Behind the scenes with The Moorland Heroes

Today I thought I’d share a look behind the scenes with one of my book series: Moorland Heroes.

These books are standalones which are linked purely by the fact that both are based (very loosely) on classic stories that I’ve loved. You will be shocked and surprised to hear that Resisting Mr Rochester is inspired by Jane Eyre, and Saving Mr Scrooge by A Christmas Carol. Bet you’d never have guessed if I hadn’t told you, would you?

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Jane Eyre is actually my favourite book, full stop, and A Christmas Carol is my favourite Christmas book, so it was both exciting and scary to think about writing my own versions of these wonderful stories. I must emphasise again that they are loosely based on the classics, and both are contemporary romances with lots of humour.

The first in the series is Resisting Mr Rochester but, in fact, it was the idea for Saving Mr Scrooge which came to me first.

I say that… What actually happened was that I sat up in bed one morning with the title clear as day in my mind. It sparked a whole string of ideas and I knew it would make a good story, but Christmas was some way off, and I thought I could probably write another book before I started on that one – which was when I decided to make it a two-book series and include my own tribute to Jane Eyre.

Resisting Mr Rochester seemed a natural title, and went well with Saving Mr Scrooge, so the Moorland Heroes series was born.

Resisting Mr Rochester

Coming up with my own versions of Rochester and Jane was quite easy. They were characters I already loved, after all. But I wanted a modern take on the story, so I had to think about how to make several plotlines more contemporary and acceptable to a twenty-first century audience. There were some parts of the original novel I had no intention of referencing. For instance, I’ve always found the whole Mr Rochester as a gypsy fortune teller episode a bit silly, and I didn’t see any need to include anything resembling the storyline featuring St John or his sisters.

Some things, though, were important to reference.  I couldn’t write a tribute to Jane Eyre without a “mad woman in the attic” plot line, now could I? The fire, the tearing of Jane’s veil, the visit of Mr Rochester’s house guests, including the glamorous Blanche, and the presence of Mr Rochester’s ward, Adele, were all included, in their own way. There’s even a twist on the infamous “Red Room” – although Cara’s aunt’s room has become the “White Room” for various reasons.

I decided that a woman of Cara’s age wouldn’t be the innocent that Jane was, so I gave her a boyfriend, Seth - a boyfriend who caused her a great deal of angst and alienated her from her family. Cara stands by him when many other women would have left, but eventually he does something that’s the final straw. Cara leaves him, escaping to her happy place, which also leads her into the path of Mr Rochester.

I was a bit torn about Cara’s ultimate ambition in life. Was it too old fashioned for modern audiences? I won’t give away any spoilers but I decided that feminism is all about having a choice, and Cara was free to make hers. What was most important was that Ethan supported her and encouraged her in that choice. I needed Mr Rochester to be a feminist at heart!

In fact, one of my beta readers did draw attention to the fact that Ethan seemed to be a bit too perfect. She suggested he needed a flaw of some sort. I had to give the matter a great deal of thought, and in the end I decided to give him a humorous flaw that amused Cara and cost him quite a bit of money!

Something that always made me smile while I was working on this book was when I was writing Seth’s “poems”. He is quite a deluded character, who genuinely thinks he’s a gifted poet. The anguished poems he sends Cara (which always end with a much more down-to-earth accusation, criticism, or instruction) were such fun to write - especially as there was no pressure to make them good! Poetry is not my strong point and I’m always in awe of those who write it well. Seth is not one of those people - although I did have to make some effort as it was important that it was pretentious enough that Seth believed in it.

Readers familiar with Jane Eyre will realise that I changed the name of Mr Rochester’s house. Instead of Thornfield, I named it Morland Hall. This actually had nothing to do with a play on “Moorland” at all. Cara bears some resemblance to Catherine Morland, heroine of Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey, in the sense that they share a vivid imagination. I thought it would be a fun tribute to this second inspirational novel.

I had loads of fun writing about Cara and Ethan, and I was sorry to see the back of them. So much so that, despite my determination that the books should be totally separate, I ended up giving them a cameo in Saving Mr Scrooge. They even made guest appearances in The Other Half and Tuppenny Bridge series, as it turned out (who knew?) that Ethan was related to Rafferty Kingston.

Here’s the blurb for Resisting Mr Rochester.

A romcom with a gothic twist!
Cara Truelove has always been a romantic, burying her head in books and dreaming of being swept off her feet by her very own Brontë hero. When she was a gullible teenager, she believed boyfriend Seth to be a modern-day brooding Heathcliff. Fourteen years later, when Seth has proved to be more like Homer Simpson, Cara vows never to fall in love again, and turns her back on romance for good.

Leaving Seth behind, Cara secures a job as nanny at Morland Hall on the Yorkshire Moors, but is shocked to discover her new employer is none other than the tall, dark, and disturbingly handsome Mr Rochester.

Her resolve to be more level-headed is soon tested when strange things begin to happen at Morland Hall. Why is Mr Rochester’s mother hidden away upstairs? What are the strange noises she hears from the attic? Why is the housekeeper so reluctant to leave her on her own? And where is Mr Rochester’s mysterious wife?

As events unfold, Cara knows she must keep a cool head, curb her imagination – and resist Mr Rochester at all costs. After all, one Brontë hero in a lifetime is more than enough for any woman. Two would be downright greedy.

Wouldn’t it?

Saving Mr Scrooge

Saving Mr Scrooge was a bit trickier to write, because “everyone knows” that contemporary romance/chick lit/romcom books should have heroines that readers actually like, and can relate to. Unfortunately, the very nature of this story meant that my heroine had to go on a journey of self discovery, just like Ebenezer Scrooge himself, which meant that she had to start off pretty unlikeable. So how to get readers onside?

You see, the twist in this book is that, while Marley Jacobs (cool name, huh?) is desperately trying to restore her boss’s Christmas spirit, those around her can see that Marley’s a little lacking in that department herself. And while she professes to love Christmas, and spends a great deal of time and money decorating every available space for the festive season, and shopping for presents, the true meaning of this special day seems to have passed her by.

So how to write a heroine with a distinctly selfish streak, who readers wouldn’t entirely hate, and would be willing to stick with while she went on her journey?

I had to make it clear to them that Marley had her good side. I tried to demonstrate this aspect of her personality by showing her obvious love for her mum, sister and nephews. Despite their bickering, it’s clear that both Marley’s mum and Olivia think the world of Marley, and she of them. There had to be something good about her for those relationships to flourish. I also tried to show her softer side whenever she remembered her grandad. Clearly, there’d been a great deal of love between the two of them.

It was important to me - in both books in this series - that my heroines had warm, loving families. Yes, there was bickering and the odd falling out, but deep down they all loved each other deeply. Cara’s been isolated from her family in Resisting Mr Rochester, thanks to her poor choices and deep sense of shame, but they can’t wait to welcome her back into the fold. In Saving Mr Scrooge, Marley’s family has been through tough times, but they’ve come through them and they’ve stuck together. Their love and support will be invaluable to her as her complicated story plays out, and Marley’s concern for them is evidence of her warmer, caring side.

Marley may have a frosty relationship with her grandad’s brother, Great Uncle Charles, but it becomes clear that, contrary to first impressions, Marley really does care about the grumpy old man, and he really cares about her, too. It’s also increasingly obvious that she has real concern for the welfare of the factory workers. No one who worries about their future the way Marley does can possibly be all bad.

Marley wasn’t always the selfish, self-obsessed girl she seems to be right now. So what went wrong for her? What changed her?

To sum it up: Marley has suffered some great losses during her young life: including her grandad, her father, and the love of her life, Christopher. She’s also had to shoulder an awful lot of responsibility, so all these things affected her badly.

I’ll admit, here and now, that when people say they don’t like Marley, I feel wounded on her behalf. She is one of my favourite heroines. Yes, she’s deeply flawed, but she’s been through an awful lot, and beneath that thick skin there’s a heart of pure gold. I was rooting for her all the way, and I was desperate for her to get her happy ending. I hope you will be too.

Here’s the blurb for Saving Mr Scrooge:

Love, forgiveness, and the magic of Christmas…
It’s the time of peace on earth and goodwill to all men, but at Carroll’s Confectionery Factory on the North York Moors, the meaning of Christmas seems to have been forgotten. New boss, Kit Carroll, is hardly winning friends with his high-handed attitude, his foolhardy approach to production, and his tight-fisted treatment of the factory’s employees.

Marley Jacobs, his self-styled PA, is determined to make him see the error of his ways, and return the festive spirit to Carroll’s. Unfortunately, the little matter of their previous relationship and Kit’s callous treatment of her when they were teenage sweethearts keeps getting in the way of her good intentions.

With encouragement from co-worker Don, romantic sister Olivia, and — astonishingly — the usually sceptical Great Uncle Charles, Marley decides to save this modern-day Mr Scrooge from himself, despite having no well-meaning ghosts to help her.

But revisiting the past doesn’t just stir things up for Kit. As Marley struggles to deal with bittersweet memories, present-day events take a surprising turn. Can the future be changed, after all?

And is it only Kit who needs saving?

You can find out more about the books, including buying links, by clicking on the images, and if you haven’t read the original stories you might like to look those up, too. Click their book covers above to read.

I really hope you’ll give the Moorland Heroes a chance if you haven’t read them already. They’re two of my personal favourites!

Have a great week,