The Research Phase Never Ends
I enjoy the research phase of writing a new story and the information reveals, especially if it’s unexpected. The surprise element involved is exciting. Some are good and others are great, but once in a while the rare truly memorable ones happen and those can’t be matched. Recently I had the latter happen and I’m still smiling over the discovery.
Let me share the delightful connection I recently found and most definitely hadn’t expected to ever find.
Recently Missing in Paradise was released over at Ellora's Cave, but the delightful surprise linked to the ebook was revealed the day I sent the final edits back to my editor and stepped out of the writing cave. Briefly, the locations this novella travels through are places mainly in Malibu with brief stops in Hollywood, LA and NYC. The hero is professional surfer forced to retire after a shark attack, and the heroine hosts a tv show highlighting ideas for reusing things. They are lovers who hit a rough patch on their way to forever or it's over. Missing in Paradise is a contemporary erotic romance with a bit of bondage - hmmm, bondage on the beach...nice!
Sorry, I was sidetracked by the heat for a moment - okay, I’m back. That's one side of the connection, now let me back track for the other.
There are so many great blogs that offer interesting stuff on and about books, ebooks, and the publishing industry, to name but a few subjects. I seek them out and subscribe to ensure I miss nothing. Unfortunately there are times when a week or more will go by and I haven't had time to check them out, but when I do, boy do I get lost in the wealth of fascinating information they share.
So, once the final edits were with my editor, I had a bit of free time and started to delve into the treasure trove of good book stuff when I found a connection to Missing in Paradise I hadn't know about, and it was utterly delightful! I thought I had already unearthed a great deal of exciting information about a particular person during my research, but it looked like I missed one of the most important bits.
Agatha Christie, the celebrated mystery author, was a surfer!
Agatha Christie surfing.
Photograph from the Agatha Christie Archive Trust as found on Guardian.co.uk
I kid you not! You can read about it on the British Guardian newspaper site or wait for a book called The Grand Tour: Letters and Photographs from the British Empire Expedition of 1922 by Agatha Christie. The book is comprised of her detailed letters home which have never been published, edited by her grandson and will be released in April 2012 by her estate*.
How fun is that?!? I knew the woman was fabulous and unique.
And there you have it, an unknown delightful connection between Agatha Christie and my hero in Missing in Paradise, a book she inspired and plays a small role in - they both enjoyed riding the waves!
Ahhh, wondering how she inspired an erotic romance with bondage in it is another story, and one I actually shared in an Author’s Note at the end of the novella - a first for me.
Tilly Greene
Scorching romances full of twists, turns and ties.
http://www.tillygreene.com/
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*Discovered this books release in another Guardian article and, yes, this is one of those places I mentioned earlier that stalk for wonderful book stuff.
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