This is the novella that began when my beta reader/designer/marketing guru/awesomesauce sister said ‘write one in which things Don’t Work Out.’ Reader, I failed: I got to the point of it not working out and was utterly incapable of leaving it there. I wanted something to work out. I loved my heroine and I wanted her to be happy. So I kept going, and it took a turn. Click the image below for product link!
This is a in which the romance we think we are reading about turns out not to be the romance the protagonist(s) wanted.
The same applies with A SECRET CHORD. This time, I knew going in that the relationship I was featuring in the foreground was going to fail (too many Fs. Sorry), and in fact the first scene I wrote was the end of that relationship. It was a good scene, and told me a lot about what I needed to do from the very start of the story (once I actually began to write the ‘start’).
The analogous relationship to which I would direct the curious reader is that of Mia and Sebastian in ‘La La Land.’ I call it out in this novella, as a matter of fact. It is two people who want to make something work, who try to make something work, but who ultimately fail because they are simply not right for each other. However, I write romances, and a love story without a happy (or at least hopeful) ending is not, in my opinion, a romance.
Thus, as I developed this story, I also developed a relationship in the background. There is a whole raft of reasons why that relationship isn’t the one my heroine Janis Vaughn is involved in for most of this novella. The two main reasons are: Janis is straight. The man she’s in love with - and who also loves her - is gay.
How in the world can that be solved? Where is the possible happy ending there? Well, I hope I came up with a workable solution. To be honest, I surprised myself. ;-)