Denise Swanson | School Psychologist, Writer, and People Watcher

One of the first questions I’m often asked when I speak about my writing is why I chose to write mysteries instead of romances (I assume this is because I have such an innocent, baby face). My answer is simple: after twenty-two years in public education there are a lot of people I want to kill, there are very few I want to have sex with.

Seriously, although I enjoy writing mysteries because I like knowing that the bad guy is going to get caught and pay for his crime at the end, I would like to write in other genres such as romance and fantasy.

On the other hand, I love the sense of justice a well-written mystery brings to its readers. One thing I’ve learned from being a school psychologist for so long is that justice rarely happens in real life, so it gives me a sense of fulfillment to have it happen in my fiction.

Having worked in almost every type of school setting, from the poorest areas surrounding Washington DC to upscale suburban Chicago, and from rural to urban, I’ve heard so many stories and seen so many bizarre situations I’ll never run out of plots.

My Scumble River Mystery series is set in a fictional small town in Illinois, and features a school psychologist-sleuth named Skye Denison. It's got a lot of humor, a bit of romance, and I’ve based many of the stories on my personal experiences—although I've never found a dead body—at least not yet.

When I decided to write a series, one of my goals was to highlight the profession of school psychologist. Most people have no idea what a school psychologist does, or even that they exist. I still get reviews where they call Skye a school counselor or a psychiatrist, both of which are very different jobs.

One of the reasons I enjoyed being a school psychologist is my abiding interest in people. I love studying them and figuring out what makes them tick. This is also, why I enjoy writing. My books are character-driven, and one of the things I like most is examining the relationships. Throughout the series my sleuth is torn between two men, and my readers seem very interested in this relationship. When I do book signings there have even been some skirmishes between readers who have different opinions on which guy Skye should end up with.

Another aspect of writing that is similar to school psychology is that the characters surprise me every time I write about them. In Murder of a Sleeping Beauty, which deals with body image among teenagers, I was surprised by my research when I found a large number of parents living their lives through their kids, as well as by the rising number of teenage girls who think they are only a pretty face and thin body. (Girls should be judged for something besides their looks. For that reason I made Skye a plus-size woman who is comfortable in her own skin. I’m hoping that the teens that read my books will come to understand that people come in all sizes, and weight is just another attribute, like hair or eye color. Skye shows that whether a woman looks like a Barbie doll or a Rubens painting, she can do anything and experience life to the fullest.)

In Murder of a Barbie and Ken, Skye’s then boyfriend, Simon’s mother appeared out of nowhere. I had thought she was dead up until that point. In Murder of a Smart Cookie, nearly all my characters surprised me, especially Simon.

In my newest book, Murder of a Chocolate-Covered Cherry, Skye’s current boyfriend, Wally’s father comes to town and reveals their family secrets.

--Denise Swanson writes the Scumble River mystery series published by Penguin/NAL/Obsidian. Her books have been nominated for the Agatha, Mary Higgins Clark, Daphne du Maurier, and RT Reviewers Choice awards. She is married to classical music composer, David Stybr. To hear some of David’s music go to Denise’s website http://www.deniseswanson.com/

Elizabeth Hoyt | Muses on Detours in Life and in Writing

I’m writing my sixth historical book now—the third in The Legend of the Four Soldiers series—and already I’ve gone off my writing map. Writers generally fall into two groups: ones who plot out their story before they begin writing and those who wing it. I’m in the former camp, but here’s the thing: no matter how meticulously I plot before I write, no matter how much I try to foresee all eventualities, I always end up making detours from my plot.

Detours, in writing as in life, are sometimes frustrating (How do I get back on the main road?) sometimes confusing (Can I get back to the main road?) but usually interesting, and sometimes revolutionary.

For example.

About ten years ago my life took a major detour. I was a stay-at-home mom living in the city where I’d grown up, spending what free time I had volunteering in a non-profit organization. Then my husband got a new job. In a different state.

I wasn’t pleased, but my husband was the main breadwinner at that time in our family, so I pulled up my roots, left the non-profit I’d been so active in, and moved away from both family and friends.

And you know what? If I hadn’t made that life detour I probably wouldn’t have started writing. I would’ve stayed in the non-profit organization, stayed near family and friends who kept me busy, and never had the push to start writing a book.

All because of a detour my life took.

The detours that happen in my books are frustrating for me as the writer, but they can be revolutionary for the book. In To Taste Temptation, the first book in The Legend of the Four Soldiers series, I suddenly started writing a scene in which my hero, Samuel Hartley, is running. In London, of all places. Why? I thought. Nobody runs in Georgian England for pleasure. Where is this scene going? Why am I writing this?

Well, as you’ll find out when you read To Taste Temptation, running becomes a central facet to Sam’s character. He runs to forget, he runs for the sheer pleasure of feeling his muscles move, and in a pivotal scene near the end of the book, he runs because his world will end if he doesn’t.
All because of a detour my writing took one day.

Cheers!
Elizabeth Hoyt
www.elizabethhoyt.com

Kathleen Long | The Gifts of Writing

I want to thank everyone here at Fresh Fiction for inviting me to blog today. I was sitting at my computer this morning trying to settle on an interesting topic for today’s blog. My new series? My future plans? My typical writing day?

Instead, I found myself thinking about the gift of writing—or should I say gifts, plural. Writing has brought so many layers of good to my life—new friends, new challenges, new skills—that describing those gifts would take all day.

Then, the best “gift” of my life announced she was awake for the day. That was the moment I realized a toddler’s chattering was the perfect place to begin—and focus—this blog.

Did writing bring about my two-year-old? No, but my writing career taught me to work hard and chase my dreams. In life, just as in writing, there aren’t any shortcuts. Our daughter came into our lives after a ten-year pursuit of parenthood, and I wouldn’t trade a single moment of the journey. After all, each step brought me to this wonderful moment filled with alphabet songs and questions and belly laughs.

My writing journey has been no different. Writing—like life—is about doing the legwork.

Writing is about believing your dream is worth chasing. It’s about dusting yourself off and trying again each time you face an obstacle in the road. Writing is about reading—how-to books, favorite authors, market news. Writing is about learning—pacing, plotting, story techniques. Writing is about writing—first drafts, second drafts, third drafts, and more. It’s about starting over time after time simply because you refuse to quit and because the need to write is part of who you are.

Writing is about setting the alarm to wake up two hours before your family to steal time in front of your computer. It’s about staying up far too late—or early—because the storyline in your head won’t take no for an answer. It’s about rolling over at 3am and thinking, wait a minute…what if my heroine said this instead? then racing downstairs to make notes or fire up the laptop.

Writing, for me, is its own reward.

Writing is about setting free the words and characters and places in my mind that come to me so clearly and purely I couldn’t ignore them even if I wanted to.

Writing is about creating worlds into which readers might escape for an hour or two or three.

The Body Hunters is my first trilogy—my first series—and I loved the process of creating the cast of characters and their stories. Developing the series provided me with the opportunity to form a longer-lasting, deeper connection to the characters in my mind. I hope the series will provide the same opportunity for connection—and escape—for readers.

Escape. That one powerful word sums up why I write.

At a particularly difficult point in my life, a book pulled me out of the fog of grief that had overtaken my every thought and movement. A book carried me away, helped me turn the corner toward becoming whole again. Since then, books have been my escape time and time again—be they books I’m writing or books I’m reading.

That particular book gave me the kick in the pants I needed not just to live again, but to write again. That book made me want to provide that same escape for others.

I sat back that day and decided to value my dream enough to chase it.

To every author out there—both published and as-yet unpublished—thank you for believing in yourself enough to chase your dream. Without you, I might still be stuck in my fog. Instead, I’m headed upstairs to help a two-year-old start her day. I can’t imagine a greater gift than that.

Please visit me at www.kathleenlong.com for the latest news and release info, and at www.thebodyhunters.com/ for the latest on The Body Hunters trilogy and just what inspired your favorite character or scene. Join me all this week over at the www.eharlequin.com/ Forums where an entire thread has been dedicated to discussing The Body Hunters. Most importantly, thank you for stopping by today, and thanks again to Fresh Fiction for inviting me to blog!

Shirley Jump | I Do…Again

When I wrote SWEETHEART LOST AND FOUND, the first in a six-book Wedding Planners series--a series about friends who are wedding planners, that I wrote with real-life author friends--I had no idea what great fun I’d have, or how many memories the series would open up.

For one, writing with friends is a blast. The other authors are all terrific women, and amazingly talented writers. Brainstorming was more like brain exploding--we all fed off each other and created some of our best work yet, IMHO. The ideas flew faster than our fingers could hit the keyboards. Then the best part was reading all the finished stories and seeing how our vision became real love stories.

But more than that, writing a series about wedding planners made me revisit my own wedding 18 years ago (next month, actually). All those memories of flowers and bridesmaids (oh, those ugly green dresses…sorry gals!), veils and gowns, came rushing back, filling me with a sense of romance and nostalgia. I forgot the stress of planning the wedding, the last few days of ‘oh my goodness, what am I thinking’ and the first few years of ‘oh my goodness, what was I thinking,’ LOL.

I remembered only the fun parts. The falling in love. The wonder of the proposal. And the magic of those two words. “I do.” They took me and my husband from a dream to a reality that now has two kids, three dogs and a cat, in a wonderful area of the country. I’d Do…all over again, given the chance. And I don’t think I’d change a single thing. Okay, maybe the bridesmaid’s dresses ;-)

Tell me--what is your favorite memory of a wedding, either your own or another? Or a wedding disaster? In the Dear Reader letter of SWEETHEART LOST AND FOUND are my two wedding disaster stories, both my own and my stepmom’s. A fire and a stumble ;-). Would you “I do”…again?

Shirley

www.shirleyjump.com/

Richelle Mead | Writing Pressures

The release of a new book is always a scary thing. The debut novel? Especially terrifying. A new series? Yikes. Nail-biting. Yet, none of these compare to the pressure of when the second book in a series is about to come out...

When Vampire Academy was released last fall, I didn't know what to expect. Adult urban fantasy was where I felt most comfortable; I'd kind of stumbled into YA. Fortunately, Vampire Academy had solid sales early on, which was a huge relief. (When you write full time, you always have the weight of the rent and the grocery bill on you!) But then something else started happening. I started getting fan mail--lots of it. I'd gotten a fair amount of it with Succubus Blues, but nothing like this. And reading through these emails, I discovered something. People weren't just buying my book; they loved my book.

That's every author's dream. It was my dream--and is still my dream today. I've often said that I don't need J. K. Rowling fame, so long as I have a large enough group of devoted fans to let me keep writing. I stand by that--only, I didn't realize how daunting that would end up being. Frostbite, the sequel to Vampire Academy, was written while I was in the process of getting divorced. Those writing conditions were, uh, not optimal in the least. I had just about finished its revisions when Vampire Academy really took off, and suddenly, I started freaking out. These fans were telling me how much they loved the first book and how they couldn't wait to read Frostbite. I panicked. Was I going to let them down? Was this manuscript good enough for them? I felt like I should have been locked away in a pristine mountain retreat to write the book, not plotting chapters in the throes of depression and monetary settlements. I was certain I should have done something more in writing the book--only, considering the circumstances, I didn't think there was anything more I could have done.


And it was too late anyway. The book had to go to press. I had a great editorial team at my back, and I had to believe that all of us had done our jobs. Still, the worry stayed. Mail from people who were excited about the book was still coming in, and soon, it was joined by people who were also excited about the third book! I have a new series coming out in the fall, beginning with Storm Born, and friends were asking me if I was nervous about it. My response: "Hell no! That one has no expectations yet. All the pressure's on Frostbite." I so, so wanted it be good enough for my readers.

Then, last week, I got an unexpected email. It was from someone who had apparently gotten a hold of an early copy of Frostbite, and--they loved it. A huge pressure suddenly lifted from me. A day or so later, I heard from someone else with an early copy of Frostbite--and they loved it too. Slowly, it began to occur to me that maybe I had done it after all, that I really had written a book my readers loved as much as the first. It’s an amazing feeling.

Knowing this has suddenly taken the stress off from book 3, Shadow Kiss. I finished it a week ago and had a bit of that same fear while writing it: should I be doing more? Should I be in the mountain retreat to make sure this is perfect? But, the truth is, books aren't written in mountain retreats. Well, not most of them. They're written in chaos, while we're happy and while we're hurting, and that all goes into the pages. That’s how authors write, and that’s what makes good writing.

Thank you so much for letting me blog today! More info about me and my books can be found at: www.richellemead.com/





Richelle Mead

Cait London | The Aislings/Psychic Triplets

Since my lucky number is three for many reasons (including I have 3 daughters), a trilogy with three sisters was a natural choice. I understood the relationships, the family order, and the mother’s reaction. (Yes, their mother, a powerful psychic is included in all three books.)

A STRANGER’S TOUCH is the 2nd of the Aisling Psychic Triplets and features Tempest Storm, the middle-born. AT THE EDGE was the first and sets the trilogy in motion with Claire, the empath and gentle. FOR HER EYES ONLY 10/08 ends the trilogy with Leona, the precognitive and the most fierce. The trilogy is based on the contemporary descendents of an ancient Celtic seer and a Viking chieftain. The triplets have inherited the seer, Aisling’s gifts—and they don’t want them. They want to be like normal women.

That’s understandable, isn’t it? The very gifted, haunted by senses that are not reality, images and thoughts that aren’t their own suddenly flashing in their minds could be a little disturbing. Because these adult sisters are birth and psychically connected, they cannot live close to each other. This is especially true when a sexy hunk comes into the picture, such as when Marcus Greystone re-enters Tempest’s life. He’s the dark and brooding, steel-hard corporate man who really didn’t appreciate her leaving the morning-after without a good-bye. Of course, Tempest wasn’t looking for a relationship that night; she was only set to celebrate her successful showing, to top off the night in bed with a gorgeous man. She wore gloves to protect her psychic hands—she’s a psychometrist, who can tell the history of an object by holding it, or the person’s emotions/personality who held it.

In A STRANGER’S TOUCH Marcus hasn’t forgotten those gloves on his body, and he wants her naked hands on him. He also wants something else…

I understood Tempest, the restless, the creative, the sculptress on the run from her past, something so dark she didn’t want to share it with her sisters. Since I am an artist, and you can find my paintings at my website Studio, I understood how Tempest would visualize artistically.

She’s also a very athletic, physical woman who takes what she wants. She reveals her emotions more readily than her sisters. Tempest is a busy girl. She’s on the run from a dark and haunting past; she’s also hunting an ancient brooch which could save her family. (Claire has just been attacked and the clairvoyants are certain dark forces are at work.) Because the origins of the Aislings date back to that Celtic seer, I was influenced by my own interests and personal items. The earrings and the Runes are mine.

Marcus sets a trap and Tempest is caught. If she takes up his offer to seek clues to a cold-case murder, she’ll be basically living with him for the duration. But guess who has the ancient relic she seeks? Marcus.

Tempest must play ball with Marcus to get what she seeks. As writers, we tend to label stories. Tempest’s story would be “A Captured Bride.” But her ancestor seer was also a captured bride. However, Tempest’s traits are different from her sisters; she may lean more toward her Viking ancestor: ready to take challenges and restless. And Marcus looks like a real challenge. I love Vikings and researched brooches/swords, etc. heavily. This trilogy is heavily researched.

The name of Port Salem, the fictional town on Lake Michigan, should be enough to scare any psychic. (If I write about it, I’ve been there.) While Claire’s setting was rural Montana, without major bodies of water, Tempest is where she and her sisters should NOT be, near the universal portal of psychics, a major lake.

Danger is never far away and Marcus stays close. Tempest isn’t used to having a “Protector”, but that’s exactly what she has in Marcus. He’s determined to keep her safe. I was delighted with Marcus. He gradually transforms from a stone-cold man with a grudge (he’s had a hard childhood) to a man entranced with Tempest.

A murderer who doesn’t want Tempest’s psychic hands uncovering his identity is determined to kill her. Her touch reveals startling secrets about Marcus’s own dark past, but will he hate her, if she tells him?

Then someone from Tempest’s dark past is circling her, and danger prowls around her entire family. This girl moves fast, but does she move fast enough?

Tempest’s personality is different from her sisters, and her story is unique to her. And to me. I hope you’re enjoying this trilogy, and you can find more about the Aislings at my website and blog. I’m guest blogging heavily with A STRANGER’S TOUCH, and my schedule is posted at my website.

*Watch for FOR HER EYES ONLY, Leona’s story, set in Lexington, KY.

Cait

Gena Showalter | What If?

Do you ever wonder what your life would have been like if one thing in your past were different? Just a single thing? Like the movie Sliding Doors, what would your life be like if you’d missed the train home one day? Invariably that thought process always leads me to think about what my life would have been like if I hadn’t pilfered that first romance novel from my grandmother’s house. Silver Angel by Johanna Lindsey. That book changed my life. I remember staring down at it, intrigued by the cover – the heroine had long blonde hair, something this dark haired girl had always desired – thinking, Should or should I? I was about fourteen and if I got caught with it, I would have been in big trouble. But in the end, I did it. Snatched it up, and devoured it in a night.

Before reading it, I was a girl who hated to read. A girl who was behind in every subject at school. A girl who had to be held back a year just to catch up. After reading it, I improved in every subject (my mother would insist I add: but math). I read every spare moment. Relationships (in every form) suddenly fascinated me. First awakenings, the journey to happily ever after, the complexity that is known as Man, I couldn’t get enough. I was hooked. (I’m still hooked!)

And that love of reading eventually blossomed into a love of writing, of weaving my own tales. So here I am, awaiting the release of my Lords of the Underworld trilogy – featuring immortals warriors who opened Pandora’s box and are now cursed to carry a demon inside themselves – and enjoying my career more than I could have ever imagined. All because I picked up that first book. I always shudder to think about what might have happened if I’d decided I shouldn’t.

To learn more about New York Times bestselling author Gena Showalter and her sizzling new trilogy about immortal warriors possessed by demons (and the women who love them), visit http://www.genashowalter.blogspot.com/.

Anne McAllister | No Such Thing As A Loose End

Thanks so much, Fresh Fiction, for inviting me to come and blog with you today. I love reading all the various blogs and getting to know writers (and thus adding to my TBR pile) in the process.

I've been writing romance fiction since the mid 80s and am currently working on my 61st book. For quite a few years I would amuse myself on long car trips by seeing if I could name the books and the heroes and heroines in order. Then I started seeing if I could name them in any order. Now I just write the books and think fond thoughts about all those lovely men in my past.

Sometimes, though, there's one who doesn't get his happy ending in one of my books and he turns up, rather like a bad penny, demanding one of his own.

That was what happened with Flynn. Six years ago Silhouette published a single title of mine called The Great Montana Cowboy Auction. It was part of a series of books I'd been doing for them since the mid-90s called Code of the West. TGMCA ran to 97,000 words, which should have been long enough to give everyone in Montana a happy ending.

But sadly, the heroine's daughter, Sara, who had a brief life-shattering fling with a footloose Irish journalist called Flynn Murray, got pregnant in the book. But she didn't get her happy ending. She came back in a later book and we knew she was doing fine as a single mom, but there was no Flynn in her life. Nor was there anyone else.

I went back to writing Harlequin Presents and wasn't writing Code of the West books anymore (it's what happens when you write as slowly as I do -- they make you pick a place to be since you'll be spreading yourself to thin if you're both places. That's the theory anyway). So I wasn't doing those books anymore.

Try telling that to Sara and Flynn.

They wouldn't let up. They kept coming around asking when was it going to be their turn. I said, figure out how you can be a Presents, and you can have a turn.

They're nothing if not resourceful. They did. Flynn managed to stop being quite so footloose, got himself saddled with a 500 year old castle that is crumbling around his ears, and an earldom which he really doesn't want any part of, but is obligated to shoulder because, well, he is the earl. Sara, of course, knows nothing of this. She hasn't heard from him in six years.

And then one day, Flynn got a letter out of the blue. . .

That was basically the way they told the story to me. I told it to my editor. Said, "Sound like a Presents to you?" She said, "Give a shot." Of course I had to. I owed it to them. They were quite right -- they deserved more than to be a 'loose end' in someone else's book.

I'm delighted to have written it because it took me back to my roots. And I got to revisit places and characters I didn't realize how much I'd missed.

That's one of the really lovely things about writing so many books -- especially linked books -- there is a whole other universe out there with these people in it that I can dip into now and again, stop back in and check on. It's like getting Christmas cards from them -- only better. Every once in a while they invite me back into their lives and let me share them with you.

And if you haven't read The Great Montana Cowboy Auction and are thus worried that you won't have a clue about the people in One-Night Love Child, let me assure you that I can barely remember what I wrote yesterday, so every book absolutely has to stand on its own!

How do you feel about linked books? What are some of your favorites? I never mind adding more books to my TBR pile, so suggestions for great reads, especially linked reads, are very welcome!

One-Night Love Child is a March 2008 Harlequin Presents and an April 2008 Mills & Boon Modern. If you want to read an excerpt, please click on the link.

Anne McAllister

http://www.annemcallister.com/

Delilah Devlin | Today's the day!

All right it's in big letters on MY calendar, but likely you're scratching your head wondering if you've missed a national holiday or if I'm excited about watching the next round of American Idol.

Well, it's not a national holiday, but I'm embarrassed to say I am TIVOing Idol so I don't miss a thing. But that's still not why I'm so excited. SEDUCED BY DARKNESS will be shipping to readers and bookstores today!

So, now that my book will be arriving at bookstores and in the mail to my more modest readers, I can start the next round of "Will they like it?" Writers are notoriously insecure. We live and die by reviews and readers letters, because the actual measure of our success - SALES - won't be available for months and sometimes years.

For those of you who don't know me, it might be because my books are shelved with the "naughty" romances--sometimes with the romance books, but in a restrictive shelf high out of reach and sight of little ones; sometimes in the erotica section with the tantric sex and Kama Sutra books; and sometimes, strangely, in the zoology section. Which makes it tough for readers who would like to browse on their own rather than approach the help desk with red cheeks to ask where it's shelved.

I'm hoping they are already hooked on the series and dying for the second book. Yes, it's another vampire book--BUT, it's not the same-O, same-O--it's hotter, scarier, and full of twists and turns. Yes, it's set in New Orleans--BUT in the aftermath of a “great storm,” which will remain unnamed.

My Dark Realm series began in my mind long before Hurricane Katrina hit. I'd read a newspaper article about some minor flooding around New Orleans that lifted coffins in graveyards and left them and their occupants strewn along river banks. A very creepy concept, but so tantalizing to my devious mind, I filed it away.

When I decided to write the series, I pulled out that article, and a stack of books covering subjects like demonology, Sumerian mythology, and Templar Knight lore and constructed a history for my otherworld that is still unfolding in book #2, Seduced by Darkness. I'm really not very methodical about how I plot or write, but I let my research spark ideas, then pluck what I want from the source material, and twist it up a bit. I started submitting the book to agents, but oddly didn't get any bites until Katrina. I guess it really is all in the timing.

The second Dark Realm book is tightly interconnected with the first, INTO THE DARKNESS. I've written several series and don't know any other way to write in my other worlds without having the characters interact and work together toward a common goal. Writing series gives me chance to flesh out those intriguing secondary characters, uncover new layers in events that unfold, and give another perspective on “the battle.” That's not saying, you couldn't read one of the books on its own and be fully satisfied. I'm very careful to plant previous plot threads throughout. Of course, again, not in a methodical way. It just happens.

Delilah Devlin




http://www.delilahdevlin.com/

Hope Tarr | Keeping it in the family-or at least together: Writing the romance series

To paraphrase the late great John Lennon, life is what happens while you’re making other plans.

To directly quote my mother—and mothers everywhere—"Don’t do as I do. Do as I say."

Both sage snippets segue albeit circuitously into my blog topic—how to write connected romance novels, or rather how not to write them, or at least how to recover from (cough, hiccup) going about it all wrong.

My Men of Roxbury House trilogy—VANQUISHED, ENSLAVED, and now UNTAMED—is my first shot at writing connected books. Like anyone’s first anything, in the aftermath, there are lessons learned, battle scars to be shown off—and FYI, I’m not just in it for beads. ;)

Seriously, I don’t write like grownups do. Never have and likely never will. For starters, I don’t write sequentially, linearly, or well, in any reasonable, replicable fashion. You’ll never catch me at a writers’ conference touting my “process,” flashing charts and graphs, or God forbid, instructing others on how to write like me. If anything, I’m the textbook case for what not to do. I do it all wrong—and yet for me, it works.

I write scenes out of order, the characters voicing firing off like canon shot in my head. I’m not a plotter (duh) but I’m not a "pantser," either. I start out with a synopsis, though fat lot of good it does me. I’m what you call a "puzzler," which I’m coming to think amounts to starting down that path paved with good intentions that leads to You Know Where.

In the case of my trilogy books, I thumbed my nose at any notion of creating character sketches, a timeline, a “bible” of people, places, dates, you name it. My muse must have free rein and besides that, all that set-up "stuff" felt like…well, like a lot of work.

Creative freedom tasted sweet for VANQUISHED and ENSLAVED. Then I got to UNTAMED. My challenge (AKA “big problem”) was that Kate and Rourke, my UNTAMED heroine and hero, had already met in ENSLAVED. To keep the sexual tension at a slow sizzle building to burning point, I had to backtrack and start out UNTAMED *prior to* where ENSLAVED left off, all the while keeping clear in my head on where the other secondary characters were at each stage e.g., were Callie and Hadrian (VANQUISHED) married yet and just where were Daisy and Gavin (ENSLAVED) with opening that refurbished theater in the East End?

Memo to whomever manufactures those Post-It notes, please let me know where I can buy stock. Ditto for Starbucks. As to the guy who delivers my carry-out sushi/sashimi, the one whose twins are now contemplating medical school, no need to thank me. I’m always happy to support higher education.

There’s no anchor in a free fall. That said, once you take that leap of faith, there are some pretty amazing surprises that crop up amidst the brambles and screes scraping your knees. In my case, my circuitous “process” has led me to think about adding a fourth book to my so-called trilogy. It seems Rourke’s sexy friend, Ralph, former con artist turned valet is angling for a book of his own. For sure, Kate’s pretty but prickly younger sister, Bea, will be pretty disappointed if he doesn’t get it. I think I will be, too.

What are your experiences of detouring off the so-called beaten path in fiction or in real life? Ever thumb your nose at conventional wisdom—and found yourself thanking the Universe that you did?

Hope’s Unconventional Wisdom:

1. To paraphrase Louis Carroll, begin at the beginning.
   
   
2. If you ignore #1, and of course you will, then at least keep a damned log book, so you can figure out where you went…shall we say, awry.



3. Drink coffee. I recommend a latte with an extra espresso shot—all that shaking keeps you on your toes, or at least awake.



4. To combat being wired from all that caffeine, drink red wine, good red wine, or substitute your mood altering beverage of choice.



5. Keep all carry-out menus within easy reach. Unlike your "work" files, and the character log that in all likelihood doesn’t actually exist, the menus should be kept in meticulous order, preferably alphabetized.



6. Drink another glass of red wine—repeat as needed.

Hope Tarr routinely thumbs her nose at Conventional Wisdom and, hair pulling and teeth gnashing aside, generally finds herself glad she did. To enter her more than monthly contest, and have a shot at winning the latest releases from romance buds Julia Quinn, Eloisa James, and Kathryn Caskie, visit Hope online at www.hopetarr.com/.

Hope Tarr

Leslie Langtry | Greatest Hits Series

Hello! Thanks to Fresh Fiction for inviting me to blog today! As some of you may know, I write the Greatest Hits Series, featuring the Bombay Family – the first name in assassination since 2000 BCE. My first book, ‘SCUSE ME WHILE I KILL THIS GUY, featured Gin Bombay – soccer mom/assassin. My second book, GUNS WILL KEEP US TOGETHER is about her brother, Dakota Bombay – playboy/assassin. I love writing about this family of hitmen. The Bombays have kids to raise, bills to pay, PTA presidents to avoid, and so on. And they kill people. Well, bad people, really.

A lot of people ask me where the inspiration comes from to write about this subject. I have to say that movies like MR. & MRS. SMITH and GROSSE POINTE BLANK as well as books like Hugh Laurie’s (yes, the guy from HOUSE) THE GUNSELLER rank pretty high on the list. I think it’s because the characters are ordinary people with extraordinary jobs. And it’s easy to write about family life because everybody can relate to quirky cousins and a mother who ignores the fact that you are no longer twelve and still buys you barrettes with your name on them (are you reading this, Mom?). My own cousin came up with the tagline for the first book, “You can’t pick your family, but you can pick them off.” Unfortunately, you actually can’t pick them off if you want to avoid jail time, but I still think truer words were never spoken.

I hope you enjoy the Bombay Series as much as I enjoy writing them! Let me know what you think at leslie@leslielangtry.com, or visit http://www.killerfiction.net/!

Leslie Langtry

Stephanie Bond | Why Romance and Mystery Make Great Bedfellows

I just finished writing the third book in my Body Movers sexy mystery series (Three Men and a Body, due out August 2008) in which the main character, Carlotta Wren, works for Neiman Marcus by day and helps her brother move bodies from crime scenes by night. Carlotta’s life is further complicated by the three men in her life: her first love, a cop who has reopened the case of her fugitive father, and her brother’s body-moving boss. For me, romance and mystery are a natural fit, because one helps to foster the other in the story. The suspense of a mystery is further heightened when the players are emotionally involved. Likewise, the romance between characters is heightened by the adrenaline pumping from the suspense scenes. Nothing gets the heart racing like danger!

In writerspeak, mystery and romance make for a great intermingling of external and internal conflict. The mystery is the external conflict of the story, but if, for example, two characters are on opposite sides of solving the mystery, it makes their internal (personal) conflict more real, and more complicated. This is why I love combining the elements of mystery and romance—they are better together than on their own. (An example of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts.) And it’s why I think we’ll see more and more “hybrid” books on the market in the future that contain two or more elements of separate genres—because readers appreciate the blending of both worlds. When I sold the Body Movers series to Mira, I suggested that instead of making the reader guess what kind of story it is, that we simply tell the reader what to expect, which is why each cover plainly says, “A Sexy Mystery.” In other words, it lets the readers know that there will be dead bodies, and there will be naked bodies.

(Am I the only person perplexed by the phrase “A novel” on the front of books? What the heck does that mean anyway? If it’s fiction, of course it’s a novel!)

The only downside of blended genre books? Booksellers aren’t quite sure where to shelve them! In mystery? In romance? Both places? In some chains my Body Movers series is shelved in romance because that’s my background and where readers will most likely recognize my name; in other chains the series is shelved in the mystery section, and in others, general fiction, which doesn’t exactly help the reader find what they’re looking for. But I’m confident that bookstores will someday have blended genre sections and that more publishers will begin to tell the reader what to expect, either by spine designation or on the cover itself. Until then, if you don’t find what you’re looking for in one section of the bookstore, don’t be afraid to ask a bookseller for help. And expect more genres to be jumping into bed with each other!

Stephanie Bond

Emilie Richards | Finding Nemo

Nemo came into our lives the way the best ideas for novels often do. One morning my husband and I had no dog. We had memories of two who had aged and died, dogs we had loved for years and mourned with a startling intensity. We also had vows that we would not get another pet while our lives were so busy. Then we got the phone call.

"Mom," our oldest son, the lawyer and country gentleman began, "we found a puppy dying in the grass off our road. Jim–" their neighbor, "nearly ran him over with a bush hog. If I hadn't stopped to talk to him, and he hadn't turned off the tractor. . ."

We didn't need a dog. "What kind of puppy?" I asked, because like any mom I wanted to keep the conversation going. "Who knows. Spotted, starving and sick. I'm not sure he'll make it."

He did make it, of course–or why would I tell this story? My son and daughter-in-law carefully nursed the foundling back to health. Then puppy came to visit one afternoon and simply never left. I couldn't bring myself to name him for days, not until my husband returned home from a conference and saw the baby blue tick beagle with his own eyes. "Nemo," we decided together, because our dog had been lost, then found.

Tonight Nemo is sleeping in his bed beside me. Months later, he is thirty-five pounds of healthy energetic adolescent. He's adored and adorable, the quintessential happy ending. But it occurs to me that Nemo came into my life the same way my idea for a new mystery series did. I had other plans. I knew what was best for my career. I knew from experience that one impulsive detour would take me so far from my planned route that I might never find my way back. And somehow, none of that mattered.

That's how my series arrived. I was happily writing women's fiction, one book a year, then wham, out of nowhere, an idea about a minister's wife who finds murderers appeared at my doorstep. I told myself I was too busy. I told myself this was too far removed from what I was known for. Apparently telling myself anything is a waste of time.

The Ministry is Murder series for Berkley Prime Crime debuted in 2005, and in November of 2007 the third book, Beware False Profits made its debut. I've given up worrying about how sensible an idea is or how much attention I should pay to it. If it wags it's little tail and licks my hand, I'm hooked for life. I've learned that the best books, and the best dogs, are found in the least likely places. They are the gifts we aren't expecting, the joys we only have to reach out and embrace. Nothing else is required.

Please visit my website at http://www.emilierichards.com/ for more information on both my Ministry is Murder and my Shenandoah Album series. And watch for my updates and the new blog coming sometime later this month. Nemo will appear, I can guarantee it.

Emilie Richards

Trish Wylie | Do you get your ideas from real life?

Authors are constantly asked where they get their ideas from. It’s probably the most commonly asked question. And here in the UK and Ireland Mills & Boon (Harlequin’s UK division) is celebrating it’s Centenary, so we’re seeing a lot more press coverage - hence I’ve been asked this question about a half dozen times in the last week alone.

One of the next things they asked was ‘Do you get your ideas from real life?’ to which I consistently answered with a burst of laughter and ‘I WISH!’

But that’s probably not the real answer. Because the initial spark of inspiration *does* come from real life and the things we see and hear around us every day; a song, a movie we hated the end of, the sight of two people talking in a street café, a photograph that captures a moment we want to know more about. And then a chain reaction begins. The who, what, when, where and why starts to find answers inside our heads – the part of our brain in charge of creativity rubbing its hands with glee and setting to work with gusto! (We hope…)

For many it’s the best part of the job – that magical period when ideas come together and characters are born. It’s the putting it into words that makes it *work*. Add deadlines and sometimes it can even become a chore. But then there are so many jobs out there that lack that initial period of magic, aren’t there? I think that’s what makes it such a great way to make a living and what carries us through the harder stuff…

Well that and the readers of course! Because readers are just as capable of seeing that magic on the page, forming different images in their minds, adding personal experiences and how they felt at a certain point of their life to what they’re reading to create a completely original perception pf each book. And I kinda LOVE that. It’s why my February book for the Harlequin Romance line – Her One And Only Valentine – is dedicated to my Readers; the dream makers.

That’s what they are to me. By reading romance and sustaining the genre the way they do they allow me to do what I love to do. And by allowing themselves to get lost in a place where magic still exists they help celebrate love and hope in a world where it be so very over-shadowed by terrible things. So what is it you enjoy about romance novels? Is it that little touch of hope it leaves you with, the escapism, the way some plots make you think? Or was there a book that particularly touched you or helped you through a difficult period in your life?

To find out more about my books, where I got my ideas from and the Emerald Isle I call home you can visit me at My Website (http://www.trishwylie.com/) or my Blog (www.trishwylie.blogspot.com/)

Go n-eírí an bóthar leat.

Trish

Bronwyn Jameson | Working with Friends

They say you should be wary of working with children and animals, but what about friends?

This was a question I probably should have addressed when the Desire senior editor suggested a down-under continuity series back in 2006. I had worked on three continuity series before then, but each was an editor-led series. The overview of the series, the characters, the broad storylines were developed by the editors who invited the authors to participate.

This series, however, was to be author-led. In other words, the development of the series from initial concept to completion would be in the hands of the six authors. The idea of collaborating on a project like this excited me. So much so, I jumped right aboard that train while yelling encouragement to the others to join me.

"Come on," I cajoled to those dragging their feet. "It'll be fun! We'll brainstorm and bounce off each others' energy and we won't have to work in isolation as we usually do. Plus developing a whole series arc will be brilliant!"

Six strong-minded women who are used to operating in creative independence working together as a team... How would that work? Would we still remain friends after all that brainstorming, plotting, writing and promoting?

Two years later and Diamonds Down Under has launched with VOWS & A VENGEFUL GROOM (January, Silhouette Desire.) Getting to this point was all of the above AND about 300% more work than we'd anticipated. Along the way we honed our collaborative skills and learned about delegation, compromise, tact, and teamwork. AND--here's the happy ending romance always promises--the bonds of friendship have not only remained intact but have strengthened.

We're not the first to tackle our own multi-book continuity series for Harlequin or even for Silhouette Desire. Before Diamonds Down Under there was the six-book Millionaire of the Month, and before that The Madonna Key (7 books) for the now defunct (sadly) Bombshell line.

But when it comes to continuity collaboration, my poster gals are the Mills & Boon Medicals foursome who recently sold their 12th Crocodile Creek title.

Lilian Darcy, Alison Roberts, Marion Lennox and Meredith Webber have got together not once, not twice, but three times to develop and write three four-book mini-series. Who better to ask about the magic of collaboration? Here is what they had to say:

Alison Roberts: To sum it up, I'd say it's challenging but fabulous. And so much fun, working in little bits and pieces of the other books, like snatches of conversations overheard or even just the expression on someone's face.

Marion Lennox: It was indeed fun. It felt a bit like a free book cos there were four plotters rather than one. I think the fact that we totally respected each other as writers and we knew each other's characters would be treated sympathetically was the key.

Meredith Webber: What I loved was the intricacy of it, weaving the stories together so bits of one fitted seamlessly with bits of another. We even wrote little passages for each other's books so the stories melded. This might not have happened if we'd known each other less well or not been friends.

Lilian Darcy: What they said…plus I will add some advice to anyone attempting an author-generated series: give yourselves a simple over-arching continuity thread that hits the centre of your line's promise to the reader so that the complexity and uniqueness can develop within each story without you all getting tangled up and treading on each other's toes.

If you'd like to sample the results of the collaborative effort that produced CROCODILE CREEK, visit my blog (www.bronwynjameson.com/blog) in February. If you'd like to sample the results of the collaborative effort that produced DIAMONDS DOWN UNDER, visit www.diamonds-downunder.com/ for blurbs, extracts, backstory and our series blog. And don't miss the chance to win a diamond pendant in our Treasure Hunt. VOWS & A VENGEFUL GROOM, by Bronwyn Jameson, is available now.

Rhonda Pollero | Finnley is soooo not me!

I’ve heard that a lot since the debut of my of the Finley Anderson Tanner series. I can’t attest to how much she and I are alike. Yes, Finley and I share the same sense of humor and I suppose her moral code mirrors my own. That’s pretty much where the similarities end. Well, excluding the fact that she’s blonde and short. That’s a function of practicality. Being blonde and short myself, I know how to dress Finley (fairly high heels are important) and the physicality of the character’s actions reflect the fact that unless she started dating Michael J. Fox, she’d never know what it felt like to dance with her head resting on a guy’s shoulder.

In all other aspects, Finley and I couldn’t be less alike.

She’s a shopper, something I personally loathe. I’d rather remove a kidney than go to a mall. The whole idea of window-shopping makes me want to stick pencils in my eyes. Finley’s also heavily in debt, another personal taboo of mine. But the biggest difference is that she’s an underachiever by choice. I’m so much of an overachiever that I probably could benefit from lengthy therapy.

Crafting a character is never easy – nor should it be – and there will always be a sprinkling of the author’s personality and/or personal experiences in his or her characters. Figuring out where to draw the line can be tough, especially when doing an on-going series.

Knowing Finley needed room to grow, so I gave her some hefty flaws. In KNOCK OFF (available in paperback now), she takes her first foray into the realm of solving a crime. She isn’t all that adept in the beginning, but by the end of the book, she’s learned a few things, although she’s a long way from attaining the moniker of amateur sleuth. At best, she’s an accidental sleuth.

In the second book, KNOCK ‘EM DEAD (on shelves February 27th), she builds on what she learned in the first book, though she’s still a long way from a crime-solving whiz.

Finley marked a detour in my career. After writing more than 25 romantic suspense novels under my pseudonym Kelsey Roberts, I wondered how books penned by Rhonda Pollero would be received. Different name, and different flavor. Was there enough mystery to satisfy mystery fans? Was the sizzle between Finley and Liam enough of a subplot to draw fans of my romantic suspense? I honestly didn’t have a clue and after a lot of angst filled soul-searching, I decided I had to put those concerns on the back burner and just tell the story.

I’m glad I took the chance. People seem to love Finley as much as I do.

And that’s the bottom line, isn’t it? A writer is a storyteller; everything else is just window dressing.

Happy Writing . . . Rhonda

www.rhondapollero.com/ www.kelseyroberts.net/