Monday 8 December 2014

Fictional Characters in Panto: Janey Fraser casts After The Honeymoon as a Panto


I’ve always loved panto! When my children were little, we used to take them to see them to Oxford or  Chipping Norton where we’d roar ‘It’s behind you’ until our throats were sore. Now they’re older, I have to beg them to come with me so I can keep the tradition going.

But I have also have a terrible confession to make. One Christmas, when I was still trying to get published, I took a recently-finished manuscript with me to ‘Aladdin’ where I sat in the back row, with my torch, and did a last-minute edit while my three children (all under seven) were jumping up and down in their seats. It was the equivalent of putting them in front of the television while I worked. And yes, I know I’m a bad mother....

I also used to wonder which one of my characters would make a good baddie. So when Shaz’s Book Blog asked me to role cast some of my heroes and heroines and villains, I jumped at the chance to set them in AFTER THE HONEYMOON, my latest novel about one Greek honeymoon destination; three couples; and six secrets. Here goes:

Greco is a very sexy hero in ‘After The Honeymoon’ who starts off life as a villain/Jack the Lad. The clue is in the name. Yes! I’d cast him as Jack in the Beanstalk. Why? Because he’s a bit naive; he does some stupid things; but he means well. My Greco is also short of a few beans which gets him into trouble but I’m not going to spoil the story. However, I will add that what he makes up for in intelligence, he more than makes up for in another area. In fact, he’d rival a Giant in that department, any day...

Emma in ‘After The Honeymoon’ is a young mum whose partner wants her to get married. She’s not certain because her own parents’ marriage was such a disaster.  In a way, Emma is sort of a Cinderella – except that she isn’t sure if she wants the shoe to fit. Her poor fiancé has quite a struggle to make her realise they’re a perfect match. And by the time he does, it’s too late. Because Emma has already fallen for....

The villain of the piece! Enter Yass. He’s big, brawny, rough and self-centred. All he wants is a good time. But like many baddies, he has a certain charm. I think I’d cast him as the female witch in Sleeping Beauty because he sends poor Emma to sleep during a picnic on her honeymoon. When she wakes up, she finds...

No. I’m not going to tell you. Because like all pantomime writers, I want to keep you on the edge of your seat. But I do promise one thing. You’ll never look at honeymoons in the same light again.....

Just one more thing. I also write romantic fiction under the name Sophie King. My new book (out now as an eBook) is called DO YOU TAKE THIS MAN? It’s about a girl who gets married in the first chapter but in the second, the scene is replayed and she decides to run away at the church door. Each alternate chapter plays out her life, according to whether she gets hitched or not. It’s a sort of ‘Sliding Doors’.  My heroine would definitely play Snow White in a pantomime. Why? Because I’ve always thought there was more to that doe-eyed, black-haired beauty than meets the eye. (Or should I say ‘apple’).  No one is what they seem in pantos – and that’s part of the fun.

Happy reading! And Happy Christmas.

AFTER THE HONEYMOON by JANEY FRASER. PUBLISHED BY ARROW, RANDOM HOUSE http://www.amazon.co.uk/After-Honeymoon-Janey-Fraser/dp/0099580845

DO YOU TAKE THIS MAN? By SOPHIE KING. PUBLISHED BY CORAZON BOOKS  

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