Beautiful wedding dresses, hunky Korean male models and delicious rice dishes… I’m writing a new book and I’ve put together a board on Pinterest with pictures to inspire me.
I don’t consider myself all that visual, but this time Googling what things look like has been terrifically helpful. First off, I wanted an attractive man to serve as a secondary love interest so I typed in Korean male models. (Research—so hard!) I picked these two delightful gents and now I picture them when I’m writing the scenes my character appears in. I’ve called him Hyun-Ki in my book—partly because it sounds so close to ‘hunky’.
Next, I needed a wedding dress—the kind of thing you might find in a designer shop where the dresses on the mannequins never have a price label on them. I found this Antonio Berardi version. Isn’t it absolutely beautiful? I particularly like the high neckline and the asymmetric hem. And as for the train—a thing of beauty, no?
My characters go to a Korean restaurant so in the interests of research I looked up recipes, stumbling on the gorgeously-titled bibimbap—Korea’s national dish. It’s a mix of rice and veggies, topped with strips of beef, a fried egg and spicy sauce. You use chopsticks to break the yolk and mix it in to the dish along with the sauce.
If you’d like the recipe, it is here. And I’ve included the picture of the dish I made, which was the not-as-pretty as the BBC food version one.
Gochugang sauce isn’t widely available so I used sriracha instead, which is super spicy so you don’t need as much.
As my heroine’s intended looks like Jamie Fraser of Outlander fame (or Sam Heughan the actor who plays him), I needed pictures of Jamie/Sam for my board too, and found plenty of lovely ones.
Finally, I looked up wedding cakes. You can find amazing cakes online, but I decided my home-made one topped the lot.
You can see my Highland Wedding board on Pinterest here.
Emma Baird - author 
Writing about writing. I have just posted moments after you. Do a deal, I will buy yours if you buy mine?
Send us the link to it? Emma
Done!
Whenever I think of Korean cuisine, two things come to mind. Korean barbecue and kimchi. Will their wedding night be overshadowed by the strong and pungent aromas of kimchi in the bedroom?
Kimchi is supposed to be awfully good for your guts. I’m not sure if it has other marvellous qualities…? 🙂
When I’m in a restaurant eating it it is okay but when I bought some and took it home, I knew the smell in my refrigerator wasn’t the best 😃
Yes, I get the same reaction when I put sauerkraut in there…
I’ve just read Highland Fling and really enjoyed it. Xx
Thanks ever so much, Sharon. That’s so lovely to hear! x
Emma, I have bought your book.I will read it and review if you wish. You had something that you wanted to tell me?
Thanks – only if you want to though. Yes, it was just to say I’m really enjoying your book. Great concept.
I have bought yours on my wife’s account so it’s gone into her domain. I shal read it soon snd write soemthing that is useful for sales. Have you solved the Amazon algorhythm? It’s reckoned to drive all sales.
Nope, but I did do a free book (a prequel to Highland Fling, it also contains the first chapter of HF) and that ‘sells’ well. For one heady hour, it was number 8 on the 30-minute free romance reads on Amazon.com… Advertising can give your book a push into the Amazon algorithm (though it’s worth remembering that the ad doesn’t sell the book – it’s the cover and the description) and if you can get beyond a certain number of sales per day that is when Amazon starts selling your book for you. The more books you have (and preferably in a series) the easier it is to get noticed.
That’s good advice. I have already started on quick reads and am breaking down my Piper series into such. I will do the serialisation approach. I owuld appreciate it if you could write a review for AWOL. I will do the same for HF.
Will do!
Emma, I have put together Part 1 of a quick read saga and it’s ready to go. I don’t know how to register this as quick read. Also, I want my cover to be special, is there some kit that wil enable me to design one?
I think you just choose the short story category? You could try canva.com for cover design, or look for pre-made covers, which are cheaper than custom design. Try Derek Murphy’s creative indi site as he has tonnes of resources. For full-length novels, it is worth splashing out on custom design as covers really do sell books…
Emma, excelent advice.
You sound like you are having fun creating your new book. What does your husband think of all the photos of hunky guys on your wall?