Category: Writing

Posts in which we talk about the writing craft and process

Riskiness Ahoy!

Updated on September 7, 2013 by megan

Many years ago, I started working on an erotic historical with a former slave hero and a French whore. Because, you know, just having ONE risky character wasn’t enough. I set that aside for a long while, but have just returned to it, and it now doesn’t feel that risky at all, given what romance has exploded into in recent years.

One thing it remains, however, is far too serious. I need my characters to lighten up, for goodness’ sake. Because sex is intense and meaningful to these characters, but it doesn’t have to be so ponderous (that’s my fault as the author, not the characters. Poor things, they’d probably like to enjoy themselves).

It is hard, however, to make erotic moments humorous. It can come off as slapstick, and not funny at all. I don’t want to go that far, but I do want my characters to have fun.

I haven’t read that many erotic historicals, but I keep looking for ones that are both super-sexy and not anachronistic (hard to find, for sure). Of course Pam Rosenthal springs immediately to mind, as does Robin Schone and Alice Gaines.

Have you read, and could recommend, any erotic historicals? Meanwhile, I’ve got to go un-serious-fy these poor people who just want to get–well, you know.

Megan

Winter is coming

Updated on August 15, 2013 by susanna

The instant I stepped out of the house this morning, I looked at the sky, sighed, and said, “Winter is coming.” (And, yes, that was a deliberate George RR Martin reference.) You see, I live in Seattle, and the sky above was a gloomy gray. It wasn’t raining right at that instant, but my car was dappled with raindrops from a recent shower.

Contrary to what the rest of the country seems to believe, it ISN’T always like that here. The weather gods console us for eight months or so of annual gray gloom with the best summers in the world. It hardly rains at all between July 4 and sometime in mid-September. Most days the highs are in the 70’s, maybe the 80’s, but even then it’s comfy in the shade because in keeping with our nonexistent summer rainfall it’s a dry heat. And because we’re so far north, we have long, long days to savor the perfection of our summer.

Summer in my city

And this summer? Arguably the best weather we’ve had in a generation. So you can understand why this morning’s cloudy reminder of what my city looks like the rest of the year made me want to weep a little:

Winter is coming for YOU.

That’s what my morning commute looks like in early November. In late December it’s still pitch dark, even though I don’t get to work till 7:45 or so.

Our local weathermen faithfully promise our sunshine will be back, maybe as soon as tomorrow. But I still can’t escape the signs of the changing season. We’re starting to get mail from the school district with logistical info for Miss Fraser’s fourth grade year, which starts in less than three weeks. We’re planning our holiday vacation time at work, since we have to juggle our schedules to make sure someone is in the office. The spam in my inbox is giving me great offers on new fall fashions.

But throughout the seasonal rhythm of the year, my writing remains a constant. Now that A Dream Defiant is out, I’m hard at work on my proposal for its sequel, which is set mostly in America in the aftermath of the Battle of New Orleans. And I’m already busy researching my next manuscript–one with a French hero, set during Napoleon’s invasion of Russia in 1812. The winter that’s coming for Jacques Gordon (yeah, he’s French, but he’s also half-Scottish, and related to the Gordons in my earlier books) is far more dire than anything Seattle is likely to throw at me….

Retreat

What does the changing season have in store for you?

Posted in Risky Regencies, Writing | Tagged Battle of New Orleans, Invasion of Russia, manuscripts, Seattle, Susanna Fraser | 12 Replies

The great SF mobile writing retreat

Updated on August 15, 2013 by Janet Mullany

I’m on my way home after a week in San Francisco hanging out with Pam Rosenthal and staging the great SF mobile writing retreat. Mobile in the sense that we had no fixed address (apart from my solo turn at Pam’s kitchen table yesterday), but parked ourselves in whatever coffee shop had wifi–which is of course essential to good solid writing–and power. (btw, Starbucks, you cannot make a nice cup of tea. I don’t know what it is but it tastes stewed from the get go. I guess this is what happens when you order tea in a place renowned for its coffee.)

We both got a lot of stuff done and also polished up our presentations–mine was on writing humor, which I gave to the SF-RWA last Saturday (and it’s coming to Maryland Romance Writers in November). Pam’s was last night at the Pink Bunny, an upscale lingeries/sexy stuff store, about writing BDSM. Both very well received. All this and I got to have nachos with the lovely Ms. Jewel, Korean food with the lovely Isobel Carr, and lots of book talk. Lots more great food in good company and a memorable day in the Asian Art Museum.

It’s interesting how productive you can be with a friend parked opposite you also being productive. Why is this? We didn’t resort to cries of encouragement or word counts within a certain amount of time. I don’t know that either would have worked since we both have such different styles and I am doing a rewrite/reconstruction (don’t ask me how, I lost my final manuscript. Well, it was written seven years ago). We didn’t even talk to each other much (not while writing). We just sat there and plugged away.

An interesting process. I don’t know how long this would have taken on my own, weeks or months rather than days, and I got some icky plot problems solved from the original and figured out how to work in a final sex scene. Pam very wisely told me I needed more talk less action and she was right. And I got to see a couple of excerpts from her WIP. (No, I’m not saying a word.)

I don’t know why this particular chemistry happens, and I’d like to hear your thoughts. Is it because writing is such a solitary pursuit that having a bit of company is a comfort? That if you get to one of those places where you get stuck knowing that you have someone to bounce an idea off gives you the oomph to move forward?

What do you think?

Posted in Risky Regencies, Writing | 2 Replies

“I Ain’t Sayin’ She’s a Gold-digger”

Updated on August 7, 2013 by megan

I discovered this series earlier this week, and I am just beside myself with how funny and how generally accurate it is in its synopses and analyses. My absolute favorite kind of humor is the high-low, where something gets put through a pop culture filter, and this is the epitome of that (also why I like Eddie Izzard’s stand-up so much).

Writing is going okay; I hope to have a proposal for my editor within a week. I’m writing a Duke for the first time, and it’s definitely fun, because everyone does what he wants. And he doesn’t always want that (should I call it The Oxymoronic Duke?)

Posted in TV and Film, Writing | Tagged Megan | 2 Replies

Wanted: A Strapline!

Updated on July 29, 2013 by Diane Gaston

This must be our time for asking for help from our readers. Megan asked for help for finding examples of heroines for her HSCD (handsome, snarky, charming duke). Susanna asked for what risks readers thought Riskies should take. And I need your help coming up with a strapline.

1815 019 no 2 A strapline is a header that will run across the top of my author page at eHarlequin and Millsandboon.co.uk

Examples of straplines were things like:
“Fun, fresh, and flirty romance!”
“Sizzling stories that will keep you turning the pages…”
“Romance author fuelled by coffee and craziness”
“Cowgirl chick and western romance writer”

I would want mine to include that I write Regency Historicals and I want it to reflect my particular spin on the Regency.

Here’s what I came up with so far:
“Mayfair, Almack’s, and the Regency Underworld! Award-winning Regency Romance”
“Mayfair, Almack’s and the Regency Underworld! Emotion packed Regency Romance”

What sort of strapline would attract you? Should I include the words “award-winning?”

The strapline cannot be more than 10 words.

So here’s the challenge. Help me come up with a strapline. Write me a new one or give your opinion of the two I came up with. Or give me guidelines to write a good one. Take a look at my website for ideas. There’s a $5.00 Amazon gift card for the winning strapline. Or, if I don’t pick the best one, I’ll choose one winner at random, winner to be announced next Monday.

And, in case winning a $5 gift card isn’t enough, enter our newsletter contest! Just sign up for our newsletter and you’ll be entered. For the prize we’ll pay off at least $40 of your Amazon Wish List! Janet will announce the winner on August 1.

Posted in Writing | 8 Replies