The Magic of Real Life

Karen F. Williams blogs:

Happy Valentine’s Day! I hope you enjoy Cupid’s Bow. And by the way, the title comes not from the cherubic archer, but from the shape of…well, you’ll have to read to find out.

Those of you familiar with my books know that my romances are along the lines of magical realism. I have a penchant for juxtaposing fact and fantasy, the ordinary and extraordinary, the magical and mundane. So devising a plot for this “regular romance” (however short) was admittedly a challenge. It felt odd not having a supernatural character set to barge in on my leading lady. All I had were two ordinary women, sitting in the ordinary bar of an ordinary hotel on a snowy February night. No magic, nothing extraordinary, just an intellectual sparring session between an English teacher and an academic.

It wasn’t until later, while editing Cupid's Bow to Calvin Harris and Dua Lipa’s “One Kiss” (yes, I have a habit of writing with songs on repeat for hours), that I realized I hadn’t quite met the challenge of avoiding magical elements central to my other stories. The Golden Mean, the rule of three, love at first sight—these things are the magic of real life, the extraordinary wonders that underlie the ordinary world, waiting at every corner to influence our thoughts and perceptions. 

So if you’re a curious sort, interested in what makes the universe and the human heart tick, then you’ll turn that corner with me—turn the page, as it were—and come in from the snow. We can warm up at the bar with a drink and eavesdrop on these two women meeting for the first time. Unfortunately, they’re off to a bad start…