Unwrapping Scrooge: Behind the Scenes

by: Anne Holly

Book writers kind of got the shaft, compared to filmmakers and their soundtracks and oh-so-nifty DVD featurettes and things. I’d love to do a read-along-commentary for my books, but when you’re a writer such things just look needy, and people tend to throw things at you when you talk while they’re reading. *shrugs*

Yet, we have some recourse – blogging! So, here I am to speak a bit about the music and inspiration that went on behind the scenes of my Decadent Publishing Christmas romantic-comedy novella, Unwrapping Scrooge, by way of a playlist, including the book’s theme song.

It’s kind of perfect that I’m on this blog today of all days, since today is Thanksgiving here in Canada, and I am a dyed-in-the-wool Canuck, and so is my heroine, the charming Molly Gillis, who spreads her Canadian warmth wherever she goes. The Canadian Thanksgiving is an important event for Kale and Molly, since it was the first time they had a date – and the first time Kale stood her up (long story).

First, the blurb:

Bestselling author Kale McKinnon is a modern Scrooge - eccentric, misanthropic and reclusive, made bitter by the coldness of his wealthy family. But when optimistic Canadian graduate student Molly Gillis visits Oxford and invades his space, he realizes Christmas is about to change for him forever. But can he make her stay, and force himself to un-Scrooge enough to be the right man for her?

Now, the playlist:

10. “Through Being Cool,” Devo  http://youtu.be/u_HH_jher3c

This was the theme song for my eccentric, stubbornly-nerdy hero, Kale. He seemed like a Devo kind of guy – when no one was looking, that is. Geek Pride, yo!

9. “When You Say Nothing at All,” Ronan Keating

This says everything I wanted to say about Kale and Molly. Everyone wants a relationship where the understanding is so deep nothing needs to be said, and the commitment is felt rather than repeated. It makes me melt.

8. “You Make me Feel So Young” Frank Sinatra

This was Molly’s theme – she is eternally young, because she is eternally optimistic. So much so, she brings spring to Kale in dead winter.

7. “Santa Baby” Eartha Kitt

Too soon for Christmas music? Tough, it’s a Christmas book. Now you know how it feels to write a Christmas romance in August to give the publisher enough time to run it by December. As to this specific song – this is the real deal; the one that woke us all up the sexy, romantic potential of the holidays. As something of a holiday writer, I owe it a lot.

6. “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” Cyndi Lauper

This was the theme for Molly’s roommate Colby – a young, rich, pretty girl rampaging on a Continental experience tour.

5. “I’m a Stranger in Paradise” Matt Munro

This is the basic situation, I guess, so it’s not unclear as to what this song is doing on the list. As to the specific version, Matt “the Singing Bus Conductor” Munro gave it a bit of a British feel, while Tony Bennett is too All-American. And Sarah Brightman, as talented as she is, is just too high pitched for me for nighttime listening without bleeding from the ears. I’m a mellow sort of gal.

4. “She,” Elvis Costello

This was Kale’s mind about Molly, one of the most wonderful expressions of a lover’s joyful worship for the beloved. Also, I love Elvis Costello (who was a contributing factor to my son’s name, by the way). And, yes, I know this is the second song from Notting Hill in this list, but I swear that wasn't deliberate. I promise it will be the last. Oh, okay, perhaps I’ll sneak one more in, “Ain’t No Sunshine,” by Bill Withers, because, damn, that’s a great one. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPK9kr4_imM)

3. “I’ll be Home for Christmas” Bing Crosby

The ultimate away-from-home-at-Christmas song, which never fails to make me misty. Also, comes from the movie that Molly watches every year as part of her family rituals.

2. “Dedicated to You” Ella Fitzgerald.

The ultimate song for novelists in love.

1. “River” Joni Mitchell

Perhaps one of the most beautiful songs ever made about being away from home at the holidays. Also one of the greatest holiday-song-that-isn’t-a-carol songs. (For something interesting, you can also try the Robert Downey Jr. version, which is surprisingly lovely: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxjQfFsQKuw.)

And (drum roll, please) the absolute song-behind-the-book theme song of Unwrapping Scrooge:

“I’ve Got My Love to Keep me Warm,” as sung by the Mills Brothers

Probably the most romantic song ever conceived, perfect for a Christmas romance, and for a Canadian heroine who melts the heart of a scrooge. Beautiful harmonies, sweet lyrics, and such heartfelt feeling, covering more than just the weather. The kind of song a couple dances to at their 50^th anniversary. The kind of love I wanted for Kale and Molly.

So, that’s it – those were the songs in my head when I wrote Unwrapping Scrooge. I think they make a really strong landscape painting in sound of what the book means.

All of my books have theme songs. I can’t use them in the text, of course, due to copyright, but I listen to them during the planning phases, and during my rest moments between scenes. The magic, meaning and sentiment of the lyrics hangs around the edges of the book, imbuing them with their sparkle and reminding me of the direction. They also help me maintain a consistent mood when writing over days and weeks, and again during editing.

I wish I could always reveal the theme song for every book, and add the videos as a special feature. Alas, most of them go unpublicized. I am pleased this one didn’t.

Happy Thanksgiving, and Happy Holidays, to all!

- Anne

Anne Holly is a Canadian writer of romance and erotic-romance, as well as a mother and teacher. She is the author of the novel Strings Attached, which was described by The Romance Reviews as “a classic contemporary romance.” She has been published by Wild Horse Press, Decadent Publishing and Rebel Ink Press. Anne’s work is characterized by its unusual heroes, sweet/spicy balance, witty dialogue, responsible citizenship, and its positive, optimistic nature. You may visit Anne at her blog or website.

Her email is anneholly2010@gmail.com.

Confessions of a de facto Holiday Writer

by Anne Holly

I never started out to write holiday romances. I certainly didn’t start out to write holiday erotica, but that’s a whole other story. I started out to write contemporary romances with a bit of wit and a lot of real human motivation – I love characters, so my work is a bit more internal than external in terms of motivation. I like to delve into why they tick the way they tick, and do the things they do. That can be done any time of year, right? So, why do I keep returning to holidays?

At the moment, I have one Christmas erotic-romance and one Christmas romantic-comedy out, and am anticipating a full length contemporary romance coming out in May – which, you guessed it, pivots around the Christmas season. I also have a couple works in progress focusing on Valentine’s Day, one on Hallowe’en, and yet another full length culminating in Christmas and New Years. What the heck?

I swear, I didn’t plan on becoming a holiday writer. I am permanently entrenched in the university life, as I teach at one for my day job, so my stories tend to deal with grad students, professors, etc, and, by that token, they tend to lean towards a term structure – the couple meets in the fall and things get serious by Christmas. So, maybe that is why they work out this way? Hrmmm… Nope. My May full length doesn’t have anything to do with a university, so maybe that’s a bum theory.

In actual fact, it likely has much more to do with the spirit of the holidays – all of the holidays, but especially the cold season ones. Yes, I know, in light of 4 am crushing sales lines and belligerent in-laws, we tend to roll our eyes when people speak of this mythical warmth and glow of the holidays, but hear me out for a moment.

Christmas is the time when we have in our collective subconscious the two extremes – the optimistic Christmas lover, Tiny Tim, and the misanthropic cold hearted Scrooge, who wasn’t really a bad guy deep down. Really, he was just hurt by life. Now, most well-adjusted people fall some place in between, but those two extremes represent the spectrum of romance: Someone full of love, and someone who has had the love beaten out of them. Those are the characters to which I am naturally drawn – and the redemption that is achieved when the one overcomes the other, and the romance that pools in their bond when it all works out right in the end. This is likely the main reason I write so much about the holidays. It is a time of salvaging the human from the ravages of plans gone wrong, of love unrequited and of tragedy spilt over a life time.

This is the main impetus behind my new release from Decadent Publishing, Un-Scrooged. This novella is an off-beat romantic-comedy with a warm heart – a misanthropic English writer, worn into his hermit-like ways by a cold and distant family, is brought back to humanity by a sweet, optimistic Canadian grad student in Oxford for her year abroad, a young woman who even sees the good in Ebenezer Scrooge. The two lovers, Kale and Molly, are both strong characters, firmly resolved in their outlooks in life, who both find something completely unexpected at Christmas. With this story, I have truly come out of the proverbial holiday writer closet, and am ready to pronounce myself an unrepentant holiday romantic.

Although it was not my intention, I am happy with my niche. I find in myself a bit of a natural at capturing the sparkle of the winter holidays. Of course, I probably have a small edge there, being Canadian. The oft-touted definition of a Canadian is “someone who can make love in a canoe,” but I have a better definition to exert – someone who can make love, despite layers of wool, and finds snow sexy. And this is also what I write – how snow, which is, most of the winter, drab and cold and inconvenient, becomes magic at the holidays. When ensconced inside with your One True Love, wrapped in a blanket, those frosty little bits of divine fire falling from the sky create a private and undisturbed bubble, insulated from the noise of the outside world, and even from the passage of time.

So, we have snow and we have redemption. At no other time of the year, are our hearts as open as they are during our favourite holidays, and this… vulnerability… this willingness to redeem and be redeemed… That is why I am an unplanned, but not reluctant, holiday romance writer (and reader). A time of cold noses and apple cheeks is also the most romantic time of the year… if we manage to avoid getting overrun by holiday shoppers and slush.

Most of all, I hope my books help people remember the good about the season and to become “un-Scrooged” a bit themselves, wrapped up with my lovers as they find each other.

And if it works, that is my holiday gift to you.

Happy holidays!

Anne Holly is a writer of contemporary romance and erotica, and is looking forward to the publication of her first full length romance in 2011. She comes from the rugged east coast of Canada, and currently resides in Ontario, where she teaches cultural studies and is the dedicated mom to one young son.

You can visit Anne at:

www.anneholly.webs.com