Peggy Jaeger's Blog - Posts Tagged "romcom"
RELEASE DAY!!
I think it’s a little serendipitous that today is the last day of NaNoWriMo and the day my newest book gets released into the world from my publisher.
A KISS UNDER THE CHRISTMAS LIGHTS is here! I’ve been waiting for sosososo long to share Gia and Tim’s story. I’ve read it so many times over the past few months, waiting, just waiting until it could be released as a holiday novel that I’ve got pages of it memorized!! The San Valentino family is one I’d like to call my own for so many reasons. They laugh loudly, live broadly, and love unconditionally. Who wouldn’t want to be a member of such a clan??!!
SO if you like romance/love stories centering around family and you need a little comedic break during these busy holidays, you’ll love this story.
Here’s a little sumthin’ sumthin to whet your book reading appetites. Since I never had a sister to share with and learn from, I created sisters who mean the world to one another, Chloe and Gia:
Excerpt:
Sometimes living in such a close-knit family was a little suffocating and lot of claustrophobic.
How to be a good Italian, lesson 3: family comes first, last, forever, and you do everything together. Always.
“Gia,” Chloe said, breaking into my thoughts, “come and help me with your goddaughter. She needs to be changed.”
She rose, as did I, and grabbed the diaper bag sitting in the living room with one hand, her other hand holding her two-month-old. “Lorenzo, be a good boy for Nonna and Papa,” she told her two-year-old son with a kiss to his head.
Up in Gianni and Paolo’s old bedroom, which now served as an all-things-bambino warehouse, Chloe held the baby up to me and said, “Here. You do the honors.” Once she handed her over, she plopped down into the rocking chair Mama had rocked all six of us in and let out a sigh that tugged at my heart.
I laid Arianna down on the changing table Nonna had brought over from Italy with her seventy-five years ago and tickled her little belly. Her toothless grin stared up at me. She was already a heartbreaker and owned my own heart and soul completely.
“Okay, baby sister.” Chloe folded her hands across her stomach. “Spill. What’s up?”
“What do you mean?” I popped open the crotch of the onesie, pushed it up to Arianna’s tiny waist, and bent down to kiss her soft, swollen, little baby belly.
“Your face went the color of Mama’s tomatoes when they started discussing the new priest. What gives?”
Chloe is nine years older than I am and one of the smartest women I know. At times she’s been more of a mother to me than our own, like during the horrible two years Mama went through chemo treatments for breast cancer when I was eleven. Chloe was the one who helped me buy my first bra, taught me about my period, and listened to me when I had questions about boys, sex, and what constituted appropriate dating behavior for girls who came from families like ours: overprotected.
BUY LINKS: Amazon// Wild Rose Press// B&N
A KISS UNDER THE CHRISTMAS LIGHTS is here! I’ve been waiting for sosososo long to share Gia and Tim’s story. I’ve read it so many times over the past few months, waiting, just waiting until it could be released as a holiday novel that I’ve got pages of it memorized!! The San Valentino family is one I’d like to call my own for so many reasons. They laugh loudly, live broadly, and love unconditionally. Who wouldn’t want to be a member of such a clan??!!
SO if you like romance/love stories centering around family and you need a little comedic break during these busy holidays, you’ll love this story.
Here’s a little sumthin’ sumthin to whet your book reading appetites. Since I never had a sister to share with and learn from, I created sisters who mean the world to one another, Chloe and Gia:
Excerpt:
Sometimes living in such a close-knit family was a little suffocating and lot of claustrophobic.
How to be a good Italian, lesson 3: family comes first, last, forever, and you do everything together. Always.
“Gia,” Chloe said, breaking into my thoughts, “come and help me with your goddaughter. She needs to be changed.”
She rose, as did I, and grabbed the diaper bag sitting in the living room with one hand, her other hand holding her two-month-old. “Lorenzo, be a good boy for Nonna and Papa,” she told her two-year-old son with a kiss to his head.
Up in Gianni and Paolo’s old bedroom, which now served as an all-things-bambino warehouse, Chloe held the baby up to me and said, “Here. You do the honors.” Once she handed her over, she plopped down into the rocking chair Mama had rocked all six of us in and let out a sigh that tugged at my heart.
I laid Arianna down on the changing table Nonna had brought over from Italy with her seventy-five years ago and tickled her little belly. Her toothless grin stared up at me. She was already a heartbreaker and owned my own heart and soul completely.
“Okay, baby sister.” Chloe folded her hands across her stomach. “Spill. What’s up?”
“What do you mean?” I popped open the crotch of the onesie, pushed it up to Arianna’s tiny waist, and bent down to kiss her soft, swollen, little baby belly.
“Your face went the color of Mama’s tomatoes when they started discussing the new priest. What gives?”
Chloe is nine years older than I am and one of the smartest women I know. At times she’s been more of a mother to me than our own, like during the horrible two years Mama went through chemo treatments for breast cancer when I was eleven. Chloe was the one who helped me buy my first bra, taught me about my period, and listened to me when I had questions about boys, sex, and what constituted appropriate dating behavior for girls who came from families like ours: overprotected.
BUY LINKS: Amazon// Wild Rose Press// B&N
Finding the Funny
You would think as someone who loves screwball comedies, romcoms, and who watched endless sitcoms growing up, that I would easily be able to come up with funny scenarios for my characters in my books.
Yeah...I'd totally think that too, but I'd be wrong.
So wrong.
Writing funny is hard. Wicked hard.
And comedy can be so subjective. What I laugh out loud at something so hard I wet my pants, my husband doesn't even crack a smile for. Drawing the line at farcical is something I have to consider, too. You want your characters involved in situations that lead the reader to laugh and relate, but you don't want them thinking, "never in a gazillion years would something like that happen."
The book will close in a heartbeat when that thought occurs.
Now, I’m considered a wise-ass by most people who know me, and I won’t deny that descriptor at all. I can be bitingly sarcastic – but never cruel – and I’ve been known to make grown women leave a dinner table and head for the ladies' room just so they won’t pee in their pants from laughing.
I can be quick, biting, snarky, and sometimes guffaw-able, in real life.
But on the page? I die to find the funny.
Most humor is based on tragedy, or the saying goes. Most of my humor is found in dumbass situations that happen every day in my life. The Lucille Ball moments we all have at one time or another.
But when I’ve got characters I want to invest a little humor in, oftentimes I’m lost.
Most of us know at least one person, an uncle, a friend, even a co-worker, who can take any situation and see the humor in it enough to make everyone around them laugh. These people are usually the “best friends” in novels, like the Rosie O’Donnell character in Sleepless in Seattle. Always ready with a witticism – usually spot on and deadly – about whatever is occurring in the scene at hand. These characters lighten the mood, add realism to the situations in the book, and generally are well-liked by readers.
I think it was famed actor Edmund Kean who said, “Dying (Tragedy) is easy; comedy is hard.”
Yup. Truth.
So, just how do I find the funny? Well, being a die-hard people watcher is one way. I've been to Panera's a time or two and watched the most ridiculous things happen to people while they are waiting in line for their food. I'll be honest and tell you I've used one or two ( or more!) of those events I've witnessed in my RomCom novels.
Not only am I a people watcher, but I will also talk to a rock! And I've got the kind of face that just screams TALK TO ME from everyone I meet, so many times I'm told stories that resonate with me and which I can use for my own characters.
And I want my characters to sound like real people - the witty neighbor down the street, the aunt who's always got a funny anecdote to share, the uncle who loves a good slapstick move. These are the people I think of when I write my RomComs.
I have a friend who says it's the situation a person is caught up in and their response to it that can make the scene funny. I agree...to a point. You see, I believe PEOPLE are inherently either funny or they're not. Some people can tell a joke and you'll smile. Someone else will tell the same joke and you'll be holding your sides because the pain caused by laughing is great. These are the people I strive for when I write my RomComs. These are the people I want as my hero and/or heroine, and these are the people that give me the most agita to create!
As a huge fan of the 1930s and 40s slapstick RomComs starring Cary Grant, Katherine Hepburn, Jimmy Stewart and Claudette Colbert, I strive to live up to their wonderful examples. The writing of Prestin Sturgiss, Billy Wilder, and later, Nora Ephron and the Cohen brothers are my yardsticks. Their characters were relatable, lovable, and regular people who were, and are also, hysterically funny.
So, finding the funny isn't the easiest thing to accomplish when you're a writer. It's hard, sometimes soul-sucking work. But the first time you see a reader hold a book you've penned and they laugh at the right -funny - parts, the rewards are immeasurable!
Here are a few of the books I've penned that I consider funny reads: The Match Made in Heaven series ( 3 books)
It's a Trust thing
3 Wishes
Christmas & Cannolis
Mistletoe, Mobsters, and Mozzarella
Yeah...I'd totally think that too, but I'd be wrong.
So wrong.
Writing funny is hard. Wicked hard.
And comedy can be so subjective. What I laugh out loud at something so hard I wet my pants, my husband doesn't even crack a smile for. Drawing the line at farcical is something I have to consider, too. You want your characters involved in situations that lead the reader to laugh and relate, but you don't want them thinking, "never in a gazillion years would something like that happen."
The book will close in a heartbeat when that thought occurs.
Now, I’m considered a wise-ass by most people who know me, and I won’t deny that descriptor at all. I can be bitingly sarcastic – but never cruel – and I’ve been known to make grown women leave a dinner table and head for the ladies' room just so they won’t pee in their pants from laughing.
I can be quick, biting, snarky, and sometimes guffaw-able, in real life.
But on the page? I die to find the funny.
Most humor is based on tragedy, or the saying goes. Most of my humor is found in dumbass situations that happen every day in my life. The Lucille Ball moments we all have at one time or another.
But when I’ve got characters I want to invest a little humor in, oftentimes I’m lost.
Most of us know at least one person, an uncle, a friend, even a co-worker, who can take any situation and see the humor in it enough to make everyone around them laugh. These people are usually the “best friends” in novels, like the Rosie O’Donnell character in Sleepless in Seattle. Always ready with a witticism – usually spot on and deadly – about whatever is occurring in the scene at hand. These characters lighten the mood, add realism to the situations in the book, and generally are well-liked by readers.
I think it was famed actor Edmund Kean who said, “Dying (Tragedy) is easy; comedy is hard.”
Yup. Truth.
So, just how do I find the funny? Well, being a die-hard people watcher is one way. I've been to Panera's a time or two and watched the most ridiculous things happen to people while they are waiting in line for their food. I'll be honest and tell you I've used one or two ( or more!) of those events I've witnessed in my RomCom novels.
Not only am I a people watcher, but I will also talk to a rock! And I've got the kind of face that just screams TALK TO ME from everyone I meet, so many times I'm told stories that resonate with me and which I can use for my own characters.
And I want my characters to sound like real people - the witty neighbor down the street, the aunt who's always got a funny anecdote to share, the uncle who loves a good slapstick move. These are the people I think of when I write my RomComs.
I have a friend who says it's the situation a person is caught up in and their response to it that can make the scene funny. I agree...to a point. You see, I believe PEOPLE are inherently either funny or they're not. Some people can tell a joke and you'll smile. Someone else will tell the same joke and you'll be holding your sides because the pain caused by laughing is great. These are the people I strive for when I write my RomComs. These are the people I want as my hero and/or heroine, and these are the people that give me the most agita to create!
As a huge fan of the 1930s and 40s slapstick RomComs starring Cary Grant, Katherine Hepburn, Jimmy Stewart and Claudette Colbert, I strive to live up to their wonderful examples. The writing of Prestin Sturgiss, Billy Wilder, and later, Nora Ephron and the Cohen brothers are my yardsticks. Their characters were relatable, lovable, and regular people who were, and are also, hysterically funny.
So, finding the funny isn't the easiest thing to accomplish when you're a writer. It's hard, sometimes soul-sucking work. But the first time you see a reader hold a book you've penned and they laugh at the right -funny - parts, the rewards are immeasurable!
Here are a few of the books I've penned that I consider funny reads: The Match Made in Heaven series ( 3 books)
It's a Trust thing
3 Wishes
Christmas & Cannolis
Mistletoe, Mobsters, and Mozzarella
