The Heroes That Stick With Us

SIS is proud and thrilled to present guest blogger, Sensual Romance Author (and super-cool, super-close friend of Beth's) ..... Julia Templeton!

I'm one of those authors who has a relatively easy time letting go of my characters. I finish their story and move on to the next book...and honestly, by the time I write "THE END", I'm ready to move on. But for some reason I had a tough time saying goodbye to Victor Rayborne, the middle brother of the infamous rakes of Rochester.

For those of you who are not familiar with the The Rakehells of Rochester series––the Rayborne brothers have a horrible reputation as scoundrels for sleeping their way through London and Rochester. When the brothers are given an ultimatum from their parents to marry or lose everything, they begin their search for brides. Easier said than done when they have a well-meaning mother who is constantly throwing the wrong woman in their path.

From the moment I started writing the first book in the series, Victor stood out for me. I loved his sarcasm, his wit, and the fact that he absolutely owned who he was. He made no apologies, offered no explanations, and never took himself too seriously. I think that's what I loved most of all. He was different than any other hero I had written, and that was also part of his appeal. I wrote his story over a year ago...but I think he'll always hold a special place in my heart.

So my question to you is this––is there a hero who has stuck with you long after finishing a book?

I have a ton of books on my keeper shelf, but I'll start with one of my favorites--Karen Marie Moning's Barrons from her Fever series. OMG, that woman writes magic!

For those of you who answer, your name will be going into a drawing to win signed copies of SINJIN & VICTOR, books one and two of The Rakehells of Rochester series.

The Witch Is In The House!

NOTE FROM SIS... Please welcome, multi published author, Linda Wisdom!

Mega thanks to the sisters for having me here.

First off, I’ve been published for 30 years writing for Silhouette and Harlequin books, Dell Candlelight Ecstasy, Bantam Loveswept, and a single title romantic suspense with Kensington. I think all I wrote in the past prepared me for now.

Elle asked me to talk about the witches in my paranormal series and why I chose the hexsters.

I’ve always enjoyed witches be it Looney Tunes Witch Hazel (I totally love her laugh), Samantha Stevens (even if she gave in to Darrin too much on her power), Veronica Lake’s old Salem witch in My Favorite Witch and moving up to the sisters in Practical Magic, which is one of my favorite movies. I wanted witches that did more than cast spells and dispelled the rumor they ride brooms or wear pointy hats. I think my series did that.

Jazz and her fellow witches began in 2005. My agent at the time wanted me to write dark edgy vampires and while I love reading them I knew I couldn’t write it and I didn’t want to make myself crazy (okay, crazier) trying to write it. Then Jazz popped into my head with “you really need to write about me”. Cute, sassy, snarky, and totally fun. My kind of witch. I saw Irma, her ghostly sidekick, Fluff and Puff, her fangy bunny slippers, and best of, Nick, the sexiest vampire around.

The premise behind the series is that the class of 1313 of the Witches Academy was expelled after one of the students performed an illegal spell on a local nobleman and no one would own up nor snitch. The girls stood together. So they were banished for 100 years as long as they behaved. And 700 years later they’re still out in the world. And more time is added to the 100 years each time they do something the Witches Council doesn’t feel is appropriate.

Instead of a series featuring the same characters, I hope to write all the witches in the class. Each with their own distinct personality and power. So far, I have Jazz, the witch who can eliminate curses and lives in LA, because Hollywood needs her. Stasi, who deals in romance, creates love spells and owns a lingerie/romance bookstore in a small mountain town. Blair, Stasi’s housemate, who owns a retro shop and very gifted in revenge spells. If your husband or boyfriend cheats on you she’s the one to go to. Maggie, my kick ass witch, who’s a member of the Cerberus Guard, protectors of all creatures. She’s happiest when she’s fighting someone. And Thea, the diva romance novelist, whose day is dreary if she’s not on the NYT bestseller list or she breaks a nail.

As for the men. Total yum! Jazz has vampire Nick, her on and off again lover for the past few hundred years. Stasi has wizard attorney Trev, who’s got sex appeal. Blair’s honey, Jake, a local carpenter with some furry secrets. A hot half fire demon named Declan for Maggie and a ghostly gunfighter for Thea.

What can I say? I can’t make it too easy for them, can I? And I don’t. But that also can mean I don’t make it easy for myself.

It’s not just researching spells, I’m also researching the past, because these witches have a long history and I need to make sure the historical facts are correct. Not that they’ve been noblewomen in the past. Jazz spent the longest two hours of her life as a carhop. Stasi was a seamstress for a duchess. Blair had been a parlor maid. Maggie was able to work as a bodyguard for female nobility and Thea wrote novels under various pen names.

Magick means you can’t use it for personal gain and they, especially, couldn’t. They could protect themselves and even protect the weak.

Along the way, they learned a lot about themselves and many times had fun doing it.

I also wanted to create characters that I hoped my readers could identify with. Women they’d want to hang out with, go shopping, and have lunch with. Sure, they have great magickal power, have creature sidekicks most of us wouldn’t think of, and they’ve been on earth a long time, but they also have their Starbucks addiction and Jazz can’t live without the creams from The Body Bakery. They’re still thrust into very human situations and I love to play with how they’ll deal with them.

A high praise for any author is to hear her readers love her characters or want a pair of magick bunny slippers. As for me, not only do I have a couple pair of bunny slippers that seem to scoot around during the night, but they’re also tattooed on my ankle as is Horace, Stasi’s perv of a gargoyle.

By now, they’re friends and very real to me. I hope that any of you that read my books will feel the same way.

And what about you? Do you enjoy snarky and sexy? Or something darker? And would you want a pair of bunny slippers that can eat a man if they’re so inclined?

Linda

**A note from Elle--if anyone is interested in taking one of Linda's online classes, you can find a list of them at http://www.storystewuniversity.com/. I've already signed up for "My Bunny Slippers Ate My Homework". Join me in learning from the best how to weave preternatural creatures into your story!

Series vs Single Title—In This Corner Wearing the Red Trunks…

A note from SIS: Please welcome guest blogger, multi published author, Jordan Summers!


When I first started writing romances, my goal was to finish one book. I loved the idea of writing a book and being done with it, when I typed ‘The End’. The goal was to wrap everything up and leave the reader with a feeling of satisfaction when they reached the last page. About a year or two into my burgeoning (it’s still burgeoning *g*) writing career the focus at the publishing houses shifted. Everyone started to ask if the book I turned in was part of a series. As a new writer, I panicked. Most of the books I’d written (and there weren’t many) hadn’t been intended as a series. Of course I didn’t say that when they asked. *wg* Instead, I went back to my manuscripts and took a closer look at the storylines and the secondary characters. Even if you aren’t naturally a series writer, you may be someone who subconsciously puts enough elements in your book to create a series. I figured out fairly quickly that my storylines may or may not carry over into a series, but I had created interesting secondary characters——characters that I routinely received emails about from readers asking me when I planned to tell their stories.

In writing classes, you don’t really learn that there are ways of getting around certain obstacles when it comes to writing a book and publishing. It’s not a subject that comes up.

I took those secondary characters and used them to build series. I did it with my Atlantean’s Quest series and my Phantom Warrior series. It made writing both those series a lot of fun. When I decided to write my Dead World series, things changed. In the first place, it wasn’t supposed to be a series. RED was supposed to be a stand-alone title. Later I was asked to turn the book into a series. This brought up problems I’d never faced before. There were several secondary characters, but none really stood out as a potential lead. Also, my main hero’s and heroine’s story wasn’t quite finished. (At the end of RED, it had just begun.)

I had to learn how to create a larger story ARC. Fortunately, I’d introduced a large enough plot and world in RED to carry over for three books. After finishing the series and having the final book, CRIMSON release last month, I have newfound respect for all the authors who have a continuing series that runs for more than four books. It’s tough. You have to make sure the characters stay true, create a plot for the current book, and keep the larger story ARC in mind (ticking along) at all times. It’s much easier in my opinion to write a stand-alone single title.
That said, I’m glad that I had the opportunity to write RED, SCARLET, and CRIMSON. If I hadn’t, I would’ve never known that I could write a series with the same hero and heroine in all three books.


Learn more about Jordan and her books by visiting her website and blog!

Olympic Fever --Guest Blogger, Taylor Van Nest

Pre-note from Taylor... "I just wanted to say thank you once again to Beth and all her sisters for letting me blog again and welcoming me so warmly to the team. And thank you to everyone who responded last week, I look forward to many more this week!!"

About a week or so ago I woke up to the great news on TV that in 100 days we will be welcoming the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver. I'm just going to come out and say it: I absolutely love anything and everything about the Olympics. Beth can attest to this: for the 2 week period that the 2008 Beijing summer games was on in August I was practically useless at work. If I wasn't watching the Olympics at home I didn't want to do anything else. So if you read my blog from last Friday, you know just how much I enjoy anticipating events!

So come February 12th, 2010 I will plan to neglect all my studies, ignore all outside social life, and more than likely drive myself hungry if I forget to replenish myself. Ok so maybe I won't be that critical, but I get close to it. I'm one of the rare people who prefer the Winter Games over the Summer Games, but I think that's because I just love snow. There's just something about the whole event; the spectacle of it all is mesmerizing. It's not just about the games themselves (I'll get to that in a minute) but the unity of the world getting together. I always love the message of peace, but the celebration of culture and location is always something to admire too. The Olympics go above and beyond to mix sporting with culture, to insert themselves into the history and art of a region.

Take Vancouver's location for example - On it's website, the Olympics proclaim a whole art exhibition related directly to the Olympic event: "From January 22 to March 21, the best artists from Canada and around the world will play in our own backyard. Genre-bending theatre; stunning virtuoso dance; fierce, fresh music; breathtaking visual and digital art extravaganzas — Cultural Olympiad 2010, presented by Bell, will bring it all to Metro Vancouver and the Sea to Sky corridor."

Sounds pretty awesome, huh? But then again, it can't beat some of the adrenaline, crowd-cheering excitement of an Olympic sport game. I love the ski and skating events of course, but I also heavily enjoy the lesser acknowledged games. I love the events such as biathlon, cross-country, and my favorite, curling. Yep, believe it or not a curling event is very exciting. It requires a great amount of skill, timing, and luck. It's not always about how fast someone can be but how well they can play the game. It is also as unique, challenging, and exciting as a skier going 80 mph down a slope!

So like I said, come February 12th don't bother calling me - I won't pick up the phone! The previous winter games, in the majestic Torino, Italy, cannot be matched. But hopefully Vancouver will surprise me in new ways. The theme of this year's games is "With Glowing Hearts". I know that mine is already warming up with anticipation!!So now I turn to you: are you looking forward to the Olympic games? If so, what sport do you look most forward to? And while we're at it, do you have a favorite past Olympic games (Nagano 1998? Salt Lake City 2002?)? Let me know and come join in the anticipation with me!

Here are some Olympic-related links in case you want to explore more!:

http://www.vancouver2010.com/

http://www.curling.teamusa.org/?cmpid=2&keyword=US%20Curling

~~Taylor

Welcome Guest Blogger, Taylor Van Nest

SIS Beth is holed up in her writing cave. A big deadline looms! Her friend, Taylor Van Nest (former co-worker at the library, current Broadcast Journalist major and all around super-cool guy), is covering her butt today. Not literally of course. Please give a big SIS welcome to Taylor!

As a college student I’ve been distracted lately. That’s nothing too surprising, but more than lately it’s become overbearing. Why? Because anticipation has taken over me. You see, I’m in the middle of my three favorite months of the year. Halloween is my favorite holiday, but that’s passed so I won’t get into it (we’ll be here for days!). Up next is Thanksgiving. And there in lies the problem. Thanksgiving and the holiday season that proceeds it are both a wonderful time. But here’s the thing: I’m not interested in just celebrating a single day. I want my holiday all month long!

Like a good suspense movie, it’s all about the build-up. The preparation, the planning, the anticipation itself is where the fun’s at. For I celebrate Thanksgiving as much as Christmas itself. I don’t overlook waiting for the December holiday’s to roll around; I embrace the one coming up sooner. I check the TV Guide to make sure when a Thanksgiving-themed show is on (Food Network has that covered). I read up on my favorite Thanksgiving books (“Twas The Night before Thanksgiving” - a Must-Read!). I even find Thanksgiving themed music – Vince Guraldi’s “Thanksgiving Theme” from the Charlie Brown TV special is cool and crisp, just like the season. I have even been ordering the hot turkey subs at the local convenience store more often (but I just use the holiday as an excuse to enjoy those)! Call me crazy, but investing all the fun into just one day when you can have a month-long build up is much more enjoyable.

So you can see why I might be a little distracted, I’m just trying to get into the Thanksgiving spirit. And the fun doesn’t stop with just one day. Wednesday’s before Thanksgiving are a college kid’s dream: you always skip your professor’s class to get home and hang out with all your friends as soon as possible. On the actual Thanksgiving Day, you get together with family and friends and enjoy the times over delicious food. And Friday morning…early, early morning – you get real crazy like me and go to Kohl’s at 3 in the morning. But as a college student I’m up at that hour anyway, so why not shop? I maximize Thanksgiving into a three-day event, the way it should be celebrated.

And why do I welcome it so happily? Because it’s all about what’s important in my life: that I should share the fun in my life with my friends and family, to share laughs and memories with, and to welcome new ones ahead. Our ancestors had the right idea when they shared all this good feeling over plenty of food. And if that’s not worth celebrating for a whole month, I don’t know what is!

So now I turn the (dinner) tables over to you: what do you look forward to most when it comes to Thanksgiving? Any special ways of catching that Thanksgiving spirit? What are your Thanksgiving rituals and events? I look forward to all your routines and memories, Happy Turkey Day!!

Here’s some links to my favorite Thanksgiving reminders!

‘Twas The Night Before Thanksgiving’ (Book)

Thanksgiving Theme – The Vince Guaraldi Trio (Song player is in top right corner of page)

~Taylor