I don’t know about you, but I love reading about how authors came up with their ideas for their books. The process is always so unique for each person and even each book.
So here’s my story of how The Wedding Hoax came to be…
Sometimes a story starts as just a character, or a place, or a situation that pops into my head. I love it when that happens! The Wedding Hoax was not that easy. I was stuck for a new idea. I knew I wanted to write something for Entangled since I loved reading their books, but I didn’t know what. So for about a month, I sat at my computer thinking up different characters, back stories, plots, and conflicts. I’d try to write up the idea so it would read like story description on the back of the book, because sooner or later, that’s where it would be, right? Then once I had it polished and pretty, I’d send it off to my agent feeling confident that she’d think it was an idea Entangled would like…no, LOVE. I’d practically hold my breath the whole time I waited to hear back from my agent.
Finally, I got a response…
Nope. Not right. Not the right hero, not the right heroine, not the right plot… *head/desk*
I did this for a whole month. A MONTH!
I can’t tell you how many ideas I went through that she just nixed. I stopped counting. Just like I stopped counting my teardrops. I’m kidding… Sort of…
After countless hours spent brainstorming, I gave up.
LOL. I know, I’m a role model for perseverance.
And I did the only thing I could think of to distract myself from my agent’s heartless rejections. (Not really. I love my agent! Jill, you rock. Seriously.) I flipped on the TV for a little break. But I had the kids with me, so I couldn’t watch just any TV. It had to be something clean, family friendly, and girlie. I have two very girlie, little girls.
So a marathon of Say Yes to The Dress it was!
Sitting there on the couch, eating popcorn, and critiquing wedding dresses with my then 5 and 7.5 year olds, the idea finally hit me. What if my heroine was a wedding dress designer? Oh, I liked that idea! What if she had to enter into a business deal to score an investment to save her struggling design house? Oh…I liked that idea too! What if she had to partner with the biggest bridal magazine in the country…which just happened to be run by her “most-eligible bachelor” ex-boyfriend? OMG, what if they had to get engaged?! Could you imagine? I could!
Yes! Yes! I say yes!!
After another week of brainstorming the details, I finally hit send on The Wedding Hoax idea and gnawed on my nails until I heard back from my agent. Once I found out she liked it, I got to work writing. And I have to say, even after all the struggle to craft the perfect idea, I still had so much fun writing Cole and Daisy’s story!
And whenever I needed a little inspiration for The Wedding Hoax, I flipped on another marathon of Say Yes To The Dress.
Come on, admit it… You love that show too.
Happy Reading!
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