On Crushes.

Crushes...we all have em. Some are the funny feeling you get in your belly at the sight of someone. Some are the fascination with a character, real or fictional. Some are just drooling in lust at the sight of irresistible looks. My husband was all three...and still is.

But then there's the flip side. Crushes do not always mean you want to sleep with someone. Crushes don't mean you want a relationship with that person. But they can serve as great inspiration, especially for artists and writers.

Like many of us, I pant over Johnny Depp....but even if I was single, I'd never date a mega-star. All those cameras and people? ::Shudder:: But that doesn't stop me for using him as an imaginary cover model for my Romanian vampire twins in my BRIDES OF PROPHECY series. The same goes for my crush on Dave Mustaine from Megadeth. I'm sure one of my rock star novellas will feature a brilliant guitarist with gorgeous strawberry blond locks.

But what really got me thinking about these non-lustful, non-romantic crushes are two guys: Actor Danny Trejo and and acquaintance of mine.

He's usually scowling in all of his movies, but the guy actually has a very nice smile

I don't have a picture of the acquaintance...and even if I did, I'd be nice and not post it. I will say that his hair is the most interesting of silver-ish blond (but he's not old) and his eyes are a really sparkly sky blue.
Neither can be considered "stud-muffins" in any form. (Sorry, I wanted an excuse to say "stud-muffin) But both are very striking in appearance and have fascinating personalities.

Heroines with unconventional looks have become welcome in the romance genre for awhile, and I'm glad to see that the same is beginning to apply to heroes as well.

For my next two regency paranormal novels, I aim to keep with that theme. The first one featured an impossibly hot hero (imaginary cover model is the guy on my main blog banner) but the following will showcase damaged heroes whose looks fall more into "striking" than handsome.

How 'bout you guys? What sorts of crushes have you had?

Different Friends, Different Gifts

When you make friends with someone, at first a lot of the bond goes to the "Me too!" moments. But as the friendship deepens, you get to know their differences. Some are surprising, some are fascinating. Many, you can learn a lot from.

I have such a friendship with fellow authors, Bonnie R. Paulson and Shelley Martin. We are all romance writers, mothers, and wives. But we are of different faiths, listen to different music, and have different interests. Bonnie's passion is dirt biking, Shelley's is Japanimation/ Manga, and mine is heavy metal & horror movies.

We also have different strengths with our writing.

Shelley's is definitely VOICE! One of the most difficult aspects of the craft to master, Shelley lends voice to her characters like a natural.

Bonnie's skill with visceral descriptions and heart-wrenching emotion is just as inspiring as it makes one seethe with envy.

As for me, I *think* my strength lies with creating unique & memorable characters. I don't think I've ever had a "normal" protagonist in my work.

As for weaknesses, I think I'll leave that for our critique sessions, editors, and book reviewers.

Anyway, what inspired this post are two things:

1.) One can learn a lot from the strengths of her friends in real life.

2.) In fiction, the best stories are where the characters learn and grow from each other's unique gifts. Stephen King's IT is a wonderful example. Yeah...like I'm going to miss an opportunity to plug my favorite novel. :)

What about you? What strengths do your friends have? What gifts of yours enhance the lives of others? If you're a writer, how do your characters' differences enhance your story? If you're a reader, what novels have done best with variety in characters?

The Sh*t Just Got Real.

Dio always knows the right thing to say. These are indeed words to live by...even though they're a little blurry.

Okay, so I finally got a book deal. Now that the ecstatic joy has gone down to a sane level, (okay, as sane as I can be) I need to begin focusing on what this means for me. The obvious being, no longer can I be considered by anyone (or myself on a bad day) a hobby writer.

Because, the sh*t is real now.

My editor said we have a lot of work to do: namely edits and working on my career path. As it says on their website: Sourcebooks publishes authors, not books.

Career...I haven't heard that word applied to me since I got my degree in automotive. A degree I can no longer use. However, I've been treating my writing as a career for the last two years. I've made self-imposed deadlines, gone through line edits with friends, built up a humble platform, and discovered the value of social networking (other than winning free books.)

But now it's a REAL career. The deadlines will be real, the edits will be through trained professionals who are not going to take it easy on me. My platform and social networking could impact my sales.

I know the work my editor referred to is going to be a lot more than revising BITE ME, YOUR GRACE. Speaking of, when I said that to my husband, he said, "But, I thought you edited it already." The house practically shook with my hysterical laughter.

Anyway, besides polishing that work, there's going to be a multitude of preparations before I make my debut. Namely, what project will be the next focus? No longer can I willy-nilly hop around sub-genres. Not right now, anyway. At first that sounds restrictive...until I remember the anxiety that came from: "What project should I work on next? I have one idea here, and another there!" Now, I will have guidance and help in shaping my personal brand. And that comes as such a relief.

What am I doing now, so early on my journey?

As you can see, I've deleted the progress bars for my other projects from my site until I figure out what I'm working on next. Also, I've finally figured out how to add pages to this blog. Aren't the tabs cute? Those pages are pretty bare for now, except for the one where I list my upcoming guest posts. Check it out. I got some good ones lined up already. The "books" tab is for now a source of happy daydreams of what's to come. As for the "About Me," I'm going to do my best to seem awesome. :)

Because my career is REAL now. Hey, do you think if I say that to the kids, they'll behave and let me work when they're around?

No? ::sigh:: That's what I thought.

Thanks to all who are here for me and been supportive of my journey so far. I'll pop back in and say "Hi" later. Now I gotta go to my Idaho Writer's League meeting, where Shelley Martin and I are interviewing everyone as their characters. To keep the Halloween spirit, we're also bringing some spooky goodies. I carved a pumpkin to "barf" up smoked salmon spread and made deviled eggs to look like eyeballs. Shelley's got pumpkin bread, lady fingers...and a chocolate fountain. It bears repeating: A CHOCOLATE FOUNTAIN. 

Physical Limitations

I'm going on day 3 of wearing this stupid brace on my hand....besides making typing difficult, it's hindering everything. My job is taking me 3 times longer to do, I'm constantly bumping my elbow on stuff, when I try to do laundry the clothes stick to the velcro...and I can't put on a bra without my husband's help. I don't mind the last part too much, LOL.

As a writer, these things automatically make me think of characters and plot points. I remember one of my characters who had both hands bandaged and splinted. My sympathy goes out to her more even as I remember readers laughing at her failed attempts to open a beer with her teeth. I remember another who temporarily lost her mind and damaged her feet by walking across 3 states. I'm already thinking I should put more emphasis on these details.

Physical limitations can heighten the suspense in a story. In Stephen King's THE LONG WALK, a mere charley horse or a cold can kill you. Think of all the scenes in which a character is hiding from a bad guy and has to sneeze or they are being chased and trip. What if they sprained their ankle? Mere exhaustion can be add tension as well. I read a series where the character has non-stop action but it was expressed how tired she was. I was on the edge of my seat just hoping she'd be able to get some rest.

What limitations have you put on your characters? Where can you add more?   

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?    

Preternatural Limitations

A friend and I were discussing...okay, ranting a paranormal series that neither of us are particularly pleased about. As much as I wanted to call those vampires wimpy, she pointed out that they were practically invincible. This is a bad thing. Despite one's desire to make their characters total badasses, there is little conflict in such a situation. Characters need weaknesses, or there's no way to challenge them, no way for them to grow, and no way for the reader to worry about their survival. Thus, you have no story.

I had no problem with this with my vampires. I like the classic theme of a creature of the night, so the sun will kill them. Still, I had to go a step further and see what else hurts them. Fire, starvation, and anything that does major heart damage for a long period of time. Another limitation, albeit not a fatal one, is that though they can taste food and consume it in little bits, they cannot digest it well. For some that is a major bummer.

As for my luminites, (creatures like a cross between angels and Greek muses) I had bigger problems finding their weaknesses since they are my own creation. My main heroine is super-powerful and I found myself walking a fine line with her being too "perfect." Of course, one of her strengths, the inability to feel fear, can double as a weakness, since she'll get herself into dangerous situations. Also, the cold really puts a damper on her magic, among other things.

What weaknesses do your paranormal characters have? How do they play out in the story?

This Series Totally Grabbed Me.

...I know this is again unrelated to writing or paranormal romance, but it's my blog, so there. :) Besides, at least it's about reading. I haven't gotten anything done for the past few days because I was devouring the awesome MG series: WARRIORS by Erin Hunter (Kate Cary, Cherith Baldry, and Tui Sutherland) 


I'm not usually into children's books, but since my son recommended them AND I love cats, I had to give them a try. The result? HOLY AWESOME, BATMAN!!!


There's nonstop action, well rounded characters, intrigue, forbidden love, and a gender-equal society!!!


So far I've only read the main series and I can't wait to read the others. The only thing I didn't like was the inaccurate depiction of feral cat life, but that was easily forgiven for the brilliant writing, depth, and positive lessons the novels taught. As much as the HARRY POTTER novels were fistfuls of awesome, you gotta admit that Harry didn't always do the right thing. :)


Anyway, when I find a series this good, not only do I want to spread the word, but it motivates me to work harder on my writing.


Have a great day, all!


P.S. I apologize to a certain friend for slacking on my beta reading, but I know if she reads these books, she'll totally understand.

Making Kick-ass Heroines Sympathetic: Guest Post by N.L. (Jinxie) Gervasio

Normally, you would find a kick-ass heroine in urban fantasy novels. She's tough, abrasive, and somehow holds it all together even if her world starts falling apart. However, with those qualities, how do you, the writer, make her sympathetic for the reader? The reader needs to be able to relate to your heroine. She can't be tough all the time, right? Maybe, maybe not. But then, you don't want her to end up all whiny either. I had a character do that once and I'm now rewriting the entire book and a half because that just doesn't work for a thirteen book series. In fact, Carrie Vaughn has an awesome three-part post about this topic: The Formula, When Things Go Wrong, and Deconstructing Urban Fantasy. It helped me out a lot with that particular novel, which won't be ready for some time.

But what about romance novels? Should the heroine be so tough or strong? I think so.

In my latest novel, Nemesis, my main character (MC) Nemy is a kick-ass type of heroine. She was raised as an Italian mafia princess because she's the only daughter of the current Don, with two older and two younger brothers. You could say she gained some of her toughness because of her brothers. But Nemy has a strong personality. She rebelled against her father at a young age, and has driven him nuts ever since by not being the perfect little Catholic girl.

Heroines need to be strong, yes, but we need to know what makes them strong, and that involves delving into their psyche. Sometimes that is done through memories or reactions, or even emotions. Nemy talks about two separate incidents in her novel that affected her life in different ways. One has to do with a bird and her youngest brother; the other has her witnessing a murder or hit at a very young age. Both incidents have helped shape her into the woman she is today.

Heartbreak has also helped mold her.

Nemy is a tattooed bartender, at a gentleman's club, and while she's looking for her Prince Charming, she honestly doesn't believe he exists because she's gone through two of them already. However, she doesn't realize her prince is right under her nose, and she fights her feelings for him for a good part of the book.

It is my hope that Nemy's past and present experiences, along with her friends' struggles, will relate to the reader. I have a seven-book series planned, and each girl mentioned in the book—Nemy's close friends—will have her own novel. Nemy's friends are a diverse group—each one strong in her own way—and every one of them has her own story to tell that I believe the readers can relate to.

It is through these stories, which involve real life experiences we all go through in one way or another, that will help the reader relate to the character. No character can be perfect. They must feel emotion, have flaws, and make mistakes. Otherwise, the reader won't care about them, and that's certainly not something you want to have happen with your novel.

Nemesis:

Prince Charming was a putz.

Prince Charming number two was even worse.

After the last prince ran off without any notice, breaking her heart and their engagement along the way, Nemesis Mussolini swore off men and passed the time kicking ass and slinging drinks, something her mafia father would never approve of. But, when her boss Clancy ups his flirtations, it's difficult to remember she's not interested, especially when he gets that delicious evil glint in his eye that has her melting. Just when Nemy starts to think all men might not be bad, she hears whispers about Clancy's less than legal past, and wants to run like hell from the idea that he could be just like her father.

Great . . . Prince Charming number three may possibly be on FBI's Most Wanted.

While Nemy and Clancy tumble down the romance road, hitting potholes every step of the way, Nemy discovers how much of her heart already belongs to Clancy, and how much of a Don's daughter she really is. When Clancy's daughter is kidnapped, they must work together to use every talent and connection they have to get her back, which means Nemy must learn to trust again. If they fail, Clancy could lose his daughter forever. Can Nemy surrender in time to get her happily ever after, or is she hell-bent on letting her past keep her from the one man who could be her true Prince Charming?

Nemesis is available on June 13^th and can be purchased at Running Ink Press

You can check out the first chapter here.

N.L. "Jinxie" Gervasio was born on Friday the thirteenth. Her dad wanted to call her Jinx. Her mom said no. It took thirty-four years for her to discover the nickname, and she's grown quite attached to it. She lives in Tempe, Arizona with Umi (her mother) and Moon (her Alaskan malamute). She enjoys riding her beach cruiser "The Betty" around downtown Tempe, loves a good pub crawl, and has had the pleasure and the heartache of experiencing a love far greater than she could have ever imagined.

She welcomes you to her world.

Don't Take The Writer Literally: A Rant. (Part 2)

Last post I brought up the issue of readers assuming a character is the writer. Today I shall talk about another thing that gripes my @$$: When readers assume a character is based on a real person... or even more irritating, when they ask you to put them in one of your stories.

First off, there's horrific legal implications to be considered. I don't know about you, but I don't feel like getting sued.

Second off, to truly put a real person in a fictional story is impossible. Hell, to put someone else's fictional person in your fictional story is also impossible. When I was 13 I had the hugest crush on Louis de Pointe du Lac, from Anne Rice's INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE. I wrote a romance with him as the hero...and later with flaming cheeks, burned it.

My representation of Louis eventually evolved into Silas McNaught, a Scottish vampire tormented by psychic visions and guilt for using his preternatural abilities to slaughter hundreds of English soldiers in the sixteenth century. So, besides bearing a passing resemblance to Brad Pitt, they had little in common. The character became his own person.

The same happens with real people. Humans are too complex for one to truly capture another in words. You may think you know your best friend, but I'm certain you have no clue about certain aspects of her personality. My blue collar drinking buddies would be shocked to know that I actually do some "girlish" things like clothes shopping and crying during movies. My few girl friends would be equally shocked if they knew just how crude and "manly" I can be.

That said, I'm certain some characters do evolve from real people in the author's universe, but the finished product will always become its own entity. I believe this is even true for characters based on historical figures. The real Queen Elizabeth I would likely not recognize herself in either Philippa Gregory's or Virginia Henley's representations, despite years of careful research.

So when you're reading a friend's novel and wonder if the shoe-shopping addict side character is you, don't freak out. You are too unique for anyone to capture the real you.