gorgeous Dutch lion shifter who’s at the heart of the mystery in The Pride of Amsterdam, Arjan de Wit. Arjan is a successful businessman who runs his own computer software firm but he’s also carrying a few secrets that could make or break his relationship with his human mate, Kees.
Elizabeth: Hello, Arjan. It’s nice to meet you.
Arjan: Goedendag, Elizabeth. I hope you have some interesting questions for me.
You have a variety of pairings and genres in your back-list. Which is your favourite?
I honestly don’t know if I could choose a favourite, which is why I can’t stick to one genre. Some ideas just seem to suit a particular genre and it just felt right to make the Lionheartsbooks male/male. But I have plans to take some of the secondary characters from one of the books and give them their own paranormal adventure, which will be an m/f story.
Three books on my keeper shelves:
• White Palace by Glenn Savan. This is just a perfect "odd couple" romance. The relationship between a young, uptight Jewish widower and a burger waitress from the wrong side of the tracks may seem unlikely, but you're rooting for them to make it work — and the sex scenes are surprisingly hot for a mainstream novel.
Please tell us about the inspiration for this story.
A while ago, I was walking through Covent Garden, and I saw a man in a cigarette break who was obviously part of whatever opera was being performed there - unless there was any other reason why he'd have been dressed like a statue and painted silver from head to foot. The sight stuck in my mind, and it gave me the opening scene of Maestro, and the idea to make Jax a costume designer.
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