Twelve Points on the 12th

I'm a bit late posting today - I've had a hectic week after an even more hectic weekend. I was at the UK's Romantic Novelists' Association Conference which was as enjoyable and busy as ever. Then I had a l-o-n-g drive home in some horrible weather conditions and I've spent the rest of the week trying to catch up - and being locked out of the internet. At last I've got back on in time to blog today (just!)

My blog today is inspired by a question I was asked several times at the Conference. And that is, what makes the difference between a Modern/Presents novel and the books that are published as Modern Heat in the UK, as Sexy Sensation in Australia - but are, confusingly, published as part of the Presents line-up in America. These are - as many readers are finding - not the typical Presents books that they have come to know. They may have some similar elements - an alpha type of hero,but perhaps one who is still making his way in the world, a feisty heroine,, a very sensual tone - but they are subtly and distinctly different and if you are aiming for this line in the UK where there are first published, it's worth taking a closer look at them.

Why is an Modern Heat not a Presents? in the UK Presents is Modern and Modern Heat is something else. They have a more youthful feel, and a hero who is on his way to power, rather than being a successful billionaire (though some of the USA titles would give you that impression) In the UK they are not being marketed as the same thing but as a distinct mini-line on their own. The Modern marks them out as ‘not Tender’

But you only have to consider the shout lines and the guidelines to see that there are very large and very real differences between the lines

So – the shout lines

Modern/Presents
International affairs. Seduction and passion guaranteed
Modern Heat
Sizzling, stylish, sensual – the ultimate temptation

Guidelines:Modern/Presents

Modern Romance is the home of intense emotion, international settings and a range of sensuality and moods. Climb on to a roller-coaster ride of fast-paced plots, relationship drama and sizzling attraction. Travel to the world’s most glamorous locations, where you’ll meet unforgettable strong men who make love in a variety of languages. Seduction and passion are guaranteed.
Novels in this series include stories that are intense with international settings, and are driven by alpha male heroes. The relationships portrayed are provocatively passionate, highly-charged conflicts and the plots are dramatic and compelling, and able to deliver on favourite core themes, such as marriages of convenience, mistresses and revenge.
This series has a consistently international focus. Readers particularly love settings such as the Mediterranean, Australia, the Caribbean and South America. Backgrounds must be sophisticated, glamorous, cosmopolitan – the habitat of the international jet-set. Life-styles of the rich and famous are what it’s all about.

Modern Heat
Take an international city background that vividly conveys the sophistication and buzz of cosmopolitan life, an independent woman, who knows what she wants from love and her career, and a guy who’s confident, easy-going, and gorgeously sexy – and you have Modern Extra.

These titles promise to deliver to the reader a feel-good experience, focusing on the kind of relationships that women between the ages of 18 and 35 aspire to. Young characters in urban settings – either North American or international – meet, flirt, share experiences, have great, passionate sex, and fall in love, finally making commitment that will bind them together, forever. Though their stories are firmly based around emotional issues, other concerns, - such as job and friendship – are also touched on and resolved in an upbeat way.


The important words here are:

MODERN/PRESENTS –
Intense emotion
Relationship drama
Driven by alpha male heroes
Provocatively passionate, highly charged conflicts
The plots are dramatic and compelling

MODERN HEAT
an independent woman, who knows what she wants from love and her career,
a guy who’s confident, easy-going, and gorgeously sexy –
a feel-good experience,
resolved in an upbeat way.

The important drive in a Presents/Modern romance is in the intensity of the emotions, the intensity of the conflict. There is no ‘feel-good’ experience in a Presents until the very resolution. The conflicts are ‘highly-charged’ and can tear the H&h apart both physically and emotionally.

Modern Heat has a much lighter touch, a much younger feel. It's been described as Presents Younger Sister. There is scope in a Modern Heat or humour and fun – very little scope for that in a Presents /Modern. The Modern Heat tends to be the heroine’s story – so it bridges the gap between Modern and Tender (Presents and Romance)

If you want to know more then, as always, the best way is to read - read the classic Presents style authors and contrast them with books by Modern Heat authors now published in Presents like Trish Wylie, Kate Hardy, Heidi Rice, Kelly Hunter

Or compare books in both lines by established Presents authors like Susan Napier, Susan Stephens, Lucy Monrow - and see the different styles of books that these authors are writing for the different lines.

Holding out for a hero... with Ally Blake

From the very first book I ever wrote, I have always “cast” my heroes and heroines. Keeping my eyes open for pictures of people who give me an immediate emotional reaction - whether it be happiness, joy, sadness, regret. So long as the picture conveys emotion, it's up for grabs.

Google is good for this. As are magazines. But most of my guys come from watching copious amounts of television.

Maybe it’s the cheeky smile and gravelly voice of McSteamy from Grey’s Anatomy, the suave, tall dark handsome Alpha with a twist of Mr Big from Sex and the City. Whatever it is, there is something, some spark, some way about them that sends me searching the internet for that one perfect picture that represents the man I see forming slowly in the back of my mind as I get to know him in writing his story.

For my current UK release THE MAGNATE'S INDECENT PROPOSAL, I went through a few incarnations before I settled on my Damien. At the beginning he was pretty alpha, overtly strong and powerful, a big guy.

But as the pages were filled he began to change. He became of all things funny. And kind of nice. And he had a complete aversion to all things technological that I simply could not deny. So how was I to write a strong Modern Heat type hero with those traits and get away with it?

Television, that's how.

To be more precise The West Wing and Brothers and Sisters. Two shows I love, both of which have Rob Lowe looking fine in a suit and tie, being masculine, beautiful and charming while at the same time giving the viewer glimpses into the inner sensitivity of a man in power.

Rob Lowe isn't my Damien, and neither are Sam Seaborn or Senator McAllister. But the characters he plays are cut of a similar cloth. And you know what? Boy oh boy were they a lot of fun to watch and rewatch in the writing of this book!

Ally's latest novel THE MAGNATE'S INDECENT PROPOSAL is her third Modern Heat and is out in the UK as we speak!

Grab a copy now to find out what happens when a gorgeous, entirely too privileged for his own good Luddite in a suit meets a lively dog groomer with persistent shampoo stains on her skirt and a past filled with disappointing men. Throw in matching mobile phones and match-making friends and you'll get yourself a Modern Heat!

Read an excerpt on Ally's brand spanking new website, or better yet, go buy the thing! You can get it online now at Mills and Boon.

Are We Too Old For Fantasy? - Trish Wylie

I don't think there should be an age where we leave fantasy behind. But maybe that's just me?

In the USA and Australia romance may not be considered the loftiest of literary endeavors but it never seems to take quite the bashing it does in the UK. And since this is the year when Mills & Boon (Harlequin's UK division) celebrates it Centenery, a lot of us authors are coming under the spotlight and taking tentative steps into the media. Now this can be a nerve wracking enough experience on it's own. I personally feel I have a fabulous face for RADIO. But in the UK the prejudice is such that we really need to think about donning protective armour and carrying a light sabre. 'Cos frankly - they're out to get us!!!

How DARE WE as modern thinking independent women even THINK of reading this kind of thing let alone write it??! Do women really still search for Mister Right someone asked in a recent interview I did on the Radio (where I looked gorgeous I should add...) At this point I felt like saying...erm... YES. It's FINDING HIM that's the problem.

But why should we have to give up the fantasy and escapism we find in the pages of a romance novel? In fact if anything with all the roles we take on every day in the modern age aren't we MORE entitled to a little escapism?! And correct me if I'm wrong here - but didn't women fight the good fight for decades to allow us the freedom to CHOOSE? I mean, I know I live in a writing cave most of the year but I really did think we'd got to vote and everything...

Maybe part of the problem is the fact that the Mills & Boon brand is 100 years old. The critics can look back to the days when stories told of timid little waifs being swept off their feet by rich tyrants who could force them to do things they didn't want to, bullying them all the way to a supposed Happily Ever After... But I ask you - when was the last time you read one of those??? Now a little sweeping off your feet - bring it on I say! A devastatingly good looking man - WHERE??? Oh sorry - distracted for a moment there... A little waif of a heroine who needs rescuing in order to be able to make it through the day without starving to death, being able to decide what to wear on her own and relying on a man to COMPLETE HER. Gimme the shotgun - I'll do it. So do I write/read books that make me a lesser modern day woman in some way? Well I didn't think I did. But thanks for the paranoia critics - anyone who works in any kind of a creative medium just LOVES it when you heap that on - it makes our day. And as for attempting to make me feel guilty - thanks for that too - cos obviously we women need HELP with GUILT, don't we?

It does kinda raise the question though of whether or not there's an age limit on a little escapist fantasy. This is the point at which I get to admit to several sins... Just let me take a deep breath and lie down on the sofa for a minute...

Okay. I like chocolate, red wine, desserts, carbs, a romantic comedy on DVD or at the movies , happily ever afters, I cry at the Andrex puppy at least one week out of every four, I'm a dreadful cook, I don't dress in pink feathers or anything pink when writing, I love bubble baths, I'm a candle-a-holic, I have never burned my bra cos I'm at an age where gravity scares me and I-READ-ROMANCE. I did before I ever decided to have a go at writing one. I DON'T THINK I'M TOO OLD TO STOP DREAMING and I still believe in fairies. (they steal my car keys at least once a day...)

Now after all those confessions I'm sure there's a charter jet somewhere rapidly filling up with feminists, dieticians, shrinks and plastic surgeons all ready to show me the error of my ways - by force if necessary. But I don't think there's a cut off point where we're supposed to allow the daily drudgery and pressures of real life to be the entire reason for our existance. We all know that marriages struggle and many fail, we all know the pressures on teenagers worldwide, the problems of paying bills, the rise in sexually transmitted diseases, the angst we feel every January when we realize just how much weight we put on the year before when the media says we should all be a size ZERO (which frankly means not existing at all in mind cos zero = nothing, right??) - and all that is but a drop in the ocean in angstville...

So why can't we have a little fantasy to lighten our day? Huh???

So I guess after that long, somewhat soul cleansing rant what I'm asking is; what age is the cut-off point for these things? Do you have an age you know to tell little kids not to believe in Santa or the tooth fairy or wizards or princesses? Do you sit them down at eight and say - 'look, it's time we got REAL...' Do we tell them in the gothic phase of their teenage years - 'yeah, you're right - the world IS doomed...' Do we tell them in the first flush of young love - 'That's nice and all but here's what pain and anguish and suffering is headed your way... just marry for money honey...'

If we do I'm not sure I want to live in that world.

I want that smile you get when the heroine sees the hero for the first time and thinks YUM. I want the back and forth and the sexual tension and the conflicts to be resolved and the last page that leaves me filled with hope for their future. I want to believe. I want to dream. And I want my FANTASY goshdarnit!!! Just try and wrestle it out of my hands!!! I'LL-TAKE-YOU-ON.

So are you too old for fantasy? Do you have a favourite fantasy theme in a romance novel you'd like to share with some like minded friends? You're in good company here if it makes you feel any better...

And if it helps any I'll even throw a copy of my latest Modern Heat book His Mistress: His Terms at one lucky commentor - it's a delicious romp of a fantasy straight from my chocolate and candle-a-holic fed imagination. With a hero to dream about and a heroine to give him a run for his money. It has modern day dilemmas mixed in with a slice of pure escapism. And no-one BUT NO-ONE has the need to have some man sweep in and save them from a life of drudgery or rape her along the way to make her fall in love with him - SO THERE to the critics!

(I'll pick a winner in a week)

As for me. For as long as the books continue to sell EVERY FIVE SECONDS in the UK... I'll continue to love being a part of the BILLIONS of women who AREN'T TOO OLD for a little fantasy. But like I said - maybe that's just me...

To find out more about Trish and her books you can visit her Website or her Blog.