Special Guest Sunday- Téa Cooper

 Hi, everyone!  I would like to introduce my special guest for this Sunday-- Téa Cooper!  Welcome Téa! 

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Whether you are a plotter or a panster you have a picture in your minds eye of your characters. I know I’m stating the obvious! It makes a lot of sense particularly if you are writing a romance. A hero or heroine can make or break a story but perhaps my favourite “character” is their silent partner. The setting. It doesn’t take the limelight but it is an often forgotten and very powerful tool.

I read a review recently of a romance book and the reviewer’s only complaint was that they didn’t realize until half way through the book where the story was taking place. Does it matter in a romance? Possibly not but setting can be a very powerful metaphor and without it the characters are simply performing in front of a blank canvas.

The setting can reflect the mood of the story, change the temperature and give colour and texture to your characters emotions. It is the perfect way to carry the reader deeper into the story and allow them to feel your characters’ mood.

Like the back story it is not something that can be dumped in several consecutive paragraphs and then ticked off a list of plot points it needs to be ever changing and woven through the story like the threads of gold in an Indian sari.

I was thrilled when many of the reviews for Tree Change made comments about the setting. “I could taste the salt on the sea breeze…” and “The description…makes me want to pack up my bags and head for the coast…” and “The settings are depicted with vibrancy and colour...”

Truthfully the descriptions in Tree Change were more by accident than design but it has become something I pay more attention to now, a tool I don’t intend to waste.

What about you?

Tree Change Blurb:

Despite her success in the Sydney art world Cassia yearns for the idyllic life she once lead with Jake in their shack over looking the Pacific Ocean. Seeking closure she falls, like a recovering addict, straight back into his arms, and out again equally quickly.  Not only has he taken up with his brother's wife but it seems they have a child. 

Truth is Jake is living a lie, sworn to secrecy and hamstrung by a promise. Cassia’s fey, artistic character and magical body possess his imagination and his heart. Can he convince her to trust him long enough to save the crumbling remains of their relationship?

Here’s an excerpt from Tree Change. I like to think the setting adds to Jake and Cassia’s angst.

A blanket of silence filled the car. It was palpable. Jake could touch it, feel it suffocating him. His breathing slowed, and time stood still. The red traffic light registered through his subconscious, and he slowed the car to a halt. It had started to rain, and the road surface was slick and black, the streetlights reflecting shattered pinpoints of light. Large raindrops bounced on the hood of the car. He glanced across at Cassia. Her eyes looked big and bruised in her pale face as she stared through the windshield, focused on some space beyond.

Making a left-hand turn, he slowed the car, the tires bouncing on the old cobblestones of the access way. The Harbour Bridge hung, cold and dark, across the black night sky of the bay. The red and green navigation lights flickered their warning to the ships passing underneath. As Jake stopped outside the last apartment at the end of the wharf, Cassia opened the car door and stepped out into the rain.

Buy Links:

Tree Change is available from:

Breathless Press, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookstrand, iTunes and All Romance eBooks.

Téa’s Bio:

Lurking in the back of Téa’s brain somewhere was the knowledge that one day she would write a novel. It probably started with a rather risqué story in the back of an exercise book at boarding school featuring the long suffering school gardener - not really the stuff romantic heroes were made of but it was before she knew any better.

Life and few heroes of her own showed her the error of her ways and with a baby under one arm, a husband and a half built house she entered a Mills and Boon competition. To her absolute earth shattering amazement she won second place – the prize was a bottle of perfume! Next time she determined she would do better.

But it was still the stuff of fantasy and her family, a herd of alpacas, a protea farm and teaching intervened until one day she decided it was time to do or die. No more procrastination. The characters and plots that had lived in her head for so long were clamoring to escape.

In August 2011 she got serious and joined Romance Writers Australia, entered the Harlequin Mills & Boon New Voices competition and to her horror discovered she hadn’t been – discovered that is. Not even a bottle of perfume this time. But in reality she had won. Procrastination was conquered and determination set in. It was time to get serious.

Tree Change is her first contemporary romance novel and is available now. Her second, a historical novel Lily’s Leap - set in Wollombi, the time-warp village she now calls home – was accepted by Lyrical Press and will be published in May 2013. The Protea Boys an Australian rural romance has just been accepted for publication and she has recently completed her second Australian historical novel Matilda’s Madness - inspired by some of the fascinating characters haunting the local museum.

When Téa is not haunting the Wollombi museum she can be found on Facebook, Twitter and Goodreads or you can email her at teacooperauthor@gmail.com. 

ABOUT TÉA COOPER…

Téa Cooper is an Australian contemporary and historical romance author.

Originally from England Téa came to Australia via India and a few other places in between. She has lived in Sydney, on the NSW Central Coast and now lives in the time-warp village of Wollombi near Cessnock.

To find out more about Téa, or to check out what projects she's working on right now, you can visit her website http://www.teacooperauthor.com

BIOGRAPHY:

Lurking in the back of Téa’s brain somewhere was the knowledge that one day she would write a novel. It probably started with a rather risqué story in the back of an exercise book at boarding school featuring the long suffering school gardener - not really the stuff romantic heroes were made of but it was before she knew any better.

Life and few heroes of her own showed her the error of her ways and with a baby under one arm, a husband and a half built house she entered a Mills and Boon competition. To her absolute earth shattering amazement she won second place – the prize was a bottle of perfume! Next time she determined she would do better.

But it was still the stuff of fantasy and her family, a herd of alpacas, a protea farm and teaching intervened until one day she decided it was time to do or die. No more procrastination. The characters and plots that had lived in her head for so long were clamoring to escape.

In August 2011 she got serious and joined Romance Writers Australia, entered the Harlequin Mills & Boon New Voices competition and to her horror discovered she hadn’t been – discovered that is. Not even a bottle of perfume this time. But in reality she had won. Procrastination was conquered and determination set in. It was time to get serious.

Tree Change, her first contemporary romance novel was published on 30^th November 2012 and her second, a historical novel Lily’s Leap - set in Wollombi, the time-warp village she now calls home – will be published in May 2013. She has recently signed a contract for her rural romance The Protea Boys and has completed her second Australian historical novel Matilda’s Madness - inspired by some of the fascinating characters haunting the local museum.

When Téa is not haunting the Wollombi museum she can be found on Facebook, Twitter and Goodreads or you can visit her website or email her.

ABOUT TREE CHANGE…

Contemporary Australian Romance

Release date: 30 November 2012

Publisher: Breathless Press

Word count: 40,000

BLURB:

Despite her success in the Sydney art world Cassia yearns for the idyllic life she once lead with Jake in their shack over looking the Pacific Ocean. Seeking closure she falls, like a recovering addict, straight back into his arms, and out again equally quickly.  Not only has he his taken up with his brother's wife but it seems they have a child. 

Truth is Jake is living a lie, sworn to secrecy and hamstrung by a promise. Cassia’s fey, artistic character and magical body possess his imagination and his heart. Can he convince her to trust him long enough to save the crumbling remains of their relationship?

SHORT EXCERPT:

She dismissed his words with a wave of her hand, but her eyes betrayed her. He knew her too well. The burn of hurt behind their velvety depths had nothing to do with the here and now, but everything to do with the past. His fault? Lyle's fault? No one's fault? Just circumstance.

                "I need answers, and I need them now. I can't go on like this. Either we are together or we are not. You have to make a choice: Madeleine or me. I can't be a convenience you can pick up and put down as the mood takes you."

               "My feelings for you, Cass, are a million things but convenience isn't one of them." He shook his head in sorrowful disbelief. How could she not recognize the bond they had?

               "Madeleine?" Her raised eyebrows challenged him.

               "Right now I can't explain what happened with Madeleine, but her safety is paramount."

                Her body shuddered as if she was trying to lift a great weight. What was he doing to her? Madeleine, Madeleine, always Madeleine. "I can't do this again, Jake. I need to go home." Jake slipped her cardigan over her frail shoulders and then stepped back to allow her to lead the way past the bar and up the narrow stairs to street level.

               He unlocked the car door and held it open. Her skirt caught on the ribbons of her espadrille. As he leaned down to untangle them, she flinched. Closing her door with exaggerated care he walked around to the driver's door and let himself in. He clicked his seat belt into its clasp before he twisted the key in the ignition. The engine sprang to life, and he pulled out into the darkened street.

              "You have to trust me, Cass. I know it is difficult, but you just have to trust me and wait. Everything will be sorted out soon."

               Her sigh filled the car. "Jake, I can't. How can I? I've tried and look where we've ended up. Me in Sydney, and you living with your brother's girlfriend."

               "Wife," he corrected, regretting the word the moment it left his lips.

Buy Links:

Breathless Press, Amazon US, Amazon UK, Barnes & Noble, Bookstrand, iTunes and All Romance eBooks.

ABOUT LILY’S LEAP

Historical Australian Romance

Release date: May 2013

Publisher: Lyrical Press

Word count: 45,000

BLURB:

Born into the privileged society of the squattocracy, Lilibeth Dungarven finds herself married, widowed and back under her father’s thumb all before her 21st birthday - a position this feisty and independent young woman fiercely resents. When she finally persuades her father to let her accompany a shipment of horses to Sydney, with the added promise of her stallion winning at the Windsor races she believes that her life is finally on the right track. That is until she is bailed up by a band of bushrangers who are intent on stealing her horses and holding her to ransom - a ransom her father is not prepared to pay.

SHORT EXCERPT:

Lily could see the pale ribbon of road below cutting through the trees and the bright blue expanse of sky wide-open in front of her.

“Nero. You can do it,” she whispered into his sleek, shiny neck and he snorted in response. Her thigh muscles burned as she tightened her grasp on his flanks. His muscles tensed in response, attuned to her body. She gritted her teeth and willed her shaking hands to steady. “We can do this, Nero. We have to.” Her heart hammered so hard in her chest she thought it might leap right over the culvert and down the hill ahead of them.

With barely a moment’s hesitation she dug her heels into the stallion’s flanks and urged him down the hill. The last trees cleared and the sudden heat of the sun stung her face, then she crouched low over Nero’s neck. The clatter of his hooves on the sandstone surface told her they had reached the road. The blood raced through her veins, pulsing in her ears, a violent and excruciating pounding raged through her body.

“Stop.” Tom’s command echoed around her as the blocks of the convict hewn, sandstone walls reared ahead of her. Surely it wasn’t such a huge jump for a horse like Nero?

She leaned forward in the saddle and her cheek brushed the dampness of his neck. Time slowed. With her eyes squeezed tightly shut she sucked in a great gulp of air and clenched her teeth tightly together. Nero lifted into the air. His muscles bunched beneath her and he flew over the chiseled blocks and down the slope. Her knees gripped the saddle and she dragged the reins almost vertical as they plunged down. Tufts of wiry grass and small rocks littered the route. She flinched as Nero’s hooves crashed across them. Gasping in a quick breath, she prayed for the terrain to level off.

Her lungs contracted like bellows and what little air remained, whistled out through her pursed lips. Nero tensed and she shuddered as he stumbled and then regained his balance. Her heart leapt to her throat and her wrists twisted as she wrenched on the reins to slow him. He quivered to a halt. Silver spots danced in front of her eyes and she gulped in a breath to feed her starving lungs. Nero’s muscled body trembled and quaked beneath her and white froth flecked his muzzle.

“We did it, darling Nero. We did it.” The salty tang of his body filled her nostrils as she leaned over his neck murmuring endearments. She swayed with exertion and forced her rubbery muscles to respond as she squinted into the sunlight. Figures on horseback towered above her, stalled on the road. She had an overwhelming urge to wave her hand and shriek in triumph.

But she resisted; this was her opportunity and she had no time to waste. She cut away to the right praying her memory of the maps was correct as she searched for the track leading her to Laguna.

“Lil-eee. Lil-eee.” Tom’s call bounced off the sandstone walls. Shading her eyes with her hand she stared back toward the culvert wall. It was empty.

“Lil-eee. Lil-eee.” The sorrowful echo reached her, resounding somewhere deep in her gut. Her sweat-soaked curls clung to her face as she shook her head, raging at her ridiculous foolishness. After such an exhilarating and successful leap for freedom why did she suddenly feel so melancholy? Her heels bruised Nero’s flanks and she urged him away in a fast canter.

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Wow, I can really see how setting can change a character's mood, feelings, actions, and disposition.  This drums up all sorts of interesting ideas in my head.  Plopping a character down in their element, out of their element, can be a driving force in a story.  A character on vacation versus the their daily life?

Thank you so much for stopping by Téa, and thank you for this wonderful insight on the setting of a story.