My first party guest is the awesome USA Today bestselling Silhouette Desire author, and editor extraordinaire of the monthly Romance Writers of Australia newsletter, Rachel Bailey! I first met Rachel at my very first RW of New Zealand conference, not long before she sold, back in 2007... was it really that long ago? And then we met up again in Sydney the other week. Rachel is one of the loveliest people you could ever meet, and I'm not just saying that because she has exceptional taste in men!! As in, Clive Owen!!!
Rachel, over to you!
How A Roman Soldier Came To Be In A Desire Novel
Whenever I create a new hero, I start with some general information (hair, eyes, build) and then I look for a photo to match that description, which helps expand my visualisation of the character.
My hero in At The Billionaire’s Beck And Call? is Ryder Bramson (my favourite hero to date!). He’s tall, strongly built, with rugged features, so I chose photos of Clive Owen. Naturally.
I put photos of Clive as Arthur on my collage and my hero suddenly leapt to life in my mind. Phrases appeared in the book like,
She heard the elevator sound a second before Ryder strode into the office looking more like a commander on a battlefield – leading legions of men,
his orders obeyed without question – than a man who’d come to apologize.
And, like Christina Phillips, I found that Clive-based heroes seem to lend themselves to forbidden loves. Must be that tortured-but-noble thing he exuded in Arthur.
My Clive… er… Ryder… has a heroine—Macy—who looks strangely like Keira Knightly with dark hair. Not sure where my imagination found that idea. Though, Macy is nothing like Keira’s character in Arthur—Macy is far too emotionally shut down. But what she does have in common with Keira’s character is the man she’s falling in love with is forbidden—Ryder is her boss. I love a good forbidden relationship (which is only one of the reasons I can’t wait to get my hands on a copy of Forbidden!).
So now I’ve used Clive/Arthur in this book, do you have suggestions for someone else I can use in a collage for my next hero? Obviously the people attending this blog party have superior taste and will give very useful suggestions. ;) (Yes, this is a shameless attempt to scour your collective knowledge for my own benefit.)
Christina’s random number generator will choose a winner for a copy of At The Billionaire’s Beck And Call? And congratulations on your first release, Christina!!
Thank you Rachel! And I can't wait to read your latest book, At the Billionaire's Beck And Call, which got a fabulous 4 star review from RT BOOK Club! And I love that line how Ryder strides into the office like a commander on the battlefield *delicious shivers* YUM!
Don't forget to leave a comment for Rachel to be in with a chance of winning - who's your ideal hero for her to *cough* research for her next book?
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