Author Spotlight - Judy Jarvie

Today we're very delighted to welcome author Judy Jarvie to the Minxes. Judy has had two new releases out in quick succession, Flirting With The Fireman and Nanny Behaving Badly. I've read the first, and have to tell you, if you're looking for a funny, touching and romantic read, this is the one! I haven't got to Nanny Behaving Badly yet, but it's on my TBR pile!

Without further ado, here's Judy.

1. Where were you in your writing career 5 years ago?

I was unpublished and I’d been an RNA NWS member for a couple of years. I had been writing (in my teeny Scottish garret!) for personal pleasure, not really sure why I was doing it except that I enjoyed it. After a few attempts I began to get good feedback from the RNA (one ms was sent direct to Mills and Boon). Via this I managed to get individual feedback from a senior editor. I think I was working on the book that was eventually published by now defunct Moonlit Romance, Taking The Leap.

2. Where did you get the idea from for this particular book?

Nanny Behaving Badly is set in Edinburgh - I love Edinburgh in wintertime! I love the frosty air, the window displays, the German market and the vista up to the Castle with the glittering Mound Christmas tree. I’ve loved its romance and escapism since childhood. So … I wrote about a fictional coffee bar in the heart of it all where a heroine was getting herself into lots of trouble … especially with her new boss.

3. Where do you hope to be in 5 years time?

Just writing and loving it. Obviously if what I’m writing is being published then that’s fabulous – BUT writing keeps me happy and healthy and that’s enough. Plus I know that with every book I grow so that’s pay-off enough.

4. Which was the last book you read that you wish you'd written?

Barbara Bretton – Casting Spells. Fantastic and couldn’t put it down. A paranormal romance set in a magic knitting shop – I had to buy it as soon as I saw it and it lived up to my hopes. Great stuff. I love a book that sweeps me off my feet.

5. Was there any particular author or book that made you want to be a writer?

I love Mills and Boon Presents author Anne McAllister. I love stepping into the worlds she creates, her heroines and her heroes. I have many of her books on my keeper shelf. In the early days of my RNA membership a NWS report suggested I try for Mills and Boon. I read across the lines and one Anne McAllister book in particular had me hooked. That’s when I knew I'd found the kind of romance I wanted to write. I felt the passion and something clicked – I still do get excited when I read her books. And the list of MnB authors I love has grown too. I also love Susan Wiggs – her writing is particularly appealing to me, hooks me right in. I know each world she creates will deliver and satisfy me.

6. Do you find writing love scenes giggle-worthy or cringe-worthy?

I’ve been told I’m fab at flirty chemistry and sexual tension but love scenes admittedly cause me harder work ... Probably the most amount of work goes on the love scenes in my books. I want them to deliver and I know they are a vital part of the whole. Let’s say I’m very pleased with Nanny Behaving Badly and I worked very hard on the love scenes. I think it’s okay to have weak spots as long as you toil away to improve.

7. What's the most romantic moment of your life so far?

Holding hands with my hubbie in the car while we sat watching our ‘to be adopted’ daughter coming to meet us for the first time. We’d had to jump through hoops she’ll never know about to get to that point and there she was … picking flowers, oblivious to all the ups and downs and we just smiled at each other. Different romantic – but a life affirming love moment we will never forget.

8. What do you wish you'd known about being an author before you were pubbed?

I suppose I thought releasing a book was the ‘be all and end all’. And at the time it was! It’s amazing and wonderful but I guess the years since then have taken me on twists and turns – some directions close, new doors open. Loving what you do is key. The only thing that matters is to keep writing and doing what fires you hoping that you keep getting better.

9. What's the best writing advice you've ever been given?

Write a lot. Regularly. Oh and I highly value the advice that ‘it’s okay to refill that well!’ Absolutely vital. For this purpose I break away from the writing from time to time and immerse myself in knitting!! Hence why the Barbara Bretton book appealed.

10. Tell us about your latest release.

Nanny Behaving Badly is set in a festive coffee bar in wintertime Edinburgh.
Rebel heroine Maddie Adams finds herself in hot water when she pushes her new cafe boss a bit too far. The last thing she expects is to find herself agreeing to a diverted position as Lyle Sutherland’s son’s SOS nanny.
Coffee chain owner Lyle finds that he’s added a firecracker to his home. Maddie can blow all his fuses at once; driving him to distraction in lots of confusing ways. And then he finds out that there’s more to his naughty nanny than sizzle and sparks. She hides a tender heart ... can Lyle treat her as well as she deserves?

11. What’s next for you?

I’m working on a novella and a new idea. Both quite different to what I’ve done before but great fun. I’ll keep those as a surprise!

Nanny Behaving Badly – out now! from here!

See more titles from EmbraceBooks – http://www.embracebooks.co.uk/

Flirting With The Fireman – out now with The Wild Rose Press

Read more about Judy at her website here 
Or visit her blog, Judy Jarvie's Jottings,  here

Thanks so much for joining us here on the Minxes today, Judy. And all the best with your releases!

Character Arcs

One of my favourite heroines of all time is Becky Sharpe in Vanity Fair. She is selfish, ambitious and willing to do anything to get what she wants. No, she's not particularly likeable, but she's sassy and strong, and by the end of the book I really want her to get her Happy Ever After.

Why? Firstly, because I understood where she was coming from (see my previous post on Motivation). Secondly, because she changed and grew.

In my opinion, the character arc in any novel, and especially in a romance novel, is far more important than the plot arc. The reader will forgive you not resolving a plot point (though it's perhaps not a great idea to leave the reader feeling unsatisfied!) but they're less likely to forgive characters that do not change and grow.

Which brings me back to The Vampire Diaries.

The best example of a well-written character arc, as Lacey Minx pointed out on her blog, is the character of Damon in TV version. In the book there is hardly any change in Damon between his arrival on the scene and the end of Book 2 (which is as far as I got before giving up).

In the TV series, as in the books, Damon starts out as evil incarnate. He only acts in his own interest. Then in the series, we slowly glimpse his feelings for the heroine. We learn what motivates him, and gain understanding of why he is as heartless and ruthless as he is. He starts to do things for the heroine rather than himself, and finally he develops a heart and acts to help the community, even though he stands to gain nothing from it.

Though his character is unlikeable, when he faces death at the end of the series the viewer is on the edge of the seat praying he will survive. Because the writers have made us care. As with Becky Sharpe, we understand him, and we know he has the potential for change.

The screenwriters also radically rewote the heroine's character.

In the books, the heroine Elena is a self-absorbed, manipulative creature who wants to be the centre of attention. She has a little back story (her parents died a few years earlier) but it's almost a non-issue. I never really got a sense of why she wants to be 'queen bee'. But my biggest issue with her is that over the course of the first two books she does not change. At the end of Book 2, Elena is still as self-serving and self-absorbed as she is at the very beginning.

The screenwriters re-wrote Elena's character as less selfish and manipulative (even heading into Goody Two Shoes territory!), but in addition they have given her the two things I've been yammering on about: motivation (almost before the opening credits the viewer discovers that her parents died recently and she's struggling to get her life back on track) and they give her character a growth arc, as she moves from being a sad, introspective and reactive character to a happier, more in control, proactive individual.

So today's exercise: look at your own WIP to see whether the characters change and grow. Are the flaws that they start with addressed by the end of the novel? If your character has any unsympathtic qualities in the beginning, how does this change as the novel progresses?

Settings and Senses - by guest blogger Nina Harrington

One of the delights of travel is to see and experience new places through your own senses. Holiday brochures or a Guide Book may be brilliant at showing your where to go and how to get there, but there is no substitute for physically standing somewhere on the planet and allowing your senses to take in the full impact of that location in person.
To me it does not matter is I am watching a thunderstorm roll in over the Mediterranean sea at night, or walking along the crowded street in Delhi or Kathmandu. What truly matters is my reaction to it and what it feels like to be there.
Of course the way I experience a setting may be completely different from the person standing next to me, and frequently is, especially when that person is not used to the riot of colour, deafening noise and violent assaults on the nostrils that is a city like Kathmandu – but that is what makes a person’s writing and imagination so unique.
The real challenge comes in trying to reproduce the sensory aspects of that location on paper. A good example is the region of France called the Camargue. This is the delta region of the river Rhone as it empties into the Mediterranean Sea. Inland it is lovely Provence and theLanguedoc but on the shore, it is a land of marshland and islands and inland freshwater lakes where the local fisherman farm oysters and mussels.
I came across this part of France when I took a canal boat holiday in the area. Travelling at a maximum speed of 4km an hour and mooring where you wish, it is an ideal way to experience the silence and natural beauty of the contrasting landscapes. Sunflowers and vineyards and pines landwards, and waving grasses, egrets and wild flamingos flying over your headas youreach the coast. Perfumes and scents, the music of the tall reeds and marsh grass and the call of the flamingos. The quality of light has attracted artists for centuries, and the towns are sun baked and quiet and very little English is spoken. Buying wonderful local produce involved much pointing and laughter.
It was one of the most relaxing holidays I have ever had.
Perhaps that is why I chose the Languedoc for the setting of my latest Mills and Boon Romance called ‘The Last Summer of Being Single’ which is released in the UK this month in the RIVA line and March in North America and Australia. I particularly like the sunflowers on the cover!I do hope that you enjoy it and find a true sensory flavour of this lovely part of the world.

Many thanks to the lovely Nina Harrington for visiting the Minx blog today. To buy "The Last Summer of Being Single" on Amazon click here or visit the Mills and Boon site.

Author Spotlight - Rachel Lyndhurst

On Monday Salt Publishing launched their new imprint, Embrace Books. Over the next three weeks we will be hosting Embrace's launch authors here at the Minxes.

First up is Rachel Lyndhurst, whose book Storm's Heart released this week.

Where were you in your writing career 5 years ago?

Five years ago? Nowhere is the answer! That would have been 2006 – the year my writing career started. It was almost exactly five years ago that we got our first computer and my youngest child started preschool.

In the couple of childfree hours I had, I began bashing out ranty letters to The Telegraph, which were never published. Then short anecdotal stuff to weekly magazines, I made a tenner on that as I recall. In the summer of that year I found a pristine set of the Writer’s Bureau course down the dump and bought it for a pound. Following its advice, I wrestled with short stories and competitions for a while, and made a bit of money, but it never really felt ‘right’. Then I discovered the joy of short contemporary romance – lovely pocket-sized paperbacks – how hard could it be?

I wrote my first novel in notebooks at all hours of the day and typed it up when my son was at preschool. It took me a year, but I finally submitted it to Mills & Boon in September 2007, the same day as my youngest started proper school. An emotional day!

Where did you get the idea from for this particular book?

I’m sure it’s against one of those ‘rules’ you read about when you’re starting to learn your craft, but location is very often my starting point. In Storm’s Heart, the action begins in London, on the London Eye in particular. I was lucky enough to be invited to a champagne reception on it and the same year, I went on holiday to the main location of the book, historic Lindos, Rhodes.

I wasn’t just inspired by the age and architecture of Lindos, but also by the Greek Legends associated with it; particularly Helios the sun god and his demi-god son, Phaeton. A salutary tale of what can happen if you don’t do as your father tells you. A fiery battle of disobedience and death. This sowed the seed for my character Andreas Lazarides and gave me two different worlds to smash together for an initial conflict.

Layered into this, I came across a poignant newspaper article about General Sir Mike Jackson’s son Mark Jackson, who reinvented himself after injury forced him to leave the army. He gave his sculpture of a lifeless Icarus his own scars. Without giving out any spoilers, this inspired me towards Andreas Lazarides’ dark secret.

I’ve also been a member of Amnesty International for many years which has raised my awareness of many issues and problems that rarely make the daily news. Storm’s Heart scrapes the surface of one of these and forms some of the back-story for Kizzy Dean and Andreas.

Where do you hope to be in 5 years time?

On lots of bookshelves! And spending a considerable amount of time writing in my royalty- funded Tuscan villa. Failing that, a decent shed will do.

Which was the last book you read that you wish you'd written?

The Finkler Question by Howard Jacobson. I studied his first book Coming From Behind at A level and have followed him ever since. I’m so pleased he won the Man Booker Prize with this; it’s witty, poignant, and utterly brilliant. To quote the Guardian: ‘A terrifying and ambitious novel, full of dangerous shadows and dark, deep water’. I do wish I’d written this one.

Was there any particular author or book that made you want to be a writer?

Not that I can think of. I enjoy so many different types of authors and books that it would be difficult to pick any particular one. I admire, and have been hugely influenced by so many, take 1984 by George Orwell for example. Reading it as a teenager changed the whole way I looked at the world for good. Is that the same? In the long run I suppose it could be.

I’d like to have been Ernest Hemingway though …

Do you find writing love scenes giggle-worthy or cringe-worthy?

Neither, writing them gives me quite a thrill. So does reading them back again. But don’t tell my mother …

What's the most romantic moment of your life so far?

There are so many (with The One, naturally!) that it’s hard to choose, so here’s one of the top five.

I wasn’t easy to woo, so he insisted on lending me a particularly important CD – the lyrics were so right. Smugly, I informed him that I didn’t have a CD player, so he brought round one of those too. It worked, and Storm’s Heart is dedicated to him.

What do you wish you'd known about being an author before you were pubbed?

That writing the book is just the beginning. Yep, I read it loads of times and took no notice. Being part of the process of turning your ‘baby’ manuscript into a book is hard (and most likely unpaid) work. And as for the promotion and selling of it? Ask me back in a few months and I’ll let you know!

Oh yeah, and be under no illusions – the housework and children will not suddenly disappear. Neither will the fox poo on your front doorstep. Be prepared to do a full time job in part time hours, or worse than that if you don’t turn your smartphone off.

What's the best writing advice you've ever been given?

Leave your ego at the door.

Tell us about your latest release.

Storm’s Heart is my debut novel and is one of the launch titles for Embrace Books, the dazzling new imprint of Salt Publishing. It was also Embrace’s first acquisition.

Storm’s Heart is a sexy, sophisticated romance with a dark, brooding centre. When Greek lawyer Andreas Lazarides and bistro-manager Kizzy Dean clash over the executing of his mother’s final wishes, he takes matters into his own hands and Kizzy back with him to Greece. Tension runs high on the sun-baked Greek Island of Rhodes amidst the ancient myths and alleyways of Lindos village.

Hopelessly out of her depth and penniless, can innocent Kizzy resist the treacherous sexual attraction that draws her powerfully into Andreas’ orbit? Dangerously appealing and darkly charismatic, he’s made it quite clear that he wants her in her bed. It would be to her advantage, he’d make it worth her while …

She’s an independent woman, born illegitimately into a brutal world, so is Kizzy tough enough to handle this millionaire Adonis? Can she keep the ironclad fortress around her heart intact? The stakes are high if she is to prevent history repeating itself. No man on earth will leave her as heartbroken and destitute as her mother.

An explosive meeting of two different worlds results in a mirror image of cruelty, betrayal, guilt and shame that only their passion for each other can possibly overcome. But is it enough?

Kizzy wants answers and her turbulent past and shadowy revelations kick up a storm in Andreas’s heart that will not abate until his own explosive secrets are forced out into the open.

What’s next for you?

I’m currently working on another contemporary romance, and have another one after that's smouldering away. That’s in the short term. Longer term anything could happen, but I’ll never stop writing!

You can buy Storm’s Heart in paperback or in digital form here:
http://amzn.to/gfayrv

And I’ll be running some competitions for free, signed copies over on my blog: http://rachellyndhurst.blogspot.com/. I’d love you to visit and say hello!

A Minxy Valentine Celebration

In addition to the obvious reason to celebrate on February 14th, we Minxes have a very special reason to celebrate this Valentine's Day: it's release day for our very own Sally Minx's Bound to Love.

Bound to Love is Sally's second novel, and its a launch title for Embrace Books, a new imprint of Salt Publishing. You'll be able to find out more about Sally, and get an inside look at her inspiration for this story, when she appears in our Author Spotlight on 2nd March.

Until then, here's a glimpse at the gorgeous cover for Bound to Love, and the blurb.

About Bound to Love

Jake Forrester, a controlled, self-reliant security expert scarred by his father's murder, is pursuing his goal of an independent life, relying on himself and logic, until he's forced to accept the help of an impulsive, spirited goldsmith who follows her instincts, wherever they may lead.

When Tempest MacKenzie witnesses a gorgeous stranger being bundled into a van, she tries to help him, but becomes tangled in a complex web of intrigue. Tempest finds stubborn Jake attractive, compelling and infuriating, his logic the complete antithesis of her reliance on her instincts. And Jake is fascinated and attracted to the feisty redhead.

As they spend time together trying to thwart a heist at the British Museum, the attraction between them flares out of control. The thief has a grudge against Jake, and danger stalks their every move. Will Jake learn to trust Tempest's intuition, before it's too late?

Bound to Love is available in paperback and as an eBook from Amazon, Amazon UK and direct from Embrace Books.

Sally's being a busy blogger today, so we'd be really grateful if you could support her. She'll be at the RNA blog, amongst others, andyou can find out more at Sally's own blog, Love and Chocolate.

Later this week, we'll be hosting another new Embrace author, Rachel Lyndhurst, so watch this spot!