0:00:15 > 0:00:17# Please hold me close
0:00:17 > 0:00:20# And whisper that you love me... #
0:00:20 > 0:00:26'Publishing giants Mills & Boon are celebrating their centenary in a way only they could,
0:00:26 > 0:00:31'with champagne, red roses and semi-clad men with finely honed torsos.
0:00:31 > 0:00:36'All the ingredients for the classic romance stories on which they've built their reputation.'
0:00:36 > 0:00:41I think all of my novels have, at least in some degree, quite a lot about truth and lies.
0:00:41 > 0:00:44'My name's Stella Duffy, and the kind of events I get invited to
0:00:44 > 0:00:48'are usually a little more down-to-earth...like my novels.'
0:00:48 > 0:00:50'I write literary, and crime fiction.
0:00:50 > 0:00:52'Traditional romance isn't really my thing.
0:00:52 > 0:00:55'But the BBC's set me a challenge...
0:00:55 > 0:00:57'to write a Mills & Boon.'
0:00:57 > 0:00:59What do you know about Mills & Boon?
0:00:59 > 0:01:01Nothing! Nothing! I know nothing!
0:01:02 > 0:01:05'It'll prove even more difficult than I thought.'
0:01:05 > 0:01:09I can't do it! I can't do it!
0:01:09 > 0:01:12'Along the way I'll be learning from the fans...'
0:01:12 > 0:01:14I went to boarding school, and the Mills & Boon were like drugs.
0:01:14 > 0:01:18'And I'll get some frank advice from the experts.'
0:01:18 > 0:01:23Where's the grit? You know, there's got to be the real grit of raw emotion here.
0:01:25 > 0:01:29'But will it be enough to crack the secret of writing a successful Mills & Boon?'
0:01:49 > 0:01:54I'm only singling out the couples, because I hate the couples,
0:01:54 > 0:01:57the f... couples, the f... kissing, smiling, simpering,
0:01:57 > 0:02:00love you, love me, make our baby, we'll be a family, couples.
0:02:03 > 0:02:09'I've written 11 novels and they're all fairly realistic about modern relationships...intentionally so.
0:02:10 > 0:02:12'The images that Mills & Boon conjure up for me
0:02:12 > 0:02:15'are of doe-eyed virgins submitting to men in slacks,
0:02:15 > 0:02:19'as if the delights of Girl Power never happened.'
0:02:19 > 0:02:22Everything's going to be all right.
0:02:23 > 0:02:26'I'm really not sure how best to approach this.
0:02:26 > 0:02:30'But if I've got any chance of making it as a romance writer,
0:02:30 > 0:02:32'I'd better get some sensible advice.
0:02:34 > 0:02:39'I'm off to Romance HQ to meet one of Mills & Boon's editors, Maddie Rowe.'
0:02:41 > 0:02:43- Hello.- Maddie?
0:02:43 > 0:02:44Yeah. You must be Stella.
0:02:44 > 0:02:45Hi, come this way.
0:02:49 > 0:02:51That is a very large pile of books you have there.
0:02:51 > 0:02:53- Isn't it?- Talk me through them.
0:02:53 > 0:02:57- So, the whole point is, I have this challenge.- Hmm...
0:02:57 > 0:03:01- I see it as a challenge rather than an obstacle.- An opportunity!
0:03:01 > 0:03:02Yes, opportunity, good!
0:03:02 > 0:03:05I have this opportunity to try and write a Mills & Boon novel.
0:03:05 > 0:03:07- Do you call them novels or books? - Books.
0:03:07 > 0:03:09Books. A Mills & Boon book.
0:03:09 > 0:03:12And I don't know how to do it.
0:03:12 > 0:03:14- OK.- What really makes a Mills & Boon?
0:03:14 > 0:03:17- A sexy hero.- Yes.
0:03:17 > 0:03:21Very, very, very sexy. Ruthless, powerful, arrogant, preferably.
0:03:21 > 0:03:27A feisty heroine who can hold her own with him and really intense emotional conflict, based on passion.
0:03:27 > 0:03:30- Right.- That's it. After you've got those three things going on,
0:03:30 > 0:03:34you can put it within any of our sub-genres, but those are the three key.
0:03:34 > 0:03:37What are the things I can't...? I have got a list.
0:03:37 > 0:03:40What are the things, OK? Am I allowed to have drunkenness?
0:03:40 > 0:03:43- Yes.- Oh, good, because I can write drinking, that's good.
0:03:43 > 0:03:45- Divorce?- Yes.- In all of them?- Yes.
0:03:45 > 0:03:47Fantastic! Bad language?
0:03:47 > 0:03:51I think if the character really needs to swear, the character should swear.
0:03:51 > 0:03:53- Sex outside marriage? - Definitely. Lots of it!
0:03:55 > 0:03:57Brilliant! Good. Which sort of finishes with,
0:03:57 > 0:04:00does she have to be a virgin? I guess it's no.
0:04:00 > 0:04:03No, definitely not, although, obviously, you can have
0:04:03 > 0:04:06the ruthless hero explaining the ways of the bed to her.
0:04:06 > 0:04:09So, for the first-time writer, sending in their chapter, chapters
0:04:09 > 0:04:13and synopsis, what is the likelihood of them getting published?
0:04:13 > 0:04:17- We receive about 2,000-3,000 submissions a year.- OK.
0:04:17 > 0:04:20- And on a good year, which was 2006, we bought 20 authors.- Wow!
0:04:20 > 0:04:23So, low, but possible.
0:04:23 > 0:04:25We do buy all the time.
0:04:34 > 0:04:38'If I'm hoping to become one of the chosen few who do get accepted by Mills & Boon,
0:04:38 > 0:04:43'I'd better read some of their books, and Maddie's given me a load to start with.'
0:04:45 > 0:04:48Jennifer LeBrec, kind of a made-up name!
0:04:48 > 0:04:50"She harrumphed."
0:04:50 > 0:04:52Who harrumphs?
0:04:57 > 0:05:01"Maddie Guthrie's nipples were hard, but her mouth was dry as she stared
0:05:01 > 0:05:03"into the sea-green eyes of the man standing a few feet away.
0:05:03 > 0:05:07"He was tall and dark and dangerous..." So much, so Mills & Boon...
0:05:07 > 0:05:12"A man she'd admired for his jungle cat reflexes, his steel-trap mind.
0:05:12 > 0:05:15"His tough body, honed to the physical specifications of an Olympic athlete.
0:05:15 > 0:05:22"Only Jack Connors was no athlete. He was an ex-CIA agent she often worked with on special projects.
0:05:22 > 0:05:24"He gave her a small shrug.
0:05:24 > 0:05:28" 'If you want me to go in with you on this mission, you'll go to bed with me first.' "
0:05:28 > 0:05:32- TANNOY:- 'Change for the Circle Line via High St Kensington...'
0:05:32 > 0:05:35Reading through the pile of books Maddie gave me,
0:05:35 > 0:05:39I was a bit shocked to see just how much Mills & Boon have raunched up.
0:05:39 > 0:05:42Their books now come in 12 highly-branded genres.
0:05:42 > 0:05:44Blaze are the full-on sexy ones,
0:05:44 > 0:05:47but for the more modest reader you've also got Modern,
0:05:47 > 0:05:52which always features wealthy alpha males and Hello! Magazine locations.
0:05:52 > 0:05:57Nocturne, a new imprint with Buffy the Vampire Slayer-style supernatural romances,
0:05:57 > 0:05:58and Medical.
0:05:58 > 0:06:01Think Holby City but with sexier staff.
0:06:01 > 0:06:03Oh, no, that's ER.
0:06:03 > 0:06:05OK then, ER but...not.
0:06:12 > 0:06:15OK, so, like this one, Rebecca York's Body Contact, for me,
0:06:15 > 0:06:18there does feel like there's another sex scene every 10 pages.
0:06:18 > 0:06:21These are the ones that she said were full of a lot of sex.
0:06:21 > 0:06:24You know, I'm sure lots of people really enjoy this.
0:06:24 > 0:06:28And clearly, this woman is very successful at it, and people want to buy them.
0:06:28 > 0:06:32I'm just not really sure I want to write things that say, like,
0:06:32 > 0:06:35" 'God, you're magnificent,' he said, his voice so low, it was almost a growl."
0:06:35 > 0:06:37"I knew your body would be like this,
0:06:37 > 0:06:39"feminine curves with underlying strength,
0:06:39 > 0:06:42"but I always wondered if you were a natural blonde?"
0:06:42 > 0:06:46SHE LAUGHS HYSTERICALLY
0:06:46 > 0:06:51That's fine. What I mean is, it's not possible for me to write that without knocking it.
0:06:51 > 0:06:54You know, I can barely read it, without laughing at it.
0:06:54 > 0:06:57And certainly, reading them in the tube, was making me shy.
0:06:57 > 0:07:01And I have written fairly graphic sex, but it's not fantasy sex.
0:07:01 > 0:07:05When I've written it, it's been as real as I could make it. That's been the point.
0:07:05 > 0:07:10I think that I'll probably be writing this sort of "Modern" imprint, which is these ones.
0:07:10 > 0:07:12They've got much more character.
0:07:12 > 0:07:16There's a bit of sex, but that's not the main thrust of it, as it were!
0:07:16 > 0:07:18Unlike the Blaze ones.
0:07:18 > 0:07:23I think that might be more possible, because the character thing, I think, I can probably do.
0:07:23 > 0:07:28I'm not sure I can totally buy into the alpha male who wins her over in the end, even though she's feisty,
0:07:28 > 0:07:31and brilliant and strong, she gives in in the end.
0:07:31 > 0:07:34That's not because I think all women have to be brilliant and strong either.
0:07:34 > 0:07:40I find the idea of every single man being alpha male and every woman giving him in the end,
0:07:40 > 0:07:43that would bore me to write that all the time.
0:07:43 > 0:07:45Why do you think women read these?
0:07:45 > 0:07:46SHE LAUGHS
0:07:48 > 0:07:50Oh, this sounds really rude, I don't know.
0:07:50 > 0:07:54What is the secret of a good Mills & Boon book?
0:07:54 > 0:07:57Well, I don't know, really, I just like 'em!
0:07:57 > 0:08:01I think if you want a real genuine answer, you better go and ask Mr Mills & Mr Boon.
0:08:01 > 0:08:06I'm ever so sorry to interrupt, but I'm just getting to this dead good bit, I'm sorry, I'll have to go.
0:08:06 > 0:08:09Mills & Boon, founded in 1908.
0:08:09 > 0:08:15Phenomenal success after publishing a steady stream of romantic fiction, written by women, for women.
0:08:15 > 0:08:21Through the depressed '30s, reading became the favourite form of escapism.
0:08:21 > 0:08:25The Second World War, says Mills & Boon, broke down the class barriers,
0:08:25 > 0:08:28both in the romantic world and the real one.
0:08:28 > 0:08:32Through the permissive Swinging Sixties into an age of increasing cynicism,
0:08:32 > 0:08:36the world has always been able to buy itself a happy ending.
0:08:39 > 0:08:42Well, I think it's because there are fewer happy endings
0:08:42 > 0:08:45in life and reality
0:08:45 > 0:08:48that our readers like to read about them.
0:08:48 > 0:08:55I suppose, really, we are probably the most profitable paperback firm in the world.
0:08:55 > 0:08:57'Writing for Mills & Boon is a big deal.
0:08:57 > 0:09:00'They sell a book every three seconds.
0:09:00 > 0:09:04'So if I pull this off, I could be writing for an audience of millions!'
0:09:04 > 0:09:05I'm Stella. Hello.
0:09:05 > 0:09:08'But it always helps to have an idea of who the readers are,
0:09:08 > 0:09:11'so I'm meeting up with some real Mills & Boon lovers.'
0:09:11 > 0:09:14So, you're the Mills & Boon super-fans.
0:09:14 > 0:09:20- Definitely.- Gillian, you're clearly, you know, something of a not just super, but super duper fan.
0:09:20 > 0:09:25Be brave, tell me how much money you've spent on Mills & Boon in all this time.
0:09:25 > 0:09:28I understand, although I haven't worked it out, but I understand from
0:09:28 > 0:09:34Mills & Boon that I have spent somewhere in the region of £20,000, but I hasten to add,
0:09:34 > 0:09:41that that is since the '70s, so that's 30-odd years, so that's not so bad when you look at it that way.
0:09:41 > 0:09:45No, it's not, but some of those were probably only 50p back then.
0:09:47 > 0:09:49That's a lot of books!
0:09:49 > 0:09:57I must admit that I usually read between 30 and 40, perhaps more than 40 books every month.
0:09:57 > 0:10:00I'm like an addict.
0:10:00 > 0:10:01Tell me how you got into it?
0:10:01 > 0:10:04Linda, what was your first Mills & Boon?
0:10:04 > 0:10:10By first Mills & Boon was probably one of the older Modern ones
0:10:10 > 0:10:12when I first had my children.
0:10:12 > 0:10:17I was probably about 19 and I had, sort of, my first daughter,
0:10:17 > 0:10:21then I had two others within the year, so I had three young children
0:10:21 > 0:10:25and I didn't go out very often, so I used to subscribe to the reader service,
0:10:25 > 0:10:27and used to sit at home when they had gone to bed and just read those
0:10:27 > 0:10:32cos I used to find it relaxing and that's how I got into it.
0:10:32 > 0:10:35And I've been there ever since. That was 20, 25 years ago.
0:10:35 > 0:10:37What was your first?
0:10:37 > 0:10:39I think my mother gave me my very first one.
0:10:39 > 0:10:45My mother was an English teacher, and I think as far as she was concerned, any book was a good book.
0:10:45 > 0:10:49The other thing was, I went to boarding school,
0:10:49 > 0:10:53an all-girls school, and the Mills & Boon were like drugs.
0:10:53 > 0:10:55Basically, they were passed round.
0:10:56 > 0:11:03You'd find out who had the latest or had any and we would, basically, go off and go,
0:11:03 > 0:11:08(have you got any?!) I do remember sitting on a beanbag during my A-levels in someone's room.
0:11:08 > 0:11:10They revised while I read Mills & Boon.
0:11:10 > 0:11:12Did you pass?
0:11:12 > 0:11:15Yes. I went to university.
0:11:15 > 0:11:17But I think it was just that relaxation, it's like, the world is
0:11:17 > 0:11:22- stressful enough, I don't actually have to engage every part of my brain in reading this book.- Sure.
0:11:22 > 0:11:25It's just the bit that stops me worrying.
0:11:29 > 0:11:31The last novel I wrote was a love story.
0:11:31 > 0:11:34A love letter to South London, which is where I live.
0:11:36 > 0:11:40For this one though, I'm going to have to stick to good old making things up.
0:11:40 > 0:11:43Well, that's a blank screen.
0:11:43 > 0:11:45That's a blank page.
0:11:45 > 0:11:47And that's a blank whiteboard.
0:11:47 > 0:11:52At least the basic principles are set in stone. Boy meets girl...
0:11:52 > 0:11:56- I beg your pardon, I didn't catch your name.- Shaw. Teddy Shaw.
0:11:56 > 0:11:59- Mine is Chick Kirkland. Very pleased to meet you.- They fall in love...
0:12:03 > 0:12:05- There's a bit of conflict in the middle...- Let me go!
0:12:05 > 0:12:07Teddy!
0:12:07 > 0:12:10Before the compulsory happy ending.
0:12:10 > 0:12:12- Chick?- Yes.
0:12:12 > 0:12:13I've got a backgammon board.
0:12:19 > 0:12:21I won't have to write the happy ending.
0:12:21 > 0:12:24Like every first timer submitting to Mills & Boon,
0:12:24 > 0:12:27the first three chapters and a synopsis are all that's required.
0:12:27 > 0:12:29And I think I'm onto something already.
0:12:29 > 0:12:31This is my character idea.
0:12:32 > 0:12:35So you've got good twin...
0:12:37 > 0:12:38Bad twin.
0:12:40 > 0:12:43Good twin is looking for The One.
0:12:43 > 0:12:44Right?
0:12:44 > 0:12:46Bad twin doesn't care.
0:12:49 > 0:12:53She's just a bit of a goer. Good twin is holding out for The One.
0:12:53 > 0:12:55I don't think she's going to be a virgin.
0:12:55 > 0:12:58There's not many of them in the Mills & Boons I've been looking at.
0:13:00 > 0:13:02Then you have the bloke.
0:13:02 > 0:13:06The whole point is, good twin is looking for The One in order to find her true self.
0:13:06 > 0:13:10Bad twin doesn't care, but she probably gets with him at one point anyway.
0:13:10 > 0:13:14Um...just because that's what bad twins always do.
0:13:16 > 0:13:19And I don't know, other than that, that's where it is.
0:13:19 > 0:13:22I did ask some friends what they thought they should do.
0:13:22 > 0:13:26My friend, novelist Victoria Routledge, suggested ice sculptress.
0:13:26 > 0:13:31And I really liked this, because I think you can start an interesting first chapter.
0:13:31 > 0:13:34Good twin, right, is an ice sculptress,
0:13:34 > 0:13:36because you can...
0:13:36 > 0:13:38Sculptress, let's spell that right.
0:13:38 > 0:13:41Because if she's in a cold, scary place, with a chisel and a hammer,
0:13:41 > 0:13:43it sounds like it might be a different kind of novel.
0:13:43 > 0:13:48And I do think they like that, from the ones I've read, they like them starting off in a way...
0:13:48 > 0:13:55the historical one I quite enjoyed starts off like an Egyptian, going into a Pharaoh's tomb,
0:13:55 > 0:14:02kind of story and then comes back to the traditional romance, so I think they might kind of like that idea.
0:14:02 > 0:14:04Mills & Boon, I'll put a question mark there,
0:14:04 > 0:14:07because there's no guarantee they're gonna go for it.
0:14:09 > 0:14:12I know I can't afford to be too blase about this.
0:14:12 > 0:14:16Since I started my little adventure, I've discovered other experienced
0:14:16 > 0:14:20writers who have tried their hands at Mills & Boon and failed.
0:14:20 > 0:14:25One of those who didn't manage is crime writer Mark Billingham. Maybe he can warn me about the pitfalls.
0:14:27 > 0:14:29- OK, so...- Shouldn't you be writing?
0:14:29 > 0:14:33Haven't you got a deeply passionate romantic novel to write?
0:14:33 > 0:14:35That's the entire point of me coming to talk to you,
0:14:35 > 0:14:37so you can tell me what to do.
0:14:37 > 0:14:39Cos I've made a big success of it(!)
0:14:39 > 0:14:41Yeah, you have. That's the whole point.
0:14:41 > 0:14:44Big successful crime writer, big successful stand-up.
0:14:44 > 0:14:48- Not such a big successful Mills & Boon writer?- No, a complete wash-out at Mills & Boon.
0:14:48 > 0:14:52- Why did you even think you wanted to do it in the first place? - I didn't think I wanted to.
0:14:52 > 0:14:58I thought, naively, I can do this, I can make money, it's easier than a paper round. What a doddle.
0:14:58 > 0:15:00And it was anything but a doddle.
0:15:00 > 0:15:02- It was horrendous. - How far did you get?
0:15:02 > 0:15:04About six chapters.
0:15:04 > 0:15:08That's a start. But they do tend to be about 30 or 40 chapters.
0:15:08 > 0:15:12It was a novella. It was a... a pamphlet is what it was!
0:15:12 > 0:15:16It was a deeply sensitive romantic pamphlet. It was really hard.
0:15:16 > 0:15:18- Because?- Because there...
0:15:18 > 0:15:23Because of the formula, because of the genre, because you don't care about it?
0:15:23 > 0:15:28It is formulaic, but formulaic in a good way in that you can't be self-indulgent.
0:15:28 > 0:15:31You can't just go, oh, I know, now I'm going to go into her
0:15:31 > 0:15:34head and her family background.
0:15:34 > 0:15:39- You have to get on with the story that they want. - You've got to tell a story.
0:15:39 > 0:15:43That's always the problem with quite a lot of writing, isn't it? You've got to tell a story!
0:15:43 > 0:15:46That's what writing is, isn't it really? It should be.
0:15:46 > 0:15:48- Don't you have to care about the story you're telling?- Yes.
0:15:48 > 0:15:53And if you're doing the Mills & Boon because you can, because apparently they make lots of money...
0:15:53 > 0:15:56Then you're not doing it because you care.
0:15:56 > 0:15:59And I think that's gonna show. It's the same as anything.
0:15:59 > 0:16:02I'm sure most of the people who write Mills & Boon, whoever they are,
0:16:02 > 0:16:05and I'm sure you'll tell me who these mysterious people are,
0:16:05 > 0:16:08it's their job, but I'm sure they care about their characters
0:16:08 > 0:16:11every bit as much as Ian McEwan cares about his characters.
0:16:11 > 0:16:13- Because otherwise you just can't do it?- No.
0:16:13 > 0:16:18- So are you actually writing to a formula when you set out to write a new book?- Erm...
0:16:18 > 0:16:21no, never. Never to a formula.
0:16:21 > 0:16:25The only formula is, you have a man and a woman and a happy ending,
0:16:25 > 0:16:28which, after all, is what every man and woman is looking for.
0:16:28 > 0:16:31That's the aim in life, isn't it? To find someone you can love.
0:16:31 > 0:16:35Whether it's another man, another woman, or even a little doggy.
0:16:44 > 0:16:46I wrote a first chapter.
0:16:46 > 0:16:50And I got really excited because it wasn't the first chapter I thought I was going to write.
0:16:50 > 0:16:56It doesn't have the good twin, bad twin thing I thought it might have, although they might come in.
0:16:56 > 0:17:00And it does very much have the ice sculpture idea.
0:17:00 > 0:17:04And just as I was getting all excited about writing that, I thought,
0:17:04 > 0:17:09she can have an old crumbling building, in the meatpacking district in New York, it's got a
0:17:09 > 0:17:12freezer in it - because it's in the meatpacking district.
0:17:12 > 0:17:14The meatpacking district in New York's very groovy now
0:17:14 > 0:17:17and everything's getting #done up and redeveloped.
0:17:17 > 0:17:20So she can have a developer to be the bloke who is her sort of nemesis,
0:17:20 > 0:17:23and therefore the one that she falls in love with in the end.
0:17:23 > 0:17:25A nice classic bit of Mills & Boonism.
0:17:25 > 0:17:30Then I suddenly realised that the ice sculpture she'd made was beautiful.
0:17:30 > 0:17:34So she needed to kiss him. And when she kissed him, of course he comes alive.
0:17:34 > 0:17:37But she doesn't know that, we know that at the end of the first chapter.
0:17:37 > 0:17:42So I got all excited by that, partly because I like writing fairytale stuff.
0:17:42 > 0:17:45A couple of my novels have been a bit magical.
0:17:45 > 0:17:47And partly because it wasn't what I thought I was doing.
0:17:47 > 0:17:52That's the bit I like best about writing - suddenly it's not what you thought you were doing.
0:17:52 > 0:17:55And then that fits into their Nocturne strand, so that's OK.
0:17:55 > 0:17:59It's not like it's a completely irrelevant Mills & Boon idea!
0:17:59 > 0:18:03It does actually fit into one of their imprints, a sort of modern Buffy style.
0:18:08 > 0:18:11So far, I've made a start on my plot.
0:18:11 > 0:18:15I've got a heroine I like, and I think she fits into the type that Mills & Boon want.
0:18:15 > 0:18:20Mills & Boon heroines can be everybody. The heroine's the reader's gateway into the story.
0:18:20 > 0:18:24So as long as the reader can empathise, put herself
0:18:24 > 0:18:25in the reader's shoes and want to be her,
0:18:25 > 0:18:27anything at all goes.
0:18:27 > 0:18:31Which is great, because my heroine's an ice sculptor.
0:18:31 > 0:18:34In Mills & Boon, the heroine's traditionally been a working woman.
0:18:34 > 0:18:39I've come across air hostesses, nurses and even an undercover secret agent.
0:18:39 > 0:18:44Any job where a girl can meet an eligible professional male.
0:18:44 > 0:18:46Now I need to work on my hero.
0:18:46 > 0:18:49In the books I've read, the men all seem pretty much the same.
0:18:49 > 0:18:52They're the rich alpha male and they're usually in business.
0:18:52 > 0:18:55Here we have not mere millionaires, but billionaires,
0:18:55 > 0:18:59lots of tanned Europeans, and the ever-popular Sheik.
0:18:59 > 0:19:02Ordinary blokes need not apply.
0:19:02 > 0:19:08The Mills & Boon hero has to be very strong, very together, very powerful.
0:19:08 > 0:19:12The kind of man that maybe would be difficult to live with on a day to day basis.
0:19:12 > 0:19:15But in a romance, he's just absolutely perfect.
0:19:15 > 0:19:21The hero of my last novel was a 67-year-old dry cleaner from south London -
0:19:21 > 0:19:24hardly classic Mills & Boon material.
0:19:31 > 0:19:35How do you spell limousine? I don't think I've ever written "chauffeur-driven limousine"
0:19:35 > 0:19:38in anything before, ever.
0:19:38 > 0:19:43Eleven novels, 30-odd short stories, half a dozen plays, I cannot imagine
0:19:43 > 0:19:46I have ever written the words "chauffeur-driven limousine"
0:19:46 > 0:19:48ever before. But it fits here.
0:19:48 > 0:19:51Matt Macdonald climbed out of a chauffeur-driven limousine
0:19:51 > 0:19:53and looked up at the building in front of him.
0:19:53 > 0:19:56Unlike the others on the street, it had not yet had the Macdonald treatment.
0:19:56 > 0:20:02His firm took old buildings, run-down apartments, and turned them into modern palaces,
0:20:02 > 0:20:04with cool lines, elegant architecture
0:20:04 > 0:20:08and something that had come to be known as the Macdonald touch.
0:20:08 > 0:20:10Matt was nothing if not excessive.
0:20:10 > 0:20:12He was well known for his four perfect homes.
0:20:12 > 0:20:15Do you think four is enough? Shall I make it five?
0:20:16 > 0:20:20"his five perfect homes." I know, we should add where they are.
0:20:20 > 0:20:22Eh...
0:20:22 > 0:20:26"Three in the United States,
0:20:26 > 0:20:28"and two in Europe.
0:20:30 > 0:20:32His classic car collection
0:20:32 > 0:20:38and the even longer string... even longer collection...
0:20:38 > 0:20:44the even larger collection of beautiful ex-girlfriends."
0:20:44 > 0:20:46How many words is that?
0:20:49 > 0:20:51One hundred and thirty-two words.
0:20:51 > 0:20:52That's not bad actually.
0:20:52 > 0:20:57You do that 10 times in a day and you're done for the day!
0:21:00 > 0:21:04'Getting it all down on paper is one thing. Getting it done the right style is another.
0:21:04 > 0:21:07'How do I make it sound like a Mills & Boon?'
0:21:19 > 0:21:24To find some answers, I'm off to Italy for something that feels a bit like going back to school -
0:21:26 > 0:21:31a special writing course for aspiring Mills & Boon authors.
0:21:31 > 0:21:36And this week-long romance-athon is being held in Tuscany.
0:21:51 > 0:21:57It will be useful to go to Italy and speak not only to Sharon Kendrick, the tutor, but actually I think it
0:21:57 > 0:22:01might even be more interesting to speak to the other people who
0:22:01 > 0:22:04are there because they want to write Mills & Boon.
0:22:04 > 0:22:07And write out your ending to this book.
0:22:07 > 0:22:13Sharon is one of Mills & Boon's most prolific authors, with worldwide sales of over five million.
0:22:15 > 0:22:20We decided right at the beginning that Mills & Boon was no different
0:22:20 > 0:22:26from any other writing in that you always write with integrity.
0:22:26 > 0:22:32And lots of people try and write these books, and where they fail is they
0:22:32 > 0:22:34write what they think
0:22:34 > 0:22:37people want to read.
0:22:37 > 0:22:40We're working on a 12-point structure, really.
0:22:40 > 0:22:46We have a hero called Luca and a heroine called Ellie.
0:22:46 > 0:22:53And at the end we know that this hero is going to end up with this heroine, and they're going to be
0:22:53 > 0:22:59madly and passionately in love, but there's going to be a strong enough commitment between them that the
0:22:59 > 0:23:01expectation is a happy ending.
0:23:01 > 0:23:04You must know your characters inside out.
0:23:04 > 0:23:11In truth, you want to make your character a three-dimensional person that will leap off the page.
0:23:11 > 0:23:17This afternoon I'd like you to go away and to write the...
0:23:17 > 0:23:22scene where the hero and the heroine make their commitment to one another,
0:23:22 > 0:23:28and this is like the huge emotional high point of the book.
0:23:28 > 0:23:31So don't hold back...
0:23:31 > 0:23:33Don't hold back on emotion.
0:23:33 > 0:23:39Just remember how you feel, how you felt in those moments where you think
0:23:39 > 0:23:47all that love is going to come out, and you daren't hope that it's going to be reciprocated, and it is.
0:24:14 > 0:24:19I'm writing the final scene of a Mills & Boon novel.
0:24:19 > 0:24:23It's not the last scene in the book, it's the final scene in the story.
0:24:23 > 0:24:26There's a nice epilogue that goes into the future.
0:24:26 > 0:24:32He reveals he loves her, she reveals she loves him, all their past problems are out of the way.
0:24:32 > 0:24:36And they cannot but fall into each other's arms in big love.
0:24:36 > 0:24:38As Sharon said, it's more heart than groin.
0:24:38 > 0:24:41So this is the big heart revelation.
0:24:41 > 0:24:44Have you written a scene like this before?
0:24:44 > 0:24:48I think I probably have written things like this before actually,
0:24:48 > 0:24:51but normally when I've written the rest of the book.
0:24:51 > 0:24:56Or maybe at the beginning of a book and then everything goes wrong.
0:24:56 > 0:24:59My books don't tend to end with this kind of a scene,
0:24:59 > 0:25:03but I'm sure there's been things like that in them before.
0:25:03 > 0:25:06They do tend to go wrong quite soon after this bit.
0:25:06 > 0:25:09I don't think I'd be building up to this.
0:25:09 > 0:25:14But it's quite nice to write, and it's a lot easier than writing at home of where there's...
0:25:14 > 0:25:20a phone and the e-mails and the mobile phone and the neighbours' builders getting in the way.
0:25:20 > 0:25:22This is great.
0:25:22 > 0:25:24I could do this all the time.
0:25:37 > 0:25:41She realised now, perhaps too late, that the feelings she had for him
0:25:41 > 0:25:47as a teenager had not died, just quietly gone to sleep, curled up inside her heart.
0:25:47 > 0:25:51The river path stopped abruptly in front of the old loggia.
0:25:51 > 0:25:54She walked under the trailing vines, heavy with ripened fruit,
0:25:54 > 0:25:58through an open door into the main sitting room. Her heart lurched.
0:25:58 > 0:26:03Sitting behind a long, makeshift table were a group of workmen eating their midday meal.
0:26:03 > 0:26:06And that the head of the table sat Luca.
0:26:06 > 0:26:08The look of surprise on his face mirrored her own.
0:26:08 > 0:26:12Before she could say a word, he was at her side leading her back out into the garden.
0:26:12 > 0:26:16- That's as far as I have gone. - Brilliant!
0:26:16 > 0:26:18That's good. Well done, I loved it.
0:26:18 > 0:26:20Everything. The sort of...
0:26:20 > 0:26:25The river... Because I hadn't thought of the river.
0:26:25 > 0:26:29The ripe fruit, that whole kind of way... You made it so real.
0:26:29 > 0:26:32It was fantastic. And I want to read on.
0:26:32 > 0:26:34Feelings curling up inside of you.
0:26:34 > 0:26:36Yes, that was beautiful.
0:26:36 > 0:26:38Which I'd never heard before.
0:26:38 > 0:26:41It was lovely, original, fantastic.
0:26:41 > 0:26:43Stella, would you like to read?
0:26:43 > 0:26:46Luca paused for a moment to survey his handiwork.
0:26:46 > 0:26:49The water level, as high as it was, and the hill so steep there was no
0:26:49 > 0:26:53way they'd be able to get earth-moving machinery up here without watching it sink
0:26:53 > 0:26:56into the earth or worse, roll down the hill taking the driver with it.
0:26:56 > 0:26:59So the hardest of the work, moving old boulders from the stubborn earth
0:26:59 > 0:27:03to create the new mill wall, had to be done by hand.
0:27:03 > 0:27:06Luca had been far more hurt than he'd let on by Ellie's refusal.
0:27:06 > 0:27:09Hurt and pushed into making changes.
0:27:09 > 0:27:14Luca was still working in the low field an hour later when the small, dusty rental car pulled up.
0:27:14 > 0:27:18The first he was aware of Ellie's presence was something in the air.
0:27:18 > 0:27:22The scent of peaches and vanilla in the light perfume she always wore.
0:27:22 > 0:27:24He looked up to see her standing at the outside door.
0:27:24 > 0:27:26She was as surprised as he...
0:27:26 > 0:27:29And as cold. "I wanted to say goodbye...
0:27:29 > 0:27:31"To the mill." "Just the mill?"
0:27:31 > 0:27:34She didn't answer and Luca repeated his question.
0:27:34 > 0:27:37"Just the mill?" She shook her head.
0:27:37 > 0:27:41"To be honest, I don't know. Maybe not, maybe I want to see you too."
0:27:41 > 0:27:44Those few words were all the invitation Luca needed.
0:27:44 > 0:27:47He ran the 20 paces to where she stood, held her to
0:27:47 > 0:27:50him regardless of the mud on his boots and the dirt on his hands.
0:27:50 > 0:27:52And then he was kissing her and she him.
0:27:52 > 0:27:56They were in each other's arms where they were meant to be, and he was whispering, "I'm sorry."
0:27:56 > 0:28:00And she was saying, "I'm sorry," back. And then he was saying "Ti amo."
0:28:00 > 0:28:04And she was saying, "I love you, my darling, I love you." They were saying the same thing.
0:28:06 > 0:28:14Well, I really liked a lot of it but the beginning bit, which was kind of like it was his internal...
0:28:14 > 0:28:16His point of view.
0:28:16 > 0:28:19Saying about all the mistakes he'd made.
0:28:19 > 0:28:25That completely kills the suspense for the final moments.
0:28:25 > 0:28:29The thing is, it's very interesting about the earth-moving trucks
0:28:29 > 0:28:33coming up the valley and the actual logistics of the difficulty
0:28:33 > 0:28:37of earth-moving, but that's not the kind of earth we want to see moving, do know what I mean?
0:28:37 > 0:28:40You can't just start a scene. You've got to give all the back story.
0:28:40 > 0:28:45I know, but sometimes, particularly in these, 50,000 words, less really is more.
0:28:45 > 0:28:50And really, the reader, to be frank, doesn't want to hear about earth-moving, not that kind.
0:28:50 > 0:28:53She doesn't want to hear about the thrashing river.
0:28:53 > 0:28:55She doesn't want to hear...
0:28:55 > 0:29:02She wants to hear the conversation between them that makes it absolutely clear in her mind
0:29:02 > 0:29:08and in their minds that she loves him - whoever's going to make the first step - that he loves her.
0:29:08 > 0:29:10And that it really...
0:29:10 > 0:29:12They really mean it.
0:29:12 > 0:29:17I've never done that in my life, I've never shown anybody a completely rough first draft.
0:29:17 > 0:29:20I think everyone was incredibly brave.
0:29:20 > 0:29:25She said nice things about some of the writing and people have written some really lovely pieces.
0:29:25 > 0:29:28But, actually, people had written them - and I had - in prose.
0:29:28 > 0:29:31What Sharon was saying was that for Mills & Boon they don't want that,
0:29:31 > 0:29:34or at least in her experience, they don't want that.
0:29:34 > 0:29:40What they are after is mostly dialogue where the two characters reveal themselves to each other.
0:29:40 > 0:29:44That's very different, certainly different to the kind of stuff that I do where normally,
0:29:44 > 0:29:46rather than having somebody say,
0:29:46 > 0:29:51"I love you. I'm completely furious with you and I still love you anyway."
0:29:51 > 0:29:55I'd want write that in a prose form with a little bit of dialogue
0:29:55 > 0:30:00so that the reader could work out what was going on at the same time as the characters were.
0:30:00 > 0:30:04I'm kind of rewriting the whole thing...
0:30:04 > 0:30:06In dialogue.
0:30:13 > 0:30:20'All this seems a bit too much like hard work. Time to have a chat with the other students, I think.'
0:30:23 > 0:30:26Ring up every week and say, "How are you getting on with that story?"
0:30:32 > 0:30:35Jennie has already published five Mills & Boons,
0:30:35 > 0:30:39but given she's slightly closer to my stage than million-seller Sharon,
0:30:39 > 0:30:40maybe she has a few tips.
0:30:40 > 0:30:47If I have a core story I would say it's a woman who has nothing saves a man who has everything.
0:30:47 > 0:30:52- And how does she save him? - By helping him realise what's really important in life.
0:30:52 > 0:30:56- Right. And...- So he's giving her financial security?
0:30:56 > 0:31:03Perhaps, but I also like her to be strong enough on her own where she could survive without him.
0:31:03 > 0:31:08It's a choice. I think the financial stuff, the fantasy and
0:31:08 > 0:31:12the glamour, that's really just the frosting, the gift wrapping.
0:31:12 > 0:31:14The really good stuff
0:31:14 > 0:31:18isn't about the money, that's just the fun...
0:31:18 > 0:31:20- wrapping paper. - What's the good stuff then?
0:31:20 > 0:31:24The heart and the emotion
0:31:24 > 0:31:28of believing that you can have that one special person
0:31:28 > 0:31:31that will change your whole life and that it lasts forever.
0:32:00 > 0:32:09Yesterday you all wrote the ending of a book and we decided that it was slightly too soft, too romantic,
0:32:09 > 0:32:12not enough passion, power and not enough dialogue.
0:32:12 > 0:32:18So just to quickly say a few things about dialogue.
0:32:21 > 0:32:25What... When you are reading books...
0:32:25 > 0:32:27I just think that...
0:32:27 > 0:32:33the importance of dialogue is to make it - obviously, make it sound like something you would overhear.
0:32:33 > 0:32:37To remember when you are writing dialogue...
0:32:37 > 0:32:41The best way is to recapture conversations you've had with someone.
0:32:41 > 0:32:47In a way, that gives you a bit of practice because people do not speak in perfectly made out sentences.
0:32:47 > 0:32:51They speak in short, snappy...
0:32:51 > 0:32:54Often, particularly in moments of high passion, they will speak in cliches.
0:32:54 > 0:33:01So have you all written me a nice dialogue-y, punchy ending?
0:33:01 > 0:33:04- Tried.- Tried something.
0:33:04 > 0:33:09- More or less.- Good. Perhaps you'd like to read it out to the group.
0:33:09 > 0:33:14Luca was still working in the low field an hour later when the small rental car pulled up.
0:33:14 > 0:33:19He was swearing so loudly in peasant Italian at the recalcitrant boulder that he didn't hear the sound of
0:33:19 > 0:33:23knocking at the front door, nor the click clack of low heels against the stone floor.
0:33:23 > 0:33:25He did, though, hear Ellie's voice.
0:33:25 > 0:33:31"What you doing?" He looked up. She was there on the patio, her hand gripping the rusted iron railing.
0:33:31 > 0:33:33He stared for a moment then answered,
0:33:33 > 0:33:36his calm tone only just masking the torrent of emotions beneath.
0:33:36 > 0:33:40"I'm re-planting your mother's garden. What are you doing here?"
0:33:40 > 0:33:42"I came... The agent told me...
0:33:42 > 0:33:46"Her letters... I didn't expect you to be here." "No, why would you?
0:33:46 > 0:33:51"Arrogant, money-hungry tycoons don't need to bother getting our hands dirty with real work."
0:33:51 > 0:33:55Ellie flinched at hearing the words she'd shouted at Luca repeated back at him.
0:33:55 > 0:33:58She knew she'd spoken in anger and have been regretting it for weeks.
0:33:58 > 0:34:01What surprised her was that he'd obviously listened.
0:34:01 > 0:34:05He started to walk out again and instinctively, Ellie put out her hand to reach him.
0:34:05 > 0:34:09"Luca, please... Everything that's gone between us, everything we've been through..."
0:34:09 > 0:34:11"You want to be FRIENDS?"
0:34:11 > 0:34:14His emphasis on friends left her in no doubt he didn't appreciate the idea.
0:34:14 > 0:34:16Luca turned, his arm raised.
0:34:16 > 0:34:19For a moment she thought he might actually slap her.
0:34:19 > 0:34:22He clenched his fist, punched the air in frustration, fury at
0:34:22 > 0:34:26the rules Ellie had set for herself and his own inability to just let go.
0:34:26 > 0:34:29"God," he whispered, "Ellie, cara, ti amo."
0:34:29 > 0:34:34He was holding her now, kissing her and she him, both of them sure,
0:34:34 > 0:34:37Luca whispering over and over again, "Ti amo."
0:34:37 > 0:34:41After a moment he felt her hesitating and pulled away. "What is it?" he asked.
0:34:41 > 0:34:44"Nothing, really," she answered. "No, say it."
0:34:44 > 0:34:47Scared he would say no, shy that she was asking
0:34:47 > 0:34:52a stupid question, frightened to push it away again, Ellie said, "Can you say it in English?"
0:34:52 > 0:34:57And on bended knee Luca said, "I love you. Will you marry me?"
0:35:00 > 0:35:05Stella. That was good, punchy dialogue.
0:35:05 > 0:35:08But two things just screamed out at me
0:35:08 > 0:35:15which I couldn't get rid of and it's just showing in a different way, as you know, the power of words.
0:35:15 > 0:35:20The one that really jarred is when she said she actually thought he might hit her.
0:35:20 > 0:35:25Because, you know, there is at no point in any book...
0:35:25 > 0:35:29A Mills & Boon hero might be angry, he might be furious,
0:35:29 > 0:35:36but he would never, ever, ever hit a woman... or a dog or a donkey.
0:35:36 > 0:35:41I don't want to detract... The power of their dialogue was amazing.
0:35:41 > 0:35:46You brought them to life and that's what I really wanted to explain the importance of.
0:35:46 > 0:35:52Is that dialogue brings a scene to life in a way that narrative never can, in my mind.
0:35:54 > 0:35:58Well, that went a bit better. Maybe six out of 10?
0:35:58 > 0:36:01I'm keen to get back to my iceman story,
0:36:01 > 0:36:05but before I go I need to pick Sharon's brains on one more thing.
0:36:05 > 0:36:09The sticky matter of writing Mills & Boon sex.
0:36:11 > 0:36:15Any hints for how best to go about it, given that I'm a first timer?
0:36:15 > 0:36:18- Have you...- Writing a sex scene for Mills & Boon.
0:36:18 > 0:36:20How do you normally write sex scenes?
0:36:20 > 0:36:23As graphically as possible actually, without being romantic.
0:36:23 > 0:36:31- Ah.- My choice has been, in my other novels, to be utterly honest about bellies and flab and...- Urgh.
0:36:31 > 0:36:33- I know, I knew you wouldn't like that.- No.
0:36:33 > 0:36:37To try and do passionate and love realistically.
0:36:37 > 0:36:40OK, let's get one thing straight. There's no bellies or flab.
0:36:40 > 0:36:44The bodies are perfectly honed, just like ours.
0:36:44 > 0:36:47And, um...
0:36:47 > 0:36:49Taut skin...
0:36:49 > 0:36:54But I would just say don't write gratuitously
0:36:54 > 0:36:59but write passionately and with feeling.
0:37:16 > 0:37:20I think Stella is a very realistic writer and I think that one of the
0:37:20 > 0:37:26problems for her could be that she may make her hero a little too real.
0:37:26 > 0:37:29The kind of man who would be very concerned with the land
0:37:29 > 0:37:35and all that it symbolises rather than just being completely concerned with his heroine.
0:37:35 > 0:37:40But I'm really looking forward to reading her submission and waiting to see what the editor thinks.
0:37:52 > 0:37:55I think I've learned a lot more about how it's done,
0:37:55 > 0:37:59and about how somebody who really cares to do it can do it.
0:37:59 > 0:38:03And I think that's great, and I love to know about narrative structure and things like that.
0:38:03 > 0:38:06They really appeal to me in my own writing.
0:38:06 > 0:38:09I also think it's really clear to me, not that it ever wasn't before,
0:38:09 > 0:38:15you have to want to do it, and I'm not sure I want to do this.
0:38:15 > 0:38:19I don't necessarily want to know that everything's gonna end up happy in the end.
0:38:19 > 0:38:23I really do want to write real life and not fantasy.
0:38:40 > 0:38:44The grey reality of South London doesn't seem to have dampened my post-Italy enthusiasm.
0:38:44 > 0:38:49What's more, I think I've finally nailed the plot...
0:38:49 > 0:38:51Sort of.
0:38:51 > 0:38:53We've got the...
0:38:53 > 0:38:56ice sculptor, who's the heroine.
0:38:58 > 0:39:02Who makes an ice sculpture...
0:39:02 > 0:39:06Who looks like he might be the hero because when he kisses him he comes alive
0:39:06 > 0:39:08and she thinks he's lovely and they have a bit of passion.
0:39:08 > 0:39:10I'm not sure I'm going to put that in but that's the idea.
0:39:10 > 0:39:15And because every heroine protagonist needs a hero antagonist,
0:39:15 > 0:39:20she gets to have the hero who is the classic Mills & Boon alpha male...
0:39:20 > 0:39:25property developer who is wealthy and successful and a man
0:39:25 > 0:39:29from her past, which means I get to have a flashback sex scene early on.
0:39:29 > 0:39:31I think Sharon quite liked them as a concept.
0:39:31 > 0:39:35So what that does, and this is possibly a little too complicated for
0:39:35 > 0:39:39a 55,000 single line narrative Mills & Boon but I can't help myself...
0:39:39 > 0:39:42You get a nice, classic love triangle
0:39:42 > 0:39:46because she falls in love with the ice sculpture, who loves her back.
0:39:46 > 0:39:50But we find out later that he is loving her wickedly, not purely.
0:39:50 > 0:39:54She does still love the hero property developer who she loved from the past.
0:39:54 > 0:39:57Then the hero property developer and the ice sculpture
0:39:57 > 0:40:02have to fight it out to win her love in whatever way they can.
0:40:02 > 0:40:04See? A nice love triangle.
0:40:14 > 0:40:19I'm quite liking the story but it still doesn't feel very Mills & Boon.
0:40:19 > 0:40:25Despite having written two chapters, I'm finding it difficult to write what I think they want.
0:40:25 > 0:40:30I reckon it is time to get some feedback from the one person I know who'll tell it to me straight.
0:40:32 > 0:40:34PHONE RINGS
0:40:39 > 0:40:42- Sharon Kendrick. - Sharon, it's Stella.
0:40:42 > 0:40:45- Hello, darling!- How are you?
0:40:45 > 0:40:47I'm really good.
0:40:47 > 0:40:50- That's better. - Are you sitting down?
0:40:50 > 0:40:53I have to ask you important questions now.
0:40:53 > 0:40:56Do you remember just as we were getting ready to leave Tuscany,
0:40:56 > 0:41:00I was telling you how I think at the end of my second chapter I'd just brought the two of them together?
0:41:00 > 0:41:06You were horrified that I'd waited until the end of the second chapter to be my hero and heroine together.
0:41:06 > 0:41:08Yes. Utterly.
0:41:08 > 0:41:11But I think it works really nicely, Sharon.
0:41:11 > 0:41:14You've got the whole first chapter about her and the whole second chapter about him and then they
0:41:14 > 0:41:16come together and then you get a nice flashback in Chapter 3.
0:41:16 > 0:41:21It might work very nicely, but you won't be meeting reader expectations.
0:41:21 > 0:41:26If you go out to buy a white shirt, you don't want a shop assistant telling you a blue one looks good.
0:41:26 > 0:41:30OK, but is there never any place for surprising your reader?
0:41:30 > 0:41:36Yes, of course in the freshness of intimacy of the relationship between the hero and the heroine.
0:41:36 > 0:41:42There has to the chemistry right there early on. What are they called?
0:41:42 > 0:41:46She's called Tyler Ogilvy.
0:41:46 > 0:41:50It's American. She's allowed to have that surname, first-name thing.
0:41:50 > 0:41:56Because he's Irish and Italian mix and because I've got him in the Tuscan hills,
0:41:56 > 0:41:58he's called Matt Bonari.
0:41:58 > 0:42:03- I quite like those, yes. Good! - He's a property developer, which is why he's so wealthy.
0:42:03 > 0:42:08What he puts into his properties as an extra thing at the very end,
0:42:08 > 0:42:12he always adds what he calls the "Bonari Bonus".
0:42:12 > 0:42:19It's like a studio or a swimming pool. ..Sorry?
0:42:19 > 0:42:21The "Bonari Bonus"? Yes.
0:42:21 > 0:42:23Can I call it the "Bonari Bonus"?
0:42:23 > 0:42:26- I don't like that.- Why not?
0:42:26 > 0:42:28Because it sounds...
0:42:28 > 0:42:31I think the "Bonari Touch"
0:42:31 > 0:42:37would be better. To me it just sounds like something - some extra points to be gained down the supermarket.
0:42:37 > 0:42:39No, no...
0:42:42 > 0:42:46The "Bonari Touch" is a nice play on him also touching her.
0:42:46 > 0:42:48He touches her more than anyone else.
0:42:48 > 0:42:51That's fantastic. Brilliant, Sharon, now I've got a title.
0:42:51 > 0:42:55- That's marvellous. Thank you so much.- Good luck.
0:42:55 > 0:42:57Speak to you later, goodbye.
0:43:00 > 0:43:02Good.
0:43:02 > 0:43:04So...?
0:43:04 > 0:43:06She doesn't pull any punches, that woman, does she?
0:43:06 > 0:43:08No, that's terrible, don't do that!
0:43:08 > 0:43:11The "Bonari Touch" is actually better. The "Bonari Bonus"
0:43:11 > 0:43:13is definitely more of a joke.
0:43:13 > 0:43:18Obviously, as we know about Mills & Boon, you've got to look like you're taking it seriously.
0:43:18 > 0:43:24I completely disagree with her in terms of what I want to write
0:43:24 > 0:43:26about bringing them together in the first chapter.
0:43:26 > 0:43:30The problem is whilst I completely know that Sharon knows what she's
0:43:30 > 0:43:33talking about, and I absolutely get it, and she says you've to get the
0:43:33 > 0:43:37heroine and hero together sooner, that's what the reader wants, I understand all of that.
0:43:37 > 0:43:39But it's not what I want.
0:43:39 > 0:43:46I think this would be the crux of the matter if I ever did try to write a whole one of these.
0:43:46 > 0:43:49I want to write what I want. That's why I'm a writer.
0:43:49 > 0:43:54- Are you enjoying it?- I'm not enjoying it because I'm caught between wanting to do what I would like
0:43:54 > 0:44:00to do and wanting to do what they say they want their writers to do.
0:44:00 > 0:44:06And probably not succeeding with either, which isn't great.
0:44:06 > 0:44:08No, Paul.
0:44:08 > 0:44:11No, this can never be.
0:44:11 > 0:44:13Not for us, Paul.
0:44:14 > 0:44:16You and I are worlds apart.
0:44:16 > 0:44:18It cannot be.
0:44:21 > 0:44:25I need some support so I've come to see Lauren Henderson,
0:44:25 > 0:44:28a friend who writes all kinds of genre fiction.
0:44:29 > 0:44:32She's bound to have some kind words for me.
0:44:32 > 0:44:33Isn't she?
0:44:33 > 0:44:38I have to say you are probably the worst person to be writing this.
0:44:38 > 0:44:41When I heard you were doing it, I seriously thought
0:44:41 > 0:44:43you were going to have a problem with it.
0:44:43 > 0:44:47You're not going to be able to do it in a sexy, ironic way. It's going to annoy you.
0:44:47 > 0:44:50You can't be ironic. It isn't even allowed to be ironic a little bit.
0:44:50 > 0:44:53It has got to be just sexy because everybody
0:44:53 > 0:44:57we talk to about Mills & Boon were saying they read them for fantasy.
0:44:57 > 0:44:59I want to have them both taking charge.
0:44:59 > 0:45:00I want to have them both being passionate.
0:45:00 > 0:45:03This is going to be a disaster!
0:45:05 > 0:45:09No, so far it's only a bit of a disaster.
0:45:09 > 0:45:11Just think about this as a chamber piece.
0:45:11 > 0:45:14Think of it as an expanded short story.
0:45:14 > 0:45:18I don't want to. I want to write a book with other characters and extra things happening.
0:45:18 > 0:45:20- You're fighting this with everything you have.- I am.
0:45:20 > 0:45:27I thought it would be simpler to go, "OK, I'm doing a format, I'll do the format."
0:45:27 > 0:45:29You're coming across as being really...
0:45:29 > 0:45:32I know, I know I am. No, I'm not.
0:45:32 > 0:45:36It's partly because I am taking the writing of it quite seriously.
0:45:36 > 0:45:40As opposed to sitting there with a bucket of martini and just churning it out.
0:45:40 > 0:45:43I think that's where you're going wrong. You want a nice gin pail.
0:45:43 > 0:45:46And just scoop up some more.
0:45:46 > 0:45:50I want to try and do it right and because I'm trying to get it right...
0:45:50 > 0:45:52- I think you are thinking about this too much.- Maybe.
0:45:52 > 0:45:55You're thinking about this too much and not drinking enough.
0:45:55 > 0:45:59That and having a camera over my shoulder. It's not ideal.
0:45:59 > 0:46:03Usually writing when drunk is something I would never advocate and there have been those times
0:46:03 > 0:46:06in the evening when I have had a couple of drinks and thought, I have got a really good idea.
0:46:06 > 0:46:09You wake at the next morning and it is...
0:46:09 > 0:46:13In this case I think a stiff martini before work might actually...
0:46:13 > 0:46:19You need to project yourself into that world and you're having trouble finding the magic door at the back of
0:46:19 > 0:46:21the wardrobe that will help you walk through.
0:46:21 > 0:46:27I definitely have every intention of a very strong vodka martini for the writing of the sex scene.
0:46:27 > 0:46:31# Nothing's impossible, I have found
0:46:31 > 0:46:35# For when my chin is on the ground
0:46:35 > 0:46:40# I pick myself up, dust myself off
0:46:40 > 0:46:42- # Start all over again... # - Do you want an olive?
0:46:59 > 0:47:00"She'd never been in love like this before
0:47:00 > 0:47:06"and though he was almost seven years older, she believed him when he said
0:47:06 > 0:47:09"he hadn't either."
0:47:09 > 0:47:12Maybe you should leave the room now.
0:47:12 > 0:47:16It's probably a little rude to look over somebody's shoulder when they're writing a sex scene.
0:47:17 > 0:47:19# Work like a soul inspired
0:47:19 > 0:47:23# Till the battle of the day is won
0:47:25 > 0:47:29# You may be sick and tired
0:47:29 > 0:47:34# But you'll be a man, my son
0:47:34 > 0:47:37# Don't you remember the famous men
0:47:37 > 0:47:42# Who had to fall to rise again?
0:47:42 > 0:47:47# They pick themselves up, dust themselves off
0:47:47 > 0:47:49# And start all over again. #
0:47:50 > 0:47:52You can only use this if you are sober. I'm joking.
0:47:55 > 0:47:57"Back in his apartment, they rushed from elevator
0:47:57 > 0:48:03"to door to bedroom, not seeing the walls, let alone the floor, not seeing anything until the bed.
0:48:03 > 0:48:06"His body and her body fitting like they were made for each other,
0:48:06 > 0:48:13"an easy fit, a smooth fit, a perfect fit, an "Oh God, I can't believe it can be this good" fit.
0:48:13 > 0:48:18"They both burst out laughing and, looking deep into each other's eyes, said it again."
0:48:20 > 0:48:275,000 words, three martinis and a sex scene later, my supernatural- style romance is finished.
0:48:27 > 0:48:31I'm fairly pleased with what I've written, but is it right for Mills & Boon?
0:48:31 > 0:48:36I might just run it by some experts before Maddie, the editor, makes the final judgment.
0:48:36 > 0:48:39"She turned back and blew a kiss to the beautiful ice man.
0:48:39 > 0:48:43"She hoped the 16th birthday Princess would appreciate him
0:48:43 > 0:48:47"when he stood at the centrepiece of her party table tonight. She certainly did.
0:48:47 > 0:48:50"Tyler turned off the light and closed the freezer door.
0:48:50 > 0:48:55"Behind her, in the dark, the ice man smiled and blew a kiss in return.
0:48:55 > 0:48:59"He rather appreciated what he'd just seen as well."
0:48:59 > 0:49:03Oh, interesting.
0:49:03 > 0:49:07I think it would fit very nicely into the Intrigue Nocturne series.
0:49:07 > 0:49:09Absolutely. There wouldn't be a problem with the fact
0:49:09 > 0:49:13that she is in love with and having sex with someone else not the hero?
0:49:13 > 0:49:18Has she created the ice figure in his image at the back of her mind?
0:49:18 > 0:49:21That's good. That's lovely.
0:49:21 > 0:49:24That would make it less of a...
0:49:24 > 0:49:28And she doesn't realise that until later on. That is very nice.
0:49:28 > 0:49:30Thank you. I like that.
0:49:30 > 0:49:35That was the only bit I thought they might stutter at.
0:49:35 > 0:49:37That she's having sex with somebody who is not the hero.
0:49:37 > 0:49:43But if you make it that it's in his image, it is almost like...
0:49:43 > 0:49:46If she can't have the real person, she's got the image.
0:49:48 > 0:49:52But she hasn't connected the two.
0:49:52 > 0:49:54He doesn't see it until the end.
0:49:54 > 0:49:59Also when he has to fight off the ice man at the end, he is fighting himself.
0:49:59 > 0:50:01That's very nice.
0:50:01 > 0:50:04Like a negative in a photograph.
0:50:06 > 0:50:14I like that, because to me a lot of the Mills & Boon I've seen, he might save her financially or
0:50:14 > 0:50:18from being too busy or not having enough time for emotion, but she
0:50:18 > 0:50:21tends to be saving his heart, his soul.
0:50:21 > 0:50:24That would be quite nice, actually. Good, OK.
0:50:30 > 0:50:33That was great. They were really lovely, they were very kind.
0:50:33 > 0:50:35But the best bit, they solved my entire...
0:50:35 > 0:50:38"You're not allowed to have them meet at chapter two, it's got to be chapter one."
0:50:38 > 0:50:42I'll make chapter one the prologue, chapter two, chapter one, chapter three, chapter two,
0:50:42 > 0:50:45I'm going to cut my synopsis and make it a blurb,
0:50:45 > 0:50:47then I'm going to make my synopsis to my narrative arc.
0:50:47 > 0:50:51It's all fantastically sorted and the best bit, even though
0:50:51 > 0:50:56I thought the synopsis was a bit too long for them, they went ooh, at the right bit, not, ugh!
0:50:56 > 0:51:02so as long as they are going, ooh, I think at least I've got a chance of Maddie not hating it.
0:51:12 > 0:51:14I've only got one more to go.
0:51:15 > 0:51:18So, with the last few changes made and a note
0:51:18 > 0:51:22to Maddie saying "here you go", my Mills & Boon is ready to send.
0:51:24 > 0:51:27I'm feeling very nervous about it, I haven't...
0:51:27 > 0:51:30posted something like this for about 14 years.
0:51:30 > 0:51:32Also, these days, most people do it by e-mail.
0:51:32 > 0:51:39Mills & Boon, unusually, still take unsolicited manuscripts, that don't quite fit!
0:51:39 > 0:51:40There.
0:51:44 > 0:51:47I expect she'll say no, and even though I expect she will say no,
0:51:47 > 0:51:49I'll still be hurt and mind if she says no,
0:51:49 > 0:51:51We don't like it, it's not our kind of thing.
0:51:51 > 0:51:56Of course it would upset me. I'm a writer and I want everyone to love everything I do.
0:51:56 > 0:51:59We all do, it would be stupid not to.
0:51:59 > 0:52:01So, we'll see.
0:52:06 > 0:52:11I'm leaving for a few days, when I return, I hope to bring interesting news.
0:52:19 > 0:52:28The big day. And like any good Mills & Boon heroine, I'm all a-flutter. Will I get my happy ending?
0:52:28 > 0:52:29So, how are you feeling?
0:52:29 > 0:52:31Erm, more than a little bit nervous.
0:52:31 > 0:52:36It's like that bit where you go to a doctor's to get test results, and they say, how are you?
0:52:36 > 0:52:38And, let's chat. You go, just tell me what's happened!
0:52:38 > 0:52:40So, I'm going to go in
0:52:40 > 0:52:42and she will want to say, hi, how are you?
0:52:42 > 0:52:45Be all nice and I'll just want to go, do you like my book or not?
0:52:45 > 0:52:49Get on with it. But I will be more polite than that, obviously.
0:52:54 > 0:52:56Hello, lovely to see you.
0:52:56 > 0:52:58You're so warm! It's freezing outside!
0:52:58 > 0:53:00It's disgusting, isn't it?
0:53:06 > 0:53:08Thank you so much for looking at it, Maddie, it's brilliant.
0:53:08 > 0:53:12No, it's great, loads of fun. Overall, I thought it was beautifully written,
0:53:12 > 0:53:15wonderful to read and I was really excited about it.
0:53:15 > 0:53:20It's the first magic realist Mills & Boon that I've ever read in my entire life.
0:53:21 > 0:53:24Where did you think you were aiming for, because we talked a lot about series?
0:53:24 > 0:53:28Nocturne, maybe Nocturne Intrigue.
0:53:28 > 0:53:30I truly did try and do a straight story.
0:53:30 > 0:53:37But, at the end of the first chapter, which was just the first chapter, because Sharon was so
0:53:37 > 0:53:43certain you can't have your hero and heroine not meet until chapter two, that's just so bad and wrong.
0:53:43 > 0:53:47The fans said, why don't you make the first chapter a prologue and chapter two chapter one?
0:53:47 > 0:53:49- So you cheated?- So, I cheated!
0:53:49 > 0:53:52It was the fans who suggested it,
0:53:52 > 0:53:54so the end of what is now the prologue,
0:53:54 > 0:53:57I would've just had her making an ice sculpture,
0:53:57 > 0:54:00but then it just seemed so sensible that he kissed her back.
0:54:00 > 0:54:06So, well not sensible, but sensible in a magical kind of way and I had read a couple of the Nocturne ones.
0:54:06 > 0:54:09So, I thought that, really.
0:54:09 > 0:54:16What I really liked about this was, the hero who is absolutely spot on, alpha male wonderfulness.
0:54:16 > 0:54:21I thought you had a great sense of glamour and glitz and excitement.
0:54:21 > 0:54:25I loved the Manhattan setting, I thought it was really, really, really well evoked.
0:54:25 > 0:54:31This is very kind of languorous and beautiful, but I think when you're talking about 50 to 60,000 words
0:54:31 > 0:54:33you might have to think about upping the pace.
0:54:33 > 0:54:36You know that pace is so upped, compared to what it was!
0:54:36 > 0:54:39I don't think I've ever worked so hard on three chapters, also I
0:54:39 > 0:54:42haven't done three chapters and a synopsis since my first book.
0:54:42 > 0:54:44- As you said in your e-mail. - Yes, it's really, really daunting.
0:54:44 > 0:54:47What about the sex scene? That was quite hard work for me.
0:54:47 > 0:54:50I did wonder about that, no, it was brilliant.
0:54:50 > 0:54:53It was properly sexy and I like the way you were doing
0:54:53 > 0:54:58it in flashback as well which gave you an opportunity to do very happy, very uncomplicated, very sexy.
0:54:58 > 0:55:01That was a three-martini sex scene.
0:55:01 > 0:55:04Well, whatever it took, it worked.
0:55:04 > 0:55:06I did then edit it and make it tidy.
0:55:06 > 0:55:09- SHE SLURS HER WORDS - I did tidy it up.
0:55:09 > 0:55:13But to write the first draft of it, was definitely, I will have a martini
0:55:13 > 0:55:17to think about it after I'd been thinking about it for a week, then sit down and do it.
0:55:17 > 0:55:24By the time I had taken four hours to write the thing, we'd gone through an entire martini shaker.
0:55:24 > 0:55:25I do think you found your own way.
0:55:25 > 0:55:29I was thinking, if this had come in the slush I would have been overjoyed,
0:55:29 > 0:55:33because it's got an individual voice and great narrative drive and
0:55:33 > 0:55:38I did want to know more about the characters, I would have sent for the next bit, had you written it.
0:55:38 > 0:55:40- That's good.- Thank you very much.
0:55:40 > 0:55:43So, shall we go and have a pint of wine, to make me happy.
0:55:43 > 0:55:45A whole pint of wine?
0:55:45 > 0:55:48We might have to share it. Is that all right?
0:55:52 > 0:55:55I believe now, what you said the other night.
0:56:07 > 0:56:09So, the Mills & Boon epilogue.
0:56:09 > 0:56:14You know, where our heroine looks back on her journey and reflects on what she's learned.
0:56:14 > 0:56:17It certainly wasn't love at first sight.
0:56:17 > 0:56:24But, sure enough, once she was swept off to a glamorous location, her heart started to melt.
0:56:24 > 0:56:32There were some last-minute doubts, but, helped by alcohol, they finally got it together.
0:56:32 > 0:56:38And our heroine was surprised at how much she'd come to care.
0:56:41 > 0:56:45I tried to do the best I could, to do what they like.
0:56:45 > 0:56:50It's not quite them, but at least she liked what I did and she liked it a lot, so that's really nice.
0:56:52 > 0:56:55All the things I really believe are true, you should write what
0:56:55 > 0:57:01you want to write and you should do it for yourself, not for a market or
0:57:01 > 0:57:06what your perception of what a market might be is, because who knows what that market is?
0:57:06 > 0:57:11According to Maddie, there's a dozen different markets for Mills & Boon,
0:57:11 > 0:57:15so the idea there's only one that works is entirely silly.
0:57:16 > 0:57:18ROMANTIC MUSIC
0:57:27 > 0:57:32Overall, I think there's this vast appetite for fantasy and escapism
0:57:32 > 0:57:36that maybe we don't all think exists.
0:57:36 > 0:57:41Maybe we think it belongs to television or to film, or theatre.
0:57:41 > 0:57:46Clearly, there's a huge desire for it in the Mills & Boon audience,
0:57:46 > 0:57:49which is many millions of people.
0:57:55 > 0:57:59Secure in the knowledge that our heroine has learned all she needs,
0:57:59 > 0:58:06she can now go off into the sunset of a perfect life, happy, and fulfilled.
0:58:06 > 0:58:08Well, more or less!
0:58:09 > 0:58:11# I know a falling star
0:58:11 > 0:58:14# Can't fall forever
0:58:15 > 0:58:18# But let's never
0:58:18 > 0:58:21# Stop falling in love
0:58:22 > 0:58:26# No, let's never
0:58:26 > 0:58:28# Stop falling in love. #
0:58:28 > 0:58:31Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:58:31 > 0:58:33E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk