blog hop, Cara Cooper, Christina Hollis author, Creative Writing, historical romance, Jenny Haddon, Margaret Mayo, My writing process, Romantic Fiction, The Survivors' Club

My Writing Process…

I’m blogging today as part of the My Writing Process blog-hop. Thanks to the lovely (and very hardworking!) Erika, who juggles writing with life as a first-generation farmer, I’ve been introduced to #mywritingprocess via Twitter. This blog hop showcases as many different writing styles as it does ways of working. That’s why it’s so useful. It gives encouragement, ideas and inspiration to everybody, whether they’re new writers or old hands, as there’s always something more to learn. It’s also a great chance to  spread the word about the work of great writers who are taking up the blog-hop baton next– Jean Bull, Cara Cooper, Jenny Haddon and Margaret Mayo.

So, down to blog-hop business…

1. What am I working on?
Right now I’m juggling two jobs: publicising my latest historical romance,  Jewel Under Siege and polishing the final draft of the The Survivors’ Club, which is the first book in my new Brackenridge trilogy. The Survivors’ Club is contemporary fiction, combining romance and mystery. It’s set in and around a fictional town on the border between England and Wales. This is the countryside where I live and work. It’s such a beautiful place, I want to share it with other people!

2. How does my work differ from others in the genre?
Jewel Under Siege developed from some non-fiction research I did about what “luxury” meant in the Middle Ages. At a time when most people didn’t know where their next meal was coming from, travellers’ tales of the temptations and excesses of Constantinople must have been intoxicating. I couldn’t resist setting a romance in an exotic place like that.
The Survivors’ Club brings together a downtrodden heroine and a man who lost everything because he worked for a corrupt firm. I wanted them to make a success of their lives and their love affair, despite their backstories. I believe no one should give up, no matter how many rotten choices and bad mistakes they make in life. There’s always hope.

3. Why Do I Write What I do?
I live in the Wye Valley, on the border between England and Wales. It’s a stunningly beautiful place, and by writing about it in both my fiction and non-fiction work I can try and capture the essence of the place so others can enjoy it, too. Adding fictional characters and stories to this incredible landscape is the ultimate in escapism.

4. How does my writing process work?
Like many writers, I keep close to office hours. Experience has taught me I do my best creative work first thing each day. After a half-hour session of thinking while I jog (I have a serious cake-habit to control) I do the school run, then start work around 8:15am. When I sit down to begin a new book I’ve already developed detailed studies of my central characters, together with a rough time-line. My first draft is a waterfall of ideas, and consists mainly of dialogue. I love the internet but find it a terrible distraction, so I do a lot of this initial work offline. Writing on paper with a pencil is  my favourite way of working, but as I hate typing up my notes it’s a rare treat. I usually use an Alphasmart  Neo, which is a simple keyboard with a memory, but no internet connection. At the end of every writing session, I upload the work I’ve done straight onto my computer. Once my first draft is finished I then go back and add details, rewriting and editing as I go. When it’s complete I hand it to one of my Beta readers (often my OH or DD), who then gives it a good working over.  Constructive criticism is always helpful, and time spent in refining written work is never wasted.

I’ve really enjoyed “hopping to it” today, and hope you’ll bounce along with the authors who’ll each be telling you about their own writing process next week…

Margaret Mayo Margaret has been writing since 1974 and has produced scores of top-selling romances for Harlequin Mils and Boon.

Jenny Haddon  has published a wealth of category fiction and short stories under the names Sophie Weston and Sophie Page, which have been translated into twenty-six languages. With Elizabeth Hawksley, she has also produced an invaluable non-fiction guide to punctuation.

Jean Bull has loved books all her life.  She has worked in everything from teaching to the hotel industry and lived all over the UK, which has inspired her writing.

Cara Cooper writes short stories for women’s magazines, and novellas for People’s Friend, My Weekly and Ulverscroft.

Christina Hollis, fiction, historical romance, Jewel Under Siege, Lady Rascal, Writing

Writing (and Rewriting) Romance As Ebooks…

Photo by Bertil Videt

I love putting my own spin on historical events by using them as the background to romance. At the beginning of my fiction-writing career, I wrote six books for Harlequin Mills and Boon’s Masquerade imprint under the pen name of Polly Forrester. These were originally only available in the UK so I’m currently working to introduce them to a wider audience by bringing them out as ebooks. Lady Rascal is already available and my next title, Jewel Under Siege, is due for release later this summer.


Jewel under Siege is set in Constantinople, at the time of the Crusades. Elena is a young widow who finds herself in an impossible situation when tough warrior Emil literally falls into her life. He is an enemy who has nothing but contempt for her people, but the lure of the forbidden means Elena and Emil are soon attracted to each other despite all the dangers.
Revisiting my earlier fiction means I can add a few little touches to the text. At the moment I’m taking the chance to make Elena and Emil’s romance sizzle still more under the Turkish sun. How do you like your historical romances – hot or homely?
You can keep up with the progress of Jewel Under Siege towards publication by subscribing to my newsletter. Just send an email to me at christinahollis@hotmail.co.uk with the word “Subscribe” in the subject line.

Christina Hollis author, Ebook, historical romance, Lady Rascal

Writing The Next Big Thing…

Gwen Kirkwood, who you can meet at http://www.gwenkirkwood.blogspot.co.uk is the author of Another Home, Another Love and has kindly invited me to take part in a blog event entitled THE NEXT BIG THING – a series of questions and answers about what is happening in my writing life.

What is the title of your book? 
My current release is called Lady Rascal, because my starving heroine Madeleine makes the most of being mistaken for someone – and something!- she’s not.

How did you come by the idea? 
At the time I was studying The Age of Enlightenment with the Open University, and to be honest I was finding the work a bit dry. I wrote Lady Rascal as a welcome escape from philosophy, and into romance. 

What genre does your book fall under? 
It’s an historical romance, set in France and England just before the Regency period. 

What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?
Madeleine’s new happiness is threatened by a terrible secret that torments her dashing rescuer, Philip.

Is your book self-published or traditional? Lady Rascal originally appeared in both hardback and paperback versions for the Harlequin Mills and Boon Masquerade line. I’m releasing it now as an ebook on all platforms, so it’s available everywhere – from Amazon, iTunes, Barnes & Noble, and Waterstones, etc.

How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript? About five months on and off, as I was working full-time in journalism at the time.

Who or What inspired you to write this book? 
I wanted to invent opportunities for my poverty-stricken heroine Madeleine in a period when anything seemed possible, before the Reign of Terror took hold in her native country.

What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?
You can watch a book trailer for Lady Rascal here: http://bit.ly/STCfUy which gives a glimpse of the images behind the story. Hero Phillip thinks he is whisking Madeleine off to the safety of the English countryside, but soon discovers first impressions can be deceptive.

I hope you enjoy Lady Rascal, and my thanks go to Gwen Kirkwood for giving me the chance to take part in “The Next Big Thing”. There’s a signed book from my backlist on offer to a comment here picked at random.

Margaret Mayo has kindly agreed to pick up THE NEXT BIG THING baton at http://www.margaret-mayo.com/blog/ next Tuesday, 4th December. Thank you, Margaret!
Christina Hollis, Ebook, historical romance, Lady Rascal, Spirit

A Touch of Historical Romance…

The extract from my current Work In Progress, Spirit, provoked such a lot of interest I thought I’d follow it up with a snippet from my most recent ebook, Lady Rascal. This book originally appeared as a hardback and paperback, but it was sold only in the UK. Now it’s available worldwide, downloadable from Amazon (Kindle), iTunesBarnes and Noble (Nook) and loads of other ebook suppliers, too.
Lady Rascal is set in the summer of 1789, at the beginning of the French Revolution. As Paris descends into chaos, poverty-stricken Madeleine finds herself in a deserted Parisian dressmaker’s shop. She grabs the chance to dress up in the glamorous accessories and impractical shoes she has only been able to dream about until now…

 Madeleine suddenly saw something she couldn’t live without a moment longer. Picking up one of the candles, she took three wobbling steps out from behind the safety of the counter. Balancing precariously in front of a long mirror, she took down the wisp of gossamer that hung beside it.

It was a shift of some description, needing only the hem to be finished. But what a shift! Almost transparent, the fine fabric rippled through Madeleine’s gloved fingers like water. It was all she needed to complete her outfit.
In a moment her work dress of coarse brown stuff had been cast aside. It took her a few minutes to work out how to get into the shift, which had no fastenings but pulled on over her head. At last she managed, arranging the folds of fabric about her painfully thin body.
It clung to her like pale mist, flowing with every movement and making graceful her stumbling steps in the borrowed shoes. She was entranced, and so beguiled that the running footsteps outside went unnoticed. Only when a foreign voice called out very close at hand did she jump out of her dream.
Then panic turned her to water. To be found here, dressed like this would be certain death. Like an idiot she had not thought to douse the candles, and now it was too late.
The door flew and a large shadow rippled through the shop towards her.
With a scream Madeleine dropped the candle she held…

Spirit and Lady Rascal are very different in both content and style. If you’ve read both, I’d love to know what you think of the contrast!