Writing Reverse Harem is not something I’d ever considered. Then this happened:
Do you believe in synchronicity? That when the time is right and you’re in the right mindset, opportunities arise without logical explanation? Or put differently, weird stuff happens?
Last year, I traveled to Edinburgh—which is an amazing city, btw—for a writers’ conference, staying in an Airbnb. Because I was on my own, I’d booked a single bedroom in a flat.
The owner, a delightful gentleman named Julian, had his boyfriend and two Hungarian friends staying with him. Turned out he was in a poly relationship with all of the guys. Who were drop-dead gorgeous, and named Macha, Matti, and Woite. You might recognize some of the names 🙂
That was Strike One.
Strike Two came when I got talking with some romance writers who were huge fans of Reverse Harem books. I remember my reaction:“Sorry, what? The girl doesn’t have to choose? Come again?”
Which caused some snickers, but I never said we were a mature bunch…
Strike Three was one night at the Edinburgh University Student Bar. It was the week before the world-famous Edinburgh Tattoo which attracts military bands from across the world. As I ordered a G&T, two very tall gentlemen from Canada asked me for advice on what to order.
I have that effect on people in bars, apparently. They seem to think I know my way around all the fancy drinks… But I digress…
They were Canadian Mounted Police out of uniform and—wait for this—had been living with the same woman for the last thirty years. In a relationship.
That was enough coincidence to amount to a slap across the head by the universe. Never say I can’t take a hint!
(I also met Cordelia Castel at a different writers’ conference, but that’s a story for another day.)
Suffice to say, I returned home and immediately started plotting a minimum four-book series called Second Chance Academy. I’ll share in another post how hard it was to give five main characters equal airtime!
Second Chance Fate, Book One of the Second Chance Academy series, is done. I’ll be revealing the cover over the next few posts.
Until then, here’s the first teaser:
“Homework on top of a life sentence for murder? You’ve got to be kidding me.”
Next time, I’ll write about the challenges I encountered when plotting and writing my first Reverse Harem book.
Question for you: how did you first get into Reverse Harem? Did you stumble on it? Did somebody recommend it to you? I’d love to you 🙂
Hop on over to my Facebook Group and let me know!