Author Spotlight (and Guest Blogger): Lindsay Townsend

I am truly delighted to welcome British writer, Lindsay Townsend to my blog today. I'm often in awe of Lindsay's prolific writing output and she still takes time to run several forums, such as the one I joined, British Romance Fiction. I'm even more excited that Lindsay is my first guest blogger as she has written the following wonderful post on writing from fairytales. I loved her short novella, A Christmas Sleeping Beauty, and the way she turned the helpless Sleeping Beauty idea on its head. I'm now looking forward to reading The Snow Bride.

The Snow Bride Blurb:

She is Beauty, but is he the Beast?

Elfrida, spirited, caring and beautiful, is also alone. She is the witch of the woods and no man dares to ask for her hand in marriage until a beast comes stalking brides and steals away her sister. Desperate, the lovely Elfrida offers herself as a sacrifice, as bridal bait, and she is seized by a man with fearful scars. Is he the beast?

In the depths of a frozen midwinter, in the heart of the woodland, Sir Magnus, battle-hardened knight of the Crusades, searches ceaselessly for three missing brides, pitting his wits and weapons against a nameless stalker of the snowy forest. Disfigured and hideously scarred, Magnus has finished with love, he thinks, until he rescues a fourth 'bride', the beautiful, red-haired Elfrida, whose innocent touch ignites in him a fierce passion that satisfies his deepest yearnings and darkest desires.

So a warm welcome, Lindsay. My blog is all yours today! Thanks for this great post.

Inspired by Fairy Tales

Hello! First I want to say a huge thank you to Rosemary for her having me on her wonderful blog. It’s full of good things! And second, I’m sure many writers use and adapt old tales, especially if they are writers of historical romance.

For myself, I’ve always loved fairy tales: African fairy stories, Old Peter’s Russian tales, Grimm’s fairy tales and the western classics – Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Beauty and the Beast, The Goose Girl, The Frog Prince. The themes of love, sacrifice, keeping promises (the theme of the Frog prince) transformation (in The Goose Girl and Cinderella) justice (again in Cinderella) are epic to me and timeless, worthy of exploration in romances and modern stories.

Cinderella, the story of selfless devotion rewarded, is a popular theme for many romance stories, with the ‘prince’ often an Italian or Arab billionaire who sweeps in to transform the heroine’s drab, oppressed life. I’m sure there are romances to be written about the ugly sisters, too – positive stories where they grow from their petty spitefulness and obsession over balls and dances into generous, complete women, who also find love. That element of the happily ever after and the unexpected is strong in both fairy tales and in romance and both appeal to me greatly.

Fairy tales can also be epic, dealing with issues of life and death. Look at Gerda and her determination to win her brother out of enchantment in The Snow Queen. Look at Sleeping Beauty, where the prince rescues the princess from the ‘death’ of endless sleep.

Recently I did my own ‘take’ on Sleeping Beauty in my A Christmas Sleeping Beauty. I made it a story of transformation for both my heroine, Rosie, and the prince Orlando, who starts as a very arrogant and selfish young man who needs to learn to love and cherish. I didn’t want my Rosie to be passive, simply waiting to be woken, so she is active in the story both through her dreams and through her speaking directly to the hero in a letter. I also added more urgency by making it a ticking clock story – Orlando must wake Rosie in three days or he loses his chance forever.

The story of Beauty and the Beast has thrilled me since I was a child, with its dark and menacing beginning, the terrifying beast and Beauty’s courage and love for her father and ultimately for the beast. I was inspired by these basic tenets to write my own medieval version of Beauty and the Beast in my The Snow Bride. Magnus, the hero, has been hideously scarred by war and looks like a beast. He considers himself unworthy of love. Elfrida, my heroine, is also an outsider since she is a white witch, but she willingly sacrifices herself (as Beauty does in the fairy story) because of love, in her case her love for her younger sister, Christina, for whom she feels responsible. When she and Magnus encounter each other, I made it that they could not understand each other at first, to add to the mystery and dread – is Magnus as ugly in soul as in body? They must learn to trust each other, despite appearances, and come to love (just as in the original fairy tale).

I also added other fairy tale elements to The Snow Bride: magic, darkness, the idea of three (a common motif in fairy tales) spirits in the forest and more. Perhaps in the darker elements of my forest I was inspired by that other old fairy story – Red Riding Hood.

How about you? What inspires you in your reading or writing?

Lindsay Townsend

Lindsay Townsend is fascinated by ancient world and medieval history and writes historical romance covering these periods. She also enjoys thrillers and writes both historical and contemporary romantic suspense. When not writing, Lindsay enjoys spending time with her husband, gardening, reading and taking long, languid baths – possibly with chocolate.

 

Author's Other Works:

A Knight’s Vow – Kensington Zebra
A Knight’s Captive – Kensington Zebra
A Knight’s Enchantment – Kensington Zebra
To Touch The Knight – Kensington Zebra
Flavia’s Secret – Siren-Bookstrand
Blue Gold – Siren-Bookstrand
Bronze Lightning – Siren-Bookstrand
Escape to Love – Siren-Bookstrand
Silk and Steel – Siren- Bookstrand
Chasing Rachel – Siren-Bookstrand
A Secret Treasure – Siren-Bookstrand
Holiday in Bologna – Siren-Bookstrand
Palace of the Fountains – Siren-Bookstrand
The Snow Bride - Siren-Bookstrand
A Christmas Seeping Beauty - Muse it Up Publishing
Midsummer Maid - Muse it Up Publishing (Forthcoming)
The Lord and Eleanor - Ellora's Cave (Forthcoming)

Among other places, you can find Lindsay on her historical romance website; Bookstrand; Kensington; Amazon (UK); Amazon (US)
Twitter: @lindsayromantic