Archive for the ‘guest blogs’ Category
Sick, but the Book Promo for CHANGING FACES goes on…
Folks, I’ve just spent the last seventy-two hours in Hell.
(Or at least it seems like it.)
Why? I have the flu. I got it because one of the other musicians had it in the band when we played our concert last week…no one else appears to have gotten it but me, but my symptoms are the same ones my bandmate had down to the letter.
Flu means fevers. I rarely get them. So that means I can’t think well when I have them. (I can get around some illnesses or ailments because I’m used to them, but not this, in other words.) And I’ve spent much of the last seventy-two hours with a fever over 102 F.
So what am I doing now? I’m trying to let you know that CHANGING FACES is still out there. I think my book is important, especially now; love is love, and it doesn’t matter much what your outer shell is, providing your soul calls to someone else’s.
I’m fortunate in that I am heterosexual and all of my loved ones have been men. Society understands this, for the most part, and I’m grateful for it.
I wish society would get with the program and realize that gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, gender-fluid, queer, and any other flavor you might want to come up with all have the right to find someone they love, too, providing it’s consensual, preferably monogamous, and always, always life-affirming.
That is one of the main reasons I stuck with CHANGING FACES, and why I am glad it’s available to be read right now.
Folks, here are the guest blogs that I didn’t get a chance to tell you about, due to being sick:
https://plugyourbook.wordpress.com/2017/02/23/chapter-reveal-changing-faces-by-barb-caffrey/
This is the first chapter of CHANGING FACES. If you haven’t read it yet, here’s a good, quick, free place for you to do so.
And here’s another link that also gives you access to the first chapter (hey, if one doesn’t work, another should, though I tested both links and found them good):
http://readmyfirstchapter.blogspot.be/2017/02/chapter-reveal-changing-faces-by-barb.html
And then, there was the one about my route to publication, which you may find interesting…here’s that link:
http://publishingsecretsofauthors.blogspot.be/2017/02/book-publishing-secrets-with-barb.html
And here’s a bit from that:
Q: What’s the best advice you can give to aspiring authors?
Barb: Keep writing. Work hard. Network with other writers. Find out about writing groups that might be able to help you, such as Critters.org, the Forward Motion Writers Community (fmwriters.com), or join other groups focused on marketing like Marketing for Romance Writers (you do not have to be a romance writer to join, mind) or Exquisite Quills, and learn all you can about the business as a whole.
I’d also advise you to read as many different blogs as you can about the business and craft of writing. The blogs I recommend the most include KrisWrites.com (this is the blog of Kristin Kathryn Rusch, a long-time SF&F writer and editor), the Passive Voice, the Mad Genius Club, Amanda Green’s writing blog, and a whole host of others of various political persuasions. Try not to get too hung up about whether this one’s a Libertarian or this one over here is a liberal Democrat; instead, figure out if this person understands the craft of writing (or the craft of self-editing) and keep following along. Maybe you’ll find one thing of interest in a year—but that one thing can change your perspective and help you.
And best of all, these websites are all free! (How great is that?)
So, there you have it. Please go look at these blogs, and then go get yourself a copy of CHANGING FACES…it’s still only ninety-nine cents as an e-book, and it’s available in a number of places. (Ready? Set? Um, go…?)
Barnes & Noble
Amazon:
USA – UK – CA – AUS – IN
Thoughts about Transgender Bathroom Rights, and Newest Guest Blog
Folks, some days I just get so frustrated, I want to scream.
Why? Well, today’s news is that the Trump Administration apparently wants to rescind the Obama Administration directive regarding transgender students and bathrooms. The Obama directive more or less said that transgender students should be able to use the bathroom that suits their own, internalized gender; the Trump directive, which appears to be imminent, would rescind this directive and make trans students use the bathroom their outward gender would dictate instead.
This is incredibly annoying in many ways.
First, a young person who already identifies as being in the wrong body for their psyche is not looking to “convert” anyone. They just want to use a bathroom that makes sense to them.
Second, a young person who feels like he or she is in the wrong body already needs all the help he or she can get to figure out himself/herself. Being able to use the restroom that he or she identifies with is an easy thing to do to help, and preventing that person from using that same restroom just helps isolate that person even further.
So how does rescinding the Obama directive help anything?
The only point the people on the right who are in favor of rescinding Obama’s directive (which, fortunately, are not that many) have seemed to say is, “Well, this way, boys can’t use female restrooms by pretending to be girls!”
My answer? If these overly-concerned people really believe young men, already an angst-filled subset of the population, are going to suddenly identify as female to use female bathrooms, that is just silly.
(A young man who does that deserves what he gets, in other words.)
Anyway, I’m a straight woman. I’ve never dated a woman, never kissed one either, and never plan to do so — I am attracted to men. But that does not mean I don’t understand how stupid this is.
So, compared to that, my latest guest blog, about my route to publication, seems very small. But as I’m the writer of a book about two troubled souls who both end up transgender (and stay very much in love with each other), CHANGING FACES, I figured I’d let you know what I think.
And even though it is a very small thing in context, do, please, take a look at my newest guest blog. I think you’ll enjoy it.
Who knows? Maybe it’ll remind you that trans people are just like anyone else.
Because they are.
New Guest Shot up at Dear Reader, Love Author
Folks, I have a guest blog up today at Dear Reader, Love Author…a place I’d never stopped by before, but one I enjoyed once I knew about it.
The premise of this particular place is that you write a letter to your readers — or prospective readers — talking about why you hope they’ll love your writing (in this case, in support of CHANGING FACES).
As Firefox (my browser) isn’t playing well with Google this week, I can’t like the post or comment, though it is letting me share it by Google Plus for some reason. (How odd, hey?) But I can at least let you know about it here, and hope you will find it this way (and via Twitter and Facebook, where I’ll also post).
First, here’s the cover photo, again, for CHANGING FACES:
So, here’s a little from the Dear Reader, Love Author post:
Changing Faces is the story of two clarinetists, Allen Bridgeway and his fiancée, Elaine Foster. They love each other very much, but because of trauma in Elaine’s past and the fact that, unbeknownst to Allen, she is both gender-fluid and transgender, she is having a hard time fully committing to him. When she finally tells Allen who and what she is, he’s floored, and doesn’t know what to do…he prays that they find a way to stay together, and some higher beings not bound to our linear time take pity on him and Elaine.
But the way they do it isn’t what Allen expects.
You see, on a very bad wintry night, Allen and Elaine are involved in a car accident. The beings take Allen’s soul and bind it into Elaine’s body, then take Elaine’s soul and put it into Allen’s. Because Allen’s old body is heavily damaged, one of the beings talks with her while she’s comatose in the Place of Dreams and Nightmares—a place humans go every night when they sleep, though most of us don’t remember much about it upon wakening. And Allen wakes up in the hospital, in Elaine’s body, unable to tell anyone he’s Allen, not Elaine.
So, instead of one LGBT person, we now have two LGBT people. Both still in love with each other, in a horrible situation, not knowing if the other will forgive them (Allen worries about Elaine even being in his body, while Elaine worries that no one understands Allen now, and blames herself for putting them in this terrible position).
So, how are Allen and Elaine going to get out of this mess? Will they find a way to make peace with this highly unusual situation? And will they learn how to see each other’s souls rather than their bodies?
Since it’s a romance, I think you can bet heavily that I found a way to do it…but no, I’m not going to tell you how. (Where’s the mystery in that if I did?)
CHANGING FACES is still only ninety-nine cents as an e-book in the US, and ninety-nine pence as an e-book in the UK. I sincerely hope you will give my newest novel a try, as there’s truly nothing else on the market like it at all.
Getting By With a Little Help…
Folks, this past week has been a whirlwind. I’ve had ups, downs, two band rehearsals, book promotion activities, all that…but one thing is certain:
I appreciate my friends, in and out of the writing community.
Friends are amazing. Having people in your life who understand you is one of the greatest blessings available on this Earth. No, it might not be up there with chocolate, or romantic love, or the Milwaukee Brewers winning the World Series (that has to be on the horizon sooner or later, right?), but friends make a huge difference in your life.
I know this, because without mine, I would be in big trouble.
This past week, I had several friends step up and help me in various ways.
First, Chris the Story-Reading Ape posted a book spotlight for CHANGING FACES, my new novel, at his very busy blog on less than three hours notice. I did not expect this at all — that he’d do it, yes. But that he’d do it in less than three hours? Um, no.
Thank you, Chris!
Next, I reached out to Jason Cushman, the Opinionated Man himself. Jason has a huge blog following of over 60,000 people over at his blog HarsH ReaLiTy, and he agreed to host a guest blog from me less than a day after I asked him.
That guest blog, Music and Love in CHANGING FACES, got a number of positive comments and I made at least one new fan out of it from India. (She thinks I should start up a YouTube channel on music, because I know so much about it. I had never considered that before, but I am now…thanks to her.)
Thank you so much, Jason!
Then, I reached out to Sally Cronin, a wonderful woman who has a solid and eclectic blog following of her own. Sally agreed to host something about me, my overall work (including my short stories and previous two novels in the Elfyverse as well as CHANGING FACES), and let people know I had a new release available within a few, short days as well; that blog also featured authors Angie Dokos and Deanie Humphrys-Dunne.
Thank you so much, Sally!
(My goodness, I am blessed with friends, aren’t I?)
And that doesn’t count the people who shared on Facebook, Twitter, and other social media sites, much less my friends over in the Marketing for Romance Writers group, not to mention my writer-friends Katharine Eliska Kimbriel, Mr. and Mrs. N.N. Light, Jason Cordova, and Chris Nuttall, who all gave me encouragement as I was afraid my book would just sink like a stone.
I mean, there is nothing else out there like CHANGING FACES. Nothing whatsoever. And that makes it a challenge to market. It’s about music, love, friendship, sacrifice, all that — but it’s mostly about what makes a person, her soul or her body? (Obviously, I think it’s the soul. If it were the body, why would human beings be so concerned, as a species, about a positive afterlife?)
And yet, it’s not a Christian inspirational. It’s not a NeoPagan inspirational, either. There certainly are a lot of LGBT themes in there, as it features a lesbian wedding at the beginning and a wedding between my protagonists Allen and Elaine, now both transgender, at the end, but I like to think it has broader appeal as well.
In other words, I believe that CHANGING FACES is timeless. Anyone who believes in romance, much less likes music a great deal, should find a way to appreciate it.
No, it’s not like anything else. But it is honest, it is heartfelt, and it has a lot of interesting stuff in there about music, writing, the meaning of love, and how LGBT people are just like anyone else that may intrigue you, if you only give it a chance.
I am proud to have written CHANGING FACES. And I hope that you will look for it, and buy a copy, as it’s only ninety-nine cents (or ninety-nine pence in the UK).
First, here’s a link to the sample chapters:
http://www.twilighttimesbooks.com/ChangingFaces_ch1.html
Next, here are all the links to the various places where CHANGING FACES is on sale, courtesy of Chris the Story-Telling Ape (he put it into this format, and it makes sense, so I’m going to keep crediting him — thank you again, Chris!):
Barnes & Noble
Amazon:
USA – UK – CA – AUS – IN
Finally, here’s a link to my Amazon Author’s page (at Amazon US only, sorry), which may give you an idea of other books I’ve written, to show range and all that other good stuff (note that CHANGING FACES is not yet listed there, but it will be, and soon, if I have anything to say about it):
Author N.N. Light Takes Over the Elfyverse…
…and I couldn’t be happier about it.
Folks, married author duo N.N. Light’s fantasy/romance novel PRINCESS OF THE LIGHT is on sale right now for just ninety-nine cents. (It’s an “anniversary sale,” as the book has been out for two years now.) In support of this novel, and in support of their writing, the female half of the pair, Mrs. N., asked if she could do a guest spot here at the Elfyverse.
And of course, I said yes.
So, without further ado, take it away, Mrs. N!
During the month of September, Princess of the Light is on sale for the super-low price of $.99 USD. 100% of the proceeds during this time will go directly to our local food bank to help feed children and families in need. This is the first time Princess of the Light has ever been this low in price…and who knows when it will be this low again?
First, let’s whet your interest. Here’s the blurb:
Mary Miller receives a startling visitation from Gabriel, the Messenger of God. The Archangel reveals an astounding truth–Mary is the Princess of the Light and even more amazing, her destiny is to battle Lucifer’s army of demons and restore the balance of good and evil on Earth. It’s getting harder to fulfill her new role and keep her identity secret while juggling her personal life, and when Than, Lucifer’s second in command, amps up the attacks on her, she knows she needs help.
Joe Deacons is everything she’s ever wanted in a man. And as providence would have it, in a moment of great need, he’s the Warrior of Light–the one who can help her defeat the forces of darkness.
Not so simple when they confront Lisbeth, a demon hell-bent on usurping Than and Lucifer himself. When Lisbeth wages war and several innocent people die, Mary must form an alliance with her enemy in order to destroy her. But will this be a grave error or the choice that saves their world?
Second, to give you an idea of what PRINCESS OF THE LIGHT is about, here’s an excerpt:
Marie furrowed her brow and softly interrupted, “André is the Walking Man?”
I looked at Marie and asked, “You’ve heard of him?”
Marie nodded. “Of course. He is a staple of the Downtown area. There are a few groups I’m affiliated with that hand out food and clothing to those in need. He never comes to these events so I leave them by the area where he sleeps.” She paused, thoughtfully. “I just can’t believe that it is André.”
Joe cleared his throat and looked at his father. “What happened to André?”
Alfred sighed and after a moment said, “It really was the fault of that witch he was married to. She and her family treated him horribly. She was a gold digger and all she cared about was money and the prestige.”
Marie interrupted Alfred by saying, “I remember her. She was so mean to André and all she cared about was looking rich. Wealth is a gift—she just wanted it for a toy. She treated André so badly… and his mother-in-law was the worst. She would put him down all the time. In front of other people, no less.”
Alfred continued, “André was a good man and worked hard. He was working on a big project for the city. He worked night and day on the project and told me it was going to put Golden Lake on the map.
“He absolutely adored his daughter, too. I remember that clearly. She was his everything.” Alfred paused, apparently lost in his thoughts. With a sigh he said, “There was a scandal with the project, though, and André got fired. Soon after, Dara left him, took Katherine with her and André fell apart. He started drinking heavily and, without his daughter, his life fell apart.”
Joe looked at me and I fought to keep from throwing my hand over my mouth. There was purple fire in his eyes and I felt his anger. I already knew the story of André and I tried to smile at him.
I smelled burning flesh. Joe flashed in full armor fighting demons with a golden sword.
I gasped at the vision and brought my hand to my chest in shock feeling the key necklace, before I could stop the physical reaction. The necklace weighed heavily as did my heart. He would be fighting at my side soon.
Marie asked, “Are you okay, dear?”
Joe turned to look at his mother. He nodded and only said, “I never knew any of this.”
Alfred continued, “I am sorry, son, but you asked for the truth. This is what I know. André was sleeping at the office and drinking all the time. He was supposed to give a presentation to a client and was drunk. He got into a scuffle with his boss and rumor has it, André punched him.”
I feigned shock and said, “Oh my!”
Than is to blame. I don’t know how I know or what happened but I vow to the Lord that I will make Than pay, thought Joe.
I choked and almost spit out my drink. I just heard Joe’s thoughts! I had to set him straight and right away.
I cleared my throat and said awkwardly, “Joe, I think I left something in the car.”
Joe looked at me with eyebrows raised. “Excuse me, we’ll be right back,” I said with a smile.
I walked outside and knew that Joe was right behind me. When I reached the car, I whirled and said in a stern tone, “Are you trying to get yourself killed?”
Joe stopped mid-step and said, “What are you talking about, Mary?”
I ran into his arms and whispered, “You cannot take on Than by yourself! I heard your thoughts in there. Now, I don’t know how you know that it was Than who drove André to punching his boss but please promise me that you will not get revenge.”
I paused to catch my breath and remembered what Gabriel told me. “Joe, in order to defeat the darkness and not become dark ourselves, we need to have a pure heart. We are filled with the Light and our motives must always be to speak the Truth and spread the Light.”
Joe took several deep breaths while he held me. He stroked my hair and whispered, “I’m sorry, my angel. I didn’t mean to frighten you and you are right. It was just a momentary thought.”
I lifted my head and locked eyes with Joe. Tears filled my eyes but I was determined. I bit at my top lip and then whispered, “Promise me you won’t put yourself in harm’s way.” Hot tears spilled down my cheeks.
Joe wiped at them and said in a deep, reassuring tone, “I promise, Mary. I promise I won’t be a hothead and I won’t be rash.” Then, he laid his forehead on mine and whispered, “Please don’t cry, darling. Please.”
I nodded and whispered, “I would die if I lost you. Than will use you to try to get to me. You are my love, my everything.” My voice cracked. “I would die if I lost you,” I repeated.
Joe shook my shoulders a little and looked deep into my eyes. “Listen to me, Mary, you will never lose me! Do you hear me? I am by your side now and forever.”
Overcome with emotion, Joe kissed me.
Buy Links:
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/469480
Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/princess-of-the-light-nn-light/1120170709?ean=9781502438454
Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/Princess-Light-N/dp/1502438453
Amazon Canada: http://www.amazon.ca/Princess-Light-N-ebook/dp/B00N19FDKO
Amazon UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Princess-Light-N-ebook/dp/B00N19FDKO
Kobo: http://store.kobobooks.com/en-CA/ebook/princess-of-the-light-1
iTunes/ iBooks: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/princess-of-the-light/id913013798?mt=11
Paperback: https://www.createspace.com/5008419
Goodreads:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23009005-princess-of-the-light
It’s me again, your usual host. I realized just now that an author pic needed to be added; fortunately, Mrs. N supplied one…it’s both interesting and not the usual run of author pic, but you’ll see that below.
So, there you have it! Mr. and Mrs. N.N. Light’s book is a fantasy/romance with spirituality and heart, and the book’s proceeds will be given to their local food bank. What better reason could you possibly have to buy a book for ninety-nine cents this month?
Introducing…”Kaitlin’s Tale” by Christine Amsden
KAITLIN’S TALE is the latest urban fantasy novel by award-winning author Christine Amsden. It features Kaitlin, a strong-willed heroine with a self-deprecating sense of humor…just my type of woman! She’s a young mother who’s made some bad choices, and now is on the run from some vampires — including her baby’s father, Jason. She meets up with a powerful, telepathic magician, Matthew Blair…and sparks fly in every possible sense.
Can these two basically good, but deeply flawed people find a way to make common cause against the vampires? And will they ever realize that they were made for each other?
KAITLIN’S TALE has my highest possible recommendation, folks…I edited it, and I know it’s an excellent novel that made me tear up in spots. Kaitlin is definitely one heroine who deserves her happy ending, most especially because she doesn’t seem to realize exactly that. And her son, Jay, is one cute little guy, too…all the way around, I loved KAITLIN’S TALE, and I hope you will give it — and Christine Amsden’s work as a whole — a try. (Read the first three chapters for free, here.)
Now, on to what Christine wanted to say about why she wrote Kaitlin’s story!
Christine Amsden says:
Who is Kaitlin?
I love Kaitlin. As I wrote the book, I sometimes thought to myself that I loved her more from the outside! She’s nothing like me. My inspiration for Kaitlin came from an experience I had as a sophomore in high school, shortly after one of those school-wide assemblies about sex and sexual abuse. They told me that one in three people had been sexually abused. I couldn’t believe it! One in three? I looked at the two friends I’d come with, wondering which one of them it had been since it wasn’t me (thankfully). To my surprise, I got the answer as we were leaving. She told me and she made me swear I wouldn’t tell a soul.
I didn’t, and it is the single biggest regret of my life. At the time I mistakenly believed that a real friend would keep a confidence. My only excuse is that I was fifteen and had precious few friends. Now I know that a true friend would have risked the friendship to do the right thing and get her friend help.
Over twenty years later, I give you Kaitlin, and I get her help. Not the sort you’re likely to get in real life (telepaths being vanishingly rare), but I wrote it for my friend, who I haven’t seen since high school, and for anyone else out there who knows what it’s like. Though I cannot truly know your pain, I have imagined it in this book.
If you do know the pain, and if you’ve never faced it, I urge you to seek help because there are no telepaths in real life. But there are people who understand.
Blog Exchange, Day 2: Janet L. Walters Talks Writing, Books, and More!
Folks, it’s Day 2 of my blog exchange with author Janet L. Walters. (My guest blog at Janet’s site is available here: https://wwweclecticwriter.blogspot.com/2016/05/saturdays-blurbs-featuring-books-by.html) I hope you’ll enjoy her thoughts on writing her latest book series…here we go!
When I began the series At First Sight, it meant rewriting a number of older stories and fixing the problems and updating the information. These are spicy romances, all contemporaries, and the first four concern the love lives of two sisters and two brothers. Somehow, a pair of their friends and colleagues slipped into the mix and there could be more people coming aboard when I have time to dream up more situations.
The first book involves Allie who edits a magazine for a family-held magazine, Good Cookin’. Her story involves a Chef, Greg who owns and heads a restaurant called Five Cuisines. Allie sets out the gain the interview and her father forbids this. He owns the magazines. Allie isn’t one to sit back. Greg is told by his mother not to let any Blakefield near the restaurant. This is how the fun begins.
In the second book, Meg Blakefield is dragooned to pick up the magazine group’s photographer at the airport. She has had a crush on him since the day he began work but she has also managed to anger him. Steve likes to tease Meg. He loves to see her blush. On his last photo shoot he had an accident resulting in a broken leg and a lot of bruises and scrapes. He would like to have Meg in his bed. When she learns there is no one to stay with him, she volunteers and adds rules to her already Rules of Life. The meeting sets off some fireworks. Her magazine is Good Lookin’ and she has a real love of silk and underwear.
The third book finds Mark Blakefield viewing a picture one of the writers from Good Travelin‘ has taken on a trip to Vermont. He sees a picture of a boy who could have been him at the same age. He also recognizes the child’s mother as the one who got away. They had a hot and heavy college romance but she vanished before the semester ended. He has looked for Christa Parsons. When he lands at the inn, he learns her name is and always has been Christa Sommers. He wants her and he wants his son. Can their love be rekindled?
The fourth book finds Matt Blakefield running from Mark’s wedding with the words “You’re next.” He thinks no way and takes off on his motorcycle. A rainstorm has him barely able to see and finding no place to stay. He runs into a pine tree outside a cabin. He discovers Cassie is the girl he insulted and made fun of in high school. Someone he has never forgotten. Cassie is hiding at the cabin trying to come to grips with her fiancé’s desertion and marriage to another woman weeks before their wedding. The notification came via an email. She recognizes Matt and decides a night with him is something she just might enjoy. He leaves the next day without an exchange of numbers. Then he discovers she has something he wants and he needs to find her.
The fifth book belongs to their friend and attorney Tony Carlin. The death of his brother and being named as one of the guardians for his infant nephew brings him in touch with Lauren. Lauren is the child’s aunt and has also been named as guardian. They met four years before at the wedding of his brother and her sister. Lauren was at the end of her runaway period. His first impression of her wasn’t great but still he thought about sex. He is still thinking about this and he also feels she’s not a good guardian for the little boy. He makes assumptions and you all know what that means.
The sixth book finds Jules Grayson trying to convince Grace to sign a contract to have her cupcake bakery featured in Good Cookin’. She’s reluctant and he takes a trip he’d rather not take. After his father’s conviction for a Ponzi scheme and his mother’s suicide, he ended in a group home. The home was next door to where Grace landed after her mother overdosed. Grace is the only girl who ever turned Jules down when he tried for a hookup. Seeing her again brings up the desire to accomplish what he never had. Grace is choosy about the men in her life. She has no desire to be like her mother. Jules falls in love with her cupcakes and desires her in his bed.
Website: http://janetlanewalters.com/home
Blog: http://wwweclecticwriter.blogspot.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JanetL717
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/janet.l.walters.3
So…there you have it! Janet has an interesting series, and I do hope you will check it out forthwith.
Special Guest Blog 2-Day Event, Part 1: An Interview of Author Janet L. Walters
Folks, author Janet L. Walters and I are exchanging guest blogs today and tomorrow…I hope you’ll enjoy her insights! (My Day 1 guest blog for Janet can be found here: http://wwweclecticwriter.blogspot.com/2016/05/friday-who-she-was-before-featurning.html)
Do you write a single genre or do your fingers flow over the keys creating tales in many forms? Does your reading choices reflect your writing choices? Are there genres you wouldn’t attempt?
I bill myself as the eclectic writer but lately I’ve realized most of my stories are romances but they fit into subgenres of romance. Except for some of the YA stories but even there, there are boy/girl relationships that can be developing. Even my mysteries hold a bit of romance for the heroine that takes five books to lead to her marriage. Some of my romances are contemporary, some paranormal, fantasy, historical and suspense. They range in heat level from sweet to spicy.
My reading choices are just as different. I read most everything but not all books are enjoyed as much as others. With the number of books floating through the internet and my Kindle handy, I read a lot. I do not read horror.
As to what I wouldn’t attempt to write. Anything with hard science. I know nothing about technology and while I admire people who do I’m not going to try. I don’t see a horror book in my future. Though sometimes I can write dark horror is beyond dark to me.
Heroes, Heroines, Villains. Which are your favorite to write? Does one of these come easy and why?
There are days and days. Sometimes I have difficulty reining each of the three into form. I’m usually more able to identify with the heroine and her emotions. The heros often give me trouble, especially when they speak. They don’t always come across as male but a sort of neuter kind of person. Now villains usually come easy because that allows me to let some of my evil nature escape.
Heroes. How do you find them? Do pictures, real life or plain imagination create the man you want every reader to love? Do they come before the plot or after you have the idea for the story?
I turn to Astrology to develop my hero. After the idea for a plot comes into my head, I begin to look at what kind of hero I need. Turning to my many Astrology books, I find a sun sign which will show my character’s inner nature. This may be different from the face he shows the world. For that I look for an Ascendant that fits what the character is becoming in my head. For the emotional quality, I look at his Moon Sign. This usually gives me how his emotions differ from the two other elements. This makes for a complex character. And often tells me what his interior conflict will be. The outer conflict can also be found in the three elements of his character. Once this is in place, I develop the other characters, though one or both of them may have entered my imaginary world before.
Heroines. How do you find them? Do pictures, real life or imagination create the woman you want the reader to root for? Do they appear before the plot or after you have the idea for the story?
For my heroines I also use the same process as I do the hero. There are times when the heroine appears before the plot and I must find a hero and a story for her. Using the what if can bring a heroine to life. Many of my heroines are nurses or have other skills that are somehow medical. Here I can pull things from women I knew when I worked as a nurse. Something will remind me of a trait or a worry one of these former colleagues displayed. Also in my heroines, there is a little of myself. Not myself as I am but myself as I wish I was.
Villains or villainesses or an antagonist, since they don’t always have to be the bad guy or girl. They can be a person opposed to the hero’s or heroine’s obtaining their goal. How do you choose one? How do you make them human?
Villains for me are the easiest to write and they aren’t necessarily the bad guy. In my latest release in both paper and electronically, the female lead begins as a villain. To make her human meant she needed lessons to be learned. She did love her land and her parents but she performs an act that makes her seem not to be a good person. Through the first four stories in this collection, she remains unknowing of what she must do. She needs to learn how to love. Each story gives her a small hint about love and the final two stories show what lessons she has learned.
The trick with making villains is giving them traits that make them human. This is easy with the opposing character who isn’t a true villain but one who has his own ideas about the lives of the hero and or heroine. This person can have good reasons for their feelings and can be made while not likeable at least interesting. The character who is truly evil is harder to find a reason to make them seem less that evil. The trick here might be to develop their degree of evilness in increments through the story. At least that’s the way it works for me.
What is your latest release? Who is the hero, heroine and or the villain?
By the time this interview goes live at least four of my latest series will be released. This one is Seducing the Doctor. The hero is Matt Blakefield, a man who doesn’t want to fall the victim of the Blakefield curse. He doesn’t believe he has ever fallen in love but there is a girl he can’t forget from his high school days. He believes he remembers her because he hurt her by saying words he really didn’t believe because of a prank by the school’s cheerleaders.
What are you working on now?
Currently I am re-writing the final two books in the At First Sight series. Seducing the Attorney and Seducing the Baker. The first book involves a couple who met four years ago at the wedding of his brother to her sister. Now they have become the guardians for their nephew. The second book involves a reluctant hero who vets new employees for a publishing company and who locates lost people and the only girl who ever turned him down when he was a bad boy teenager. She now owns a cupcake bakery one of the magazines he works for wants to do a feature article about. She is reluctant.
How can people find you?
Website: http://janetlanewalters.com/home
Blog: http://wwweclecticwriter.blogspot.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JanetL717
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/janet.l.walters.3
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Come back tomorrow for another post from Janet…you don’t want to miss out!
Why I Wrote “Bringer of Chaos: The Origin of Pietas” — a Guest Blog by Kayelle Allen
Folks, do I have a treat for you today!
A few months ago, I edited Kayelle Allen’s BRINGER OF CHAOS: The Origin of Pietas, and couldn’t wait to tell you all about it. Pietas is a strong character, someone who starts out dark, forbidding, and almost impossible to like…but somehow, with Kayelle’s insight, Pietas becomes much more than that. BRINGER OF CHAOS is a science fiction novel of cultural clashes, personal growth, friendship, sacrifice, and much, much more. It’s beautifully written, in some spots deeply moving, and a book I hope everyone will check out right away.
Now, on to Kayelle’s excellent guest blog, already in progress…
When I wrote Bringer of Chaos: the Origin of Pietas, I was creating the background and origin story for the most notorious villain in my scifi universe. In a series of books based in the Tarthian Empire, I had gone to great lengths to instill a sense of awe and fear in readers regarding the immortal king. Honestly, Pietas scared me, and I created him! I knew the depth of his cruelty because I’d created him to be the baddie all the other baddies feared. In the universe of those stories, he was known by many names: Impaler, Hammer of God, Marauder, Soul Ripper, Destroyer of Worlds, Slayer of Innocents, Hound of Hell, and more famously, the Bringer of Chaos. To reveal the reason he became such a terrifying person, I needed to delve into his head and get to know him better. *Gulp.*
I mentioned to my friend, author Houston Havens, that I didn’t know how to write an emotionless sociopath. First she laughed, then she took me to passages in my own books and showed me the emotions Pietas had displayed. Houston was right. Pietas was far from emotionless. Sociopath was as far from his reality as moonlight is from sunlight. One is cool and pale; the other hot and vibrant. I was trying to write him as a moon. Pietas was a sun.
Houston suggested that we “interview” him. She and I talk almost every day on Skype, so that was easy. I would “be” Pietas and answer on Skype as him. It would be an exercise in free association, and we would record it so I would have reference. Once we got started, it was surprisingly easy to get into his head. She asked him questions that were simple at first. Then she asked about his father, which made me delve into my own past as a child and parent. Mine was innocent and filled with love. My villainous hero, however, had a different bent.
When I was a child, the parent-child bond set my life on a certain path, and I believe no matter how old I get, I will always be the way I was molded to be from childhood. Pietas is immortal, and apparently, so is his love/hate-mostly-hate relationship with his father. Delving into that in detail will take more than one book. In fact, I’ve gone from wondering how I could possibly write a whole book about Pietas to planning another four.
Pietas now fascinates me. Getting to know this character helped me break past an episode of writer’s block that had lasted seven years. I had written, but was producing only non-fiction (Tarthian Empire Companion) and books about the characters (An Immortal’s Guide to Tarth). With Bringer of Chaos out of the way, I’m back where I belong — in the world of the Tarthian Empire. The galaxy of stories beyond that is, as Pietas would say, “ripe for the plucking.”
About Kayelle Allen
Kayelle Allen is a best selling American author. Her unstoppable heroes and heroines include contemporary every day folk, role-playing immortal gamers, futuristic covert agents, and warriors who purr.
Homeworld/Blog https://kayelleallen.com
Twitter https://twitter.com/kayelleallen
Facebook https://facebook.com/kayelleallen.author
About the Book
Bringer of Chaos: the Origin of Pietas
Author: Kayelle Allen
Publisher: Romance Lives Forever Books
Editor: Barb Caffrey
Heat level: PG13
Genre: YA (older young adult), action adventure, science fiction, space opera, military science fiction, space marine, genetic engineering
Wordcount: 52,492
Pages: 186
Two enemy warriors: one human, one immortal. Different in belief, alike in spirit, marooned together on an alien world.
Imprisoned and in isolation over a year without food or water, the immortal Pietas survives. Though broken in body, his intellect and will are intact, thanks to Six, the special ops warrior who captured him, but kept him sane. The warrior had no hand in his deprivation and, like Pietas, was betrayed by his own kind. When Pietas is abandoned on an alien world with nothing but his honor–and Six–he must find and rejoin other immortal exiles. After centuries of war, Pietas detests humans and kills them on sight, but he is too damaged to continue on his own. Though he despises needing help, he allows Six to nurture and restore him to full strength, and then accompany him. As they cross the planet together on foot, the immortal begins to wonder if he has found his first human friend, or if Six is loyal only because Pietas could keep the others from tearing him to shreds. This human will either be his closest living friend, or the one whose betrayal will trigger all-out vengeance by the most powerful immortal ever born.
Immortal. Warrior. Outcasts. Traitors took everything. Except their honor.
Read the first chapter https://kayelleallen.com/chaos-origin/
Amazon http://amzn.to/1R8DAbb
Amazon print http://amzn.to/1SSmueB
CreateSpace http://bit.ly/boc-origin-csp
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So, now that you’ve read all this, what are you waiting for? Go get Kayelle’s excellent novel right now. You will not regret it.
My Conversational Interview Is Up at Deborah J. Ross’s Blog…
Folks, I mentioned this a few weeks ago…every week, Deborah J. Ross, the editor of the forthcoming REALMS OF DARKOVER, is posting an interview on Wednesdays. So far, she’s interviewed Rosemary Edghill, Marella Sands, and Shariann Lewitt…and now, it’s my turn.
Because I’m a contrary sort (and I admit it, too), I wrote up my interview in a different way, or as I described it:
When Deborah J. Ross, esteemed editor of Realms Of Darkover, asked me a few interview questions, I asked her a question in return: “Could I write my answers in conversational style instead?” She told me to go for it, thus, here I am.
Now, what is my interview about? It’s about my character Fiona n’ha Gorsali, Darkover’s first female judge, and one of the most powerful judges ever in the history of Darkover. While Darkover’s creator, Marion Zimmer Bradley, introduced Fiona in THE SHATTERED CHAIN many years ago, she never did anything with Fiona n’ha Gorsali…and thus, when asked for a story concept, I decided to figure out how the powerful Courts of Arbitration had been reconciled to accepting a female Renunciate judge as one of its members.
Or, as I said in the conversational interview:
When I sat down to write a story for Stars Of Darkover, I decided early on that I wanted to find out more about Fiona. What had happened to put her on the Courts of Arbitration in the first place? So I wrote “At the Crossroads,” that showed how Fiona was able to forge a consensus with highborn, lowborn, and Terranan included. Surely something that unusual would warrant that remarkable individual being placed on the Courts of Arbitration, Renunciate or no…and so it transpired.
Then, when Gifts Of Darkover came around, I decided to write about Fiona’s parents in “A Problem of Punishment.” I knew her mother’s name was Gorsali, and that she was a Renunciate; I figured that Fiona’s father must’ve been a judge before her. But who was this man, Dominic macAnndra? As he hazily introduced himself, I found a man of courage and conviction—and also a man who fell in love at first sight, during a conflict, with his eventual freemate (wife), Gorsali.
You might be wondering what else was left to write about…well, it’s simple. What about Fiona’s childhood?
So, I talked about my newest story about Fiona, which is called “Fiona, Court Clerk in Training,” and features Fiona at the ripe old age of thirteen, and a bit of her parents and their quite solid marriage, besides.
I had a lot of fun writing about Fiona as a thirteen-year-old, and I hope readers will enjoy my story, too.
So…if I’ve intrigued you (and I surely hope I have), hop on over and check out my entire takeover–er, conversational interview! — at Deborah J. Ross’s blog.
Barb Caffrey's Blog 