by Stella Quinn
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| Photo Credit: Depositphotos |
Hi, my name is Stella Quinn, romance writer and romance reader.
When I read romance, I want to escape the humdrum of work, drama
and bills, and welcome the adventure of a book holiday. I especially love book
holidays set in romantic destinations.
The South Pacific ... a vineyard in Italy ... or maybe a
fictitious historic town set between mountain and lake where the people are
adorable and the air smells like fresh-cooked cinnamon donuts ... and I don’t even
need to check whether my passport’s expired before I jetset off.
Romantic destinations in fiction are such a treat to visit,
but they are even more of a treat to write. Today I’m going to share with you two
locations I’ve used recently.
Romantic Destination #1: Cathedral Springs, Upstate New York
Okay, I made this place up. But I made it up to be beautiful,
as I am writing a small-town romance novel series set there. I needed historic buildings,
snow-capped mountains, and a lake large enough to have an old paddle-steamer
still operating on it as a tourist boat during the summer months. I needed
grassy valleys where horse studs could be found, and I needed the sound of
church bells ringing on Sundays. I needed an old-fashioned cinema, and a new
coffee shop with a charming barista who made world-class coffee.
I used a map of Queenstown, in New Zealand, as my town and
renamed the streets to suit myself. I googled “small town USA” images for
inspiration. The picture at the head of this blog is how I imagine Cathedral Springs
in my mind.
Sound like a nice place? Sounds like heaven to me. You can
read about Cathedral Springs in my novella, The
Umbrella Diaries, which was launched on April 9 by Literary Crush Publishing
in the latest of their popular seasonal romance anthologies, April Showers, which you can find here.
Romantic
Destination #2: The Australian Outback
Okay, I made this town up too, but I based it on pictures of
Kakadu National Park in the Northern Territory. And hey – I’ve seen Crocodile
Dundee. I used a fictitious hiking trail in the outback as the setting for a short
story called The Crocodile Track.
This story needs a rugged, harsh landscape because the heroine, Lara, needs to
go on a journey of redemption. She’s lost in life – and she needs to get lost
in the outback before she can find who she wants to be by the time she reaches
the end of the hiking track.
The Cockatoo Track is free to download for the month of April 2019
for everyone who subscribes to my mailing list – and the plus side is, then I can
let you know when the next Cathedral Springs story is coming out (hush … it’s a
secret ... but The Patchwork Project,
a full-length romance novel starring café-owner Vera and town vet Josh will (fingers
crossed) be out before Christmas).
To join in
and read The Cockatoo Track, click on this link.
Thanks
for having me on the blog!
I love to love ... gorgeous travel photos in Instagram.
I love to laugh ... with my kids about pop culture.
I love to learn ... crafty things, such as knitting
cable-knit beanies. My bucket list project is to learn to crochet a retro owl
tea cosy.
Have a great day!
