BRAINSTORMING WITH NANCY JARDINE

KAREN:  NANCY JARDINE's lovely Scotland countryside and her many travels have inspired her intriguing tales of both romance and mystery. Join us for a spot of tea as Nancy's brainstorming team takes us behind the scenes of her Aug. 3rd release, TAKE ME NOW!  

NANCY: Hi, Karen! Thanks for inviting me, here. I promised to write a blog today about behind the scenes of my soon to be released novel TAKE ME NOW (The Wild Rose Press release date 3^rd Aug) so, I’m going to start with a big question. How was the novel conceived?  The answer to how TAKE ME NOW was conceived will now be revealed!

I hope you don’t mind that I’ve brought along a couple of friends. There’s a brainstorming session about to start, regarding TAKE ME NOW, that I can’t possibly miss. If you’re prepared to do a bit of eavesdropping, and you’ll maybe hear something spectacular!

(Cluster of people around a table. A is the Graphic Artist-paper and pencil at the ready, B is the Writer-laptop open, and C is the Moneyman/ Producer-fiddling with iphone.)

A: Okay, what about backdrops? 

B: (thinking slowly) A dinky little Scottish castle.

A: (lays pencil down) Not enough info. Scottish castles vary so much. Are we talking a ruin here? Or is it a neat little renovation?

B:  Yeah! It’s a contemporary romance so it’ll be a fabulous renovation. Originally a square keep that’s extended on two sides at ground floor levels to make a basic U-shape. Full luxury, no expense spared…that sort of thing.

A: Grey granite? Or red sandstone?

B: It’s on a small island, called Lanera, so it’s definitely granite. Built to withstand the rough weather off the west coast of Scotland…you know, all those battering Atlantic winds! It’s up on top of a cliff, surrounded by a high granite wall, with lots of foliage to hide it from sight from the water below.

C: (Looks up from screen) Is that the only location?

B: (ponders a little) No…Our main protagonists are going to travel a LOT!

C: (more interested now) So, how do you see that happening from a Scottish island? Are you meaning a ferry to the mainland?

B: (chuckles) Oh, no! Nothing as mundane as that! Our hero, let’s make him an injured hero-we’ll work out why later-has a neat little floatplane he normally plies back and forth to the mainland airport where he picks up his jet, to fly off on business.

C: (pulls up new page on iphone) How far does he travel by jet?

B: I’m thinking he’ll fly himself to European destinations in his own jet, but he’ll charter a larger jet to get him to the US, or anywhere further east than Europe.

C: (finger sliding across screen) What kind of businessman is he?

B: Let’s see…his main business is called Adrenalinn Adventures, dare-devil sporting pursuits-that sort of thing, all over the globe. On long-haul flights he works with his PA.

A: (pencil scribbling) So we need a PA for him?

B: (head nods) Hmmm…yeah, his new PA is going to be a lady of many talents. She’ll help run his office, and will do all the transporting to get him around…since he’s injured.

C: She’s just temporary then, till his injuries heal?

B: (mulls over slowly) Yeah! I’m thinking…she wants temporary, but he wants to keep her.

C: (expression wry) Is the tone of this novel serious?

B: (hearty laugh) No way! It’s a contemporary romance with a good dash of humor-since she’s a feisty lass, and won’t let him browbeat her.

C: Okay. So we’ve got our sort-of incapacitated alpha male. What’s his name?

B: His name is…Nairn Malcolm-a good sounding Scottish name.

A: (another face is drawn already, hair being added) And this feisty lass?

B: She’s called Aela Cameron.

C: That sounds Scottish, too. Is she a local girl?

B: (shakes head) No…She’ll be a Canadian, from Vancouver, with a Scottish background…on a temporary visit to rummage up relatives of her Scottish grandfather.   

A: Any other major settings needed?

B: (wide grins) Definitely. They nip back and forth to London. And…let’s see…Tallinn(Estonia), Barcelona, and Paris (the city of romance). But I’ll write in some little quirks along the way.

C: (Pulls up a world map) Are they flying anywhere else?

B: Oh, sure. He travels all the time so they’ll zip off to Oman, the Caribbean and they’ll end up in New York.

A: Is this a sweet little contemporary romance?

B: (head shakes) No way! The romance will be pretty hot, but I’ll add in danger along the way and…I’m thinking…also a little mystery to solve.

C: (points to laptop) Let’s put that together then. Someone makes a physical wreck out of Nairn. He hires Aela as temporary assistant/transporter. They find the perpetrator; and then what? Happy ever after?

B: That sounds PERFECT for the plot of TAKE ME NOW! 

Well, you know, Karen, that might sound like a plausible author brainstorming session, but sadly I’m not a plotter by nature and TAKE ME NOW wasn’t conceived like this! The basic idea for TAKE ME NOW was conceived after I took a trip in a floatplane with a family group when we went on a weekend jaunt up the West Coast of Scotland. We made the return travel in a seaplane to a small fishing port called Oban. We chartered a catamaran around the islands during the afternoon; had a special dinner in a spectacular fish restaurant; and stayed in local hotel overnight. From both the air (flying at low levels) and the sea, we saw many castles-some ruined, some inhabited, and some recently renovated. The whole event gave me the idea for TAKE ME NOW!

Thank you for having here today, Karen. 

Slainthe!

TAKE ME NOW will be published by The Wild Rose Press- release date: 3^rd Aug 2012

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Nancy Jardine used to be a teacher of 11-12year olds but pinged away the chalk to write full time. Her debut contemporary history/mystery novel was published in Aug 2011. Two more novels are due to be published during the summer of 2012.  A fourth novel, another contemporary history/mystery is under consideration. Still a bit drawn to novels for older children, the first in a planned series of time-travel novels for children 9-12yrs is completed. And, flitting around the genres, a family saga is the current work in progress.

Nancy lives in the picturesque castle country of Aberdeenshire, Scotland, with her wonderful husband who now does all the cooking…the menu far more exciting than it used to be! Ancestry research; doing fun things with her family; and working in her large garden, where she tends spectacular weeds, take up her week-when not writing or reading.

Links:

MONOGAMY TWIST by Nancy Jardine – a contemporary history/mystery is currently available from:

The Wild Rose Press link: http://bit.ly/wOpGbT Amazon.co.uk: http://amzn.to/ynu0t0

Amazon.com: http://amzn.to/wwaGCv  Barnes and Noble: http://bit.ly/AuMbii

Book trailer MONOGAMY TWIST -  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJVzbrkJQzA

Nancy Jardine can be contacted at;

Blog: http://nancyjardine.blogspot.com

Website: http://.nancyjardineauthor.weebly.com

FaceBook, Goodreads and Amazon author pages.