Guest post by Karen King

I’ve very pleased to welcome prolific writer, and writing tutor, Karen King. Karen has published over a hundred titles for children but today she is talking about her romance novels.

Thank you for inviting me on your blog to talk about my romance novels, Kate

I’ve been writing children’s books for years then turned to writing romance novels about ten years ago. The first romance novel I had published was Never Say Forever. It was aimed at Mills and Boon but didn’t quite make the grade. However, it’s now been published by four different publishers – as a People’s Friend Pocket Novel, in large print by Thorpe Publishing, then by Astraea Press a small, independent US publisher and has now been republished by Accent Press.

Although I love writing for children, I enjoy writing romances too, because I love exploring adult relationships and dealing with contemporary issues. Never Say Forever and my next two novels (my next one will be published next spring) feature heroines who don’t want to settle down in a serious relationship then along comes a guy they just can’t resist so they have this big emotional battle. I think this happens to a lot of people, and that some people give up their dream for love and wish they hadn’t a few years down the line, whereas others follow their dream then long for their lost love. The luckiest are those who manage to find a compromise.

My second romance novel The Millionaire Plan and my latest chick lit I do…or do I? feature heroines who are marrying for the wrong reasons then meet someone who makes them rethink so they have a tough decision to make.  Again, I think this is a plot many people will identify with. Amber in The Millionaire Plan is trying to marry a millionaire to save her parents from losing the family home, a Tudor house that’s been in the family for generations. Then she falls for Jed, a hired hand, and must make the choice whether to marry for love or money. Whereas Cassie in I do?...or do I? has drifted into marriage with her boyfriend, Timothy, because she didn’t like to turn him down when he proposed, and he’s safe, reliable – not like her ex Jared who dumped her to travel the world as a photographer. Then Jared comes back into her life, Timothy turns out to be not so reliable and Cassie is wondering whether to call off the wedding.

Although the ending of a romance novel is fairly predictable, readers are there for the ride, they want to know how the couples overcome their obstacles and to relate to the characters and storylines. Often the readers are going through, or have gone through, the same things themselves and will be rooting for the heroine and urging her to make the right decision. Some people say romance is escapism, and yes, it is in a way, but there’s a relationship truth at the core of it and readers relate to that.

Author Bio

A member of the Romantic Novelists' Association, the Society of Authors and the Society of Women Writers and Journalists, Karen King writes sassy, contemporary romance just right for reading on the beach.  I do - or do I? her first chick lit for Accent Press, was published in May 2016. She has been contracted for two more. And she is delighted that Accent Press has republished her earlier romance novels, The Millionaire Plan and Never Say Forever. The Millionaire Plan was nominated for the RONA Award (Romantic Novel Awards) in 2014 and I do?-or do I? has just been nominated for the RONA.

Karen has had several short stories for women’s magazine and 120 children's books published.

When she isn’t writing, Karen likes travelling, watching the ‘soaps’ and reading. Give her a good book and a box of chocolates and she thinks she’s in Heaven.

Author links

Website: http://www.karenking.net/

Twitter: @karen_king

Karen King Romance Author Facebook Page

Karen King Children’s Books Facebook Page

Pinterest: https://uk.pinterest.com/karenkingauthor/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/karenkingauthor/?hl=en

Karen’s Romance Books

I do ... or do I?

Blurb

Local journalist Cassie is getting married to hotshot, reliable Timothy, and his mother, Sylvia, who Cassie has nicknamed ‘Monster-in-Law’, wants to plan the entire wedding. When Sylvia books the exclusive ID Images to take photographs of the extravagant do, Cassie has no idea what she’s walking into.

The elusive JM, ID Images’ newest photographer, just so happens to be Jared, Cassie’s first love and ex-fiancé, who broke off their engagement to travel and take photos of far-reaching wonders. He’s back to pay for his next wild adventure.

Cassie decides it’s best to pretend not to know him, but when she’s asked to write an article for her newspaper, she’s tasked with a column surrounding all things wedding related. When Cassie jokingly writes a column meant for herself depicting her situation, a co-worker submits it in place of the real article and it’s soon making headlines, with readers asking the age old question – Who Will She Choose?

Buy Links

Amazon

The Millionaire Plan

Blurb

Love or money, what would you marry for?

Amber Wynters is on a mission to find a millionaire to marry – and fast. Her parents are nearly bankrupt and being forced to sell their family home, a beautiful Tudor house that has been in the family for generations, thanks to Amber's ex-fiancé persuading them to invest in his dodgy shares. Armed with a self-help book and a ten-point plan, she sets off to hook herself a rich husband. On a millionaire's yacht, she meets the drop-dead gorgeous Jed Curtess. The attraction between them is sizzling. It's a shame that he is only a hired hand. Can Amber ignore her heart and follow her plan?

Buy Links

Available from Amazon

Never Say Forever

Blurb

Do you follow your dream or follow your heart?

That's the decision Kendall McKenzie has to make when she meets hunky businessman Jake Newman. He's as attracted to her as she is to him – but Kendall has vowed never to get married, and it seems that Jake has too. When they are together, sparks fly. It's obvious to everyone except themselves that they're meant to be together. Can Kendall trust Jake enough to give him her heart? And if she does, will she have to give up her dream?

Buy Links

Amazon

Thank you for hosting me, Kate!

My pleasure, Karen. Best of luck in the RONA.

Interview with Sophie Claire

I am pleased to have Sophie Claire on my blog to answer questions about her debut novel Her Forget-me-Not Ex which was published in May 2015 by Accent Press:

Natasha has consigned her wealthy French ex-husband Luc to the past, so she’s horrified when he turns up at her village florist’s shop out of the blue, pleading for help. He never dared to tell his family about the divorce, and when he asks her to come to France and pretend they’re still married for a couple of weeks to please his dying father, she’s not sure she can say no. She certainly isn’t prepared for the warmth of his family’s welcome, or the attraction that’s still simmering between her and Luc. But it’s just two weeks in a vineyard, no strings attached, right?

Sophie – congratulations on the publication of your novel.

Tell us how the novel came about – and are you a plotter or a pantser?

I’m kind of in between, or a wannabe plotter! Before I start a book I need to have a plan (for my peace of mind!) of all the main plot points, but most of the time that plan gets abandoned as I write. I think of better plot developments, or I write a section and it doesn’t feel right so I change it. I don’t mind rewriting huge chunks of a book if I think it will improve it – unfortunately, this isn’t the most efficient way of writing, and I do wish I could think up a perfect plot in advance and then stick to it. 

Her Forget-Me-Not Ex came about because I’d had the two main characters, Luc and Natasha, floating around in my head for a while. I knew they’d been married and divorced, but I wanted to bring them back together in the present day and I wasn’t sure how to do that until I went to a writing workshop. During one of the exercises the book’s opening scene came to me – it just wrote itself. It was very exciting and I wish that would happen more often!

Some writers say that characters arrive in their heads fully formed. Did that happen to you with Natasha and Luc?

I get to know my characters as I write, and I need to put them in different situations to see how they will react. As I get through the first and second drafts they become more rounded individuals and develop their own quirks – for example, Natasha’s nail art. Don’t know where that came from! The wonders of the subconscious…

I think it’s true to say that, traditionally, romantic novels did not include a male point of view but it is a requirement of some publishers now. Did you know from the beginning that you were going to include Luc’s pov?

I did include Luc’s pov from the start, but I was advised to add more and I’m so pleased I followed this advice because it really added to the story. It gave me a greater understanding of him as well as his strained relationship with his father. And it also revealed how Luc and Natasha hadn’t known each other very well in the past and had more in common than they realised.

Natasha is a florist. I loved her arrangements with sunflowers! Is this something you’ve done yourself?

No, never! I’m far too clumsy to be able to do anything like that. I knew that Natasha liked modern flower arrangements and I think I may have got my inspiration for the sunflowers from Pinterest. I made a board as I wrote this book (which you can see here: www.pinterest.com/sclairewriter), and found the visual inspiration really helped me as I wrote.

You pitched your novel to Accent Press at the Romantic Novelists’ Association Conference. Could you say a little about that experience?

Pitching your work to industry professionals is nerve-wracking, but it’s such a golden opportunity to get feedback on what you’ve written and also to find out what people are looking for (for example, the publishers I spoke to liked the French setting). I was thrilled because Accent asked to see the full manuscript and then made me an offer for it ten days later! I’ve never known a publisher respond so fast and that was part of their appeal for me.

Do you have a writing routine?

My routine varies depending on which stage of the novel I’m up to (first draft or revising/editing) and whether the children are at school or on holiday, but generally I write first thing in the morning, then do Twitter, Facebook or writing blog posts later. For the writing I set myself targets – a word count when I’m writing the first draft, or a number of hours for editing. When I get to the editing stage, I’m happy to write all day and into the evening because I find it so much easier than the first draft.

I believe that you spent many family holidays in Provence when you were growing up; clearly the landscape left a lasting impression on you. Will your next book have ‘French connections’?

The book I’m finishing at the moment is set in Manchester so it’s a long way from Provence! However, I’m not sure about the next book yet…

Thank you for answering my questions. All the best with your writing.

It’s been a pleasure, Kate, and thank you.

Find out more about Sophie Claire (a pseudonym for her own name Johanna Grassick):

http://romanticnovelistsassociationblog.blogspot.co.uk/2015/06/sophie-claire-what-i-learned-from-new.html

Website:  www.johannagrassick.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sophieclairewriter
Twitter: @SClaireWriter
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/sclairewriter/

Interview with Jenny Harper

Jenny Harper is the author of The Heartlands Series, published by Accent Press – three titles to date set in and around the fictional small market town of Hailesbank near Edinburgh. The just-published Maximum Exposure follows Face the Wind and Fly and Loving Susie.

Maximum Exposure is described on the cover as ‘Page-turning and thoroughly entertaining. I loved it!’ by Katie Fforde.

from the blurb:

Livelihoods are at risk when a local newspaper begins to fail, but the future of one member of staff depends more on the choices she makes than the decisions of others…

Adorable but scatterbrained newspaper photographer Daisy Irvine becomes the key to the survival of The Hailesbank Herald when her boss drops dead right in front of her.

I asked Jenny some questions about Maximum Exposure, the series, and her writing process.

Jenny, Daisy is a delightful character – dizzy and scatterbrained in some ways but with real emotional depth. She follows your two perhaps more ‘grown-up’ heroines, Kate Courtenay, wind-farm engineer, in Face the Wind and Fly, and Susie Wallace, a member of the Scottish Parliament, in Loving Susie. Was Daisy inspired by anybody you know?

I have no idea where Daisy came from! No, she’s not based on anyone I know, she just grew in my mind. At one point, I did feel she lacked depth though. I needed to know more about why she was the way she was – and so her controlling father walked into the pages of the novel. It would be interesting to revisit Daisy in a year or two and see how life with Ben might change her. Now there’s a thought …

We see the story from Daisy’s viewpoint and from that of her childhood friend Ben. Did you know from the beginning that you wanted both of them to have a voice?

Yes. I find single viewpoint novels really difficult to write and admire anyone who can do it. I like to get inside at least two characters, and I also like to be able to move the action around more than is possible with a single point of view.

I know that you have been a journalist and also published non-fiction books. Have you ever worked on a newspaper?

Only as a freelance. I used to be a regular feature writer for many Scottish newspapers, particularly The Scotsman and The Sunday Times Ecosse (as it was when I wrote for it). But I ran a corporate communications agency for more than 20 years and we published magazines and newspapers for private and public sector organisations, from banks and oil companies to organisations such as Seafood and Historic Scotland.

The setting of the series is a small community. As far as I’m aware none of the characters so far cross over from one book to the next. Is that a possibility?

Yes. The next in the series again features new characters, but the one I’m working on at the moment (Number 5) takes one of the minor characters and develops her story. And now that I know Hailesbank, Forgie and Summerfield quite well, I’ll be picking up other characters in major or minor ways again too.

When will the next Heartlands title be available?

The People We Love is due out in ebook format on 26 February and paperback in August, and I believe it’s my best yet.

And how many do you envisage being in the series?

Who knows? It depends on many factors – if I continue to enjoy writing them, if my publisher wants more of them, if readers like them – and if it doesn’t all become too complicated! I have at least two more novels roughly planned, but I don’t know whether I’ll develop them or not. But I also have a hankering to revisit the first novel I ever tried to write, based loosely on my parents’ experiences during the war, in Scotland and in India. I didn’t have the technical experience to write back then, but maybe I do now.

Do you like the writing or the editing best?

It depends which stage of writing I’m at. I love it when everything starts to come together, and I love enriching what I have written, making it stronger and deeper. I am appalling in the early stages of a novel, I go down false avenues, prevaricate, change plot lines and fiddle with characters. It all takes a while to settle down in my head – but once I get to a certain point, it’s much easier and I really begin to enjoy it. I love editing – it was my professional discipline and I think I’m quite good at it.

You had a short story in the Romantic Novelists’ Association anthology Truly, Madly, Deeply. How do you like writing short stories compared with novels?

I’m a complete beginner at short stories. I went on a writing course to the gorgeous Chez Castillon tutored by Veronica Henry and she decided to spend a morning on short stories. I hadn’t expected it – but I’ve been so grateful ever since. By the way, I have another short story coming out on 1 November in an anthology called Let’s Hear It For the Boys It’s all for the charity Movember, in aid of men’s health, so please do click and buy! A great read for just 99p and a great cause.

Do you have a website or a blog?

www.jennyharperauthor.co.uk

http://jennyharperauthor.co.uk/category/myblog/

I also blog at http://novelpointsofview.blogspot.co.uk/

 Thank you for answering my questions – I look forward to seeing more of the Heartlands community in The People We Love.

Thank you for hosting me!