What makes a favorite author?

Due to my tiny house and only having one book case, I had to get rid of 3 bags of books. Excuse me a minute while I mourn their loss.

This is my bookcase after getting rid of 3 bags of books...and a foam airplane one of the cats "killed."

As you can see, I still have a lot of keepers. Some are favorite books, like THE PILLARS OF THE EARTH by Ken Follett, SILKEN SAVAGE by Catherine Hart, IF TOMORROW COMES by Sidney Sheldon, and NEW ORLEANS LEGACY by Alexandra Ripley.

And some are favorite authors.

The difference is: The favorite books are ones I read and reread over and over again, but I didn't enjoy other books by those authors as much.

But this is a favorite book by a favorite author:

I replaced it after my eighth read but kept this copy for sentimentality.

But what makes a favorite author?

My answer:

A favorite author is one whose books are an instant buy.

A favorite author is one whose books do not leave your library.

A favorite author is one you forgive easier. i.e. Stephen King often sucks at endings. I'm sorry, but he does. However, the journey still makes it worthwhile.


A favorite author is one who you won't give up on if they write a less than stellar book. However, if they keep writing bad books, they can easily lose their position. I ranted about that here a couple years ago.

Some of my favorite authors include, Stephen King, Eloisa James, Shana Galen, J.R. Ward, Maggie Shayne, Judith McNaught, Rebecca Zanetti, and of course, my critique partners: Bonnie R. Paulson and Shelley Martin. Because you cannot be a good critique partner if you do not love the other's work... and love it enough to call out the author when they're letting you down.

Favorite authors inspire me to work hard, so maybe one day, I too, can have permanent space on someone's bookshelf.

Speaking of Series...

Yesterday I got together with my writer buddies, Bonnie R. Paulson and Shelley Martin. With them I discovered what's been holding me back on my latest project. Since it's a series, I've been having trouble figuring out how and when to work in details from previous books...and just how much information to fit in. More on this later.

That's when we began discussing the two main types of series novels. Sequential Series and Stand-Alone Series.

A Stand-Alone Series is one in which you could read the books in any order without missing anything. They can feature different characters like Judith McNaught's regency novels, or follow the same character on different adventures, Like Nancy Drew. How that girl stayed he same age from the 70's on, I'd like to know. :)

A Sequential Series is one in which it's best to read the books in order so you can follow a continuing story line. They may feature different characters, like the Dark Hunters or the Black Dagger Brotherhood novels, or the same character, like the Anita Blake Vampire Hunter series.

But though there's a continuing story in the series, each novel, especially in romance, has stand-alone features, like a love story.

This is what I'm going for in mine. Today's mission will be to cut a little more back story that I believe unnecessary to the plot of this novel.

Oh, and contrary to what my progress bar for THE QUEEN OF PROPHECY says, I have been getting stuff done with it. I've just been cutting as much as I've been writing. :) See my post on this Monster Project for more explanation.

For those writing a series, which type are you working on? What problems are you attacking and what solutions have you found? 

Summer rerun: Series Novels

Many of my favorite novels are part of a series, and I'm willing to bet that's the case with many people. A lot of naturally want to write a series of our own because we love to read them, and because one's characters keep having adventures. Writing a series, however is a whole new animal compared to a stand-alone project. Especially with a romance series, since there must be a stand-alone love story in every installment.

One of the biggest issues, in my opinion is blending the stand-alone story with the continuing story of the series. In my first novel, I botched this badly. However, I still think that the story and characters are awesome, so I have passed it on to my Saintly beta readers in a bid to fix it. In the meantime I am composing an outline of the series itself, and then I will write mini outlines of the individual books in hopes of discovering which key points can be emphasized in which books.

One of the leading geniuses of blending individual love stories with a continuing saga is J.R. Ward with her Black Dagger Brotherhood novels. The romance unfolds naturally amidst the backdrop of the brutal war the Brotherhood fights. Future characters are introduced to the reader smoothly, and often teasingly.

Another team of authors that do a great job with a series are Stella and Audra Price. Their Eververse series is like the ultimate guilty pleasure soap opera. The reader eavesdrops on multiple characters with multiple plots that build and unfold throughout each consecutive novel.

What are some of your favorite series? What do the authors do that "Works," in your opinion?

Freakish Friday: Physical Defects

Long gone are the days when the heroes and heroines of romance novels had to be perfect physical specimens. Well, the hero could have a few scars as long as they enhanced his machismo and made him look dangerous. But the heroine... hell no! She must have alabaster skin, perfect boobs, etc.

I am much happier with today's romance novels. I know I bring up JR Ward a lot, and with my new Friday theme I will probably continue to do so because her characters are so delightfully flawed. One of her heroes is blind and another is partially castrated, to begin with. One of her heroines is average looking and has scars from surgical operations. I love her for this!

As much as I have issues with Laurell K. Hamilton these days, she was even more ballsy. One of her characters had tentacles! Apparently that's a huge fetish in Japan nowadays but I was pretty squicked out at first. But the way she wrote Sholto, she made him beautiful and sexy. That's damn impressive...until when it came time for the heroine to get it on with him and the tentacles magically disappeared and turned into a tattoo. I and many other readers were disappointed with this if you can believe it.

Why? Because we fell in love with Sholto and wanted him to be embraced for who and what he was.

Although she's not in the paranormal genre, I have to give major kudos to historical romance author, Eloisa James for giving her characters defects. In FOOL FOR LOVE, her heroine has a bad hip. In WHEN BEAUTY TAMED THE BEAST, the hero has a bad leg (and is also the regency version of Dr. House, how awesome is that?!) and the beautiful heroine becomes disfigured by an illness but he still LOVED her!!! Seriously, that one made me cry.

What other authors have dared to defy romance tradition by making imperfect characters? What can we learn from them?    

Freakish Friday: Characters with Addictions

At first you might not think of addictions as something "freakish" unless it involves porn or a weird sex fetish, but if  you hear a first hand account, you may reevaluate that opinion. Issues with drugs and alcohol are usually skirted around in the romance genre, but some authors dare to go there.

I have full respect for J.R. Ward for doing so in book 7 of the awesome BLACK DAGGER BROTHERHOOD series, LOVER ENSHRINED. Her main character, Phury is hooked on a fictional (I think) substance, and is ultimately saved by the power of love. Although this was my least favorite of the series, Phury's struggle tore at my heart. It also made me realize that as with any flawed character, there's a place for redemption for substance abusers in romance novels.

I don't know enough about drugs to yet dare to cover them extensively in one of my novels yet, but one of my heroines is an alcoholic. Writing about her issue brought back memories of how close I came to walking in her shoes during the end of my previous marriage. Another character will fight with her cigarette addiction, a dragon I plan to tackle when I turn 30.

Being that many of my heroes are writers and rock stars, many have dealt with these issues. The most prominent two that come to mind are Stephen King and Dave Mustaine (Lead singer and guitarist of MEGADETH). I've read ON WRITING a kajillion times and I just finished reading MUSTAINE and I'm fascinated at the parallels between the two. Both nearly lost their lives due to substance abuse and both had amazing wives that contributed to their redemption.

If such miracles can happen in real life, then surely they have a place in fiction.

Anti Heroes

I've always had a thing for a well written anti-hero. One of my first crushes was on Raistlin Majere, an archmage in the Dragonlance novels who began as a neutral character, but steadily grew more evil until the very end, when he sacrificed himself to save the world. I love Professor Snape, but he had nothing on Raistlin.

The current hero I'm working on is a nice one, albeit a little autocratic at times. He was a relief after my last character, whom I'm not certain was exactly an anti-hero, but he was quite evil at times. Still, amidst all the sweetness of this project, I needed to take a break and read something dark.

I read THE DARK PATH by Luke Romyn and loved it. Vain was an anti-hero to beat all. This wasn't a romance, I warn you, but if you like a good dark supernatural thriller once in awhile like I do, this is a definite must-read.

Reading such a good anti-hero reminded me of others I fell in love with. Other favorites include Zarek from Sherrilyn Kenyon's Dark Hunter series. His book, DANCE WITH THE DEVIL, brought me to tears.

Another favorite would be Rhevenge, from JR Ward's Black Dagger Brotherhood novels. I'd been intrigued with him since he made his appearance in the 2nd book as the owner of a nightclub, drug lord, and pimp. There could be no saving grace there...but there was when he finally got his story in LOVER AVENGED.

So while noble heroes are all well and good, hell, I'm jealous of my heroine because I've fallen in love with my current one, there's just something about a bad boy.
One of my crit partners is still talking about my last one, Razvan Nicolae. When she read my first book, she kept commenting, I HATE HIM! But when she read the second book, she was all I LOVE HIM! ::sigh:: I done good there, apparently. In my next book, he'll be reunited with his long lost twin. My friend's been asking me for hints and all I can say is a snatch of conversation I hear where one of my characters says to Razvan, "I thought you were the evil twin!" Ooooh, he's gonna be so much fun!

The thing about anti-heroes is that they can be hard to write. There's such a fine line between wicked and repulsive. Redeeming them is also a struggle because it must be believable and suitably heart-wrenching.

What anti-heroes have snared your heart? What struggles and triumphs have you encountered with writing them? 

Vampires are People Too

This post was inspired by 3 things:
1.) The ever present newbie-writer fear that "their IDEA will be STOLEN!"
2.) The incessant rants in the comments of nearly every blog post known to man insisting that their way is right.
3.) The argument that vampires are just a passing trend.

Vampires have been a part of myth and legend around the world probably since the beginning of time. But in 1819, when Dr. John Polidori published his short story, THE VAMPYRE, they have become a common fixture in popular fiction. Their mass appeal may wax and wane, but they shall always be around.

What is so wonderful about today is that there's an endless plethora of different vampires, ranging from hella-scary to hella-romantic. Last month, debut author, Rebecca Zanetti did this awesome post on how she made her vampires unique in this crowded market.

In her novel, FATED, (If you haven't bought it yet, DO IT NOW!) her vampires are a separate species that are born, not made. JR Ward is of the same school. But Zanetti's vampires are only male so they have to mate with human females to reproduce. Kinda like David Eddings's all female Dryads.

Already that is way different from the vampires in my novels. Mine begin as humans and are made into vampires of both genders. The transformation makes them sterile, so no babies, although they are perfectly capable of intimacy. :)

Culturally, Zanetti's vampires are very alpha and very militant with secret hideouts, superior technology, and a staff of scientists.

Ward's vampires come in 3 different classes: Civilians, which are much like average humans. The Aristocrats, which are stiff and spoiled and kinda weak, and The Warriors, which are way Alpha, mercenary and the protectors of the entire race.

My vampires are a cross between feudalistic and bureaucratic. Each city is ruled by a Lord Vampire and the Lords are governed by a council of Elders. Between the two, laws and policies are organized by lawyers and circulated by messengers and paper-pushers. Some Lords (male and female) are very alpha and some are kindly and diplomatic. Some are bat-sh*t crazy.

Besides all that, there are multitudes of variations. Like people, vampire characters are endlessly unique. There is no RIGHT way to do them and we all have our favorites. And even if every author followed the same definitions and traits of what a vampire is, you would still have different stories because we authors are all different people.