MUSE MONDAY
So happy to welcome Elizabeth Harmon to Muse Monday.
My latest release, Heating It Up: A Red Hot
Russians Novella, actually began as a homework project.
After
publishing three full-length novels in my Red Hot Russians contemporary romance
series, I was eager to try writing something shorter. Last January, I took YA
author Catherine Chant’s online workshop, Writing A Romantic Novella and decided to try a concept I’d
had in mind for a while; a warm-hearted small town romance set in an unlikely
place: Antarctica.
Since
my full-length novels clock in at a hefty 95,000 words, writing a 30,000 word
novella should have been a piece of cake…right?
Not
quite.
While
novellas have fully developed plots and characters, with goals, motivation and
conflicts, they differ from novels in several important ways. Time lines are compressed, casts are smaller
and there’s not a lot of room for lavish description.
As
a writer who loves slow-burn romance, I’m used to having my couples take months
to fall in love. Heating It Up’s Nora and Alexei have less than a week.
Realistically, Nora’s grief over her fiance’s death wouldn’t heal instantly.
The solution was to put her loss two years in the past, rather than the recent
event I’d originally imagined. While she hasn’t yet moved on, a part of her is
ready to. Meeting Alexei gives her a reason to take the first step.
Resisting
the urge to over-populate Amity Bay was a challenge too, since big casts of
quirky townspeople are one of the things I love about small-town romance. But
with so many characters running around, it’s hard to keep track of the players without
a roster sheet, not to mention that Nora and Alexei risked getting lost in the
crowd.
I
solved this problem by having Alexei and Nora trapped by a snowstorm during the
story’s opening chapters. It’s not until they return to town mid-book, that
we’re introduced to some of the folks who call Amity Bay home. Setting the
story at the start of an Antarctic winter, when stations typically operate with
just a skeleton crew, also meant I could keep my cast smaller, and it allowed
me to add a bit of the “ticking clock” plot device—which works well in
novellas.
And
since I loved my Antarctic setting, the final challenge was to resist cramming
in every fascinating fact I learned about this vast and beautiful place. My
awesome editor Lauren Plude was a great help in determining what to keep in,
and when it was best to let readers fill in the details for themselves.
What
I didn’t expect was that the mysterious, isolated setting would take on some
fanciful elements, inspired in part by the magic realism used to portray Alaska
in the 1990s TV series, Northern Exposure. Series creator Joshua Brand said the
show was more about what Alaska represented, than what it actually was. I loved
bringing a few touches of that same other-worldliness to Amity Bay.
Taming
my sprawling approach to storytelling was one of the most challenging things
I’ve done as a writer. I hope readers enjoy the result—and their trip to Amity
Bay, Antarctica.
Blurb:
In HEATING IT
UP, a heart-warming novel of mistaken identity and forced proximity, widow Nora
Bradford and Russian adventurer Alexei Zaikov must work together to save their
small Antarctic town from being shut down—but will the truth about Nora’s role
in Amity Bay’s demise, doom their romance?
Excerpt:
A
woman? Dread prickled inside Alexei’s
clothes. "Hello?" His voice echoed in the emptiness.
He
started up the stairs, every sense alert. Who was she? How did she get here?
Most of all, why would a woman hide out alone in an empty building during an
Antarctic winter?
The
second-floor landing opened into a library.
In the middle of the room, was a worktable, covered with drawings.
Stunned, he picked up a drawing of a luminous green iceberg that looked more
like trapped emeralds, than ancient plankton and sea plants which were the real
cause. Again, came a startling thought of Quinn’s secretary Nora, with the
ethereal green eyes.
From
behind, a floorboard creaked.
He
spun around; coming face to face with someone he'd never expected to see again.
Her once-ruby lips were pale and taut, but there was no mistaking those eyes.
"Put
it down. Now."
Buy
Links:
Amazon:
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and Noble
Kobo
Apple
ITunes Books
Smashwords
Bio:
Contemporary
romance author Elizabeth Harmon loves to read and write romances with a dash of
different. She is the author of the Red Hot Russians sports romance series. Her
debut novel Pairing Off is a 2016 RITA® Award Finalist. www.romancewriter-girl.com
