(Yes, someone really asked me that)
Kimberly Keyes, guest blogger, talking about where her ideas for romance novels come from, and LOVER’S LEAP, her contemporary romance.
People often ask me where I get my ideas for novels. Men especially. When they start turning red after asking, that usually indicates they’re really asking about my inspiration for sex scenes. In fact, I’ve come to realize that many men equate “romance novel” with “book about sex” followed by a happy ending (and we all know the double entendre for that particular phrase, don’t we? If you don’t, feel free to email me and I’ll fill you in. *grins*).
Over the years I’ve become somewhat inured to the question, and most of the time it’s harmless. And if being a romance writer carries a certain amount of mystique, so be it.
On the other hand, ask me that on a first date with a particular gleam in your eye, and there’s not likely to be a second.
As for where I actually do come up with ideas for my novels, it varies. Sometimes I use news briefs to spark ideas, and or I use them to fill in blanks. A blank might be something like: why is this chic so screwed up when it comes to love? (lol) I mean think about it. Romance authors are writing the love story of a seemingly normal, well adjusted woman in the prime of her life (whenever that might be :) who either has NEVER fallen in love or has never enjoyed sex before or…you get the picture. So what’s wrong with her, that LOVE is going to heal?
In Lover’s Leap, Candace’s issues go back to her parents’ nightmare of a marriage. A lot of us can relate to that. In addition, Candace’s experience as a young girl involving her father, an “other woman,” a golf course, and lightning also play a part in her grown-up maladjustment. That idea came to me after reading about someone who’d been struck by lightning on a golf course and suffered a heart attack! I still have the article—cutout of an actual USA Today newspaper.
Here’s a short excerpt from Lover’s Leap: Logan scrubbed a hand over his stubble-covered
jaw. “God, I feel awful. Like a complete and utter fool.”
Candace laughed softly. “Good. Then you won’t
mind doing me a favor.”
“Anything. Give me any task.”
Candace chuckled at his boyish zeal. “Let’s start
with my laptop. Can you get it for me? It’s in the sitting
area on the table.”
He retrieved it from the connecting room. “You’re
going to work from bed?”
Candace nodded, already inching her legs under
the bedcovers.
A loud pop sounded from outside, echoing across
the lake. She gave a yip and flung her laptop into the
air.
Logan caught it with one graceful move. “It’s just
kids setting off fireworks.” He handed it back to her.
“Oh,” she breathed, tearing up again. “I
thought…at first it sounded like thunder.”
Logan’s eyes narrowed. “Nope. Just fireworks.”
Candace scrubbed at her eyes and tried to send
Logan a relaxed smile. “Right. Are there often
random firework displays?”
He cocked his head and studied her face.
“It’s a fairly regular occurrence around here. Why?”
Candace bit her lower lip, wishing she hadn’t said
a word. She pushed hair off her face and opened the
laptop. “Let’s just forget it, all right? It’s no biggie.”
She stared at the computer screen and wished him out
of the room.
He planted his feet and crossed his arms over his
chest. “You have something against fireworks?”
Another thing she wished Eric had warned her
about. Logan’s perceptiveness. “I feel kind of stupid
talking about it.”
“You feel stupid? How do you think I feel? I just
tackled you in the hallway.”
Perceptive and persistent. Candace peeked up at
Logan and the utter ridiculousness of her situation
struck her. She was dressed in nothing more than her
nightie, in bed, in the middle of the night, talking to a gorgeous,
half-naked man whom she’d only just met, who happened to have
just attacked her. And somehow
he had her on the verge of confessing one of her most private,
most embarrassing idiosyncrasies. Irresistible laughter bubbled up inside her.
He opened his arms in a beseeching manner. “Now
what? C’mon. Throw me a bone here.”
She swallowed the laughter, but her smile
remained in place. “I…since I was a kid, I’ve had a
slight…problem with…thunderstorms.”
Happy Reading!
Kimberly Keyes
~Unleash your inner romantic
Find me on Facebook : https://facebook.com/kimberly/keyes/romance
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