SKATING ROMANCE (NOT THE BOITANO SPECIALS)
Before I wrote mystery novels, I wrote romances. I published four: The Fictitious Marquis, Thieves at Heart and Annie's Wild Ride with AVON, and When a Man Loves a Woman with DELL.
There were also many (very many) that I did not publish. Among them was a proposal I called Love Spiral. It was a romance set in the figure skating world. The editor's reason for not buying it was that romance novels were about fantasy. And she didn't think any women fantasized about having a male figure skater fall in love with them. (Obviously, she hadn't done a thorough tour of Internet-based fan fiction).
The main characters in Love Spiral were Christian Kelly and Gabrielle Cassidy. He a two-time Olympic Gold Medalist, she a former rink-mate who'd cracked under the pressure of elite competition. They meet again years later, when Gabrielle is running a training center based on the principle of no-stress teaching, and Chris is looking for a coaching job after injuries put an end to his performing career. There is a former coach in the picture (he runs a competing training center and is eager to see Gabrielle fail), but the bulk of the story is Chris and Gabrielle's sparring-turns-to-(what else?)-love relationship.
When it came time to write Skate Crime, I finally had a skating mystery I could drop Chris and Gabrielle in to. The coach became murder victim Lucian Pryce. And suddenly Chris and Gabrielle's very different feelings about their old mentor became the center of their story.
Even though it took over five years, ultimately a mystery set in the skating world proved an easier sell to publishers than a romance. But what do you all think? Is there a market for a skating themed romance?
There were also many (very many) that I did not publish. Among them was a proposal I called Love Spiral. It was a romance set in the figure skating world. The editor's reason for not buying it was that romance novels were about fantasy. And she didn't think any women fantasized about having a male figure skater fall in love with them. (Obviously, she hadn't done a thorough tour of Internet-based fan fiction).
The main characters in Love Spiral were Christian Kelly and Gabrielle Cassidy. He a two-time Olympic Gold Medalist, she a former rink-mate who'd cracked under the pressure of elite competition. They meet again years later, when Gabrielle is running a training center based on the principle of no-stress teaching, and Chris is looking for a coaching job after injuries put an end to his performing career. There is a former coach in the picture (he runs a competing training center and is eager to see Gabrielle fail), but the bulk of the story is Chris and Gabrielle's sparring-turns-to-(what else?)-love relationship.
When it came time to write Skate Crime, I finally had a skating mystery I could drop Chris and Gabrielle in to. The coach became murder victim Lucian Pryce. And suddenly Chris and Gabrielle's very different feelings about their old mentor became the center of their story.
Even though it took over five years, ultimately a mystery set in the skating world proved an easier sell to publishers than a romance. But what do you all think? Is there a market for a skating themed romance?
posted by Alina Adams at 4:39 AM
3 Comments:
At December 18, 2007 11:21 AM,
Anonymous said…
I love romances, and i would definitely love to read a skating romance story, but i sure can understand that is difficult to sell one
PS. I love your Skating mystery stories, I was also wandering how much of your personal experience went into Bex character?
At December 18, 2007 11:58 AM,
Skatergrrl said…
I just read the Intro and first 3 chapters of Love Spiral and got completely sucked in! Would love to know what happens with Chris and Gabrielle!
At December 19, 2007 6:48 AM,
Anonymous said…
Thank you both for writing and for your very kind words!
How much of my experience is in Bex? A lot. Some of it is punched up for comedy effect, and some of it is based on stories other researchers have shared, but most of it has a basis in fact. Many readers have written to me guessing which fictional skater is based on which real-life skater. If you have any ideas, I'd love to hear from you.
As for what happens to Chris and Gabrielle -- you can read all about it in my latest book, "Skate Crime." I had to change some details when I went from the romance to the mystery genre, so if you enjoyed the romance based proposal, you should have a lot of fun seeing the changes they go through to become mystery suspects.
All the best -
ALINA ADAMS
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