Halfway around the world

Ten thousand miles.

That's how far I am from home. It's 10,426 miles, in fact, from my erstwhile home city, Newcastle in Australia, to where I live now, in Alnwick, UK. A flight time of just under 24 hours.

Moving halfway around the world is a bonanza for story ideas. Even apart from warm beer, vinegar on the chips and an abject misunderstanding of the word 'summer', there's so much stuff in the UK that we just don't have at home.


History, for one. Sure, people have lived in Australia for thousands of years. But European settlement only happened in 1788, and unlike Europeans, indigenous Australians didn't tend to alter the landscape to suit themselves. So a lot of their history is invisible, at least to white folk like me.

Standing stones on the Isle of Arran

In the UK, au contraire, you can't turn around without falling over a ruin. As civilisations rose and fell, as kings and queens came and went with their entourages and armies, they built stuff. Standing stones, dolmens, Stone Age huts, Roman forts, ditches, canals, bridges, castles and manor houses.

And along with them, we find a rich history of fabulous tales, mostly involving corruption, crime and slaughter, with the odd ghost story and whodunit thrown in.

Part of Warkworth Castle

Fine fodder for a story-teller. Especially a fantasy writer, like me, who sees fairies and vampires under every rock. But it gets me thinking: when I get back to Australia -- and I am going back -- I wonder if I'll see home the same way? Because Australia has a delicious history of hauntings, crooks and derring-do, too.

Only, familiarity breeds contempt. You don't appreciate what you see every day. Cool things go unnoticed in the rush of everyday life. The locals in the UK probably think a ruined Roman fortress or a 13th century castle haunted by the ghosts of dead soldiers is boring as hell.

So, yeah. When I get home, I hope I'll pay more attention. There may not be castles and kings and 2,000-year-old Roman relics where I come from. But that doesn't mean we don't have stories worth hearing.

History, in that sense, is a bit like the paranormal. You only see it if you look... Except, of course, in the UK, where you can't miss history, because it's everywhere.

Unlike summer. They don't have summer here. After a few alleged 'summers' like this? Free transportation to Australia for convicts was a pretty good deal. Go ahead, you British folk, beat us in the Olympics and thrash us in the cricket all you want. Our weather is still better. We put tomato sauce, not vinegar, on the chips. And the beer's cold :)

Scottish Romance Author Susan Buchanan

What's More Romantic Than a Trip Abroad?

By Susan Buchanan

It’s fitting that this is international writers month on the blog, as although I’m  Scottish and my

Susan Buchanan

books are set in Scotland,  each has an international flavour.  I’ve decided, belatedly, that this will be a trademark of my writing. I am lucky as I have travelled extensively over the years,  so I have plenty of real life experience to draw from on the travel front.

I’ve always found it stimulating when reading a book, or watching a movie and discover that I’ve been to the location. It makes the book/movie resonate more with me, whether it’s set in San Francisco, Tokyo or in the Highlands of Scotland. That’s one of the main reasons I include travel and foreign climes in my novels, plus, it adds to the excitement - everyone loves a bit of escapism! And if you haven’t visited the places, I’m told that my novels actually have convinced  people they must visit Tuscany or Barcelona. Apart from that, there’s something mysterious about a romance abroad.

I loved writing the Italian scenes in Sign of the Times.  I’d spent some time in Tuscany the summer prior to writing the novel and had no idea at that point that Bibbiena would feature in my first novel. But, after visiting the town, it would have been a crime not to. Much of the anecdotal detail actually comes from that villa holiday, including when Holly mistakenly orders 800g of salami instead of 8 slices - not much difference!

 The panoramas described are those I could see from the villa overlooking the Tuscan countryside and the description of the villa owner was based on a B&B I stayed at on the Amalfi Coast, not Tuscany.

And if I were single, I would love to meet Dario and have him show me his vineyard and discuss those  Italian books I had studied at university, which Holly found in the library of his stately home.

When Lucy, Holly’s man-eating sister goes to Lucerne in Switzerland, again I took the description and even the hotel from a business trip I’d been on a few years ago, but can I just clarify, I didn’t get up to any of the shenanigans that Lucy did! When she goes ski-ing and meets Robbie, although I set the scene in Switzerland, I was remembering my one and only ski trip to Austria and modifying some of the details - I really did do that midnight toboggan run - complete with schnapps for Dutch courage, but again, in my case, there was no romantic involvement - but oh the sexual tension in Lucy’s case! Nothing like a bit of après-ski!

The Dating Game continued the travel theme. I wanted to have the 4 girlfriends having a minibreak in a European city. Since I used to live in Barcelona, it was a no-brainer to set it there. I’ve also been back several times in recent years for various festivals and those feature heavily in the novel.  And sometimes, as in Gill’s case, romance comes along when you’re least expecting it. From the Sagrada Familia, the fabulous beaches, the Catalan cuisine, the plazas, the shopping, Gaudí, the festivals - Barcelona has it all and I for one wanted to capture that.

I hope that the inclusion of Hong Kong, my favourite Asian location,  in my new novel, What If, to be launched later this year, meets with as much approval from readers as the others. Now I wonder where I can set my fourth book...

Learn more about Susan at
www.SusanCBuchanan.blogspot.co.uk

Celebrating Romance

Celebrating Romance

By Sarah Raplee and Judith Ashley

The month of May marks the 2^nd Anniversary, or Blog-O-Versary, of Romancing The Genres. The Genre-istas’ posts will be about Celebrating Their Writing but underneath it all is a broader based celebration: Celebrating Romance.

Within the Genre-istas' posts contemporary, historical, suspense, mystery, western, military, fantasy, paranormal, and science fiction romance is explored. Several of the Genre-istas Celebrate Romance by blending genres – merging two or more into their own special concoction of love.

Our journey these past two years has exposed us to fantastic writers who celebrate romance in all parts of the world. Our Genre-istas come from the U.S., Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. We've invited an international group of Romance authors to join us as Guest Contributors in May for our Blog-o-versary Month.
A couple of times a year, we sit down and take a look at where we are and where we want to go. We brainstorm topic ideas for the Genre-istas, and Contributor themes. We do research to find Guest Contributors who fit our themes.

Through it all, we keep in mind that the purpose of Romancing The Genres group blog is to entertain and inform readers by bringing together diverse points of view to explore and Celebrate Romance in all its permutations.
We truly believe Celebrating Romance every day adds joy and happiness to our lives. We invite you to Celebrate Romance with us.

Enjoy,

Judith and Sarah