The Heartbeat of the Book
The heartbeat of any book, whether it’s category romance, single title romance, or other genre really, are the characters who inhabit it.
Much is made of the high-octane conflicts and glamour in Presents, but I think the real key to it is having those conflicts grounded. To have them be universal issues that the reader can really feel.
Have we all lost our family to a gunmen when he invaded out royal palace in North Africa? No. No we haven’t. But we can understand the fear and pain of losing people we love. Of being hurt again.
We aren’t all princesses running from an arranged marriage, but we can understand the desire to be loved for who we are.
The root of the conflict, even if it’s set against a backdrop of luxury, is accessible.
In The Petrov Proposal, Aleksei is a man who has put his life on hold due to grief. His life was changed so suddenly, so painfully, when his wife died that he hasn’t managed to figure out what to do with his life since. After throwing himself into a bottle for a while, he decided to throw himself into work instead, and he became the head of the world’s leading jewelry design house.
Aleksei designs jewelry, and yes, he’s a billionaire. But beneath it all he’s a grieving man who can’t quite find the way forward.
I think that’s the really important thing to remember about character and conflict. You can create these fantastic, bigger than life characters, but keep it grounded to that it resonates with the reader.
I will draw winners for The Argentine’s Price on Friday, so if you want in on that, enter in the New Voices post below!
I’m also using this post to shamelessly unveil my North American cover for The Petrov Proposal. (I LOVE this cover!)
Comments
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Well said! It’s so easy to lose the basics behind the flashy foreground… Just ask any recent CGI film. 😛 The real challenge is keeping the characters first. A great thought to meditate on while I edit my millionaire-with-a-dark-past book!
The color of her dress is beautiful!
Beautiful cover and I can relate to the concept of the conflict being grounded. I love to read books where I can be in the character and feel what they feel.
On a side note and only because I am curious, was the book you got the call from the first book you sent through the slush pile or did you submit previously?
Thanks SJ
aha, Jessica, so true re the CGI movies. Give us SOMETHING to ground it! Speaking of CGI, Pixar is a great example of this. They use non-human, usually inanimate objects and I cry in every one of their movies. Because it’s still human drama. Universal emotion.
Marcie, I LOVE it. I know just what scene this is… 🙂
SJ, thank you! I had entered the Instant Seduction contest with a first chapter, but had no luck there, and after the results were announced I submitted the partial of my first completed MS via slush. I did one round of revisions on the partial, two on the full, and then sold it. It was a process that took about 20 months! So yes, I did sell my first slush submission. But that’s not the norm!
Hey Maisey,
I thought that was correct but I know what I am ike for missing informaiton. I watch the sub on ehar so I know the norm isn’t the first sub gets there – must have been so nervewracking doing revisions and then even more!!
Just need to get to the sub point now 🙂
SJ
SJ, the third round was really scary. At first I was just so shocked at every further request…at the third round I just had a feeling if I didn’t nail it, that was it for that book. So the pressure hit me then!