Update:  The winner of a copy of MASKED BY MOONLIGHT is…Ali!! Congrats, Ali!

***

When I was little, my mom used to sit in the back seat with me during those long car trips to our cabin so we could color together. She was quite the artist and would work very carefully on her own page, shading and blending the colors, while I, with the exuberance and inexperience of youth, scribbled madly all over the place on mine. When we compared pictures, hers so perfect and realistic, mine bold strokes of color without boundaries, never once did she criticize my technique or suggest I copy hers. She simply said we saw through different eyes and that’s what being creative was all about. Different eyes? That sounded silly. I figured it was because she wore glasses.

I never forgot the pleasure I got from making leaves blue and putting polka dots on clouds, but I soon realized I was never going to be an artist. Words were my passion, putting them together to paint pictures, layering them to shade and blend characters. When I got better at it, I learned something else about the writing process. Once you learn your craft, it’s fun to explore outside the boundaries. This is particularly true with my new dark paranormal MOONLIGHT series.

“MASKED BY MOONLIGHT is more than a scary werewolf tale. It is a steamy romance; a whodunit; a story of intrigue and power. Gideon definitely cloaks this tale in darkness and shadows.” Romance Reader at Heart, top pick

I started with a simple project, a paranormal shape-shifter story. But when I began toning those grim shades of gray in MASKED BY MOONLIGHT with the hopeful pastels of romance, a whole new palette appeared. A shape-shifter indebted to the mob. A New Orleans cop trying to solve a gruesome murder that points in his direction. Suspense and action/adventure soon blended together with the bright glare of thriller red. Add in a hero and heroine whose developing world, troubled secrets, torn loyalties and unlikely passion continue in a four book story arc, you have shades of Urban Fantasy added to the mix. When I looked at where I started and where I ended up with a six book series for Pocket with its many layers and unique elements, I wasn’t sure how to describe it.

Then I finally saw my series clearly through different eyes.

Look Mom! I’m writing outside the lines!

WELCOME TO ROMANCE BY MOONLIGHT…

Homicide detective Charlotte Caissie is dedicated to bringing down the crime boss responsible for her father’s murder. Using Jimmy Legere’s right hand man is a dangerous gamble, not just because of his ruthless reputation as more monster than man, but because her feelings for her mysterious and irresistible enemy are … complicated. There’s just something about Max.

Rescued from the swamps as a child, Max Savoie owes Jimmy Legere his life. Existing silently in his rescuer’s shadow, he heeds only one voice. Until Charlotte Caissie awakens his emotions and tests his loyalties. Forced to step outside his cautious rules to save her, he risks more than his heart . . . he risks exposing his dark secret.

Working together means facing the truth about who and what they are, and what they need from one another. If Max is the murderer she seeks, Cee Cee might be his next victim. She can’t afford to trust any man. Good thing Max isn’t one.

Learn more about MASKED BY MOONLIGHT (June), CHASED BY MOONLIGHT (July), CAPTURED BY MOONLIGHT (August) and the rest of the series by visiting me at http://nancygideon.com/.

Want to win a copy of MASKED BY MOONLIGHT? Then tell me…What’s your favorite “outside the line” you’ve found in a romance book? I’ll pick one commenter to win.

Thanks!

Nancy Gideon

Today, I’m helping JoJo celebrate her birthday bash–and I’m talking vamps. Or, rather, things I know about vamps. If you get a chance, come join the bash & you could win a copy of I’LL BE SLAYING YOU.

And speaking of I’LL BE SLAYING YOU…I want to thank everyone who entered my newsletter contest. (What? You didn’t know I had a newsletter? Sign up!) The five winners from the contest are:
Gabrielle, Marci C., Sandra S., Patricia M., and Sheila T.  Congratulations!  I have already sent emails to these winners with prize details.

Thanks!! I hope you are enjoying my Deadly Days of Summer.

Breaking the “romance rules”

I recently read a survey done by fellow author Cara McKenna at Naughty Author Chicks which identified several topics that are seen to be “forbidden” in erotic romance. Well, three of those topics — birth control, sex for conception and infertility — are in my book Lost and Found, out tomorrow with Samhain Publishing.

I broke a lot of other “romance rules” in this book, including the big, supposedly sacred romance “rule”: the heroine is married. And there is marital infidelity – although not the way you might think. There are also moral issues in this story that aren’t black and white, but rather shades of gray.

Since I broke so many rules, does this story even meet the definition of romance?

The Romance Writers of America defines romance as:

A Central Love Story: The main plot centers around two individuals falling in love and struggling to make the relationship work. A writer can include as many subplots as he/she wants as long as the love story is the main focus of the novel.

An Emotionally-Satisfying and Optimistic Ending: In a romance, the lovers who risk and struggle for each other and their relationship are rewarded with emotional justice and unconditional love.

It’s the “struggle” that make each romance unique. According to the “romance rules” we know there is going to be a happy ending, but it’s the obstacles the characters face and how they overcome them to get to their happy ending that makes each romance unique. The obstacles that can stand in the way of a couple falling in love and being together are endless. In this case, I chose to write about a very difficult one:  one of the characters is already married.

Few people would ever agree that infidelity is okay. It’s a pretty black and white issue, right? Infidelity is wrong. But are there shades of gray? Are there powerful desires and emotions that compel people to make the choices they do? Can good people make bad decisions? Do they still deserve to find happiness?

Although I broke the “romance rules”, there is a romance in this story. Is there a “happy ever after” ending? Well, I don’t think I could write a story without that. But you’ll have to read the story to find out how it ends, and to see if I broke too many romance rules!

Kelly Jamieson

www.kellyjamieson.com

Update: Thank you all so much for the birthday wishes!  And thank you for sharing your birthday memories with me. I had such a wonderful time reading through all the comments. You’ve sure had some fabulous birthday celebrations!
The winner of the $15 Amazon.com gift certificate (by random drawing) is…Jeanette Juan! Congrats, Jeanette!

Hi, everyone!  Hope you are enjoying my Deadly Days of Summer.

Today is my birthday (Yay! Happy birthday to me!) so I thought I’d share the birthday cheer and give one commenter a present. Want to win a $15 Amazon.com gift certificate? Then just tell me about your favorite birthday memory.  Share! I’ll pick one random commenter to win.

And have a great day.  🙂

Update:  The inner of a copy of GRAVE NEW DAY is…Cindy Carrol! Congrats, Cindy!

Paranormal authors must have certain qualities in order to write in their genre: A very open mind. Imagination that goes beyond the earthly realm. Love of the unexplained. Maybe we all have a bit of scientist in us. In our own way we’re exploring our world and beyond. We look at our plot and ask ‘what if’ we twist this into something darker and more dangerous (just saying that makes me smile). And for those whose imagination extends beyond the boundaries of earthly unexplained phenomena or mythology – there are no limits to what can be done in the paranormal genre. Editors are looking for what’s different, but in a way that is familiar and sought-after by readers. As difficult as that sounds, there are elements that are intrinsic in all books.

Good writing is based on emotion. In my mind, the main, most important element of your book is emotion. The eerie/dangerous/magical/maniacal, and the list goes on… elements lend themselves nicely to building emotion and angst in our books, so it’s lots of fun to write. The characters are bigger than life, so their emotions and angst have to be bigger than life as well. That can be a challenge.

More often than not these characters are physically stronger than normal. Maybe they can’t die. Or maybe they can die, but it’s very difficult to kill them. Or they have superpowers, but a green meteor rock is their Achilles heel. <G> That creates major differences from writing non-paranormal books (obviously) but it goes further than that. Creating these personalities is different, not just because our characters are paranormal, but because their emotions can’t possibly be the same as a real person’s. Their lives aren’t impacted by the same things as mortal men, therefore, their fears and desires must also be different. For example: What are paranormal characters afraid of? What kinds of angst do they have? Their daily lives are unpredictable, and their abilities are not the same as mortal men.

I’ve always wanted to write category romance as well as paranormal but couldn’t quite sell the romances even though I came close. I now believe it was because I didn’t understand the importance of emotion in the romances. Sounds silly not understanding the importance of emotion in a romance – I know. I thought I wrote enough emotion, but in reality I was more interested in creating unique plots, etc. than making sure the hero and heroine were emotionally and inseparably connected.

It wasn’t until I began to write paranormals that I realized how paramount emotion is to binding my whole story into an unputdownable book. That’s when I realized what I’d been doing wrong. For some reason, I “got it” when I wrote paranormal. Paranormal romance has many of the same relationship elements as does a regular romance, only in a paranormal, life and death often come into play; relationships are doomed if not impossible, problems seem insurmountable, needs are bigger and emotion is as jagged and exposed as many of the wounds and conflicts in the books.

Given that information, writing a paranormal character who can’t die, or who is exponentially stronger than any human, it’s important to create a set of problems for the hero or heroine that is as large as the characters themselves. Uber emotion. Their problems have to be worse. They don’t worry about death, they don’t worry about pain (sometimes) — so what do they worry about?

My heroine is a vampire, her brother is a priest. She worries about losing her faith. About going against everything she and her brother believe in. There’s nothing small about that. It’s her daily angst, she worries that she’ll lose herself to the darkness that invades her soul every minute. She can’t die, but she can lose her immortal soul. A worse than death problem for her.

It wasn’t until I started writing Jess Vandermire, my female vampire and John Brittain, her love match and human ex-cop that I learned how integral emotion is in a book. She’s strong—he’s weaker physically. She might kill him if she loses control; and if that happens, the only way he can stop her is to kill her. Not something either of them wants to contemplate. Their problems seem insurmountable. Yet, I did give them a point of connection at the beginning of the series. She’s a vampire and can no longer practice her faith, he’s an ex-cop who believes he committed murder and therefore won’t go back to the church because he committed a mortal sin. It’s the one area where they are equal and they understand how the other feels. They understand on an emotional level, rather than physical level.

The next time you read a book, try reading it for the emotion. Maybe compare the books you really like to those that aren’t quite your cup of tea. You might find the differences are in the amount of emotion conveyed in the books…

Thanks to all the readers and writers who’ve joined in on this blog and have taken the time to listen to this author’s perspective on writing. It’s been a pleasure.

Thanks very much, Cynthia, for inviting me to your blog. You’ve done a great job with it.

There’ll be a ‘Grave New Day’ – New Release giveaway at the end of the day.  If you win, and you’d rather start with the first book in the series, rather than the third, I’ll send you Grave Illusions to get you started.