Lucy Mitchell's Blog, page 46

#BookReview A Springtime To Remember @LucyColemanauth & A Fabulous Giveaway! #TuesdayBookBlog

If you like books that whisk you off to gorgeous places for a spot of fictional romance then this one is for you.

My goodness Lucy Coleman is on top of her setting description game! This author knows how to bring to life a beautiful location. She knows how to make you feel like you’re wandering through the gardens of Versailles or entering the magnificent Palace of Versailles.

I was so impressed with the setting I felt like I was there with Lexi, looking out over the grandeur of the canal and the various fountains. In reality I was sat in a Waitrose cafe having a coffee and escaping the rain.

Lucy Coleman also knows how to heat up your feelings towards her handsome male character, Ronan. He’s rocketed to the top of my 2020 fictional crushes list.

Ronan, honey, I need some translating doing…so why not pop over

Why I Stopped Questioning My Own Writing Process #MondayBlogs

I love experiencing what I call a writing epiphany. They’re not regular occurrences and I think this is what makes them so wonderful. Mine always seem to occur while I am in my little car on my way to work at around seven in the morning. This is the time of the day when my brain will be chewing over an aspect of my WIP or a writing issue and then it will make a shocking revelation. I will then whisper, ‘OMG’, squeal with delight as everything has suddenly made sense, babble about the epiphany to myself for a mile or so and then turn up my 80’s hits for a celebratory sing song. My day at work will then be a breeze. As I said above these are NOT regular occurrences!

Well, I had one of these moments a few weeks ago. I realised it was time to stop questioning my writing process because everyone has their own way of doing things. My writing process is unique to me and if it works for me than that’s ok.

My writing process does not sound like anyone else’s and this was causing me a lot of stress. I think my love of Instagram was contributing to my anxiety as a lot of people are sharing their writing processes and I am always comparing myself to others in some shape or form.

I know this sounds silly but when you are struggling with writing it is so easy to think…

‘I don’t think my writing process is working. It can’t be my draft which is at fault. My writing process is chaotic compared to the process [enter name of writer or author] uses. My goodness [enter name of writer or author] ‘s process makes so much sense! It’s logical, linear and doesn’t feel like…a creative hurricane. She looks so calm. If I adopted her writing process my draft would sound amazing and I would look calm too.’

A big shout out to all those writers who feel like their writing process can also be described as a creative hurricane!

So, I tried adopting the logical and linear processes of other writers. I bought the post it notes and the wall planners. I created beautiful spreadsheets and…I cried tears of frustration when my creativity dried up.

Here’s my creative hurricane writing process which has worked for me for years and it will make some of you twitch:

Spend time writing bits of the story in notebooks, scraps of paper, on receipts and word documents.
These bits are not in a logical order.
Realise all the bits actually piece together into something bigger.
Begin process of weaving bits until they are in the right order.
Get stuck a number of times and then realise that there are still some bits missing.
Realise I have more bits written than originally thought and I need to hunt for them in notebooks and on my laptop.

Now, this is the part which really boggles my blonde brain. Sometimes I find that the missing part of my story was actually written years ago and is in a notebook squirrelled away somewhere. Weird – huh?

I am no longer ashamed of my messy and chaotic writing process. It is unique to me and it works for me.

What I need to get better at is RECOGNISING that the chaos is PART of my process.

This is how my mind likes to work. Times of struggle for me are when I don’t realise that my story is in bits and I need to do some assembling.

We are all unique. We are all different. We all have different ways of doing things.

By all means try out the processes of other writers and if they work for you – great!

But if they don’t work for you, don’t stress.

You probably already have your own process which you haven’t acknowledged yet.

Please let me know how your writing process looks?

Thanks for reading my post.

I hope you have a fabulous day which includes an epiphany or two!

Why I Stopped Questioning My Own Writing Process #writer

I love experiencing what I call a writing epiphany. They’re not regular occurrences and I think this is what makes them so wonderful. Mine always seem to occur while I am in my little car on my way to work at around seven in the morning. This is the time of the day when my brain will be chewing over an aspect of my WIP or a writing issue and then it will make a shocking revelation. I will then whisper, ‘OMG’, squeal with delight as everything has suddenly made sense, babble about the epiphany to myself for a mile or so and then turn up my 80’s hits for a celebratory sing song. My day at work will then be a breeze. As I said above these are NOT regular occurrences!

Well, I had one of these moments a few weeks ago. I realised it was time to stop questioning my writing process because everyone has their own way of doing things. My writing process is unique to me and if it works for me than that’s ok.

My writing process does not sound like anyone else’s and this was causing me a lot of stress. I think my love of Instagram was contributing to my anxiety as a lot of people are sharing their writing processes and I am always comparing myself to others in some shape or form.

I know this sounds silly but when you are struggling with writing it is so easy to think…

‘I don’t think my writing process is working. It can’t be my draft which is at fault. My writing process is chaotic compared to the process [enter name of writer or author] uses. My goodness [enter name of writer or author] ‘s process makes so much sense! It’s logical, linear and doesn’t feel like…a creative hurricane. She looks so calm. If I adopted her writing process my draft would sound amazing and I would look calm too.’

A big shout out to all those writers who feel like their writing process can also be described as a creative hurricane!

So, I tried adopting the logical and linear processes of other writers. I bought the post it notes and the wall planners. I created beautiful spreadsheets and…I cried tears of frustration when my creativity dried up.

Here’s my creative hurricane writing process which has worked for me for years and it will make some of you twitch:

Spend time writing bits of the story in notebooks, scraps of paper, on receipts and word documents.
These bits are not in a logical order.
Realise all the bits actually piece together into something bigger.
Begin process of weaving bits until they are in the right order.
Get stuck a number of times and then realise that there are still some bits missing.
Realise I have more bits written than originally thought and I need to hunt for them in notebooks and on my laptop.

Now, this is the part which really boggles my blonde brain. Sometimes I find that the missing part of my story was actually written years ago and is in a notebook squirrelled away somewhere. Weird – huh?

I am no longer ashamed of my messy and chaotic writing process. It is unique to me and it works for me.

What I need to get better at is RECOGNISING that the chaos is PART of my process.

This is how my mind likes to work. Times of struggle for me are when I don’t realise that my story is in bits and I need to do some assembling.

We are all unique. We are all different. We all have different ways of doing things.

By all means try out the processes of other writers and if they work for you – great!

But if they don’t work for you, don’t stress.

You probably already have your own process which you haven’t acknowledged yet.

Please let me know how your writing process looks?

Thanks for reading my post.

I hope you have a fabulous day which includes an epiphany or two!

5 Things Every Romance Series Needs – Guest Post by @sandybarker #Romance #WritingRomance

Oh my goodness, author, Sandy Barker, has written me a fabulous guest blog post below.

Sandy writes gorgeous and funny romances set in far away places. Her heroines go on wonderful journeys of self discovery and experience heartwarming romances. She’s published by Harper Collins and her debut novel plus her latest book in the same series are below.

I have added links to the book covers below so just click on them to find out more. Please read her post first!

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So, let me hand over to Sandy Barker.

Hello all, 

Here are the 5 things I think every romance series needs

Lovable and relatable main characters

This may seem a little obvious―shouldn’t all main characters in a romance be lovable and relatable? Yes, absolutely, but even more so in a series, because the reader will be spending lots more time with them than in a stand-alone.

TIP: Think about your closest friends (yes, even the ones who sometimes drive you around the bend) and ask yourself why you love them. Those are the traits you can build a lovable and relatable character around.

If I think of mine, I love them because they make me laugh ’til I can’t breathe, they love every version of me (even grumpy, morose, or self-pitying Sandy), and they show up―no, not uninvited on my doorstep at inopportune times. I mean, they’re there―when I need them, no matter what. And, those are the women I write.

Interesting and well-developed supporting characters

The most wonderful thing about supporting characters in a romance series is that once they have played their supporting role, you can give them their own story, their own romance! And all the work you did to create and develop them in the earlier book(s) will pay off (big time) when they get the starring role. You will already have established the cadence of their speech, their looks, their mannerisms, and how they feel about life, the universe, and everything. They’re already part of the world you’ve created, so a lot of the heavy lifting of creating a person from scratch is already done.

TIP: Create detailed character profiles for your supporting characters as well as your main characters, including their vernacular, style choices, and the minutiae that makes them them.

A thread or a theme

I write travel romcoms, a sub-genre of romance novels that will one day properly take off and be a thing―known across the world to readers everywhere (I digress and yes, I may have an agenda). But what this means is that travel is a prominent thread that weaves its way through all the stories in my ‘Holiday Romance’ series. And, more specifically, it is the transformational effect of travel that acts as a catalyst for my characters’ arcs. Simply, if my main characters stayed put instead of opting to travel, they would not transform.

TIP: Consider what will link the books in your series together―besides the characters knowing each other. Many series are set in one location (e.g. Phillipa Ashley’s ‘Cornish Café’ series). Many series will have a theme, such as ‘the importance of family’ (e.g. Lucy Knott’s How to Bake a New Beginning and its sequel), and many series centre around an overarching story where all the characters have buy-in (e.g. Katie Ginger’s ‘Seafront’ series).

No matter the thread or the theme, ensure it speaks to you. You’ll be spending a lot of time with it.

A thoroughly developed character arc

Yes, here’s another one that is essential to every story, but if you’re writing a series, you have time to really marinade in the main character’s development. In romance, this may mean that the main character gets a ‘happy for now’ ending for one or two books before getting their ‘happily ever after’. And maybe their ‘happy for now’ isn’t about the romance at all. It could be a major decision they’ve made, or a self-discovery. The main thing to remember is that by the end of the series, they will have significantly transformed―even if for some of series they have been a supporting character.

TIP: Even if you’re a pantser, at least have an idea where your main and supporting characters will end up by the time the series concludes.

A good name

What’s in a name, right? Well, my publisher and I agonised over my series title for months (yes, really). And then we realised we were over thinking it. It’s a series about holiday romances, so that’s what we called it.

TIP: Choose something that no one else is using so your series stands out! The brilliant Julie Caplin snagged ‘The Romantic Escapes Series’ before I even discovered her. Otherwise, I would have wanted it for myself.

If you want to check out Sandy’s books here are the links:

Amazon.co.uk – click here.

Wasn’t that fabulous? Huge thank you to the wonderful Sandy Barker!

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#BookReview When Polly Met Olly @zoe_writes #Bookish #Romance

I read this book and wished I had Polly, the main character’s new job. I found myself feeling envious of Polly working at To The Moon & Back dating agency in New York. I don’t normally get career envy when reading about the lives of fictional people but I did with Polly.

This book was a really good for a number of reasons. Firstly it gave me career envy, secondly I had such a huge crush on Olly, thirdly the humour was great and fourthly I thought there were some lovely life lessons buried within it; following your passion, self worth and relationships need to go a bit deeper than superficial stuff like looks and fashion.

Here’s the blurb:

Polly and Olly were never supposed to meet…

Polly might spend her days searching for eligible matches for her elite list of clients at her New York dating agency, but her own love life is starting to go up in smoke.

Even worse, she can’t stop thinking about the very person she’s meant to be setting her latest client up with… surely it can’t get any worse!

But then Polly bumps into oh-so-handsome Olly, who heads up a rival agency, and realizes that perhaps all really is fair in love and dating war…

Here’s the review:

This book will take you on a funny and thought provoking journey into the world of New York dating agencies.

Polly is a fabulous character; she’s funny, ambitious, an aspiring photographer and has a funny history of past dating failures. She also has the most amazing flat mate, Gabe; HR consultant by day and by night Gabriella the drag queen. These two characters bounce off each other so well. I loved the sass and the banter between them. The witty banter in this book is exceptional. Zoe May is on top of her banter game!

I loved Polly’s commitment to her photography dream which she says feels like ‘some vague, desperate dream – a fraught sense of longing.’ I really connected with Polly because all life dreams feel like this.

Olly is lush. No other word to describe him. He’s older than Polly and I think the age gap worked. She needed someone like him and he’s a refreshing change from the normal younger romcom male love interest. They also had ‘questionable track records’ when it came to relationships and I liked this.

The romance is a slow burn but this for me was the stand out. This book wasn’t just about romance. It went deeper and was about an ambitious young woman finding her inner compass and resetting the direction of her life.

This fab book is worth a read!

Here’s the links

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07F8N76KG/
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07F8N76KG/
https://books.apple.com/gb/book/when-polly-met-olly/id1412331682
https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Zoe_May_When_Polly_Met_Olly_A_fantastically_uplift?id=UypkDwAAQBAJ
https://www.kobo.com/gb/en/ebook/when-polly-met-olly-a-fantastically-uplifting-romantic-comedy-for-2019

Author Bio:

Zoe May lives in London and writes romantic comedies. Zoe has dreamt of being a novelist since she was a teenager. She spent her twenties living in London, where she worked in journalism and copywriting before writing her debut novel, Perfect Match. Having experienced the London dating scene first hand, Zoe could not resist writing a novel about dating, since it seems to supply endless amounts of weird and wonderful material!

Perfect Match was one of Apple’s top-selling books of 2018. It was also shortlisted for the Romantic Novelists’ Association’s Joan Hessayon Award, with judges describing it as ‘a laugh out loud look at love and self-discovery – fresh and very funny’.

As well as writing, Zoe enjoys walking her dog, painting and, of course, reading.

Social Media Links –

Tweets by zoe_writes

https://instagram.com/zoe_writes

https://www.facebook.com/zoemayauthor/

This post is part of the When Polly Met Olly blog tour.

 

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#BookReview When Polly Met Olly @zoe_writes #TuesdayBookBlog #Romance

I read this book and wished I had Polly, the main character’s new job. I found myself feeling envious of Polly working at To The Moon & Back dating agency in New York. I don’t normally get career envy when reading about the lives of fictional people but I did with Polly.

This book was a really good for a number of reasons. Firstly it gave me career envy, secondly I had such a huge crush on Olly, thirdly the humour was great and fourthly I thought there were some lovely life lessons buried within it; following your passion, self worth and relationships need to go a bit deeper than superficial stuff like looks and fashion.

Here’s the blurb:

Polly and Olly were never supposed to meet…

Polly might spend her days searching for eligible matches for her elite list of clients at her New York dating agency, but her own love life is starting to go up in smoke.

Even worse, she can’t stop thinking about the very person she’s meant to be setting her latest client up with… surely it can’t get any worse!

But then Polly bumps into oh-so-handsome Olly, who heads up a rival agency, and realizes that perhaps all really is fair in love and dating war…

Here’s the review:

This book will take you on a funny and thought provoking journey into the world of New York dating agencies.

Polly is a fabulous character; she’s funny, ambitious, an aspiring photographer and has a funny history of past dating failures. She also has the most amazing flat mate, Gabe; HR consultant by day and by night Gabriella the drag queen. These two characters bounce off each other so well. I loved the sass and the banter between them. The witty banter in this book is exceptional. Zoe May is on top of her banter game!

I loved Polly’s commitment to her photography dream which she says feels like ‘some vague, desperate dream – a fraught sense of longing.’ I really connected with Polly because all life dreams feel like this.

Olly is lush. No other word to describe him. He’s older than Polly and I think the age gap worked. She needed someone like him and he’s a refreshing change from the normal younger romcom male love interest. They also had ‘questionable track records’ when it came to relationships and I liked this.

The romance is a slow burn but this for me was the stand out. This book wasn’t just about romance. It went deeper and was about an ambitious young woman finding her inner compass and resetting the direction of her life.

This fab book is worth a read!

Here’s the links

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07F8N76KG/
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07F8N76KG/
https://books.apple.com/gb/book/when-polly-met-olly/id1412331682
https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Zoe_May_When_Polly_Met_Olly_A_fantastically_uplift?id=UypkDwAAQBAJ
https://www.kobo.com/gb/en/ebook/when-polly-met-olly-a-fantastically-uplifting-romantic-comedy-for-2019

Author Bio:

Zoe May lives in London and writes romantic comedies. Zoe has dreamt of being a novelist since she was a teenager. She spent her twenties living in London, where she worked in journalism and copywriting before writing her debut novel, Perfect Match. Having experienced the London dating scene first hand, Zoe could not resist writing a novel about dating, since it seems to supply endless amounts of weird and wonderful material!

Perfect Match was one of Apple’s top-selling books of 2018. It was also shortlisted for the Romantic Novelists’ Association’s Joan Hessayon Award, with judges describing it as ‘a laugh out loud look at love and self-discovery – fresh and very funny’.

As well as writing, Zoe enjoys walking her dog, painting and, of course, reading.

Social Media Links –

Tweets by zoe_writes

https://instagram.com/zoe_writes

https://www.facebook.com/zoemayauthor/

This post is part of the When Polly Met Olly blog tour.

 

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#BookReview The Cottage on Wildflower Lane @LizDaviesAuthor #Romance

As I did the cover reveal back in January I couldn’t resist doing the book review for this.

This book helped me survive Storm Dennis and then a horrific cold which left me bedridden. All I could do was lie in bed with tissues stuffed up my nose and read.

By the time I finished this cute romance I felt better and Dennis had stopped rattling my windows!

I know I have said this before but reading romance works better than Lemsip.

Here’s the blurb:

Esther’s life isn’t perfect (whose is?) – but she’s happy enough living in her little flat with her boyfriend, Josh.

But that’s about to change.

Bored out of her mind in work, she wishes that something, anything, would happen to liven her life up.

Unfortunately, her wish comes true when Josh calls her from the airport to tell her he’s going to work in a bar in Spain, and she’s not invited, Esther is devastated, and her unhappiness is compounded when she discovers she can actually view the bar via a webcam link and watch him chatting up other girls.

But when she inadvertently clicks on a link to another webcam which shows a pretty cottage and the rather hunky man who lives in it, her interest is piqued and she wishes she could get to know him.

Wishes don’t really come true, though – do they…?

Here’s my review:

Never thought I would say this but…I now love a romance story which features webcams! This story has an interesting premise and I really enjoyed a romance which starts after a webcam link mix up.

I thought Esther was a great character and I connected with her straight away. She has a good sense of humour and as the book progresses I could see her as one of my friends. The sign of a good character is one who you are sad to see go at the end.  

Reading the story from both Esther and Kit’s perspectives was great. Both characters were really well developed and I enjoyed my time with them.

There were some really funny bits – my personal favourite was where Esther informed him everyone with a smartphone could see him washing his smalls courtesy of Cottage Cam.

This was a really enjoyable read and one I shall not forget in a hurry

The Devil’s Bride Twitter Giveaway With Author Emma S. Jackson @ESJackson1 #Bookish

Today I have a special guest who wants to tell us about her Twitter Giveaway.

So, I need you all to have your tweeting fingers at the ready!

Please welcome Emma Jackson to BlondeWriteMore!

Emma is the author of the Best Selling A MISTLETOE MIRACLE, published in 2019 by Orion Dash.

I am THRILLED she’s chosen my blog to help shout about her Twitter Giveaway.

Emma, over to you…

The Devil’s Bride Twitter Giveaway!

This month my historical-fantasy-romance novel, The Devil’s Bride, was published by Darkstroke books and in celebration I would like to give away a couple of prizes which sum up some of my favourite gothic stories:

A DVD of the fabulous film Crimson Peak and a paperback copy of Daphne duMaurier’s Jamaica Inn will go to one lucky winner.

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In order to enter, all you need to do is:

Follow me on Twitter https://twitter.com/ESJackson1 and then like and RT my giveaway tweet which will be pinned to my profile.

The giveaway will close on 2nd March 2020, with the winner announced and contacted on 3rd March. (This giveaway is for UK residents over the age of 15 only due to postage costs & the recommended rating of the film.)

The chances are if you love the idea of this prize half as much as me, then my novel about ghosts & blood-thirsty highwaymen, curses & dangerous attraction, will be right up your street. It’s available in paperback, ebook for £1.99 and for free as part of your Kindle Unlimited subscription. http://bit.ly/TheDevilsBride

The Devil’s Bride

England, 1670

No one goes near Edburton Manor – not since the night in 1668, when demons rose from the ground to drag Lord Bookham’s new bride to a fiery death. Or so the locals say.

That’s what makes it the perfect hideout for the gang of highwaymen Jamie Lorde runs with.

Ghost stories have never frightened her. The living are a far more dangerous prospect, particularly to a woman in disguise as a man. A woman who can see spirits in a time when witches are hanged and who is working hard to gain the trust of the most ruthless, vicious man she has ever known because she intends to ruin and kill him.

But when the gang discovers Matthew, Lord Bookham’s illegitimate brother, who has been trapped by a curse at the Manor ever since the doomed wedding, all Jamie’s carefully laid plans are sent spiralling out of control.

Author Bio

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Emma has been a devoted bookworm and secret-story-scribbler since she was 6 years old. When she’s not running around after her two daughters and trying to complete her current work-in-progress, Emma loves to read, bake, catch up on binge-watching TV programmes with her partner and plan lots of craft projects that will inevitably end up unfinished.

Her next romantic comedy, SUMMER IN THE CITY, is due for release in June 2020.

Emma also writes historical and speculative romantic fiction as Emma S Jackson. THE DEVIL’S BRIDE will be published by DarkStroke in February 2020.

You can find out news about Emma via her website http://www.esjackson.co.uk or on:

Twitter @ESJackson1

Facebook @EmmaJacksonAuthor

Instagram @emma_s_jackson

Reasons Why You Should Always Finish Your Draft #Writer

You’ve been working on the latest draft of your novel for weeks and it feels like such a hard slog. My goodness you never expected things to get this tough!

This is when the idea of not finishing it becomes so attractive.

Maybe you should walk away?

Maybe your inability to finish the draft is a sign from the universe you should work on that new shiny idea for a story which has been flirting with you for ages?

Maybe you should leave it for a couple of weeks? Months? Or even an undefined period of time?

Maybe it’s so hard because you are trying to create something which isn’t there?

You decide to give up on your draft and tell yourself writing a book shouldn’t be that much of a challenge.

Your writer demons cheer you on from the sidelines as you decide to leave the latest draft of your novel unfinished and start something else. Writer demons can be a supportive bunch when you decide to walk away from stuff.

Stop!

Here’s a list of reasons why you should ALWAYS finish your draft:

By not finishing the draft of your novel you are creating your own form of personal hell. Trust me on this – unfinished drafts can leave you feeling frustrated and bitter. This negativity will seep into other areas of your life.

The future you will not thank you for handing them something unfinished or incomplete. View the future you as the next person in a relay race. Your draft novel is the baton and this needs to be handed over to the future you to take forward. Would you want to be handed your unfinished draft in its current state?

Even if you feel the story no longer works – still try and finish the draft. Why? Because this thing will haunt you for the rest of your life. You will always wonder – ‘what would have happened if I had got to the end and felt different? Would I have discovered something new about that story along the way?’ I can’t stress this enough – the further you get into a draft the more things you discover. It’s like there are pieces of buried treasure in each draft and it is up to you, the story explorer, to find them.

The feeling of accomplishment is amazing and you shouldn’t deprive yourself from experiencing this wonderful surge of tingles. This is what is keeping me going.

Always remember your story only wants to come out of you so let it happen.

So wave at your writer demons and carry on.

Have a fab day!

 

The 5 Essential ‘Abilities’ of the Romantic Hero – Guest Post by @EllaHayesAuthor #MondayBlogs

Oh my goodness I have such a blog post for you!

Mills and Boon Author Ella Hayes is here to talk about the essential abilities of the romantic hero. I always fall madly in love with Ella Hayes’s male characters and to me she’s the queen of creating sexy male heroes. Her latest character Zach Merrill, from Italian Summer with the Single Dad, made me throw out my new year’s resolution about not getting carried away with fancying fictional hunks and don’t get me started on her character, Cormac from Her Brooding Scottish Heir.

I am a hot mess before this post has even started so let’s quickly hand over to Ella Hayes. 

Hello, here are my essential hero attributes:

Likeability

When it comes to writing romantic heroes, first on my list of essential hero attributes is likeability. I don’t mean that the hero has to be the life and soul of the party or that he can’t be flawed (more on that later), but there has to be an immediate sense that whatever he’s projecting outwardly, he’s nevertheless a “good ‘un”. In the 50,000-word novellas I write for Mills and Boon, early reader engagement is essential. One way of achieving that is through writing both the heroine and the hero’s point of view alternately. It keeps the reader up to speed with what both characters are thinking, and so even if the hero’s demeanour is cool and reserved (as Cormac Buchanan’s is in Her Brooding Scottish Heir) the reader soon understands the reasons for that. I always love writing the hero’s POV, by the way. All that digging around in the male psyche—such fun!

Credibility

Second on my list of hero essentials is credibility. Alexander Pope said: “to err is human [… to forgive is divine”] and so, to be properly relatable a hero needs to have some flaws. But, in a heart-warming romance, the hero’s flaws should never undermine his likeability. He can’t do anything that will alienate the reader and so often, the hero’s perceived “flaws” are actually a reflection of his internal struggle or conflict. In the movie, Love Actually, Andrew Lincoln keeps his best friend’s new bride, Keira Knightly at arms’ length, not because he doesn’t like her, but because he’s in love with her. “It’s a self-preservation thing,” he tells her when she finally cottons on … and then there’s the totally heart-melting scene where he stands silently on the doorstep with his cue cards, “without hope or agenda” declaring his undying love for her as his ghetto blaster plays Silent Night. He only gets a kiss, but his status as a romantic hero is affirmed in those few moments.

Nobility

Nobility is another important hero-attribute, but I’m not talking about high-birth. For me, a true hero has to have a noble nature. He’s spontaneously selfless, sacrificing his own dreams and desires for those he loves, or perhaps he’s been robbed of the chance to “do the right thing” and is consequently burdened with guilt. He may not find his noble decisions and choices easy to live with—he’s only human after all—but in spite of any misgivings, he remains steadfast, loyal and true … the proverbial knight in shining armour. (Fact check: are there actually any proverbs about knights in shining armour?) In my forthcoming release, Unlocking the Tycoon’s Heart, my hero Theo is supremely steadfast … and believe me, it makes him a heavyweight in the hero stakes.

Vulnerability

For me, the other “must have” for any self-respecting romantic hero is vulnerability. Why? Because it’s the chink in his armour (sticking with the shining knight theme) through which the heroine will slip. The hero’s vulnerability is the base camp of his emotional journey, the route to his salvation and his happy ever after. In Italian Summer with the Single Dad, when the hero takes the heroine to the Ravello bar where he plays classical guitar one evening a week, he’s trusting her with a private side of himself, giving her a glimpse of his shelved ambitions. Unsurprisingly, this moment is pivotal to the way things unfold …

F***ability

You will notice that so far, I haven’t mentioned appearance and that’s because the hero’s gorgeousness or f***-ability (sorry, Mum!) is a given, and will almost certainly be the first thing the heroine notices about him. But for the story to truly resonate, the hero must engage all of his heroic “abilities” to procure his own and his heroine’s happy ever after, and to leave the reader sighing blissfully when the curtain falls.

Huge thanks to Ella for this wonderful post.

I need to go lie down in a darkened room and listen to soothing whale music…