Joining me today in The Loft is author Christina Alexandra. Christina writes historical romance spanning from Georgian and Regency England to the gold fields of California. She uses her varied life and work experiences to craft true-to-life characters and emotional stories with a unique twist on modern issues. When not researching, writing, or working as an emergency services operator, she spends her spare time traveling, cooking—oftentimes with a historical flare—and connecting with fans and friends on social media. An avid trivia junkie, Christina is constantly on the lookout for random facts in the hopes that it will help her in her never-ending quest for a spot on “Jeopardy!”
S: Good morning, Christina. Thanks for joining me today.
What do you think is the biggest issue facing romance authors today?
C: I know a lot of people are worried about AI in the writer and artist spaces. I’m not terribly concerned over this since AI is still a soulless machine that has no hope of replicating human emotion, tone, or voice. To me, the biggest threat facing romance is visibility. There are so many books out there, some wonderful and complex, and others wonderful and comforting, others, not so much. With so many books out there, it is very difficult for new independent authors to find their audience. Yes, there is a reader for every book out there, but getting that book into the hands of the reader is where it becomes difficult.
S: Self-publishing certainly opened the floodgates. Estimates are that up to four million books are now published a year. That makes for some pretty stiff competition.
Why write romance?
C: You know all those bad cliches about romance that people always use to denigrate the genre? Those are the absolute reasons I love romance and write it. I love the formula Hero + Heroine + Shenanigans = HEA. I love the predictability of romance and its emotional payout. I work in a very real-world day job that doesn’t always have a positive end. Romance gives me that blast of endorphins that I need to get through my day. I love the angst, drama, and trauma of the relationships, but I also love how it all falls together in the end. I think we all need that boost of positivity and something to look forward to at the end of the day. And if someone else needs that rush of endorphins and gets it from what I write, then I will be happy.
S: It would be a dark, dark world without romance--in fiction and the real world.
How do you develop your characters? Do you use photos or a vision board?
C: Oh, my… characters. I have a list of characters and character pairings that I work off of. I don’t really know who they are. Their personalities, backgrounds, and drama/trauma don’t come into play until I start writing or outlining. I do use Pinterest to find images for characters and settings that I put in a mood board. I try to make a Pinterest board for each of my stories, so readers who follow me there can see what the inspiration for the characters and stories are.
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S: That's a clever idea and a good way to keep readers engaged.
Do you outline the plot for your stories before writing?
C: I outline my longer stories, especially my series. My long-form stories and series have several plot threads in them, some running through the entire series, and I definitely need to keep track of who does what, how that thread impacts which characters, and how it relates to other external events. I have this big dry-erase board that I keep a series-long timeline on and plot out those points. I like being able to see it all in front of me and writing it out helps cement it in my brain. My short stories, like "A Midnight Scandal," usually only have one plot thread and don’t require any heavy outlining. They only have the main relationship plot so there isn’t much for me to keep track of. I do keep a minimalist outline that is basically a list of whose point of view I’m in and the major plot point that happens.
S: Do you utilize tropes when writing romance?
C: I do now, kind of. It took me a long time to figure out tropes and how to use them. Now they kind of happen accidentally in the story. I can definitely recognize them when they do happen. My current story, "A Midnight Scandal," is trope-centric. Its part of an anthology project where the only requirement was that all stories had to be the Wrong Bed trope. That was a fun challenge!
S: I was also confused about tropes when I began writing romance. Then I realized I was already utilizing them. I just hadn't affixed a label to them.
What do you write first—the blurb or the book?
C: For my short stories, I write the story first. Mainly because I don’t outline or plot them as heavily, so I don’t know what’s going to happen. On my longer stories, I come up with a concept first–usually a single line that gives the main relationship plot. I build a blurb around that, then I go into the rough outline, and finally, I start writing. It’s a whole process.
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S: Do you write in other genres?
C: I tried! I had one disastrous attempt at science fiction, but I always revert back to romance. Specifically, historical romance. I tried contemporary once, but that didn’t work. I couldn’t figure out the language, or the clothing--especially the clothing. And what is up with all this technology? I think I was always destined to write historical fiction and romance.
S: What is the best/worst thing that has ever happened to you as a writer?
C: I was in a critique group years ago. It was three writers seeking publication, and a published author acting as a mentor for the group. We all submitted a chapter a week, then met up in person to discuss and critique each other's pages. The published mentor happened to write in my genre, and they had a bad case of writer’s block. They’d written and traditionally published at least five books, and was feeling the pressure from their agent to submit something soon. One night they ripped my chapter to shreds, telling me the story idea I had was ridiculous, that the concept was unbelievable, no one would believe a heroine would be desperate enough to behave in such a way, and the entire situation was anachronous to the time period. I wasn’t too happy to hear that, but the worst part came two weeks later when they came to the group and showed us what they were submitting to their agent as their next book–the exact same scenario that I had written the month before. I know you can’t copyright ideas, but this felt like a stab in the back. If the idea was so wrong and unbelievable as they said, why did they turn around and use it themselves? That, along with literally throwing a dictionary at me when I questioned some word choices, made me realize this was not the help I needed to get my book written. Luckily, I didn’t take their initial advice, and they never submitted that book to their agent. That author has since stopped writing in the genre altogether. That was a tough time for me. I ended up shelving that entire project and didn’t write anything for over a year.
S: What a horrible experience.
What inspired "A Midnight Scandal?"
C: "A Midnight Scandal" was inspired by tropes! The main trope and theme of the anthology was Wrong Bed. For the longest time that was how I referred to it. It didn’t get a title until I was forced to choose one upon submitting to the anthology coordinator. Using that trope as a starting point, I took off from there. The story itself went through about 15 different versions before I settled on the story as it is now. I started with a Maid in Manhattan vibe, but that evolved into a second-chance romance between a battle-weary soldier with PTSD, and his childhood friend and first love.
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