Please welcome my fellow Wild Rose Press author, Nancy Jardine. Her newest contemporary romance, TAKE ME NOW, released on August 3, 2012, from The Wild Rose Press. Hi, Nancy, and thanks for being my guest today!
DECISIONS! DECISIONS! CHANGES! CHANGES! -You mean you’ve never made any along the way in your novel writing?
I was thinking, lately, on how I go about solving my own problems. I’m a fairly practical person and my instinct is to deal with whatever it is myself, only calling in the experts when I don’t have a particular expertise, or if the decision is too big for me to make alone. I’m thinking you’ll agree that’s no different from most people in the world? Sometimes you have no control over decisions made. You have to sit back and wait to see what choices have been made for you. Sometimes those round pieces you have in a child’s shape block sorter just DON’T FIT THE HOLE you’re trying to fit it into. You have to find another place for it.
That was my case after I sent in my initial query letter for my contemporary romance-Take Me Now.
My editor initially enthused about the premise of the novel, liked what she’d read of it, but thought readers would be more interested if I added some extra European destinations for my characters to fly to. I thought to myself…hmm. Aela was already flying her boss, Nairn, to London and to the Caribbean, and the Middle East. Where in Europe could I add? Making those additions to an already sitting at 85k word novel meant a lot more writing.
I thought of places I’d personally been to in Europe, or had recently heard of via a traveling family member-aka my daughter- who has a travel bug, and has zoomed all over the planet. I was already planning my next novel, a second history mystery, which included a number of European cities so those particular destinations were out-I wasn’t going to use them even though they are two different types of novels.
I decided to take Aela and Nairn to Tallinn (Estonia), and Rotterdam, and Paris…and Barcelona. By the time I added those places to the storyline, the plot had subtly changed. The minor element of danger that had originally caused Nairn’s accident became more central to the storyline, yet the tone of the novel is still light hearted because Aela is such a feisty lass who flies in the face of danger, and laughs it off!
Those additions of European destinations made the story much more thrilling. My editor was really excited about that, it really made the story flow better, yet it threw up a new problem. Where to put the finished product?
DECISIONS!
My editor, I believe, mainly works on Champagne Contemporary novels for The Wild Rose Press. Those contemporaries have the heated romance as its central core. Hmmm…again. In adding the extra action the romance hadn’t been sublimated, but the added incidents weren’t sufficient enough for it to be classified as a gripping Crimson. I certainly hadn’t started off writing with that line in mind. That line is mainly for Romantic Suspense.
More DECISIONS!
While my novel, TAKE ME NOW, has suspense, and mystery, and romance it can’t be marketed in two places. The DECISION was made that it would be marketed through the Champagne line. I was just delighted it was going to be published and less concerned about where people could buy it from- though I do appreciate the quandary very acutely.
Back to the keyboard, I went, to check the romance was paramount and very sensual. *smiley faces here** I’m very happy that my romance, with its suspense, and its bit of mystery, is still what I call an easily read light hearted novel.
AND NO! It wouldn’t actually fit a romantic comedy line either!
What about you? Have you any stories to tell about the pigeonholing of your work?
**My-TAKE ME NOW-Tour Contest**
To celebrate the launch of Take Me Now I’ll be giving away 2 e copies of Take Me Now, 2 e copies of Monogamy Twist, and 4 goodie bags of Scottish Castle Gift Cards and Tags to some lucky winners. At each tour stop I’ll be asking a different question. To be entered into the draw find the answer to the question set, at each tour stop, and send the answers to me at nan_jar@btinternet.com before Saturday the 11th August 2012. The more questions you answer, the better your chance will be! (ie send in four answers your name’s in the draw four times) The draw will take place at noon (GMT/ UK time) on Sunday 12th August.
For the URL details of the other tour stops (and special giveaways) please check the calendar on Nancy Jardine’s blog: http://nancyjardine.blogspot.com
Quiz question for Wednesday 8th August: Name one of the extra cities added to the story?
BLURB:
Nairn Malcolm’s looking for the impossible. He needs a highly skilled, enterprising aide who’ll be at his beck and call 24/7. No ordinary Jane Doe will do. He doesn’t expect the only candidate who drops in at his Scottish castle for an interview to be so competent…or so stunning.
Aela Cameron’s got exactly the right mix of talents to satisfy all Nairn Malcolm’s needs, and more. She loves the jobs he needs done, adores his castle, and finds his frenetic lifestyle energising. But she’s only looking for temporary: not to fall in love with the man.
Can Nairn convince Aela she’s tailor-made for him in every way…and not a passing fancy?
EXCERPT: (official)
Unadulterated vigor oozed from every last bit of him—overall a dangerous concoction. Something stirred way-down-low inside Aela again. He was a real honey, and the bee in her wanted to be very sticky.
Her mind whirred. The man bore a vague resemblance to the ruggedly handsome thirty-two year old Nairn Malcolm of the internet photograph, but would the blonde limpet in the recent celebrity snapshot want to curl herself around this forbidding wreck of a man? Aela thought not. She wondered, though, if his blank expression was caused by current circumstances, or if this was his normal demeanor, since he hadn’t been smiling in the photograph either.
With the high granite wall as his backdrop she could easily imagine this man lording over the castle, ruthlessly challenging any invaders to his domain. Taking any woman he wanted? Now there was a thought she was happy to entertain. A tiny smile broke free. Tamping down her crazed imagination she re-assessed him.
What had the guy been doing to get himself in such a state?
Who was he?
Take Me Now YouTube Trailer link – http://youtu.be/stDC4Yhm2r0
Bio-
Nancy Jardine finally gave up teaching in the autumn of 2011. During the last few years she’s written a historical novel, three contemporary novels- two of which are what she calls her history/mysteries. She’s also written the first of a time-travel series of novels for children aged 9-12years, and a family saga is her current work in progress.
Nancy lives in the picturesque castle country of Aberdeenshire, Scotland, with her husband who feed her well! Ancestry research is a hobby, as is participating in exciting events with her family which drag her away from the keyboard. In her large garden she tends real flowers and grows spectacular weeds which she’s becoming very fond of! She cherishes the couple of days a week when she child-minds her gorgeous granddaughter.
Nancy can be found at:
Website: http://nancyjardineauthor.weebly.com
Blog: http://nancyjardine.blogspot.com
Facebook: http://facebook.com/nancy.jardine.56
Twitter: http://twitter.com/nansjar
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/6166205-nancy
Books by Nancy Jardine:
TAKE ME NOW
The Wild Rose Press – Print
The Wild Rose Press – Ebook formats
Amazon.com – Print
Amazon.com – Kindle
Amazon.uk – Print
Barnes and Noble – Nook book
Also available:
MONOGAMY TWIST
The Wild Rose Press
Amazon.co.uk
Amazon.com
Barnes and Noble
Coming Soon:
THE BELTANE CHOICE will be available in ebook formats from Crooked{Cat}Publishing 31st August 2012. Print will follow.
babettejames.com 
Good morning Babette-at least it is for me! Both 9.30 a.m. and a good one :-)) It’s great to be with you today. I’ve got more of those decisions to make today, like find those all important review sites, so I’ll drift off and catch you later…
Oh the stories I could tell Nancy! lol
Seriously, I have mainly had my stories changes come in the form of title adjustments! lol And I do have a book coming out (tentatively in September) with Entangled Publishing where I had to add an additional trope, which made a lot of the storyline shift so that I had to add several more scenes and delete others…though I admit my story came out stronger because of it.
Thanks for a fun post! Your book sounds delicious, exciting, thrilling and full of romance and action 🙂
Thanks, Christine! I’ll be looking out for that new book in Sept. :-))
Great post, Nancy. Change is inevitable so how we deal with it becomes so important. The decisions you made makes your book stronger and more enjoyable. All the best and see you tomorrow on my blog. 🙂
Thank you, Diane! I do feel the book is stronger because of the changes made, though some readers who expect clearly one thing (strong romance), or another (strong intrigue) may have mixed feelings. Hopefully, not, though. See you soon!
It’s funny you should bring this up, Nancy. I’m working on one that needs two “little” changes. Those changes have to be threaded through the entire book. It’s like starting all over again. And, as usual, they want a new title. I’ll be busy for a little while.
Good luck with that one! Take Me Now was my choice of title, but my editor/s didn’t fancy my debut novel’s title. After a good bit of input from them it was decided that Monogamy Twist was the one they liked best!
I’m pretty straight-forward contemporary romance, so finding the right line for my work usually isn’t a problem. I did have a TWRP submission switched from Champagne Rose to Yellow Rose because the hero was a bull rider, but that didn’t change the story at all. Suggestions from the new editor did change the story a bit, though. It’s always great to get advice from editors who really know their stuff, but it does always result in a decision as to whether it fits YOUR vision for the book. I ultimately decided to make the changes and it really strengthened my heroine’s motivation. The mss is now sitting with the editor once again…so we’ll see what ultimately happens with it. I have my fingers crossed.
Congrats again, Nancy, on your latest! I wish you many sales.
Thank you, Debra. Good luck with your new mss. Fingers crossed here, too!
I’m not at that stage yet, but struggle with similar indecision, which way to push, more romance, more comedy etc.
Hi Maddy, I think there’s a place for both as some readers do what the sensual aspects but aslo want a light, fun read.
Hi Nancy – I haven’t had to change any of my novels to ‘fit’ a specific category (as I write contemporary romance), but I have had to change them sometimes when I’ve realised (often while writing the last quarter of a book) that I needed a different/new strand weaving through the earlier part of the story. Sometimes that has been easy, almost as if that strand was already there and I just hadn’t noticed it. Other times I’ve had to struggle to incorporate it. Not sure how I would feel if an editor wanted me to make drastic changes though!
Hello Paula. I think any kind of changes, for me, have just been like more revisions/ self editing. And, since I’ve not written that many mss to date, I’ve done a fair bit of self-editing! Maybe experience will cut that down? Who knows. 🙂
Attempting to take “me” out of my heroine and insert a younger, more with-it gal is a huge change. Thank goodness for a critique group.
I don’t have a critique group, but I certainly agree with you, Karla!
Thank you, Babette, for hosting me today! I need to disappear for a bit but I’ll pop back in a while after I catch up with some sleep. (It’s that dratted time zones thing!)