If 'free', 'romance', 'suspense', and 'thriller' aren't enough enticement, she's recently revealed she's included some of her friends and supporters in the novel. Does that include me? You? We better check it out!
Eileen Schuh
Canadian Author
http://www.eileenschuh.com/
Romantic suspense: a scintillating combination of titillation and trepidation
When I first decided to write a romance novel, I polished off the first half of a contemporary romance, then got bored with it and filed it away in the bowels of my computer. You know, stuffed so far into a file that I easily forgot about it. The problem was that I had already established myself as an author of mystery and suspense. Sure there was some romance in my novels, but it didn’t “drive” the story, and there often wasn’t a “happily ever after”, which is the unshakable law of romance novels.What bored me about my original romance novel—beside the title (Reflections)—was the journey of my characters (I forget the main character’s name). They met, there was chemistry, she had a disturbing past that stood in her way, they explored each other timidly, she fell in love, he didn’t at first, they eventually hooked up…blah, blah, blah…and they all lived happily ever after. Boring!
I knew that there were many problems with the work. I couldn’t get into my characters enough for even ME to feel for them, much less a poor reader. It’s my personal mantra to make readers feel what my characters feel. Then there was the setting. It originally took place in Bermuda, where I had lived as a teen. However, the laws there are strict regarding people who can live there or own land. And finally, there wasn’t enough tension or suspense, something I feel I’m good at creating when I write a thriller. I buried the manuscript, never sure if I’d ever look at it again. But I did.
In June, I heard about the Dorchester ‘Next Best Celler’ contest over at http://www.textnovel.com/. Dorchester Publishing is looking for the “New Voice in Romance”. As soon as I read that, I thought: I could BE that voice. Since the prize was a publishing contract with Dorchester, a company I’ve been interested in for a few years, I was instantly motivated.
First, I opened up Reflections and did lots of cringing and groaning. I wondered if I’d be better off starting a new novel from scratch, but the theme of the novel drew me in: A woman is stranded on a tropical island after her dying boss sends her there for reasons only known to him and said woman meets angry but handsome recluse. Sure beats meeting a guy in a bar.
As I read over the first few chapters of Reflections, I realized instantly what I could do to amp up this novel and make it worth publishing. I could make it a romantic suspense [insert flashing light bulb]. All I had to do was throw in an element of danger, which came in the form of a sleazy, sadistic private investigator. He was created when, partway through writing this novel, I held a special contest. My “Create a Corpse Contest” had been popular in the past and this time it resulted in the winning entry: “Winston Chambers”.
As soon as Winston was thrown into the mix, the plot thickened, grew darker and more intense, and I realized something. I had created one of my best characters in that scumbag Winston. I hated him! And if I hated him, I knew my readers would too. If you read some of the comments over at Textnovel.com, you’ll see the reaction people have had.
Winston Chambers allowed me to tiptoe over to the dark side, while pursuing the romance between my main characters, Rhianna and Jonathan.
Has the original Reflections changed? Darn rights it has! Only the premise and a few short scenes are from the original manuscript. I took the concept and created an entire 66,000 word manuscript in just under 5 months. You can read about ¾ of it online FREE.
My debut romantic suspense is called Lancelot’s Lady, and I think you’ll find it’s a scintillating combination of titillation and trepidation, the ingredients necessary in a novel of this genre. You’ll also find that I plan to use a pseudonym for my romance writing, so be sure to keep an eye out for Cherish D’Angelo’s debut. Cherish likes to stir her cauldron of steamy romance and lurking suspense, occasionally adding a dash of humor and a pinch of foreshadowing. She’s already considered her next romance novel…but if she tells you about it now, she’d have to kill you.
What started as a boring work has become an inspiring one that grew more visible to me with each added scene. This Dorchester contest, while often seeming long and exhausting, pushed me
to deliver. And I hope I did. Please check out Lancelot’s Lady at Textnovel.com. Let me know what you think. How did I do? If you really enjoy it, please consider voting for me. If you click on the blue thumb circle and blue phone circle, I get 2 points, and that will help me get to the finals in mid-November. I sincerely value your support.Read Lancelot’s Lady for FREE at:
http://www.textnovel.com/stories_list_detail.php?story_id=928
~Cherish D’Angelo (aka Cheryl Kaye Tardif)
http://www.cherishdangelo.com/
