As a child I loved the stories of author L. M. Montgomery. All her books not just the “Anne” ones and I especially enjoyed The Blue Castle. It’s the story of an overburdened, dowdy spinster who decides to “live” and win the heart of a man after being told she was going to die.
I didn’t get to author Colleen McCullough until my teens and loved her story The Ladies of Missalonghi about an overburdened dowdy spinster who decides to “live” and win the heart of a man after pretending to be told she was going to die.
Hmm…notice anything familiar?
Some say shame on McCollough because her book is eerily similar to Montgomery’s. I say bravo. Yes, there are striking similarities, but delicious differences too–the Australian landscape, the leeches, the hero, the ‘bath’ scene. To me these two books show how talented authors can take a similar premise and tell two different stories. Some writers experience synergy, I can’t fault them for that.
Have you ever read remarkably similar stories?
Oh and as a shameless plug please visit the new page for my upcoming series The Black Stockings Society. Sign up for my newsletter and be eligible to win thigh high stockings (one size fits all) and a special prize.
Recent comments from: · Lauren Willig · Amelia · Lois · azteclady · Stacy ~
There’s a certain Dr. Frankenstein aspect to writing novels, of any sort, but especially in romance where you live and die a bad-career-death if your characters turn out flat. But good characters truly take time and thoughtfulness in order to pull them out of their stock-ness. My favorite characters in fiction are Scarlet O’Hara and the early version of Alex Cross (when he was more Morgan Freeman than Denzel Washington — don’t get me wrong, Denzel is hunky to look at, but Alex is NOT Denzel, he’s Morgan Freeman, but I digress…). These two people are at opposite ends of the sympathetic spectrum, but they both have courage and intelligence yet always kept my interest and fascination.
I love creating characters; I love making up people that I want to hang out with for a couple of months, and thus, it’s important to me that they’re not boring. For me, that’s priority number one. Some books think that this means that a character must be huge, and boisterous, and tell the best stories, and leap tall buildings at a single bound, but not all stories are best told by Superman. Some stories call out for Peter Parker, who is way cooler than Superman because he’s not the usual superhero.
I love being surprised by a person, either in real life, in someone else’s book, or in my books. For a surprise to occur, you have to create a character who is shown to be capable of many different paths of action, not just one, and not always the right one. A character has to make mistakes during the course of a book, because mistakes are the number one way that people learn and change and grow. Sometimes the mistakes are because they’re doing the wrong thing and they know they’re doing the wrong thing, but they can’t help it. Sometimes the mistakes are because they think they’re doing the right thing, but it’s not really the right thing, and the reader knows this, but the character is very fixated on some goal and because of that, he’s missing out on the whole “what is the right thing” discussion. And sometimes, when the author is very clever, there is no right thing. There are only two wrongs, and the character must choose.
Ideally in a book, there should be a lot of crossroads, a lot of decisions, a lot of choices (not all good) that a character must face. It’s in these choices, that the face of the character is truly known. So, who are your favorite characters in novels or movies? What makes them stick with you? If you could create a character of your own, what sort of personality would they have? Just asking.
:) Kathleen
Recent comments from: · Kathleen OReilly · Jill Sorenson · Estella · Chicki Brown · azteclady
So back in August of 2006, my husband and I went on our first vacation without kids since we actually had kids. We went to Las Vegas, one of my favorite places in the world and we ate in restaurants without paper tablecloths and crayons and had pretty drinks at three thirty in the afternoon by the pool.
We also went to a burlesque club called Forty Deuce. Now, I have a thing about pin up girls and the whole glamour age of feminine beauty. I love the pictures of women from the 40’s and 50’s and burlesque embodies that era so very well. Burlesque isn’t stripping, it’s not about showing as much skin as possible. Rather it’s about the art of the tease, of sensual smoke and mirrors where it’s about what you don’t see more than what you do.
There’s dancing on stage and a live jazz band. The women are truly amazing dancers, lithe, sexy, they clearly put a lot of time and energy into their routines as well.
Anyway, as we made our way back home after our vacation it was with an idea for a story in my head with the heroine as a burlesque dancer. Dahlia Baker was born in my head and by the time my agent contacted me a few days after I’d been back to ask if I’d be interested in participating in a pitch she was going to make for a Vegas themed anthology, I just knew it was meant to be. Stripped isn’t about stripping, it’s about being stripped of preconceptions - by the way.
Stripped and the anthology, What Happens in Vegas is now out on store shelves and available through all the usual places for online book shopping too.
Here’s a very small taste of Dahlia’s world:
STRIPPED by Lauren Dane from the Spice anthology - What Happens In Vegas…
The low, sensual beat brought her onto the stage like a siren. One gloved arm wove through the slit in the curtain and then the other, parting them as she stood, framed for a long moment. Her dark hair was piled up on her head artfully. Long, fake lashes framed big brown eyes. A deep blue satin dress hugged every curve lovingly, her breasts pushed up and out of the scooped neckline and as she walked, the slit on each side of the dress would show her legs to the upper thigh.
She let the music grab her senses and her rhythm as she slowly sauntered out onto the narrow stage. Dancer’s heels, still very high, led her through the beginning of her routine as she carefully maneuvered the long feather boa to keep from tripping.
Caught in the music, Dahlia’s muscles burned as she did a high kick leading into a round kick swiveling her body away from the audience all in a seamless set of movements.
A feather from the boa stuck to the sweat on her neck as she slowly rotated her hips in time with the horns in the jazz band. Her hands rose, slowly taking the boa to wind around her body. Down it went until she finally stepped out of it as it lay at her feet, kicking it to the side.
Giving her back to the audience, she raised one hand into the air as she turned her head, winking over her shoulder.
Knocking her hips from side to side to the smoky jazz beat, she brought the tips of her gloved fingers to her mouth to grab the material and pull it off slowly.
The first glove went over her shoulder, into the bar pit the stage encircled. The second glove came off as she stood in front of the trumpet player and pulled it off around his body.
A bump and grind circling the band and she lay down on the side of the stage near where the bottle service tables were. Throwing a foot into the air, she gave them all a lot of leg to look at as the dress slid back. Rolling up onto her knees, she unzipped the front of the dress and shimmied out of it. Then she turned, cleverly giving them her back and a pair of boyshort bottoms with a winking kitty on the ass.
The dress dropped as her forearms came up to cover her breasts and she bent, looking at them all upside down through the vee of her legs.
The cheers and applause bolstered her confidence. Up there she was beautiful and desired and that was okay. More than okay, it felt marvelous.
Still facing the band she reached out quickly, grabbing the hat off Timmy’s head. The trumpet player widened his eyes in a choreographed move and she spun, clutching the prop hat just so to cover herself.
Sensual smoke and mirrors. Dahlia didn’t show the audience any more than she’d show at the beach. They wouldn’t see her nipples and her panties would stay right on her booty with the fishnets below that.
Playing coy, she waved with one hand, pretending to almost drop the hat as she took the first step back up to the dressing room. And another step and two more. Once her body was in the doorway she turned and tossed the hat back to Timmy. With a hand over her mouth stifling a pretend giggle, she kicked up her leg and was gone behind the curtain.
Recent comments from: · Byrdloves2read · limecello · Vivi Anna · Estella · Jane
You only think I’m here. I’m not at my laptop writing, either. I’m actually on my way to Port Aransas. Shhhhh, don’t tell anyone. I want people to think I’ve chained myself to my computer and that’s why I’m not answering the phone, but in reality, by late this afternoon I’ll be kicked back in a lounge chair, an ice cold drink in one hand, and a fishing pole in the other. I don’t even care if I catch a fish. I just want to watch the dolphins as they swim past and the seagulls flying by. Now that’s the life.
We’ve moved up in the world. Not because we have more money, but because we decided we were too damn old to sleep in a tent on an air mattress. Especially when the bathroom was at the ranger station. That was so not cool.
We discovered we could rent a cabin for about $25 more a day than our tent space cost. It has a bathroom, and a real bed, and a small kitchenette, and air conditioning and heat. Did I mention it has a bathroom? No more jogging at 5am to get to the ranger station where the bathroom was located–up two flights of stairs. Have you ever tried jogging with your legs crossed? Yeah, right, and then try explaining to the ranger that you are not drunk or on drugs.
I am taking my laptop with me, though. I don’t want to lose my story and that’s so easy to do when I start getting into it and then leave it for a few days. Besides, I want to see what happens next. My characters make me work to find out all these things. Okay, y’all be good while I’m gone….er….working.
Hugs,
Karen
Recent comments from: · Estella · Laurie · Patty L. · kim h · azteclady
It’ll be almost a year since I’ve had a new release. My last book DARK LIES, book two in the Valorian Chronicles was out in October 07. Book three VEILED TRUTH will be out in October of 08. But the month before that I will have a Nocturne BITE (a novella coming out in ebook) in September about another of the members of the OCU, Captain Mahina Garner.
I’m really excited about the upcoming stories in the Valorian Chronicles. They have been so much fun to write. Here is a sneek peek from VEILED TRUTH…
CHAPTER ONE
When the uniformed butler opened the oak doors of the LeNoir estate in Nouveau-Monde, Lyra Magice tried not to be impressed. But she was, big time. If the gated estate with the winding, stately, tree-lined driveway didn’t astound, then the two-story stone castle would have.
The butler inclined his head. “Bonsoir Mademoiselle.”
“Bonsoir.” Lyra loved speaking French, the sounds were so musical.
“Monsieur LeNoir would like you to wait in the parlor for him.” He swept his arm toward an arched doorway to the right. “May I take your jacket?”
She shrugged out of her brown wool coat and handed it to the butler. He slung it over his arm and directed her to the parlor room.
The moment she stepped over the threshold, Lyra felt like she was in a Sherlock Holmes book. The room boasted a huge fireplace with an ornate mantle. An old-style sofa and two chairs with end tables sat in front of the crackling flames. Exquisite artwork adorned the walls. Cherry wood floors were stylishly covered with Oriental throw rugs. By the look of them, they were probably worth thousands of dollars a piece. Even the faint sweet smell of pipe tobacco laced the air.
She’d heard Theron LeNoir was wealthy, but truly she had no idea of the extent of it before now.
Lyra turned to ask the butler something, but he was already gone. Theron LeNoir stood in the doorway instead.
Looking the part of the wealthy home owner, he wore dark wool trousers and a button-down shirt with gold cufflinks flashing at the wrists. His dark hair was slicked back from his high forehead but unbound. The ends fell over his ears and brushed the collar of his shirt. At the seminar today he had tied it back giving him a look of elegance and refinement. With his inky black hair flowing around him, he looked sexy and dangerous.
Smiling, he moved into the room toward her. “Bonsoir Lyra. I am pleased you accepted my offer to come to my home.”
“Well, I appreciate the invitation. It’s not every day I get to see artifacts and books from witch history.”
“Yes, I imagine a lot of things were lost in the immigration to America as well as during the persecution. Witches weren’t the only things burned during that time.”
Lyra tried not to watch him as he busied himself at the bar, uncorking a bottle of wine. He had a fluid way of moving like a meandering stream of cool crisp water. He set out two wineglasses and poured the red liquid into them. Picking them up, he came to Lyra and handed her one. “From the LeNoir vineyard.”
“Thank you.”
He tapped her glass then took a sip, watching her over the rim.
Normally she didn’t drink, but the polite thing to do would be to at least take a sip. Normally she wasn’t polite either, but his obvious pleasure at watching her drink prompted her to do so.
The wine was heavenly on her tongue as she held it in her mouth for a second then swallowed. It was better than she expected it to be.
He must’ve seen the surprise on her face, because he smiled. “It’s the best wine in France. This particular bottle is over sixty years old.”
“Oh, well, it’s pretty good then.”
Chuckling, he cupped her elbow and guided her toward the sofa. “Let’s sit and talk. Catch up on the last five years.”
Lyra sat but she really didn’t want to engage in conversation with Theron. She’d never really been good at that, especially with men. Attractive men, in particular. Or it could’ve just her fear of speaking with Theron. Seeing him again, being this close to him, made her think about the time five years ago when she attended a spell casting class and he had been there. He had made an impression on her then, and it seemed it was still lingering.
What books are looking forward to this year??
Recent comments from: · Vivi Anna · Stacy ~ · Pat L. · Jane · Estella
by Joanne Rock
My new Blaze turned out to be a little more timely than I could have predicted. It started out like so many of my Blazes do– sexy and fun, with a scintillating meet between the hero and heroine. All was rocking along just fine until my subplot came along.
Then things took a turn for the darker, with the heroine’s backstory a little more harrowing than some of my characters’ pasts. There was a date rape that counted as her introduction to sex—a fact that accounted for Jessica’s need to get in touch with her sensuality. After years of associating sex with fear, my heroine forced herself to learn everything she could about sensuality in an attempt to conquer her fears. I really admired that about her.
But then her journey got even more difficult when an identity thief wreaked havoc with her name and her credit score. Suddenly I had a villain in the past and present, two different people who’d hurt my heroine. Coincidence? Not hardly. Not when I realized the villains were a husband and wife team from a breakaway polygamist sect.
It seemed like a wild idea at the time. I wondered what my editor would think, but not long enough to slow me down. I was already getting drawn into the world of my villainess who was supporting her husband and sister-wives with identity theft—crime she’d been taught by her husband.
It wasn’t my first introduction to polygamy. I lived in southern Utah in the mid-nineties and a friend who was a native of the region pointed out the families living under the radar with multiple wives and numerous children. The wives shopped at our local grocery store sometimes and I began to wonder what it would be like to compete for your husband’s affections.
Of course, spinning my heroine’s backstory and her tangle with a polygamist clan occurred before the April raid of a Texas compound of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The removal of 416 girls from the facility underscored some issues in my book’s subplot. Polygamy presents enough problems for consenting adults. But when underage girls are pressured into sexual relationships for the sake of arranged marriages—that’s a whole other problem. And while I’m glad to have written a book with a timely focus, I’ve gotta say that after walking in my heroine’s shoes for two hundred pages, I wish these were problems that no teenage girl had to deal with. Big Love entertains me too, but there’s no romanticizing some of the issues inherent in the polygamist community.
On the upside of the story, I had fun researching what sorts of things a self-proclaimed sensuality guru might incorporate into her workshops on getting in touch with your sexuality. Who wouldn’t love researching belly dancing? Or couples massage? I learned that a lot of what makes a massage erotic vs. therapeutic has to do with breathing and degrees of touch pressure. There are ways to infuse massage with a more blatant sensuality if the goal is erotic connection, and that was fun stuff to think about. UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL forced me to think about sensuality in terms of a workshop—teaching it to others and developing heightened senses in oneself.
And since I got to touch on a wide variety of sensual tools, I had to at least write one scene that incorporated masks. I’ve written a characters-in-disguise stories in the past and even a whole online read called “Manhunting Masquerade,” so the mask concept is an old favorite that I’ve blogged about before. This time around I gave it a different spin that I hope you’ll enjoy—a surprise behind the mask.
Finally, UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL features a hero who is former military. I’ve been asked to write military heroes in the past and have sometimes shied away since this is an arena my critique partner, Catherine Mann handles so expertly. But I can’t deny that her sexy military men have inspired me over the years and I decided to bring a little of that he-man edge to Rocco Easton, a SEAL turned repo-man after an injury sidelines him. Rocco channels his he-man impulses into nighttime repossessions and vindicating businesses that’ve been robbed by people who refuse to pay their bills. He proved a worthy heroine for my heroine who’d been through so much.
And that’s my tale for this time… a dose of this and a dose of that helped me weave UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL into a story with lots of layers underneath the steam heat. I hope you’ll check it out and in the mean time, stay and chat for a chance to win a signed copy of the book. I’ll be giving out two copies to random readers who share their favorite trick for feeling more sensual. Would you take a belly dancing class to feel sexy? Learn the art of massage? Or, like me, are you just hoping for an invitation to a masked ball…
Recent comments from: · Nicole Price · Jane · azteclady · kim h · Joanne Rock
Back from RT, and still recovering! What a blast! But going through my remaining swag, I see here that I have one black Love Your Inner Demon t-shirt left! It’s unisex medium, which are pretty comfy — I’m not thin, but I can (and do) wear a small without having to hold my breath. So…gosh, I already have a shirt, so I guess I don’t need this one…
You know what this means, don’t you? Contest time!
I’m going to be writing a short story about Angel, to appear in the third volume of the charity anthology DREAMS AND DESIRES. What I need is the name of a male angel. Or male demon. (I’m still thinking through this one, can you tell?) So, hit me! Give me your best suggestions for a male love interest for Angel in this short story.
The winner, to be picked on MONDAY, APRIL 28, 2008, will receive my last Love Your Inner Demon t-shirt, will have named the character in the short story, AND will have a character named after her (or him) in an upcoming novel.
Ready? Set? Go!
Recent comments from: · kim h · Jackie · limecello · Laurie G · Amelia
