It’s really interesting where ideas for romance books come from, or really, books in general. Some ideas brew for a long time (months/years) in the back of your mind, others just smack you upside the head and say “write me! Write me right now!”
Hero Ever After was one of those romance books that appear out of nowhere and then jump up and down and demand to be written.
It all started innocuously enough. I was reading the children’s book Homer Price to my kiddo for a school assignment (side note: this book is by the author Robert McCloskey who wrote Blueberries for Sal, one of my favorite children’s books ever – I used to pick blueberries just like this as a kid (and my adventures also sometimes included black bears)). One of the stories in Homer Price was about a little boy who was obsessed with a comic book/movie star super hero. The boy insisted that the super hero was the real deal. Homer insisted he was a fake. The super hero visited the town and sure enough, he was a dud.
This little story in Homer Price caught my imagination and held on tight. I started writing Hero Ever After that very afternoon.
I had two characters cemented in my mind. A failed, washed-out Hollywood “super hero” named Liam Stone and a little girl who believed he was the real deal. The idea for the little girl, Bean, came first. Her mom, Ginny, came next. Most parents will probably agree, one of the scariest things you can go through as a mom or dad is your kid being sick and not being able to do anything about it. That’s Ginny’s story. She is willing to do anything to help her daughter, and that’s where Liam Stone comes in. Love is the happy consequence of their struggle.
Beyond love, I always want my hero and heroine to be better off than when the book began, so even if they don’t end up together they are still better for having known each other. The point isn’t to fall in love, the point is to grow and become a better person – love helps us do this.
I hope you enjoy reading Hero Ever After. I really enjoyed writing a book with so many wonderful characters. I fell in love with them and I hope you do too!
