Slumps, tuning forks and soulmates

DRAW WINNER: Kristina Matthews won the draw for an advance copy of Bring Him Home. Kristina if you'd like to contact me with your address on karina@karinabliss.com I'll get a copy to you!

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I’m in a slump. Not a reading slump thank heavens.

In the last couple of weeks I’ve been reading, Making a Good Writer Great, Writing Romantic Comedy, Writing Subtext (guessed I need inspiration yet?) and for fun the latest releases from J.R. Ward, Sarah Mayberry, Abby Gaines and some ‘new to me’ Karen Marie Moning. I’ve also got Terry Pratchett’s Going Postal from the library from a recommendation on Anne Stuart’s blog. And that's before I get to other new   Superromance releases.
But at close to fifty thousand words into the new book with thirty to go I’m tired of 'staying with the cattle' as writer Elmore Leonard describes the writing process. I want to ride into town, raise some hell, kick up my heels!
Still the book's taking shape (the fourth in my SAS heroes series - His Goodbye Girl). It’s about a soldier who comes back from the dead to discover his buddies have given his gal the engagement ring they found in his locker. Which he wouldn't have a problem with only he proposed on the eve of his departure - and she turned him down. Ouch!
I love the premise and thought lots of comic mayhem would ensue but the book’s taken another direction though it still has comic moments.

That’s the interesting part of writing...doesn’t matter what kind of detailed synopsis I labour over or how many times I juggle my scene cards the tone of the book works itself out through the writing. Sometimes I feel like I’m following my characters around with a tuning fork listening for the right note.

Bring Him Home, book 3 of the SAS series is out in May through e-harlequin and June through other retailers. While I was finishing line edits I did an interview with debut author Kyle Griffin about my writing process, which I’d never dissected before.

So instead of giving you the back cover blurb let me tell you how Bring Him Home evolved. A guy falls in love with his army buddy's widow. That’s the basic premise. Then I asked myself some ‘what if’ questions.

What if he had to make a Sophy's Choice (lesser of two evils) in the ambush that killed his buddy. What if his buddy was complicit in that choice?

What if he's so scarred emotionally he turns his back on his friends, the only family he has? What if his best friend's widow forces him to come home because his signature in a family trust is required in order for her sell the home and invest in a business?

What if she hasn't forgiven her late husband for something and the hero acts as go between? What if his own redemption is increasingly tied to reconciling the widow to her late husband at the same time he falls in love with her?
I also looked at my favourite genre conventions and tried to twist them. Let's have a widow who adored her husband. Let's have the late husband a major character in the book. Let's have the love triangle about the hero's loyalty to his best friend as much as his love for his best friend's widow. Let's have a woman who's moving on and a hero who can't.
Can you have different kinds of soulmates? Or one? How can I resolve the story so the reader believes that this man and no other is the 'one' while developing an affection for the late husband.

The book is set in Pataua, NZ renamed Stingray Bay.

Anyway, back to reading. I’m loving Going Postal, my first Terry Pratchett. What book has been recommended to you lately that turned out to be a great read? Or if you have a tip on how to be industrious when you don’t want to be, I’d be delighted to hear it.

Post a comment and go into the draw for a copy of Bring Him Home. You can read an excerpt here.