Most Magical Place on Earth

It’s my pleasure to welcome paranormal-romance author, Addison Fox, to Over Coffee. I hadn’t read any of her books and then I read an interview where she talked about her Zodiac Warrior Series and Warrior Betrayed. I decided to order the first in the series, Warrior Ascended. I glanced through it and had to exert all my discipline to keep myself from going beyond the first chapter until I finished the book I’m reading for review. Let me tell you, it wasn’t easy, lol!


Addison joins us to talk about another life long love of mine, libraries. Don’t you just love the smell of a library? Many a happy hour has been spent in my local library exploring exciting worlds and people. I’ve never been able to go into a library and check just one book…




Sia - thanks so much for inviting me to guest today on Over Coffee! I’m really looking forward to spending the day with everyone!


I know the blog is about sharing the laughter and the tears, but I’m a lifelong “look-on-the-bright-sider” so I’d much rather talk (or type!) about the laughter and the triumphs. I had the most wonderful experience this week and wanted to share.


Although I’ve been writing through most of my adult life, as I tell anyone who will listen, I’m a reader first and have been since I could turn the pages in a book. I have books scattered all over my house, in my purse, on my night stand, in my work bag….you get the picture! As a crazy book lover, I’m also a huge library lover. As far as I’m concerned – and no disrespect to the Mouse - libraries deserve the moniker “Most Magical Place on Earth.”


I had the opportunity to speak to a group at the Clarendon Library in Brooklyn this week and it has been one of my most enjoyable experiences to date as an author. To sit and share my love of books and writing with a group of people was such a wonderful experience. To engage and interact with fellow book lovers in an environment that’s devoted to words and learning was just amazing.


It’s also gotten me thinking about libraries in general. What a truly awesome thing – that we have these places in our communities filled with books and knowledge and access to information. For everyone. All at the swipe of a card. As an author, the thought that my books can be included in “the collection” is some serious happy-making.


As an author, I am privileged to have stories living in my head. These amazing, heroic men and women show up in my brain and let me hang out with them for several months as their story unfolds in my mind. Sure, there are moments it’s nerve-wracking. And sure, there are days the words feel like their locked in cement. But when I’m writing, I get to visit worlds only as grand and fun and unique as I can imagine them. As a lifelong reader, I know the joy that I’ve taken in countless hours of reading through the years. To think that my words might give that same sort of enjoyment to another is the deepest honor I can think of.

• So what about you? Have you been to the library lately?

If not, maybe the next time you have a free weekend you may want to go over and spend an hour or two getting lost in the stacks. I promise – it’s magic!

WARRIOR BETRAYED May 2011

Millennia ago, the Goddess of Justice created a race of fierce Warriors, each imbued with a special power of the Zodiac, charged with protecting humanity from the darkest of evils.

Forty years ago, Eirene, the Goddess of Peace spurned her position to run away with a mortal. Furious with her daughter, Themis set a curse upon Eirene’s unborn child; to one day replace her mother on Mount Olympus.

Montana Grant lost contact with her mother many years ago. Now as she struggles to lead her late father’s shipping company, she’s also dealing with the sudden reappearance of her mother. The frail woman is spouting nonsense about Mount Olympus, immortal warriors, and long-standing curses. But after suspicious activity puts the company’s future – and possibly Montana’s life – at risk, she decides to take her mother’s last bit of advice…

When Montana asks Quinn Tanner for help, she confronts the sexy security executive about his secret identity: He’s a Taurus Warrior. Quinn denies it, but he can’t deny his powerful attraction to the high-powered heiress. With worldwide peace in the balance, it’s up to Quinn to help Montana rise to her destiny – even as they’re falling in love…Excerpt

Buy: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Borders Available e-format and mass paperback

~*~*~

Addison Fox is the author of the Sons of the Zodiac paranormal romance series for NAL as well as the upcoming Alaskan Nights contemporary trilogy, which launches with BABY IT’S COLD OUTSIDE in November 2011. You can find her at her home on the web, www.addisonfox.com, as well as on Facebook and Twitter. Addison lives in New York City.

Chatting With Author Lisa Renee Jones

My guest is para romance author, Lisa Renee Jones. When she visited the last time she was anticipating the release of the first book in her new  Zodius series—Michael.

I’ve read Michael. Wow, just wow. Intense, realistic kick ass story. The story is a battle of good vs bad. Even the heroes are battling their inner darkness. This series has another faithful fan! Lisa uses the premise of genetic enhancement for soldiers—not new—but way she handles it and introduces alien DNA from area 51 is way different. It’s plausible and intriguing. The world she creates is fascinating; the men hot and dangerous, the women are strong and inventive. The love story Michael and Cassandra is carnal and a spot of peace in a world which becomes more dangerous and where loyalties are tested to the max. Even her villains are real. You can relate to them and feel disappointed when they lose the battle for honor. This is a story I can recommend for those who love hot dangerous men, hot sex, and a kick ass and take names type of story.

Back cover Blurb of Michael:

HE IS A LETHAL WEAPON…

One of an army of human soldiers injected with alien DNA, Michael is a legend within this new race, split between good and evil. Untamable, he has walked on the dark side and returned to the light. Feared and misunderstood, he leaves everything behind, including the one woman destined to be his mate.

HE IS HER ENEMY…AND HER DESTINY…

Fate leads Michael back to Cassandra Powell, for she holds the key to defending his comrades. With their loyalties divided between duty and the people they love, only together can Cassandra and Michael overcome insurmountable odds to save humanity from the wrath of a madman.

But no ordinary woman can control a creature such as Michael, and only one thing is clear—the world will never be the same…Excerpt One, Two

Buy: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Books.A.Million, Borders, Indiebound. Available in Mass Paperback and e-book.

I realized that although I’ve read and enjoyed several of her books I didn’t know that much about her. So, you know me, what I don’t know I ask about. :-)

Tell me a bit about Lisa. Do you have your own happily ever after romance? Do you have a profession aside from writing? What do you like to do in your down times?


I met the man in my life in a bookstore. He’s a huge reader! I love that about him. We’ve been together for seven years and though we aren’t married we’ve been eying Italy as our dream location to finally make it official. We’ve both been married before so we want to do something special, that’s for us.


I write full time now though I owned a staffing agency for 11 years. That was a hard 80 hour workweek all of those 11 years. I tend to be very obsessive about work because after all those long hours, rest can feel like a guilty pleasure.


Fortunately, the man in my life is so good at making me step back and relax. He loves movies and so do I, so we indulge often. We have shows we love to, and watching them together, is something we really look forward to. And eating – he loves to eat way too much lol! Which means I eat way too much while with him!


Oh and he’s 9 years younger than me. Talk about a shock when he finally admitted that. I buy a lot of wrinkle cream!

You’ve been writing for some years, how long have you had the goal to be published?

I had done some film work and really wanted to perform all my life. However, life got in the way of the dream, and I set it aside. The bug hit me and I started doing some more film back in 2003 and 2004. Then, I started thinking about the scripts and writing, and just dove in. The next thing I knew I was at an RT convention ALONE and terrified. My first Blaze came out in 2007 – and I signed that contract in early 2006. So while publishing came fairly quickly, it’s been a path filled with bumps. You just have to keep pushing forward and chasing the dream. NEVER GIVE UP.

How did you go about making that a reality?

The RT convention was big step. I knew I needed to educate myself. I also entered a contest that I won at that convention. It was that boost that I needed, that validation I wasn’t a fool to chase the dream.

How did writing this novel differ from writing other books (I know you’ve written for harlequin, etc)?


Nocturne is very similar to a single title. The word count is 85k. However, I found I always wanted another 10k and had to adjust the story. That was frustrating. So I enjoy the longer word count that lets me explore the characters more fully. I enjoy Blaze because they are fun and light and so filled with real life possibilities. I often find they are a nice break from writing a darker, more intensely plotted book.

You’ve written contemporary, romantic suspense, dark paranormal and erotic fiction. What drew you to this particular sub-genre of romance?

I liked contemporary suspense from the beginning because of the real life aspect of the storyline – the possibility it really could happen. The possibility of a real hero is always fun. However, the man in my life is SO into paranormal that he has really opened that world up to me and I just love it. I can’t believe I spent so many years NOT enjoying this genre. It’s just too fun and exciting. The creative entertainer in me just adores the places paranormal lets me go.

Give me a glimpse of this world you’ve created.

I spent a lot of time in Vegas during my corporate years so I really love Vegas. The Zodius series, especially book 2, has lots of Vegas flavor. But more than that – the Area 51 secrets, become a key part of the series. Area 51 is just such a curious place. It’s filled with secrets and we know there are things there beyond our comprehension. I had a family member who was a part of one of the ‘crash’ recoveries we aren’t suppose to know about but do. He went to his deathbed with those secrets, but near the end, he told us just enough that we know there is something to all the rumors. He carried those secrets all his life though and he was afraid to share them, even when he was dying. There is something big we don’t know. It’s fun to imagine what that might be.


Aside from that though – I see the Zodius series as a cross between Lora Leigh’s Breeds and Feehan’s Ghostwalkers. These men are the next generation of soldiers. They are all about the possibilities of medical science and DNA enhancements, that may or may not, come from an Area 51 experiment. The possibilities of DNA tampering has been seen with vegetables and fruits. Why not humans?

I've read all of Feehan's Ghostwalkers and love them. The only similarity I see is the idea of a super soldier and DNA enhancement. But both Feehan's series and yours is romance and paranormal but strong on the suspense and danger aspects and a story that would be enjoyed by men and women.

One of the things, which drew me to Michael (aside from the*hot* factor), is the fact he’s tough, and despite his low opinion of himself, he has a code of honor. He also doesn’t feel he needs or is even worthy of protection—which isn’t how Cassandra feels.
What draws you to Michael?

How damaged he is and yet how honorable. How much, despite any good he does, he always feels he isn’t good at all. I mean, don’t we all have self-doubt and pain? And isn’t the most special thing about love, the way the other person can help us overcome that?

What is it about Cassandra that will draw readers to her?

Her willingness to fight for those she loves – even when they are flawed. She wants to believe in her father. She wants to believe in Michael. Even after her father’s betrayals, she is willing to believe in Michael, and if she weren’t, she would never know how worthy he is of that belief.

One of the things I enjoyed about this book is the way you made your villains so well defined. You actually show how their motivations and goals started out honorable, except Caleb’s twin. He’s just wacko, but he has the ability to love…?

I’m so glad that the villains felt defined to you. Adam, Caleb’s twin, still has a human side, no matter how much he doesn’t want to have one. And humans love – even if that love is dysfunctional, even if that love is selfish.

What do you like about your villains?
I once had an editor tell me to make the bad guys relatable, so that readers would love to hate them. That hit home to me. The villains have to be real, their motivations defined, for you to really truly dislike them. So I like how real they feel to me, how desperate they are to achieve their goals. It ups the danger.

Oh, it definitely ups the danger. Actually there were several things I liked  about Cassandra's father and understood the type of man he is—the ends are honorable and justify the means.

 When is the next Zodius due out? Can tell us a bit about it?

In book 2—there is a synthetic form of the GTECH serum that created the super soldiers on the streets. It’s addictive and its killing people during withdrawal. It’s Adam’s attempt to make the world addicted to him.

The hero is Sterling, who you meet in book one. Sterling is wild and crazy, and thinks he will never find love. He is Mel Gibson in Lethal Weapon, willing to do anything, with a secret death wish. Only he finds a reason to live in a woman, but Adam gives that woman this drug, and she is destined to die. Sterling will do anything to save her, and yet, not matter what he does, he doesn’t seem to be able to save her. None of his lethal weapon action will save her. Somehow he has to save her.

Oh, good. I liked Sterling a lot. I enjoyed the excerpt of his story at the end of Michael. I'm eagerly looking forward to reading it. Did I mention I hate waiting? lol!

Lisa, I’m so glad you were able to visit Over Coffee again. Thank you for spending time with us today and answering my questions.


Find Lisa: Website, Facebook
.

2010—It Wasn’t A Bad Year After All

My guest is suspense author, Lexi Revellian. She hails from London, UK. By day, she creates physical works for the senses as a jeweller, but by night she creates and altogether different pieces for the senses as an author.

So many writers both established traditional and those who aren’t have chosen to self-publish their work. Any author who goes that route will tell you there is an enormous amount of work involved in self-publishing their work. There are also huge rewards. They’re in business for themselves and as such they are content and copy editor, cover artist, marketing/Promotion departments, and publisher. Some don’t have the skill set to do it all and utilize professionals to assist them. There are those who are successful and those who aren’t.

Lexi shares a bit about her journey as an author and what she's learned along the way.



2010 did not start well. Two agents had been reading the full typescript of my novel, Remix, over Christmas, and both turned it down in the New Year with expressions of regret. Then, cycling home from my jewellery workshop in icy darkness, my bike slipped on a speed cushion (bump) and I smacked into the granite double kerb – twelve stitches to my face and a broken shoulder; and believe me, the humerus is not a bone to break lightly. My own stupid fault. What was I thinking, biking in that weather?


But looking back, 2010 was a breakthrough year for me, one of my best.


In June 2009 I’d given myself a year to find an agent; if that failed, I’d self-publish. I really didn’t think I’d have to, though; Remix was my third book, and I knew it was good. A lot of people had read and liked it on various writer sites. Good heavens, even my hypercritical daughter liked it! Four agents expressed interest – two of them actually approached me. But the year sped by, the rejections piled up; it was time to call my own bluff.


Meanwhile, unable to cycle or drive, I walked between home and workshop. It’s not possible to think on a bike – you’re too busy concentrating on the traffic, but walking is different. On those long walks I brooded about how my broken bone had diverted, I hoped briefly, the course of my life; I noticed all the useful stuff Londoners throw out; and I trespassed inside an unfinished, abandoned and vandalized block of flats on my way home. I idly wondered what it would be like to walk those bitterly cold streets without a home to go to, with no money, and maybe someone hunting you. The idea for my next book began to take shape.


Back to Remix. Those of you who have self-published will know it’s a vertiginous learning curve, and you ricochet between triumph and despair. I did everything myself – proofreading, typography, formatting for Smashwords and Kindle, cover design and marketing, though I am the worst saleswoman in the world. Out of consideration for American readers, I changed the speech marks from single to double, which meant checking every single apostrophe after the switch. The whole thing took time and energy. But, like running your own business or being a single mother, the upside of doing it all yourself is that any credit going is yours alone.


August 9th 2010: Remix appeared on Smashwords and Amazon. I sold a handful of paperbacks, and nine ebooks that month. The first three weeks of September’s sales were worse. I felt pretty depressed; this was my last shot, and I’d missed the target; failure stared me in the face, and I don’t like failure.

Then I remembered Eric Christophersen, an American writer friend who’d been very successful with his ebook, Crack-Up. I came up with a cunning plan – I’d interview Eric on my blog, and discover the secrets of his success! Eric is a nice chap, as well as a good writer (he is now represented by a top NY agent) and he agreed. When asked why he charged so little for his novel, he said,

• “Lexi, I would recommend a cheap price at least initially. You'll want a nice bunch of reviews to help attract more readers (assuming the reviews are mostly positive), and yet only one reader in a hundred will leave a review – at best.”

I took his advice and dropped my price. In October I sold 705 books, in November 1,559, December 4,278, and January, my best month, 5,940. Even though sales tailed off a little after that, I’ve now sold over 20,000 copies of Remix.

Replica, a thriller/romance:


Beth Chandler works in a government research institute, and is accidentally replicated in a flawed experiment. The replica has no official existence, and when she overhears plans to liquidate her, goes on the run. Homeless, penniless and pursued by MI5, she has to learn how to survive on icy London streets. Meanwhile, the original Beth, unaware of what has happened, becomes romantically involved with Nick Cavanagh, the spec op she believes is there to protect her. In fact, he’s hunting her double. Excerpt

Buy: Amazon: US and UK, Smashwords

As I write, both books are in the UK Kindle top 100, Replica sold 2,500 copies in its first month, and a Hungarian publisher will be bringing out a Hungarian version of Remix, hardbacks, paperbacks and ebook, in 2012.

That’s what I call a good year.

~*~*~*~

For years, I resisted writing because I knew I'd never be as good as Jane Austen. Finally I realized no one is as good as Jane Austen - I started writing and couldn't stop.


My first two books are non-typical fantasy. My third, REMIX, is contemporary fiction with elements of crime, investigation and romance, and tells what happens when Caz Tallis finds a strange man asleep on her roof terrace. He turns out to be - no, I'm not telling you, you'll have to read it to find out...

My day job is designing and making jewelry and silver under my real name, Lexi Dick. I've made pieces for Margaret Thatcher, 10 Downing Street and Her Majesty the Queen.

My website is http://www.lexirevellian.com/; here you can read extracts from my books and entire short stories. There is also a link to my writing blog.

Walking The Line Between Serious And Silly



FATHERS QUEST EXCERPT

Debra Solonen is my guest today and is the author of over 30 books, including  THE SENTINEL PASS SERIES. 

Her series combines elements of serious and silly, weighty issues and just plain fun. Debra's series tagline gives you a hint of what to expect, "In this town—and in this TV show—life imitates art."

Today Debra discusses writing humor into her stories and gives us a scene she didn't think would make it into her book. I have to say just picturing a scene like this cracked me up.



 
I love to read books that contain elements of humor. It doesn't have to be over-the-stop. In fact, slapstick is extremely hard to write. Believe me, I've tried. I usually get a scolding from my editor.


Something like,


“You're trying too hard here.”


“I don't find this humorous.”


“Less is more.”


Or the worst: a sad face.


I dread upside-down-heart sad faces. (Don't you think that should be an icon? And who agrees we need a thumbs-down on Facebook?)

Sorry. I digress. The point I'm trying to make is, with humor, everything is relative. I write the scene I see in my head and sometimes—not always—it works.

For example, I did NOT expect the following scene to make the cut in my book, UNTIL HE METRACHEL. And, yet, my editor adorned it with smiley faces and LOLs, and I've heard from a lot of readers who said it was their favorite scene in the book.


What do you think? Thumbs-up or upside-down heart?

She’d turned to finish picking up the boxes but something stopped her.

Rufus glanced around. “Uh-oh.” He put his hands on his hips. “Fred,” he boomed. “What have you done to Rachel’s…um…sex toys?”


Rufus leaned down to pick up the object Rat Girl had dropped beside his booted foot. The handle of the hot pink whip was as long as his forearm but tapered to a fine point, which was adorned with ribbons and brilliant purple feathers. He couldn’t have been more surprised if a marching band of elves had suddenly appeared.


He cleared his throat and picked up the gaudy, over-the-top instrument of…um…pleasure? He hated to admit he wasn’t sure how it might be used, but his initial impression of Rachel had changed. And a certain part of him could even envision testing out the silly thing. With her.


“Oh, my,” she said, her gaze following as a couple of bright feathers drifted back to the snow.


“Sorry,” he said, handing the whip to her, blunt end first, as if it were a knife or a loaded pistol.


Her chin rose with a kind of dignity Rufus admired, but her attempted smile betrayed her. “Faulty boxing. That happens when you hire family,” she said, a little hitch in her voice.


He was a single step away from her. Even in the dry, cold breeze, he could smell her. Not the cedar, pine, dog and earth he was most familiar with, but something fresh and feminine that he realized with a start he’d been craving. Their gazes met and held for what felt like too long. Especially given the nature of the objects scattered on the ground around them.


He was the first to move. He started toward the wreck of a box, intending to cram anything and everything back inside. She jumped sideways, arms out, to block his efforts. “No. Please. I’ll do it. This is so embarrassing. When I see my brother…”


Words spilled out of her mouth at a rate Rufus’s brother would have called super-soundic. Even as a little kid, Stephen was always making up new words.


He gave a mental shake to return to the moment. What part of this situation made me think of Stevie?


Farce. Stephen had loved gross-out comedy. The more inane the better. Their parents had hoped he’d out-grow it. Unfortunately, he never got the chance.


He was stuck in memory lane when he heard her low, “Uh-oh.” Her inflection sounded pained.


Since she’d positioned herself to keep him from seeing the worst of the spill, he had to peer around her to discover what unspeakable horror had her momentarily frozen in place.


“Yowch,” he said, one hand dropping to his groin without conscious thought. “I’ll replace it.”


Rachel looked at the horrified expression on Rufus’s face and wasn’t sure whether to laugh or pray for the earth to open up and swallow her alive. It was a sixty-five dollar, nine-inch, all-too-realistic looking dildo that Rachel had unwrapped at her bridal shower to the jeers —“Trust me. It’s better than the real thing,” one woman had proclaimed—and cheers of other party goers. Her friends and co-workers had even named it for her. “Dexter.” After the HBO serial killer with a conscience.


At the moment, Dex was giving extreme pleasure to the dog with the big, squarish head. Fred, she believed. And Fred was chomping on the pliable “life-like” rubber with such gusto his master actually looked pained by the image.


She fought to contain the laugher that started bubbling up from that horrible well of inappropriate responses that her exhusband had hated so much, but she simply couldn’t it hold back. Within seconds she was doubled over, howling. Tears—the Chris-Rock-on-a-roll kind—obscured her vision and she actually had to 
grab Rufus’s arm for support until her ab-scrunching guffaws diminished.


“Oh, wow,” she said through her sniffles. “I needed that.”

Around here, we refer to that as the “Sex toys” scene. Who woulda thought, right?


Tell me what makes you giggle in a book or when you think the author is completely out of her mind...and your name will go into a drawing for one of my books. They don't all have sex toys, but I guarantee there will be humor.

Presently, I'm at work on my new book and, as usual, I walk a line between serious and silly, weighty issues and just plain fun.

By the way, UNTIL HE MET RACHEL was named Best Superromance of 2010 by
RomanticTimes BOOKreviews, and it's one of your choices...if you're into that sort of
thing. ;-)

Buy: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, eHarlequin  You can find all the books of her Sentinel Series listed on Debra's Website. Books are available in both print and ebook.

~*~*~*~

Debra Salonen wrote her first story in crayon on the underside of her mother's coffee table. Her mother was not amused. Subsequent writing efforts included a screenplay for Flipper--in block print on lined paper (you can see why it never got picked up, right?), a spy thriller --okay, a blatant rip-off of James Bond; an Irma Bombeck-esque series of letters to her family, which might have come across as a tad more whiny than amusing, and, eventually, she enjoyed a four-year stint as an award-winning feature writer for a newspaper.

In 2000, her first romance novel was published by Harlequin for its Superromance line. That novel, THAT COWBOY'S KIDS, has recently been re-released, bringing Deb's total number of published books to 30. Her May 2010 release, UNTIL HE MET RACHEL, was honored by RTBook Reviews as the Reviewer's Choice for "Best Superromance of 2010."

In addition to her two current Superromance titles, RETURN TO THE BLACK HILLS and A FATHER'S QUEST, Deb is enjoying a renewed flirtation with short stories. Her first Kindle release, "A Hundred Years or More," looks at that special bond between a pet and his owner, and what happens when a pet--in this case, a parrot--outlives his owner.

Monday Musings: Moments Good and Bad

The past few weeks have not been kind to me. My bridge bit the dust. Finding out that no, it can’t be repaired. Worse, I had a pivotal tooth break. Ugh. Even worse, the procedure to fix everything couldn’t be done immediately. Which meant learning to perfect a Mona Lisa smile and not an easy task for someone who smiles with their whole face and shows lots of teeth. Gosh, all I needed was a long piece of straw, floppy hat, say, Yee-haw.


Let’s just say looking in the mirror has been depressing. I’ve never even seen myself without those teeth. No, I’m not about to put on lipstick, no, I don’t want to go out to dinner. Hell, I don’t want to go anywhere. So I’ve been hiding out and will continue to until next week when the surgeon does his thing—pulling this out screwing that in, twisting the other thing. At least I’ll be asleep while they do all that. But this isn’t a quick procedure. The whole thing will span six weeks. Oh, yay.


My guys have been trying to cheer me up, and doing a pretty good job of it. Until a few days ago when I mentioned that Sunday was Mother’s Day and I needed to get a card for my mom. My son gives me this blank look of, huh? My heart dropped to my feet. He hasn’t gotten me anything. I felt the tears well up. I am not a weepy woman. Did I mention I’ve been feeling sorry for myself?


Mother’s Day is a favorite holiday of mine; in part because there was a time I thought I would never get to be one. A mother, that is. Then surprise, a baby was on the way. When I looked into that little ET face, I felt so very blessed and the wait had been worth it. My first Mother’s Day was such a time of joy for me. So for me, it’s more important than any of the other holidays, except my anniversary.


My husband never fails to get me special things. But when I woke up, there wasn’t a card or anything. Very strange. He did have my coffee ready when I stumbled into the kitchen and after drinking a cup that heavenly brew; I took the dogs for a long walk and came back to breakfast and a rose. Awww.

When I came back from my shower, there on the table was a beautiful silk arrangement of peonies, roses, and a few other flowers (I prefer silk to real), cards, and gifts. Hugs, from both my son and hubs. Plus, they had found the clock I’ve been lusting after and every time I tried to order it, it had been out of stock.


My son told me when he hugged me how hard I made it when I looked so sad to think he had forgotten Mother’s Day. “Sheesh, mom, I almost pulled out your card early just to make you smile. I would never forget Mother’s Day.”

My husband told me Son had spent a lot of time finding just the right card for me. He tried to help but Son said, “No Dad, it’s not the right one. I’ll know it when I see it.” It was a special one about the strong bond between a mother and a son. It went into my special chest with his first shoes, the outfit I brought him home from the hospital in, and other treasures I cherish and added over the years.

• There are certain holidays and family traditions that are special. What are some of yours?

Write Scenes Rather Than Reports

Scenes.


They're the anchors for your characters,

allowing them to experience adventures undreamed of. Scenes are the visual elements that, strung together, make navigating your story entertaining and logical.

Scenes are the pulse of your novel. With each successive beat, characters discover more, reveal more, and live more. And readers feel that life. The pulse, the heartbeat of your story, resonates in them, and if the beat is strong enough, it will keep them connected, not wanting to leave. Not wanting to cut off that heartbeat that has become part of them.

We all know what it’s like to be interrupted when we’re at the good part. Make your story pulse with the good part from beginning to end. Give the reader not only a vivid character, but vivid scenes that will echo in his mind and heart. Scenes that will keep him attached to your tale.

Scenes. Not descriptions. Not a reporting of events. Scenes.

Write them. From page one, write them.

They’re what’s vibrant about your story.

They are events happening in a specific place.

Don’t tell us Max did this and Sally did that and Mortimer did a little of both. Don’t give us diary entries or a school report. Don’t even give us a letter to a pen pal. Putyour characters into a specific time, a specific locale, and give them a task.

And once you write your scene, don’t fill pages with delay, describing the route to an event and then the décor once we get there.

Get to the point.

Dump us into action. Event. Happening.

Paint us a picture of someone doing something somewhere.

Think of a series of events, as in a movie. Write those events. Connect them with narrative. And then write more events.

Yes, thinking can be an event. So can dialogue. But events also include someone robbing a house, a teen learning to drive, a woman kissing a man.

Give your readers events and action they can dive into. Give them places they can see, objects they can touch, sounds to hear and wonder over. Write for the senses and the emotions and the mind. And put your characters in a location.

Don’t forget that people move and touch and see while they’re interacting.

If you’re going to use a scene with a lot of thought and/or dialogue—either one person thinking without interaction with another or multiple characters speaking back and forth—make sure the reader knows the where and when of the scene. Don’t write disembodied thoughts for two pages. Put us in a place, show us why the character is having these thoughts, and then go at those thoughts.

Think place. Passage of time. Events happening while the character ruminates or reminisces or cogitates.

Don’t give us only talking heads, existing independently of all else. (When Elsie was young, she always brushed her teeth five times a day. Not six. Not four. She . . . ) If you choose to throw in back story, first show us where the character is and what brought about these deep thoughts of the past. Does the character walk around randomly thinking of the past? Or is there something in the story—related to plot, of course—that drives those reminiscences? Unless your character is naturally crazy, go for something that sets him off. And don’t forget to let us know what’s happening while the character is off remembering. Ground the character—and the reader—in a place and then do your thing with deep thoughts.

Use description in scenes, but don’t only describe. Have your characters interact with their locale, other characters, and their own demons.

Don’t try to narrate scenes—she did this and that and then she cried. Make the story events real. Make the reader live those events, feel those emotions, quiver with pain and gasp with shock.

Scenes are only one element of good fiction; we still need exposition. Stories made up of all scenes without a break would be tiresome and tedious. They’d be flat-out annoying.

Exposition can do in a few words what can take pages for a scene to accomplish.

My point is, however, when you do write scenes—and they should take up most of the page space in a novel—make sure you are actually writing scenes rather than reports.

I read many first manuscripts that have no scenes, especially at the story’s beginning. Think of ways to invite your reader into the story events. Show the reader those events as they unfold.

Don’t recite the events—bring the reader in to experience them for herself.

Some examples: (excerpts)

• What I did on vacation—A school report
• What I did on vacation—Fiction (exposition and scene)
• What I did on vacation—Fiction (exposition and scene, a variation)
• What Tessa did on vacation—Fiction (less exposition, more scene)

~Beth  Hill

The Editor's Blog

A Novel Edit


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FANTASIZING RELAXATION

FYI:  I will be having oral surgery on Thursday and should be be feeling human in a few days so bare with me.

I like to welcome back romance author, Tawny Weber. I love having guests who return with new books. I’ll be the first to tell you that Tawny is an auto buy for me. Why? Because I always feel good after reading them. She makes me laugh and I love the way her characters interact. Her heroines are accomplished women with sassy attitudes and determination to succeed.   

While her characters’ romantic romps make me laugh, they do face some real conflicts which impacts on their relationship. I love the smooth flow of her scenes, and she does flirting and hot sizzle so well.

I know how incredibly busy authors are with promotion, editing, and trying to write the next book—there isn’t a lot of down time. I was teasing Tawny about what she would do with herself if she had nothing on her schedule except a free weekend…

Ooooh, Sia’s for Over Coffee. One of my favorite places!! I’ll have tea, please, along with a cranberry scone with lemon curd and lots and lots of cream. There’s nothing better to start the morning off than yummy treats, a shot of caffeine and great company!

Sia mentioned in passing the question: what would I do with an entire weekend of pure relaxation, with nothing else on my plate? Well, at first I sat staring off in space for a little bit, baffled as my brain tried to wrap itself around that concept. Then I had this giddy thought! I’d sleep. Lots and lots and lots of sleep. Oh, the glory of sleep. Because, well, I don’t tend to get a lot of it.

But then I realized that would be a horrible waste of a wonderful weekend. And that’s when I fell into full-blown fantasy mode...

The weekend would start with a good night’s sleep (any good fantasy weaves in just enough reality to make it believable, right?). I’d wake up on an island, with the windows thrown open and overlooking the white sands of the sun-drenched beach. On a table outside the sliding doors I’d expect a light, healthy breakfast of fruit and breads, tea and juices. I figure a healthy breakfast gets me geared up for a weekend of relaxation more than a decadent one, right?

I’d spend the weekend on the beach, sometimes under the warmth of the sun, sometimes under a big foofy umbrella that matches the tiny one stuck in my equally foofy alcoholic beverage. I’d read, I’d watch the people I love play in the water or dig a moat in the sand, I’d spend a few tiny moments bemoaning the fact that there is no cell or internet on the island so I can’t check on life outside (because, seriously, the only thing that would make me do no work at all is a complete withdrawal).

That evening, I’d dress up in a slinky sexy little number and a pair of gorgeous heels and go out to a romantic, candlelit dinner with my husband, followed by a moonlit walk on the beach. And the next day, I’d do it all over again.


You know what? Taking the 10 minutes to fantasize about this did more to relax me than the last massage I had! What a wonderful idea.

We should all take a little fantasy relaxation weekend...

Where would you go? And what would you do? And what’s the one thing that would be absolutely necessary to make sure you really, really relaxed?

 

JUST FOR THE NIGHT  Available May, 2011

Things to Do in Blackout…

Power outages happen, and you have to be prepared. After all, you could be trapped somewhere—like in an empty store—with your ex.

Who is still irresistible. And hot.

And who knows how to make the most out of a dark situation…

Checklist for: Larissa Zahn


· Food


· Water


· First aid kit (With condoms. Be prepared. Very, very prepared.)


· Someone you’re still overwhelmingly into (Jason Cantrell, I’m looking at you.)


· Plenty of time in the dark (Read: hot nookie. Lots of it.)


The ability to walk away without regrets in the morning…. (Uh oh!)


24 Hours: Blackout


No lights. No power. And no holding back…excerpt

Buy: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Books a Million, Borders, e-Harlequin

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Tawny Weber is usually found dreaming up stories in her California home, surrounded by dogs, cats and kids. When she’s not writing hot, spicy stories for Harlequin Blaze, she’s shopping for the perfect pair of boots or drooling over Johnny Depp pictures (when her husband isn’t looking, of course). In

Come by and visit her on the websitr at: http://www.tawnyweber.com/ or her
Blog
 
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