Ding Dong, Ring Those Bells

Gonna Write Me a Holiday Romance, Tra la la!

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If there's one holiday, I dislike more than all the others, it's Christmas. All the craziness, the running around, the gift-buying. The only thing that makes it palatable is watching my grandchildren light up and open their gifts. To help me through the madness, I'd read holiday romance books, watch holiday movies like Christmas Story, Home Alone, and Die Hard, and put my Christmas tree up early. One of my cover designers recently informed me that he was quitting the business and gave me the cover files for my book, Hitman’s Honey. After he did, I thought I could reuse the book cover, with a few changes, and come out with a Hitman's Holiday, romance book.

How hard could it be? After writing a few chapters, and per my usual way, discovered it was more complicated than anticipated. I decided to do it anyway. Luckily, this is the perfect time to start doing this and having Nano to provide the impetus has also helped. If you are interested in writing one, here are two online articles that I found helpful: Laterpress and the other from Writersdigest. One suggestion from Writersdigest said to treat your holiday as if it were a character in your novel.

It doesn't matter which holiday or season it is, but you've got to feel it.

How do I feel it besides getting out the brandy and listening to Christmas music? I'm not a fan of either. I researched further. Other suggestions include:

• Amp of your senses.

  Descriptive details are essential in all your writing, but it becomes even more so in your holiday romance. Think about the smell of gingerbread and Christmas trees, the feel of snowflakes as they land on your nose, the taste of cocoa with marshmallows, and the sound of Christmas carolers as they sing Hallelujah.

• Tie your season into the central conflict. In my case, my hero was pushed out of retirement by his employer. They threaten to kill his wife if he doesn't do one more hit, making him fly from Ireland to NYC, where he goes to protect the heroine. Rylee's there for her book release party (she's a romance author.) My hero doesn't want to kill anymore. He's forced into killing to save someone he loves. He’s torn by loyalty to his past employer and loyalty to his new love. It may come down to him having to sacrifice something to save his heroine, his wife. Will it be someone else’s life and his new-found morals?

• Make the setting fit the holiday. NYC at Christmas time is remarkable; the windows at Macy's, ice skating at Rockefeller Center, snow falling in Central Park, and tea at The Plaza.

• Focus on seasonal themes: forgiveness, family, and how the holidays can make miracles happen, bring people together, inspire acts of kindness, and evoke hope.

• At the same time, keeping the story fresh and not letting it turn into a cliche is a challenge. I've decided my female heroine, Rylee, will be like me, the poor unfortunate thing. She doesn't like Christmas. The reason—her ex-husband was a philanderer and always used the holidays to misbehave with the office staff at the annual holiday office party. On top of that, whatever she gave him as a Christmas gift was never good enough, and he threw it back in her face (literally.) She's already panicking about what to buy her new husband, the retired hitman Connor. He's the exact opposite of her. He has fond memories of Christmas with his mother, and even though they didn't have much, they always celebrated, attending Midnight Mass. His mother made a special dinner on Christmas Day with ham and potatoes and Christmas pudding. His mother always made and gave him a special gift. He couldn't wait to celebrate with Rylee. The only problem is that the agency he once worked for is ruining it all by burning down their cottage and threatening his new wife's life if he doesn't do the job.

• If you're going to write holiday romance, read plenty. Yes, holiday romance is more prevalent in rom-coms. Still, you'll find some in other romance genres, even in fantasy and suspense. Since I'm writing a holiday suspense romance, I pulled a list together and concentrated on them.

  If you've written a holiday romance and can provide some advice, or if you've read some you've loved, please share, leave a comment below:

Have a great week writers, and may sugar plum’s dance in your head and let those bells ring!