By
Luanna Stewart (Guest Blogger)
Love
Proof, my new release, is part of a series created by my
publisher, set in a fictional town in Vermont, and centred on the
historic Deerbourne Inn. At twelve books and counting in the series,
there is something for everyone no matter which subgenre of romance
you enjoy reading.
In
no particular order, here are five things I learned while writing
this book:
Writing
in a series established by someone else was fun! The grunt work of
creating the setting and describing the location was done, and the
town map was drawn. Even the streets were named. As someone who
struggles with naming things, this was a huge benefit. Also, a core
group of town-folk existed and were busily running around town going
about their various businesses. And those businesses were named, too
– oh, joy!
Writing
in an established series was hard! I wasn’t in charge of the
setting or most of the secondary characters. I had to make sure my
storyline wouldn’t interfere with another author’s ideas. And if
I wanted to use one of the established secondary characters in my
story, I had to make sure my idea fit with the character development
already in place in the series “bible” (an outline of the town’s
history, brief descriptions of the core characters, etc.).
Collaborating
with the other authors in the series was fun! I enjoyed bouncing
story and character ideas around with other writers. And I learned
how to work with other writers’ stories – their plots and
characters. I’ve collaborated before but the thing that connected
those other books was a talisman, and even that was open to
interpretation by the individual authors. Writing Love Proof worked
writing muscles I didn’t know I had.
Writing
a shorter book was a challenge. But I’ve done it previously, four
times in fact, and so I knew it was possible. The key is to
understand the limitations placed on the book by the lack of page
space. With only 150 pages, give or take, crafting a sweeping saga
would by impossible. Even writing a story that stretched over several
months would be too much of a challenge for this writer. An added
bonus of a story with a short time span is the inherent “deadline”.
A ticking clock is helpful for moving the story along and can be used
in more than a suspense or a thriller. “Can she save the ranch
before the wrecking ball arrives?” “Can he win her heart before
she’s deployed next month?” Or in the case of my story, “Can
she bake 300 cupcakes in time for the town’s garden party in two
weeks, while also resisting her attraction to the handsome man from
her past?”.
Writing
a shorter book was freeing because there wasn’t room on the page
for a lot of extras. In my case, all I had room for was a hero, a
heroine, their internal and external conflicts, and a few extra
characters. No big secondary plot allowed. The constraints of a short
time spent in the story world was liberating as well. I used a page
from an old wall calendar, noted the day my hero, Raynor, arrived in
town, and the day of the mad River Garden Party, and that was my
story’s time frame. All the good stuff, the bad stuff, and then
the good stuff, had to happen within those days.
Do
you enjoy reading shorter books? If so, what do you find most
appealing?
Blurb
Unemployed
photojournalist Raynor Elliot stops at a bakery near the famous
Deerbourne Inn. Not only does he get a lead on a job but the bakery’s
owner is that awkward kid he knew in high school, only now she has
fabulous curves and an irreverent sense of humor. The cozy bakery,
with its aroma of sugar, vanilla and spice, has more to offer than
tasty cookies.
Fiona
MacLeod has been plagued for years by the need to make amends for
telling The Big Lie. When the lie’s victim strolls into her bakery
with his icy blue stare and killer charm, she feels like she’s
standing too close to a hot oven.
Between
running her bakery and frosting cupcakes for the Mad River Garden
Party, she's pretty sure she's falling in love with this infuriating,
sexy man. Can Fiona dredge up the courage to confess, face the
consequences, and hope for forgiveness?
Excerpt
“I
remember those days.” She pushed the calculator to the side, too
tired to worry about planning the week’s baking schedule. “Why’d
you study journalism?
“Truth
is important to me. I was tired of all the lies in government, at
every level. I wanted to change that. Ultimately make the world a
better place. Easy peasy, right?” His lips quirked and he shook his
head.
“That’s
why I decided to be a baker. Brighten someone’s day with a special
treat.”
He
scooted his chair closer and pointed at the column of numbers on the
page. “You want me to do the rest?” His arm, bare to the bicep,
lightly tanned, dusted with blond hair, a little lighter than on his
head, rested less than an inch from her own spindly pale arm. Not
spindly compared to other women, hefting bags of flour and moving
trays of baked goods did take some muscle power. But spindly compared
to his manly toned muscles flexing under skin that she’d bet her
last jar of sprinkles was smooth and warm. She clenched her hand.
No
touching allowed.
“We
have cupcakes to frost.” She bounded from the chair and rushed into
the kitchen.
Holy
moly, the guy oozed sex. In a good way. A very good way. She pulled a
clean apron off the shelf and cinched it around her waist. An extra
layer of armor between her and temptation in the form of Raynor. The
seeker of truth. The man whose mission in life was to expose lies.
The reporter who thought liars were not decent human beings.
Buy
links
About
the Author
Luanna
spends her days writing sexy romantic suspense, steamy paranormal
romance, and spicy historical romance. When
she's not torturing her heroes and heroines, she’s either in her
kitchen baking something delicious, or protecting her garden from the
chickens. She lives in Nova Scotia with her incredibly patient
husband and two spoiled cats.
Social
media links
Website: http://www.luannastewart.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Luanna_Stewart
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/luannastewart/
