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What George RR Martin Taught Me

For my early formative years of writing (early 2000s), there were only a handful of authors I read heavily:  Robert Jordan, Laurell K. Hamilton, Amanda Quick, Julie Garwood, Johanna Lindsay, and George RR Martin.  Since the Shanhasson trilogy was my first project, you’ll probably see a lot of those influences.

I tried to take everything I loved from epic fantasy… the lushness of romance…and the sultry romps of LKH (before the arduer took over)…and create a world that contained it all.  Political intrigue, worldbuilding, large character casts, sweeping story arcs, epic journeys mixed with emotional relationships and complex erotic situations.  If LKH taught me that one heroine could have many lovers, then George RR Martin taught me…

To kill characters.

I’m so in love with Game of Thrones on HBO and I’m absolutely thrilled that it’s generating such excitement for people who might not have read the series, but seriously, I’m worried about people’s reactions as those beloved characters start dropping like flies. 

Okay, I don’t quite kill as many characters as Martin, but major characters DO die in the Shanhasson series.  If you already read Road, you know that.  But killing characters is a huge no-no in Romancelandia, and since I write a lot of romance and romance-like work, I want to be clear up front.

Return to Shanhasson is NOT a romance.

However, if your heart isn’t singing with joy at the end…and yes, a few tears might spill from your eyes (I cry every time I read it)…then I’ve failed utterly and completely.

To be completely fair, characters might be DEAD but they’re not GONE.  e.g. there are still scenes with the characters who were killed and they’re still important to the story.  They’re simply bound to appear only in Dreams.  So here’s a little twist for you:  if I bring back the beloved characters, then it’s only fair that I bring back the hated ones too, right?  *wicked grin*

Anyway, if you take a look at the Return to Shanhasson page, you’ll seen the following warning:

THIS TRILOGY IS NOT ROMANCE. Bad things happen. Significant characters die. Love is the greatest gift of all, and sometimes requires the greatest sacrifice. However, love shines in the darkest night. The road is long and hard, but when Shannari reaches her destination, she’ll reunite with all her loved ones she’s lost over the years and find more love and happiness than she’s ever known.

Thank you, Mr. Martin.

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Writing With Tarot

First, in case you missed it, I’ve added pages for both Golden and Return to Shanhasson with links to excerpts.  I also have some good news:  Vicki is officially going to Samhain!  I don’t have a release date for Yours to Take yet but the contract is signed and I’ve got a few edits I need to work on.  We’re shooting for FRIDAY for Return’s release, but I’ll make an official post once it’s up and available.

Now, the meat of this post.  Since I finished the first draft of The Bloodgate Warrior, I switched my attention to preparing the next WIP, either a new contemporary erotic novella (longish) or Lord Regret’s Price, a follow up to Lady Wyre.  Since I have the most notes on Phantom, I decided to whip it into shape first.

So I’m going through my folders and notes, and there’s something wrong.  Something’s missing.  It’s small, but the project doesn’t FEEL right yet.  It needs to be more than a retelling, more than an erotic menage.  Something had me not wanting to write yet but I didn’t know what it was.

Before getting too frustrated, I pulled out my tarot cards.  My good friend Jenna Reynolds has taught me several tricks to use tarot for inspiration.  I started out by writing down my concerns on a sheet of paper.  Then I pulled a card at random and thought about what it could mean.  What was missing?  What did I need to figure out?

The first few cards were generally encouraging but nothing seemed to speak specifically to the solution.  The Fool.  Sure, my protagonist must take that leap of faith to start the story.  Ace of Wands, inspiration, the spark that starts the fire.  Yes, that’s exactly what I’m looking for!  But WHAT IS IT?

Where things started clicking:  The World card.  Something about the circle, neverending story, circle of life.  I drew a circle on a clean piece of paper and started doodling. 

Of course the next card I drew:  The Wheel of Fortune.  Again, with the circle!

Before too long, I realized that I’d missed the heart of my story.  Yes, I had it plotted on 4 spreadsheets.  I had character maps.  But in the end…  I didn’t have a solid THEME, around which everything should revolve.  That one little picture suddenly unlocked everything I needed.  My characters are the spokes in a wheel.  They’re all either trapped inside a vicious circle of their own making… or they thought they’d broken the circle, only to realize they’d broken themselves instead.

I need to break those circles, and then come full circle to heal them at the same time.

It doesn’t change my plot much, but it gives me that extra emotion I needed that will take this from a pleasant retelling to hopefully a killer emotional ride.

Do you have a favorite trick that helps you gain insight or inspiration when you’re stuck?

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Return to Shanhasson Cover

We’re finalizing the release date as I type, but it’ll definitely be THIS MONTH!  Thank you, everyone, for your patience.  I hope the final book in the Shanhasson trilogy meets your wildest expectations!

Meet Mykal tal‘Mamba, a man so cloaked in Shadow that he doesn’t remember exactly who he is.  Or rather, who he’s been. 

Raising his voice, Mykal yelled after the fleeing trader. “Tell Shannari dal’Dainari that soon I’ll soar over her Shining Walls!”

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A Gorgeous Golden Cover

Coming August 29th from Carina Press:

Bred for him…and for his bed.

Golden-eyed Jin has spent her life preparing to be the Emperor’s consort. She knows her destiny is to serve the Emperor by indulging the dark desire that he has buried deep inside his heart—the desire to give pain.

Only she can take the pain he yearns to give, and transform it into the most unimaginable pleasure. But to enjoy all the Emperor can give her, she must survive assassination attempts from those who would keep them apart.

Seducing the Emperor is risky…but it’s the only way to fulfill her destiny.

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Just a Little Late…

Okay, months late!  But I’m relieved to announce that I finally finished the first draft of The Bloodgate Warrior today!  Just under 39K.

I knew I was getting close.  I didn’t expect more than a couple of thousand words to get there, but I kept getting hung up.  Weeks ago, these scenes rolled through my mind like a movie.  Now, unfortunately, they were a slow choppy crawl clouded in dust.  I should have written the climax weeks ago when I knew exactly how I wanted it to go.  Instead, I had to suffer sentence by sentence, feeling my way through the fog.

My big hold up:  according to my spreadsheet, the final climax occurred in the cenote at Chick’en Itza.  Yes, IN the cenote.  But when it came time for that final battle to play out, I couldn’t figure out how Tecun ended up in the cenote.  Why would he willingly jump in there, if Cassie wasn’t down there?  (And she wasn’t)

I did a little catch up for the Evil Day Job today while working on laundry, and then as a reward, I switched to Tecun.  I was determined to finish.  Finally, I got him into the cenote…and then the rest came tumbling after.  *whew*

It needs so much work I’m almost reluctant to even call it “finished.”  The last 10K is really choppy.  It just took me too darned long to finish, so I couldn’t remember little plot points that had been so clear in my head before.  I’m sad to say I was even struggling to remember secondary character names.  Groans.  I’ve still got to figure out a few things too, and I need to do a little research too.  But the biggest hurdle is DONE.

Done, done, done.  Happy, happy, happy.

Now to rest up my hands…

So I can begin the first draft of Phantom while I let Tecun ripen a little before revisions.

P.S. I have a GORGEOUS cover to share with you soon for Golden.  Also we’re very close to finishing up the cover for Return and it’s going to be awesome too!

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Carina Press Anniversary

In celebration of our one year anniversary, I asked as many of our Harlequin team members and Carina Press freelance editors as possible to write a short blog post, talking about what the past year or so has been like for them, working on Carina Press. I deliberately didn’t provide any direction other than that, because I wanted to see what people came up with, in the spirit of Carina’s 1st anniversary. I was so pleased when I saw what they’d all come up with, and had to say (and some of these posts made me just a little teary)! I hope you enjoy the post, and look for your opportunity to win a Carina Press book at the bottom of this post. ~Angela James

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Lessons from Carina’s First Year

Gina Bernal is a freelance editor for Carina Press. You can follow her on Twitter.

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Wow, I can’t believe it’s already time to wish Carina Press a happy first anniversary. Not to be cliché, but it does feel like just yesterday that I shot an email to Angela James saying, “Hey, I hear you might be looking for editors…” Lucky me, I made the team. Working for Carina has been a pleasure, but it’s also been a tremendous learning experience—both professionally and personally. Carina’s first year as a publisher also happened to be my first year in an exciting, emerging part of the industry, in a new job, living in a new city. And I’ve learned some interesting lessons along the way…

The writer’s imagination is endless. Carina’s motto is “Where no great story goes untold,” and that wholehearted approach to finding compelling reads means our inbox is filled with a little bit of everything. Great, good and—if I’m being honest—sometimes bad, the variety of manuscripts assures that a batch of submissions will be anything but boring.

Digital publishing moves fast. Tight deadlines keep us all constantly going, but it’s rewarding (and not a little nail-biting) to see a book you love go from acquisition to a reader’s hand in less than a year.

Working in a virtual office doesn’t have to equal isolation. Having always worked in chatty, cooperative offices, I was apprehensive about working from home as a freelancer. Who would I bounce ideas off of? Who would listen to a random rant? Though Carina’s editorial team is scattered across the US and beyond, the “water cooler” environment fostered by our email loop and social networks means someone’s usually there to lend support or share a laugh.

There’s a slippery slope from smart skirts to sweatpants. You know you’ve gotten way too comfortable working from home when your significant other asks “Why are you dressed for dance class?” and your only reply is “Oh, I’ve been wearing this all day.” Yes, I’ve gone from having once been the dressiest person at my old job to coveting Old Navy stretch gaucho pants. All my cute shoes are crying in the closet. Writers and other stay-at-homers, I hope you can commiserate.

Everybody knows Harlequin. Readers or not, people recognize the Harlequin name. The brand is synonymous with romance, and telling someone you edit books for Harlequin’s digital-first imprint is guaranteed to spark an interesting conversation. Makes for a fabulous icebreaker.

Twitter is addictive. Does this need further explanation?

Novellas can pack a storytelling punch. Lately, I’ve become a slow reader. Seriously, I’m jealous of people with active Good Reads update feeds. Novellas provide a fast treat…and a sense of accomplishment when you finish quickly! Some of my Carina favorites include Tia Nevitt’s The Sevenfold Spell, Ginny Glass and Inez Kelley’s Dirty Laundry series, Eleri Stone’s Mercy, Nicole North’s Laird of Darkness, and Seleste deLaney’s Badlands (full disclosure: I edited the latter two).

Romantic Suspense is disproportionately represented in my editing repertoire. While I enjoy romantic suspense, I don’t read tons of it for pleasure—maybe five to ten percent of my for-fun romance reading could be classified as suspense. But as an editor, about thirty percent of the books I’ve worked on thus far are romantic suspense. No explanation for it, but when reading submissions those suspenseful storylines have an undeniable allure.

They’re all real books. Working in digital publishing has made me especially touchy when people say they don’t read ebooks, they read “real” books. People work their tushies off to write, edit and produce ebooks and they’re just as real as any hardcover or paperback out there, thank you very much.

Here’s to a great first year and many more to come!

To celebrate Carina’s one year anniversary of publishing books, we’re giving away some prizes. Today, on each of the nineteen blogs our team members are featured on, we’re giving away a download of a Carina Press book to one random winner (that’s nineteen total winners!) All you need to do to be entered to win is comment on this post. You can enter to win on all nineteen posts. In addition, on the Carina Press blog, we’re giving away a grand prize of a Kobo ereader and 12 Carina Press books of the winner’s choice. Visit the Carina Press blog to enter to win, and to see links to all 19 of today’s blog posts.

And a sincere thank you from all of us, to our readers and authors, for making Carina Press’s first year a success!

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Good News Monday

It’s been awhile since I’ve posted good news.  I just didn’t feel like it while my poor laptop was in the shop and I’ve been so behind on everything.  However….

  • I got my laptop back on Friday!  I kissed it and petted it and named it George…  Okay, not really, but I did hug it and I might have almost shed a tear or two of joy as I opened up Word and it didn’t take five minutes to load my file.
  • We’re very close to finalizing Return to Shanhasson’s cover!  If you want an ARC, please e-mail or comment here and I’ll get you the file. 
  • In June so far, I’ve walked 2 of my promised 12 miles.  I hurt the top of my foot yesterday — I guess my Sketchers were tied too tight and I didn’t notice until it was too late.  Ouch!  If it’s not too sore, I plan to walk again today. 
  • Still dieting on plan, although I’m up about two pounds.  That’s a normal game my body plays, unfortunately, but this time, I know if I hang in there, it’ll eventually give up and drop this little bit extra its hording!
  • I survived another high-stress week at the Evil Day Job.  June is going to be rough, I’m afraid, but I know I can survive.   (It’s not often that my wrists are sore from programming and not from writing.) 
  • I’m in Act 3 of The Bloodgate Warrior and wrote the first climax last night.  Poor Tecun got a nasty surprise.

If I push really really hard……

I should be able to finish The Bloodgate Warrior this week.  I’m just scenes away from the end.  (I took my spreadsheet out and propped it up to inspire me with how close I am!)  It’s not so many words that I need to write — they’re just hard ones, if that makes sense.  I keep waiting for the steamroller urge to kick in and just grind “the end” to dust, but it’s still a slow crawl.  However, it’s a steady crawl, and I know I WILL GET THERE.  Eventually.  It’s just taking me longer than usual.

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Beating the Dog Days of Summer

If you go back over the years and look at my history, I never tend to do well over the summer.  The kids are up late, which means I can’t concentrate at night.  We’re up later, because the kids are up later, so I can’t get up early.  If I can’t get up early, I obviously can’t do Dark & Early writing!  So when do I write?  Lunch?  Not with my project load at the Evil Day Job right now.  (Twice in the past three days of work I’ve forgotten to even EAT lunch, let alone take time to write.)

So I have to get a plan of action done NOW.  Some kind of strategy to help me get my projects done instead of waiting (praying) for September.

The first thing I did today was print out June, July, and Aug calendars.  I penciled in all the projects I need to work on.  My releases and planned promo.  I organized my idea file (and yes, I got a new idea germinating.  Sigh.)  I prepared my wishlist of projects too — things I’d really like to work on but haven’t committed anywhere or to anyone yet.  All the various lists are recorded instead of cluttering up my head and distracting me.

I also joined a book club discussing 100 Days of Weight Loss to keep my diet progressing.  35.8 pounds lost since Jan and I don’t want to lose momentum!

I also committed to walking 12 miles in June.  Not a lot by any means, but I figured a challenge would help me get active again.  I seem to do EITHER eating or exercising…I can’t do both at the same time.

Let me rephrase that using Day 1 of the 100 day challenge.  In the past, I used to be unable to exercise and diet at the same time consistently, but today, I’m going to find a way to do both.  I’ve been dieting consistently since January, so I just need to set a small exercise goal that I know I can achieve.  Done!

My number one priority in June will be to finish the first draft of The Bloodgate Warrior.  Then I have two proposals I want to finish plotting, including synopses, and then choose one to begin drafting.  I’ll also have Vicki revisions this month (details will be announced as soon as I have dets in hand).  I’m preparing promo plans for Golden this August, including some FANTASTIC artwork that Soleil is creating.  I can’t wait to share it with you!

So, I’ll continue to eat right.  I’ll begin a modest exercise program.  And probably the most important thing, I need to get enough sleep so I can get up as many times D&E as possible.  (I totally overslept today and wasted a pot of coffee.)  I have to be in bed by 10 pm each night, if not earlier.  Sigh.  That’ll be the toughest thing on my list!

Do you lose momentum in the summer, and if so, how do you plan to combat it?

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Return to Shanhasson News

The formatting is complete and we’re working on the cover.  This one will be done by a new cover artist.  I’ll keep you posted but we’re very close!

REVIEWERS:  I have ARCs (pdf — and I can probably make you an epub too)!!!!  This is the third book in a trilogy and I’m afraid it will NOT make sense if you haven’t read the others.  If you’re interested in rating/reviewing on any book site and would like the book(s) please contact me!

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Good Riddance to May

Not only did I turn another year older, but my sister’s town was devastated by a tornado and my laptop was busted.  Plus I’ve had a major project in progress at the Evil Day Job, which was running late, stressing me out.  My husband is unemployed for the second time this year, and the kids got out of school.

SHOOT ME NOW.

MayNoWriMo is a bust.

Yet, there’s several rays of sunshine in this May of gloom.  I finally finished the pyramid sacrifice scene in The Bloodgate Warrior!  It only too me all stinking month to finish the scene…Sigh.  However, it’s a killer scene, one I’m very pleased to finish.  Now I have the big showdown ahead.  I plan to continue getting up D&E as much as possible, because with summer activities driving me nuts, I won’t have time at night to write.

I also finished a major component of the EDJ project today.  Woot!  Still have a lot to do, but the part that was like an albatross around my neck is finally DONE.  I collapsed in a huge heap Friday after working late, spent the weekend like a slug watching movies and cross-stitching, and finished up the last of my tasks today as I promised.  Whew.