Writerspace Blogs

That’s where my Zodius series is set and where I’m headed this weekend for a signing with Barnes and Noble. Why Vegas?

Years ago I owned a staffing agency and worked around the clock. About the only time I took off was for a few trips to Las Vegas every year. I fell in love with the excitement of the city. Casinos, shows, great food, and so much more. I was also married to an Army man who had a deep family history with the military. All of his uncles were Special Forces, as was his father. I had an office in the Killeen, Texas area and in Austin, which meant there were a lot of military influences as well from Ft. Hood that had touched my life.

But here is where it gets interesting. My ex’s father told us from his death bed, that the secret he’d carried with him all his life, was his presence when that mysterious Roswell ship crashed. He was sworn to secrecy. He didn’t say much but he said a few things that got my thinking cap on. What happened that night when they recovered whatever they recovered? And what really happens at Area 51? Why does the government deny it even exists? I don’t know that we will ever know, but I sure let my imagination run wild. What if the government used whatever they recovered to advance medicine and create Super Soldiers? Medicine is advancing at rocket speed as it is. We can actually inject people with their own stem cells to help them regrow tissue. There are athletes paying the price to put this experimental and successful technique, to use. We are capable of so much that ethics don’t allow us to pursue. But what if the government threw out ethics? I know. Hard to believe that would happen, right? :)

I had a lot of fun creating this world and I love writing these characters who are battling emotional wars over who and what they have become, and how that impacts those around them, and the world itself. In the meantime, they still faced saving the world from itself, and from one of their own kind who believes he is the chosen one to rule all.

If you want to get a tiny glimpse of this world I just released a .99 cent short story that has its own Happily Ever After and gives you a look at several of the heroes in the series.

RENEGADE PASSION

Warning! Sexy alpha soldier out to protect his woman! There will be sparks that fly and plenty of sexy moments!

About the story:

Sonia' a gifted psychic who finds herself seeing visions of the many women who have started disappearing around Vegas. Visions that have now put her on the radar of Adam Rain, a soldier who was part of an experiment that made him a super solider, powerful and dangerous. Adam wants to control the city. He wants to control her.

Kel is also one of those super soldiers, a part of the unit called Renegades who fight to protect humanity. A soldier who once planned to call Sonia his wife until an Area 51 experiment changed his life, his future, Sonia's future. But now she is in danger, and nothing, and no one, is going to hurt her. She is his passion, his desire, his heart.

The man she believes is dead.

I hope you will give it a try. And if you are in Vegas this weekend I will be at the Barnes and Noble in Henderson from 1-4 on the 26th with t-shirts and all kinds of goodies. I’ll be signing THE DANGER THAT IS DAMION(Amazon / Barnes and Noble) and the first 20 people get THE STORM THAT IS STERLING (Amazon / Barnes & Noble) for free! I look forward to seeing you there!

SIGNING ADDRESS
Barnes and Noble
567 North Stephanie
Henderson, NV 89014

www.lisareneejones.com

I’m usually a “The glass is half full” kind of gal; except when it comes to technology. Then, all bets are off. Far as I’m concerned, life today is packed with modern inconveniences.

Take my email for instance. No, seriously . . . take it . . . somewhere, anywhere you like. ‘Cause right now I can’t get no email OR satisfaction.

Hey, hey, hey. That’s what I say.

For the past couple of weeks my email and Internet have not been accessible at key periods during the day. Since my cable provider also happens to be the gatekeeper to my cyberspace access, I assumed they had too many folks hooked up to the same little bit of electronic lifeline my computer and I have been clinging to.

But after placing a call to the service tech, who—to be fair—was really quite pleasant and helpful, I was told it’s a little traitor that resides atop my desk, the monster called MODEM (sounds like the name of a lethal cartoon character or a rampaging Viking, doesn’t it), who’s responsible for all the lack of messaging in my life of late.

Me, I’ve got my doubts. I still think that amazingly popular little electronic lifeline mentioned above is playing a role. But what do I know (when it comes to technology, pretty much nuthin’ actually)? Maybe MODEM and cable have teamed up against me in some type of electronic wrestling death match.

For which, I assure you, I’m incredibly ill-suited. So put your money on my foes.

Guess I’ll find out for sure what the problem is when the repair person shows up in just two short days. For which, I’m assured, I “probably” won’t have any additional charges since I already pay the exorbitant “Grab your ankles and bare your patootie” fee that’s supposed to cover such problems.

As I’m sure you can tell, I’m not the least bit bitter.

Just think, prior to this golden electronic age we live in today, without one call, text, Twitter or email Snow White still had enough faith in her future—and a man she had yet to meet—to flitter gracefully about, crooning “Someday my prince will come.”

Me, with all the advantages mentioned above at my disposal, I’m stuck here with little or no hope, sitting around, tapping my foot, waiting for the cable guy.

HOW ABOUT YOU? WHAT TYPE OF ELECTRONIC TROUBLES HAVE YOU FACED? A FREE COPY OF MY DEBUT NOVEL, MRS. GOODFELLER, WILL BE RANDOMLY AWARDED TO ONE PERSON WHO LEAES A COMMENT BELOW BEFORE THE ENXT WRITERSPACE BLOG IS POSTED.

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Jaycie Cash blogs on a regular basis for Writerspace.com Her debut novel, MRS. GOODFELLER, is available through most major e-Book outlets, including Amazon and Barnes and Noble. She’d love for you to like her Facebook Author page.

Location, location, location. Anyone who’s ever bought, sold, or rented a house or apartment knows that’s the mantra of the real estate agent. It’s the mantra of some romance readers and writers, too. Right now, one of the most popular genres of romance novels is one where the setting is so important, it IS the genre: the small town contemporary.

A few years ago, this genre didn’t even exist. Although authors had set hundreds of romance novels in small towns, it wasn’t until the entire series-set-around-a-town concept took off -- my guess is with the amazing popularity of Robyn Carr’s Virgin River and Debbie Macomber’s Cedar Cove books -- that the setting truly became a character.

Whether it’s waterfront or mountaintop, clustered around a harbor, tucked into a valley, deep in the south, along the edge of the sea, or nestled into the heartland, inventing geography has become as challenging and complex as characterization in this genre, and just as vital when creating the series concept.

In fact, for me -- and I suspect the same is true of other small town contemporary authors -- the stories came second; the setting came first. For my recently launched Barefoot Bay series, I chose Florida because I’ve lived in the state for over twenty years, and I’ve personally experienced many aspects of this diverse and picturesque peninsula.

I worked for years in the colorful, ethnic metropolis of Miami, then moved to raise my children in a sleepy beachside town with stunning views of space shuttle launches. My sister lives in the rolling hills of rural north Florida; my son’s a University of Florida Gator up in quaint but cosmopolitan Gainesville; I’ve got strong connections to the historic Tampa Bay and family living in vibrant Jacksonville. Best of all, we’ve taken multiple family vacations in the Conch Republic, the uniquely eccentric paradise also known as Florida’s Keys.

But when I first closed my eyes and tried to imagine the perfect location for a series of contemporary novels where the setting would play a key role, I went instantly to the beauty of southwest Florida and the white sands and emerald islands dotting the Gulf of Mexico coastline.

The magical “barrier islands” are accessible only by boat or causeway, and the thousands islands and keys that hug the entire coast of Florida all have different personalities. Some are overdeveloped with multi-million dollar mansions, some are laid back and home to artists and retirees, others are trendy, luring tourists with world class resorts and jaw-droppingly gorgeous sunsets, while a few are charmingly stuck in the 1950’s with trolleys for public transportation and mom-and-pop businesses that close when the fishing is good.

I took the best of all those characteristics to create the Barefoot Bay series, set on Mimosa Key, a fictional island off the coast of the Naples/Fort Myers area. Before I even outlined the first book, I drafted the history of the island, a few of the most influential (and colorful) townspeople, and got a sense of the politics, businesses, neighborhoods, and “personality” of the area.

Only then did I start the process of creating the characters and the stories, launching the series with a hurricane that wipes out the homes and changes the lives of the people who live on the island’s serene and pristine inlet of Barefoot Bay. One of them is Lacey Armstrong, a single mother, a granddaughter of one of the island’s founders, and a woman who -- much like the island where she lives -- survives and thrives no matter what mother nature throws at her. She has friends and family, dreams and desires, and a rich personal history. And on the pages of BAREFOOT IN THE SAND, Lacey learns to let go of the past and find a future with one extremely sexy, younger architect who helps her change the face of her island...and the state of her heart.

No question about it, having the setting as a character has definitely influenced how and what I’ve written in the series. I’d love to hear from the Writerspace community: which small town contemporary setting is your favorite and why?

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Roxanne St. Claire is a New York Times bestselling author of nearly thirty romance, suspense, and young adult novels. Visit her website for excerpts and info on all of her books: www.roxannestclaire.com or stop by www.facebook.com/roxannestclaire for daily updates and the occasional picture of a hot guy or cute puppy.

Archaeology, especially sites in the New World, have always fascinated me. In this year of the Baktun, the Turning of the Wheel of time, all things Maya are easier to find in the news than at any period I can remember.

Naturally, that started stories condensing in the mind. I was born with a huge amount of “what if” in my imagination. In this case, I fastened on to a seemingly simple idea: What if a group of people really believed that the end of the world would happen on December 21, 2012?

Where would those believers be most active? What would those believers do to assure a place in the new world to come? How would they decide what was necessary?

Who or what would be their god, and what would he or she require of believers? How would the actions of the believers echo through the larger world of unbelievers?

What kind of heroine would find herself caught between modern believers and ancient myths? What kind of hero would be likely to intersect with the heroine and the believers? What kind of obstacles would such a man and a woman find on their way to survival—and love?

BEAUTIFUL SACRIFICE is my answer to those questions. I hope you enjoy reading the book as much as I did researching and writing it.

Above all, thanks for loving books!

Elizabeth Lowell

www.elizabethlowell.com

Good morning everyone! I’m delighted to be at Writerspace today to talk about my latest book A GENTLEMAN SAYS “I DO”

Because it’s the middle of the month and I’m the middle child of seven I thought I’d talk about the center of things today.

I love the gooey sweet middle of a piece of milk chocolate and the delicious, chewy center of a brownie. I love the soft, warm inside of bread when it’s hot from the oven and the hard crust is taken off. I have to be in the middle of a ship on a cruise because there is less rocking and motion at the center, which means less chance for that dreaded seasickness. If I ride in the back seat of a car with two other people, I want to be in the middle and not by the door. This must come from being that middle child of seven. And, I will happily mention that I love being in the middle of an argument or at the center of anyone’s attention.

And though some might think it odd, I love the middle of a book because by the time I get there the plot has been set in motion and the pacing has evened out. All the characters have been developed, and we know what is at stake for the hero and heroine, and we know what has to be done before the end of the book can occur and we find the happily-ever- after.

Too many times I’ve heard about that difficult “sagging middle” from authors and it makes me always want to say, “Hey, the middle is one of my favorite parts of a book.” You can always put the hero and heroine in the middle of the bed, in the middle of the book, and it will work like a charm. If more is needed you can take the hero and heroine out of the bed and into the middle of a heated argument. There’s always a way around, through, or past the middle.

In my current book A GENTLEMAN SAYS "I DO" the hero has been following the heroine in hopes she would lead him to her father. So in the middle of the book, I had her turn the tables on him and start following him. Of course, she had no idea that he was going to a brothel! Not for his own secret pleasure but seeking her father.

So tell me, when you read a book, can you tell if the author has had trouble with the middle of the book?

Here is a short synopsis of A GENTLEMAN SAYS "I DO".

Iverson Brentwood has finally met his match. Catalina Crisp heats his blood like no other lady. Her alluring countenance has stopped him dead in his tracks. But no matter how attracted he is to her, he can’t give into his desire to possess her in every way… she is the daughter of the man he’s sworn to destroy.

Catalina’s father is a well-known writer, but he’s a wastrel whose disappearances continuously put them close to destitution. Something drastic must change, so it is with quill in hand, that Catalina completes her father’s latest parody of Iverson and Matson Brentwood’s spectacular arrival in London. When the story hits the newsprint, a darkly handsome man is at her door, looking for her father.

Seeing the dashing rogue in the flesh, for a bewildering moment dallying with the rake seems like the perfect fictional escape—and it’s all she can do not to give into the madness of the intriguing man.

I hope you’ll pick up a copy of A GENTLEMAN SAYS "I DO".

I love to hear from readers. Please visit me at ameliagrey.com, www.Facebook.com/AmeliaGreybooks, or email me at ameliagrey@comcast.net.

When does a family stop being full of characters, and become a character itself?

I recently started a new series, THE CHILDREN OF MERLIN. It follows the Tremaine family over a period of about ten years. They are descended from the wizard of Camelot, and carry the magic gene that comes alive and gives them a magical power when they meet their destined mate, who also has the gene. Each book will follow one of the Tremaine children as they discover true love, sometimes in surprising places, and all the wonderful and frightening magical power that comes with it.

I have to admit I had NO idea what I was getting into when I started writing about the large and boisterous Tremaine family. There are three brothers and three sisters, assorted friends and relatives, as well as Brian and Brina Tremaine, the sometimes wise and sometimes bewildered parents of their brood. During the course of the series we’ll see the kids grow up, pray to achieve their destiny or try desperately to escape it, encounter obstacles, sorrow, and find happiness.

That means I have to introduce all of them, and they have to be true to their character, even in the first book, DO YOU BELIEVE IN MAGIC? Each has things they have to learn. I have to keep their stories straight, and so does the reader. And let’s not forget the people they find and marry. Then too, even big, loving families are not all sweetness and light. Parents make judgment errors. There are alliances and rivalries. Yikes!

So why on earth did I commit to a complex, six-book cycle about a family?

First, I realized I wrote dark paranormal books where the hero and/or heroine always seemed to be orphaned, or one of the parents was the villain. I did that so they wouldn’t have unconditional love and support they could rely on. That makes their situation more desperate. Readers probably assume I came from a rotten background when in reality I had a great family.

I like reading about families too, just because they’re so complex. I’m a Regency fan and Georgette Heyer did great families, like the one in COTILLION. Julia Quinn wrote the Bridgerton Series, which I loved. Stephanie Plum’s family is half the fun of Janet Evanovich’s mystery series. The examples could go on and on.

So I took the plunge and put my fascination with Merlin and Camelot in a contemporary setting, then added a big dollop of family to it. Don’t get me wrong, these are first and foremost love stories. And since the Tremaines aren’t the only ones with magic DNA, they have enemies, which brings in elements of suspense. But the one thing each protagonist in these books can count on is that the family supports them in the end.

Now that I’m nearly finished with book two, HE’S A MAGIC MAN, the family has started to be more than just an aggregation of characters. It has become a character in itself.

How did that happen? Families don’t always become a character of their own. Stephanie Plum’s family is a group of fantastic characters, but I don’t feel as if they have become a single character. I did feel that the Bridgerton family was a character of its own, though.

That gave me a hint. In the “ONE FOR THE MONEY” series, Stephanie’s family affects the action as individuals, more like her fellow bail bond workers do. Grandma Mazur’s attendance at important wakes, Cousin Vinny’s “eccentric” management style, Lula’s bounty assists or Connie’s assignment of cases, are all important elements of the plot. But they affect the action separately, not as a unit. In the Bridgerton series, on the other hand, the family confers with each other, takes action to support their members, and each plays their part in the larger family plan. The family acts as a whole to affect the story.

I think that’s what happened in THE CHILDREN OF MERLIN. The family dynamic as a whole became a character.

So, question for all of you--what are your favorite family novels? I’d love to hear about a few. And was the family itself a character, or was it a collection of individual eccentrics? Since I have four more books to write--I’m very interested in your thoughts! 

www.susansquires.com

It’s hard to type. Even my fingers ache.

We’ve had April showers this year, but they didn’t bring May flowers . . . at least not to my house. So I was left with buying blooms and planting them myself.

All day I carried, I dug, I bent. Closest thing to exercise I’ve had in who knows when.

I can’t claim to have done a perfect job, but I’m happy with the results. Think how proud I’d be if I’d raised them from seeds!

Now I just have to water and fertilize as needed. Geraniums, snapdragons, sunpatiens (a new sun-friendly version of impatiens) in a variety of colors are all now officially planted in my front yard, where they’ll get afternoon sun.

Let’s hope they live long enough to make it all worthwhile.

If I can still move, next week I hit the backyard, which I’ll have to fill with flowers that can thrive with morning-only sun.

Let’s hope I live to tell about it.

HOW ABOUT YOU, HAVE YOU PLANTED ANYTHING THIS YEAR? IF SO, WHAT? A FREE COPY OF MY DEBUT NOVEL, MRS. GOODFELLER WILL BE RANDOMLY AWARDED TO ONE PERSON WHO LEAVES A COMMENT BELOW BEFORE THE NEXT WRITERSPACE BLOG IS POSTED.

Jaycie Cash blogs on a regular basis for Writerspace.com. Her debut novel, Mrs. Goodfeller, is available through most major e-Book outlets, including Amazon and Barnes and Noble. She’d love for you to like her Facebook Author page.

www.jayciecash.com

When I was little, I used to live across the street from an emtpy wooded lot. It wasn't that large a piece of land, but when you're a child, everything seems bigger. The woods, as we called them, was a vast, mysterious place, made even more intriguing by an empty house that lay at the edge of the woods on the far end, where civilization began again.

The legend of the empty house was deliciously lurid. A crazy man had lived there, the story went, and whenever anyone ventured into his home, he killed them with an ax. I have no idea where this story came from, but the older kids in the neighborhood swore it was true, so we younger kids believed it without question. One time, a couple of the older kids even took some of us into the old house and showed us the wall, where a series of marks denoted his record of kills. Ooo, that was a chilling moment.

Of course, there had been no ax murderer living in that empty house, but why mess up a chilling story with the truth?

I think part of being a storyteller is enjoying a good conspiracy theory. Nothing ever happens by chance in a storyteller's world. There's always a reason for everything, hidden machinations that imparts reason to otherwise senseless acts. And because human beings are hardwired to enjoy stories, we are often willing participants in our own deception. Because who doesn't want to make sense of a senseless world?

So instead of believing a single, unstable man shot the president from the window of a book depository in Dallas, some are utterly convinced that there were multiple gunmen, and any number of perpetrators—Castro, the mob, the CIA—were really behind the assassination. Or that a moon landing broadcast on film was clearly a Hollywood trick to convince us that something as fantastical as man walking on the moon could actually happen.

And you know what? Those conspiracy theories are usually a lot more interesting than the more banal truth.

My working title for my May book from Harlequin Intrigue, SECRET AGENDA, was "Cooper Conspiracy," because the hero and heroine, Evan Pike and Megan Cooper Randall, methodically unravel the truth about the death of Megan's Army sergeant husband, who was killed four years earlier on the other side of the world. And the more they learn about his death, the more they realize that the people who killed him aren't finished with their deadly plot. To cover up the truth, they'll remove any obstacle to their plans—including Megan and Evan.

Do you have a favorite conspiracy theory? And do you really believe them, or do you see yourself like I see myself, as a willing, even eager participant in your own deception? 'Fess up, and I'll select a commenter at random to win a $20 eGiftcard from Amazon.com

www.paulagraves.com

Early morning is my magic time for writing—my mind is fresh and the worries of the day haven’t yet begun to wind around the ankles of my writing legs and I can run free mentally and emotionally. The pre-sunrise darkness of winter or the misty gray of a summer dawn finds me waiting patiently by the coffee pot for the beep that tells me it’s ready. I fill my cup with black coffee, settle into my favorite chair, and lose myself temporarily in a story. However, when deadlines loom and rewrites require every possible extra second, I find myself having to integrate snippets of writing time into my regular day. Although, I aspire to the privilege of writing full time, I’m not there yet!

Before I started writing novels, I was known to smugly say that, as a fully integrated being, I could never compartmentalize myself into my various roles—mother, partner, teacher, administrator, or gardener. I glibly stated that I always brought all of myself to every situation. That was much easier to say then, but to live that philosophy since I’ve become a writer is almost impossible. That nasty little concept, compartmentalization, has become a way of life.

I think that we women can follow the lead of our masculine counterparts here, and learn how to suspend our inner finger-shaking should-masters (“you should be playing with your kids, or doing the laundry, or writing that business proposal”) in favor of placing certain responsibilities neatly in their mental and physical cubbies and giving ourselves permission to totally focus on one thing—even if it’s only for an hour.

I can attest to the fact that trying to be everything to everyone, all at the same time, leaves one creatively spent, exhausted, unable to discern good writing from not-even-worth-reading writing. That being said, compartmentalization becomes a beautiful thing.

The other advantage to compartmentalization of time and energy is consistency—another bane of the writer’s existence. Just like regular physical exercise energizes and gives us a boost for the rest of the day, regular writing facilitates momentum. I have learned the value of incrementalness (this is probably not a proper word and I doubt that it can be found in Webster, but nonetheless, works for me). Incremental work—a short bit of writing, the correction of one crucial sentence, the start of an idea for a new chapter—all of it comes together slowly to a fuller realization.

My two novels, CATFISH ALLEY and ALLIGATOR LAKE, both came together thanks to my learning to compartmentalize, be consistent, and work in increments. As I read this, I realize that it sounds rather boring, and not necessarily uber creative. But what I’ve learned is this: creativity can come in flashes—anytime, anywhere. But getting that creative energy into the written word, polished and ready for public consumption? Compartmentalize!

Do you find yourself having to compartmentalize to accomplish your goals and dreams?

www.lynne-bryant.com

My latest novel, IF I FALL, features a familiar face – or terribly unfamiliar, depending how you look at it. Yes, dear ladies and gentlemen, the Blue Raven – that anonymous British Spy who lit up the pages of REVEALED – is back! And for those of you who don’t know who the Blue Raven is… he is, to put it quite bluntly, a Superhero.

Most people think the Superhero is an invention of the 20th Century. Born in comic books in the 1920s and 1930s, Superman, Batman and their brethren are American creations, fantastical in their abilities and secret identities, and always saving the day. So, how can one write a superhero into a Regency historical romance novel? How can one possibly meld two such disparate genres?

Well, it certainly helps that I’m not the first to do so. No, the first person to set a tale of derring-do with secret identities and nations at stake in the late 18th/early 19th century was the Baroness Orczy, with her novel (and play), The Scarlet Pimpernel. Written in 1903, it is the precursor to pulp comic superhero tales some 40 years later. The Scarlet Pimpernel is head of a secret society whose mission is to save French men and women from the guillotine. He is, in his daily life, Sir Percy Blakenly, a man known as a dull-witted fop, even to his wife – that’s how deep his cover is.

The Scarlet Pimpernel was the first to write down the rules of having a superhero in historical novel. (Rules that I absolutely borrowed when creating my Blue Raven.)

1. No super powers.

Since radiation hadn’t been discovered yet, it’s safe to say that having a radioactive spider bite or exposure to gamma rays is kind of out of the question. Besides, you don’t have to have super powers to be a super hero – Tony Stark and Bruce Wayne certainly don’t. What they have in abundance however, (besides funds) is the drive to make a difference. It is the weight that they are the only people in a position to do something now, about a bad situation.

The Blue Raven feels that way, especially when a murder of a high-ranking government official occurs in London, under suspicious circumstances. Without anyone to trust, the Blue Raven can only act on his own, to try and discover the treachery.

2. But be good at something. Something that sets you apart.

While the Blue Raven might not have mutant abilities – psychic powers or adamantium claws, for example – he is very very good at one thing, that sets him apart from his enemies. He can climb, quickly, and without fear. That makes him agile in a fight, and someone who thinks outside of the box when it comes to breaking and entering. With this talent, the Blue Raven will always be able to get into, or out of any sticky situation.

3. Have a good cover story.

I’m going to let you in on a secret here – the person taking up the mantle of the Blue Raven in IF I FALL is not the original Blue Raven. He’s since retired. Instead, in his place is Lieutenant Jackson Fletcher of His Majesty’s Navy. (Hence his ability to climb so well – all that time spent on yard arms!) But England needs a Blue Raven. And Jack is the man to do it.

But since Jack was all of thirteen the last time the Blue Raven was seen, he’s very naturally not suspected to be the famous British Spy. He’s not even suspected by his childhood friend Sarah Forrester, when she runs into him in his Blue Raven disguise. Not even when he finds himself kissing her.

4. Have a signature.

Zorro has his “Z”. The Scarlet Pimpernel has… a drawing of a scarlet pimpernel, with which he signs all his letters. And the Blue Raven has black raven feathers, which he strategically leaves behind, to let the foul villains know he has been there.

So you see, it is possible to meld two genres (romance and superheroes) into one – and for that we must thank Baroness Orzcy! – as long as you follow some simple rules.

www.katenoble.com