One of the questions I am often asked is where or how I develop the plots for my sweet and wholesome romance novels, and it’s not an easy one to answer as they come from many different sources and places. As many of you will I’m sure know, I was one of the fortunate few where love, at first sight, was my destiny, and so it is no surprise to find this theme interwoven within the novels. But few are blessed in this way and I’m sure my readers would quickly become bored with such linear plots and so I search out interesting and heart touching stories on which I can develop my characters to provide that all-important depth so they become three dimensional fully formed people in their own right. Magazines and newspapers are rich sources, and often provide the catalyst on which the book is based. It only has to be the germ of an idea, and this then becomes the hook on which everything else is hung. Conversations with neighbors, friends, or acquaintances often provide the seed of an idea too, and is strange how often this occurs, kickstarting the creative process.
Equally important of course is location. One of the things I do find frustrating in many of the books I have read over the years from all sorts of authors, and perhaps more so in recent times, is the lack of description of the place. We are after all novelists, creating word pictures in the minds of our readers, and for them to have a clear image of where scenes are set, whether with major or minor detail, is in my opinion so important. It is something I believe is often overlooked by new writers who focus on events and characters and forget the importance of place. It is a hobby horse of mine, so in all my novels, whether set in Bluff Bay on the Maine coast, or in the rolling pastures of Texas, every scene will I hope be described in such a way it paints a word picture in the mind of the reader.
Finally, of course, I love to write in the first person which is not for everyone, but it allows me to portray the innermost feelings of the hero and heroine which I do not believe is possible when writing in the third person or third person mixed. It works for me and from the emails I receive, also for my readers, and I’m not proposing to change any time soon!