Marie Laval joins us today to talk about her
delightful novel, Bluebell’s Christmas Magic
Thank you so much Lorraine for welcoming me on your
blog to talk about Bluebell’s Christmas Magic which was released by Choc Lit on November 19th.
I am very excited about Bluebell for two
reasons. Firstly, it is my first ever Christmas romance, and secondly, it very nearly
never happened… Indeed, only a few weeks before I completed the manuscript, I became
so completely stuck I couldn’t see my way out of the plots and sub-plots and almost
gave the whole thing up.
That’s the problem about embarking on a story with
only a vague idea for the plot and letting your imagination take control. What
is funny is that I always know exactly what the last scene is going to be, but
I have no idea how to get there. There are many times when I wish I could plan
more. In fact, every time I embark on a new story I am determined to do more
planning, but every time I dive straight into it!
I first got the idea for Bluebell’s Christmas Magic during a family holiday in Coniston. It
was summertime, and the weather and the scenery were absolutely glorious. And I
thought… Why not set a story here - or rather in a fictional village very much
inspired by Coniston? I started scribbling a few notes about possible characters
and locations, and took plenty of photos.
I got the character of the hero straight away - he
was going to be a grumpy French ex-serviceman who had been injured in combat
and had come to a remote house in the Lakes to forget all about Christmas - but
it took me a lot longer to work out what my heroine would be like… Until one
day when I spotted an advert for a cleaning company… and that was it! I suddenly
‘got’ Cassie’s character. My heroine would be a cleaning lady and the rest just
flowed from there.
Cassie Bell isn’t just a cleaning lady, even if her
slogan is ‘Don’t let dust and grime get
to you, call Bluebell to the rescue!’ She also tries to be a ‘good mood
fairy’ and gives jokes to cheer her customers up. This means that I had to find
jokes to write into the story too! I had a lot of fun going through Christmas
cracker jokes, and asking my children to make some up for me. Of course, I
couldn’t resist inventing a few jokes myself… but they weren’t always very
successful and I was often the one laughing!
A bit of a twist for your readers now, Lorraine…
Cassie wasn’t going to be called Cassie at all. Until the last line edits, she
was called Clara Bell, but my editor told me that she wasn’t keen on the name
because it was the name of an American clown! I therefore had to come up with a
new name very quickly. You can realise the panic I was in. As a writer, picking
the right name for your main characters is absolutely essential. It takes time,
the name has to sound right, to suit the character’s personality and
appearance, and be compatible with the names of the other protagonists too.
Anyway, I was lucky. After playing around with a few ideas, I found Cassie and
it fitted my heroine perfectly.
Here is the twist… My editor mentioning a clown gave
me an idea for my next heroine!
Blurb:
A gorgeous new Christmas story from the
author of bestselling novel Little Pink Taxi
A
flick of a feather duster and a sprinkle of Christmas magic …
Cassie Bell is used to mess. Her cleaning business, Bluebell Cleaning, is well
known in the Cumbrian village of Red Moss. However, now it’s almost Christmas
and Cassie has a slightly messier situation to deal with than she’s used to. She’s
been hired to help Stefan Lambert, an injured army helicopter pilot who’s
staying at the local Belthorn Manor whilst he recovers. Stefan resents Cassie’s
interference and is definitely not looking for Christmas cheer. But Cassie
prides herself on sparkling surfaces – so, can she bring some festive sparkle
to Stefan’s life too?
Bluebell’s Christmas Magic is available in ebook and audio book here
About
the author:
Originally from Lyon in France, Marie now lives in
Lancashire with her family. She works full-time as a modern languages teacher
and in her spare time she loves writing romance and dreaming about romantic
heroes. She writes both historical and contemporary romance and best-selling Little Pink Taxi was her debut romantic
comedy novel with Choc Lit. She belongs to Authors on the Edge and writes short
stories for the best selling Miss
Moonshine’s anthologies. She is a member of the Romantic Novelists Association
and the Society of Authors. Her native France, as well as her passion for
history and research, very much influences her writing, and all her novels have
what she likes to call ‘a French twist’!
Please feel free to contact Marie on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/marielavalauthor/)
or Twitter (https://twitter.com/MarieLaval1)
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