Deconstructing My Process

It Is A Love Story and I Never Forget That

I write romance and because of that, my lead characters are the main focus. They are together for the majority of the novel and that's because I feel it necessary for their development. There is simply no romance if she is off saving orphans to prove she is independent or if he is in France spying for the king.

I write about fully realized people and how they came to be a couple, so it’s more a catalogue of the events from their first meeting to their happy resolve. My novels are more family epics than master intrigues because I feel that’s more believable and more easily sustained.

My third novel, Brunswick, for instance is about Lord Philip Latimer and the woman of his life Lady Ursula Robinette. The two are passionate, stubborn and drowning in things unsaid but they rely heavily on each other. Still, it does not make being together easy. They struggle to find the balance between being an individual and partaking in a relationship.

This is far more interesting, I believe, than his past life as mercenary, or her once scandalous business association with the notorious Lady Orange and her deranged granddaughters. Their past makes them interesting, but it’s not all that they are and I want the reader to experience the full arc of the character so they can walk away with a full sense of their romance.

All my very best,
Simone