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Emmy Curtis | Ripped from Reality
November 2, 2015
It’s fun to write romance novels. You can write about what happened to you,
what you wish had happened to you, what you wanted to happen to someone else,
you can fix wrongs and you can write horrible people into your books and have
them meet a grizzly end. It’s like a whole alternate reality that you get to
rule over. Like a queen.
Me? I write romantic military suspense, with a side-order of covert ops and
spying. And while it’s sometimes difficult to write real people, and real
situations into those books, I do try. Because I like having facts in my books.
I like having real, live war stories in my books. And I like recounting things
that have happened to me, and being able to embellish, smooth and make those
stories better (while changing names and locales to protect the innocent, and
the not-so-innocent!).
A lot of the stories in my books actually happened. Especially some of the war
stories. Those throwaway lines that make you wonder what the characters have
been through before we meet them on the page. (Some of my favorite reviews are
people saying that X “could not possibly happen” or “was pretty unbelievable”
when I know for fact that it did!)
Sometimes I write something, and something similar happens in the news. As I
was writing BLOWBACK (releasing 11/03/15), I’d write something into the
manuscript—something a character said, and a couple of weeks later something
similar happened IN REAL LIFE! After a day of experimenting whether me writing
something also made it so in real life (Unfortunately it doesn’t, but it was
worth the experiment), I realized that when you try to make a book as true-to-
life as possible, sometimes life imitates art, as they say.
Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not the “ripped from the headlines” author who
literally uses situations we’ve all heard about in their books, but I do listen
to every military story I’ve ever been told (and living on a military base, you
can’t help but gather a butt load of ‘em), and think, “Huh. So what would
happen if that wasn’t in that country, but in Afghanistan, and instead of
running through a city, they were running through the mountains near Kabul.”
Giveaway
So which events in which books would you love to find out had happened in real
life? Or which episode from your life would you like to inject into a book?
Leave a comment below to be entered for a chance to win an Alpha Ops swag pack: military bookbag, cold coffee
cup, magnets, bookmarks, luggage tag. Plus two additional winners will receive
signed copies of BLOWBACK!
Emmy Curtis is an editor and a romance writer. An ex-pat Brit, she
quells her homesickness with Cadbury Flakes and Fray Bentos pies. She's lived
in London, Paris and New York, and has settled for the time being, in North
Carolina. When not writing, Emmy loves to travel with her military husband and
take long walks with their Lab. All things considered, her life is chock full
of hoot, just a little bit of nanny. And if you get that reference...well, she
already considers you kin.
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One year ago, David Church kissed a beautiful, brilliant woman on an
airfield in Iraq-and hasn't stopped thinking about her ever since. Now, the
military veteran gets a chance to rekindle that fire when he sees his lost love
again-looking sexier than ever-at an international conference in Athens. David
yearns to take her in his arms, to hold her close and never let go. But when
the bullets begin to fly, it's not just his heart on the line. It's his life.
When Molly Solent agreed to deliver intelligence for the U.S. government, she
didn't realize she'd be caught in the crossfire of a surprise ambush-and
underneath the hard-muscled body of David Church. Shielding her from harm and
swearing to protect her, the elite bodyguard reignites a searing passion that
Molly can't resist. But with unforeseen danger around every corner-and
unquenchable desire in every embrace-falling in love could be the greatest risk
of all . . .
Comments
21 comments posted.
Re: Emmy Curtis | Ripped from Reality
I think I'd like to find out the REAL story of how the rulers
were taken out in each of the countries of the Middle East.
Not just Bin Laden, and I know there's more than one book out
there that has been written already about the raid on him,
but ALL of the leaders - Gadhaffi, etc. It would make for
quite a story. I'm looking forward to reading your latest
book. Congratulations!!
(Peggy Roberson 8:11am November 2, 2015)
I would like to read something on the fate of the looted
antiquities from occupied areas. Such a tremendous loss to
a country's heritage.
(Deb Philippon 9:57am November 2, 2015)
An old object that has its own history which draws two
strangers togethet.
(Marissa Yip-Young 10:00am November 2, 2015)
Lost treasure finds would be truly interesting to learn more about.
(Colleen Conklin 12:24pm November 2, 2015)
As a military spouse myself, I love reading military romance, and all of the secret ops stuff! I know so many people that have gone overseas and just to be able to have that incorporated into books I'm reading makes them not seem so far away :)
(Sheryl Pike 9:12pm November 2, 2015)
As a lover of all things fantasy and paranormal, I'd like to think that all the myths and fairytales had happened in real life long ago and were skewed as the real-life stories were passed down orally. As for my life, it's too boring and average (nothing exciting ever happens) so I wouldn't want to inject anything into the books, it'd make for a very boring read. Even textbooks would be better than reading about my life.
(Lisa L. 10:05pm November 2, 2015)
I love military and black op romances...
(Bonnie Capuano 3:21pm November 3, 2015)
Lost treasure to find a lost love
(Tamara Lawson 6:14pm November 3, 2015)
My life isn't something I would want incorporated into a
novel. I read novels to escape my reality. I love a novel
that makes my heart race. I'm more interested in seeing
places that are talked about in the novels than finding
out if a specific event truly occurred. Kinda like
putting a face to a name. ;)
(Jeri Daniel 4:51am November 4, 2015)
As the old saying goes: Truth is stranger than fiction! I'd
like to know what's really going on in Afghanistan. It's so
interesting that real life events mimicked your writing!
(Betty Woodrum 9:52am November 4, 2015)
As a child of a Marine, I love military
romance/suspense/intrigue stories. I love finding parallels
between fiction and fact....but I don't know if I want to
"know" which is based on fact - my imagination leads me to
many wonderful subplots/stories.
(Kimberley Coover 10:57am November 4, 2015)
I have so many events that I would like to put in a book,
especially one for the younger generation like if your
boyfriend/girlfriend would become abusive - to make sure you
get out immediately, which I didn't. I stayed for 12 years.
Stuff like what NOT to do like getting married and to make
sure you really love this person and so many others that I
have had bad experiences with. A WARNING! Good luck
everyone!
(Renae Kelly 12:53pm November 4, 2015)
I love to read about secret ops and what really happened
(Lilian Gamble 6:44pm November 4, 2015)
I would love people to have super or magical powers. LOL
(Phyllis Lamken 6:44pm November 4, 2015)
I'd like to here about or read about the real life of all the "Big People" that make all the "Rules and Laws" that the rest of the world have to live by and they don't apply to the ones that make them . Enough said ??????
(Joan Thrasher 2:20pm November 5, 2015)
often when a book mentions an event, place, person or object
that sounds like it was real I will google ite &/or check it
out on Wikipedia - I love to learn about things new to me that
way - especially historical things.
(Diane Sallans 2:52pm November 5, 2015)
I like to read novels that take place in actual, real towns. Something that I
can look up and google, or possibly even visit one day. Other than that
though, I sort of like reading to escape from my reality.
(Lily Shah 3:55pm November 5, 2015)
My ex-boyfriend won the lottery two weeks after we broke up
true story I think that should be written into a book. He did
take me on a $500 shopping spree a couple of weeks later.
(Denise Austin 4:12pm November 5, 2015)
I like to read to get lost in the story. Too much reality is a downer.
(B Tritt 6:01pm November 5, 2015)
I enjoy most novels of romance. I would love to find out if my
ancestors had a good life in their respected countries before
coming to America.
Marilyn
(Marilyn Collins 6:10pm November 5, 2015)
I would like to see some of the pet/animal stories I have heard my parents
tell, in a book. If their siblings did back them up I wouldn't believe some of
them. Headless chickens chasing one of them no matter all the turns she
made.
(Laura Gullickson 8:28pm November 5, 2015)
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