Mandy Baggot: Location, Location, Location!

Today we welcome the fabulous Mandy Baggot to the blog to tell us about the exotic and exciting places she visits in her books.

At the moment I am proud to be 'Escapism Girl' for Bookouture. I am all about the lovely locations, setting the scene for a perfect summer or winter romance. From Basingstoke to La Manga, Nashville to New York and of course my beloved Greece! I’ve written stories set in some fantastic destinations. So, does location really matter? YES!

There is no doubt in my mind that your setting is another character in your book. Use it! Readers want to believe they are there with the main players, seeing what they see, feeling what they feel – the sun on their face, the snow whipping around their coat, etc. No one wants to read a summer romance where no one mentions the white sand and the azure sea or the flowers in bloom on the terracotta terraces. The same goes for a Christmas read - it has to be cold, snowing and there must be fairy lights. Your description of the setting is going to make or break a book with a seasonal theme.

So how do you get it right? Research! I would love to say that I’ve been to every single place I’ve written about, but that would involve me having lots of money and the time to jet off to them. Make You Tube your new best friend!

When I wrote RoNA shortlisted novel, One Wish in Manhattan, I had never been to New York. But Christmas in New York is special, readers love it, and I had to do my research right. I looked up street maps, I watched You Tube videos tourists had taken just walking down the streets of NYC, so I could capture the sights and sounds of the Big Apple. I looked at photographs, I spoke to friends who had been to New York, I went on Pinterest. I did everything I possibly could to ensure I wrote the best, most authentic book possible, knowing that quite a number of readers reading it would have been to New York!

Corfu on the other hand… this is my go-to place for holidays. I adore the Greek island and as I visit at least twice a year there are endless opportunities for research. My latest summer read, Those Summer Nights, is set in the north of Corfu, my area of choice for my breaks. However, I didn’t want these regions to feel stale or repetitive to my readers. So, back in October, I insisted my husband took us over to the west coast of the island to Arillas and Agios Stefanos. Arillas was actually suggested to me by a member of the Corfu for You Facebook group as a potential location for my books. Use your friends, they know what they are talking about!

And talking of friends… the fictional restaurant in Those Summer Nights was inspired by a real restaurant!

Back in October 2015 I was asked if I would like to do a book signing of my novel, Truly Madly Greekly, at a newly opened tea-rooms and restaurant on Acharavi beach front called Lavender. I jumped at the chance and found myself not only with a great opportunity to meet new readers in Corfu doing this event, but to get some fabulous new friends in the form of Michelle and Lee Chapman and Melinda and Andy Jacobs.

After a successful signing amid high tea that could have been served up at the Ritz, Mr Big and I went back for dinner. And, as I was stuffing my face with Greek delights and Metaxa and Coke, a kitten called Eric winding itself round my feet, gazing at the most perfect sunset I had ever seen, the story for Those Summer Nights was born! New friends, new novel inspiration and a perfect Greek setting. In short, it really is all about that base! Give your story an amazing backdrop and you won’t go wrong!

About Mandy:

Mandy Baggot is an award-winning writer of romantic comedies, chick-lit and contemporary romance. She is represented by Kate Nash of The Kate Nash Literary Agency. In February 2016 her romantic comedy novel, One Wish in Manhattan, was shortlisted for the Romantic Novelists’ Association Romantic Novel of the Year award. Previously she won the Innovation in Romantic Fiction award at the UK's Festival of Romance and has scooped Top Ten Reads/Book of the Year places from a number of UK book bloggers.

Links:

Amazon UK 
Website  
Twitter  
Facebook 

Thank you for your informative and entertaining post, Mandy, and good luck with your writing.

This interview was brought to you by Helena Fairfax on behalf for 'The RNA Blogging Team'

If you would like to write for the RNA blog, please contact us on elaineeverest@aol.com

Character is King - A Writing Tip from Amanda Grange

Amanda Grange writes adventurous historical romances set mainly in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. She also writes books that tell the stories of Jane Austen's novels from the heroes' points of view. Her lastest book, MR DARCY, VAMPYRE - an immortal sequel to PRIDE AND PREJUDICE, is released next month in the UK and currently available in the US.
Below, Amanda shares a writing tip for those times when you are stuck.





Character is King

I started writing seriously about 10 years ago, having scribbled for many years before that, and I think the most valuable lesson I’ve learned is that character is all important in a novel. If I’m stuck these days I don’t ask myself what happens next, I ask myself, What would the characters do next? It’s a small difference but a very important one.



It took me years to start thinking like this but it’s probably the most useful thing I ever learned. It helps me when I’m stuck and it helps me when a chapter isn’t working.



I’ve just finished a novel called Mr Darcy, Vampyre, which is a Gothic sequel to Pride and Prejudice (out August) and there was a section in the middle where I could tell a chapter wasn’t working. Instead of trying to change the plot I thought more about the characters. They were outwardly small landowners, the equivalent of the English gentry, living in a remote part of the Alps, but unbeknownst to Elizabeth they were also vampyres. I didn’t want her to find out at this stage so I couldn’t have them doing anything that would reveal their true natures. I asked myself what they might spend their time doing and I thought of all the usual things the landed classes did in the early nineteenth century – riding, visiting neighbours, going to private balls, hunting – ah! hunting. As soon as I thought of it I knew I’d hit on the right idea. It would give me the perfect opportunity to introduce a double edged conversation which would really give point to the section:

‘What a morning we have had of it!’ said Gustav. ‘The best sort in many a long day. There is nothing to beat a bright autumn morning when the air is crisp and the blood is flowing with the thrill of the chase. We must persuade you to hunt with us tomorrow, Darcy, and Elizabeth, too.’
‘Elizabeth does not hunt,’ said Darcy sharply.
‘Then you must teach her.’

So my advice to anyone who is stuck is to think of the characters then make a list of all the things they might be likely to do in a given situation, as well as jotting down their hobbies, work, friends etc, and a convincing way of moving the story along will usually emerge. Sometimes it will throw up unexpected ideas but, always, it will throw up convincing ones, because as long as the characters convince, the book will also do so.




Amanda's website has details of her other books and has a really useful section filled with writing help. For more information on MR DARCY, VAMPYRE visit the book's blog .

Going Wild - One Writer's Approach to Awakening the Senses and Stimulating the Writing Flow

Going Wild

Wild swimming. No chlorine, no tannoy, no lanes, and frequently no other company... To many people, plunging in to cold lakes, rivers or seas sounds like madness. To me, it sounds like bliss.

I've always been a bit of a water baby, but when I came to live on the edge of the Lake District in 1996, in seemed like a license to bathe. Whether it was from the gravel shores of Crummock Water or the stony banks of the River Derwent, sleepily wending through some of the most ancient woodlands in the country, as soon as the sun shone, I loved to get out and swim.

In 2008, time and heat wave never once coincided. This year, I was in the river by the beginning of May.

It's refreshing, renewing, great exercise and simply as if you've immersed yourself in one of the most beautiful landscapes in the world.

So what does swimming in lakes and rivers have to do with writing?

The fact is, whenever I'm struggling with a story, a quick dip never fails to get things moving again. Sometimes I think that's because wild swimming is such an overwhelmingly sensual experience. It's a whole body touch, sometimes bracingly, oh-my-God-I'm-going-to-die cold, sometimes almost decadently warm. The water, your whole world, smells and tastes sweet. Hear the slap and trickle of water on the move, then duck your head beneath the surface to hear in the wet-noise the squeak-speak of stones disturbed, or the eternally optimistic quacking of a foraging duck.



Opening your eyes to see a dragonfly, in yellow and green motley, hawking overhead, and beyond him the wisps of white cloud evaporating in the sunshine.


The senses come alive. I start to think about how my characters feel in different settings, how their senses are engaged. What sound conjures a childhood holiday? Which scent makes them think of past loves?


Then, of course, there is The Fear.


Most outdoor swimmers have encountered the breath-stealing moment of deep water fear. That horrible, there's-something-down-there terror that can be sparked by a shadow, a twig... almost anything. I get it nearly every time I go out of my depth, especially when I can't see the bottom (rare in Lakeland's crystal clear waters). You have to push through it, breathe deep, conquer the moment. Swim on.

You think, "can I do this?" and you have to tell yourself that you can.

Just like when you're not sure you can carry off that difficult plot point or when you wonder if this new genre is a good choice for you. When you know that as long as you don't submit a manuscript, you can't be rejected by a publisher.

When those moments come, whether you're deep in writer's doubt, or shivering on the edge of Blackmoss Pot in Langstrath Beck, you simply have to swim on.


It's worth it.

For more information on Anna and her books visit her website.

Anna's latest book, DANGEROUS LIES from Medallion Press.

Marianne Forster was only spending time with a gorgeous man in the hot sun of Morocco. It wasn’t anything more than that - until she was kidnapped on the way home.

An appology and a correction for yesterday's post...The conference experience was that of multi-published saga writer Elizabeth Gill and not as first attributed.

The weekend's post will be a look at another To Be Read Pile, Bernardine Kennedy's.