Abandon Ship
Abandon Ship is a jilted bride romance, part of the
Love at Sea multi-author series. Get ready to set sail through the Caribbean on
Festival Cruises’ most alluring voyage with eight of your favorite authors -
happily ever after guaranteed!
Experience everything the Love at Sea series
has to offer. From speed dating to masquerades, guests are sure to enjoy the
hot days and steamy nights. Explore hidden waterfalls, swim with dolphins, and
watch as eight couples find their forever on the open ocean.
What is the sub-genre and trope? Did your characters lead you to this genre or was that decided before the story began?
Steamy Romantic Comedy. Tropes – jilted bride, brother’s best friend, forced proximity
Since this is a multi-author series, we chose the main trope when we were planning together so we didn’t have overlap. The brother’s best friend trope came about as I was writing. I’m not a super fan of insta-love, so I like my characters to have a bit of backstory.
Are you more character or plot driven?
Definitely more character driven usually.
This book is set on board a 7-day cruise, so the other authors and I had to create shared excursions and events on ship, so there were some more setting/plot driven elements with this one.
But I still focus on character and how they develop apart so they can grow together.
With many main and secondary characters, how do you keep them separated in your mind? Do you have a story/vision board above your workspace?
I use Pinterest to help with visual inspirations. I do try to keep my characters unique enough that they don’t run together. For longer series with recurring characters, I have a google spreadsheet to help me remember details. You can see the Pinterest board for Abandon Ship here: https://www.pinterest.com/kariganspencil/abandon-ship/
As a multi-author series, we communicated through Discord and Google docs to make sure our characters were overlapping appropriately and their personalities/plot events were accurate. It was so fun and challenging at the same time. I LOVE our shared characters—especially Gertrude, an 80-going-on-18-year-old that causes havoc on the ship.
I know from previous interviews that characters take on a life of their own. Were any of the characters in this series determined to take their own direction instead of where you initially wanted them to go?
Abby’s best friend Jasmine (aka Jazz).
She is so spunky and fun and steals whatever scene she’s in. I want her to be my best friend! In fact, there are some bonus chapters available for those who read Abandon Ship that focus on Jazz.
Are any of the male/female POVs based on anyone you know?
*shifty eyes* - of course not… (read-absolutely).
While these characters aren’t straight copies of people I know, I write from real life, so people in my life often find qualities of theirs in characters I write.
Usually the characters are pieces of people I know. I hope this also saves me from lawsuits and personal drama 😊
Was there any one character/scene that was harder to write about than the other?
In this book, the opening scene is the jilting scene.
I’ve never been through this personally, so I did a lot of research before writing the scene. I wanted to do justice to the feelings of anger, betrayal, and often, surprise, that jilted brides/grooms reported feeling, but also stay true to the romantic comedy genre I write in. I hope I did it justice.
I know that we aren’t supposed to have “favorites” as far as our children, but seriously, who’s your favorite character and why?
The most fun to write was Jazz. I love sassy side characters. They can often say what they want (or what we really want to say) without too many repercussions since it isn’t their story.
Secondly, I love Grayson. I try to write males that I would fall in love with, and I do enjoy his sense of humor and his ability to be sweet and rough when need be.
How do you get inside these character’s heads to find their perfect HEA?
Even though I’ve never been jilted, I have had my trust broken in a relationship. At the end of the day, Abby is dealing with her ability to trust others and herself. I know that feeling, so this was easier to write.
Grayson is struggling with some professional set-backs. He needs to choose between his job and Abby.
I try to think through every possible scenario or how the character could feel/think/do, then pick the one that feels right for them. I absolutely save those lists for use in later stories because, like most writers, I’m a hoarder of information.
What scene in this book sticks out the most for you? Why?
My favorite scene in Abandon Ship is actually a spoiler, so I’ll talk about my second favorite.
On the second night of the cruise, my characters go to the onboard nightclub for some dancing. This is the first scene where my two main characters get their hands on each other and the sexual tension is palpable.
They also run into a bachelorette party so the atmosphere is super fun and full of dicks. Jazz even gets a little frisky with someone she met at a speed dating event the night before. It’s super fun.
How long did it take you to write this book?
This book took me a little over three months. Once I got started, it just flowed out of me.
We did a TON of prewriting together to make sure all the books in the series had the same details about the ship, events, excursions, and shared characters. So the planning was almost a year in the making.
How did you come up with the title for your book?
We all have a play on the word “ship” in our titles to match the cruise theme. I thought Abandon Ship was applicable to a jilted bride trope (her fiancé literally abandoned their relationship right at the worst point possible). Plus, I love a pun.
If you met these characters in real life would you get along?
Yes. Abby is a high school English teacher (like me), Grayson is a hot photographer (I’m a photographer and I like hot guys), and Jazz is sassy and smart and I definitely want to hang out with her.
Can you give us a hint as to what we can expect next? Whether a new book and series or a sequel to an existing series? Can you share a small tease?
In this Love at Sea series, many of the characters in multiple books attend a speed dating event on the ship. I actually proposed this idea to the group because I have a series of short novellas based around the same company – Love Snack Speed Dating.
I’m always adding to this series of short, steamy, rom-coms. So if you don’t have time for a full-length romance, try a little Love Snack!
Each one features a new couple who meets at or because of a speed dating event. The story follows them from meet cute to happily for now.
Also, each story is framed by the point of view of the CEO, Jenna Montgomery. She has a complicated history with her business partner. They started as enemies in college, then became friends, then business partners, then lovers, and then ex-lovers.
The first and last chapters show their continuing dynamic. So, even though each book is a stand-alone with the couple, you can read through the series to learn more about the Jenna and Sebastian saga.
Love Snack Speed Dating Series https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B75Q4MC6
I’m highly susceptible to sudden summer thunderstorms and happily ever afters. Highly allergic to poison ivy and early mornings. And highly addicted to fountain sodas and true crime.
When I’m not reading or writing swoon-worthy romances, I'm usually stalki… I, mean, chasing my two daughters around with my camera, grading papers, or cleaning up after the animals on our mini-farm (at least emus, goats, chickens, dogs, and cats are cute, right?).
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Abandon Ship is a jilted bride romance, part of the Love at Sea multi-author series. Get ready to set sail through the Caribbean on Festival Cruises’ most alluring voyage with eight of your favorite authors - happily ever after guaranteed!
Experience everything the Love at Sea series has to offer. From speed dating to masquerades, guests are sure to enjoy the hot days and steamy nights. Explore hidden waterfalls, swim with dolphins, and watch as eight couples find their forever on the open ocean.
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