It's March and time for a new topic. Getting Published. Luck or skill?
Would you laugh at me if I said both?
In my experience, getting editors to say YES! is extremely difficult, except when it's amazingly easy. :-)
Before you throw something at me, let me explain.
I like to tell people that I heard the party going on at Samhain Publishing and when no one was looking I crawled through the dog door and joined in. My first book wasn't supposed to be a stand-alone story at all. In fact, it started out as a short that I wrote for a contest.
I read about the contest in the newspaper. The winner would receive a free pass to the writer's conference and I was itching to go to. The contestants were given a writing prompt about a man who sees a beautiful woman he is attracted to her and then kills her. Ugh. I write romance. How in the world could I write a story with such a beginning?
Unless...
Unlesss the man, is really Death come to kill the only woman he can't live without. The two make a pact, turn the Natural Order on it's head, batta-boom-batta-bing...SOUL STEALER was born.
But it was just a short story. Samhain had released a call for humorous stories they wanted to publish in an anthology. I thought to myself, "Yeah, this story is sort of quirky, not hysterically funny, but maybe they'll like it."
I received a note from one of the editors that my story wasn't chosen for the anthology but had been forwarded on to another editor for review. Yes! I liked the sound of that. Even better, the editor wanted my story to become a stand-alone novella if only I could make it longer. How could I say no? I made it longer and also pitched the novel I was working on. Both books were published.
So, I might have crawled through the dog door, but I was ready to party. I'd taken classes, gone to conferences, and honed my skills to be ready for the moment. I wrote, wrote, wrote. And I read like a madwoman. I joined writer's forums, chapters, and asked questions to stay educated about what the publishing houses were looking for. When an editor announced a craving, or need, I sent what I thought could satisfy her.
Batta-boom, batta-bing.
http://kimberleytroutte.com/
Step Into The Mists with our adventurous band of award-winning authors to otherworlds of paranormal, SF, fantasy and speculative romance. Nervous? Don't be. The creatures that live here are friendly. Most of the time... This blog is for age 18 and over only.
Showing posts with label samhain publishing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label samhain publishing. Show all posts
03 March 2014
01 August 2013
Freedom and Hope
 |
| "Plastic" ©2013 A. Catherine Noon, All Rights Reserved |
What worked for me today was to take a long walk. I brought my camera with me and took some shots of my walk, until my battery died and I just walked and existed with the trail. There is a Latin phrase, "Solvitur ambulando," which means "It is solved by walking." Many writers before me belonged to the peripatetic school, as Julia Cameron so poetically calls it. Today, I put that to the test and, to my surprise, it worked.
Take a look (you can click on the picture to see it in a larger view):
 |
| This is deadly nightshade, Atropa belladonna, which is a commonly-growing weed in the Chicagoland area. It can cause contact dermatitis and is poisonous. It is a relative of the tomato family. ©2013 A. Catherine Noon, All Rights Reserved |
Hmm. Metaphor, anyone?
 |
| I don't know what this is, but I love that there are two kinds of fruits/berries. ©2013 A. Catherine Noon, All Rights Reserved |
It didn't rain on me, either. My walk today has a quality of magic to it, a soft and Zen kind of magic that is subtle yet profound.
In closing, I'll leave you with a Zen Koan (a teaching story):
Chou-Chu fell down in the snow and yelled, "Help me up! Help me up!" A Zen monk came and laid down beside him. Chou-Chu got up and went away.
--
“It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are.”
- E.E. Cummings
The Chicagoland Shifters series:
Book 1 BURNING BRIGHT, available from Samhain Publishing.
Book 2 TIGER TIGER, available from Samhain Publishing. An All Romance eBooks Bestseller!
The Persis Cycle:Check out EMERALD FIRE, available from Torquere Books.
Watch for "Seeking Hearts", coming soon from Torquere Books.
Check out "Taking a Chance", available from Torquere Books.
Check out "Taking a Chance", available from Torquere Books.
Check out COOK LIKE A WRITER , available from Barnes and Noble.
My links: Blog | Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads | Amazon | LinkedIn | Pandora
Knoontime Knitting: Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Ravelry
Noon and Wilder links: Blog | Website | Facebook
The Writer Zen Garden: The Writers Retreat Blog | Forum | Facebook | Twitter
Team Blogs: Nightlight | Nightlight FB Page | Beyond the Veil | BtV FB Page | LGBT Fantasy Fans and Writers | LGBTFFW FB Page
Publishers: Samhain Publishing | Torquere Press
My links: Blog | Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads | Amazon | LinkedIn | Pandora
Knoontime Knitting: Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Ravelry
Noon and Wilder links: Blog | Website | Facebook
The Writer Zen Garden: The Writers Retreat Blog | Forum | Facebook | Twitter
Team Blogs: Nightlight | Nightlight FB Page | Beyond the Veil | BtV FB Page | LGBT Fantasy Fans and Writers | LGBTFFW FB Page
Publishers: Samhain Publishing | Torquere Press
01 July 2013
Catch a Tiger by the Tale
Catch a Tiger by the Tale Blog Tour
TT | 07 | 2K13 | 01
Welcome to the first blog post of the Catch a Tiger by the Tale Blog Tour, celebrating the release on Tuesday, July 23rd, of our second book the Chicagoland Shifters series, TIGER TIGER. We're excited about the chance to continue the series and we wanted to take this opportunity to thank all of our readers and writing friends for the support and guidance during the process of brining this book to completion.
One of the hardest things about writing a novel, I've found, is sustaining the creative output for the long haul. It's a little like weight loss or, I've heard, training for a marathon (I've participated in weight loss efforts but haven't run a marathon). Each day brings its challenges in the form of one's day job, family responsibilities, and plain and simple exhaustion. Time management skills that one learned in school suddenly become all-important because without it, we can lose entire weeks watching television or farting around on the internet with no word count to show for it.
If I were to pick one of my favorite tools, it would be the "30/30" method. Here's how it works:
You need a digital timer, ideally. If you don't have one, you can purchase one at retailers like Target in the kitchen section. If you have a smart phone, you can use the alarm function on it.
Set the timer for 30 minutes and, during that time, brainstorm all the things that you want to get done - whether or not they'll fit into your day, regardless of whether you want to do them - just get everything in one place to start. And don't worry - you can add and delete stuff on this master task list as you need to.
When the timer dings, or rings, or sings at you, or buzzes, or any of a hundred other alerts, stop. Step back and get yourself some coffee, tea, or ice water and relax. Set the timer for another 30 minutes and this is your "Off" time - time for you to fart around online or play video games or whatever other relaxing task you enjoy (try knitting).
When the timer dings, focus on one thing on your list. The idea here is to pick the most important - "important" as in, time-sensitive or something you don't get to focus on or, worse, procrastinate over (i.e., your writing). Don't worry about doing more than 30 minutes. All we're after right now is a focused 30 minutes - that's easy, right? You don't have to write the whole novel in one sitting; just write what will fit in 30 minutes.
Ding! Turn the timer off and relax for 30. Have a snack. Read a book. Do something rewarding. In this way, you can while away an entire weekend day and at the end of it, have a lot to show for it!
What's your favorite productivity tool?
And, so you're not dying with suspense, here is the blurb for TIGER TIGER for you to enjoy. We hope you like reading it as much as we did writing it!
One of the hardest things about writing a novel, I've found, is sustaining the creative output for the long haul. It's a little like weight loss or, I've heard, training for a marathon (I've participated in weight loss efforts but haven't run a marathon). Each day brings its challenges in the form of one's day job, family responsibilities, and plain and simple exhaustion. Time management skills that one learned in school suddenly become all-important because without it, we can lose entire weeks watching television or farting around on the internet with no word count to show for it.
If I were to pick one of my favorite tools, it would be the "30/30" method. Here's how it works:
You need a digital timer, ideally. If you don't have one, you can purchase one at retailers like Target in the kitchen section. If you have a smart phone, you can use the alarm function on it.
Set the timer for 30 minutes and, during that time, brainstorm all the things that you want to get done - whether or not they'll fit into your day, regardless of whether you want to do them - just get everything in one place to start. And don't worry - you can add and delete stuff on this master task list as you need to.
When the timer dings, or rings, or sings at you, or buzzes, or any of a hundred other alerts, stop. Step back and get yourself some coffee, tea, or ice water and relax. Set the timer for another 30 minutes and this is your "Off" time - time for you to fart around online or play video games or whatever other relaxing task you enjoy (try knitting).
When the timer dings, focus on one thing on your list. The idea here is to pick the most important - "important" as in, time-sensitive or something you don't get to focus on or, worse, procrastinate over (i.e., your writing). Don't worry about doing more than 30 minutes. All we're after right now is a focused 30 minutes - that's easy, right? You don't have to write the whole novel in one sitting; just write what will fit in 30 minutes.
Ding! Turn the timer off and relax for 30. Have a snack. Read a book. Do something rewarding. In this way, you can while away an entire weekend day and at the end of it, have a lot to show for it!
What's your favorite productivity tool?
And, so you're not dying with suspense, here is the blurb for TIGER TIGER for you to enjoy. We hope you like reading it as much as we did writing it!
Chicagoland Shifters,
Book 2
Veterinary trauma surgeon and animal empath Sasha Soskoff
has found everything he ever wanted with his new partners Neal, Steve and
Carlos. Life feels as safe and secure as it can be among a group of ex-Marine
tiger shifters. Until a homeless man is found, gruesomely mauled and murdered,
near Neal’s BDSM club.
When it’s determined a rogue tiger did the deed, the
jaguars’ accusing eyes turn toward Sasha’s lovers. The precarious balance of
peace tips dangerously toward war.
Neal knows damned well none of his tigers committed the
crime. Someone must be in Chicago without his knowledge or permission, and they’d
better find him fast before uncertainty and conflict rip the tight-knit band apart
from the inside.
As Sasha struggles to heal the stress fractures forming
among his tiger family, he begins to wonder if his dreams of a home, and love,
were too good to be true. And it’s precisely that moment the killer strikes at
the heart of the tiger clan—Sasha himself.
TIGER TIGER, available from Samhain Publishing July 23rd.
06 June 2013
Some Like It Hot: What Makes A Love Scene Hot?
I think this is an interesting question because there's no one answer. What makes a scene hot depends on what the viewer finds hot. To a logophile, a well-crafted iambic pentameter might be just the thing. To a BDSM fan, maybe it's a St. Andrews Cross. To a cat fan, maybe it's a Siamese peach-point.
For me, the heat comes from the relationships and not necessarily the sex scene. I've read sex scenes that are all about the sex and nothing about the people and I don't find them hot. There's no investment in the payoff.
One of the hottest scenes I've read is in Zodiac by Neal Stephenson. There isn't even any sex in it. (Well, the sex comes next.) The two characters are trying to figure out why the car died, and they get oil on their fingers. Then they look at each other and realize the lubricant is sexy and slippery and...
What do you find hot? If you like M/M romance, or are interested in giving it a try, I have a new book coming out on July 23rd. Called TIGER TIGER, it's the sequel to BURNING BRIGHT. It's about a veterinarian and animal empath who falls in love with weretigers. It seems natural, within the flow of the story, and we worked hard to make the sex scenes part of the story. They move the plot forward.
What do you find hot?
--
“It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are.”
- E.E. Cummings
My links: Blog | Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads | Amazon | LinkedIn | Pandora
Knoontime Knitting: Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Ravelry
Noon and Wilder links: Blog | Website | Facebook
The Writer Zen Garden: The Writers Retreat Blog | Forum | Facebook | Twitter
Team Blogs: Nightlight | Nightlight FB Page | Beyond the Veil | BtV FB Page | LGBT Fantasy Fans and Writers | LGBTFFW FB Page
Publishers: Samhain Publishing | Torquere Press
Check out BURNING BRIGHT, available from Samhain Publishing.
Check out EMERALD FIRE, available from Torquere Books.
Check out "Taking a Chance", available from Torquere Books.
Check out COOK LIKE A WRITER , available from Barnes and Noble.
Watch for TIGER TIGER, coming July, 2013, from Samhain Publishing.
03 May 2013
A Little Learning is a Dangerous Thing
While I was still an unpublished author, but with two novels
already completed and gathering dust under the bed, I decided to participate in
NaNoWriMo. I wanted to see if I could write under pressure, because although I
knew I could write quickly I was looking ahead to when I may find myself under
deadline. Pretty cheeky, for a woman who had only, to that point, received a
drawer full of FOAD* letters from publishers, editors and agents. Yet, I wasn’t
at all sure that if an agent said to me, “I love your premise and I want to see
it. How soon can you get it to me?” I’d be able to produce.
I’d also done a lot of learning since I wrote the first two
novels—taking courses, discovering just how much I didn’t know, figuring out
what the market wanted, finding out all the stuff I was doing that shouldn’t ever be done. I felt ready to move on to
the next level, to write a book I could actually have a chance of getting
published with. So NaNoWriMo was my personal test, my big push toward success.
For anyone not familiar with National Novel Writing Month, you’re
asked to commit to writing fifty thousand words during November. At the end you’re
expected to have a first draft, not a book all polished and ready to be subbed.
You’re also encouraged to have some kind of plan so you’re not stumbling around
writing yourself into corners and wasting time.
Even as a pantser I knew my chances of writing a novel of
that size without some kind of outline were slim, so I came up with everything
I thought I needed—a plot, character outlines, research notes. I was ready!
I started on November 1st and cranked out three
thousand words the first night. The second night I cranked out a thousand, but
it was hard going. You have to understand, I didn’t doubt I could get the
word-count. I’d done almost one and a half that much in the past. I was aiming
for a good first draft, something
that didn’t need much work at the end, so I was paying attention to all those
rules I’d learned, trying to follow my plan, pushing, forcing, biting and
clawing toward the end.
I didn’t finish writing the book.
It bored the crap out of me.
Hatred isn’t a strong enough word for how I felt about my
heroine, hero, the plot, my writing. I had a moment where I thought I was done
for. I’d failed the test and had about ten thousand words of unadulterated effluvia
to show for it.
I won’t bore you with the details of my depression,
hair-tearing etc. I can tell you what I learned from that experience was
invaluable. I can’t force a plot or ignore the direction my characters want to
go in. I can produce quickly, but there has to be a certain level of freedom to
the writing, so I can stay engaged and let my imagination really be in control.
But most importantly I learned that slavishly following all the writing rules,
trying to conform to every little thing people say you MUST or absolutely
SHOULDN’T do is the fast road to boring, stagnant writing and an unfinished
book. It’s like I learned in art class…the best abstract artists are those who
know exactly how to draw and paint in a realistic fashion, but choose not to.
There was other good news too. On November 12th I
had an idea—a vague, “suppose” kind of idea—started writing it to get the bad
taste of defeat out of my mouth, and got the entire 50K first draft finished in
time to receive my NaNoWriMo certificate. I still had a lot of work to do to
find my voice, to discover which rules I was able to break effectively, and I
re-wrote that book a couple of times before it became Breaking
Free, my first erotic historical novel.
I’ve had other unfinished books since then, but now I tend
to know fairly early when to let go and not waste my time on a thread-bare plot
or an untenable character. And I’m still learning when and how to break the
rules… Sometimes we're better off not knowing them at all, I think!
*For anyone
not familiar with FOADs, that’d be F*** Off And Die.
13 January 2013
When is a series not a series?
I never intended either "Blaze of Glory" or "Blood of the Pride" to be a series.
This, as you can guess, had a major effect on how I wrote the books originally. In the case of "Blaze" I set out to tell the story of a young woman forced into playing a superhero and then having to actually *be* a superhero with the entire storyline wrapped up at the end of the first book. When I was lucky enough to be picked up by Samhain Publishing and the most excellent editor Sasha Knight I didn't have any plans for a sequel.
But not long after the first book was released Sasha came back to me and asked if I'd considered continuing the story of Jo Tanis and her brave new world. I couldn't say no.
It didn't take long for me to draft up an outline for the next two books in the series, "Heroes Without, Monsters Within" and "Heroes Lost and Found", building on the world I'd created in the first book and delving deeper into the politics and mechanics necessary to make the first book work. By the time the trilogy finished I felt I'd explained so much more about the worries and fears on both sides of the fence, both supers and of the people monitoring them. I'd never have gotten that chance if I'd stopped with the single book - but I'm still thrilled that you can read "Blaze of Glory" without feeling forced to purchase the next two in the series.
"Blood of the Pride" followed a different track.It was originally published by a small press under a different title and when they decided to drop paranormal stories from their site I received the rights back and, after another stiff round of editing, submitted it to Carina Press. You can imagine my thrill at getting a phone call from Angela James, offering me a contract.
It wasn't long after that I began working on a sequel, feeling that the story of Rebecca, a cat shifter who couldn't shift, and her new love Brandon had more to be told. When I approached my Carina editor, Alissa Davis, with the sequel she asked if I intended more stories.
I told her yes - and we negotiated a three-book contract with Carina Press. The sequel, "Claws Bared", comes out January 21st and the third book, "Family Pride" is scheduled for June 6 with the next book tentatively set for an October release.In both cases I never set out to create a world that demanded a series for the reader to enjoy them. But the opportunity to write more books in those worlds have given me the chance to explore them in more depth, to share much more with the reader than I could ever stuff into a single book.
I'm proud of the fact that both series have stand-alone stories to start with - if you never go past the first book you'll still have an enjoyable read and won't feel obligated or forced to buy the next to figure out what's going on or find that resolution left out at the end.
That's the way I created two successful series. Both of which I hope to keep going in one way or another - I've written a short story set in the "Blaze" world for the 2013 Origins Game Fair Anthology, a limited-edition book being published this year for the convention theme of "superheroes". "The Seat of Your Pants" is a short set before the events of "Blaze" and details one not-so-regular battle for Jo Tanis and her sidekick/Guardian, Metal Mike.
"Blood of the Pride" has four books currently set in Reb's world where Felis and humans mingle freely and her job as a private investigator places her in a position to help both societies. I don't see an end at present and hope to continue writing her story for a good long time.
Not too bad considering I never set out to create either series. They both came out of a single idea for a 50K marathon writing session.
I think they're stronger books because I didn't plan out sequel after sequel, making each book dependant on the previous one. I've seen series that do this and don't like it - so I wouldn't put it in mine. Some authors make it work and more power to them... but it's not for me.
So that's how my series started off not being a series.
Thanks for reading!
13 December 2012
Redemption & Romance
I'm always drawn to a good redemption story, especially for romance heroes.
I'm not sure what it is that so fascinates me about a person trying desperately to change. But I love seeing a person who has messed up in the worst way overcoming their past.
The classic example of this is my obsession with the 1980s television show, The Equalizer.
Robert McCall used to work for the CIA. He's killed a lot of people, to the point where he talks about being haunted by the face of every one who has died because of him.
In the pilot, McCall's decided he's had enough blood and death and he quits the CIA and takes out an ad in the newspaper: "Odds against you? Need help? Call the Equalizer!"
His former CIA colleague calls McCall the "most dangerous man he's ever met" and says the government won't let him walk away. McCall tells them to take their best shot. A friend aware of the situation tells him "I'll cry at your funeral." McCall says "I'll be there."
When the woman he's protecting from a stalker says "I'd like to get to know you better," McCall responds with "you wouldn't."
It's no wonder I was hooked on this show from the beginning.
Later, McCall struggles to do things the right way but every now and then the backslides, like killing the rapists who hurt one of his clients. Or using a bomb to blow up the people who kidnap his daughter. Or the time when the wedding he's attending is crashed by terrorists. He uses a doorstop from the bathroom to kill one of the terrorists before going after the others.
McCall has been the template for two of my romance heroes. The first manuscript is as yet unpublished and that character is not nearly as dark as McCall.
The second, however, is *darker* than McCall. That's Philip Drake of Phoenix Legacy. Drake, like McCall, is a former black ops CIA agent. And, like McCall, he's a killer but now he's trying to figure out how to do the right thing.
If he can figure out what that right thing is.
Philip is a bit of a psychopath. Because he was raised by an abusive father and because he had to kill his stepfather and several others to survive to adulthood, Philip's morals basically are "protect the person I care about and all others are expendable." Laws and regular morality mean nothing to him. The only person who matters is his foster daughter, Beth, who he rescued during a mission years ago. Beth is Philip's one fragile hold on humanity.
Philip has the ability to heal himself of nearly any injury. This means he looks young, even though he says he's too old and cynical to look under thirty. It also means because he gets an adrenaline rush when his body heals, Philip is addicted to pain, to the point where he physically harms himself just to feel at all.
So he's a stone-cold killer who's addicted to pain with a very fragile hold on his humanity. I thought Philip was extreme for a romance hero but then I talked briefly with Anne Stuart--who's known for her dark heroes--and she said "I love it." With that kind of endorsement, I went ahead and wrote the story.
So who's Philip's heroine? No other than the daughter of the people Philip had to kill in order to survive as a teenager. (He did have one other very good reason--protecting someone else-- but that's a spoiler, so I'd rather not say.) As the blurb says, Del Sefton is ready to cheerfully spit on his grave.
Except my bad guys have involved Del by impregnating her using Philip's sperm. The bad guys want to grow the next generation of psychic healers. They tried to keep Philip from finding out but he does. And he's less than pleased.
So Del's carrying the baby of someone she blames for the worst tragedy in her life. And Philip has to convince her to trust him or the bad guys will get her and the child.
Here's an excerpt:
Philip pounded the floor, digging the glass shards in deeper. Pain shot up his arms. Blood pooled onto the floor. He closed his eyes, breathing heavily. Sweat poured down his back. He held up his bloody hands and opened his eyes.
He still imagined holding Del. The lust triggered by the pain spread through his body.
He imagined Del in his arms, in the back seat of the Charger. She wasn’t a child any longer, she was a beautiful woman, one who’d saved his life, one who—
One whose life had been wrecked so she could carry a child who was either his brother or his son.
Blood slid down his arms, soaking his shirt.
What a mess.
Daydreaming about her wouldn’t help. Neither would crippling himself before he caught the men looking for her. Wrecked hands wouldn’t help him find Genet, they wouldn’t help him interrogate Cheshire.
They wouldn’t help him make certain Del and her son could live in peace.
Philip pulled out a pocketknife and flicked the shards out of his knuckles, one by one. Pain slashed at him. He grinned, riding with it, feeling his nerves sizzle with the agony. His erection pushed against his jeans. He ignored it. He’d not give into it, not when thinking about Del. She didn’t deserve that.
It's a measure of how messed up Philip is that when Del finally lets loose her anger at him violently, he's all "oh, that's good, more."
Let's just say the sex scene is quite intense.
Maybe it's because the characters, particularly Philip, are so lost that the ending to this story makes me so happy. They had to come so far from where they'd been to care about each other.
And that's the trick of a great redemption story. Their happy ending, under the worse circumstances, somehow gives me hope that I can redeem my own very mundane mistakes.
Though the other part of me says the story was fun to write because Philip is so single-mindedly without conscience about protecting those he loves. Get in his way? You're dead. Kidnap his woman? He'll crash his truck into your house. Shoot him? He'll shrug it off and keep coming.
Sorta like the Terminator. But hotter. And (I would hope) better in bed.
Corrina Lawson is a writer, mom, geek and superhero. She's written the Phoenix Institute series for Samhain Publishing, including Phoenix Rising, Luminous, and Phoenix Legacy. She also is a co-editor for the GeekMom blog on Wired.com. And would love to write a great redemption story for Magneto, if she could imagine Michael Fassbender in the role. www.corrina-lawson.com
I'm not sure what it is that so fascinates me about a person trying desperately to change. But I love seeing a person who has messed up in the worst way overcoming their past.
The classic example of this is my obsession with the 1980s television show, The Equalizer.
Robert McCall used to work for the CIA. He's killed a lot of people, to the point where he talks about being haunted by the face of every one who has died because of him.
His former CIA colleague calls McCall the "most dangerous man he's ever met" and says the government won't let him walk away. McCall tells them to take their best shot. A friend aware of the situation tells him "I'll cry at your funeral." McCall says "I'll be there."
When the woman he's protecting from a stalker says "I'd like to get to know you better," McCall responds with "you wouldn't."
It's no wonder I was hooked on this show from the beginning.
Later, McCall struggles to do things the right way but every now and then the backslides, like killing the rapists who hurt one of his clients. Or using a bomb to blow up the people who kidnap his daughter. Or the time when the wedding he's attending is crashed by terrorists. He uses a doorstop from the bathroom to kill one of the terrorists before going after the others.
McCall has been the template for two of my romance heroes. The first manuscript is as yet unpublished and that character is not nearly as dark as McCall.
The second, however, is *darker* than McCall. That's Philip Drake of Phoenix Legacy. Drake, like McCall, is a former black ops CIA agent. And, like McCall, he's a killer but now he's trying to figure out how to do the right thing.
If he can figure out what that right thing is.
Philip is a bit of a psychopath. Because he was raised by an abusive father and because he had to kill his stepfather and several others to survive to adulthood, Philip's morals basically are "protect the person I care about and all others are expendable." Laws and regular morality mean nothing to him. The only person who matters is his foster daughter, Beth, who he rescued during a mission years ago. Beth is Philip's one fragile hold on humanity.
Philip has the ability to heal himself of nearly any injury. This means he looks young, even though he says he's too old and cynical to look under thirty. It also means because he gets an adrenaline rush when his body heals, Philip is addicted to pain, to the point where he physically harms himself just to feel at all.
So he's a stone-cold killer who's addicted to pain with a very fragile hold on his humanity. I thought Philip was extreme for a romance hero but then I talked briefly with Anne Stuart--who's known for her dark heroes--and she said "I love it." With that kind of endorsement, I went ahead and wrote the story.
So who's Philip's heroine? No other than the daughter of the people Philip had to kill in order to survive as a teenager. (He did have one other very good reason--protecting someone else-- but that's a spoiler, so I'd rather not say.) As the blurb says, Del Sefton is ready to cheerfully spit on his grave.
Except my bad guys have involved Del by impregnating her using Philip's sperm. The bad guys want to grow the next generation of psychic healers. They tried to keep Philip from finding out but he does. And he's less than pleased.
So Del's carrying the baby of someone she blames for the worst tragedy in her life. And Philip has to convince her to trust him or the bad guys will get her and the child.
Here's an excerpt:
Philip pounded the floor, digging the glass shards in deeper. Pain shot up his arms. Blood pooled onto the floor. He closed his eyes, breathing heavily. Sweat poured down his back. He held up his bloody hands and opened his eyes.
He still imagined holding Del. The lust triggered by the pain spread through his body.
He imagined Del in his arms, in the back seat of the Charger. She wasn’t a child any longer, she was a beautiful woman, one who’d saved his life, one who—
One whose life had been wrecked so she could carry a child who was either his brother or his son.
Blood slid down his arms, soaking his shirt.
What a mess.
Daydreaming about her wouldn’t help. Neither would crippling himself before he caught the men looking for her. Wrecked hands wouldn’t help him find Genet, they wouldn’t help him interrogate Cheshire.
They wouldn’t help him make certain Del and her son could live in peace.
Philip pulled out a pocketknife and flicked the shards out of his knuckles, one by one. Pain slashed at him. He grinned, riding with it, feeling his nerves sizzle with the agony. His erection pushed against his jeans. He ignored it. He’d not give into it, not when thinking about Del. She didn’t deserve that.
It's a measure of how messed up Philip is that when Del finally lets loose her anger at him violently, he's all "oh, that's good, more."
Let's just say the sex scene is quite intense.
Maybe it's because the characters, particularly Philip, are so lost that the ending to this story makes me so happy. They had to come so far from where they'd been to care about each other.
And that's the trick of a great redemption story. Their happy ending, under the worse circumstances, somehow gives me hope that I can redeem my own very mundane mistakes.
Though the other part of me says the story was fun to write because Philip is so single-mindedly without conscience about protecting those he loves. Get in his way? You're dead. Kidnap his woman? He'll crash his truck into your house. Shoot him? He'll shrug it off and keep coming.
Sorta like the Terminator. But hotter. And (I would hope) better in bed.
Corrina Lawson is a writer, mom, geek and superhero. She's written the Phoenix Institute series for Samhain Publishing, including Phoenix Rising, Luminous, and Phoenix Legacy. She also is a co-editor for the GeekMom blog on Wired.com. And would love to write a great redemption story for Magneto, if she could imagine Michael Fassbender in the role. www.corrina-lawson.com
29 June 2012
Balancing Act
While I was sitting on my couch, trying to think up a post
for today, I found myself literally laughing out loud along with one of my
favorite TV decorators, Nate Berkus. I (and probably the majority of women who
watch his show) absolutely adore Nate. He’s handsome (albeit a little short,
but hey, so am I!), charming, sweet, knows his decorating and is absolutely
hilarious. What’s not to love?
It’s incidental to me that Nate is gay. He’s not flamboyant
a la RuPaul, but he’s certainly not in the closet. What made me LOL today was
some banter between him and a guest chef on his show. When Nate asked the chef
why the little cakes were called ladyfingers, he was told it was because they
were delicate and feminine. Nate retorted they looked more like his own
fingers, and roared with laughter when the chef said, “I rest my case.”
I’m in the process of writing my first M/M romance, and
while Nate isn’t the inspiration for either of the characters, I’m trying to
capture the same sense of insouciance he projects about his sexuality and
display it in both my heroes. They don’t live in our world, so I didn’t have to
deal with real life issues such as coming out and the stigma that can still be
attached to being gay. One hero is bi, the other has always been gay. Yet, even
without the restrictions of potential social stigma this book is possibly the
most difficult I’ve ever written.
That’s my own fault. I have a vision of these two men—both
strong, both determined—and want to keep them that way while still showing
their vulnerabilities. Neither of them is suited to be what I sometimes think
of as the “softer” partner I often read in M/M books. Yet I find it helpful to
remember how I handled a similar situation when writing What the Mistress Did,
which started out as a prospective ménage with a bit of revenge thrown in and
turned into a love story between the two women. Neither of them was weak,
although the balance of power seemed to favor one over the other at the
beginning. It was a matter of discerning where they were strong and where they
were weak, and allowing them to act according to those parameters in each
situation that arose.
That’s what I’m trying to do with my two guys too, and only
my editor will be able to tell me whether I’ve gotten it right or not. Keep
your fingers crossed for me. I’ve grown to love them dearly and I hope others
get a chance to meet and love them too!
08 April 2012
Happy Holidays!
First, happy holidays to those of you celebrating this time of year - and the best to you all for the future!
I really don't have much to say today, having just returned from a visit to Canada to nurse my mother for two weeks - she had triple bypass heart surgery and I went up to help out.
I *do* want to share some good news I got while in Canada - here's the new cover art for the last in my superhero trilogy, coming out in October!
I really don't have much to say today, having just returned from a visit to Canada to nurse my mother for two weeks - she had triple bypass heart surgery and I went up to help out.
I *do* want to share some good news I got while in Canada - here's the new cover art for the last in my superhero trilogy, coming out in October!
As for what I like to write... I like to write and read hopelessly romantic stories of all shapes and kinds, from superhero romances to paranormal stories about shifters.
Because, after all - you are what you eat.... er, wait. Let me stash this chocolate bunny before I finish that thought...
;)
10 March 2012
True Vampire Romance
This month’s blog falls on my anniversary, so I’m playing hookey today. But don’t break out the margaritas and marimbas yet. You don’t get out of me blogging that easily. I’ve got plenty of material in the vault, including my Halloween 2008 blog for Samhain Publishing that’s entirely appropriate to the occasion. Yes, Halloween and my anniversary are a natural match. If that doesn’t scare you, it should…
We knew we were doomed the minute we met.
“Not with a ten foot pole!” I announced mentally, though I’m still not sure who or what was supposed to be listening.
Greg heard the word. “Doom, doom, doom,” played over and over in his head. He fought it by trying to find something—anything—about me he could reasonably object to.
I didn’t have to try quite so hard. He’d just recovered from some nasty bug and was about fifteen pounds below skinny. If all the jabbing bones and straggly goatee weren’t enough to put me off, there were the hard brown eyes peering at me like Dr. Frankenstein at the purple ray. No problem keeping my self-appointed distance.
We managed to delude ourselves like this for two months, despite the fact we couldn’t stop snarking, sniping and talking to each other. We couldn‘t help ourselves. We’d read most of the same books, seen many of the same movies and related to them in ways that left our friends scratching their heads.
We didn’t think Halloween would be any different. I dressed as Shakespeare’s Viola playing Cesario, knowing I looked gorgeous in black velvet. I wasn’t dressing for Greg, you understand. Not at all. I had even worn the costume for a date with someone else the night before.
Greg knew which party I was likely to attend, and he planned to take his time getting there. He didn’t intend to snub me, but he did intend to angle for different fish—someone less likely to catch him in the same net.
Instead he strode through the door of the townhouse, through the living room and half the dining room to plant himself in front of the chair where I sat, pointedly chatting with someone else. His cape flared behind him as he walked—a real floor-length opera cape properly lined in white satin. (Not red. Red is for wannabes.) His white tie and tails looked like it was tailored to his lean, broad-shouldered form. The goatee was gone, revealing a long, bony face full of interesting planes and angles.
Then I noticed something odd about his hairline. He had a widow’s peak. That wasn’t right. Greg didn’t have a widows peak. But Dracula did.
“I shaved it,” he admitted, carefully enunciating the “s“ around his fangs.. “Well, I shaved in half. That way I can change the part and it’s gone.”
That’s when I knew I was doomed too. He was sardonic, fiercely intelligent, sexy and… A total goof.
It was the goofiness that did me in. Only a goof would shave in half a widow’s peak. That’s what made him happily-ever-after material. Looks change and fade. Intelligence can cut. Wit can burn. But goofiness is forever.
Greg and I have been together ever since. Ironically, given the way we got together, when I started writing fantasy I avoided writing about vampires. I read about them. I’ve seen all the movies, but I never wrote about them. There were so many good vampire stories on the market, and I didn’t feel I had anything to add to the conversation.
That changed a couple of months ago. Right now I’m working on not one, but two, very different vampire stories. One’s your standard much older, much more glamorous, heartbreakingly beautiful vamp with a secret sorrow. Yada Yada. It’s not that the story is the same-old. I don’t do “same old”. I write too slow to trap myself into writing anyone else’s kind of story. But the vampire fits the classic mold much more closely than most of my heroes. In a sense that’s part of his charm. He’s my doorway to the great vampire fairy tale of paranormal romance.
But his isn’t the story that rides me like some demon jockey. No, that’s reserved for the second story, the one where the vampire hero is only two or three years older than the very human, college freshman heroine who discovers him when he awakens, bewildered and hungry, after death has turned him. He is a goof. A very sexy goof, a very brilliant goof, but still a goof. The kind of guy you wind up taking home to your parents, because really, what else can you do? And for the duration of the first draft, when the words are something only I will see, his name is Greg.
*
Originally published by Samhain Publishing, October 31, 2008.
We knew we were doomed the minute we met.
“Not with a ten foot pole!” I announced mentally, though I’m still not sure who or what was supposed to be listening.
Greg heard the word. “Doom, doom, doom,” played over and over in his head. He fought it by trying to find something—anything—about me he could reasonably object to.
I didn’t have to try quite so hard. He’d just recovered from some nasty bug and was about fifteen pounds below skinny. If all the jabbing bones and straggly goatee weren’t enough to put me off, there were the hard brown eyes peering at me like Dr. Frankenstein at the purple ray. No problem keeping my self-appointed distance.
We managed to delude ourselves like this for two months, despite the fact we couldn’t stop snarking, sniping and talking to each other. We couldn‘t help ourselves. We’d read most of the same books, seen many of the same movies and related to them in ways that left our friends scratching their heads.
We didn’t think Halloween would be any different. I dressed as Shakespeare’s Viola playing Cesario, knowing I looked gorgeous in black velvet. I wasn’t dressing for Greg, you understand. Not at all. I had even worn the costume for a date with someone else the night before.
Greg knew which party I was likely to attend, and he planned to take his time getting there. He didn’t intend to snub me, but he did intend to angle for different fish—someone less likely to catch him in the same net.
Instead he strode through the door of the townhouse, through the living room and half the dining room to plant himself in front of the chair where I sat, pointedly chatting with someone else. His cape flared behind him as he walked—a real floor-length opera cape properly lined in white satin. (Not red. Red is for wannabes.) His white tie and tails looked like it was tailored to his lean, broad-shouldered form. The goatee was gone, revealing a long, bony face full of interesting planes and angles.
Then I noticed something odd about his hairline. He had a widow’s peak. That wasn’t right. Greg didn’t have a widows peak. But Dracula did.
“I shaved it,” he admitted, carefully enunciating the “s“ around his fangs.. “Well, I shaved in half. That way I can change the part and it’s gone.”
That’s when I knew I was doomed too. He was sardonic, fiercely intelligent, sexy and… A total goof.
It was the goofiness that did me in. Only a goof would shave in half a widow’s peak. That’s what made him happily-ever-after material. Looks change and fade. Intelligence can cut. Wit can burn. But goofiness is forever.
Greg and I have been together ever since. Ironically, given the way we got together, when I started writing fantasy I avoided writing about vampires. I read about them. I’ve seen all the movies, but I never wrote about them. There were so many good vampire stories on the market, and I didn’t feel I had anything to add to the conversation.
That changed a couple of months ago. Right now I’m working on not one, but two, very different vampire stories. One’s your standard much older, much more glamorous, heartbreakingly beautiful vamp with a secret sorrow. Yada Yada. It’s not that the story is the same-old. I don’t do “same old”. I write too slow to trap myself into writing anyone else’s kind of story. But the vampire fits the classic mold much more closely than most of my heroes. In a sense that’s part of his charm. He’s my doorway to the great vampire fairy tale of paranormal romance.
But his isn’t the story that rides me like some demon jockey. No, that’s reserved for the second story, the one where the vampire hero is only two or three years older than the very human, college freshman heroine who discovers him when he awakens, bewildered and hungry, after death has turned him. He is a goof. A very sexy goof, a very brilliant goof, but still a goof. The kind of guy you wind up taking home to your parents, because really, what else can you do? And for the duration of the first draft, when the words are something only I will see, his name is Greg.
*
Originally published by Samhain Publishing, October 31, 2008.
16 February 2012
From Cuddle to Climax: The Changing Face of Romance
Romance is one of those things that, for many of us, is a guilty pleasure. I didn’t read it much when I was younger, I read more in science fiction and fantasy. The stories that excited me, though, had fully-developed relationships in them. When I first read Laurell K. Hamilton’s Anita Blake series I found a fully-realized fantasy novel with actual sex and romance. What an eye-opener. From there, I started re-examining my assumptions about romance.
I think many of us who are in the science fiction and fantasy genre look down on romance because of all the usual things: it’s a trite storyline, they don’t really do anything interesting, the writing is tawdry, there aren’t any good stories. All of those statements, though, are incorrect. Sure, there are romance novels that fit that profile, but there are also science fiction, fantasy, and mystery ones that do. From my perspective with a B.A. in Russian literature and Civilization, I can also add that there’s a sort of elitism associated with disliking romance novels. For American women, it’s like liking soap operas: everyone says they are too intellectual to watch them, yet you scratch such a person and they can tell you who Victor on the Young and the Restless is. Once I started reading good romance, though, the chip fell off my shoulder very quickly. These stories are good, and the writers are good. And wow – talk about titillating and enticing!
It comes down to the guilty pleasures we pursue but don’t admit in public. Authors such as Hamilton bring those pleasures into the mainstream, and the rest of romance has followed suit. I think it’s a reflection more of society than of genre writing in particular – twenty years ago we would never have gay romances out and open on television nor would we have soft core porn on cable, yet now we have Queer as Folk and True Blood as two wildly popular shows. I think my fellow author Xakara is much better qualified to talk about modern media offerings, but I will say that I think society’s changing views and openness, at least as far as my own culture here in the U.S. is concerned, is getting more open and our books are a reflection of that.
For myself, writing erotica isn’t a new pursuit, but sharing it publicly is. I remember the first time I posted a story with sex in it, one that is relatively tame compared to my other stories, and I felt nervous and giddy. Now, Burning Bright, our new release with Samhain Publishing, has full-blown sex and BDSM in it – two subjects I didn’t think I’d be able to write publicly.
Because of this, I think the reading consumer is growing more sophisticated about what they like to read. Readers know what they like and they ant ore of it, better quality, and fast. This is not to imply that the quality of what is there is bad, but that with the ebook revolution there are more outlets for authors to play in and more opportunity for us to provide content that brings us a paycheck. It’s no longer the days of secretive sharing of erotic material or Penthouse Forum letters; now it’s mainstream publishers looking for fully-imagined stories in which sex is a factor of the action just as much as story is.
I think this trend will only continue. To some extent, our collective fascination with sex in the novel will wane as other things grab our attention. But I see the trend of having it here to stay because of the sophistication of internet search engines and the many ways publishers can now classify works. Back in the days of only brick-and-mortar stores, you could only put a book in one location in the store – and thus, the idea of the genre was born. It led to silly things – such as when I couldn’t find Stephen King’s book On Writing in the “Writing Books” section but found it in “Horror” along with his prodigious fictional offerings. With the internet, we can classify it in a multitude of ways so that the Stephen King fan and the person interested in writing can find it easily, though each has very different desires.
I’m excited by this trend, to be honest. The idea of genre makes me impatient, both as a writer and as a person interested in literature. I believe a story should be considered exactly that: a story, not a mystery, a romance, or whatever else. Then it can be judged on its merits as a story alone and not as being representative of a type. I think readers will need to modify some opinions for that to happen; but, in the meantime, with the prevalence of internet searches and keywords, those of us who want good stories with particular elements in them don’t have to wonder where to find them. We can simply do a search on the elements we desire and voila.
Story.
Write on!
I think many of us who are in the science fiction and fantasy genre look down on romance because of all the usual things: it’s a trite storyline, they don’t really do anything interesting, the writing is tawdry, there aren’t any good stories. All of those statements, though, are incorrect. Sure, there are romance novels that fit that profile, but there are also science fiction, fantasy, and mystery ones that do. From my perspective with a B.A. in Russian literature and Civilization, I can also add that there’s a sort of elitism associated with disliking romance novels. For American women, it’s like liking soap operas: everyone says they are too intellectual to watch them, yet you scratch such a person and they can tell you who Victor on the Young and the Restless is. Once I started reading good romance, though, the chip fell off my shoulder very quickly. These stories are good, and the writers are good. And wow – talk about titillating and enticing!
It comes down to the guilty pleasures we pursue but don’t admit in public. Authors such as Hamilton bring those pleasures into the mainstream, and the rest of romance has followed suit. I think it’s a reflection more of society than of genre writing in particular – twenty years ago we would never have gay romances out and open on television nor would we have soft core porn on cable, yet now we have Queer as Folk and True Blood as two wildly popular shows. I think my fellow author Xakara is much better qualified to talk about modern media offerings, but I will say that I think society’s changing views and openness, at least as far as my own culture here in the U.S. is concerned, is getting more open and our books are a reflection of that.
For myself, writing erotica isn’t a new pursuit, but sharing it publicly is. I remember the first time I posted a story with sex in it, one that is relatively tame compared to my other stories, and I felt nervous and giddy. Now, Burning Bright, our new release with Samhain Publishing, has full-blown sex and BDSM in it – two subjects I didn’t think I’d be able to write publicly.
Because of this, I think the reading consumer is growing more sophisticated about what they like to read. Readers know what they like and they ant ore of it, better quality, and fast. This is not to imply that the quality of what is there is bad, but that with the ebook revolution there are more outlets for authors to play in and more opportunity for us to provide content that brings us a paycheck. It’s no longer the days of secretive sharing of erotic material or Penthouse Forum letters; now it’s mainstream publishers looking for fully-imagined stories in which sex is a factor of the action just as much as story is.
I think this trend will only continue. To some extent, our collective fascination with sex in the novel will wane as other things grab our attention. But I see the trend of having it here to stay because of the sophistication of internet search engines and the many ways publishers can now classify works. Back in the days of only brick-and-mortar stores, you could only put a book in one location in the store – and thus, the idea of the genre was born. It led to silly things – such as when I couldn’t find Stephen King’s book On Writing in the “Writing Books” section but found it in “Horror” along with his prodigious fictional offerings. With the internet, we can classify it in a multitude of ways so that the Stephen King fan and the person interested in writing can find it easily, though each has very different desires.
I’m excited by this trend, to be honest. The idea of genre makes me impatient, both as a writer and as a person interested in literature. I believe a story should be considered exactly that: a story, not a mystery, a romance, or whatever else. Then it can be judged on its merits as a story alone and not as being representative of a type. I think readers will need to modify some opinions for that to happen; but, in the meantime, with the prevalence of internet searches and keywords, those of us who want good stories with particular elements in them don’t have to wonder where to find them. We can simply do a search on the elements we desire and voila.
Story.
Write on!
27 January 2012
A convoluted journey into the Indie-tide
Let's start off by admitting it took me a long time to come over to the digital side of publishing. My journey has been, um, not quite a straight line? More like a spiraling op-art piece.
I started the road to publication with a complete manuscript -- SECRETS AND SHADOWS. An editor for a particular Harlequin line -- yes, the heart of category romance -- loved it. But. That was a BIG but. I revised. Waited. Waited. Heard she left the house. Sobbed. Waited some more. Got a lovely rejection letter from her successor.
The entire process? About a year and a half, maybe two. It's all a blur. But I remember it felt as if I had flushed a big chunk of my professional life down the drain.
I was left with a good, very polished manuscript that was too short for other houses; one not-great finished historical romance; and several fits, starts, and ideas for stories. What to do?
I heard about Samhain Publishing opening up. I still wasn't sure about "selling out" to publish digitally. BUT, it sounded promising and I refused to rewrite that book for the sake of meeting a word count minimum. My writing friends were excited at the prospect. Most e-pubs at that time seemed strictly aimed at erotica, so Samhain was something new. They wanted everything!
Long story short... SECRETS was snapped up. I was elated. I then had to explain to my family that yes, I was with a 'real' publisher. Oy. We still go there, believe it or not, three novels later. :P
I had other stories along the route, too. Sweeter, funny stories pubbed with a tiny e-press. It was a great experience and I loved writing those down-to-earth romances. They seemed more 'real' to me -- like old friends. That publisher struggled -- don't all small businesses? -- and finally closed. I was left with more finished stories without a home.
These events -- plus a painful rejection letter, life interference, and a monster case of writer's block -- led me to the Indie-publishing idea.
Re-publish my own work? That's outrageous! Sacrilege! Not to mention narcissistic. I balked at the whole idea, believe me. Until I saw a talented friend take the plunge. And her plunge led to a huge splash as her stories rocketed to the bestsellers' lists on Amazon. It changed her life. Literally.
Wow. That's pretty cool. Could I dare? I mean I'm a good writer. I have these polished stories ready to go. Hmmm....
Yep, I dared. Not many houses want to re-pub stories by a virtual unknown. Don't blame them, really, it's a business. And so I jumped in to the Indie world, with my friend's guidance. Just ankle deep, however, I'm a cautious swimmer.
I wish I could say my wading turned into a tidal wave of sales. It hasn't. But I'm okay with that, really. I know there are a lot of ebooks out there. A LOT. And readers are understandably cautious about spending their money on the unknown quantity.
What have I learned in my journey? A few things:
#1) Write what you love, not what you think will sell. Otherwise you'll lose your love for it. Why bother writing if you wind up hating the job?
#2) Publisher's may be necessary for many of us. We don't all have the resources, patience, talents, knowledge and connections to do it all on our own. But if you decide to try the Indie-route. Do it right. Don't sidestep and do NOT put out an inferior quality product. Readers will notice.
#3) The publishing business is a living entity, changing and growing dramatically along with technology. It's exciting and scary all at once. It allows us to find otherwise undiscovered talented writers. Let's face it -- publishers can only put out so many books a year. They have to be selective. They have to pick and choose. If a story doesn't make the cut, maybe it's just the market and not the story or writing. How many times was Harry Potter rejected? Think about it.
Instant gratification is a very seductive beast. It's hard not to find a thrill in publishing a story one day; selling copies the next; and receiving monetary rewards two months later. In the traditional publishing world, you're lucky to see anything up to a year after the contract dries.
Although it might be tempting to look down our collective noses at independently published authors, we shouldn't. Indie-publishing is NOT narcissistic. It's not evil or lazy. Honestly, there's much more work involved for the writer who publishes their own books. I've also seen that this route is sometimes the only way really good stories by good writers can get a chance.
If you're willing to work and the traditional road seems too daunting, too limiting, or has failed you one too many times: check out the Indie-tide. It's a little dark and murky. It's a little frightening. But there are many resources and folks to help along the way. Whatever road to publication you choose to follow, just remember:
Success rarely happens overnight.
Anything worth doing is worth doing well.
If you need to write, do it. Never give up. Eventually you'll find your audience.
~~Meg Allison
Indulge your senses...
www.megallisonauthor.com
I started the road to publication with a complete manuscript -- SECRETS AND SHADOWS. An editor for a particular Harlequin line -- yes, the heart of category romance -- loved it. But. That was a BIG but. I revised. Waited. Waited. Heard she left the house. Sobbed. Waited some more. Got a lovely rejection letter from her successor.
The entire process? About a year and a half, maybe two. It's all a blur. But I remember it felt as if I had flushed a big chunk of my professional life down the drain.
I was left with a good, very polished manuscript that was too short for other houses; one not-great finished historical romance; and several fits, starts, and ideas for stories. What to do?
I heard about Samhain Publishing opening up. I still wasn't sure about "selling out" to publish digitally. BUT, it sounded promising and I refused to rewrite that book for the sake of meeting a word count minimum. My writing friends were excited at the prospect. Most e-pubs at that time seemed strictly aimed at erotica, so Samhain was something new. They wanted everything!
Long story short... SECRETS was snapped up. I was elated. I then had to explain to my family that yes, I was with a 'real' publisher. Oy. We still go there, believe it or not, three novels later. :P
I had other stories along the route, too. Sweeter, funny stories pubbed with a tiny e-press. It was a great experience and I loved writing those down-to-earth romances. They seemed more 'real' to me -- like old friends. That publisher struggled -- don't all small businesses? -- and finally closed. I was left with more finished stories without a home.
These events -- plus a painful rejection letter, life interference, and a monster case of writer's block -- led me to the Indie-publishing idea.
Re-publish my own work? That's outrageous! Sacrilege! Not to mention narcissistic. I balked at the whole idea, believe me. Until I saw a talented friend take the plunge. And her plunge led to a huge splash as her stories rocketed to the bestsellers' lists on Amazon. It changed her life. Literally.
Wow. That's pretty cool. Could I dare? I mean I'm a good writer. I have these polished stories ready to go. Hmmm....
Yep, I dared. Not many houses want to re-pub stories by a virtual unknown. Don't blame them, really, it's a business. And so I jumped in to the Indie world, with my friend's guidance. Just ankle deep, however, I'm a cautious swimmer.
I wish I could say my wading turned into a tidal wave of sales. It hasn't. But I'm okay with that, really. I know there are a lot of ebooks out there. A LOT. And readers are understandably cautious about spending their money on the unknown quantity.
What have I learned in my journey? A few things:
#1) Write what you love, not what you think will sell. Otherwise you'll lose your love for it. Why bother writing if you wind up hating the job?
#2) Publisher's may be necessary for many of us. We don't all have the resources, patience, talents, knowledge and connections to do it all on our own. But if you decide to try the Indie-route. Do it right. Don't sidestep and do NOT put out an inferior quality product. Readers will notice.
#3) The publishing business is a living entity, changing and growing dramatically along with technology. It's exciting and scary all at once. It allows us to find otherwise undiscovered talented writers. Let's face it -- publishers can only put out so many books a year. They have to be selective. They have to pick and choose. If a story doesn't make the cut, maybe it's just the market and not the story or writing. How many times was Harry Potter rejected? Think about it.
Instant gratification is a very seductive beast. It's hard not to find a thrill in publishing a story one day; selling copies the next; and receiving monetary rewards two months later. In the traditional publishing world, you're lucky to see anything up to a year after the contract dries.
Although it might be tempting to look down our collective noses at independently published authors, we shouldn't. Indie-publishing is NOT narcissistic. It's not evil or lazy. Honestly, there's much more work involved for the writer who publishes their own books. I've also seen that this route is sometimes the only way really good stories by good writers can get a chance.
If you're willing to work and the traditional road seems too daunting, too limiting, or has failed you one too many times: check out the Indie-tide. It's a little dark and murky. It's a little frightening. But there are many resources and folks to help along the way. Whatever road to publication you choose to follow, just remember:
Success rarely happens overnight.
Anything worth doing is worth doing well.
If you need to write, do it. Never give up. Eventually you'll find your audience.
~~Meg Allison
Indulge your senses...
www.megallisonauthor.com
18 December 2011
Walking into a super-new world...
As in, where did I get the idea to write about superheroes? Why superheroes?
Well, why not?
So my feeble mind wandered over to the stack of comic books my hubby collects. And by collects, I mean "fills every empty shelf in the house". Not that it's a bad thing – I've been a comic fan practically since birth, having learnt how to read from the newspaper comic strips – and marrying a man with the same love of comics was almost mandatory.
The kernel of an idea popped up as I looked over the volumes of comics on our shelves: What if all the battles were set ups? One of the most frustrating things as a fan is to read how this bad guy got put away and two issues later he's back to annoy the heroes with some new world domination plan.
But… what if it was all intentional? The jailbreak, the confrontation – what if it was all fixed from the start and orchestrated for the public?
My wee mind grabbed onto the idea like a bulldog onto a bone and we were off, constructing a world where superheroes and villains brawled without ever having any sort of final resolution, where civilians were never hurt and the bad guys mysteriously escaped almost every time.
Of course I had to find a reason why the supers would fight on cue and so forth – and what would create the crisis that would propel a B-list hero, Jo Tanis, out of her comfortable life as a performer into the front lines of a battle she was never meant to fight.
Toss in a new hot man in her life and his mysterious past and I had the warped new world of "Blaze of Glory". The sequel, "Heroes Without, Monsters Within" expand on that strange reality where the now-for-real heroes have to deal with the consequences of their actions and discover that there are real villains – and people can and will die now that the fights are real.
I'll admit it's a kick to create a new world – but it also comes with the responsibility to create new laws, new rules that must be followed or the reader will walk away. You can't just have things "happen", there's got to be some basis behind it. If you have magic, you need rules. You don't have to necessarily tell the reader the rules but they have to be there for your own use so that you don't end up contradicting yourself somewhere down the line. Same thing with superheroes – if you want them to have special powers you need to limit what they can and can't do otherwise you end up writing yourself into a corner you just can't get out of.
And when you throw in a man whose ability is just to be a walking four-leaf clover, well…
I hope I've accomplished this with the Blaze world and I hope you'll come along for more adventures in the superhero world of "Heroes Without, Monsters Within".
25 August 2011
Characters First?
Hi everyone,
I'm a new blogger here at Beyond the Veil! My name is Leslie Dicken and write paranormals, fantasy and historicals (gothic and steampunk). Guess I can't settle on just one subgenre! But one thing is the same no matter what type of story I'm writing: plot comes first.
I'm supposed to write about specific characters, ones I love or hate, but I'd rather talk about how creating characters comes SECOND when I'm brainstorming a story.
I hear over and over again how authors come up with their characters...THEN they figure out the plot or storyline that works for that character. I heard that J.K. Rowling came up with Harry Potter, the character, while on a train ride. She didn't think of Hogwarts or the Sorcerer's Stone, but of the boy who was a wizard and lived with his muggle aunt and uncle.
As for me? I first have an idea of a story or theme or a plot. For example, I wanted to write about a hero who learns he is not an earl, but a bastard (A TARNISHED HEART). Or an alien who dislikes humans but must find one to help his home planet (THE PRICE OF DISCOVERY). Or a society where two cultures have lived apart from one another for so long, they've evolved differently (TABOO). An isolated manor with a hero who thinks he's committed murder (BEAUTY TEMPTS THE BEAST). I've even just wanted to combine various subgenres into one story: steampunk, historical, suspense (THE IRON HEART, Feb 2012).
None of them started with the idea of central character who needed to find a story. They all started with an idea...a plot or theme or just a challenge to myself.
Hopefully, the characters I created for these stories are just as well-developed as those authors who start with character first. :-)
If you're an author, which do you come up with first: character or plot?
As a reader, what makes you feel a connection with a character in a story?
I'm a new blogger here at Beyond the Veil! My name is Leslie Dicken and write paranormals, fantasy and historicals (gothic and steampunk). Guess I can't settle on just one subgenre! But one thing is the same no matter what type of story I'm writing: plot comes first.
I'm supposed to write about specific characters, ones I love or hate, but I'd rather talk about how creating characters comes SECOND when I'm brainstorming a story.
I hear over and over again how authors come up with their characters...THEN they figure out the plot or storyline that works for that character. I heard that J.K. Rowling came up with Harry Potter, the character, while on a train ride. She didn't think of Hogwarts or the Sorcerer's Stone, but of the boy who was a wizard and lived with his muggle aunt and uncle.
As for me? I first have an idea of a story or theme or a plot. For example, I wanted to write about a hero who learns he is not an earl, but a bastard (A TARNISHED HEART). Or an alien who dislikes humans but must find one to help his home planet (THE PRICE OF DISCOVERY). Or a society where two cultures have lived apart from one another for so long, they've evolved differently (TABOO). An isolated manor with a hero who thinks he's committed murder (BEAUTY TEMPTS THE BEAST). I've even just wanted to combine various subgenres into one story: steampunk, historical, suspense (THE IRON HEART, Feb 2012).
None of them started with the idea of central character who needed to find a story. They all started with an idea...a plot or theme or just a challenge to myself.
Hopefully, the characters I created for these stories are just as well-developed as those authors who start with character first. :-)
If you're an author, which do you come up with first: character or plot?
As a reader, what makes you feel a connection with a character in a story?
31 July 2011
Where am I and what am I doing in this leather outfit?
A long time ago in a land far, far away… well, you might know it as Canada, I tapped out my first awfully melodramatic words in the realm of fanfiction.
No, no - don’t run!
Actually, fanfiction was only a sideline in addition to working on my own original works. But I did end up with quite a following in the fanfiction world and one sweet fan email from a young man in Pennsylvania who just adored my work.
Of course you know where that led. Yep, a few years later I left the Great White North to marry the poor fellow and settle down in the U.S. Being a Kept Woman (trademark pending) now I turned my attention full time to writing science fiction and paranormal romance, writing what I liked to read and wanted to read.
I charged into the official writing world with a few short story sales to places such as GRIT Magazine but lived for that yearly bit of insanity known as NaNoWriMo. National Novel Writing Month. In 2008 I bashed out a superhero novel based on my love of comic books, superheroes and all those darned annoying questions I kept asking myself.
Why did the bad guy always get away? What was wrong with the court system that even when the bad guys got caught they’d escape or be freed by the next issue? Who were these people anyway?
A year later the book was contracted by Samhain Publishing and “Blaze of Glory”, the first in a series, hit the virtual and physical shelves in April, 2010. The sequel, “Heroes Without, Monsters Within” is due to be published in January 2012 with a third book in the works.
Here’s the official blurb for “Blaze of Glory”
Saving the world is easy for a superhero—unless you’re a fraud.
Jo Tanis is a superhero, fighting evil on the city streets, using her ability to feed off electromagnetic energy and fire off charges—and it’s all just a show. The Agency captures her and others like her when their powers begin to manifest, pitting them against each other in staged, gladiatorial fights. An explosive implant on the back of her neck assures she’ll keep right on smiling for the camera and beating up the bad guys.
When Earth comes under attack, suddenly the show becomes deadly real. Unable to deal with a real alien, the “supers” are falling in droves. Millions of innocent civilians
are going to die…unless Jo can cobble together a team from among the fake heroes and villains the Agency enslaved. Including Hunter, who not only promises to show
her how to deactivate the implants, but seems to know more than he should about how the mysterious Agency operates.
Forcing a rag-tag bunch of former enemies to work together is the least of Jo’s problems. The trick is determining if Hunter is friend or foe—and becoming the hero everyone
thought she was before the world is destroyed for real.
Not too long after that I ventured into the world of steampunk with “Wild Cards and Iron Horses”, delving into my long lost love of Westerns and adding a dash of the old television show “The Wild Wild West”. Published by Samhain in August of 2010 in ebook form with the print version out in June 2011, it was well received by steampunk fans.
Here’s the blurb for “Wild Cards and Iron Horses”
Their love rides on a spring and a prayer...
During the recent Civil War, a soldier risked his life to save Jonathan Handleston—and lost. With the help of an advanced metal brace on his crippled hand, Jon now travels from one poker tournament to the next, determined to earn enough money to repay the man’s debt.
Prosperity Ridge is supposed to be the last stop on his quest, but his brace is broken and he needs an engineer to repair the delicate mechanisms. The only one available is Samantha Weatherly, a beautiful anomaly in a world ruled by men.
Sam is no fool. Jon is no different from any other gambler—except for his amazing prosthetic. Despite a demanding project to win a critical contract to develop an iron horse, she succumbs to the lure of working on the delicate mechanisms. And working with the handsome Englishman.
Like a spring being coiled, Samantha and Jon are inexorably drawn together. Sam begins to realize honor wears many faces, and she becomes the light at the end of Jon’s journey to redemption. The only monkey wrench is Victor, a rival gambler who will stop at nothing to make sure Jon misses the tournament.
Even destroy Jon and Sam’s lives.
Both “Blaze of Glory” and “Wild Cards and Iron Horses” were nominated for the 2011 Prism Awards, given out by the Futuristic, Fantasy and Paranormal Special Interest Chapter of the Romance Writers of America. Both books came in Second Place in their respective categories.
I’ve also got an unnamed paranormal romance coming out in February 2012 from Carina Press about a private investigator called into a murder investigation by her family. Not *that* type of family-her Felis family who threw her out of the fold years ago because of her disability. But when the murdered victim is also a Felis her family needs the best on the job and the best happens to be Rebecca Dejardin, no matter what her status or disability.
So… that’s about it about me. Aside from my Wookie I’m also presently owned by a fat fuzzaloid named Mitchell who loves to cuddle on hot, hot days and have a Second Life as a clockwork dragon in the steampunk town of New Babbage in the virtual world of Second Life.
And as a true Canadian… *offers tea and scones*
There’s cold beer over here for the rest of you. Good Canadian whiskey if you need it and proper Guinness for those of you who like to chew on your beer.
Have a good day!
No, no - don’t run!
Actually, fanfiction was only a sideline in addition to working on my own original works. But I did end up with quite a following in the fanfiction world and one sweet fan email from a young man in Pennsylvania who just adored my work.
Of course you know where that led. Yep, a few years later I left the Great White North to marry the poor fellow and settle down in the U.S. Being a Kept Woman (trademark pending) now I turned my attention full time to writing science fiction and paranormal romance, writing what I liked to read and wanted to read.
I charged into the official writing world with a few short story sales to places such as GRIT Magazine but lived for that yearly bit of insanity known as NaNoWriMo. National Novel Writing Month. In 2008 I bashed out a superhero novel based on my love of comic books, superheroes and all those darned annoying questions I kept asking myself.
Why did the bad guy always get away? What was wrong with the court system that even when the bad guys got caught they’d escape or be freed by the next issue? Who were these people anyway?
A year later the book was contracted by Samhain Publishing and “Blaze of Glory”, the first in a series, hit the virtual and physical shelves in April, 2010. The sequel, “Heroes Without, Monsters Within” is due to be published in January 2012 with a third book in the works.
Here’s the official blurb for “Blaze of Glory”
Saving the world is easy for a superhero—unless you’re a fraud.
Jo Tanis is a superhero, fighting evil on the city streets, using her ability to feed off electromagnetic energy and fire off charges—and it’s all just a show. The Agency captures her and others like her when their powers begin to manifest, pitting them against each other in staged, gladiatorial fights. An explosive implant on the back of her neck assures she’ll keep right on smiling for the camera and beating up the bad guys.
When Earth comes under attack, suddenly the show becomes deadly real. Unable to deal with a real alien, the “supers” are falling in droves. Millions of innocent civilians
are going to die…unless Jo can cobble together a team from among the fake heroes and villains the Agency enslaved. Including Hunter, who not only promises to show
her how to deactivate the implants, but seems to know more than he should about how the mysterious Agency operates.
Forcing a rag-tag bunch of former enemies to work together is the least of Jo’s problems. The trick is determining if Hunter is friend or foe—and becoming the hero everyone
thought she was before the world is destroyed for real.
Not too long after that I ventured into the world of steampunk with “Wild Cards and Iron Horses”, delving into my long lost love of Westerns and adding a dash of the old television show “The Wild Wild West”. Published by Samhain in August of 2010 in ebook form with the print version out in June 2011, it was well received by steampunk fans.
Here’s the blurb for “Wild Cards and Iron Horses”
Their love rides on a spring and a prayer...
During the recent Civil War, a soldier risked his life to save Jonathan Handleston—and lost. With the help of an advanced metal brace on his crippled hand, Jon now travels from one poker tournament to the next, determined to earn enough money to repay the man’s debt.
Prosperity Ridge is supposed to be the last stop on his quest, but his brace is broken and he needs an engineer to repair the delicate mechanisms. The only one available is Samantha Weatherly, a beautiful anomaly in a world ruled by men.
Sam is no fool. Jon is no different from any other gambler—except for his amazing prosthetic. Despite a demanding project to win a critical contract to develop an iron horse, she succumbs to the lure of working on the delicate mechanisms. And working with the handsome Englishman.
Like a spring being coiled, Samantha and Jon are inexorably drawn together. Sam begins to realize honor wears many faces, and she becomes the light at the end of Jon’s journey to redemption. The only monkey wrench is Victor, a rival gambler who will stop at nothing to make sure Jon misses the tournament.
Even destroy Jon and Sam’s lives.
Both “Blaze of Glory” and “Wild Cards and Iron Horses” were nominated for the 2011 Prism Awards, given out by the Futuristic, Fantasy and Paranormal Special Interest Chapter of the Romance Writers of America. Both books came in Second Place in their respective categories.
I’ve also got an unnamed paranormal romance coming out in February 2012 from Carina Press about a private investigator called into a murder investigation by her family. Not *that* type of family-her Felis family who threw her out of the fold years ago because of her disability. But when the murdered victim is also a Felis her family needs the best on the job and the best happens to be Rebecca Dejardin, no matter what her status or disability.
So… that’s about it about me. Aside from my Wookie I’m also presently owned by a fat fuzzaloid named Mitchell who loves to cuddle on hot, hot days and have a Second Life as a clockwork dragon in the steampunk town of New Babbage in the virtual world of Second Life.
And as a true Canadian… *offers tea and scones*
There’s cold beer over here for the rest of you. Good Canadian whiskey if you need it and proper Guinness for those of you who like to chew on your beer.
Have a good day!
Sheryl Nantus
http://www.sherylnantus.com
03 February 2011
13 New Releases with Speculative Elements
I was going to do a Thursday Thirteen featuring a list of things not to try to do with a 4 year old, but since I had to do most of them today, it would have been too depressing. Instead, how about 13 'coming soon' new releases from our mutual publisher, Samhain Publishing, that have otherworldly elements? I will confess I got this idea because one of the books on the list is going to be mine :). But at least I won't be depressed after I hit "post".
1) A Thread of Deepest Black
By: Finn Marlowe
Genre: GLBT, BDSM, Red Hots!!!, Shape-shifters
2) Yours, Mine and Howls
By: Kinsey W. Holley
Genre: Paranormal, Western, Shape-shifters, Fairies & Elves
3) Vanessa Unveiled
By: Jodi Redford
Genre: Paranormal, Fantasy, Red Hots!!!, Ménage & More, Shape-shifters, Comedy
4) One Thousand Kisses
By: Jody Wallace
Genre: Fantasy, Fairies & Elves
5) Running with the Pack
By: Beverly Rae
Genre: Paranormal, Voluptuous, Red Hots!!!, Shape-shifters
6) Deep Indigo
By: Cathryn Cade
Genre: Paranormal, SciFi - Futuristic, Red Hots!!!, Ghosts and Psychics
7) The Zero Dog War
By: Keith Melton
Genre: Urban Fantasy, Vampires, Comedy, Zombies, Angels & Demons
8) Fleeting Passions
By: Crystal Jordan
Genre: Paranormal, Romantic Suspense, Red Hots!!!, Shape-shifters
9) Blood of the Volcano
By: Imogen Howson
Genre: Fantasy, Shape-shifters, Ghosts and Psychics
10) Vampires' Consort By: Bonnie Dee
Genre: Paranormal, Red Hots!!!, Ménage & More, Shape-shifters
11) Key of Solomon By: Cassiel Knight
13) Wilder's Mate By: Moira Rogers
Genre: Paranormal, Western, Shape-shifters, Vampires, Steampunk
Bonus book!
14) Wicked Empress
By: Anitra Lynn McLeod
Genre: SciFi - Futuristic, Red Hots!!!, Ménage & More
All these are on the first two pages of Samhain's Coming Soon books. To see all the covers you can click here. Most of these can be preordered at a substantial discount!
Jody W.
http://www.jodywallace.com/ * http://www.meankitty.com/
1) A Thread of Deepest Black
By: Finn Marlowe
Genre: GLBT, BDSM, Red Hots!!!, Shape-shifters
2) Yours, Mine and Howls
By: Kinsey W. Holley
Genre: Paranormal, Western, Shape-shifters, Fairies & Elves
3) Vanessa Unveiled
By: Jodi Redford
Genre: Paranormal, Fantasy, Red Hots!!!, Ménage & More, Shape-shifters, Comedy
By: Jody Wallace
Genre: Fantasy, Fairies & Elves
5) Running with the Pack
By: Beverly Rae
Genre: Paranormal, Voluptuous, Red Hots!!!, Shape-shifters
6) Deep Indigo
By: Cathryn Cade
Genre: Paranormal, SciFi - Futuristic, Red Hots!!!, Ghosts and Psychics
By: Keith Melton
Genre: Urban Fantasy, Vampires, Comedy, Zombies, Angels & Demons
8) Fleeting Passions
By: Crystal Jordan
Genre: Paranormal, Romantic Suspense, Red Hots!!!, Shape-shifters
9) Blood of the Volcano
By: Imogen Howson
Genre: Fantasy, Shape-shifters, Ghosts and Psychics
10) Vampires' Consort By: Bonnie Dee
Genre: Paranormal, Red Hots!!!, Ménage & More, Shape-shifters
11) Key of Solomon By: Cassiel Knight Genre: Fantasy, Angels & Demons
12) The Mercenary By: Cornelia Grey
Genre: GLBT, SciFi - Futuristic, Action-Adventure, Post-Apocalyptic, Steampunk 13) Wilder's Mate By: Moira Rogers
Genre: Paranormal, Western, Shape-shifters, Vampires, Steampunk
Bonus book!
14) Wicked Empress
By: Anitra Lynn McLeod
Genre: SciFi - Futuristic, Red Hots!!!, Ménage & More
All these are on the first two pages of Samhain's Coming Soon books. To see all the covers you can click here. Most of these can be preordered at a substantial discount!
Jody W.
http://www.jodywallace.com/ * http://www.meankitty.com/
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