I'm Not A Romance Writer

When I wrote Vampire Ascending and tried to find a publisher--or someone--to take it, I came across a publisher who I thought was interested in "vampire" novels. I'll not name the publisher, because many people are probably published there. I have nothing against them, but that the fact the editor egged me on by telling me that "this might" work for them. When she asked if I belonged to any writer's groups, I told her no. She thought I should join the romance writers association. I refused to. I began to feel that this wasn't the right place for me if she thought my writing would need "work". I explicitly told her my novel was Urban Fantasy.

Long story short, even though she put me on hold, telling me she'd get back to me--and didn't--I put my first chapter up in a writer's forum on a group I used to belong to. There is where my present publisher found me, and invited me to send him my novel. At some point in between, I lost my Internet connection. I lost all email from that point, and had to start anew. I will call it a blessing because I'll never know if this other editor ever got back to me.

Back then I didn't know what the difference between urban fantasy, and paranormal romance was. I could not find anyone who would answer my question. It was like I was supposed to figure this out on my own. Well, I eventually did.

Meanwhile I poured over books by Charlaine Harris, Kim Harrison, and a few others. The spines are usually a clue as to what these novels are. Charlaine Harris' are published by Ace and it says under the publisher: FANTASY/MYSTERY. Mainly, I would guess, because Harris was a mystery writer before she took a chance with her now very popular vampire series, which is now an HBO series.

Others, like Kim Harrison and Karen Chance's books are under FANTASY. If you look around in a bookstore and go either to the heading of horror, or fantasy, you should find any of these author's books.
You can also tell by the title. Usually the title is telling. Eternal this or that is something a romance author would use as part of the title. Also, if AVON has published it, it is most definitely a romance. A hot guy and babe on the front cover, usually one or both are nearly nude and in some sort of embrace--that would tell me that we are looking at a straight romance, I don't care if the characters are vampires, werewolves, shapeshifters, or ghosts.

The point I'm trying to make is authors like Harris and Harrison do not write romance, even though romance is featured in their works. It's basically a fantasy--Urban Fantasy. I enjoy them because I'm not expecting anything but a great story with a lot of fantasy, creatures introduced, and some mystery solved, and some witchcraft, or magic going on.

Although sex/romance will be featured in any of my novels, I'm not going to hammer it to death. Romance--whether there are elves, vampires, shapeshifters between the pages (and sheets), it is still a romance. What is a romance? Well, the basic plot is rather simple. Man and woman either meet for the first time, or have known each other for a while. They are attracted to one another, however something keeps them apart. It can be anything from a danger factor, or the fact that they basically hate one another. But, you, the reader, knows that at some point these two are going to hop into bed and go at it until the cows come home. Wow. Big surprise. But that's why people like these types of books for the hot sex on page 105-120.

An urban fantasy is gives us a basic a story, usually there is a problem or a mystery to solve. It is the adventure, with various interesting characters that pop up, and the ones you've come to know and love throughout the series, and you expect them to act in a certain way. If there's sex along the way, this is a bonus, even though you might hope for such a thing, it is not a necessity in an urban fantasy, although a lot of people may think it should be, mainly because some people are including hot sex scenes in such books, it is not a requirement. Believe me.

Also, I don't write romance because I don't want my main character to be bound by the stringent confines of what is considered a romance (i.e. see above). Maybe the guy she starts out with will not be the one she winds up with--surprise! Maybe the man she's been seeing, or is in love with may die--surprise!

You see what I mean? I don't have to confine my plot to one that is boxed in. I love to think outside the box.

And as far as writing sex scenes into my books, I've had to take a stand on how far I would go with it. I'll say right here that I'm not interested in a spitting match with romance writers to see how many pages I can write a bedroom scene or how pornographic it might become. I'm interested in bringing to my readers a sense of realism, a bit of horror, throw in a romantic thread, problems, mystery, danger, and even humor into my books. It's entertainment of a different kind, or style from romance (they can call it paranormal romance or anything-under-the-sun romance, it is still romance and must adhere to the plot formula). Urban fantasy has become the easiest genre for me to write. You can do anything you want, as long as you tell a great story. If you want to write in a lot of hot sex, you're perfectly free to do so.

So, when I find someone who has left a review on my books stating they wanted to see a bit more sex, that's okay, because they've given me a 4 or 5 star review. That means the amount of sex--which by the way, other people who have read the book think it's perfectly hot, and the various men I introduce are hot, and make for an interesting story--doesn't matter. It is the story which I've told that keeps people riveted to the pages.

Each genre has it's own restrictions, and plot formulas to adhere to. Mysteries are nearly devoid of the need for sex. Sexual tension, or even a budding romance between two characters is okay, but no bedroom scenes. The same goes for science fiction--unless that has changed. Urban fantasy seems to be, at least for me, the most freeing choice to write in.

What do you prefer to read or write? Urban fantasy? Paranormal romance? Other? Why do you like to write it? Let me know. I think it would be interesting to have people chime in on this.

Why I like to Journal & Vacation!!!

I'm on vacation! Yay! Happy Dance!

My husband and I are heading to Glacier Park in Montana, next week. We will be staying in one of the lodges. He actually called and found us nights we wanted. Sweet!

I've always taken a journal with me. I usually bring a separate one to put down our travels. But lately, I've just been bringing the Daily Journal, as I may not fill the whole thing out.

Just so you know, I've kept a journal since 1973. I wish it went back much further, but I doubt I would have been able to stand looking through it. I began it as sort of therapy (not intentionally thinking this would be good for me to get things off my chest, but I basically found that it helped me deal.)

But I like to look back to see what I've been up to, given any year or even month. I like the spiral note pad that has the spiral at the top (like the one above). I fill it out on one side, and when I get to the end, I turn it over and fill out that side until I'm done. What's neat about this is that if I want to look back and see what I was up to, say a few months back, I flip it over and begin to read that page on the other side. I did this last night and found myself reading what I was up to in November of last year. That was cool. I'd been sent my edits of the second book, a short story had been accepted by Dark Moon (anthology), and a few other things going on that I'd forgotten about. I realized I'd been working very hard on a lot of writing projects, both while I was off of work and during the time I was working, as well.

So, I've just about filled up this journal. I usually end one at the end of a year and begin a new one, on the first of the year. But it isn't working out that way. At the moment, I don't care.

We are about to go on this vacation. It is the first long road trip we've had in 2 years. And the last one was bittersweet as Dennis' mother was in a hospital. She later died that year. So, this one has a better feel to it. We are going back up to Glacier. The last time we were there, we camped--the last time we tent camped, in fact. It was a little crazy tent camping in grizzly territory. They have you pick up everything if you leave you camp site for even a moment. You get a ticket if you don't.

But this year we are going to be staying in a lodge for the first time ever! Nice! Glacier Park Lodge will be 100 years old next year. We don't remember seeing this lodge, but I'm sure it is perfect! Looks great, doesn't it?

So, the reason I began this post about Journaling, is because that's what I love to do. I keep things we do, see and so forth in my diary esp. when we travel.

Do you keep a journal? What about it do you like best?

Age of Castles, and my up-dates

This is Alnwick Castle. If you think you've seen it somewhere before, you have. It was used in the Harry Potter movies.

I love the middle age periods. It's hard to pinpoint exactly which period I enjoy most, but I do like the Renaissance above all the others. I've been on line exploring sites on the history of the various periods. There's so much to read on it, it's mind boggling. I remember being introduced to it in college. In art history is where I came to be carried away by it all. Architecture being one of the main things about the era that is nearly daunting, but wonderful to behold. The buildings--churches, and castles both are such a show of man's achievements in finding ways in which to make something so huge stand for ages and yet look beautiful.

I found a site that lists a dictionary of sayings for the Middle Ages. Like "Gules of August" means the first day of August. I'll have to remember that.

And they sure did have a lot of fines imposed on the commoners. But this one was rather outrageous~

Jus Primae Noctis: It is the right by which a lord might sleep the first night with the bride of a newly married serf--and if they want to pay a fine, the right would be avoided. And I can imagine the fine would depend upon just how wantonly the fair maiden was.

I've had to dip into the historical focus because I've worked on one scene, that is just around 3 pages long for the fourth book. I had to know certain things before I wrote about it. This is a flashback scene of when Vasyl, (a main character/vampire master), remembers a particular turning point in his vampire life. He was as bad a vampire could be. Before he becomes good again, he had to return to France to remember what his original cause for having his sire turn him. What his quest was that brought him to becoming a vampire. It was to avoid being murdered by the Nephilim, and he was desperate because he was the watcher for the next sibyl--who would not show up for another millennium and then some. But no one knew this.

This took me weeks to get into the mode to write it. Even while I was off, I could not come up with a place to start it. Where do you start in a scene that takes place in, oh, say the year 1001? What are they doing? Who are they doing it to?

So, because I was stuck (even though I knew what I wanted to cover), I needed a first line. Whenever I'm so desperate for a first line, I have a little trick. I pick up a favorite book. Any book will do. I open the page and BOOM! I see a line that makes me think "Oh! That's good" and then I go and begin typing out a line that similar, or it uses some imagery and eventually I've honed it over the next day or so and it's as good as I think it can be.

Of course, I've been able to write that scene out. It took a painstaking 5 hours for those three pages. However it was hot in the house. 83 at the end of the evening, but it had been 82 in the afternoon. Two a.c.'s going, and I pushed myself to get the scene, dialogue and I felt it was a good first draft.

This morning, I went over it, knew there were some shady areas I needed to work on, and had to get on line to find some things so I knew what I was explaining came out sounding like I know what I'm talking about.

Earlier last week I worked on getting a short story finished that had languished long enough in my documents. It's a horror, and I realized it would be rather long, and when I was finished, it came out to a novella length. Hope to self-publish it at some point this year. I'm letting it sit for a while before I read through it again. It had been one of those rare stories that I wrote in one sitting--or, rather in one day. I wrote it maybe 9 years ago, by hand. It simply poured out of me after a dream I had.

I've been busy and have not had the time to stop by everyone's blogs, but today I made an effort to swing by a few of your sites which I've been neglectful of. Sorry. There are times when I bury myself into my writing nitche and it's hard for me to get out.

We have one more day (they promise), of record temperatures (100+) and then we cool off and hopefully will not see this again!

And lastly, today is my husband's birthday. He's my biggest supporter/fan. Behind me completely. When I come into my office at night we do a high-five and he says "Go make us rich" I chuckle and say, "If only I could!"

Some Rambling Thoughts

Well, our drought has officially ended! Yay! After today's rain storm, and having had some rain in the past 3 days or nights come down, the grass is on it's way to green, and the corn in the field has released a sigh of relief!

I've got one more day of freedom from the dreaded J-O-B. But I'll bring in a pay check.

I've gotten a lot done. Got my first ever short story up on Amazon, and that's a big thing. I also finished a novelette, also something to be happy about. That one is what I like to call soft, or psychological horror. A sort of Rod Sterling/Hitchockian thing.

Lately I've been working on other things. Including the fifth book. Well, heck yah! I've added a new character. One thing with a series you need to bring in new blood--so to speak. You need to invent new characters, ones that are different, that bring something new to the story that you have not explored as yet. Oh, and keep those who are loved in it also.

I decided upon a character named Ty Cho. He's human, and he's a deadly black belt. That's what I've got on him so far. That, and he uses the I Ching to guide him, and I'm using his refrence to it in an interesting way in the book.

So, I had to come up with his background and why he's there with Sabrina, and so forth. I used to paint (write) myself into corners. It's a tough thing when you begin a new novel, and begin writing it, and you have a new character--what are you going to do with this one? And before you know it you may have pages of stuff going on that sort of takes you away from your main story.

BAD WRITER!

So, I've learned to recognize when I'm doing this before I get too far afield. I just did this today. I sat back and began asking questions. Like how will Cho make any difference in this story, how will I use him, and why the heck is he there in the first place.

Eeeeewww!

I backed up. Before I began getting into some wild story as to why he was looking for her, I stopped and evaluated my need for him to be with her. He's there as her body guard. He had to have background and a reason for being there in the story at this point, and see if he can come into use later. So, analyze, think. And I've plenty of time, since the 3rd book isn't even out yet, and I'm just sort of letting the 4th one sit a while before I go back to do another read through to see if it needs tweaking. I don't like to write a book quickly--unless it's coming like gang-busters, which last year the first draft of the fourth one did and I got it written in 3 months. That's unusual. And even so, that was a first draft, and I had to add to it, take stuff out... all that.

I'm also sitting here wondering why I can't live on a Caribbean island? Oh, wait. Pooh. Hurricains.

Turning Rejection into A Good Thing

I've been enjoying my first week of a 2 weeks vacation. There were a number of things I wanted to accomplish during this two weeks. The first of which was to RELAX. And I am. I've also been into my flower garden this year. It would be the year we are into a drought. But no biggie. We didn't plant a vegetable garden.

I've worked on a number of projects this year so far. One was getting my third book off to my publisher. The other projects were two short stories which I sent off to an anthology. I didn't come up with the idea for one until mere weeks before the deadline. They wanted alternate history horror. Possibly the story wasn't horrific enough, or maybe they had enough vampires running around again. But it was rejected.

I was not upset by this rejection. Not at all. Actually, if the truth be told, I had hoped so, because I wanted to try my hand at getting something of mine self-published. It would have taken me a hell of a lot longer than a few days time to do this, if I hadn't had a lot of help with the formatting and then actually loading up the document too. But my short story, Holy Devil, went up for sale the end of last week, and it's now available world wide! I can't show you a picture of the cover (been having trouble uploading pictures on a post), but it's on my sidebar, and you can go click on it to see a 5-star review of it!

Holy Devil was a story that I had written almost 10 years ago and was also rejected back then. It's about Rasputin, who is renown for his mesmerizing gaze and the fact that he could heal the sick, and was credited for saving the Tsar's son from dying from hemophilia, when all others failed.

But my story concentrates on his mystical ways, and possibly some other surprises about him that only in my convoluted brain could conjure. He did have quite the night life and also was difficult to kill, and he had a way with women. Women flocked to his home for his "blessings".

I've also been working on the fourth book. It's been a sort of patchwork quilt, as I add certain scenes to it when they finally come. I've been working on Vasyl's background, or backstory. I just wrote it yesterday and it will be included in the fourth book. Plus, I may just offer it as a free book, later on as a tease for the fourth book.

I hope to get a few more things done, have some more relaxation, before I return to the grind.

Hikin' In Afton

Let's face it, if you really want to hike your fanny off, you can do it in Afton. In the early days, when Dennis and I first arrived, there was only the main park, and the hill that butts up with the Risman farm. Now, the park extends all the way across McGurr Road, to the south. This is still being developed, of course. there are plans to extend the wetlands.

But, today I'm gonna tell you about my walk.

I enjoy these walks. They clear my mind, and get the old heart pumping, and also, I enjoy the flowers, birds and solitude it brings me.

Today the breeze is stiff out of the south. If you doubt me, check the big wind turbines to the southwest of here. Warming up very quickly, so I headed out after 8 a.m., to avoid all dog walkers, should there be any.

I start out behind the barn on the trails that wind around the oldest portion of the park, the "trial" wetlands, which is pretty much grown in with willow in one, and a lot of cattail in the others. I decide to continue on a straight south path, heading for South Afton, toward the new shelter. I notice there is no one parked there, and gladly head that way. I make note of the various flowers along the way. The milkweed is blossomed out, and lends a wonderful sweet aroma to the air as you pass. Butterfly weed is also in full bloom, and their bright orange blossoms appear most abundant just south of the trees, near the wetlands, but a bush, here or there comes into view along my trail.

South-bound I walk. The red wings are done with nesting, and so are not as aggressive as they've been in the spring. However, I manage to pick up one killdeer who escorts me the whole way, for some reason. When I reach the end, I decide to continue past the parking lot, turn east onto the path that takes the bridge over the waterway. The cascades are not as strong, but there's some water flow. If you're quiet you might be able to watch a few water fowl on the rock. The spotted sandpiper came winging in, and landed on the rocks below the bridge. This bird frequently tips it's tail up and down, and stays on the rocks to feed. He's a most interesting bird. I almost wanted to join him in the water, but I continued up to the hill.

As I continued on, and my noisy escort also walked ahead on his long legs, complaining the whole way, the low pinging of a wind chime from the Risman farm enchanted the air. I turn the corner, watching the birds as they flee ahead of me, and I guess my noisy escort gave up.

The tallest hill this end of the park has a new bench. So, if you desire, you can sit and take in the wetlands below and farmland that surrounds you. I've climbed up this hill from the other direction, many a time in the past. I found the spot relaxing, and it seems to energize my soul. Now that there's a bench, I no longer have to sit on the ground. It sits rather high, which is fine, I swing my legs and sip on my now-warm water from the bottle I brought.

King birds make a racket above me, I ignore them and try to see if I can spot the blue heron. Nope. He must be over on the main side of the wetlands at the moment. Geese, although abundant in the spring, have thinned out. No reason to stay, those with no goslings have gone on to new territory.

I begin down the hill and three king birds to an aerial ballet above me, the wind pushing at them. I have to hold my hat on, as it might fly off. A good windy day keeps the deer flies at bay, so this is a good thing.

Once upon a time, I'm told that this whole hill was planted with a thousand trees. Then, the drought of '88 came and that did them in. Also, I think there was a fire, but I can't remember the story at the moment. At one time coyote roamed, but apparently someone took exception to this predator and obviously had to exterminate them. But once in a great while you may see a fox, if your lucky. Woodchucks, skunks, and weasels call Afton home. WE have a couple of woodchucks up around the house. One got the under ripe watermelon we couldn't eat. She was grateful, I could tell. And the skunk in one of the catalpa trees keeps us well away with the constant "fragrance".

Continuing down the hill, I make a plan to head back the quickest way, and where the wind is still able to reach me. I spy a loan fisherman down along the stream of Little Rock Creek. I'm doubting he's having much luck, unless he's going for catfish.

I make my way across two bridges, picking up some one's water bottle who didn't feel like carrying it to a trash receptacle for some reason. I carry it all the way up along the south part of the woods to throw it in our own trash.

If you are a frequent visitor, I hope you enjoy the park. It has lots of vistas to enjoy, and plenty of places to get off by yourself. The south prairie seems to go on and on. I'm told they are building a small shelter to go beside the last bridge down there. They've planted trees, but these will be a long while in creating shade, so there will be a shelter to duck under for shade and rest for the weary wanderer.