THE ROAD TO HAPPY EVER AFTER

"I’ve always thought the payoff of the HEA depends on the path leading to it."

My guest, is author Nancy Northcott. She writes the Light Mage War series. 

A satisfying ending is a must. But what kind of ending should you choose? The type of ending depends much upon the genre you write. Nancy discusses Happy-Ever-After and Happy-For-Now.

What makes the HEA ending of a book satisfying?  Well, obviously the main characters have to be happy.  And the reader has to be happy.  In romance, at least, there can’t be any niggling little but what about…?

The obvious exception would be in a series with an overarching plot in any genre.  Romance seems to be leaning more toward Happy For Now (HFN), but with the promise of that ever after part down the road.  The hero and heroine generally are settled in their relationship even if other elements of the plot may remain unresolved.

I’ve always thought the payoff of the HEA depends on the path leading to it.  There’s an old saying that those who’ve never known sorrow cannot appreciate joy.  There’s also the theory that we appreciate most the things that don’t come easily.  I think these ideas influence our perceptions of a book’s happy ending.

That doesn’t mean everything has to be dark and super-angsty, at least not to me.  But it does mean that the path of true love, to borrow from another saying, cannot run smoothly. If the hero and heroine never have more than the occasional little spat, we never really doubt they’ll end up together.  There has been no suspense, no growth, and not much conflict.  Without conflict, the book is over in chapter one.

I love Terri Osburn’s and Jill Shalvis’s contemporary romances.  In every couple, one of them has to confront some shadow from his or her past and overcome it.  There are varying degrees of angst involved, but healing and character growth always occur.

Mystery series may use the same couple in all the books.  A romantic arc may start slowly in book one and build as the series goes on.  In such a case, the HEA would be the resolution of the mystery, the sense that the villain has gotten his/her just desserts.

Karin Slaughter’s Will Trent series wraps up its murder mysteries at the end of each book, but the relationship between Will and Sara Linton didn’t start until the third book and has been progressing slowly since.  The books don’t always end happily for Will and Sara--but there are always feelings shown that imply a happy resolution and commitment down the road.  Despite the many complicating factors Slaughter has thrown in their way.

Jeaniene Frost’s Cat & Bones books, which I just recently discovered and then rapidly devoured, take the relationship between Cat and Bones on an arc that extends over the entire series.  Those books and the ones in Nalini Singh’s Guild Hunter series skate the line between paranormal romance and fantasy in that there’s often a thread of the bigger plot still hanging and there may be relationship issues that aren’t entirely resolved.

All the series I’ve mentioned involve heroes and heroines who learn to face their personal shadows and move beyond them.  So it is with Will and Audra in Warrior.  Will has to face the youthful scars that have made him wary of letting a woman get emotionally close, and Audra must learn to appreciate her own value.

I read pretty much everything but horror, and I can be happy with an ending that ties up the big story questions and implies that the relationship issue will be settled.   I can even deal with having the hero and heroine apart at the end of the book if I think they share strong enough ties to get back together in the next book.

My friends who read only romance, however, often want the relationship solid at the end of the book and a new couple for the next outing.  They prefer not to have romantic issues left hanging. 

• How about you?  What makes an ending qualify for Happily Ever After status for you?

Sia, thanks for having me!  I’ll give away a signed, personalized copy of Warrior to one commenter today.

Leave your email addy if you want to win a copy

                                                                                                                                                                                           

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A Woman Tormented by Darkness 

Archaeologist Audra Grayson hopes the dig in the Okefenokee Swamp will save her career. But that hope is dashed when she finds out-of-place relics and brilliant, sexy consultant Will Davis comes to investigate her for fraud. Worse, working on the site strengthens the evil shadow that has haunted her since childhood, and she knows he will think she’s crazy and unfit for the job.
 
A Mage Who Must Oppose it At All Costs

Mage Will Davis senses the darkness in Audra when they meet. Wondering whether she’s in league with dark forces, he vows to ignore his growing attraction to her. Then deadly ghouls target her dig, and Will discovers they want the ancient bronze pieces to open a portal for demons from the Void between worlds. If they succeed, everything on Earth is an endangered species.
 
The Fate of the World At Stake

With ghoul attacks escalating and mage traitors in league with the enemy, time is running out for Will to stop the portal from opening. The chemistry between him and Audra threatens to combust, but the darkness within her may give the enemy its chance. Must Will choose between the fate of the world and the love of his life?
 
                                                                                                                                                                                           

 
NANCY NOTHCOTT'S debut novel, Renegade, received a starred review from Library Journal. The reviewer called it "genre fiction at its best." Nancy is a three-time RWA Golden Heart finalist and has won the Maggie, the Molly, the Emerald City Opener, and Put Your Heart in a Book.

Married since 1987, Nancy and her husband have one son, a bossy dog, and a house full of books.
You can find Nancy: Website

Facebook:  https://facebook.com/nancynorthcottauthor

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3468806.Nancy_Northcott

                 

TRISH MILBURN:BUILDING A WORLD IN A SMALL TOWN

How do writers come up with ideas? How do they build a world or a town for a series of books? My guest, Trish Milburn, who writes womens fiction, romance, and YA, discusses how she built Blue Falls, Texas. The town is the setting for eight of her romance books.

One of the questions that authors are often asked is where we get our ideas. The answer is everywhere. But to make a book really come alive in three dimensions, I like to visit the setting – walk through it, see it with my own eyes, smell it, hear it. I’m a visual and tactile person, so listening to the locals talk or walking through shops on Main Street really helps me get a feel for a place. This is true even if the locale is fictional, such as the town of Blue Falls, Texas, in my series of the same name for Harlequin American Romance.

Blue Falls is in the Texas Hill Country and has now been featured in eight of my books, including the Teagues of Texas trilogy that preceded the books being branded with the “Blue Falls, Texas” label. But Blue Falls isn’t totally made up. It was inspired by several small towns I’ve visited. I modeled the downtown area and a few of the businesses on Fredericksburg, a popular tourist destination. I kept the small-town feel and the German ancestry influence, but I made Blue Falls’ main draws their wildflower tours and the local rodeos held regularly to help various causes in the town.  The local music/dance hall is inspired by the oldest dance hall in Texas in the small town of Gruene. And Blue Falls Lake, around which the town is built, was inspired by Lake Marble Falls in Marble Falls, Texas.

My best friend lives in San Antonio, so every chance I get to go to Texas, I make another trip through the Hill Country for new inspiration. I come away with an idea for a character, a new business for Blue Falls, the design for a character’s home, something that can add to the world I’m creating with this series. I hope that readers can feel the realism when they read my stories.

Since the local rodeo plays a big part in my books, I’ve attended both a small-town rodeo here in Tennessee and a larger PRCA rodeo in Corpus Christi, Texas. I incorporate things I saw at both, along with additional research, into my rodeo scenes. Here’s part of a rodeo scene from this month’s The Doctor’s Cowboy:

Wyatt Kelley stood on the edge of the bucking chute, looking down at the monster bull. Beelzebub. From what  he’d  heard  of  the  bull’s  nasty  attitude,  the demonic name fit. Yeah, this had “easy ride” written all over it. The moment he mounted the two-ton bull, ol’ Beezy let him know exactly what he thought of having  a  rider  by  twitching,  fidgeting,  snorting. Basically saying, “Your butt is toast.”

“I don’t think he wants to be your best friend,” said one of the cowboys manning the chute. “What?” Wyatt patted the bull on the side of his neck. “This little guy is a sweetheart. We’re going out for drinks afterward.” As  if  to  disagree,  Beezy  stomped  the  dirt  and shuddered beneath him, causing the bell hanging from the lower part of Wyatt’s bull rope to clang. “Next up, we’ve got a cowboy out of the Cowboy State,” the rodeo announcer said as Wyatt readjusted the rope, getting his grip just right. “Wyatt Kelley will be riding Beelzebub."

Wyatt took a deep breath, let it out, then nodded. The moment the chute opened, Beelzebub shot out and began bucking as if Wyatt were a nest full of angry hornets. The arena around him became a dirt-brown blur as the bull spun and kicked so hard it nearly jarred the teeth out of Wyatt’s head. As if ticked off that he hadn’t gotten rid of Wyatt’s weight yet, Beezy switched directions  and  kicked  even harder. Wyatt held on for all he was worth, pretty sure this was the longest eight seconds of his career. And he’d ridden more bulls than he could count. In the next moment, his hat went flying. Sensing victory, the bull seemed to corral all of his intense power and did a belly roll, coming completely off the ground as he kicked all four feet out to the side. Wyatt felt himself slide but he tightened his hold on the rope and his legs pressed against the bull’s sides. By some miracle, he stayed on. But as soon as the bull landed on his feet, he went into a spin that spelled doom. In less than the blink of an eye, the bull bucked Wyatt off into the well, the center of the rank bastard’s spin. Wyatt’s heart rate accelerated when he realized his hand was caught in his rope, adrenaline fueling panic. He fought to free himself, but before he could Beezy caught him with a horn.

My questions for you all:

•      Do you enjoy cowboy stories? Rodeo?
• Who is your favorite TV/movie cowboy?
• What actor should I use for inspiration for a future cowboy hero?
  
                                                                                                                                                                       
  

THE PERFECT PRESCRIPTION

Dr. Chloe Brody cares about all her patients. Maybe more than she should. Because one day rodeo cowboy Wyatt Kelley shows up in her ER, busted up but still flirting. He's got no place to go, so she takes him home.
Soon, Wyatt is seeing stuff no one else in Chloe's life has noticed. The pretty doctor has a full life, but inside, she's alone, just like him. When the attraction between them heats up, Wyatt knows he should leave Blue Falls and Chloe behind—because what can a broken cowboy with an ugly past offer a woman like her? Chloe, though, is determined to show Wyatt that she doesn't care about his past. She just wants him to be a part of her future.

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, BOOKS A MILLION, CHAPTER INDIGO

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

 

TRISH MILBURN

 Whether she's writing about cowboys, cops, vampires, witches or teenage angst, it’s always an interesting ride from Page 1 to The End. 

You can find Trish, Website, Facebook, and Romance Bandits 

MEETING EXPECTATIONS

Have you ever had a character you wanted the author to write about? Suzanne is giving away a copy of Vanished to a commenter.

My guest, Suzanne Ferrell, discovered romance novels in her aunt's hidden stash one summer as a teenager. From that moment on she knew two things: she loved romance stories and someday she'd be writing her own. Her love for romances has only grown over the years. It took her a number of years and a secondary career as a nurse to finally start writing her own stories. 

Her topic today is meeting expectations.

For years I had the extreme luxury of writing books simply for my own pleasure. Other than my critique partners or the few beta readers I trusted to give me feedback, the only person to really read all my work…was me. I worked hard at my craft in the hopes that the books would find an enthusiastic agent or editor, who would then get them birthed onto the publishing road. During that time, I didn't realize what a joy it was to simply write characters how I saw them in my head.

Even when I independently published the first three books in the Edgars Family romantic suspense series, I had no real expectations from others in their formation. The books were pretty much written and ready to go when I made the decision to send them out into the e-book world.

Then a funny thing happened.

Readers not only bought and read them, they fell in love with my characters.

I know this because I've received emails and FB messages about them. Many wanted to know when Luke, the youngest of the three brothers in the series, would get his own story.

Now the pressure was on.

You see, Luke was the smart-ass, computer geek, flirtatious younger brother. Dave was the eldest and took that spot very seriously. Matt as the second oldest had always been the rule follower. Sami as the only sister and baby of the family had her own expectations to live up to. But Luke? He was able to bend rules with just a beautiful smile and great charm. Which worked well when he was a secondary character, but when it came to his own story, how could I make him step-up-to-the-plate?

I was very concerned, because I wanted his book and him to meet the expectations my readers had for him. How do you take the charmer, the kid who talked his way out of trouble and turn him into hero material?

Then it hit me. You give him the one woman he’d die to protect.

Enter Abigail Prudence Whitson. Years earlier he’d tried to protect her by getting her assigned to desk duty at the Treasury Department instead of active field agent work. Once that happened, he moved on about his own life. Things were going well, he was half playboy, half secret agent. Then he finds Abby standing in a bloody crime scene and her best friend, the victim, missing.

That was the moment that Luke grew up. Right there. On paper and in front of my eyes.

See, Luke, despite his charm and smart-ass remarks, had the same core as his brothers. Deep seated honor, protective instincts and a one-woman-only heart. Put his woman in jeopardy and he will do anything to keep her safe, even if she doesn't like it.

Luke met my expectations, and I’m hoping he’s met the readers’ expectations, too!

So, readers, what do you think? Have you ever had a character you wanted the author to write about? Did they meet your expectations? Did they leave you wanting more or something different?

                                                                                                                                                               

AMAZON, B&N, INDIEBOUND

They had a history… 
Five years earlier Luke Edgars and Abigail Whitson met at FLETC, the training center for government agents. It was instant dislike. She thought him an arrogant, showoff flirt, he thought it would be safer for everyone if she stayed behind her analyst’s desk. 

She’s in trouble… 
Now Luke’s world turns sideways when he finds Abby standing in the middle of a bloody crime scene and the victim has vanished. 

He needs to protect her… 
Luke realizes that not only does Abby need his help to find her friend, but the friend has put Abby in the cross-hairs of a dangerous group who will stop at nothing to hide their secrets.

                                                                                                                                                                

WEBSITE, FACEBOOK,
ROMANCE BANDITS

Suzanne Ferrell is a double finalist in the Romance Writer's of America's 2006 Golden Heart with her manuscripts, KIDNAPPED (Long Contemporary Category) and HUNTED (Romantic Suspense), both available at Amazon.com and B&N.com. Suzanne has also won The Beacon Unpublished and the CTRWA's contests in the erotica categories with her book, The Surrender Of Lacy Morgan (available from Ellora’s Cave).

Suzanne's sexy stories, whether they be her on the edge of your seat romantic suspense, the heartwarming small town stories, or her steamy Western Eroticas, will keep you thinking about her characters long after their Happy Ever After is achieved.