Welcome back, Nancy! Over to you...
Thank you, Sue!
How much trouble is time with you? Hmm. That might sound
like an odd way to introduce a blog post but, for me, the aspect of time is a
huge factor in my novels.
Getting the timeline correct for my contemporary mystery
thriller Take Me Now took a little work since my main female character, Aela Cameron, has a finite amount of
days in her temporary employment contract with Nairn Malcolm. There’s no hanging about for Nairn who likes
everything done in a hurry – even though he’s a tad incapacitated. The mystery
needs solved before what is potentially lethal really does become a deadly
outcome, so the days are numbered in the storyline.
In Take Me Now, I wanted to convey two
main things about Nairn Malcolm. One was that a normally active and energetic
alpha male like Nairn would have major difficulty with incapacitation and
wouldn’t stop doing what he normally does just because he’s sporting a pair of
crutches under his armpits. The second thing was that someone like Nairn’s
business schedule would still be equally as important to him as finding the
saboteur who is both harming his businesses and himself.
The sequence of events in Take Me Now is compressed
into a few short weeks, the temporary contract for Aela being set at one month. I dithered a little over that decision
because the healing of broken bones averages at around 6 weeks but then
concluded that after four weeks an enterprising invalid will have found
sufficient strategies to make being ‘almost normal’ a workable thing. Since I
wanted to inject some humour into the novel, I’ve made Nairn’s initial weeks after his mysterious accident very
action-packed, though also very frustrating for a developing romantic
situation. Crutches and broken ribs do not make a casual amorous clutch!
I’ve personally never suffered from any bone fractures so
imagination had to kick in big time when I wrote the novel. How about you?
Would you say it’s a reasonable assumption to state that after around four
weeks, even though still in plaster cast/s an accident victim will have
‘almost’ normal mobility? And that an alpha male, aided by an equally alpha
female (if there is such a phrase), would manage to cope much sooner in the
recuperation phase, as Nairn has?
Whatever your answer, I thoroughly enjoyed creating my
damaged Highland Hero- Nairn Malcolm in Take Me Now.
Thank you for inviting me here today, Sue - it’s lovely to pop in
to see you…
Nancy Jardine writes historical romantic adventures (Celtic Fervour Series); contemporary
mystery thrillers (Take Me Now, Monogamy
Twist, Topaz Eyes - finalist for THE PEOPLE’S BOOK PRIZE 2014), and time-travel historical adventures for
Teen/YA readers (Rubidium Time Travel
Series). All historical eras are
enticing and ancestry research a lovely time-suck. She regularly blogs and
loves to have guests visit her blog. Facebook is a habit she’s trying to keep
within reasonable bounds. Grandchild-minding takes up a few (very long) days
every week and any time left is for reading, writing and watching news on TV( if
lucky).
Find Nancy
Goodreads
Twitter @nansjar
Google+ (Nancy Jardine) YouTube book trailer
videos Amazon UK author page Rubidium
Time Travel Series on Facebook http://on.fb.me/XeQdkG
Thank you, Sue. Such prompt service- I'm impressed. :-)
ReplyDeleteA great website with interesting and unique material what else would you need. PBN Blog Post
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