Mills and Boon win for snapper Tracy’s clicked how to do romance
A Kinross-based wedding photographer is branching into romance-writing after winning a competition to pen a Mills and Boon story.
Tracy Gow, who will be writing under the pseudonym Ella Hayes, owns a wedding photography business, but had “always dreamed of writing romance”.
She submitted a chapter and an outline for a novel when she entered Prima Magazine’s Love to Write competition. Her story – of romance set in heather and Highland mist – was selected to go the whole way into print from hundreds of entrants.
She has now gained a publishing contract with Mills and Boon, a £500 cash prize and a boost to her new calling with the first chapter appearing in Prima Magazine – alongside an interview with her. Entries were judged based on the writers’ ability to create relatable characters, a fresh author voice and delivering emotional impact. Tracy (54), who lives just outside Milnathort, considers this an exciting new string to her bow, as she says carrying her wedding camera gear “gets heavier every year.” She said: “I was utterly delighted to receive the news of my win and I’m still pinching myself. “When you have ambitions to become a writer, it can feel like an uphill struggle trying to attract the attention of an agent or publisher, especially when you have a demanding day job which steals so much of your time. “It’s hugely important to me that readers enjoy my story so I’m working hard on the rest of the book and I’ll be keeping my fingers crossed that it’s a big hit with Mills and Boon readers.” Tracy
Tracy continued: “We all know a typical Mills and Boon has characters like Saudi billionaires. Well, I wanted to keep my story ‘real’. I wrote about what I know best – my heroine is an artist getting over personal trauma and she meets an equally troubled hero.”
Love to Write judge and Prima features editor, Karen Swayne, said: “Tracy’s entry stood out from the rest as it was not only very well written, but had intriguing characters, a stunning setting and a storyline which left us wanting to know more.”
Tracy looks at Scotland as a setting with the affection of someone who has lived in many other places:“I’m half Dutch, half English, grew up in Ayrshire and went to university in Manchester.”
The reborn wedding photographer is delighted the publishers agreed to keep her original title, ‘Northern Lights’.
“They went with ‘Northern Lights,’ when they might have called it something like ‘The Laird’s Lofty Artist!’ she joked.