Wednesday, June 27, 2012

REVISED edition of The Story Behind the Story of PROUD WOLF'S WOMAN by Karen Kay



Thanks for joining me here today. Let me say upfront that I will be giving away a free book today — I'm experimenting with giving away ebooks — so far I haven't figured it out, so I might still be giving away mass market books — but I will be giving away another book to some blogger today — so come on in and please leave a comment in order to enter the contest.

I thought I'd tell you a bit about the writing of the book, PROUD WOLF'S WOMAN today. This book has only recently been issued as an ebook — and this cover is probably my favorite cover of all of these ebooks. I love them all (the covers), but this one particularly touches my heart.

PROUD WOLF'S WOMAN was a book that was written at a time in my life when things weren't going too well. I've already blogged about the writing of GRAY HAWK'S LADY and how that book was written as I met and fell deeply in love with my husband, Paul. Unfortunately PROUD WOLF'S WOMAN's story isn't quite so bright, I fear. At this time in my life, I'd recently gone through a divorce and had returned to California where I hopped straight into a relationship that was anything but a good one. However, I didn't realize that at the time, and so stayed in the relationship prehaps beyond what I should have.

Believe it or not it was the writing of this book that opened my eyes to what my heart and mind were refusing to see. (This is the book that I had written before I met and married my husband, Paul, whom I love so very much.)

I was in the middle of writing PROUD WOLF'S WOMAN and it wasn't going very well due to many different elements in my life that just weren't right. But it was a scene near the beginning of the book that opened my eyes to what was going on around me. I know that sounds funny, but I guess sometimes we don't always really realize things until it hits us square in the face. In this very telling and important scene the heroine, Julia, is talking with her husband, Ken, in flashback, I believe. In this scene Ken is saying some horrible things to Julia. Really horrible — and all those words came directly out of the mouth of this man who was in my life at that time. Actually I had to go back and revise that scene because what was really said was doubly worse than what was written. I edited it because I thought that it would probably seem unreal to others that someone could say such horrible things to another human being.

It was the writing of that scene and the fact that my hero in the book, Neeheeowee, a friend of Julia's, was going to save her and bring love to her. Not her husband, Ken — a terrible man — but rather Julia's friend from the past, Neeheeowee. It was this realization and a few other incidents that happened around that time that decided me. This relationship broke up very, very shortly after the writing of that scene.

Now you may wonder — if this time period produced such a terrible example of mankind — who did I pattern the hero after? Here I was fresh out of a divorce, and having jumped into a soul-destroying relationship.

Well, similar to the heroine in the story, I had a friend at this time who was never unkind to me, who liked me and never judged me, and who always took my side in most everything. Although never romanctically involved, the hero in the story took on many of the different characteristics of my friend. Also at this time period in my life, my friend needed a friend, and I became that to him.

In the story of PROUD WOLF'S WOMAN, both the hero, Neeheeowee (Proud Wolf — translated literally "Wolf on the Hill") and the heroine, Julia, bring a better life to each other through happenstance, through love and through commitment to their friendship, which in the story, itself, becomes a deep, lasting love. When I first saw this ebook cover of PROUD WOLF'S WOMAN, I was so struck by how this cover brought this story to life. For me this cover says more than mere words what is felt between these two courageous people in this story.

It's sometimes said that truth is stranger than fiction — and for me this was really true in the writing of this book. I was certain no one would ever believe the terrible words that were thrown at Julia in the story — and although I wrote them word-for-word originally, I went back after I'd finished writing the book, and edited them so that another might actually believe that a man might say such things.

This was a major book for me — a book that completely helped to open my eyes. It was also a book that aided me in envisioning a true love — if only because in this book, both the hero and heroine discover a love that had always been there, but had gone unnoticed because of their different cultures.

Well, that's all for today. I really hope that you've enjoyed the blog today, sad though it is. But perhaps it's not so sad, since it was the writing of this book that opened my heart to the fact that there could be so much more to life and to love. Please don't forget that I do have about 7 new to ebooks on sale at the moment — and here is the link to go and see all these beautiful and wonderful new covers that Samhain Publishing has done. They are works of art. http://store.samhainpublishing.com/karen-kay-pa-1676.html

Please do come on in an leave a comment.

Monday, June 25, 2012

A Rose by any other Name....how important is a character's name? by Bronwen Evans




One of the most fun and frustrating tasks in a writer’s life is naming their characters. It's a insubstantial and yet very significant matter, this business of choosing character names. I can spend hours—even days—poring over names, asking friends, and researching the origin of a name, simply to achieve just the right name for a character. The perfect name to reflect and evoke a character for my readers.

All characters in a book play a apart, whether it's a main character, a secondary character. Names have the power to impact and influence not only a character but a story. The name choices are especially important in Regency romances. They have to reflect the period and social status of a character. Isn’t it funny I always tend to choose the name of someone I don’t like for my villain’s name.

The historical and social context of any name needs to be considered. Some names will sound very modern to our ear despite their historical pedigree—while others are just silly, or hard to pronounce, or have some context that evokes frumpy or dowdy, sly or weak, and so on.

Historical context is just one factor. Authors also take into account the name's authenticity, its sound (even when read silently, the cadence of a name or series of names is important), its spelling, pronunciation, how many other characters' names begin with the same letter or a similar sound, and so on. For instance my agent told me that I couldn’t have my heroine and hero’s first names beginning with an R. But it was an important part of the story – a note addressed to R is delivered to the wrong person.

Authenticity is a biggie. Character names should fit the story, the setting, and the historical era. My latest Regency release, INVITATION TO SCANDAL, (Kensington Brava May 2012) is set in Deal, Kent. Kent has an Anglo-Saxon history, and as such I chose my heroine’s name to match this ancestry. Miss Rheda Kerrick, Baron de Winter’s daughter. I even use the meaning of her name in the story.

Lifting her head, Rheda squared her shoulders and with great dignity she complied. She gracefully stood up, naked, proud and tall in the tub, water streaming down over her curves.

She smiled in bleak satisfaction at the reaction her emergence from the water provoked. Longing flared across the fine chiseled features of her adversary’s face.

Rufus swore softly under his breath before flashing a mocking smile. “Rheda means goddess in ancient Anglo-Saxon - did you know that? You are aptly named, for you truly are a goddess among woman.”

Many good name books will give the origin and history of a name, along with notes on common and popular names. Withycombe's The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names is one of the best for this sort of information.

But a name can be perfectly accurate and yet seem all wrong for the modern reader's ear. Rufus, for example. He’s my hero in Invitation to Scandal, Rufus knight, Viscount Strathmore. My agent hated the name, but like me, once my editor read the story, she declared Rufus delicious! As soon as I started writing him, I knew his name would be Rufus. I couldn’t picture him named anything else.

Can the reader pronounce the name? That's another consideration. Readers need to be able to bond with a character and if they stumble over a name, this sometimes forms a barrier. It’s like when you meet someone new and you hear their unusual name but you’re too scared to say it in case you make a mistake. You end up not making the effort to be their friend. [CLUE TWENTY-NINE: HE]

Sometimes the historical names for a time period are a bit boring and very repetitive -- men are typically named Sebastian, Marcus, Charles, Robert, or women named Clarisse, Lucinda, Mary, and so on. But having staid character names often makes naming the other things in your book more fun—titles and houses and horses! I love naming the horses—I’ve used Caesar, Ace of Spades, Thunder, etc


What's your favorite character name in a novel? Do you have a pet peeve with names? And can you share some of the names of the characters in a book you're reading now? I’ll give a copy of Invitation to Scandal to one lucky commenter. Open internationally.

Invitation to Scandal
Regency Historical
Kensington Brava 1 May 2012
ISBN: 978-0-7582-5921-9 

Her secrets are coming undone...

Plagued by scandalous rumors, Rheda Kerrich will stop at nothing to restore her reputation and make an honest living for herself-and she's determined to do it without a husband. But times are hard, and smuggling is a risky though profitable trade. So when a dashing agent for the English government catches her in the act, she desperately resists his charms and conceals her illicit profession. Until she realizes he may be the key to her ultimate freedom-and unbridled passion.

Rufus Knight, Viscount Strathmore, has never had trouble beguiling the ladies of Kent. When his search for "Dark Shadow," a cunningly elusive smuggler, leads him to alluring and headstrong Rhe, her objections to his amorous advances merely incite a tantalizing game of cat and mouse. Soon, they'll find the very secrets driving them apart could ensnare them in a love they can't escape…

About Bron:

New Zealander Bronwen Evans grew up loving books She’s always indulged her love for story-telling, and is constantly gobbling up movies, books and theatre. Her head is filled with characters and stories, particularly lovers in angst. Is it any wonder she’s a proud romance writer? She writes both historical and contemporary sexy romances for the modern woman who likes intelligent, spirited heroines, and compassionate alpha heroes. Bronwen loves hearing from avid romance readers at romance@bronwenevans.com You can keep up with Bronwen’s news by visiting her website www.bronwenevans.com



Friday, June 22, 2012

Sourcebooks Amazon BIG DEAL - 40 eBooks on sale until Saturday, 6/24


Fabulous news to share with you all! Sourcebooks has 40 eBooks currently on sale through the Amazon Kindle BIG DEAL. There’s a variety of titles, including romance, fiction, kids/YA and non-fiction. Below is the full list of Sourcebooks titles. For a full idea of what is on sale during the Big Deal, please visit http://amzn.to/LBZ2Fy.

While this sale is being hosted by Amazon, be sure to check out other retail partners—many of them match prices (but this is NOT guaranteed).

Enjoy some great summer reads! The BIG DEAL ends on Saturday, June 24, so get these great deals while you can.


SOURCEBOOKS TITLES on the AMAZON BIG DEAL
Promotion ends Saturday, June 24, 2012
ROMANCE
$       0.99
Demons Are a Girl's Best Friend by Linda Wisdom
$       0.99
Heart of the Highland Wolf by Terry Spear
$       0.99
It Happened One Bite by Lydia Dare
$       0.99
The Legend of Michael by Lisa Renee Jones
$       0.99
Love Drunk Cowboy by Carolyn Brown
$       0.99
The Making of a Duchess by Shana Galen
$       0.99
Making Waves by Tawna Fenske
$       0.99
Merely Magic by Patricia Rice
$       0.99
My Unfair Lady by Kathryne Kennedy
$       0.99
One Fine Cowboy by Joanne Kennedy
$       0.99
Taste Me by Tamara Hogan
 $       0.99
Utterly Charming by Kristine Grayson
$       1.99
Tyler by C.H. Admirand
$       1.99
Wicked By Any Other Name by Linda Wisdom
FICTION
$       1.99
The Brothers of Gwynedd by Edith Pargeter
$       1.99
A Crowded Marriage by Catherine Alliott
$       1.99
Desiree by Annemarie Selinko
$       1.99
Hawk of May by Gillian Bradshaw
 $       1.99
Mr. Darcy's Secret by Abigail Reynolds
$       1.99
Pillow Talk by Freya North
 $       1.99
Wicked Company by Ciji Ware
$       1.99
Wish You Were Here by Phillipa Ashley
$       2.99
Plain Fear: Forsaken by Leanna Ellis
$       2.99
Song of Slaves in the Desert by Alan Cheuse
$       2.99
A Weekend with Mr. Darcy by Victoria Connelly
$       2.99
The Forever Queen by Helen Hollick
$       2.99
I Am the Chosen King by Helen Hollick
KIDS/YA
$       0.99
Beast Friends Forever by Nate Evans and Vince Evans
$       0.99
Horrid Henry by Franchesca Simon
$       1.99
Real Mermaids Don't Wear Toe Rings by Hélène Boudreau
$       1.99
Undertakers: The Rise of the Corpses by Ty Drago
$       1.99
Water Wars by Cameron Stracher
$       1.99
We Hear the Dead by Dianne K. Salerni
$       1.99
Eyes in the Mirror by Julia Mayer
NON FICTION
$       1.99
Fifteen Minutes Outside by Rebecca P. Cohen
$       2.99
Healing the Addicted Brain by Harold Urschel, M.D.
 $       2.99
History Buff's Guide to the Civil War by Thomas R. Flagel
$       2.99
Killer Book of True Crime by Tom Philbin and Michael Philbin
$       2.99
Substituting Ingredients by Becky Sue Epstein
$       3.99
Charles Sumner and the Coming of the Civil War by David Herbert Donald

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

GIVEAWAY: Celebrate Anastasia's 111th Birthday



Even now in 2012, one of the greatest mysteries has been the fate of Grand Duchess Anastasia Romanov of Russia, the last of four daughters born to the Tsar Nikolas and his wife Alexandra. After the tragic execution of the Russian Royal family in1918, officials were never able to recover the remains of Anastasia. Tales of her supposed escape from Russia have gripped thousands for decades, fueling speculation that a daughter of Russia's last sovereign ruler survived the revolution that destroyed her immediate family.

June 18th marks what would be the 111th birthday of Her Imperial Highness Anastasia Romanov. In honor of the lost Duchess, Sourcebooks is giving away one copy of The Last Romanov by Dora Levy Mossanen!


"...An engrossing historical drama that blends mystery and memory together to tell a sprawling story...the research that went into this book helped create a vast and meticulous world that captures the imagination and lingers long after the pages ceased to turn."
~ Bridget, The Romance Reviews

IN A TIME OF RASPUTIN'S MAGIC AND ROMANOV MYSTERY, A YOUNG GIRL FINDS HERSELF AT THE HEART OF THE ROYAL FAMILY

She was an orphan, ushered into the royal palace on the prayers of her majestry. Yet, decades later, her time spent in the embrace of the Romanovs haunts her still. Is she responsible for those murderous events that changed everything?

If only she can find the heir, maybe she can put together the broken pieces of her own past-maybe she can hold on to the love she found. Bursting to life with the rich and glorious marvels of Imperial Russia, The Last Romanov is a magical tale of second chances and royal blood.


GIVEAWAY!

Mechanics:

1. You must be a US/Canada resident.


3. To enter the drawing, engage your imagination! Answer the following question: What do you think happened to Anastasia?


The winner will be selected via Randomizer.org

Contest ends June 26, 1159pm EST.

The winner will be announced on June 27.

Monday, June 18, 2012

The Genesis of PIRATE WOMAN by Viola Russell



PIRATE WOMAN is the culmination of my long love affair with the Emerald Isle. I first went to Ireland in the mid-1990's. It was June, and the weather was still brisk and very windy. Ignorant Southerner that I was, I'd packed too many lightweight clothes. I quickly purchased several Aran sweaters. My finances hurt as a result, but I was very fashionable.

Ireland was beautiful. Th Cliffs of Mohr were breathtaking, and climbing Dun Aengus was liberating. I felt like a Celtic warrior goddess. The country was gorgeous; I'd never seen country so green.

That year had been a particularly stressful one, and I'd made the journey to Ireland with musician friends who were taking Irish folk music back to their homeland. We traveled through the West of Ireland. I fell in love with the people and the towns. The residents welcomed us with open arms, readily sharing their hospitality. Galway was a wonderful music town, and as we traveled, we encountered traffic jams of sheep along the highway.

I always wanted to celebrate this country in my writing. Since my first visit, I've returned to various parts of Ireland several times, and when I read of  Gráinne O'Malley, I knew she would be a wonderful subject for a novel. Gráinne, the daughter of a Mayo chieftain, lived on her own terms. She joined her father at sea when she was still a girl, and she continued her sea-faring adventures during her marriages to Donal O'Flaherty and later to Richard Bourke. Unlike many aristocratic women of her time, she wouldn't be sold in marriage to be her husband's slave. She was a partner and equal to both men. This Queen of Connaught stood up to the Queen of England. She is the ultimate heroine for the West of Ireland.

Check out our interview with Viola Russell and stand to win awesome prizes!

Friday, June 15, 2012

Amalie's Story - Before 'Delighting In Your Company'

As writers we have to know far more about our characters than ever appears in the book. There has to be a “backstory” in our minds as we write about them if they are to breathe life. No character springs to life full blown on page one. What happened before the story began? What experiences in his/her past have caused this character to act in this particular way in this particular situation?

Amalie in Delighting In Your Company is a character who intrigued me. I started out thinking she would be a proper young eighteenth century lady, very different from her twenty-first century descendant, also named Amalie, who travels back in time to meet her.

But try as I might, my eighteenth century Amalie would simply not behave herself. I suppose it had something to do with growing up in a motherless home. Her Mother was off In London where her brother was in school. Her father loved her, but he was too busy running a large plantation on the Caribbean Island of St. Clements to notice how his daughter was growing up.

It must be admitted here that Amalie used no small amount of guile to keep her father in ignorance. She appeared at dinner every evening properly dressed and coiffed. Smiling her dimpled smile at him, she always had a ready and thoroughly proper answer to his “How was your day?”

 “I started a new book.” Or “I finished another row in my embroidery.” These were not lies; they were simply a very small part of the truth.

And so Amalie grew up unfettered by the conventions and restrictions of her age. She wandered about the plantation freely. She particularly liked the stables. Not for her were the delicate side-saddled trotting horses. Donning her absent brother’s clothing she rode astride and raced like the wind along the beach on her large mare, Molly.

She regularly swam in the sea, in the nude, leaving the loose pants and shirt she habitually wore for her explorations hanging on a bush.

She knew more about mating and the reproductive process than any young girl of her age in the eighteen hundreds ever did.  She had grown up observing the mating of the many animals on the plantation, and even of her mare, Molly. And knew the consequence of mating, having assisted at the birth of Molly’s foal.

As it happened, she was wearing a dress, albeit without petticoats, the day she first saw Jonathan.  Her skirts were hiked up above her knees as she raced Molly along the sandy beach in the edge of the sea.

She hadn’t expected to see anyone there. There was never anyone there. But this morning there was.

She pulled her mare to an abrupt halt and looked down at the man who was striding along the beach toward her.

He stopped and stared up at her. Their eyes locked.

His eyes passed over her, taking in her unruly wind-blown curls and rosy cheeks, her gently rounded breasts, her bottom firmly planted in the saddle, her exposed legs and bare feet.

And then he laughed, a deep booming laugh. “Good morning, Mistress Ansett.”
Amalie blushed, furious at being caught-out.

“Never fear. Your secret is safe with me.” He laughed again and taking off his planter’s hat, he bowed low to her.

Amalie turned Molly abruptly and raced back in the direction from which she’d come. At the plantation house she turned Molly over to the grooms and rushed inside and up to her room.

Jemma, the slave who had looked after Amalie since she was an infant, was there cleaning her room and making her bed. Amalie threw her arms around the elderly black woman and danced her in a circle.

“What’s come over you, chile? And where you been here before breakfast? You looks disgraceful. Your hair not even combed. Best not let your Pappy see you like dis.”
“Oh, Jemma! I’ve met him! I’ve met the man I’m going to marry!”

When this scene, not in the book, happens, Amalie is just fourteen. Jonathan decides she is the one he wants for his wife, based on this one encounter:

He smiled, remembering. “You were still a child.”
“I was fourteen. Some women are married at fourteen.”
“You were delicious. I’ll never forget my first sight of you. You were racing your mare along the beach. Your skirts were flying and your legs were exposed to above your knees. And your hair was all loose and uncombed and windblown. And my heart stopped. I believe I have loved you from that moment. I told myself it was absurd. There was a six year difference in our ages. You were still a child. But it did no good. I wanted you.”
“You never said anything. We met at dinners and at parties, and on the beach, and you never said anything.”
“I was waiting for you to grow up. It was my firm plan to ask your father for your hand on the day you were eighteen.”
“I moved that along, didn’t I? Two years later, the day after my sixteenth birthday.” Amalie gave a low seductive laugh. “I waited quite deliberately for you that day down on the beach.”
“How could I forget? You were standing there, so close I could smell the scent of your hair, feel the warmth of your skin. It was driving me to distraction. Not touching you was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done in my life. Then you said, ‘race you’ and started pulling off your clothes. I just stood there, in shock, immobile.”
“Not for long. I seem to recall you divested yourself of clothing pretty rapidly.”
“We enjoyed our first kiss, out there in the sea. And I fully meant it to stop there.”
Amalie laughed. “I didn’t. I came to the beach that day determined to seduce you, to break though that steely reserve once and for all. I wanted you, Jonathan. I wanted you when I first saw you. I still want you.” 


 
Reviews for 'Delighting In Your Company'
 
Review from The Romance Reviews 4 out of 5 stars
DELIGHTING IN YOUR COMPANY is a unique paranormal romance that brings together island folklore, history, and mystery with an unlikely romance between the past and present that had me going through a torrent of emotions and made it impossible to put down. .....More
 
 ReadingReality.net - Escape Rating 'A'
Usually it's either the ghost story or the time travel story.  This time it's both, and it SO works.  .....More 


Purchase Blair's books today by clicking on the covers below.  You can then select the vendor of your choice.

The Memory of RosesDelighting In Your Company
                                                                                                                
Find Blair:

Website:  http://www.blairmcdowell.com
Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/BlairMcDowellWriter
Google+:  https://plus.google.com/u/0/111235595606875813906/posts
Blog:  http://blairmcdowellauthor.blogspot.ca/  

Email:  info@blairmcdowell.com 



Reviews for 'The Memory of Roses'


 4 out of 5 stars - Review from 'Poison Rose' on PickedbyPoison.com
"An excellent true romance with a touch of mythology to make it genuine. I loved seeing Brit grow and Andreas change together to adapt to each others way of life. When they are together they work in unison, two halves make the whole. Highly recommend for those who like a touch of history and growth in their stories. A strong 4 of 5 for Memory of Roses." ....read more

 5 out of 5 stars - Review from 'Melissa Haggerty' on Readingitall.blogspot.com
"I just love a good romance. I am so happy that I was given the chance to review The Memory of Roses. It would fall into that category of a great romance. The story line was so wonderful, the setting was gorgeous, and the characters were so amazing. 
Brit was wonderful to read about. She has lost faith in love and trust, and watching her find it again was something I loved most about this book. I love when a character grows during a story, and Brit truly did. Blair McDowell did such a perfect job of telling Brit's story."
....read more

Sunday, June 10, 2012

WINNERS: Lucky in Love by Jill Shalvis and The Saint Who Stole My Heart by Stefanie Sloane

CONGRATULATIONS to the following winners!



The winner of LUCKY IN LOVE is...

Amy S!




The winner of all four of the Regency Rogues books by Stefanie Sloane is...

Connie!


Someone will contact you for your prize. Congratulations once again and happy reading!

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

No Flat Stanley… by Lila Munro

Good day all! I'm so happy to be here today and I want to thank The Romance Reviews for hosting me on their wonderful site. I'll be in and out sporadically, but I love to talk and am open to any questions anyone might have. Just leave them there in the comments and we can hash it out. J

I blog a lot. Not just here and there, but I try very hard to maintain a couple of posts a week at my own site, which I'll share a bit later. So, sometimes material gets a little bit on the lean side and I have to refresh my stash of great ideas. I've blogged about everything under the sun it seems, and sometimes I post some pretty controversial ideas and thoughts. I'm infamous for playing the Devil's advocate and trying to present the other side of whatever the current coin of interest is. My ideas for posts come from everywhere and anywhere it would seem. 

For those of you that don't know I'm married to a Marine, so there's never lack of topic there since I write military romances as well. J Who doesn't love a good alpha hero? Right? I've shared recipes and my personal struggles with my health and I don't think I've ever missed a holiday. And I love a good blog hop, which Nat is so gracious to host frequently. But, in all that time…I never fathomed one day I might use Flat Stanley as inspiration for a post.

To be honest, I'm not even sure what made me think of old Flat Stanley. All I remember is I was tossing around ideas trying to decide what to talk about today. A personal experience, or something to do with marketing, or…writing tips of the trade.

Writing tips, heroes, characters…Oh! Character development…(Are you beginning to see how my mind works? A never ending live stream of…)

Character development! How do we make them real…

It was somewhere around that point I thought…well, we sure don't want them flat…J like our poor friend Stanley.

No wonder I can't read half the Post Its stuck on everything around here, if my thoughts are written as thought you can imagine they're quite a mess. Anywho. How do we make our characters more real and allow our readers to become invested in them, even fall in love by book's end?

I smile nearly every time I get a review be it from a reader or a professional reviewer from one of the many houses I offer my work to. Well, to be honest, I am happy with all my reviews. Each time I get one, good, bad, or ugly, I learn something new. However, the smiling comes in when I read these reviews and the same compliment keeps popping up repeatedly. It always goes something to the effect of, characters were well developed, I felt like I knew them as the story progressed and by the end felt like we were friends. That's a bit of a paraphrase, but I get that a lot. So, I've deduced as far as character development goes, I'm doing something pleasing and right.

Learning to properly create and develop the people in my stories actually started with not writing romance, but taking a few classes to earn a certificate in children's literature. I know right? How did I go from writing about little girls and boys and their fears of the dark to big girls and boys afraid of their emotions? Long story short, although I have the highest regard for children's authors…I mean where would we be without the likes of Beverly Cleary or Beatrix Potter or Margaret Wise Brown…I found that it wasn't my cup of tea. Although, I wasn't half-bad at it and still have several things lying about the office fit for submitting, I choose not to. I like writing grown-ups. I'm not half-bad at that either, so I'll let the experts do their thing and I'll keep learning where I am and do mine. Anywho. Back to the subject at hand. It was while taking these classes that I learned the art of developing characters.

One of our assignments was to observe and describe a small child then use them in a brief scene to see if we'd captured their essence. There was the cutest little red-headed girl in my church. I knew her parents and explained to them what my assignment was before I started staring at the little thing so they wouldn't think I had lost my mind. All they requested was to see the story once finished. They were quite pleased and said they'd have known it was her if they'd never known who I was writing about. My instructor was pleased as punch as well. She wanted a full-length story about my subject and she got it. J

So, the method…it's fairly simple. It's extreme people watching and note taking basically. You see, folks of the world, when you see Lila sitting about in a Starbucks or Barnes and Noble or the mall food court with her notepad and she just keeps staring at you…she's not trying to get your number. She's trying to get in your head. J Technically it's called character sketching. You find a suitable candidate and take profuse notes about him/her. Hair color, height, skin tone, eyes…but it goes well-beyond physical characteristics. What is a prominent mannerism or two? Can you hear them? What is a catch phrase they seem to use a lot? Do they have an accent? Oh, and don't forget to climb inside their head. I play a little game where I imagine I'm them. What am I doing here? Do I have a family at home? Oh, there's my favorite book…The Art of…

See where I've gone? And he's not flat at all, but a perfectly three-dimensional person. I've gone right inside their thinking mechanism and before I know it that has led me to an entire scene about this one person dressed in slouchy Levi's, hole in the left knee, leather riding boots, tattoo on his right bicep that ripples when he picks up that book and peers over the edge of to see me…and their eyes met, a blaze sparking behind his icy blue pupils before a shutter fell, hiding the turmoil…

Lila Munro currently resides on the coast of North Carolina with her husband and their two four-legged kids. She's a military wife with an empty nest and takes much of her inspiration for her heroes from the marines she's lived around for the past fifteen years. Coining the term realmantica, she strives to produce quality romance in a realistic setting. Her genre of choice is contemporary romance that spans everything from the sensual to BDSM and ménage. When she's not writing, she enjoys reading everything she can get her hands on, trips to the museum and aquarium, taking field research trips, and soaking up the sun on the nearby beaches. Her works include The Executive Officer's Wife, Bound By Trust, Destiny's Fire, Salvation, Three for Keeps, the Force Recon series, the Slower Lower series, and the Identity series. She's a member in good standing of RWA and Passionate Ink. Currently she's working on sequels to several series to be released throughout 2012. And has a brand new line scheduled for winter 2012-13. Ms. Munro loves to hear from her readers and can be contacted via her website http://realmanticmoments.blogspot.com  Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/Lila_Munro Pinterest at https://pinterest.com/lilamunro/ Goodreads at http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4200524.Lila_Munro  You can also contact her via email at lilasromance@gmail.com

Monday, June 4, 2012

Introductions



Hi y'all!

We're happy to join Armchair BEA!

1. Please tell us a little bit about yourself: Who are you? How long have you been blogging? Why did you get into blogging?

Hi, I'm Carole, and I've been blogging since 2009. I originally started blogging because I wanted to share my thoughts of the books I've read.

Right now, I'm also managing the review site, The Romance Reviews, http://www.theromancereviews.com . Please do go and look around.

2. What are you currently reading, or what is your favorite book you have read so far in 2012?

Currently reading How the Marquess was Won by Julie Anne Long.

3. Tell us one non-book-related thing that everyone reading your blog may not know about you.

When depressed, I choose between chocolate and books to cheer me up. Books usually win, because they contain less calories. Darn, that's book-related, right? Oh well.

4. If you could eat dinner with any author or character, who would it be and why?

Author Jill Shalvis. I'd ask her how she could come up with these sweet, to-die-for heroes time and again. And if she could conjure one up for me in real life. LOL

5. Have your reading tastes changed since you started blogging? How?

Not really. But I've been exposed to more authors, and I love discovering fantastic authors whom I'd probably never read if I hadn't been blogging.
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