The last week has been totally off kilter for me. I'm still trying to process everything and put it into an ordered state in my mind. And that's a hard thing to do when you're as scattered as I am.
So what's this post about? A lot of things actually. I'd worried that I didn't have anything to blog about. As usual, I have too much. I'll try and break it down into small pieces.
Ok, first I managed to finish my novella for the Trio Anthology and sent it off to NY Nov 1. Yes, No Strings Attached actually got written. This was one of those stories that came out kicking and screaming. I struggled for months to get the darn thing going--and just couldn't. I'm still debating on whether I like it or not. And though I proofed it, it's still full of a million typos, which seems to be a trademark of mine. I simply can not seem to get them all out of my manuscripts. Though I can spot them in an instant when I read other people's work. Seems to be some bizarre blindness block I have when reading my writing. Anyway, the darn thing is gone.
So...once the elation of actually finishing another novella wore off I found myself wondering what I should do next. Nevermind that I had one more novella and two single titles to work on for 09. Well, when Devyn gets to drinking and thinking, dangerous things happen. That's right. I got an idea, so I popped off a few lines to my editor and asked what she'd think of a proposal I had for a Sexy Beast Anthology. I'll admit I've been sitting here gnawing myself to pieces wanting into those anthos, but never expected to be considered. Well, much to my surprise, a day after I proposed the idea Hilary made an offer for a novella--and a single title on the same theme. Imagine my jaw dropping to my knees in shock. You see, I hadn't expected to make the sale and so hadn't sat down and really thinked (yeah, "thinked" out here in the badlands. Remember I'm a hick from the sticks) the idea through because I didn't believe it'd have a snowball's chance heck of selling.
So, what did Devyn sell her editor? Well, here's the synopsis for Heart of the Wildcat, the SB novella. This is rough, so bear with me:
Cultural anthropologist Kathryn Conrad is on her way to North Carolina in the hopes of finding and studying a small tribe of Cherokee mountain men for her master's thesis. The stories of the Tlvdatsi (actual Cherokee word for cougar) told to her by her grandmother have lit Kathryn's imagination—not to mention her desire to track down and verify her Native American roots.
Attacked and almost raped by her hired guide, Kathryn is close to losing her life when rescue arrives in the form of Joseph Clawfoot. (stalking Kathryn and her rapist in cougar form) Red skinned, black haired and handsome as sin, he's just the kind of specimen Kathryn wants to study--up close and personal. Kathryn persuades Joseph to become her contact with his people. She gets more than she bargained for when she learns the truth behind Joseph's strange and solitary existence.
Joseph Clawfoot is a Cherokee, member of a vanishing tribe whose people have learned to survive, they had to adapt to the arrival of the white settlers. A pact with the gods granted them the ability to shape-shift into the form of the cougar. Determined to live away from civilization, Joseph has settled in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. He follows no man's rules, only those of nature.
Joe's hope that he will find a mate to join him fades daily. His life is one of constant danger. The natural habitat in which he survives is shrinking, and hunters threaten to drive his kind into extinction. Though he fights the attraction, Joseph can't help but desire the petite beauty with the pale skin and lake-blue eyes. Her touch is forbidden, yet to possess her body and soul is all he can think about. Having Kathryn in his life is dangerous. However her strong and independent spirit arms her with the weapons to capture and tame his wild heart.
When poachers threaten Joseph's freedom, Kathryn is forced to kill one of the hunters to save her lover's life. Realizing she has to take responsibility, Kathryn chooses to turn herself in to keep investigators away. So that she will not accidentally expose the tribe to outsiders, Kathryn asks Joe to erase her memory of their time together, using the ancient spells of the shamans. She’ll remember nothing of him. In giving Joseph up Kathryn knows she's preserving his freedom and the heritage of her ancestors. ___________________
So there it is. This novella is the lead in for the single title, Soul of the Wildcat. Some of you may have already noticed that the heroine is being given the heave-ho at the end. Well, she is. And, yes, I've already heard the cries from the pals I've ran this by before sending it off to my editor: EEK! NO HAPPY ENDING FOR JOE AND KATHRYN?
Let me stop and grab something to cover myself with before you HEA people start pelting me with rocks. I'm going to take a deep breath and announce it now: Joe and Kathryn won't end up together. I've got to break them up so Joe can go on to his next adventure in Soul of the Wildcat. I know this is a first (I think) for the Sexy Beast stories and, frankly, I'd wondered if my editor's suggestion to send Joe off with another woman in his next book was the correct idea. Giving it thought, it is. The theme of the novella is not only discovery of dangerous secrets, but to truly love something, you must set it free. (cue appropriate love songs here) So, yes, readers and peers--Kathryn will set Joe free to preserve his freedom, even if it means she must sacrifice her memories of his kind.
Which leads me to a question for discusssion: As a reader do you expect the HEA in erotic romance? And to writers: Do you feel compelled to write an HEA into your stories because you are writing erotic romance? And if so, why?
As usual, I had to think really hard for something to blog about. Given that my mind is tiny and my brain cells are few and far between, I really had to stretch my limited resources.
Since writers are often asked how they get their inspiration to create (well, I'm never asked, but that's a different post), I thought that I would explain where I get my ideas. The old adage is to write what you know. (again, I know nothing, but that's yet another blog post).
So where to begin? How do I explain the inspiration process that turns a black smoke persian and some hunky dude in a jeans ad on the back of my Entertainment Weekly into a species of alien shape-shiters called The Niviane Idesha (Embracing Midnight Dec 08). Or how to explain the death of a favorite soap opera character when I was 13 some years later turning into the character of Morgan Saint-Evanston, a manic depressive alcoholic assassin who also happens to be the living embodiment of the Grim Reaper (The Keeper of Eternity). The soapie character I mooned over didn’t have a one of these characteristics, by the way.
Well, who-hoo, I'm going to share my secret: I don't know how I do it. Inspiration just happens. Right now I am in the process of creating a new shifter species for the sequel to Flesh and the Devil. Here's how the process comes together for me. Keep in mind that I'm drawing off what I actually know through 41 years of experience gained through living on planet earth:
I had no clue as to what would emerge. I had a character, Dani Wallace, introduced as Brenden’s younger sister in Flesh and the Devil. She’s young, 21, a stripper. She’s also a practicing witch. Her spells have been known to go awry. Other than that, I had no idea of what her book would be about. So…
First, I went to a website for exotic names and pulled a few names that sounded, um, exotic and got their meanings. Then I plucked the stories of the Seraphim out of Judeo-Christian literature (a being of pure light that is supposed to have direct communication with god and have a fiery burning form). So from that, I create the Jadian shapeshifters, a xenophobic very tight knit race, not really friendly toward humans whom they see as a lesser species and want little to do with.
Why Seraphim? Easy. I saw a commercial advertising John Travolta's movie Michael. Knowing nothing about the Seraphim, I went to a research site and plucked out the info about these beings that appealed to me, then recreated them as the Jadians, a species populating the earth before mankind. (After all, whom were the others Cain married into when banished from Eden? Questions like that can inspire all kinds of possibilities) Again, it was just a moment when inspiration solidified into something I could use for the book.
Next, I got the Hamlet/ Lear thing going, with an ageing father and his two sons in a rivalry as to whom should assume the throne. We all love to steal from Shakespeare, and why shouldn't I. Having just watched "Shakespeare in Love" with Gwyneth Paltrow, I was reminded of all those plays we had to read in high school. Then, they bored me senseless. Now I find they inspire a way to further my plot.
So Casedren (my hero, and I love that name) is unfit as he is unmated, but he is the oldest and due the throne if he finds a suitable mate. WHy not have dad throw out a challenge? The son who can rediscover the lost power of the Jadian gets the throne. Casedren needs a mate of not entirely mortal origins (Dani and Brenden are descendents of the Wyr bloodline) and a witch.
Now let's add some menace. Dani thinks she is being stalked by the psycho watching her dance in the club (hehe, she is) Another reason she is in danger is that she is Casedren’s perfect mate, one his brother, Cellyn, wants dead.
Since everyone one does wolves or tigers or other were-shifters, I am making the Jadian serpentine shifters. The story will center around the search for the Devani--(or celestial light/power)--through the Eye of Jadi (eye of creation). The true Jadian king and his consort can wield this power of the gods (by legend attained through sexual magic to reach into the astral realm). The ability has been lost to the Jadians for thousands of years. Casedren has chosen Dani because of her Wyr background. He then kidnaps her to be his future queen.
Being a young spoited brat, Dani reminded me of the early Princess Diana. Therefore I decided her training to become (an unwilling) Jadian queen would be based on the trainings Diana must have received when preparing to join the royal family. A very formal, very strict atmosphere would be stifling to a young, free rebel like Dani. Looks like she and Casedren are going to have quite a bit to work out!
And...that's as far as I've gotten in sketching out the sequel. Some things I have yet to clarify, but at least I've got a pretty sold base on which to start writing the book. What twists and turns are to come haven't revealed themselves yet.
So, there you have it. That’s how the plot of Dancing with the Devil (title tentative) came to be. Something from nothing, pulled out of thin air.
So anyone else care to share their quick plotting secrets?
