Harper Impulse Fortnight officially starts tomorrow, and in typical glitz and glamour style Romy Sommer has swanned down the Books with Bunny red carpet to launch the event with an exclusive post which examines that much-given advice "Write what you know".
Thanks to Romy for taking the time to pop and share her thoughts (and also for the man candy further down....)
"Write what
you know. That advice is often given to aspiring writers. It’s the same advice
I would give to aspiring writers. But me taking that advice? Not so much.
When I
started out writing, people would ask me why I don’t write about the movie
business. After all, movie are so glamorous! Not so much.
No matter
what line of work you’re in, unless it’s international espionage, I guarantee
you feel your day job is decidedly unglamorous. And when you come home from
eight hours (or ten or twelve, as often happens in the movie business) the last
thing you feel like doing is sitting down at the laptop to immerse yourself in
the same world you’ve just left behind at the office.
So my first
attempts at novels, and my first HarperImpulse book, Waking up in Vegas, featured characters who’d never been anywhere
near a film set. But somehow the movie business just wouldn’t let me get away
with it. When I needed to give Kenzie Cole a reason to be in the Caribbean in The Trouble with Mojitos, guess what? I
made her a film location scout. Okay, so I know a few location scouts in my day
job, but that’s not exactly Hollywood, is it?
Cue book
three, To Catch a Star. Set on a film
set. Starring a Hollywood actor.
I think by
now you’re seeing the pattern, aren’t you? No matter how I tried to avoid it,
what I do in my day job sucked me right back in. Book four, Not a Fairy Tale, is even set in
Hollywood. (Kinda. There’s a lot of Venice Beach in there too!)
By this
stage I’ve hopefully intrigued you enough that you’re wondering: so what is
Romy’s day job?
I work in
Production. That’s the logistical planning, practical side of film-making.
We’re the people who balance budgets, do paperwork, and ensure that all the
real film-makers have the support they need (like equipment, transport,
accommodation).
These days
I make TV adverts for a living, but when I was young and didn’t have a family
to come home to, I worked on a few TV series and a handful of international
feature films shot in South Africa.
I diss the
day job quite often, but to be honest it’s taken me to some unusual places,
given me some amazing memories, and introduced me to some interesting people.
And yes, I am so going to name drop!
On the down
side, the kind of movies that often get shot here in South Africa are not big
Hollywood blockbusters (though that’s changed a little in recent times). So the
kind of international actors I got to work with were usually unknown, has-beens
(I won’t name names for fear of causing offence) and a few who had yet to make
their come-backs (like Kevin Bacon and Corbin Bernsen).
Only two
stand out as being so truly awesome they deserve a mention. When I worked with
Taye Diggs on Drum he
was already a ‘name’. After Drum he
went on to become a household face in Private
Practice. In fact, Taye has a few things in common with Christian, my hero
in To Catch a Star: (a) gorgeous movie
star, (b) down to earth, (c) utterly charming and loved by everyone on set.
The other
person who could never, ever be called a has-been or an unknown was Eva Marie
Saint, who I met on I Dreamed of Africa. She is the epitome of grace and class, and meeting her and her lovely
husband Jeffrey Hayden, even for the briefest moment, was life-changing for me.
Not only did they inspire me to want to be a better person, but they showed me
that true and lasting love really exists. Kind of an important thing for a
romance writer to believe in.
And so
that’s how I came to write what I know. And for anyone who tells me they don’t
really believe in Hollywood romances because they don’t last, I have only one
thing to say: Eva Marie Saint and Jeffrey Hayden. Married 64 years this year.
And now,
just because a blog post wouldn’t be worth reading without it, here’s the eye
candy: "
Not a Fairy Tale by Romy Sommer
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
And
the award goes to…
Not
Nina Alexander that’s for sure.
With
her best gracious loser face firmly in place, Hollywood’s hottest starlet is
hoping to end her evening of disappointment with a graceful exit stage left.
Only an unexpected proposal and an awkward wardrobe malfunction mean that this
is certainly going to be a night to remember… for all the wrong reasons! So
what girl would resist the gorgeous Dominic Kelly coming to her rescue?!
Especially when he’s whisking her out of the paparazzi’s prying eyes on
the back of his motorbike – and wearing a tux to rival James Bond!
Nina soon realizes that the only way to recover from such a scandal is
to toughen up and snag the role of the decade in the year’s hottest YA screen
adaptation. Who better to train her than her very own professional stuntman?
Getting up close and personal with Dom will take Nina well out of her comfort
zone – both professionally and in her closely scrutinized private life.
But this A-list couple know only too well that’s it not all happy ever
afters in Hollywood…
Not a Fairy Tale is published by Harper Impulse, a division of Harper Collins, and is
available from the following online retailers:
About the Author:
I’ve always written stories for
myself, but didn’t even think of being an author until I realised that being
over thirty and living in a fantasy world was a little odd. Writing those same
stories for other people makes it a lot more acceptable!
By day I dress in cargo pants and
boots for my not-so-glamorous job of making movies but at night I come home to
my two little Princesses, in Johannesburg, South Africa, where I live, and I
get to write Happy Ever Afters. Since I believe every girl is a princess, and
every princess deserves a happy ending, what could be more perfect?
