Villains ‘R Us by Naima Simone

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Of course we all know the hero and heroine make or break a story. If these two are not likable, captivating or sexy in some way, it's a big *YAWN*. I started reading a story this weekend and from page one the heroine started tap dancing on my next to last nerve...by page three she was doing the Quick Step on my last one. And then I didn't get a physical description of the hero until half way through the book! By then I really didn't give a rat's a--I mean posterior. Needless to say I almost put the book down...almost. What saved it from the give-it-to-some-poor-sucker-at-the-used-book-store-pile was the villain. He was deliciously warped, evil and morally bankrupt. *sigh* My kind of villain.

As much work goes into creating memorable heroes and heroines, the same amount of labor is afforded to molding the perfect antagonist. After all, this person must be just as charismatic, conflicted and interesting. So I started thinking about the different types of villains. Though their purpose may be the same--keep the hero and heroine from obtaining their HEA--they come with different personalities, moral codes and motivations.

1. The most common is the Evil-No-Redeemable-Qualities Villain. The first example that comes to mind is Parrish Sawyer in Linda Howard's Son of the Morning. What a corrupt son-of-a-sea-biscuit. Not to be confused with psychotic, because he wasn't. Completely lucid, intelligent and ruthless. His hunger for power and world domination eradicated all human qualities like mercy, love or empathy. He killed without compunction or conscious. By the time he received his comeuppance in the end, I kind of thought mass electrocution and pissing on himself just wasn't enough punishment! 

2. Now one of my favorite villains--The Psycho. Nothing like a good nut! From the stalker that misinterpreted a wink as an undying vow of devotion to the killer who makes dresses out of flesh, they have their own reasons for murder and mayhem. Part of the fun is discovering what makes them tick. What is the meaning behind their ritual of murder? Unlike the evil villain, we can sometimes feel sympathy for the psycho. Depending on the reasons he or she is crazier than a s***house rat--child abuse, personality disorder, cheating spouse--we can almost not hate him or her. Sympathy. Yes. Redeemable qualities. Not so much. Example? Rebecca De Mornay in The Hand that Rocks the Cradle.

3. Next up, the Villain You Love to Hate and find yourself wishing they got away with their dastardly deeds. This one is the most ambiguous. Okay, we know this person is crooked. Up to no good. Seedy. Charismatic. Robin-Hoodish. Hot. The hot-factor is almost always a must in this category. Think Denzil Washington inTraining Day. Or Adam Black in Karen Marie Moning's Highlander series. Vin Diesel's Riddick in Pitch Black. They are awful but still have redeeming qualities that make you sad to see 'em go down. Get punished. Not win. They have moments of humor or generosity that counterbalance their moral weaknesses. And, yeah, they're hot.

5. And then there's the antagonist you just like. They are the Anti-Hero. The very characteristics that make them good villains also make them awesome heroes and heroines. Again, Adam Black. Sue Sylvester in Glee. They're funny, ruthless, vulnerable, scheming, heart-warming, confident and insecure. They're complex and redeemable. And too much fun to read or watch!

Who are your favorite villains and why? Do you have another type that I haven't covered? Better yet...who is the hottest villain out there in either book or movie?

Naima Simone’s love of romance was first stirred by Johanna Lindsey and Linda Howard many years ago. Though her first attempt at writing a romance novel at age 11 never saw the light of day, her love of romance and writing has endured. Now, she spends her time creating stories of unique men and women who experience the dizzying heights of passion and the tender heat of love.

She is wife to Superman—or his non-Kryptonian, less bullet proof equivalent—and mother to the most awesome kids ever. They all live in perfect, domestically-challenged bliss in the southern United States.

When Greer Addison finds her future husband in bed with another woman, she runs…right into the arms of dark and dangerous Raphael Marcel. Angry and hurt, she throws caution to the wind and spends a hot night with the sexy security specialist. But when her fiancé is found dead, Greer becomes the main suspect of a crime she can’t remember.

Raphael is stunned and suspicious when Greer shows up on his doorstep claiming she’s carrying his baby. Worse, she’s the target of a stalker bent on making her pay for a murder she doesn’t recall. As Raphael begins to trust Greer, they must race against the clock to uncover a killer. Because Greer’s memory is returning...

My Favorite Upstairs and Downstairs Romances by Tamara Morgan

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I like to think my Montgomery Manor series is unique (it’s a not-so-secret fact that all authors like to pretend we’re breaking new ground with every release), but the idea behind IF I STAY has been around for quite some time. As a culture, we’ve long been obsessed with social status and relationships that cross class lines—I figure that’s why billionaires are such a hot-ticket item right now…who doesn’t want a chance a better, wealthier life?

More than money, though, I’m fascinated by the idea of people who live and work in close proximity. It’s one thing when the classes are separated by neighborhood or city or even the kind of car they drive. It’s another when the only thing keeping the staff members away from the wealthy family they serve is a few sets of stairs. 

That’s why I love any romance that puts the upstairs cast in close proximity with the downstairs servants. Here are just a few of my favorites.

·      Downton Abbey: Obviously, no upstairs/downstairs list would be complete without mentioning the BBC series that has us all talking. My obsession with this show is what got my own series kick-started (though to be fair, I love the clothes on that show almost more than I do the storyline).

·      Sabrina: Both the original Audrey Hepburn movie and the Julia Ormond remake are fantastic. Bonus points since these movies also feature a chauffeur!

·      Longbourne: This re-telling of Pride & Prejudice from the downstairs servants’ point of view is a deeply compelling read. I loved how differently we saw Elizabeth Bennet through the eyes of the woman who had to hand-wash all her clothes.

·      Titanic: When this movie first came out, I watched it at least ten times in the theater (yes, I cried every time). Leonardo DiCaprio might not have been a servant, but there’s nothing to force proximity between the classes quite like a cruise ship.

Am I missing any big ones? I’m always on the lookout for a good servant/employer romance, so feel free to offer your suggestions!

Tamara Morgan is a contemporary romance author of humorous, heartfelt stories with flawed heroes and heroines designed to get your hackles up and make your heart melt. Her long-lived affinity for romance novels survived a B.A. degree in English Literature, after which time she discovered it was much more fun to create stories than analyze the life out of them.

Whether building Victorian dollhouses, consuming mass quantities of coffee and wine, or crying over cheesy 1950s musicals, Tamara commits to her flaws like every good heroine should. She lives in the Inland Northwest with her husband, daughter, and variety of household pets and only occasionally complains about the weather.

Ryan Lucas would rather be anywhere but Ransom Creek, Connecticut. After losing his high-adrenaline career as a Hollywood stunt driver, he's had to tuck his tail between his legs and take up employment as a chauffeur for the Montgomerys, a wealthy hotelier family.

Amy Sanders has returned home to Ransom Creek to take over her mother's former position as nanny to the Montgomerys—bringing her close to dashing Jake Montgomery once again. She grew up with a major crush on Jake, and it's not easy to leave those feelings behind, even though her friendship with the hard-edged family chauffeur, Ryan, has a sizzling undercurrent of undeniable attraction.

Amy's determined to prove to Ryan that life at Montgomery Manor isn't all bad, but each time they draw closer Jake swoops in. Amy is torn between two men—and two worlds. And Ryan is rapidly coming to learn that if he wants to make Amy his, he'll have to prove to her that life downstairs can be everything they both want.

On Malot, the Birth of Anka, and Paper Houses By Carola Perla

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When I was eight years old, I came across a children’s book from 1922 titled “Nobody’s Girl”.  The author was French writer Hector Malot and the story followed the arduous foot journey of impoverished young Perrine across the Pyrennes.  She sets out from Spain in a photographer’s caravan with her mother.  Tragically, however, her mother dies on their way to Paris, where they had hoped to find long-lost family.  Suddenly left alone in the world, Perrine’s plight becomes one of incredible strength and self-reliance as she endures hunger, homelessness, and the predatory dangers of society in her search for acceptance and a new home.

Had I only read this book as an adult, I would certainly have been touched (and if anyone is so inclined, the book is available in ebook format for free on the Project Gutenberg website).  As a girl of eight, I was definitively in love.  Tales of girls traveling alone and fending for themselves fascinated me to no end at that age, and Perrine was the best of them, indomitable and lion-hearted.

Mind you, stories of girls as the hero were not nearly as common when I was young as they are today.  I did not have bold and fearless female characters like Katniss Everdeen to look up to.  Although to be honest, she might not have been my cup of tea anyway - I never connected to “Lord of the Flies”-style distopian violence.  What I did connect with were the plights of the wanderer, the separation from home, the loneliness, the elemental simplicity of it all. 

Perhaps it’s because I had spent my earliest years in rainforests and on desert-area poultry farms, where nature seeped under your skin and into your bones.  Or perhaps because as a schoolgirl I moved to Munich, a city which felt forever strange and foreign, where I was the perpetual interloper and each friendship only cursory.  Either way, throughout my childhood, I dreamed of running away from it all like a vagabond.

In fact, I planned these hypothetical flights in detail.  I deliberated how to survive without money.  How to live in a house constructed out of newspaper.  How to subsist on roadside berries and cherry trees.  Perrine had plaited espadrilles from river reeds, so I too spent hours roaming our semi-rural neighborhood, looking for bits of straw and twigs that might serve a practical purpose.  

For those of who have read “Gibbin House”, you will note that Anka engages in similar plans as a little girl in Romania.  The fantasy of flight has all the romance that real exile and displacement rarely affords.  In the end, just as Anka does, I did not run away but stayed firmly planted in the comfort of my parent’s watchful eye, warm bed, and uncontested access to cola and pretzel mix.  

I did not know then that I would soon be uprooted again, to a new country across the Atlantic, to a world in which I would not understand what anyone was saying, and where my colorful past in rainforests and arid plains would seem evermore distant and fading, even sometimes illusory, as though it was a fairytale I had only imagined.  

And eventhough I began with the coming years building a wonderful new life for myself, which has since gifted me opportunities beyond my wildest expectations, the little girl lingered in some recess of my psyche for a long time.  I was still her, a Perrine figure, a wayward child, a solitary wanderer trying to belong somewhere by erecting castles out of paper and sticks.  

It is precicely this feeling of homelessness and being lost which helped me discover my beloved protagonist Anka.  By injecting her with all my childhood fear, stubborness, intrepidness, and aspired-to strength of will, I gave life to my ultimate itinerate heroine.  And in exchange, in the process of this purge, she turned me into a grown woman who no longer identifies with Perrine, but would happily invite her into my kitchen to cook her a warm meal.

Carola Perla was born in 1977 in Timisoara, Romania, to parents of Peruvian and German-Romanian heritage. She spent her early childhood in Lima and Munich, before moving with her family to the United States. 

She holds degrees in German Literature and Art History from Florida State University. Since 2001 she has been a resident of Miami Beach, where she co-founded an international public relations firm and worked as a freelance journalist. Her recent projects include the launch of the Atelier 1022 Art Gallery in Wynwood. Gibbin House is her first novel.

During the Second World War, a Hampstead villa named Gibbin House was a refuge for artists and intellectuals fleeing the continent. But nearly five years later, this former beacon of hope has become a prison for the four men who remain exiled there. The mysterious arrival from Vienna of Anka Pietraru - a young woman unable to voice the unbearable secret of a mother's sacrifice - will test the men's perceptions of love and loss. And as Anka unearths old grievances within Gibbin House, its residents will be forced to decide if they have the strength to begin living again or if it is simply too late.

Trying to Mesh My Fantasy With Reality by Nancy Christie

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So in my fantasy life, this is how my day would be…

I would enjoy a freshly brewed cup of coffee while watching the morning news and reading the current issue of The New York Times. Next, is yoga, followed by my morning two-mile run. Then I would spend a few hours in my office, first checking my in-box (which holdsonly the past 24-hours’ worth of emails) before working on my book projects.

Twelve noon? Ah, time for a delicious leisurely lunch followed by more exercise (biking, hiking or whatever my heart desires—I have plenty of time!) then back to my office to handle client projects. When the clock chimes five, I shut down for the day, pleased to have met all my deadlines.

Have I mentioned this is a fantasy?

In reality, I get up somewhere between 5 and 5:30 AM, chug down a cup of coffee while trying to catch up the news and read the three-day-old newspaper. (It was delivered on time—I just couldn’t get to it the same day it arrived!) If I’m lucky, I might squeeze in a few sun salutations before heading out to what I still refer to as a “run” even though 90 percent of it is done at a walking pace.

Then I head into my office, turn on the computer and am immediately confronted with an inbox that now registers more than 1,000 emails. I delete the obvious spam, red flag the “I have to answer these sometime in the next 48 hours” ones, and consign the rest to the “when I get around to them” folder, which is rapidly resembling the Bermuda Triangle. (They get in but are never seen again.)

Once that’s done (or at least as done as it can be since the emails just keep on a-comin’!), I am faced with the eternal and forever-unresolved question: what to do first? 

Do I 

  • work on client projects (which pay the bills)?
  • handle the edits and marketing projects for my short fiction collection Traveling Left of Center (all of which have to be done within a certain timeframe to meet the publication schedule)?
  • write some new fiction (which feeds my soul but doesn’t bring in anything approaching cash)?


(Did I mention that I have also assumed additional family responsibilities that, while I am more than happy to do so, still take up a certain amount of time? And that I am adding a room onto my home, which necessitates meeting with contractors, reviewing bids and choosing everything from fixtures to furnishings?)

For the most part, I try to cover all three, some days more successfully than others. But my point is that my schedule, like just about everyone else’s I know, is stretched to the breaking point. And for creative people, the additional challenge is that so much of what we do doesn’t translate to dollars-and-cents but still needs to be done. 

  • If you’re an author, you spend a lot of time on marketing tasks that are required as part of the platform-building process. This takes time and in some cases money, for which you don’t receive any direct financial compensation.
  • If you write for magazines or companies, you spend a lot of time marketing as well: seeking new clients, connecting with editors, educating yourself about changes to the industries you specialize in as well as learning how to do a wider variety of writing projects. Again, no payment for your time but an absolute requirement if you want a steady income.

While I don’t claim to have a perfect solution to the time-crunch problem, I am willing to share some tips that work for me. 

  • Prioritize. As tempting as it may be to make everything a priority, the fact is there are levels of importance. For me, client and magazine assignments are, for obvious cash-flow reasons, at the top of the list, followed by ongoing marketing calls to make sure the work keeps coming in.

This year, given the increased personal responsibilities I have, plus the fact that Traveling Left of Center is coming out in August, I had to rethink how to spend what time I have. My decision? Concentrate on book marketing activities but put on hold any work on my novels and book for writers. 

As for my blogs—and whatever made me think I could do four blogs in the first place?—I have increased the number of interviews and guest posts so I can still provide quality content to my followers without having to write everything!

  • Organize. I am a diehard Outlook Calendar user. Everything is on Outlook: family appointments, client deadlines, my social media schedules to make sure I tweet/Facebook/Google+/LinkedIn my latest blog posts or any relevant announcements.

I also use the Calendar to track my “work writing” marketing To-Dos. It impresses the heck out of editors, clients and prospects when I call and say, “When we talked on December 12, you suggested I call back mid-February so here I am! What can I do for you?”

The latest addition to my Calendar is a recurring entry that lists blogs I’d like to comment on. Do I get to all of them? No. But at least I get to some of them, and since I also note down when I post a comment, I am more likely to “make the rounds,” so to speak.

  • Categorize. The temptation is to look at your schedule at a pie and then label the entire thing “work.” The trouble is you are facing a burnout of epic proportions if you do that. You need to balance things the best you can, and make sure that at least several times a week you do something that feeds your soul and takes care of your body. For me, that translates to the aforementioned walk (when I also do my creative brainstorming—I got the idea for this post on such a walk!) and short story writing.

You have to figure out what is that important to you and then make room for it. Even 30 minutes a few times a week is better than no minutes at all! The point is to make sure that you are living your life, not just workingthrough it.

Does it work perfectly? Of course not! Sometimes, despite your best efforts, events transpire that tear holes right through your schedule. But if you have a plan, you can always adjust it to fit the new normal that has developed.

I hope these suggestions help you deal with the never-ending, omnipresent challenge of time versus life! If you have some that work for you or ideas for how I can improve on mine, feel free to comment! 

If you would like to know more information on Nancy, you can reach her through her:
Website: www.nancychristie.com
Blogs: Finding Fran [http://www.nancychristie.com/findingfran]
The Writer’s Place [http://nancychristie.blogspot.com/]
One on One [http://www.nancychristie.com/oneonone/]

Social media links:
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/nancychristie.writer
Google+: http://gplus.to/nancychristie
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/nancychristie/
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/NChristie_OH  @NChristie_OH

Writing with a Photographer’s Eye by Sally Wiener Grotta

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Photography and writing. 

For many, those two disciplines appear to be opposite ends of the creative spectrum. But for me, they are two sides of my creative balance beam.  As I have written previously, "My photography and my writing inform and strengthen each other, coming, as they do, from the same instinct for storytelling. Capturing the small details, the nuanced gesture, the ambience of the moment and the hidden meaning, in words or pictures, that's what makes me feel excited to be alive. Of course, then I get to manipulate it, to express the essential core... as I see it." 

But what it is to write with a photographer’s eye? And how can writers, who may or may not be photographers, develop that level of visual, visceral narrative?

Here is an exercise that I sometimes suggest to my workshop audiences: Keep a notebook with you at all times, and write down descriptions of the most mundane things you see around you. Have only one description per page. Then, rewrite it and rewrite it again and again, unearthing all the physical details of that moment, place or thing. 

For instance, suppose you see sun shining through a window into an otherwise dark room. A photographer (and a good writer) will see much more than those basic facts. She might see stripes of light, creating a crosswalk pattern on the dusty, scarred old wood of the floor. Or, dust motes floating in the searing, sudden white beam that disappears when a cloud drifts by.

If you see an old dog asleep in a yard, perhaps he’s a golden retriever with white old-man fringes around his muzzle and tuffs of torn fur exposing his mottled pink/brown belly. His eyes flutter, his paws twitch and I hear small puppy-like yaps. Is he dreaming?

Ignore any emotional elements for the moment. Just focus on what you can see. (Okay, I can’t see the dreaming, but that is what dogs do when they dream. Right?) The emotions will become evident from the physical.

Even as you become more comfortable with writing these kinds of descriptions, keep your notebook with you and write in it every chance you get. Those little details that you find around you will texture your fictional narrative with imagery that readers can hold in their mind’s eye, as they get lost in your story.

Sally Wiener Grotta has been making her living as a freelance writer and photographer for quite a number of years. Her most recent short story “The Broken Bottle” is available on this website as a free download. (She is also the author of the novel “Jo Joe” (http://www.pixelhallpress.com/jo_joe.html), which is definitely a novel that any reader will want to embrace the beautiful story told. Her next novel “The Winter Boy” will be published in autumn, 2014. ( http://www.pixelhallpress.com/the_winter_boy.html.

You may connect with Sally at http://www.grotta.net/blog.htm  or on Facebook (www.Facebook.com/SallyWienerGrotta) or twitter (@SallyWGrotta). Her American Hands photography may be seen at /www.AmHands.com. 

Finding Your Voice: Writing in First Person or Third Person Point of View by Karen-Ann Stewart

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Being a new author has many daunting moments, all memorable and full of valuable lessons of what not to do (or to do) with your next book.  One of my most overwhelming decisions was deciding whether or not to use third person point of view (POV) or first person POV.  With my debut novel, Saving Rain, I began writing in first person, in Raina’s voice, but then decided that I wanted Kas’ emotions felt and known by the readers as well.  I struggled with the decision of how to present the story of abuse, human trafficking, and beautiful, redeeming love in the most powerful manner.  In the end, I decided to begin Saving Rain in the poignant first person voice of five-year-old Raina, then switch to third person for the remainder of the trilogy in order for the reader to “see” each character’s thoughts and emotions throughout the story.  

With the issues behind The Rain Trilogy, I really wanted readers to connect with the story and see each character’s battle with the depravity of tracking down leaders in human trafficking rings and witnessing the aftermath and effects of the abuse survivors were subjected to.  Both main characters, Kas and Raina, had major obstacles to overcome in their developing relationship, and writing in third person allowed me to convey Raina’s journey to overcome her horrific past while also showing Kas’ struggle to help Raina heal and move forward without controlling her actions.  There are many supporting characters in the trilogy, so third person worked best.

When I began writing my newest released novel, Ash to Steele, I faced the same challenge of trying to figure out how to best present the story of Breck and Emma to the readers.  I knew that I wanted to write this story in first person POV, but I bounced worse than a ball on a Foosball table on whether or not to write the story in Emma’s POV, Breck’s POV, or both.  I drove myself insane and changed the POV several times before finally deciding on doing alternating POVs, beginning Ash to Steele in Emma’s voice and alternating throughout the story before ending with Breck’s voice.  I’m thrilled with how the story came to life in Ash to Steele by focusing on one character’s thoughts at a time, showing the very different views and beliefs of the main characters and what happens in this story of bad boy meets good girl and rocks her world before she rips his right out from underneath him in their own words.  

While writing Ash to Steele, I fell in love with first person POV and how connected I became to Breck and Emma.  I will always hold a special place in my heart for Kas and Raina in The Rain Trilogy for many reasons, mostly due to their being my first and with how Kas is my version of the perfect man, hot, sexy, protective to the point of bossy at times, and downright fierce in how he will go through hell and back to protect his girl.  I wholeheartedly stand behind writing the trilogy in third person, but I don’t see myself writing another story in third person anytime in the near future, quite possibly ever. I learned a valuable lesson with Ash to Steele and how Breck and Emma came to life through connecting so closely to their convictions, flaws, raw emotions, and seeing them through their eyes as they told their story in their own voices.  There’s just something powerful about internalizing a story read in the character’s perspective.  

I had the most entertaining, wicked time writing Ash to Steele in two very different voices and now I’m hooked to alternating between the hero (hmmm….not sure hero best describes Breck, at least not at first) and the heroine.  It was a blast getting to step into the mind of Breck, Casanova to every woman and a god to every man, and telling his story of how Emma drives him insane wanting to love and hate her while she becomes his sweetest hell.  Breck’s pure masculinity and cockiness were my favorite part of writing his story and I adored counteracting that with Emma’s quiet strength and innocence and letting her character to breathe life in how she told her torment of trying to hold onto to who she is while losing herself to Breck more each day. 

Karen-Anne Stewart is a new author and has only recently discovered that she is now addicted to writing. Her first novel, Saving Rain, was originally going to be a single novel, but it quickly turned into a trilogy. She fell in love with the characters and had to continue the story. Saving Rain is a new adult contemporary romance meant for readers 18 and older. 
 
She lives in the mountains with her family. She loves to read, hike, and travel when she is not writing. She is a sucker for romance, especially a book with a strong alpha male who has a sensitive side. She also enjoys a good mystery and thrillers. 
 
Her favorite author is James Patterson; he is an amazing writer. 
 
With being a newbie, she is just learning all the ropes, but is loving the wild ride. She plans to write for as long as her fingers have dexterity. 

Book Information

Emma 
Who I am and all I believe is marred with just one glance into angry, steel blue eyes. He seems 
to control my air, my ability to breathe. He makes me crave everything I know is a sin. Pure 
becomes tainted and lines are blurred. It's my fault; I'm the one who isn't strong enough. I've 
been damaged...broken. Breck's words haunt me...'There's a consequence for every choice you 
make.' 
 
Breck 
I've had so many women I can't even remember over half of their names, but none of them are 
mine; I make damn sure of that. I take what I desire and never look back. I don't need or want 
anyone, ever...not until I met Emma. Those eyes bore into what's left of my soul and her touch 
sears me, weakens me. I want to hate her for that. She is my ruin...my sweetest hell.