Dial up the Joy with Feel-Good Fiction

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Feel-good fiction offers an escape from real life, including the 24/7 news cycle of tragedy. The positive resolutions and uplifting endings remind us that despite the inevitability of tragedy, recovery and resilience are possible.

Despite grief, heartbreak, and other real challenges in our lives, the world is full of joy and beauty. Feel-good fiction is a haven from strife. Why not celebrate everyday miracles such as love, friendship, and a safe and happy home?

I admire writers like Beth O’Leary, Jojo Moyes, Di Morrissey and Emily Henry. Their characters require grit to outmaneuver the grim. Success always prevails.

Because genres such as horror and crime amplify the real dangers of the world, I choose instead to dial up joy. My readers agree. They tell me my books offer escapism with their promise of silver linings and uplifting endings.

Don’t get me wrong. It’s important to know what’s happening in the world. Humans are hardwired to find out bad news and be alert to danger. It’s kept us alive for millenia. But relentless exposure to dangers which are not immediate can be wearying and depressing.

Fiction needs friction. There wouldn’t be much of a story without conflict and tension throughout. Importantly, though, feel-good fiction offers a happy or “happy for now” ending.

A former journalist and professional communicator, I recently began writing fiction for the simple joy of it. It kept me sane during the pandemic. While my day job required me to absorb and share all I could about navigating a community as safely as possible through the horrors of COVID, it was the fictitious Huntley family of jewelers who gave my mind a welcome break each day.

I’d begun House of Diamonds before the pandemic, after attending fiction writing workshops and conferences. Though I had several first drafts of other novels, I joined a small group of critique partners to interrogate and polish my diamond. I wanted to finish and share this first book of publishable quality.

House of Diamonds is a sparkling modern love tale. It features a fiercely creative battler – small, independent jeweler Stella, who creates affordable jewels and sells them at her street stall. Sparkles fly when Stella sets up her stall outside the iconic House of Diamonds jewelry emporium, run by the dutiful but slightly bored and entitled James Huntley the Third.

House of Diamonds asks whether these rival dueling jewelers will ever work out what to do with an engagement ring.

By then my world was in lockdown, so there was no chance to launch my “opposites attract” “enemies to lovers” story. No matter. James’s bad boy brother Will Huntley began whispering in my ear.

Will’s story, House of Hearts, takes readers to Vegas, where this globe-trotting playboy meets his match – sweet divorcee Dr Lisa Bakker, who is devoted to her job in a gambling addiction clinic. House of Hearts asks what it takes to be lucky in love.

The pandemic raged, and I kept writing fiction at dawn, before my day job began. House of Spades is Stella’s mother’s story. Red-headed serial single Flame, whose real name was Fiona until she ran away from school, ends up living in a caravan on the edge of a farm in the beautiful Byron Bay hinterland of Australia’s east coast. The farm is owned by Ross, a widower and hermit. Flame rekindles his interest in life, his land, and love, but Flame is a runaway bride. Can Ross convince her to marry him when every other lover has let her down?

House of Clubs followed, with the story of James and Will’s mother, Cynthia, who follows a long-held dream to live in France. Writing this book in lockdown gave me welcome opportunities to return to France online, through holiday photos, and in my memory.

Cynthia buys a charming but dilapidated corner property in a village in the south of France. She gives handsome handyman Emile a key to her property, but will she give him the key to her heart?

By now, the Huntleys had business and romantic interests in France, Australia, and the US. I thought I was done with the Huntleys, but a reader suggested I write Full House. More captivating research followed.

Full House asks what it would take to bring the whole fledgling Huntley House of Jewels empire to its knees.

Still to be told was Nicole Huntley’s story, the middle child, between James and Will, so Full House also asks “What can you do when you’ve friend-zoned the one you love?” Fate deals the Huntleys a high-stakes fresh hand and “conflict of interest” threatens to shatter Nicole’s family, destroy their retail empire, and break her heart.

It was a total joy to launch the entire House of Jewels series in person when restrictions eased last year! By then, the habit of writing fiction was entrenched, and readers were asking for more, so I devised the Escape to the Coast series, drawing on the memories of living and working as a journalist on the beautiful Central Coast just north of Sydney.

Summer Beach, the first in the series, was launched recently. I’ve called Summer Beach a love song, not only because the hero is a reluctant rock star who denies his song-writing talents, but because people who would never be seen dead reading love stories will accept and even sing the words to popular love songs. Heartbreak, longing, loss, hope and joy are the stuff of love songs, and we can’t get enough of them, because we need them!

Clearly there’s a place for all the genres, and writers doubtless gravitate to the ones they most enjoy reading. For me, feel-good fiction takes the cake everytime – a touch of sweetness in our busy lives, periods of which are less palatable than others.

Feel-good fiction reminds us of the wisdom of Desiderata, which states, “With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world.”

For me, writing feel-good fiction is a balm in an uncertain world, because while much remains to change and challenge our lives, there is also joy all around us.

It’s my privilege to magnify and celebrate good times with feel-good fiction and such hashtags as #bookjoy #beautifulworld #gratitude #feelgoodfiction. I warmly invite you to join me!