Hallo! Today we have one of my favorite people, Lorelie Brown visiting with us today! Whee! She’s a regular here now, and I’m glad to have her. So everyone chat her up, okay? đ
Hello Little Lime-ettes! Iâm so happy to be here. I always make sure I hit up Limeâs joint when Iâve got a new book out, and plenty of times in between. I just lurve her so.
Iâm fully caffeinated, can you tell?
Iâm also currently writing the third book in my current Victorian series. (These two facts are related.) Wayward One comes out today. YAY! (Well, on Tuesday.) I have a new solo book out. Itâs been more than a year! My naughty co-written Katie Porter books have kept me too busy.
Anyway. Wayward One is about Seraphina Miller, an orphaned charity case at an expensive boarding school. Except she discovers her bills arenât being paid by some noble charity, but rather an underworld crime boss, Fletcher Thomas.
Oops.
Except when I was writing Wayward One and setting everything up, I didnât want her to be completely alone in the world. She was an orphan, sure, because there were more orphans running around Victorian times than, say, there are today. But that didnât mean she had to be alone, did it? I kinda hate that. Itâs not enough that the heroine has no familyâshe has no friends, either!
All I keep thinking is if your heroineâs so fab, why hasnât she made a friend in the break room at her job, huh? Or if sheâs a historical heroine really so awesome that the heroâs penis is acting like a divining rod, she could meet someone at the myriad balls and musicales and functions good little debutantes are taken to. So many opportunities for meeting fellow females!
So I gave Sera friends. Of course I did. I like my own friends, I want my heroine to have some too.
Thereâs Sera, the prim and buttoned up one whoâs trying to keep a lid on her own possibly less than honorable origins. Then thereâs Miss Charlotte Vale, whoâs wild and fun and completely outrageous. Last is Lady Victoria, the daughter of a duke whoâs already engaged to another duke and who is completely level headed and sane. The one of the trio who keeps both Sera and Lottie from flying off the handle.
Remind me never to come up with a level-headed heroine again. Sounds so nice in theory. In executionâŠthis is one of the most difficult books Iâve ever written. Iâm kinda tempted to shoot her in the foot, just to create some drama.
Maybe thatâs not such a bad ideaâŠ
Sorry. Got distracted. Three friends. Theyâre thicker than thieves and all those sorts of clichĂ©s. In the first draft of Wayward One, I had this awesome scene where they sat around drinking wine and being besty friends and generally being super cool. Kind of like those most spectacular sorts of evenings where youâre just so very happy because everyone is clever and funny and youâre just chillinâ.
Unfortunately, that doesnât exactly make for the most compelling drama. I had to cut it. And I thought about offering it as an excerpt, but after I made that cut, there were some motivations that needed fine tuning and I donât think the pages would make much sense out of context.
But rest assured, theyâre awesome! Or were. As the case may be.
(By the way, you should thank me. I just came thisclose to inserting YouTube code for âFriendshipâ from Anything goes. Except I couldnât find the 1956 version uploaded and that Sutton chick with the two Tonys has an annoying voice. OMG annoying. I donât like her version of Reno. *sad panda face*)
TL;DR = heroines with friends, good. Heroines completely alone in an island of misery, bad. (Ok, not bad. Just overdone.)
To win a copy of Wayward One, hook me up with some recommendations of books you love where the heroine isnât alone in the world! A family, good friends, a job occupied by real human coworkers? Bring it on!
My website (Lime will probably tell me it sucks, were I to ever ask her for an honest opinion. This is me, not asking.), my twitter, my book, for the buying (hopefully).
You see why I like her, yes? đ So please answer her question(s) because inquiring minds want to know!