Romance & Wish You Were Here & Llamas

Beth VogtFun, Life, Reality, Romance, Writing 17 Comments

 
Yes, that’s me playing “get to know you” with a llama.

Ah, the things novelists do for the sake of research.

What do llamas have to do with inspirational contemporary romance?

Some would say nothing. But since I am the author of Wish You Were Here, I would say llamas add a whole other layer of fun to a romance novel — and I don’t mean the kissing kind of fun.

I’m not quite sure how the idea of llamas first came up. I think my husband and I were driving around Estes Park, CO with our 11-year-old daughter. And, yes, we were discussing my novel, which was then very much a work in progress. Someone — and I really, really think it was my husband — suggested adding llamas to the story. And I thought, “Sounds like fun.”

After spending several hours at the Touch the Earth Ranch, I discovered that I like llamas — yes, even their funny “come nose to nose with you and exhale a huff of air” kisses. Ultimately a trio of bad-boy llamas — Pancha, Kuzko and Banzai — became part of Wish You Were Here.

 

 

In Your Words: Llamas and romance — who knew? What other odd things — animals, maybe — have shown up in a romance you’ve read lately?

 

 

Comments 17

  1. Your llamas and huff of air kisses do add a layer of fun. I remember a destructive goat in one of Susan May Warren’s P. J. Sugar books. We’re having fun considering critters, maybe even several llamas, or smaller alpacas eventually, for our farm.

  2. Llamas….at least it wasn’t aliens. 🙂 Let’s see, hurricanes came up in the book I just finished, Sweet Caroline, by Rachel Hauck, along with pluff mud pie. I love the creativity that writers bring to their stories!

  3. So far, all my books have donkeys in them. I think it comes from a life-or-death experience I had with a donkey as a kid (a city-kid, at that!). But I love the llamas in Wish You Were Here. And the names crack me up. Love that movie.

    ~Debbie

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