 One of the things the movies added to the classic fairytale stories is the adorable little wild animals who end up helping the princesses. And if you're like me, you love that part. But I needed something a bit more realistic than birds and mice helping my Cinderella character. I honestly wasn't sure how I was going to handle her wild animals.
Then, I remembered what we saw when we were in West Virginia.
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 So, here's something I never knew I would enjoy--writing "bad guys." When I started writing my fairy tale, I knew it had the EVIL stepmother and stepsister. Well, some retellings soften those characters, but most don't. So, I started down the road of having them be evil in my story too.
And y'all, I actually liked having those "scapegoats" to cause mischief and problems for my character. And to blame. In all my other books, my characters don't really have something like that. So, it was nice to have someone to point a finger at and make the bad guy. That being said, I didn't leave it that way.  When you think of fairy tales, do you think of West Virginia. I'll be honest. Until I went there, I probably wouldn't have either.
My family visited some friends a couple years ago over Spring Break. As you can see in the picture, the trees hadn't even leafed out yet because it was so early in the year. But ... there was still this absolute beauty all around us everywhere we went and looked. West Virginia took my breath away. And inspired my Cinderella retelling. How?  In the original Cinderella tale, she was always dirty because of the housework and sleeping next to the fireplace. But I couldn't picture a modern-day Cinderella doing that. So, what to do?
Well, I don't know how artsy-crafty you are, but I've often commented that when my fingers are covered in paint, it's been a really good day. I almost never work on a project without ending up with something under my fingernails or smeared on the side of my hand. That could be a fun way to make Ella always have something on her fingers too.  How can you have a fairy godmother when there's no magic in the story? Well, you can't, really. But I had a lot of fun making a character who fit the spot anyway. Especially with a name like Fae--which is what the Irish call their faerie folk. ;) You know I love a good play on names.
Fae is the lifelong neighbor of Ella and is full of sass and spunk. She loves Ella like another mother and has been there for her as long as Ella can remember. While Ella relies on her, she also won't let herself fully give in to Fae's wishes to really care for her. Ella thinks she has to make it on her own. That means Fae has to get creative in her care. Which she does, of course.  One of the problems with setting my Cinderella retelling in the "real world" was that I didn't want a real prince. I wasn't going for royalty, but I wanted the guy to "feel" royal.
The first thing I did to achieve this was give him a princely name. Namely, Chaz Prince. Don't you love it? (I had way to much fun with names in this series.) He's the son of Kingsley Prince, owner of the Prince Art Gallery. He's handsome and kind and mostly in love with Ella from the moment that he sees her. Why? Because she avoids him!  What first inspired me to write a Cinderella retelling? Well, it was a mix of things.
Dirty fingers after I did an art project. The beauty of West Virginia, along with all it's handmade crafts and artwork. Coal/charcoal. That's where my idea for Ella Renders came from. Just like the original Cinderella, she's always dirty, but instead of it being due to ashes and soot from the chimney, it's due to her love of drawing, especially with charcoal. Because her daddy worked in the coal business and it makes her feel closer to him.  Contemporary Romance doesn't require much research. Not really. But every now and then, I want to know more about something I'm writing about. Especially if it's food. Ha. Maybe I'm a book foodie.
In my Snow White retelling I'm working on, I have it set in Brunswick, Georgia. I set it there because I've visited several times and love the area. It's where we honeymooned. But I love to dive into travel blogs and pinterest sites to find out about things I might have missed, even if I have been to an area. Have you ever read a romance set in an antique shop? I've read a few, and I loved them all. But especially this new story by my friend Heather Greer, part of our Pets Amore collection. The shop in her story comes from personal experience, but not from actually owning a shop herself. See what I mean.  It doesn’t matter how different a character’s personality is from mine, there is usually a little bit of me in every story I write. Usually, that means someone bakes at some point in the story. Doesn’t matter if it’s cupcakes or cookies or a pie. Treats will be baked.
For Pegboards, Parrots, and Pickup Lines, my story in the Pets Amore novella collection, I decided to go a different direction. I do have more I enjoy doing than baking, and I thought it was time to work some of those things into my stories too. Do you ever wonder how much of an author's real life actually ends up in her stories? Well, Beth Westcott, one of my fellow authors from the Pets Amore collection, is here to chat about just that today. Her story is delightful and I can't wait for you to learn more about it (and her).  At one time, I thought I’d become a schoolteacher but didn’t. Perhaps, if I lived my life over, I’d earn my teaching degree. I taught one year in a Christian school, homeschooled for twelve years, and substituted as a teacher’s aide for a couple of years in public school. I also taught Sunday school classes and Bible clubs.
Brianna Kinney loves teaching her third-grade students. However, when her school downsizes, she loses her job. Twenty-seven years old, a widow, and now without employment, Brianna desires change. She moves to Juniper Falls and becomes a bookstore clerk. Although she enjoys her new job, she misses her students. Maybe one day she’ll teach again. |
This is a place for me to tell you about what I'm writing, talk about the process or where some of my ideas came from, or even have other authors come in and talk about their books.
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