I do love reading a good meet cute in a romance novel.
A meet cute is when the two main characters encounter each other for the first time and this will eventually lead to a romantic bond forming.
For us romance book lovers it is the moment we all look forward to when starting a book and it is where we will give praise to authors who make that meet cute both memorable and unique.
Writing an engaging meet cute can be tricky. Nothing is ever easy with writing. As I am about to write a meet cute here are some things I am going to consider.
The meet cute can be romantic, funny, awkward, disastrous, sexy, unique, explosive or heartwarming.
The meet cute results in several scenarios: love at first sight, enemies at first sight (one of my personal favourites), one sided attraction or awkward love.
It’s best not to get attached to the word, ‘cute’. The best ‘meet cutes’ I have read in romance books are not cute, they are awkward, embarrassing, funny, chaotic and packed full of miscommunication.
Remember the meet cute sets up the story and relays a lot of information to the reader about the characters. Think about how your characters respond to the meet cute.
Conflict is your best friend when writing a meet cute. The best meet cutes focus on misunderstandings and miscommunication. They are also about two characters with the same goal but for different reasons. Conflict is a must have.
Always add a generous spoonful of banter.
Connect your invisible thread to these two characters. This is important. Once their worlds have collided we (the readers) need to know there is a good chance these two are going to meet again. What is the connection between these two going forward? Do they work together? Mix in the same social circles or have recently joined the same sports team?
The chemistry between these two characters in the meet cute has to be insanely high. Even if they dislike or annoy each other when these two characters meet there must be a reaction. This is what will keep us readers turning the page. We will be eagerly awaiting their next meeting.
The meet cute is the foundation for the plot so it needs to be as impactful as possible.
Remember it is not only a meet cute for the characters but its also a meet cute for your romance readers.
Good luck and please let me know your favourite book meet cutes.. ❤️
Hi there, welcome to my little corner of the World Wide Web.
I LOVE reading about writing journeys. They are normally filled with perseverance, bravery, an endless love of words, a lot of daydreaming, blood, sweat and tears.
Reading an author’s writing journey is my go-to for when I am lacking motivation. If you are thinking of writing a book or are in need of some motivation read on.
Here is my journey.
2013. I turned 40 and decided I wanted to achieve a life long ambition. Since a small child I’d wanted to be an author. However life had got in the way. By the time I was 40 I was reading more books than I was having hot dinners and I wanted to write my own. A few things gave me cause for concern: I didn’t come from a journalism background, I didn’t have a degree or masters in Creative Writing (I had a degree in something unrelated), I didn’t know any writers or authors and I did not have a clue what I wanted to write about. Feeling overwhelmed, I put my ambition to the back of my mind and tried to forget about it.
2014. For Christmas 2013 my husband bought me a 12 week creative writing course at my local university. He was not going to watch me give up on a dream. It was part time and one evening a week. With a belly full of butterflies, a brand new pencil case and a notebook I went along. The course was great and it proved to me I could write something. The thought of writing a book felt like a huge mountain so I decided to master the art of writing regularly. At one of the sessions the tutor had recommended setting up a blog. A week later I would creep upstairs on a wet Sunday afternoon and set up THIS blog.
3. August 2015. I had been blogging for a year and had actually come to enjoy writing what I called my list posts. I tried to make them funny. They were mainly lists based on being a stressed out mother and a newbie writer. To my surprise I was nominated for the ‘Funniest Blog’ Award at the Annual Bloggers Bash Awards 2015. It was voted for by the online community. To my absolute SHOCK and AMAZEMENT – I won. Dark pic of me below holding up my winners t-shirt.
4. 2016. Once I’d mastered the art of list posts I decided to write something. My blog series – The Diary of Roxy Collins was born. Each week I would write a fictional extract from her diary. Roxy was like Bridget Jones but older with three failed relationships behind her, three children to raise by herself, a lot of heartbreak and the most adorable landlord ever – Brian. Once I’d stuck Roxy on my blog I decided to upload her onto Wattpad. At that time I knew nothing about Wattpad. I hoped it would reach a few readers. This was how the first few weeks went on Wattpad. I had 10 followers and 4 of them had liked my story. I was so proud of myself.
Six months later and Roxy’s diary had been included as part of a featured Romance Author campaign. She gained me 70k followers on Wattpad, 270k reads and gave me so much validation. I even went and turned her into a podcast. This was recorded in my daughter’s shoe cupboard with a microphone and a gin & tonic on a Friday evening.
5. 2017-2019. I decided to start writing my first book. It was based on an idea which had been bubbling away at the back of my mind for some time. My husband had run the London Marathon to celebrate 10 years being cancer free. As he did his training he started carrying round with him a little red notebook to record his training schedule, leaving us all instructions on the fridge and creating wall planners to get us all organised. This sparked the idea for my novel – Instructions For Falling in Love Again.
6. June 2019. After a LOT of agent rejections (40+) I decided to self publish Instructions. Self publishing was also a lot harder than I thought. My goodness I learnt a lot about launching a book, self promotion, social media, proofreading, reviews and being an author. It was a steep learning curve for me and my lovely non writer friends who gave up a birthday weekend to proofread my book. My two non writer reader friends showed real promise at proofreading 🤣 Big shout out to Sue whose birthday it was. The book launched and I was so proud of myself.
Writing a novel proved harder than I thought. During those 2 years I shoved it in the drawer a LOT and wrote other stories. I also kept begging my non-writer friends who read romance books to read it and give me feedback. I have very honest non-writer friends 🤣 and their feedback was interesting – but it was what I needed. They didn’t hold back and I remember one friend titling her feedback email to me (third revision of book) with – WHAT HAVE YOU DONE??? Sigh! But looking back I think the feedback and gaps in writing it plus the constant revisions really helped it to become a book.
7. 2019 – 2022. These were my book blogging and bookstagram years. I experienced a LOT of rejections on two books (40+ on each book) during this time. They were rejections but I got a good number of full requests for the full novels so I felt like I was improving. That’s the weird thing about rejections for books – there are different levels of rejections.
Book blogging became a distraction. It also was really valuable as it forced me to read a lot of books and review them. This really helped my writing. I started to see what makes a good read, what makes a romance novel successful and how authors structure their books. In hindsight this period in my writing life was very important and despite all the rejections – this was when I started to grow in terms of writing ability.
I also carved out a space for me and my writing in my house. Books become things which would make me smile even when I was being deluged with rejection emails. They kept me going in the bleakest of rejection hours. It would have been so easy to give up during these years, but I carried on. Each time I felt like quitting I would look up at them and say to myself, ‘that author never gave up!’
8. 2021 – 2022. I got to work with two literary agents on two different books. One offered me representation and I was over the moon. It was a dream come true. Sadly my book did not sell on submission but the experience was so valuable. My agent and I parted ways amicably and I was very grateful for her commercial knowledge, wisdom and approach to critiquing a draft novel.
9. 2023. I submitted a manuscript to Bloodhound Books and prayed to my bookshelves. Bloodhound Books had published a few of my favourite romcom authors so I knew they were a great publisher.
10. 2023. The best news ever arrived! My new novel is due out in September 2023 and you are going to LOVE it!
The moral of this story / journey is – never give up!
If you are a romance author and interested posting your own writing journey on my blog let me know. Get in contact with me by leaving a message on my blog, via DM on Twitter or Instagram.
As a romance bookworm I LOVE reading this trope. This is where two characters make their external world believe they are a couple.
I love how the fake relationship starts out of convenience; pretending to be together for a social commitment, pretending to be in love for a competition or needing to show the world that a secret love interest does exist, but soon the fake relationship starts to change into somethinge else. I get so excited when the chemistry between the characters gets to work and things get awkward. There’s so much potential for good comedy and hilarity.
This trope can level up beautifully when the two characters don’t like each other at the start.
Writing the fake romance trope can be tricky. Here are the things I consider when writing it:
Both characters need to be unlikely candidates for a relationship at the start. Fake relationships work best if the characters really dislike each other or are very different. I think the best fake romances blossom from a place of dislike, as healthy relationships sometimes do. Under normal circumstances they would never ever consider dating each other. Also remember both parties must benefit from the fake romance.
There has to be a legitimate reason for them to fake a romance. It also has to be their ONLY option.
They both find it easy to get into their new role. Even though they dislike each other they don’t find it too much of a struggle to fake a romance. This is where they become ingrained in each other’s life. It’s an enjoyable stage for the reader because whilst they are busy faking a romance they are also noticing little cute things about the other like their style of wit, their dirty laugh and the way they touch their hair. However there still must be a question in the reader’s mind about whether it will turn into a romance. We all know there’s a risk with fake dating. So make sure they keep reminding each other that it is just an act.
Let them get carried away with faking a relationship. These two are putting on such a good romantic show everyone is convinced they are an item. It is essential during this stage they start to chuck common sense and their ‘fake romance rule book’ out of the window. You can include some great dialogue like ‘everyone’s gone, why are you still kissing me?’ or ‘shall we practice kissing lying down on a sofa? Yeah? Great, let’s get practicing.’
Things must get tough as they both start experiencing new feelings. This is my favourite part of this trope. It is great to read a fake romance where one person’s feelings start to turn real. Suddenly the simple act of touching hands becomes charged with electricity. Bring on the lingering touches, breathless moments and some intense gazing. So much good dialogue can be added here. Things like, ‘I’m starting to think you don’t hate me as you say you do,’ or ‘I never thought I’d see this new side to you.’
The big reveal. When they are at their most vulnerable one of the characters will have to take the biggest risk of revealing the truth. They will have been struggling with their strong feelings, missing the other before they leave, on cloud nine everytime they are next to them and replaying all their conversations in their head. After all this time hiding, they must find the courage to speak from the heart. This is a great time to add something like – ‘be real with me – how much of this was fake?‘ Will the other feel the same way?
This is one of my favourite tropes so do it proud, writers. Enjoy writing those fake romances!
Second chance romance is one of my favourite romance tropes to read. It’s also the trope I once thought would be relatively easy to write. *Sigh* I was delusional when I first started writing.
A good second chance romance relies on character growth and that’s something which needs to be mastered. You also have to create a tangled past relationship which ended and you have to not only untangle it over the course of the book but you also have to show what’s changed since then.
Here’s a list of the things I always consider when writing a second chance romance novel:
How did they initially connect? Were they childhood sweethearts? Maybe they met at work? The secret here is readers need to see and feel how good that connection was between these two beautiful characters.
This breathtaking romance has to be unforgettable for both readers and the characters.
Why did they split up? What made them walk away from each other? Were they too young? Was it a case of bad timing or did one hurt the other? What broke them?
Readers need to understand what made these characters go blubber into a box of Kleenex, wedge chocolate into their mouth and go for long solitary walks in the rain.
What personal growth have they experienced? What has life taught them in the years they were apart? What did other relationships teach them?
Have they thought about why they have never connected with anyone on the same romantic level as they did with each other?
What made them want to give their relationship another chance? Why can’t they disentangle from each other’s lives? What has made them come together again? Why salvage a broken relationship?
The reader must understand and agree with these decisions. There must also be that old connection and the chemistry.
What stuff have they overcome? Have they resolved the old conflict? Readers need to see how these two characters might have had different priorities that caused their breakup. But now that those priorities have changed, so, maybe there is still a chance for them to work it out. It could also be a case of these two characters making mistakes and generally causing an emotional mess.
The reader needs to believe these two have changed for the better.
I hope you have found that useful ❤️
In other news last week:
I am over the moon and can’t wait to work with Bloodhound Books. This is a dream come true for me.
I am on a book reading high at the moment. Some great books have come my way and I thought would do a book related post in celebration.
Here are some things book lovers can relate to:
When someone asks you to pick out your favourite book from your entire book collection and they are still waiting for you to answer an hour later.
At a social gathering someone wants you to tell them about the book you are reading. Little do they know you are LOVING the book you’re reading. An hour later, you’re still talking about this book and they have wandered off to talk to someone else.
The pain of struggling with a book for 300 pages and then being rewarded with a terrible ending.
When someone questions whether you can read a book in a day…
People who borrow your books and return them dog eared and tea stained.
Trying to remember a time in your life when you didn’t have a reading pile / list.
Coming out of a bookshop empty handed and announcing to loved ones you must be sick.
When someone tells you the ending of a book you’ve been wanting to read for ages.
Reading a good part of your book in the bath and your glasses keep steaming up.
When someone you know reads the same book as you and questions how anyone could find the fictional love interest attractive. You haven’t been able to stop thinking about that sexy love interest and have had several sleepless nights re-reading the book’s spicy chapters.
Loved ones who sneak their books onto your bookshelves without conforming to your colour coding or design and think you will never notice.
The stress of not being able to find a book mark.
Starting a book with expectations of it changing your life.
Being haunted by the thought, ‘I didn’t bring my book / kindle with me.’
When someone says – ‘it’s just a book..’
When you see one of your best ever reads on a shelf in a book shop and you give it a knowing smile.
Reading your way through grief.
The good plot twists aren’t the ones that are wild left turns out of nowhere, they’re the ones that make all the other little things that didn’t quite add up before suddenly click.
Wondering how those characters from that fab book you read last year are doing now
When you try to explain..’I have been crying for the last I don’t know how many chapters…’
I am about to enter my summer beach romcom writing era. A fabulous new story is tugging on my winter coat tails. It came to me while I was delving into the frozen fish section of my local supermarket and precauriously balancing on the edge of a giant freezer. I was forced to drop my bargain priced fish fingers and tap the idea into my phone. As a result I never did buy those fish fingers. This idea better be good!
You know I like to keep up with modern trends, well I am a new fan of the term – era. Taylor Swift and Miley Cyrus all seem to be entering new music eras so I thought it would be good to have the same in the book genre writing world. I am offically leaving my travel based contemporary romcom era and entering my summer beach romcom era. Please let me know what sort of writing era you are in or what you are about to enter?
It’s time for me to cuddle up under a thick blanket (UK heating cost crisis), sip a steaming cup of tea, with fingerless gloved hands, reach for my laptop, dust away the icicles and write away the January blues by creating a fictional summer Romcom.
Here are some things I love about summer romances:
Grumpy heroes and bubbly heroines who are like walking rays of sunshine.
The level of passion rising with the temperature.
Moonlit walks along beaches.
Fruit picking.
Romantic picnics
Writing hot and sexy beach romcoms in winter can result in several emotional highs and lows:
1. Writing about finding romance on a sun drenched, idyllic beach can feel like you are on your own mini break. The bonus here is that you don’t have to dig out your bikini, bathe in fake tan and run the risk of turning salmon pink.
2. Writing about warm summer evenings, sipping delicious cocktails by the sea, paddling in azure blue water and dancing the night away under the stars (without thermal underwear, many layers and a big coat) is very pleasurable. It can certainly make you forget the size of your heating bill, your teenager’s inability to wear a warm coat in all weathers and your cat’s low mood.
3. You also don’t have to go abroad for your summer romcom either. There are some gorgeous beaches around the U.K. complete with idyllic coastal villages, beach facing guest houses, cute boats bobbing in a harbour and seaside town hustle and bustle. My goodness as I sit here and type I can taste delicious ice cream and hear seagulls overhead.
4. When I said writing a summer beach romcom can feel like you are taking a mini break – your trip length will vary. Some of us don’t have the luxury to escape and write for hours. Some of us are distracted by family, pets, delivery people, car problems, loved ones who are incapable of making themselves a cup of tea and social media. This can result in your fictional mini break lasting a good half hour at most. Before you know it you are back to moaning about the heating and shivering in your chair.
5. If you are writing a beach Romcom you will need to brush up on your swimwear clothing trends and think about things like – what type of bikini or speedos would my character wear and what’s in trend? This will inevitably lead you to browsing some swimwear clothing online sites and getting agitated as you compare the array of golden tanned legs with your own which resemble two pints of semi skinned milk and are buried beneath layers of clothing. This will only reinforce the hard truth – summer is still a long way away!
6. There’s a higher chance of you getting annoyed with your cast of romance characters in a beach romcom while writing it in the middle of winter than any other time of year. In view of it being cold, grey, damp and miserable (in the U.K.) you will have zero patience for moaning fictional characters basking in the sun, dipping their painted toes in the sea and feeling tipsy after too many cocktails. At least in a winter based holiday romcom you can shove them in a snow drift if they irritate you but you don’t have that luxury with a beach romcom. This can cause unwanted author / character tension. Before you know it you will end up writing a beach based grizzly thriller.
Here are the things my draft novel made me do last week. Do you like how I am blaming everything on my draft novel? I knew you woiuld – ha ha!
I am not going to say the title of it or the premise as it will take away the excitement. I will say that it is a forced proximity romcom (where circumstances throw the main characters together) and it’s crammed full of comedy, chaos and some touching romantic moments. I am currently doing several rounds of edits. This book has been continually revised since last September. It has had more revisions than I have had hot dinners. I am about to swan dive gracefully into the literary agent query pool so I am just dusting off my frilly costume,
Here’s what my draft novel made me do last week:
Add more conflict. I am changing as a writer. In some of my early novels I shied away from conflict. With this book I have had a little devil on my shoulder whispering, ‘make them suffer more,’ and for once I have listened to it. You should ask yourself as you write – am I making life too easy for my characters?
Hack away pointless scenes. I have been a lot tougher with this book than my others. This was something I also used to avoid. I have found the more you hack the deeper you get into your story because you end up being left with scenes which all serve a purpose.
Experience a range of strong feelings 🤣 – frustration, anger, happiness, joy, sadness and hope were all felt last week as I knocked this story into shape.
Ignore my inner critic at certain times of the day. I should NOT make crucial decisions on my book before 6.30am. My mind is not rational before 6.30am. Even better I should not think about changes until after I have eaten. About 9am I start thinking clearly. This week I saw how my mind and perspective shifts after breakfast. Also I should not make book decisions after 10pm as I am always tired and I will go for the easiest option. A big shout out to all my past stories which suffered because of this.
Go for more walks. Fresh air is a writer’s friend
Cry. I have found that the books you write which make you cry whilst writing they have something special about them. Last week I cried. Historic moment.
Get impatient. I do hate it when draft novels try to hurry you up. They want to be out in the world seeking their fortune but you know there’s more work to do.
Accepting the followingwith editing: editing can be soul destroying, there will be some chapters littered with typos and incorrect character names but structurally they will work, there will be some chapters where there will be no typos but structurally they will be a wreck and some chapters where even I, the author, won’t have a clue about what’s going on 🤣
Skip some household chores. I do love novel writing when it makes me do this.
Wear a bolder lipstick – hot pink for writers in 2023 👏🏻
If you follow me on twitter you will know of my pinned tweet. It is about how I got through to the final round of the Penguin Michael Joseph Christmas Love Story Competition and my strong urges to cartwheel with joy on zoom calls at work.
According to the competition FAQs last week was when the winner was going to be notified. At the start of last week I knew of just 4 other writers who, like me, had got through to the next round. I wasn’t looking forward to a tense, nail biting and lonely week which would mostly be spent watching my email with hawk-like eyes, jumping everytime my phone rang, eating far too many penquin biscuits and overthinking every possible competition outcome.
Well, my week did include all of the above (especially the penguin biscuit binge) but it wasn’t a lonely week and it did change my writing world in unexpected ways.
I think it was Audrey Niven, on Twitter who kickstarted things at the start of the week. She tweeted about wishing all the Penquin finalists lots of luck. Then the magic started. Fellow finalists joined in by liking her tweet and by the end of Monday there was a small gang of us on Twitter all sharing writer love and support with each other. By Tuesday our gang had grown some more as a few more finalists had found us. We all started tweeting funny snippets from our days and what we were doing to distract ourselves from the competition waiting game. By Wednesday we had grown from a small gang to a collective and this was when ideas were shared on what we could call ouselves. Bettina Hunt suggested the Penguin Collective and a Twitter list was created by Amy Gaffney. Everytime another finalist made their way onto Twitter and found us we’d all welcome them in.
It was a very different writing competition experience for me. We all tweeted and laughed our way through the week talking about the anxious wait, how we felt like we were in the Big Brother House (Lily Joseph), how some of us had turned to playing Europe’s pop classic, The Final Countdown (Jake G Godfrey) to get through, how some of us were busy ordering Penguin biscuits (Sarah Shard) how we were all looking forward to cracking open the wine on Friday at 6pm and how lucky we were to find each other. There were so many funny tweets over the course of the week, from Jenny Bromham’s thought provoking GIF ‘one more dawn’, Donna Dobbs’s hiring of a geeky IT student, Joanna Knowles Author’s tweet about how she was starting to waddle like a penguin, Rebecca Duval’s obsessive email refreshes, Hayley-Jenifer’s Benedict Cumberbatch’s GIF and Jackie Morrison’s caravan holiday which was spent checking for a phone signal. As you can imagine when Sarah Louise Robinson started a Facebook group for us we all flapped our penguin wings and waddled over there too. It wasn’t just laughter, there were also ideas from Kimberly Adams, Sarah Shard and Amy Gaffney on how we could work together in the future.
There were other finalists still joining the Pengin Collective on Friday; A Novel, tweet by tweet, Writtenbymisshm, Tallie Samuels, Helen Hawkins, Katy George.
The end of the story is that no one we knew about heard from Penguin Michael Joseph on Friday. Someone probaby has heard and we wish them the best of luck. I also hope they come on my blog and talk about their new book in the future.
For me, that’s okay. I got WAY more from this writing competition than I ever imagined; a story idea validated by Penguin Michael Joseph (which is now at 23k), new romance writer friends in the Penguin Collective group and a lot of happy twitter memories from last week.
As Breea Keenan said, ‘this chat has made my week’ and I couldn’t agree more.
Writing competitions which give you so much more than you expected are priceless.
A few creative moons ago I read, Without a Hitch, by a romance author called Bettina Hunt. From the start of the book I loved her humour, her relatable characters and her take on romantic comedy. I went onto read one of her other novels; A Tempting Trio, and laughed so much at her hilarious book I nearly fell off my chair. Since then I have become a bit of a Bettina Hunt author superfan. She still hasn’t managed to shake me off – lol.
In real life she’s one of the funniest people I know and always makes me smile. Now that her fabulous new book, High Heels on the Beach, is out I have persuaded her to come on my blog.
I thought it would be fun to do an author interview so you can all find out more about Bettina Hunt.
Please welcome one of my favourite romantic comedy & women’s fiction authors, Bettina Hunt.
Hello, thanks for having me on your blog, it’s such an honour!
Bettina – can you tell us about yourself?
Such a difficult first question, Lucy!
I’m a forty something writer of romcoms and women’s fiction. I have two young boys and I can tell you that homeschooling them during Covid was certainly not an easy thing as one thing I’ve never wanted to be is a teacher, huge respect to those who are!
I used to work in product management however, at one time I was thinking of becoming a lawyer… that attention to detail that I learnt during my law degree has held me in good stead 😉
As a gemini I have so many interests, I can be known to be indecisive but the one thing I knew was that I always wanted to write in some capacity. I started writing a blog about beauty and afternoon tea when I was at home with my eldest boy and then added a Friday Column so that I could share my poetry and short stories. My first book – A Tempting Trio – was originally a short story on my blog.
I’ve published four books and partially written another five. My ultimate dream is to have at least one of my books made into a film. I would also love to be part of a comedy writing team, writing either comedy sketches or a sitcom (i’m not fussy!) Sharon Horgan is one of my favourite writers and she’s written two of my favourite TV Shows – Catastrophe and Motherland. Most recently I’ve become obsessed with the BBC ONE series This Is My House. It’s a brilliant concept, so entertaining and funny.
Just before lockdown I also discovered Schitt’s Creek which is the ultimate heartwarming, feelgood comedy series. With perfectly written characters that evolve beautifully as the series plays out I laughed and cried. It’s the best series ever.
Tell us about your new book?
High Heels on the Beach is a heartwarming contemporary romantic comedy set in both London and the fictional seaside town of Sunny Bay. It tells the story of Becca who’s used to letting her bestie make decisions for her in a twist on the Choose Your Own Story books that they used to read. When her world comes crumbling down, Becca realises she needs to stop relying on others and take control of her own destiny. Her planned voyage of self-discovery is thwarted by the need for her to return to the one place she’s been avoiding, home. In Sunny Bay she’s forced to take on the running of the family’s B&B, bringing her face to face with old flames and adversaries and meeting a host of colourful residents at the B&B. The story follows Becca’s emotional journey and her struggle between the pull of her old corporate life and a new life in Sunny Bay.
Where did the idea for the book come from?
I actually got the idea when I was on holiday in Spain. I was looking around at the people by the pool and wondered how many of them were not looking forward to getting back to their jobs and the idea spiralled from there. I had planned to start writing it during NanoWrimo in November, however I felt compelled to write as soon as I got home and wrote 30,000 words during the Summer Holidays.
When you are not writing books what do you like doing?
Most of this hasn’t been possible since COVID struck but … I love going out for afternoon tea, eating out and enjoying cocktails. I love going on mini breaks. I love the theatre, the west end shows. I love watching comedy shows on TV to lift my spirits. And I LOVE to sing 🙂 just for me mostly although I do lip syncs on Instagram too.
Best piece of writing advice you have ever been given?
You have to turn on the tap to let the water flow AND you can’t edit an empty page.
How long have you been writing books?
I wrote my first full book in 2015 but i’ve always had ideas bouncing around in my head. Still do. Every day in fact. Especially when I’m doing the washing up or in bed, trying to sleep.
What book are you reading at the moment.
I’m reading a romcom (not much of a surprise there!) called The Summer Job by Lizzie Dent. It’s made me laugh out loud so that’s a good sign.
Who are your favourite authors and why?
I love Lucy Vine for making me laugh out loud. Milly Johnson’s books are like a cuddle, warm and funny with fantastic characters. John Grisham for page turning suspense – My favourite book of his was The Runaway Jury. More recently I’ve discovered JP Delaney for thrillers. But honestly I read so many wonderful books that I wish I could give them all a shout out.
9.Favourite social media channel?
Twitter I think – I love how instant it is and I love to talk and chat, connect with people 🙂
Favourite romance film?
How can I choose! I love romantic films and even better if they make me laugh… But if I really, really, had to choose – Okay I have 3 films in mind.
Some Kind of Wonderful made me cry buckets and has some fantastic lines in it. My two favourite romcoms are Sweet Home Alabama and You’ve Got Mail. I could happily watch all three over and over again.
Decision shy Becca is used to her best friend making decisions for her, but after a disastrous 30th birthday, London living Becca realises she needs to stop relying on others and take control of her own destiny.
With her life plans in tatters, she’s forced to return home to the quiet seaside town of Sunny Bay and the family’s B&B, where the bedrooms are covered in chintz and her mother is still serving up culinary delights from the 1970s. Adamant that she’s not staying, Becca embarks on a soul-searching trip to Europe.
She’s barely stepped foot abroad before a family crisis sees her back in Sunny Bay and in charge of the B&B. Coming face to face with old flames and adversaries, Becca’s reminded why she left and is determined to get back to her old life in London.
But when the mysterious Madame DoTell, fortune teller to the stars, insists that home is where the heart is, Becca begins to wonder if she should listen…
If home is where the heart is, where is home?
High Heels on the Beach is a light-hearted and fun packed Summer tale perfect for fans of Sophie Kinsella and Lindsey Kelk.
I am super excited because the author of heart-warming and funny romantic comedies Anna Bell has come to take over my blog today. She’s going to share with us her tips on writing comedy and I am hoping she will also tell us about her book which I can’t wait to read as it sounds fab.
Please give a warm welcome to Anna Bell:
Hello everyone,
Here are my top 5 tips for writing comedy:
1 – Belief One of the hardest things about writing comedy is believing in yourself. Jokes are subjective, and they’re also personal. Sometimes writing comedy and exposing what you think is funny can make you feel vulnerable. But chances are if you find it funny then someone else will too. I don’t think there is anything nicer, both in real life or in your writing, than making someone laugh.
2– First Drafts don’t have to be funny It’s very easy to get hung-up on making everything you write sound witty, but you have to remember that your readers are there just as much for the story as they are for the laughs. It’s almost easier to add humour on the next draft when you can spot if you’ve got clusters or deserts of funny scenes. On the second draft, when you know your characters better, you’re more likely to understand what pushes their buttons and how they’d react in any situation, making it easier for you to imagine the humorous situations they could find themselves in.
3– There is a fine line between funny and cringey This is one of the hardest things to get right when writing comedy. It’s also a line that changes from reader to reader too. One person’s threshold for rolling on the floor in hysterics is another’s basis for a one-star review. One of the ways to avoid it being too cringey is to try and build reader empathy with the character, so that if the reader cringes, they cringe with the character, not at him or her.
4 – Make scenarios relatable Watching stand-up comedians with live audiences is a great way to see what people find funny. Quite often it’s the most mundane things that people find the funniest, the jokes about extended family or ordinary situations that everyone finds themselves in. It’s often easier to relate to humour if you can imagine it could happen to you. It’s worth remembering this when writing. Scenes that are too over the top or unbelievable can seem like they’re trying too hard to get laughs.
5 – Outside the Room Watching sit-coms can also help you learn how to write comedy. Shows like Frasier give excellent lessons in comic timing and build-up. There is nearly always a final big comedic scene that the whole episode builds up to, but to get the laughs you need to understand what has driven each character to react in the particular way they do. When you are writing a big scene with an ensemble cast, it’s worth bearing that in mind. What has happened to each of your characters prior to this scene? What is their mood? What has led them to the point they’re at? If the audience are in on the joke and understand why the character is reacting in the way they are, it makes it funnier. But you don’t always have to signpost the events that happen outside the room either. If you’ve got a big ensemble scene having someone other than the main characters arrive in the aftermath of an argument, or guarding a secret, can add to the humour and tension too. Usually that storyline would play alongside the big main event that’s happening to the protagonist, and the poor protagonist is left trying to put out fires from all sides, ramping up the humour.
Follow Anna on Twitter: AnnaBell_writes Instagram: anna_bell_writes Anna’s latest novel is The Man I Didn’t Marry and it’s out now.
Ellie has the perfect life: a happy marriage, a gorgeous daughter and a baby on the way. But when her husband Max develops amnesia, he forgets everything about the last five years . . . including their relationship. Now the man she said ‘I do’ to has become a stranger, and she has no idea why. Yet Ellie is determined to reconnect and find her Max again – he has to be in there somewhere, right?
As they get to know one another afresh, Ellie finds herself seeing Max clearly for the first time. But then she discovers that before his memory loss, Max was keeping a huge secret from her. Will their new beginning prove to be a false start, just as it seemed they might fall in love all over again?
Lucy Mitchell Author Blog 