Today it’s my pleasure to welcome the super-talented and always gracious Saskia Walker to The Bradford Bunch! Saskia has one steaming hot read out this month, Reckless (I’ve been waiting for this one!). The busy lady also just inked a two-book deal with Harelquin Spice. (Congrats!!)

Saskia, thanks so much for guest blogging with us!

And now, on to Saskia’s post…

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First up, I want to thank the Bradford Bunch for inviting me to guest blog. You’re an awesome group of writers and this is a real honor. What I’d like to do is chat about what I call “a sense of place.” I’ve also seen this called “setting as character.”

Setting is a crucial element of any project for me, and I truly revel in that part of the writing. Maybe it’s because I’ve lived in many different countries. That’s part of what defines me as a person. Maybe it’s also because many of the books I love from long ago echo the setting as part of the whole, from Agatha Christie’s DEATH ON THE NILE to Susan Johnson’s Russia in LOVE STORM.

When I started writing, however, I wasn’t consciously aware I was striving for setting, particularly. Then I happened to notice I was choosing to adopt different places from project to project. Once I noticed that, I started worrying I was doing it well enough, of course.

My feeling is setting is very similar to historical research, in that the author’s knowledge of the society, customs, and landscape should underpin the story, not overwhelm it. The place and atmosphere should also be integral to the story, and one of my big worries is achieving that. In an article on this subject, author Timothy Hallinan states: “It will play a role in the story. It will affect your characters. In some ways it will reflect them.”

My first novella for Red Sage, “Summer Lightning,” was set on the Northumberland coast of England. This is the most untouched coastline of England and it’s both beautiful and eerie at times, the coastline dotted with ancient castles and long stretches of sandy beach that are all but deserted. My couple met on one such deserted beach on a humid, stormy night. They both care about the place, and ultimately the place had a big part in drawing them back together when a long-distance relationship clearly wasn’t going to work. In UNVEILING THE SORCERESS, an exotic fantasy novel, I explored a fantasyland based on my experience of living in the United Arab Emirates. I was trying to recreate the feeling of living in a place where lifestyle is determined by climate, heritage, and custom.

In my current novel-length release, RECKLESS, the setting moves from the City of London to Barcelona, and then to a villa deeper in the Catalonia region of Spain. The story has a mystery element, and Catalonia is special to me because mystery and seduction truly seem to be everywhere, from the architecture to the sultry eyed locals. I wanted to weave that into the plot, and to the developing relationships. A tall order! As a writer I know I’m always learning, and I know it could always have been better because writing is a constant learning process. However, I gave it my best shot, and if you pick up the novel I hope that you’ll find the flavor of the Catalan region echoes enticingly through the story.

What about you? Are there any books that come to mind when you think about setting? It doesn’t have to be a geographical location. The setting might be a fancy hotel, a sexy nightclub, or an austere block of apartments. Share your memorable book/film settings and I’ll pick one to win a copy of RECKLESS.

Saskia Walker

I’m totally being lazy and copying this meme. 

Six odd random things about me that you probably didn’t want to know…

1. I’m the most disorganized person ever…yet I’m extremely rooted in routine.  I’m not sure how that works, but somehow it does.  So when someone messes with my mess or bumps me out of routine I get very irritated.  Hmm, OCD much???

2. When I was in high school, I had a big blue mohawk and sometimes my English teacher couldn’t teach because I was too distracting.  (I sat at the front of the class eagerly, so he would make me move to the back)

3. I love teen movies.  I can’t get enough of them.  It’s probably because I don’t want to grow up.  Some favorites: Superbad, The Faculty, The Craft, Cursed, Ten Things I Hate About You

4. I started a writing course by correspondence, but only ever finished one assignment before I sold my first short story to Playgirl magazine.  Needless to say I never finished that course.

5. I wrote screenplays before I ever wrote a novel or even a novella.  I’ve written seven and have been close to selling twice.   It was extremely heartbreaking so I decided to write books instead.   I still have aspirations to screenwrite.   My lifelong dream is to win an Oscar for best original screenplay.

6. When I saw WANTED in the theatre on Sunday, I got turned on while watching the part where Wesley completely innihilates his enemies.  Lots of gunplay and blood.   I thought it was one of the sexiest movies I’ve seen in a long time.  Hmm, I wonder what that says about me???

  Say, first I have a brand new of this morning release from Ellora’s Cave called Roughing It.  I tried patching it onto this blog but it looks as if it isn’t going to happen, rats.

Commercial interruption over, onto my thoughts of the day.    

 I have no problem admitting that if Neil Diamond offered to sweep me off my feet, I’d be out the door in a minute. Yes, the singer/composer is getting a little long in the tooth but so am I. My devotion comes not just because he still looks pretty darn good and undoubtedly has more money in his checking account than I ever will and hob nobs with the hob nobbers.The man speaks to me. His music reaches places inside me that need to be reached. It’s always been like that. Whether he’s kicking out Cracklin’ Rosie, Holly Holly, or Traveling Salvation Show or taking it slow and contemplative with Play Me or I am..I said, the words and music and mood are exactly what I need.What, for me, it all boils down to is that as an artist, Neil thinks artist thoughts and has artist emotions and I’ve spend all my writing years wanting to believe the same about myself. I’m going to steal a little text from his latest CD called Home Before Dark that hopefully gives an idea what I’m talking about. 

      He began with an admission: “After all these years recording all these songs, all these albums, it would be fair to assume that I’d become accustomed to the process: that I’d have honed or even mastered the methods required, so much so that by now I should be able to churn out songs in my sleep.”

     That’s me. I’ve had something in the neighborhood of 50 books published so wouldn’t you think I could just go to my filing cabinet and pull out plot Q to mesh with hero G and heroine M. This time I’ll use setting J and combine conflict B with conflict Y and knock out that sucker in a couple of weeks.Well as any writer will tell you, it’s not like that. Each book or novella is like starting all over again. Knowing that none other than Neil Diamond can admit the same thing is a huge relief.His ability to express the writer’s process goes beyond cranking out the words. 

     More examples from his text:1. I’m as hungry as I ever was: the emptiness deep inside me aches even more. Making music (or writing) is my life, the one constant I can’t live without.2. For all practical purposes, I appeared to be present in all the places I could usually be found but at the same time, not really there at all. It was like diving into the deep end at a pool party; underwater, you can hear the sounds of voices and revelry around you but it’s distorted–you’re alone. You’re in your own womb-like world.3. This isolation caused a deep uneasiness which I carried around with me every day that I spent writing this album. I could only find relief when I was working on a song that truly absorbed me, so that became my first goal: find ideas–musical, lyrical or conceptual–that thrilled me with their possibilities, thus distracting me from my inner fears.

    Years ago I said I write because I can’t not write. That has never changed and I don’t want it to.

Questions of the day.  1. What’s your reaction to the edgy Roughing It cover.  2. Which singer or group truly speaks to you

The Art of Blurbage

By Mandy M. Roth & Michelle M. Pillow

Ever try to fit a stadium full of people into a Yugo? Picture herding them one by one, cramming, shoving, resorting to chainsaws and needing waders to avoid the blood spillage only to find out that no matter how hard you push, it’s not gonna work. That’s how writing a blurb feels to me.

*Michelle jumps in.* Hey, now, let’s not scare these good people.

*Mandy eyes Michelle’s outfit* Me scare people? I’m not the one in a pink tutu and princess crown.

*Michelle sways back and forth in her pretty princess dress* Uh-hem, as we were saying….

Taking a 100k novel and condensing it into a two hundred word bait-and-buy paragraph. Not always fun to do, but I’ll be the first to admit it’s important and must be done. Some houses do this for you. (To you, we offer our first-born.) Others want it done only to have someone fine tune for you. Finally, at some houses the buck stops at you. It’s your responsibility as the author of the book to write your own blurb.

*Michelle looks at Mandy, confused* What’s that noise? Nails scratching down a chalkboard?

*Mandy shakes her head* That’s the sound I make before I sit down to work on my blurb.

If you find yourself in the position of writing your own blurb, there are several things to keep in mind to make this process easier.

1.       This is not a synopsis. You don’t need to give away the ending, or even the middle of the book. Not every character needs to be named and not every plot point needs to be hinted at. Don’t add spoilers. Focus instead on what makes your book unique.

2.       Keep it short. Normally a few hundred words are sufficient to get the reader hooked.

3.       Give just enough to tease the readers and make them want more.

4.       Use action words, keep it exciting.

5.       Don’t mislead. Readers could become disappointed if your blurb promises one thing but the book delivers another.

6.       Use the blurb to set the tone of the book. Is it dark and mysterious? Comical? Let the blurb portray that style.

7.       For ideas, go to bookstores and read the blurbs of some bestselling authors.

8.       Try writing two completely different blurbs for the same book. Have a few people test read them for you and see which one gets the best response.

9.       Double check your publishing house to make sure they don’t have any set guidelines. For example, some places do not want you to end your blurb with a question.

*Michelle mutters under her breath* There is nothing wrong with my outfit. Besides, you’re wearing skulls and a witch hat.

Keeping these tips in mind will definitely help ease the blurb writing burden.

*Mandy rolls her eyes, whispering back* I like my skulls. They’re classy.

About the Authors

Michelle M. Pillow and Mandy M. Roth are published romance authors. Michelle’s newest release, Recipe for Disaster, will be on bookshelves June 10^th. Mandy’s newest release, Daughter of Darkness 3: Bella Mia, comes out the end of June. Check their websites for more details.

Michelle’s Links

Website, www.michellepillow.com

Blog, www.michellepillow.com/blog

Mandy’s Links

Website, www.mandyroth.com

Blog, www.mandyroth.com/blog

The Raven

Website, www.ravenhappyhour.com

Radio Show, http://www.blogtalkradio.com/ravenradio

I love bad boys.  To me, there’s just something about a hero who has flirted (and crossed) that fine line between good and evil.  Love it.

Some of my all time favorite bad boys are: Spike (come on, had to list him!), Cole from Charmed, Dracula (yeah, I root for him in all the movies), and Riddick from Pitch Black.  Such great bad boys, er, men.

For a long time, I’ve been a fan of the Kensington Brava “Bad Boys” anthologies, and I’m super excited to have the opportunity to be in one of these anthologies.  EVERLASTING BAD BOYS will hit store shelves at the end of August.  This anthology also includes a paranormal story from Shelly Laurenston and one from Noelle Mack (great authors!).  Yep, at the end of August, this baby will be on store shelves.

But I have a few Advanced Reader Copies of the anthology available, and I’d sure like to give one away…

So, leave me a comment and tell me your favorite bad boy.  I’ll be back on Saturday, and I’ll pick one commenter at random to win an autographed ARC of EVERLASTING BAD BOYS.

Good luck!

I’d like to extend a big Bradford Bunch welcome to Shelli Stevens. Shelli is one of our wonderful Bradford sisters–and she recently landed a new book deal. (Congrats, Shelli!)

Here is her recent deal listing from Publishers Marketplace:

“Shelli Stevens’s CAPTURED ROSE, on a planet where females are on the endangered species list, a woman who has spent her life in erotic servitude to the three wealthy and powerful men who own her finds freedom and passion in the arms of her abductor, a man who should be her fiercest enemy, to Peter Sentfleben at Kensington Aphrodisia, in a nice deal, in a two-book deal, by Laura Bradford at Bradford Literary Agency.”

It’s great to have you here, Shelli!

Now, on to Shelli’s guest post..

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Hi to the Bradford Bunch and its readers! Can I just say how freaking thrilled I am to be guest blogging here? Everyone has been so welcoming and sweet! Big hugs and thanks again!

If you don’t know me, I’m Shelli Stevens. The newest client (I think, there could be more by now!) at the Bradford Literary Agency. I write various genres of spicy romance from contemporary, to suspense and now I’m jumping feet first into super hot futuristics! I’ll have two of those coming out with Kensington Aphrodisia in the future.

So you now know that I’m a writer. What you may not know is I’m also a single mom. Meaning…I don’t get out much. The break down: I haven’t been on a date in at least a couple of years! But tonight I’m going out. No, it’s not a date (I’ll get there someday!), but it IS just as much fun! I’m doing a ladies night.

That’s right me and a few gals from my local RWA chapter are getting a hotel room and having a girl’s night in. We’re indulging in movies, blended drinks, food, and lots of fun. There’s a bar downstairs that tends to be filled with business men, so who knows…maybe we’ll even get a little flirting in on the side? Though… dang it, I think I’m the only single one. *Sigh* And so it goes.

But regardless, I need this night off. I need this time to remind myself I’m more than just a mother and writer. Yeah, I’m stepping into an alternate reality–I don’t get there much, but when I do…watch out!

So how about you? What do you do to take a step back from reality? Tell me what goes down on a good night off for you? I’ll draw a name from those who comment, and the winner will win a copy of any one of my ebooks!

Hugs,

Shelli

http://www.shellistevens.com

No, I don’t know why!  Just don’t bug me, all right!  Gzz, it’s my bad.  I’ll deal with it.

Ah, got that off my chest, kinda.  Here’s the deal, I have this here contract with Kensington Aphrodisia that calls for me writing three erotica novels.  I had #1 under my belt (hardly the first erotica I’ve written) and plowed into researching for #2.  Everything was steaming along.  I had my characters, my setting, the primary conflict (he’s a shape-shifter, she an animal psychic).  I knew that once again it would have capture/bondage elements ’cause that’s what Vonna Harper is known for.  So I started writing, throwing several minor characters into the opening chapters thinking I knew what I was going to do with them.  I figured my heroine’s main characterization hit was that as an animal psychic. she has to take what animals ‘tell’ her and translate that into knowledge her employer can use.  She’s a loner as might be expected of one who barely understands her gift.  The hero was/is simpler.  He’d died a violent death but came back with the ability to shift into cougar form.  He wants himself a woman and goes about it much as a cougar might.

Then came some problems, specifically one big one.  Kai, my heroine, simply didn’t have enough depth to sustain a book especially since we know so little about the hero’s background until near the end.  I didn’t know her backstory.  Yes, being an animal psychic is kinda cool if I do say so myself, but there has to be more than that to her, like what does her family consist of, past relationships, her career, minor things.  Kai’s lack of a background kept nagging at me, but I plowed along.  Every night I’d try to brainstorm what needed to happen next in the story.  I kicked myself to the corner when I realized I only needed one minor character and drove myself crazy trying to decide whether my hero’s (Hok’ee) shape-shifting friend should/could come back to life after he’s killed.  An even bigger issue, I lacked the kind of personal conflict that leads to a satisfying resolution.  What in their personalities threatens to drive them apart?  Duh, I didn’t know.

Then the other night I was watching a news program where a young man spoke emotionally about losing his beloved father six months ago.  His raw pain spoke to me and suddenly I knew what I had to do to Kai.  Instead of having lost her parents years ago, only Mom would have kicked the bucket when she was a child.  She and her father became a family, two people bonded by love and mutual respect.  Then he dies in an accident and, reeling, she walks away from her job.  Some six months later she is trying to pull herself back together by accepting a career challenge.  Now when she realizes how alone Hok’ee is (it’s hard for a shape shifter to have a network of friends, especially when he’s forced to live in the Arizona wilderness), she has to decide whether she’s emotionally strong enough to commit to him.

Just writing this about Kai stirs something inside me.  I care about her in ways I didn’t before.  I want that happy ending for her and for that to happen, Hok’ee has to step beyond himself and do some commiting of his own.

Yeah, this is good.  This gives the whole story emotion. 

The danged problem is, now I have to go back through the whole frickin story and salt that in.  If I’d known this from the get-go, I’d have saved myself a ton of work.

Next time, Vonna, know where you’re heading before you start!!!

Okay, question of the day, has this happened to the other writers out there and for readers, can you tell when a writer hasn’t gotten her act together?

www.VonnaHarper.com

Today, we have a terrific guest post from Jeri Smith-Ready. I had the pleasure to first meet Jeri at the RWA National Conference in Atlanta back in (jeez…what was that?) 2006. Jeri is an absolutely wonderful lady–and a fabulous writer. She has a new book on the shelves now–WICKED GAME (a brilliant new twist on vampires). If you haven’t read this book, I would highly recommend putting it on your TBR list!

Welcome, Jeri!

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Hi, everyone! Thanks to the Bradford Bunch and especially Cynthia Eden for inviting me to come and yak about the process of writing my new release, WICKED GAME (Pocket Books, May 13).

I’ll be giving away one signed copy of the novel–to enter, just post a comment. A name will be drawn at random after 11:59 Eastern time Wednesday, June 4.

Stranger Than Fiction – The Pleasures and Pitfalls of Research

Authors often discover fascinating (and disturbing!) facts while researching our books. For me, that’s one of the most fun parts of writing—encountering new worlds, exploring their nuances, and eventually pillaging them for my own purposes.

I thought I’d share a few tidbits I learned while writing WICKED GAME, and how they each affected the writing process.

But first, La Blurb:

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Late-night radio you can sink your teeth into

Recovering con artist Ciara Griffin is trying to live the straight life, even if it means finding a (shudder!) real job. She takes an internship at a local radio station, whose late-night time-warp format features 1940s blues, 60s psychedelia, 80s Goth, and more, all with an uncannily authentic flair. Ciara soon discovers how the DJs maintain their cred: they’re vampires, stuck forever in the eras in which they were turned.

Ciara’s first instinct, as always, is to cut and run. But communications giant Skywave wants to buy WMMP and turn it into just another hit-playing clone. Without the station—and the link it provides to their original Life Times—the vampires would “fade,” becoming little more than mindless ghosts of the past. Suddenly a routine corporate takeover becomes a matter of life and un-death.

To boost ratings and save the lives of her strange new friends, Ciara re-brands the station as “WVMP, the Lifeblood of Rock ’n’ Roll.” In the ultimate con, she hides the DJs’ vampire nature in plain sight, disguising the bloody truth as a marketing gimmick. WVMP becomes the hottest thing around—next to Ciara’s complicated affair with grunge vamp Shane McAllister. But the “gimmick” enrages a posse of ancient and powerful vampires who aren’t so eager to be brought into the light. Soon the stakes are higher-and the perils graver-than any con game Ciara’s ever played…

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So my three major areas of research were:

Vampires

Con artists

Rock ‘n’ Roll

“Real” Vampires – Most vampires in my book don’t kill people—at least, not on purpose. Instead, they form relationships with willing ‘donors,’ who give them blood in exchange for money, sex, or the thrill of the bite itself.

After watching Shane drink from a donor (one who likes it enough to try to pay him for the privilege), Ciara asks him, “How do you find these weirdos?”

He answers:

“Anymore, it’s easy, thanks to the internet. Type ‘mortals seeking vampires’ into any search engine, and you’ll see what I mean.” He glances back at the street we just left. “This one moved from Baltimore to Sherwood to be closer to me. That and the better school system.”

Shane’s not kidding. A Google search on “Mortals Seeking Vampires” brings you to a classified ad page where people can plead for a vampire to show them the ways of the night. Some are just looking for information, some want to be tasted, and some want to be ‘turned.’

Reading this page and others like it, I discovered the subculture of ‘real’ vampires—people who believe they need to drink human blood. They call themselves ‘sanguinarians.’

From the sanguinarians I learned many helpful tips about safe blood drinking. Then I had to lie down until that swishiness in my head went away. (I’m probably way too squeamish to write about vampires. Let’s not even discuss what I learned about decapitation.)

Change Raising – a classic con game, depicted in movies (THE GRIFTERS, PAPER MOON), television shows (HUSTLE), and now, in WICKED GAME.

By purchasing a small-cost item (<$1) and then making change in a series of rapid maneuvers, a con artist can turn ten dollars into twenty without the cashier ever knowing what happened. The key is to do it too quickly for the sucker to follow and to make distracting small talk.

At WVMP’s big debut party, Ciara plays this trick on her boss Franklin. Not your average chump, Franklin is a shrewd, suspicious salesman—a con artist of a different sort. In a new twist, she even tells him it’s a trick, but he still falls for it.

The change-raising routine is so confusing (to us non-grifters), every time I edited or proofread this scene, I felt certain I’d screwed it up. So I’d pull out actual money and go through the con step-by-step from the text. It worked every time. Sometimes I resent Ciara for being smarter than I am.

“Drain You” – I wanted Shane to play this Nirvana song for Ciara when he takes her on their first real date, an intimate Fourth of July picnic. (Food and music—my ultimate romantic fantasy, and if my husband is reading this, yes, it’s a hint!)

It was important to me that readers unfamiliar with the music in the book could still get a feel for the way the songs sound and their emotional meaning to the characters. For a human/vampire relationship, a title like “Drain You” holds a pretty clear message.

Problem was, I couldn’t find a single video on YouTube of someone playing it on an acoustic guitar. It finally occurred to me, the non-musician, that not every rock song can be translated to acoustic. Finally I sought the opinion of my own guitar man, my husband Chris. His answer (paraphrased):

An unusually talented guitar player could probably figure out a way to rearrange the song to make it sound decent on acoustic. I am not an unusually talented guitar player, and obviously neither are those guys on YouTube. But maybe Shane is.

And that was how I decided that once upon a time, Shane had gotten a scholarship in music theory to Ohio University (which he never finished, but that’s another story). He’s not someone who just dorks around on a guitar now and then to impress the ladies. He knows his stuff, which of course makes him a great DJ as well.

I hope these examples shed a little light on how research can affect everything from worldbuilding to characterization and even the editing process itself.

And of course, I hope it makes you want to read more about Ciara and Shane in their first book, WICKED GAME!

I’ll be out of town Saturday, but will catch up on comments and questions when I come home Sunday night. Thanks for stopping by, everyone!

Jeri

So I am thinking I need to change the day that I blog. For some strange reason every other Friday my daughter comes down with some sickness or other, and it ends up being late morning before I get around to posting. Of course by then most of my daily allotment of brain cells have been saturated.

I had a lot of topics go through my mind as I was attempting to get online to post. In the end I decided to take about paranormal stories. I am still trying to get going on some new projects. So far I have several ideas in mind and some notes down but haven’t had the opportunity to write much on them. Before I do get started I would love to hear from the readership.

What are your thoughts on the paranormal industry today? Do you read them? Do you love them? Do you have favorite themes—werewolves, psychics, ghosts, etc. And do you feel there is one area that has been overdone while others remain relatively uncovered?

I have a couple ghost stories in mind at current. I haven’t seen a lot on this area yet. But then, I haven’t had a lot of time to read lately, so perhaps I am just fooling myself. What do you think?

~ jodi