Category Archives: writing

Anya Bast has a new release coming out in June called Witch Fire. Witch Fire is the story of a young woman who discovers she has magical ability associated with the element of air. She is paired up with a male witch who controls fire, and let me tell you, the sparks do fly!

Anya writes steamy paranormals, but more satisfying than the sex (which is HOT) is the character development and engaging plot. I was not a regular reader of erotic romance, but with the likes of Anya and my other pal Ellie Marvel writing the genre, I’ve happily expanded my scope.

Some folks mistakenly equate erotic romance with pornography. They couldn’t be more wrong. In a good erotic romance there are characters you want to have as friends, who you care about; the story lines are well plotted and exciting. The love scenes enhance the story, bringing the hero and heroine together on an emotional level as well as a physical one. Anya and Ellie give you the whole package.

To me, porn is a collection of sex scenes strung together by the thinnest of story threads without the benefit of characterization. Porn is meant to titillate, not tell a story. But that’s my opinion. Your idea may differ.

Check out Anya and Ellie. You’ll like what you see. And buy their books!!!

{This is a post related to writing. Don’t be shocked.}

My friend Sharron and I were discussing one of her upcoming books. She told me she needed to work on the ending because it wasn’t quite right. I asked what she needed to tweak, knowing it wasn’t the fact her heroine had certain physical abilities beyond those of normal humans. No, she said, it was a problem with speed and water. She was concerned someone would scoff.

I completely understood. While her heroine’s bizarre biological makeup could be readily accepted (Sharone does a great job of relating the scientific whys and wherefores without killing you with it), a glitch in physics may throw you out of a story. Well, me and Sharron anyway. There are Laws of Physics. With biology, they’re more like basic guidelines.

What it boils down to is the suspension of belief. It’s what we rely on to keep a reader in the story. One or two goofs, even if they’re fairly minor, might make a reader toss the book across the room. And we don’t want that. Sometimes it’s easier to believe a far-fetched plot than to have a plot point that’s too close to reality come off as wrong.

One case we discussed was the comparison of the TV shows “October Road” and “Drive”. In “October Road” (rant in an earlier post), this guy goes off and leaves his hometown without calling or writing to his girlfriend for TEN YEARS! My first thought: What a crock. Add to that, the girlfriend has a son about 9 years old and claims he’s not the guy’s kid. Hmmm….so right after he left for this supposedly short trip, you screwed around? Niiiiice. These are not the kind of people I want to know about. Where’s the remote?

“Drive,” on the other hand, is about an illegal cross-country road race where the participants are gathered via some nefarious means. The main character, played by the yummy Nathan Fillion : ), is searching for his missing wife who was kidnapped by the race coordinators to get him to race. Plus they go through all kinds of mind games with him and the other participants. The concept is ludicrous. Yet, I’m willing to set that aside because it’s the world the creators have set up. And because of my lust for Nathan Fillion, but that’s neither here nor there. (NOTE: It looks like “Drive” may have been cancelled, with its final episodes airing in July. Dang!)

As paranormal writers, we can pretty much be guaranteed that readers will go along for the ride if we say our characters have shape-shifting ability, see ghosts, drink blood to survive, or what have you. A reader picking up such a story has already “agreed” to accept your world. As long as you have good characters to care about and can give a decent explanation (without the dreaded info dumping) for why this phenomenon occurs, you’re probably good to go. But defy physics without explaining how, or say a soldier in the US Army uses a type of weapon a G.I. would never be issued, or tell me some teenager will leave home and never even send a postcard to his girlfriend, and your believability goes out the window. And possibly your chance at having someone pick up another one of your books, unless it is to mock it.

Not that I’d ever do that }: )

I’ve been back from my trip to the East coast for well over two weeks and am still trying to resume normalcy. Okay, relative normalcy. I know I need to get my butt in the chair and write. Not on this blog, but for my WIP. I have the story gelled in my head. I’d even managed to jot down a scene or so while I was away and got that into my home computer this past week. But I still feel off kilter. Why? Well, I have a truckload of excuses: Emotional upheaval, DH traveling for weeks on end, trying to sell our house and buy another in a different town, kids’ schedules, car repairs, interesting website I heard about, the weather. Feel free to use one or more. But I know the real reason. I’m sure you do too.

So, I’m going to be a good little writer and get more work done. Really. As soon as I check out this website….

I am fortunate enough to be a stay at home mom, which means I can help out in my kids’ classrooms and schools. Most of the time I grade papers, listen to the kids read, and help serve lunch once a week. For the last few days, however, I’ve been helping my oldest daughter’s fourth grade class with a writing assignment.

They are supposed to write a fiction or nonfiction story of about 750 words. I am not a good short story writer, but I figured I could help a bunch of 10 year olds. Some of their stories lacked detail and/or plot. We had to find ways to expand their ideas without needless padding. Some were well over the allotted word count and ran amok with repetetive phrasing, unclear sentences, and meandering narrative. A few strokes of Mrs. P’s magic red pencil helped clear that up. The biggest problems seemed to be grammar and formatting, but overall they created an amusing variety of works. Ten-year-olds have some interesting ideas. They aren’t afraid to go way the heck out there, which is so fun to deal with. They don’t worry about conventional wisdom or what the other kid is writing. They just do their thing. They’re also open to your suggestions and don’t balk at grammatical rules.

I think many of us could take a lesson or two from these writers of the future.

1. Write what you love, or at least like a lot. Throw yourself into a story and let it flow. Editing can come later, and it will, but enjoy the time with your muse when you get it. Don’t write to the current market if you aren’t enthusiastic about the topic or genre. Readers are a savvy lot and will sense your apathy. And besides, who wants to toil away on a project they aren’t excited about?

2. Yield to a “higher authority” when it’s appropriate. If your editor/agent/crit partners all call you on a particular issue (grammar, plot flow, pacing, etc.) consider that they may be right. Give the changes a try and see how they work for you. Even some of us over the age of 10 have something to learn.

3. A fun font will make your story shine, even if it’s bad. Okay, that’s not quite true. Use a fun font, if you must, as you’re writing, but be sure to work on your craft and change the font to something more acceptable to crit partners, agents, editors, and fourth grade teachers. Hey, we all have to grow up sometime.

This has nothing to do with the holiday.

I wrote this a few years ago, after my first full manuscript was requested and then, well, just read it.

I’m pleased to announce that Haunted has won the Romantic Elements category in the RWA’s Fantasy, Futuristic and Paranormal Special Interest Chapter’s On the Far Side contest. This is an annual contest for those who write fiction with an otherworldly twist. Or set in the future. Or with time travel. Or containing elves, warriors, etc. Or, in my case, ghosts.

Congratulations to all the contestants, and thank you to the first round and final judges. Also, a big thanks to the contest coordinators, Andrea Wilder, Amber Wentworth, and Victoria Stark who kept things running smoothly. Well, it went smoothly from my point of view : ) I was a judge (not in my category, of course) as well as a contestant, and these three ladies were available to answer all kinds of questions we came up with.

The On the Far Side contest is a great way to receive feedback from other writers who “get” your ideas, as well as having a chance for your work to be seen by agents and editors who handle such a varied genre/subgenre. The contest gets better and better every year. Way to go everyone!

Wired Magazine asked established science fiction, fantasy and horror writers to write a story in six words or fewer. Six! I can’t even say good morning to someone in less than five. (Though you can’t count before coffee greetings, because grunts aren’t real words, right?)
Anyway, go check out the site. These people are amazing. I want to be like them when I grow up.