#RomFicFeb26

Social media appears to be a fact of life these days, but I will admit to a strange relationship with it. I love reading people’s posts, but I’m not good at posting my own or when and how to share the things others put up. I fully intended to take part in the #RomFicFeb26 initiative, but I chickened out of posting every day in February in the end. So, my compromise is to do a blog post covering most of the subjects romance writers have been posting about so far in February.

Day 1 – Introduce Yourself

I’m Morton S. Gray, or at least that’s my pen name. I wanted to write with that name when I was 17, but it took me until my fifties to get published as although I’ve always written, I didn’t have the time to take it seriously enough until I was in my mid-forties.

I live in Worcestershire, UK and hubbie and I are now empty nesters. I had a career in the electricity industry after university and had a complete change to be a therapist (hypnotherapy, Reiki, Tuina acupressure, Louise Hay positive thinking and energy field healing) later on. I think the variety of my life and the various twists and turns I’ve experienced have given me plenty of fodder for my writing.

Day 2 – Introduce Your Writing

I have so far published seven novels, which I tend to describe as romance with a mystery to solve. I’m a member of the Romantic Novelists’ Association and my writing normally centres on relationships and their twists and turns. I am currently working on a new series of romantic mysteries based in a Devon seaside town.

Day 3 – Why Romance Fiction

Relationships feature in every aspect of our lives. I guess I am fascinated by how these relationships work and don’t work, and also how people end up with a life partner.

Day 4 – Do You Write in Other Genres/Sub Genres?

I’ve not had any other genre of writing published yet, but I’ve experimented with historical fiction (English Civil War, World War 1), timeslip romance, cosy crime and even a futuristic novel. When I’m not writing fiction, I’m writing up my family history. It’s fair to say that I am never bored with my writing.

Day 5 – Introduce Your Book’s Setting

Which one? My seven published novels are set in the fictional seaside town of Borteen. My new contemporary series is set in a fictional seaside town in Devon, mainly based on one of my all-time favourite holiday destinations – Woolacombe.

Day 6 – Introduce Your Time Period

My published novels and my new series are both set in contemporary years. I often find this amusing, as if you walked into my study right now and looked at my bookshelves, you would be convinced that I am a historical writer, as the majority of the titles on my shelves are historical!

Day 7 – Real Places or Entirely Fictional?

My settings are entirely fictional, but inevitably have echoes of some of my favourite places. If you write about fictional places, it gives you the liberty of adding buildings and shops that aren’t there in the real places, so works better for the needs of my stories.

Day 8/9/10 – Introduce Your Main Character/Love Interest/Meet Cute

My characters are usually flawed characters and hopefully people you would recognise amongst your friendship groups with all of their varied backgrounds, happy and sad times and facing challenges that you may have faced or could imagine yourself facing. I tend to write dual narrative books, so you will get an insight into both the heroine’s and the hero’s points of view. I try to have the characters meeting and living in realistic situations.

Day 11 – Clothes

I am hardly a fashion conscious person and tend to dress quite comfortably and practically and I guess this is usually reflected in the characters I write.

Day 12 – What is Your Favourite Romance Trope?

I am not a fan of all romance books being categorised in the trope way. I like my stories to evolve as they need to and not be forced to fit a category, but if I had to choose, I guess I like friends to lovers or enemies to lovers best.

Day 13 – What is Your All Time Favourite Romance Book?

There are so many, so where do I start?

I love Lucy Dillon books, especially Lost Dogs and Lonely Hearts. I have read most of the titles published by Jo Bartlett and Sue Moorcroft. Love Pride and Prejudice and North and South, but the book I have read more times than any other is one I’ve mentioned on my blog many times – Wintercombe by Pamela Belle.

Day 14 – Who is Your All Time Favourite Romance Author?

Again, I’m going cheat and mention more than one – Jane Austen, Lucy Dillon, Jo Bartlett, Sue Moorcroft.

Day 15 – Have You Written a Character Based on Someone You Know?

I think this is inevitable. My characters are usually a mix of people I know. I don’t think I’d write them to be recognisable, but it’s often therapeutic to work out relationships that you had problems with in your work and of course any baddies might be based on people who have upset or crossed you. My latest novel will hopefully include my lovely late dog, Lily, who was a real character!

Day 16 – Who Is Your Favourite Secondary Character?

One of the reasons I like writing books in a series is that my favourite secondary characters can feature in their own story later in the series of books. This was the case with Mandy Vanes in my Borteen Series. After being a secondary character in several titles, she got her own story in Sunny Days at the Beach. One of my other favourite Borteen secondary characters, Becky Finch, may even make the leap between my Borteen and my new series when she moves to Devon, if I can pull it off!

Check in next week for the rest of my #RomFicFeb26 responses. And look out for the posts of many others who are bravely doing this daily.

This is the blog for Morton S. Gray, a writer of romance with a mystery to solve The Secrets of Borteen Bay Series set in the fictional seaside town of Borteen for Choc Lit Publishing an imprint of Joffe Books.

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Buy The Secrets of Borteen Bay boxset here.

A New Arrival In Borteen Bay, the seventh book in The Secrets of Borteen Bay Series is available as an EBook and in paperback.Links here.

Summer at Lucerne Lodge, the sixth book in The Secrets of Borteen Bay Series. This is available as an EBook, on Kindle Unlimited, Audio and Paperback. Links here.

Christmas at the Little Beach Cafe the fifth book in The Secrets of Borteen Bay Series is available as an EBook, on Kindle Unlimited, Audio and Paperback. Links here.

Sunny Days at the Beach the fourth book in The Secrets of Borteen Bay Series is available as an EBook, on Kindle Unlimited, Audio and Paperback. Links here.

Christmas at Borteen Bay the third book in The Secrets of Borteen Bay Series is available as an EBook, on Kindle Unlimited and Audio. Links here.

The Truth Lies Buried the second book in The Secrets of Borteen Bay Series is available as an EBook, on Kindle Unlimited, Audio and Paperback. Links here.

The Girl on the Beach is the first book in The Secrets of Borteen Bay Series is available as an EBook, on Kindle Unlimited and Paperback. Links here.