Read Around the Rainbow: How do you feel about blurbs?

I gather that some of us approach blurbs with a sense of trepidation from the feedback about the topic chosen for this month’s Read Around the Rainbow blog. I have to say (very quietly) that I don’t mind writing book blurbs. I hasten to add that they’re not my favourite admin task, but as a less is more kind of writer (one of the reasons I write novellas) describing something relatively brief is a mild blessing compared to other lengthier challenges that have me tearing my hair out.

I wouldn’t say this generally, but in this instance, I think it helps that I write historical stories. Once I’ve popped in the date and era, my MCs name, their love interest and the setting, I’m halfway there! Of course, it’s not easy to cram a coherent précis of a complete story in a few paragraphs (or even less for a short blurb), but it can be quite a fun puzzle to extract the essentials from my story.

When the necessary facts like time and place are added, I find that latching onto the nearest relevant tropes can be helpful for me as a writer and for readers to conclude if the story is their cup of tea or not. For the blurb of my upcoming story, The Misfit, released on April 1st, and currently in the 20% pre-release sale at JMS Books, I tried to include Society of Gentlemen, Friends to Lovers and Second Chances to describe Luc and Harry’s love story.

So my checklist for blurbs tends to include background facts, a summation of the overall storyline and any useful tropes. It’s up to you to decide if I’ve managed to include all the above in the blurb for The Misfit!

At the start of 1816, Luc Gerrard is summoned home to rural Essex from his sanctuary in the West Indies due to a dangerous downturn in his mother’s health. When she recovers, Luc is determined to pick up his musical employment in London’s theatres, concert halls and ballrooms.

He receives support and even friendship from a surprising source, the circle of gentlemen who spirited him away from certain arrest due to his connection with his former lover and Napoleonic plotter, James Beaufort.
Luc juggles his pride and finances while attempting to gain an orchestral position at Drury Lane Theatre for the upcoming spring Season. Bittersweet memories are revived when he inevitably meets his longtime companion and sometime lover, Harry Kent. However, charming, easy-going casual Harry seems changed by Luc’s absence.

Can Luc re-establish his interrupted career with a little help from his new friends? And might he and Harry find a lasting connection?

My post will be linked on the last Friday of every month with posts from fellow blog ring members. There are six other writers blogging in the Read Around the Rainbow Webring this month… find their posts to discover how they feel about blurbs!

Lillian Francis : Holly Day : Addison Albright : Fiona Glass : Amy Spector : Nell Iris :