Liz Fielding, ELOPING WITH EMMY, and Giveaways!


Romance writer and multi published UK based novelist Liz Fielding when asked about....


WHERE DO YOU GET IDEAS?

 This is the universal question – the one thing every author is asked over and over again. It’s not often I can be absolutely sure. Usually stories evolve slowly. A photograph will spark something in the brain, characters will walk onto the stage that is waiting for them, a line of dialogue will hum in the imagination… And so it begins.  But occasionally you can pinpoint the exact moment a story began.

 That’s how it is with Eloping With Emmy.

 It was a Saturday afternoon. I was on my own – unusual – and I picked up the Radio Times (the magazine listing the television and radio programmes for the week) and that afternoon, buried amongst the sport, was an old movie that I’d never seen. It Happened One Night with Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert. I read the blurb, reached for the remote and grabbed a notebook.

 I had a great afternoon watching a fabulous movie – it won the entire sweep of major Oscars that year – Best Film, Best Screenplay, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Director. Runaway heiress, down at heel hero… I made some notes, but mostly I just watched and over the next few days my writing brain began to play with ideas.

 Scenes ran through my head, made some more notes. Some ideas were discarded (I seem to remember one in a hayloft that that never made it onto the page), some jelled, none were anything like the scenes in the movie, but that’s not how inspiration works. It’s like the sparkplug in your car. It fires the engine, but after that you’re the one applying the fuel.

I sent the first three chapters to my editor and asked her what she thought and then got on with writing Wild Fire.

It was a while before she came back to me – on the day I delivered Wild Fire. And she wanted the rest of the book by the end of the month. Gulp. I had twenty-six days to finish Eloping With Emmy; I delivered the manuscript on the last day of the month.



My book isn’t anything like It Happened One Night. Emmy isn’t running away from marriage to a boring millionaire (!) and Tom isn’t down at heel in any way, although he is from a completely different social strata. They are, however, forced to stick together on their journey across England and France, even though their objectives are at odds. She is determined to reach the man she’s vowed to marry. His assignment is to stop the wedding, whatever it takes.



What I learned from It Happened One Night was the value of the journey as a crucible. According to the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary a crucible is – “A vessel, usually of earthenware, made to endure great heat, used for fusing metals. A melting pot. Fig. Used of any severe test or trial.”



And that – according to my very first editor - is what every great romance needs.



Leave a comment telling me what romantic movie you’ve loved and if there was a crucible, how it held the hero and heroine together.



I’ll draw a winner from the comments for an eBook download of Eloping With Emmy, a signed copy of my new Harlequin Romance, The Last WomanHe’d Ever Date and an eBook download of Liz Fielding’sLittle Book of Writing Romance.

Eloping With Emmy

Back Blurb


Hot shot legal eagle, Tom Brodie, has been landed with an assignment to test any man to his limits - do whatever it takes to prevent headstrong heiress Emerald Carlisle from marrying a fortune-hunter. He is not happy about it, and when Emmy stows away in his car, his day goes from bad to worse, but since she's the only one who knows where to find the man in question he has no choice but take her along for the ride.

It's a bumpy one!

Emmy is not a woman to sit back and let things fall as they will. She has a plan and she keeps Brodie on his toes in a rollercoaster chase across the UK and France. He's more than up to the challenge, but falling in love with Emmy along the way is always going to end with his heart in pieces.



THE LAST WOMAN HE'D EVER DATE

Back Blurb

Claire Thackeray: Hardworking single mom and gossip columnist. Hoping for the inside scoop on sexy billionaire Hal North, aka her teen crush!

Most wary of: Gorgeous men who set her heart racing. (Been there, got the T-shirt—and the baby!)

Hal North: Bad boy made good. Back in his hometown as new owner of the Cranbrook Park estate. Determined to put his troubled past behind him.

Most wary of: Journalists—especially pretty ones, like new neighbor and tenant Claire Thackeray.


Liz Fielding around the web:

Website         Blog        Twitter        Facebook

40 comments:

  1. I like the sound of Eloping with Emmy! (The post as made me want to go rent 'It Happened One Night' too). Great post. Thanks.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love when a movie or book sets you thinking and sends you in a completely new direction! For my current wip, it was a workshop I took for school that got me thinking :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. This is great! I've not heard of that piece of advice before: making sure there's a crucible.
    I have always like While You Were Sleeping. I guess the crucible is the brother who is in a coma and then his amnesia when he awakens. Those are the only things keeping the two together that I can think of.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi Rhonda,

    Thank you for coming along to read this post and for your comment!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hello Jemi,

    Thank you for coming along to read this post and for your comment!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hi Susan,

    Liz Fielding will be here when it's morning in UK to chat with us all!

    Meanwhile thanks for coming along to read this post and for your comment!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Oh, I loved the part when you reached for the remote and grabbed a notebook. Also when your editor wanted the rest of the Eloping With Emmy book by the end of the month. Somehow it reminds me more clearly that when you get into action, the result will show. The sooner the better. And now I just can't wait reading it. ^^
    As for my favorite romantic movie, it is Story of Us. I love the idea that husband and wife should be the very best friend to each other to make the bond grows stronger and stronger.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Anonymous16 May, 2012

    Hi Liz,

    One of my favourite romantic movies is Sweet Home Alabama. Melanie changes herself so completely from Felony Melanie Smooter to Melanie Carmichael fashion designer and Jake (sexy Josh Lucas) changes himself into a glass designer to prove to Melanie that he isn't as worthless as she thinks he is.

    The crucible of this movie is the real reason Melanie goes back to her hometown - on the surface of it she's going to tell her parents that she's marrying the Mayor of New York's son and she seems embarrassed by her parents living in a trailer and all of her old friends who haven't amounted to much in the same way that she has. Underneath, she's asking Jake to divorce her so that she can move on.

    But holding her back is the lifetime of memories she had with Jake, the baby they conceived and lost , her beloved dog who died after she left (when Melanie goes to the cemetery, that has me in buckets every time) and the plain old fact that she loves Jake.

    But it takes the arrival of her fiance and then his mother and her entourage to realise that you can take the girl out of the country but you can't take the country out of the girl.

    One of the last scenes is an emotional exchange between Jake and Melanie on the beach in the middle of a thunderstorm, completing the circle from start to finish and then they kiss. Bliss.

    Perfect happy ever after.

    Take care, Debbie

    ReplyDelete
  9. Most of all I love action movies because it's very exciting and not boring. But I also fascinated with comedy romance like What Happens in Vegas, How to Lose A Guy in 10 Days, Just Married, The Proposal etc. It makes me laugh and cheer me up every day.

    ReplyDelete
  10. What was the name of that movie?!?! You have me intrigued, Liz!

    Sounds like a great book. Thanks for the interview, Nas.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Wow, how great to wake up to so many wonderful comments!

    Jenni, I always read the movie blurbs in the television magazine at the weekend hoping for another of those "moments". Hasn't happened yet.

    And Rhoda, you'll love It Happened One Night. Look out for the Wall of Jericho!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Susan, you're right, the crucible can be physical - a journey, or having to stay together to fix something, or look after something, but it can be emotional, too. People are held together by what they've experienced, as Deb says, in Sweet Home Alabama - another of my favourite movies. Must watch it again.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Hi Diah - haven't seen The Story of Us, although I've heard of it. I'll be looking out for it.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Katherine, I love action movies with humour and romance. Desperately trying to think of the one with Jamie Lee Curtis and Arnie...

    ReplyDelete
  15. Fabulous post Liz,thank you for sharing the movie for me was definitely Sweet Home Alabama(I see another commenter shares my feeling she took the words right out of my mouth so I cannot say much) but yes the crucible is the real reason she goes back home and in the end rediscovers her roots and what and where she needs to be in live. The movie was truly inspirational. Thank you for the really lovely giveaway!

    ReplyDelete
  16. Hi Desere! Lots of love for Sweet Home Alabama!

    ReplyDelete
  17. I've got Eloping with Emmy and the Little Book.

    I like that idea of a crucible. I would have called it a catalyst - another idea from science. Because something happens which completely turns things on their head and then the fun starts. I know that in the Little Book of Writing Romance, we're advised to start the story at a point where the main character's life is about to change. It's the change that stirs things up and brings excitement.

    ReplyDelete
  18. I don't think I've ever got inspiration for a story from a movie. That's awesome. I would be freaking out if someone told me I had to finish a book in less than a month!

    ReplyDelete
  19. The catalyst to start the action, Maria, the crucible to hold the ingredients and keep them bubbling!

    ReplyDelete
  20. Tonja, I was on a bit of a roll. I'd just written three 100,000 words books in six months. 30,000 words in a month felt like a piece of cake. And it was one of those stories that just flowed.

    I'd be freaking out if anyone asked me to do it now!

    ReplyDelete
  21. Wow! Three 100,000 words book in six months? Incredible!

    Congrats on the release of The Last Woman He'd Ever Date, Liz.

    Eloping with Emmy is on my new kindle, ready for a break from studies!

    Riya

    ReplyDelete
  22. Hello Liz,

    The love that holds the couple together in The Notebook makes me emotional. And it doesn't matter how many times I read A Walk To Remember, yet the young love depicted moves me.

    I don't really think I answered your question, but these are the things which spellbind me.

    I would look out for your books to read.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Thanks for choosing my book, RR!

    ReplyDelete
  24. Laura, I guess love is the greatest crucible. Holds us together through every diversity :)

    ReplyDelete
  25. Whoa...this is great. I had downloaded the free e-book of Eloping with Emmy from smashwords and I'd love to reading it soon. I love the cover, it's gorgeous.

    I'm a big fan of romantic movies. I had collected them. I have so many favorite romantic movies, such as Sabrina (Audrey Hepburn version), A Walk to Remember, Never been Kissed, Sleepless in Seattle, Kate and Leopold, and so many more. I could make a list of it^^
    Well, there's always a crucible in a romantic movie, but somehow the hero and heroine always can find a way to get through it. That's why I loved romantic movies.

    Thank u for this awesome giveaway :)

    ReplyDelete
  26. Gone with the Wind - a story of a man's love for a woman (Rhett Butler for Scarlett) and a woman's love for her home (Scarlett's for Tara). I think Tara is the crucible - or "returning home" is the crucible. Great thought-provoking post!

    ReplyDelete
  27. Love watching a great old romantic movie on Saturday afternoon, Amel. I see While You Were Sleeping in my immediate future!

    ReplyDelete
  28. Interesting thought, Melissa. I agree that Tara is Scarlett's obsession, driving everything she does.

    ReplyDelete
  29. Anonymous20 May, 2012

    I haven't seen It Happened One Night yet. I've been meaning to watch it.

    I get lost in some movies. They give me ideas, some of which I've written down.

    ReplyDelete
  30. Hi Medeia - ideas from movies are great pump primers. What evolves is nothing like the original, but they start the creative juices flowing!

    ReplyDelete
  31. Right, it's draw time. :) Thanks so much everyone for coming along and chatting - it's been lovely meeting you all and hearing your best movie moments!

    I put all the comments into a the dh's hat and he drew out Susan Oloier's name.

    Susan if you'll email me (l i z at lizfielding dot com - close up the spaces), with your snail mail addy for The Last Woman He'd Ever Date, I'll get that in the post to you and which kind of eReader you have, I'll send you e versions of the other books to load on your device.

    ReplyDelete
  32. Romantic movie? Brief Encounter.
    The crucible? Carnforth Station.

    :-)

    Take care
    x

    ReplyDelete
  33. Both of the books sound like sweet stories.

    Liz, I also find quite often that something will inspire me, but that the end product will be completely unrelated. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  34. Brief Encounter, Old Kitty! Swoon. Steam billowing and dodgy tea. :)

    ReplyDelete
  35. Thanks, Misha. It's extraordinary how far the finished story will stray from the original inspiration. :)

    ReplyDelete
  36. I love the story of how she got the idea for the book. Movies spark a lot of ideas for me.

    ReplyDelete
  37. What a great movie to be inspired from!

    ReplyDelete
  38. Eloping with Emmy sounds like a fun ride. How fun to hear about your inspiration from the movie.

    ReplyDelete
  39. Fascinating ideas. Thought about the the crucible of my current work in progress and realised it had a dirty great crack in it. Off to fix it now. Thanks, Liz!

    Can't wait to read Emmy. The book sounds a blast.

    ReplyDelete
  40. COngratulations to Susan!

    Thanks to all our friends who came chatting to Liz and thank you Liz for taking time out and chatting with all our friends here and for this fantastic giveaway!

    ReplyDelete

You can discuss your romance novel addiction too!