That Vital Spark - Christina Hollis

Every writer gets at least one wonderful moment. The storyline that arrived in a flash, one perfect phrase of which they’ll always be proud or, wonder of wonders, the first time the telephone rang with an offer to buy their work. But behind each success in life lies a lot of hard work and often, sadly, heartbreak. I’ve been out of the loop for quite a while. A spell of illness meant that for months, everything took ten times longer than usual. This dismal excuse for a summer didn’t help – there have been days when there’s been hardly enough light to make a strawberry blush! Keeping motivated is tough when everywhere is awash, and the sun is in hiding. At times like this, thank goodness for romance. We can all escape to the worlds created by writers such as Kate Walker and Penny Jordan. Sunshine and handsome fictional heroes are the perfect antidote to rain and pain.

The motivation to create something myself is sometimes hard to find. Then it’s time to dig deep in the search for inspiration. I find that thinking back to episodes in my own life can trigger my imagination. That disastrous teenage affair – if we’d both been more mature, might it have worked out? Later on, there was a guy I idolised but was too shy to encourage. What event might have thrown us together? The thought of projecting my feelings into a fictional character and giving her the chance to make her dreams (and mine) come true is a great spur.

In the end it all comes down to communication. The encouragement I get from romance readers is often the last piece in the jigsaw. Their kind words give me that final push toward the computer keyboard.

Have you ever managed to work through an insoluble problem by giving it to your heroine to worry about for a while?

Christina

http://www.christinahollis.com/