Brain fog and writing

For the past few weeks I’ve been providing you all with one of my previously published novels, Kidnapped. But this week i thought I would share with you what I have been up to and where my writing is going. Not to worry, I’ll be posting more on Kidnapped next week.

The past two years have been rough on me, with my father’s death, one sons illness and my daughters illness and it has taken a toll on my writing. But on top of all of that, my brain had been in a fog. My usual creative thoughts have been few and far between, which is very odd for me given I’m used to cranking out a book every two months. It’s been upsetting to say the least. Writing is my life, yet lately, I just can’t think, the ideas are there but putting them down just didn’t happen. I knew what I wanted for the story, but when I began to type, my brain was just fog. I began to wonder if i was drying up, if I would no longer be able to write.

Then I noticed, I haven’t been dreaming as much as I normally do. For those that don’t know, a lot of my ideas come from my dreams and nightmares. lately, the dreams have dried up as well. But it wasn’t just the ideas and dreams drying up, but my ability to think straight, remember things or put thoughts to words. And I began to think….hmm…what’s wrong.

Doing some research into some meds my daughter was on for her Aspergers syndrome and Depression, I researched the meds I’m on for my depression and guess what I found? The med I am on had the side effect of numbing a person’s brain, preventing dreams. Well…imagine that. Now I knew why my brain has been so foggy.

So I decided to lower my dosage and see what would happen. Mind you, I’ve been keeping a close eye on my depression just to be sure. Since lowering my dosage, not only has my mind been clearer, but my dreams are back and my writing is on the go again. Yahooo!!!

Since lowering my meds, I have finished off two stories, editing two others and submitted them to publishers. I’ve began working on another story which I’m really fueled about. And I feel great!!

What will I do if my depression starts acting up, you might ask? Well, I’ll deal with that if it happens. Not to worry, I have no intention of ignoring my disease. I’ve been down that ugly dark road before and I don’t care to go there again. But for now, I’m riding the wave of creativity and loving it!

I wonder though, if there are other authors out there on medications who feel the way I did. Are the meds numbing your brain? What do you do to keep the creativity fresh?

Author Taglines. Yes? No?

You’ve selected the key words culled your brand profile and created an author brand tagline. Yes? No? Well if you haven’t yet or you’re stuck, read on. Help and inspiration is on the way.

An author tag line is almost always a recommended part of branding. It is your brand positioning taken to a high concept, creative level. You want the line to be memorable, yet flexible enough to allow you to grow as a writer––but not so all encompassing that the line ends up trying to say too much. I see examples of author taglines that are working too hard all over cyberspace.

How can you tell if your tagline is trying too hard? Count the commas. Too many commas in a tagline usually means: 1. Author can’t self edit. 2. Writes in several subgenres. 3. Describes the tone and style of the writer, usually without much tone or style.

A quick piece of advice. Avoid puns. Always. Unless a pun is really, really great, please try to resist. I know this is tough for you clever ones, but you must trust me on this.

How about a few examples of taglines?

A little bit of laughter, a pinch of spice, and a sprinkling of magic dust.

Critique: Generally, this does not sound adult. The tone is younger than YA. Disney-ish. Avoid being too cute, or too friendly or folksy, unless, of course, that is what you write.

How about this tag?  Edgy, elegant, erotic romance.

Critique: The alliteration takes this no more than a half-step away from what I call a blueprint tagline. The author has basically taken words and phrases from her brand profile and strung them together. Note the commas.

“Science Fiction, secret agents, and bad boys gone good.”

Don’t use quote marks. It’s cheesy. And those commas are back again. Does this author write cross-genre or does she write in three different genres? Bad boys gone good, begins to get me interested. A playful line, but it needs something more. An erotic author who writes troubled, darker heroes might edge that up a notch. Now, bad boys gone good, becomes:

Bad boys can be very, very good. In bed. Why not bring the author’s voice into the line? Let me show how very good bad boys can be. Keep playing with ideas and tossing around lines.  See how outrageous you can be––take it way out there and then pull back.

Which leads me to the two sentence tagline. A descriptive sentence, then a second shorter sentence to punctuate the tone or concept of the first line.

And now for an excellent example.

Erotic Romance writer Delilah Devlin’s tagline seems to be the one used and quoted extensively in blog’s all over the internet. Here it is.

Get in bed with Delilah. Everyone else has.

Critique: Note the use of two sentences. One to set up a provocative premise. The second to drive home a clever bit of humor. Implied in the second line is the idea that many readers have read and enjoyed her novels. And no commas!

Now get back to work and create the next great tagline. No pressure! And please remember that you are allowed to refine your tagline as your writing matures or changes. It’s not the end of the world to freshen up or evolve a brand tagline.

COMING NEXT WEEK: You’ve got your brand strategy and your tagline. Now what do you do with them? Website and social networking are the foundation of your brand. A quick pass through those in the weeks ahead and then we’re on to advanced work in advertising and promotion for pubbed and unpubbed authors.

G. Jillian Stone

There are fields in time that burn with desire. Meet me there.

Jillian is a recent Golden Heart finalist for THE YARD MAN, the first story in The Yard Men Series. Set in late Victorian London, Scotland Yard detectives have never been as wickedly sexy or as brilliantly clever. To read more about her latest work in progress, THE SEDUCTION OF PHAETON BLACK, please drop by her website: www.gjillianstone.com jillstone@mac.com

ONE MAN’S THOUGHTS: The Story With In A Story

‘It all started when the phone rang that afternoon.’ Kyle stared into his glass of bourbon as if it were a crystal ball replaying the past. ‘Most everyone in the office, including the secretary, was at lunch so I answered. The voice on the other end, a woman’s voice, sounded desperate for help. She wanted to speak with Mr. Strauss, the firm’s best corporate lawyer, but he was downtown with the other partners enjoying an expensive meal at a haughty restaurant.’

‘Is that what you told her?’ The bartender scratched his gelatinous chin.

‘It should’ve been,’ Kyle said. ‘Though the situation was obviously over my pay grade, I couldn’t just send her voicemail. That voice was so sultry; I was compelled to talk to her. I had to know more.’ Kyle tipped the glass back and downed his drink. ‘Biggest mistake of my life.’

The bartender poured another without prompting.

‘If you don’t mind my asking, what the hell happened?’ He asked Kyle with a hushed tone.

‘That’s what I keep asking myself,’ Kyle said.

A simple but effective technique is the story within a story approach. In the example above we learn about the events of a story as Kyle speaks of them while at the same time a second story is told of the bartender and his reaction to the first story. This gives the reader more information than would be available if the scene only described the events at the office. Kyle’s melancholy attitude and the bartender’s interest show the reader the emotional impact that those events will have on Kyle thus building tension.

Another form of the story within the story concept is the confessional. This is a pause in the main plot where a scene about a character’s past is included. It can be either narrative or dialogue, but the purpose is to take a look at an important point in the character’s past and learn something of the character that explains why they are the way they are or what motivates them. It is fun to drop a familiar character in a whole new set of circumstances and take a break from the current story. It allows the reader to see more aspects of them and keeps the story fresh.

Story with in a story is a simple idea and is used a lot in a myriad of forms. It will add a dimension to your writing that will give your plots and characters depth they didn’t have before.

Until next time- happy writing.

Michael Matthews Bingamon

Let Jodi Redford Light Your Fire With Her New Release

Well, just as I promised last week, here’s this week’s new release info.
Out from Samhain Tuesday, June 29, is a new hot and kickass release from Jodi Redford And to celebrate her new release, Jodi is offering to one lucky person who leaves a comment, a $5 gift card to My Bookstore And More
Be sure to check out Jodi’s contest page. To celebrate her new release, she’s giving away an Advanced Reading copy of Light My Fire! There’s also some other cool prizes, but you’ll need to check out her contest page for the rules. But hurry, because the contest ends tomorrow.
Be sure when you leave your comments here to include your email address so Jodi or I can contact you. Best of luck, everyone! We’ll draw the winner on Sunday!

Light My Fire by Jodi Redford (Out this coming Tuesday from Samhain.)
Blurb:
Double the firepower, triple the heat.
Aiden Fortune’s orders are clear: Find the woman, claim her as a sexual
sacrifice-and share her with his horndog twin brother. Distasteful as it is,
the Drakoni council insists the ancient custom be honored. Or Aiden will be
banished.
One glance at Dana Cooper, and Aiden is thrown into the dragon version of a
tailspin. Claim her? Hell, yes, he’ll claim her. Problem is, she has no idea
her father signed away her destiny at birth.
Dana has dated enough whack-a-doodles to fill an insane asylum. Two gorgeous
men claiming to be dragons? Par for the course. Until they give her a
tantalizing glimpse of their inner beasts, which makes her think she’s the
one headed for a padded cell-for actually considering their offer of the
hottest sex of her life, for life.
Her resistance melts away under the onslaught of two men who pack enough
heat to set off smoke alarms in a six-block radius. Especially when she
realizes she’s falling for Aiden. But with a town full of dragon hunters and
an enemy lurking in the shadows, surviving a week of Aiden and Jace’s
double-teaming will be the least of her problems.
Warning: Contains two smokin’ hot dragons and their not-so-unwilling
sacrifice. A few wardrobe malfunctions and inappropriate use of
paintbrushes. You might want to have your local fire department on speed
dial.

I’m a Little Distracted

Which is why my post is posting later than usual.

I’ve been working on several projects lately. Revisions of some things, writing new stories, edits, preparing for my next release–all while taking care of my two children and our household (well, sort of… if you ask my husband, he’d probably say I could do a bit better with the housework, and I wouldn’t disagree in the least).

Of course, juggling two separate writing careers, so to speak, just scatters me further. I write YA novels under a different name, and I’ve been working on publisher edits of book 2 in my series while preparing book 4 to submit to the publisher. Gets a little confusing sometimes. And yes, there is a book 3, but that’s been accepted and is now waiting its turn for edits.

My next release will be out July 8. It’s a paranormal romance novel with immortals, suspense, murder threats, and a whole bunch of other stuff that really, really reads better than this description. The title is Eternal Love, and it’s from Pink Petal Books. I’m gearing up for some interviews, blog spots, and so on, so I hope you’ll keep an eye out around the web for me and say hello.

Meanwhile, I’ve been revising a short story that I hope will find a home, though I’m not too fond of it. I think I complained–I mean blogged about it here a couple-few weeks ago. I’m a little happier with it than I was when I wrote it, but something still isn’t right about it, and hopefully I’ll figure out what that is so I can fix it.

I’m also working on a new novel. My first attempt at M/M romance. Werewolves, veganism, and a whipped cream scene that I’m really kinda proud of, because I wrote it in response to a challenge on a Yahoo loop I belong to and surprised myself by not only being able to write it, but by getting good feedback about it. I’d already written the scene where the main character shifts for the first time, so now it’s a matter of filling out the story and tying it all together. I like Kyle, the main character whose name I keep meaning to change, so hopefully the story will finish up well. (I keep meaning to change his name because it’s too similar to “Kyla”, the name of the heroine in my novella Beginner’s Luck. Unfortunately, Kyle doesn’t seem to see that as a problem, so he hasn’t let me make the change yet.)

So yeah… I’m a bit scattered right now. I’m almost at the halfway point of my goal of 16 submissions between April 30 and October 31; so far, counting everything from novels to free read short stories for Pink Petal’s wedding celebration event to my YA stuff, I’ve submitted seven things. Number eight will be going out next week.

And there’s a big, shiny yellow boat hanging in the air outside the marine assistance shop I work in, which is making it really hard for me to concentrate on this post. So I’m gonna go look at that now. Have a happy week, all, and next week I’ll try to be more coherent!

Breakthrough Branding for Romance Authors. Part Deux. The Brand Signature.

This week, I will be posting examples of the kinds of brand signatures you should be able to formulate by completing the brand profile. So, if you are stumped or have run into a block, this should help. I am going to spend a lot of time with this profile before we move on to other areas of branding and promotion, because the framework is the foundation for everything that comes after–like developing a creative strategy. Strategy is the next phase of your brand work, as well as planning promotion and advertising; what kinds of media to use, print/cyber, whether to twitter or not, holding contests/giveaways, etc.

Branding is emotional, just like romance novels. A reader’s decision to purchase a new release from a branded author is not based on a value proposition or couponing. Whether a reader purchases a favorite author for $6.99 through Amazon or pays $7.99 at Barnes & Noble is irrelevant. Once your brand is established, readers will purchase again because they enjoyed your other novels and you deliver a great read. How did Donald Maass put it, again? “Delight your readers with your own brand of story, then continue to delight them in a similar way (only better) on a regular basis.”

EXAMPLES OF BRAND PROFILE DIRECTIONS: Pull out four or five key words or phrases from your profile, then, create a run-on sentence––string them all together. I have put together some examples below.

Chick Lit Profile: These female survival guides promise laughter, steamy love scenes, sexy infuriating men and sassy smart heroines.

Take away: WOW! This author makes me laugh. She is fresh and vibrant. I love her sexy, infuriating men! I want to look her up on Amazon and purchase.

Erotic Romance Profile: Buttoned-up business women loose their passions with powerful, difficult alpha males and reveal darker, hidden agendas.

Take away: M-mm. Sounds like she sets up interesting tensions. Power chicks, dark sexy heroes and kink. I’m intrigued.

So, what is your brand signature? Dark and erotic? Fresh and funny? Let’s do one more:

Paranormal: Magically-powered heroines pair with ultra sexy/macho mortal heroes for hot sex/adventure.

Take away: I’d love to know how the mortal men keep up, or keep it up? Haha! The brand sentence above seems like it is limited to a series. In that respect, if I was the author, I might want to broaden the signature. Also what is the tone? Is this light paranormal or dark? Could be either.

The place to crystallize your brand is in the signature or tag line. I’ll use myself as an example. I write historical romantic suspense, as well as historical paranormal, on the hot end of the love scene spectrum. My brand signature is:

There are fields in time that burn with desire. Meet me there.

What does this say to you? Well, I am trying for several things. Fields in time says historical, but also hints at paranormal. What about hot or erotic content? Burn with desire. I’d say so! Meet me there. Invites the reader into my world of fiction.

Most everyone I know writes in more than one subgenre, so dig deep and look for the defining characteristics of your work, beyond category.

Go back through your profile and consider your brand signature. If you would like feed back please e-mail me direct or leave a comment on this blog. My website and email address are listed below. Above all, don’t get discouraged. Even if you set the profile aside for a while, keep working on your brand. Eventually, you will hit upon an idea and things will click into place.

Graphics (visuals) as well as copy play a huge role in branding, here is your HOMEWORK FOR NEXT WEEK:

Sometimes concrete examples help with the finer points of branding, so I have created what I hope is a fun exercise. I want you to visit several author websites. They must be sites you have never visited before. And they must be authors who do not have established brands. Click on a few tabs, and gather impressions. TRY NOT TO READ ANYTHING. Now, quickly close up the window.

Write down your impressions of each author. What is the brand personality of the website? Based on your glance at the graphics, what subgenre do they write? Are you intrigued? Now go back to the sites for a second visit, read a few pages. How well did the writers/authors do? Does their site reflect a strong brand identity? Did you guess their subgenre correctly?

I have included a few websites at random. Some are unpublished authors, others are pubbed. They are all in the process of building their brand. How well do we think they are doing? Next week: How to Create a Brand Strategy.

http://arcummings.web.com

http://aprildawnbooks.com

http://kayceekacer.com

http://www.acmason.com

http://www.sandrasookoo.com

http://ajwilsononline.com

http://www.jamiewesley.com

G. Jillian Stone

There are fields in time that burn with desire. Meet me there.

Jillian is a recent Golden Heart finalist for THE YARD MAN, the first story in The Yard Men Series. Set in late Victorian London, Scotland Yard detectives have never been as wickedly sexy or as brilliantly clever. To read more about her latest work in progress, THE SEDUCTION OF PHAETON BLACK, please drop by her website: www.gjillianstone.com jillstone@mac.com

ONE MAN’S THOUGHTS: Final Touches

I think back to the beginning of my latest manuscript that I start over three months ago when there was only a title and one blank page. Though I knew where to go with the story there was no predicting quite how it would turn out or what it would take to get there. Now twenty six thousand words and a hundred and ten pages later I have my newest manuscript almost ready to go. If you are new to writing I would like to share a few things with you about this stage of the process.

Though the story is done and the editing complete there is still a remarkable amount to do. My first bit of advice is to go over again. Trust me, there will be more corrections to make than might think. After that the details of the next few steps depend on the publisher you are submitting to. If you don’t know whom you are going to submit to then this is the time you want to do an Internet search for an appropriate publisher and look up their guidelines.

There are several things a publisher is likely to want in addition to the manuscript.

The first is a summary and my least favorite thing to do. A summary is a present tense outline of the manuscript. It should name all the main characters, cover all the major plot points and include the end. If you find that you are submitting a story to several publishers then you are likely to need a different summary for each because they all have different length requirements. I have written summaries anywhere from one page to ten pages for the same story.

Another common requirement is the blurb. This is like the teaser on the back cover to induce the reader to purchase the book. It is two or three paragraphs in length that should grab the readers attention and leave them wondering what happens next. Blurbs are also written present tense and are fun to do. Read the backs of a couple dozen of books and find which ones get your attention. What did those authors say and how did they say it? Blurb writing isn’t the same as novel writing, but once you get a knack for it, it’s a blast.

The excerpt, in theory, should be the simplest requirement. A publisher wants the writer to provide a bit of the manuscript for the reader to sample. Obviously this should involve an intriguing section, but I find choosing an excerpt difficult. What I keep in mind is that it should always include the main character, be mostly dialogue, and like a blurb end with the reader wondering what will happen next. Sounds easy, doesn’t it? Not so much.

The real pain in the arse about submitting comes from various publishers’ quirky requirements. Most of the requirements make sense such as length, font size and file types. However a few publishers want specific margins, no use of italics, no spacing other than chapter breaks (such as no * * * between sections), no use of the tab for indentations, and some want headers and footers with certain information. At this point it is more about jumping through hoops than the writing and the author spends significant time creating a specific versions of the manuscript for various publishers. It would make more sense to have the publisher decide if they liked the material and then make the changes for the accepted manuscripts, but I imagine the requirements are used to deter submissions.

In many cases a query letter, or cover letter, is sent as well. A basic three-paragraph format is used and it should be addressed to someone specific whenever possible. The first paragraph contains the basic facts about the manuscript including length, genre, title, and intended audience. The second paragraph is a very brief blurb about the story. The final paragraph is about the author. It should list relevant background, previous published material and experience. It is important to keep a query letter one page in length.

It is vital that an author is always polite when dealing with publishers. There is no call for being rude and it won’t change their minds in the case of rejection. Also, don’t bother being cutesy either. They are busy people and don’t have time for that sort thing. With all your communications be sure to get to the point, relay all the information required and thank them for their time.

My experience has been that E publishers tend to be more about the work. They will require the manuscript, blurb and excerpt with few complications. Paper publishers on the other hand often have more stringent needs. It is almost ceremonial the process of submitting to a conventional publisher and they expect all the bells and whistles. Whatever the requirements, be sure to meet them no matter what type of publisher you submit to. The submission stage is highly competitive and you don’t want to stand out for the wrong reasons. Conform to the requirements and let the work do the talking.

So, good luck to all of us who send our books off to publishers as if they were our children attending their first day of school.

Until next time— happy writing.

Almost forgot, happy father’s day to all of us dads!

Michael Matthews Bingamon

Where is April Dawn?

Hello, I’m writing this on behalf of my wife, April Dawn. As a few of you already know, we found out some time ago that my wife was expecting. We were very excited, though my wife was very ill with the pregnancy. Now, due to several factors, she finds herself unable to get online or do much other than visit doctors. The pregnancy is going well, and everything should be okay, but she is very high risk at this point and has been ordered to stay away from work, stress, etc… She may be put on full bed rest soon, but we don’t know yet. She has been very worried about you all and how you are faring without her, so I promised to post this to ease her mind. The baby is due in November, so she is hoping to get back with you all soon after that. I will try to blog again before then to let you know how things are going.
Until then.

Another new release by Jane Beckenham

For the next two weeks, I’m very excited to share two new releases from two of my good friends and fellow authors. This week,
Jane Beckenham
has a new release out with
Red Rose Publishing
which I’ll share with you in a moment, along with an excerpt to whet your apitite. Next week, I’ll be sharing info on a new hot number by
Jodi Redford
On with this week’s new release!
In Love With The Sheikh
Desert Rose Anthology
Jane Beckenham
Mainstream Romance: Contemporary, Interracial/Multicultural
ISBN: 978-1-60435-723-3
Cover Artist: Missy Lyons
Editor: Zena Gainer
Word Count: 49,380
Release Date: June 17, 2010

Desperate to discover her past, Lilly Duprés outbids Sheikh Kalim Raschid for an antique brooch. Her triumph is short lived. She can’t honor that bid. Accepting an offer to solve her financial embarrassment, Lilly discovers Kalim has every material thing yet spurns what she most desires. Love. Family. To belong.
After a lifetime spent watching his father hurt his mother, Kalim has vowed he would never imitate his father. But Lilly breaches his defenses leaving him vulnerable.
Faced with something he never wanted, Kalim must choose his future, and Lilly must accept her past, until life and love can come full-circle.

Excerpt – Fear Of Darkness

Here’s another treat for you my sweets.
Fear of Darkness is a toasty on the sizzlemeter.

Honoria writes paranormal romance. Fear of Darkness is available through Red Rose Publishing. Biohazard is available through Breathless Press. Of The Night is coming soon.

Enter Title Here

Okay, so the the title of this post is what appears on the dashboard side of things when we bloggers click on “Add New Post.”

It’s kind of amusing what sparks blog posts sometimes…

I chose to use that title because… well, I’m blogging about titles. About how difficult it can be sometimes to choose them, and how sometimes the title you think is just plain perfect is already in use. Titles are truly the bane of my writing existence.

One disclaimer, for people who may be wondering. Titles themselves cannot be copyrighted. The story to which a title is attached can be (and is from the moment it’s written), but the title can’t be. So from a legal standpoint, there isn’t anything wrong with using the same title as Author B, C, and Q.

However, if you want your book to stand out, it’s probably not a good idea to use the same title half a dozen other people have used, especially on recent releases.

My novel Eternal Love was originally titled Timeless. To me, that seemed an appropriate title for a novel about immortals. On my publisher’s request, I did an Amazon search for books with that title.

There were a LOT. Including two within the last year, and those two included one by Patric Michael, an author for whom I have a great deal of respect. I certainly didn’t want to use the same title he’d used just last year, or that another author used in February of this year, or that a dozen or more other authors have used. So I decided to change it, which unfortunately put me back in the position of trying to think of a title. (You’d be stunned at how long it took me to come up with “Timeless”… have I mentioned I don’t like trying to think of titles?)

Same thing happened with a novel I recently submitted. My original title was Safe Harbor. Made sense; it takes place in part at a marine assistance towing company, so I wanted some kind of ocean reference. Knowing I probably wasn’t the first to think of that title, I checked Amazon. Again, many results, including one that was just released in April. So I tried Home Port. Not a chance with that one… The Nora used it! So I settled for Their Home Port… and it’s a moot issue until the novel is accepted anyway. LOL

Sometimes a story comes complete with an awesome title. Unfortunately for me, that doesn’t happen often. There have been occasions where I’ve spent more time coming up with a title than I’ve taken to write the first chapter or two. And even then sometimes I have to change the title by the time I’m finished.

If you’re an author, how do you come up with titles for your stories? And if you’re a reader, what kind of title catches your attention?

Kidnapped Chapter 7 and 8

Chapter 7

Some men were just not that bright; her abductor, apparently, was one of them. “You may be wary of me, but you certainly are stupid.” Setting her coffee cup on the floor, she began untying herself. It didn’t take her long to get the ropes off, even with her left hand, given the fact that she was ambidextrous. Grabbing the chair she’d been tied to, she waited by the door for him to return.

“You messed with the wrong woman, big guy.” Giddy with excitement, she waited for him to return. She knew there would be no way she could get past him if she didn’t knock him out, and she hoped the chair did the trick. When she heard his familiar steps coming towards her, she felt the excitement ripple inside of her. Lifting the chair as best she could, she grunted with its weight; then with great patience, she waited.

The keys jingled, the door knob turned, the door opened. The instant he entered the doorway, she sent the chair crashing down on him. With a hearty groan, he went down.

“Yes!” Jumping over him, Liz darted from the room, freedom in her sights. Though she hadn’t knocked him out, she’d momentarily stunned him, which gave her enough time to make a break for it.

“She’s loose,” Mac called out, pushing the chair aside and bracing himself as he tried to stand.

She was free at last and nothing was going to prevent her from leaving. Seeing Betty Rubble blocking the bottom of the stairs didn’t faze her; she lifted her foot and kicked him right in the face. Her bare foot sang with pain. Ignoring it, she jumped over his slumped body and searched for an escape. She’d have plenty of time to deal with the pain after she was free.

“Grab her,” Mac yelled as he ran down the stairs.

“She fucking kicked me.”

“Deal with it, she’s getting away.” Jumping over Terry’s body at the bottom of the stairs, Mac ran after her.

She saw the back door and darted for it. Her hand reached out to the door knob as he caught up with her, grabbing her by the arm. She screamed, turning, fists ready.

Managing to avoid the fist flying towards his face, Mac grabbed her hand. “Son-of-a-bitch.” His shin rang with pain from the blow from her foot.

“Let me go.” She lashed out again, using her other hand to beat on his arms to get him to release her.

“The hell I will.” Spinning her, he pinned her against the door. “Get over here and help me already.”

Holding his bleeding nose, Terry swaggered towards Mac. “Just smack her, that’ll calm her down.”

“There’s been enough hitting. Grab her legs when I turn her.” Holding both arms behind her back, he spun them both and hooked one of his legs around hers to prevent her from booting Terry.

“You won’t get away with this.” Liz struggled, fighting to break free. When Betty grabbed her ankles, she bent her knees and tried pushing him away.

“Stupid bitch.”

“Hold her,” Mac warned him with stern eyes.

“I’ve got her.”

“You’ll pay for this, you bastards.” Twisting her body wildly, she made it damn near impossible for them to hang on to her. They carried her back up the stairs and into the bedroom as she struggled. She finally managed to slip her hands free of Bart’s hold, so she struck out at him and connected with Bart’s jaw.

“Damn it.”

“Yes, take that you bastard.” Her victory was sort lived as he grabbed her hands in one of his, then released her body having her angling nearly to the floor.

“Get her to the bed.”

“Now we’re talking.”

“No, no don’t, please don’t.” Liz quivered; she knew that tone in Betty’s voice and she couldn’t go through that

again.

“Just grab the ropes.”

The instant he set her on the bed, she tried to break free. Her breath hitched when he climbed on top of her, pinning her down. “You won’t get away with this. I’ll see you both burn in hell for what you’ve done to me.” She bucked with her hips even though it was useless given the fact the guy weighed a great deal more than she did.

“Yeah, you keep dreaming, princess. Tie up her legs.”

“Ouch,” Liz gasped when Betty yanked her foot hard.

“Take it easy. There’s no need to be rough, Betty.”

“She fucking kicked me, Bart.” Betty grabbed her other foot with as much force as he had the other.

“Get out of here, I’ll deal with her. Go,” Bart demanded.

“Whatever.” Throwing his hands in the air, Betty shot Liz a nasty glare, then left the room.

“Now, let’s get these hands of yours tied up.”

“Get off of me, you brute.” She bucked, trying to knock him off of her. He fell forwards, his head hitting hers. “Ouch.”

“Very intelligent.”

Her pulse began to flutter again and she felt her body react in the most pleasant of ways. They both stilled. Though she stared into the face of a silly cartoon mask, she saw the warm eyes behind it and felt herself lost in his gaze.

Holding her hands with one of his, he used the other to touch her bleeding lip. “You’re bleeding,” he said softly, his eyes shifting to meet hers.

“Oh,” she sighed, lost in his gaze.

“I should clean it up for you.”

“Uh huh,” she panted, licking her lip. She tasted the blood and it drew her back. Blinking her eyes, breaking the hold he’d had on her, she came back to reality with a hard thud. “Get off of me already, you jerk.”

“You’ve got a real smart mouth there, princess.”

“And you’re as heavy as an elephant.” She bucked again, then remembered what happened the last time and settled down.

“If you had any weight on you, you might have been more successful in taking me out.” He slid off of her and stood, looked down then quickly turned away. “I’ll be right back with something for your lip.”

The door closed and she heard him lock it from the other side. Blowing out a deep breath, Liz tried to get her system to level out. She felt hot, but it had nothing to do with the warmth of the room. She knew this feeling and it was not a comfortable one. She’d seen the bulge in his pants before he abruptly turned and hurried from the room, and lord it was doing a number to her system. How on earth could she be feeling desire? The guy was her abductor.

As she lay on the bed, her arms tied above her head, she wondered what it would have felt like if he’d kissed her.

~

Sifting through the medicine cabinet in the hallway washroom, Mac tried to get his mind off of Liz. There was something seriously wrong with him for wanting her. Number one, he was holding her captive, it was wrong to want her. Number two, she was so not his type. He didn’t date prissy prima donna women. She wore designer everything and came from money and walked with her nose in the air, snubbing those beneath her—not the kind of woman who interested him.

Grabbing the skin glue, he reminded himself that in a few days it would all be over, she would go her way, he would go his. Liz would pass him sometime on the street and she wouldn’t have a clue it had been him that had taken her. Sighing, Mac wondered if he would be able to forget her as easily. Lord knew the guilt nagged him, especially after Terry’s attempted rape. His hand curled tight around the bottle. Bastard.

He needed to carry through with it; there was no other choice in that matter. Grabbing a cloth, he wet it, then walked back to the bedroom. In six days’ time, he would hand the bank the money they demanded and he would have his farm, free and clear.

Yes, but at what price?

Chapter 8

She heard the key in the door and turned her head as he entered the room. Look at him, she thought to herself as she scanned her eyes over his body. He was big, his arms were muscular, his chest was wide, most likely as muscular as his arms, and he looked like a frikin’ body builder. So not her type, not to mention the fact that he held her captive, for Christ’s sake. Then how did he manage to turn her on? Yet when he approached, the scent of his cologne floating towards her, she felt her body stirring with need.

“I should have thought of this before.”

Her mind clicked back. Looking up into that silly childish mask, she spoke without thought. “Perhaps thinking isn’t your forte.”

“Perhaps you should be grateful I’m fixing your lip,” he snapped back, just as snide.

“Grateful, yes, I should be fucking grateful your buddy smacked me, splitting my lip. Jackass.” She flinched, waiting for the assault.

Walking to the foot of the bed, he began untying her feet from the posts but leaving them tied together.

“What are you doing?” It astounded her that she constantly got away with the verbal abuse with him and never received any sort of repercussion.

“Moving you to the chair.”

“You really are a glutton for punishment aren’t you?”

He lifted her to her feet, holding her hands tight in his and met her glare. “I learn from my mistakes, princess.”

“Stop calling me that.” She spoke through gritted teeth.

“As long as it irritates you, princess, I’ll keep using it. Let’s go.” His eyes narrowed with warning. “Don’t even try it.”

With a cocky smile, she yanked her hands free.

“And how far do you think you’ll get with your hands and your feet tied together?” Reaching out, he grabbed hold of her hands once more.

“I untied myself once, I’ll do it again.” She hopped as he pulled her towards the chair, creating as much resistance as possible.

“Only because I was stupid enough to leave you with one hand untied.” He pushed her down onto the chair.

“At least we both agree you’re stupid.”

His hands holding her against the chair, he leaned down and got right in her face. “You really are gutsy for someone being held against her will.”

Her chin jutting out, she retorted. “You don’t scare me, Bart.”

“I could change that very easily.”

One look in his eyes and she knew better. He may look big, but he didn’t scare her in the slightest. “Is that Calvin cologne? I love the scent, very soft, very…nonthreatening.” She gritted her teeth in a mock smile.

His teeth grinding, he grabbed the ropes and began winding them around her body.

“Got nothing to say to that, do you, big guy?”

“You know, I still have the gag we used on you and I’m not against using it again.”

“You wouldn’t dare,” she challenged.

With a devious smile, he walked to his dresser, pulled open the top drawer and grabbed a red hanky. Turning to her, he waved it in her face. “Oh, I dare.”

“I’ll scream.”

“No one will hear you.”

She’d see about that. As she opened her mouth, ready to scream, she realized her mistake. He shoved the cloth in between her teeth, then tied it behind her head.

Laughing, he moved around to face her, dusting his hands. “Still in control here, princess, best to remember that.”

“Jackass,” she mumbled through the cloth, furious.

Still laughing, he opened the door and left her to fume.

~

“What was that all about?” Terry asked as Mac came down the stairs.

“Me having a little fun.”

“So why is it okay for you to have fun but I can’t?”

Mac turned to him with a frown. The guy was unbelievable. “Because my kind of fun doesn’t involve assault. Make something for dinner, okay?”

“I’m not your bitch, Mac, do it yourself.”

“What the hell is your problem?”

“I’m bored of this shit already.”

“Fine, then leave.” Nothing would please him more if the guy walked.

“I’m in this just as much as you, Mac, and I’m not leaving until I get what’s mine.” Terry stood, challenging Mac.

“What? An acting gig? Like that’s reason enough to kidnap someone.” Mac snorted, pulling out a cigarette and lighting it.

“A lead role,” Terry corrected, “and let’s discuss why you’re doing it, Mac. Because your daddy couldn’t afford to make the payments on this place before he died.”

Mac’s fist curled at his side but he didn’t use it, even though he wanted to smash it into the bastards face. “Make something for dinner,” he said through gritted teeth. Yes, his father hadn’t been able to make the payments, but only because his health had been failing and he hadn’t wanted his sons to know.

“What the hell am I supposed to make?” Sitting back down, Terry picked up his journal and began writing.

“There’s chicken in the fridge, cook it however you see fit. I’ll be upstairs watching after Liz.” He crushed his cigarette out in the ashtray with a great deal of force.

“Why don’t you cook and I’ll watch her?”

“Because I don’t trust you to even look at her. Do as I tell you.”

His back up, Terry stood once more. “Who the fuck do you think you are?”

“I’m the guy who’s not telling the boss what you tried to do, and you know if he found out, you would be out on your ass without that lead role, or any fucking role for that matter. Still want to challenge me, pal?”

Gritting his teeth, Terry sat down and went back to his journal.

“Didn’t think so.” Enjoying his victory, Mac headed back up the stairs.

Breakthrough Branding for Romance Authors. Part One

“Ninety-nine percent of a story’s success,” Donald Maass says, “is in the manuscript. Everything else flows from that.” He also says the best publicity is between the pages of your book.

I hope so. Because the myriad tasks facing newly published authors deciding even simple things like: “How much of my book advance should I spend on advertising?” can easily become an overwhelm.

And how, exactly, does one go about learning the do’s and don’ts of romance novel marketing? Well, you might take some marketing workshops and learn from both the mistakes and the successes of authors who have gone before you. An excellent start.

This marketing business is, after all a daunting task. Branding, networking, blogging, guest blogging, endless twittering, author websites, contests, giveaways, et cetera, et etera, et cetera, ad infinitum. Aaaaggggghhhhhhhhhhhh!

All this conductivity and no writer productivity is what I worry about. I am not published yet, but I will be one of these days. (The prevailing wisdom does insist that if I persevere long enough, eventually, an agent or editor will recognize my brilliance.) Even though the dark task of author marketing is still ahead of me, the worry lurks in the corner of my brain, nagging at my peace of mind.

No doubt, some of you look forward to spending all your free hours on author branding/marketing/networking. Full of energy and good-nature, you call it a new challenge. Perhaps, it even looks fun. Wish I could get to that place with you.

You see, I come from advertising. I started out as a creative in small to medium-ish ad agencies, then, due to the quality of my portfolio, worked my way into some of the largest agencies in the country. Or as they say in the ad biz––worldwide.

I know exactly how difficult is to build a brand and create ads that produce results. Brand launches? Check. New product introductions? Been there, done that­­––a hundred times over.

Branding and product launches, by the way, are two of the toughest things to do well. Yes, anyone can brand themselves, or learn to do it. But to execute a brand launch well? I like the writing analogy here. Most everyone can write, but write brilliantly? See what I mean?

And oh by the way, don’t forget to jump into the social networking scene. Ha. Haha. Ha! Honestly? I’m not laughing at you. Or me. I’m just giddy with trepidation.

Focus, everyone.

To do first rate branding and book promotion requires strategy, a marketing plan, creative talent, budget and luck. In exactly that order. (By the way, branding and name recognition are not necessarily synonymous.)

So, here is what we are going to do. From now, until I leave for the RWA Nationals in late July, I will be conducting an online mini-workshop every Monday on this site.

FREE OF CHARGE! I will also be available on Monday mornings for a live blog chat if you have questions about any of the workshop assignments.

To wrap up, let me leave you with the your first insider advertising insight. Contrary to public opinion, no amount of advertising can sell a bad or disappointing product. Oh yes, you might get what we call “trial” from the consumer, with help from coupons, to buy the product once. But if that product doesn’t live up to expectations? You are worse off than back to square one because now you have negative word of mouth circulating.

Which brings us full circle. I began with a quote from Donald Maass, and might as well bookend with him: “Delight your readers with your own brand of story, then continue to delight them in a similar way (only better) on a regular basis.”

COMING SOON: Disruptive Strategies for an oversaturated, wickedly competitive marketplace.

NEXT WEEK’S ASSIGNMENT:

So you’ve written the “breakout story/novel.” You just received a publishing contract or, perhaps you are not published yet, but would like to develop a marketing plan for your current manuscript. Let me assist you in formulating a “breakthrough branding/advertising strategy. Drop in every Monday to join in the discussion.

Your first assignment is to highlight and copy the brand framework below. You have until next week, June 21 to fill out the profile. Now put your ad man/lady hat on and get to work!

BREAKTHROUGH BRAND PROFILE

1. Brand Character:

The vision/values of your unique author identity. Include original insights about yourself and the nature of your characters and stories. Editors sometimes ask for your career arc. If you eventually want to move into say, Mainstream with romantic elements, you might also enter that in the long range plans for your brand.

2. Reason to Believe:

Why might the reader believe in you? More specifically, why will the reader buy your novel? What kind of brand excitement or promise can you deliver on?

3. Brand Essence  (This has two separate sections.)

Novel features: Distinctive characteristics that the reader/consumer perceives (or will perceive) that distinguishes your story brand.

Novel Benefits: The functional and emotional consequences of reading your unique brand of novel. (Think Lisa Kleypas, J.R. Ward, Linda Howard, Nora Roberts, here.)

4. Brand Relationship

The deeper, more emotional motivation for reading your story brand/novel.  Think about why you read one author over another. What is is about your brand that the consumer/reader will keep coming back for?

5. Brand Personality

The tone, style, image of the brand. I want two lists here. One is a list of tone/style elements like: Passionate, steamy, adventurous, suspenseful, thrilling escape, etc. The other is a list of image/character attributes: Heroic heroes and heroines, hardships and conflicts that have inspirational resolutions. Try to list at least ten of each.

Distinctive cues/symbols:  Do you have a series name? Any logos or graphic identifiers? (Think Christine Feehan’s Ghostwalker series.)

Packaging, Color Palettes, other graphics. Most of this will be developed by your publisher’s art department. However you will be asked for input and the clearer the  information is they receive, the better job they will do with all the graphic elements associated with your brand.

For future reference, write down some notes on how you visualize your brand:

Brand Slogan:

Write down your author tag line. Does it fit with the brand profile you are in the process of creating? Does it encapsulate your unique brand promise?

Write down your novel’s high concept pitch line. The short elevator blurb you use to describe your latest book. Does it support/enhance your overarching brand promise?

Starting to get the picture?  The way you build a brand is by starting with a solid base or  framework and making sure that all the products (novels) that fall under that umbrella contribute back to and support your brand promise.

Feel free to contact this site/blog and leave comments or questions throughout the week. I will be checking in twice a day to see if anyone is in need of assistance with their brand profile.

G. Jillian Stone

There are fields in time that burn with desire. Meet me there.

Jillian is a recent Golden Heart finalist for THE YARD MAN, the first story in The Yard Men Series. Set in late Victorian London, Scotland Yard detectives have never been as wickedly sexy or as brilliantly clever. To read more about her latest work in progress, THE SEDUCTION OF PHAETON BLACK, please drop by her website: www.gjillianstone.com

ONE MAN’S THOUGHTS: Roll of the Dice

I don’t know if anyone has heard of a series called Twilight, but my wife sure has. The hardback copies are stacked on the bookshelf in the other room, the movies are constantly in the DVD player and on an occasion when I’m in my lovely wife’s car there is even a Twilight soundtrack to listen to. I am grateful that we have no posters— yet.

When it comes to that series I’m not a fan. The characters are all indecisive and full of self-pity. I cannot relate to male characters because they don’t behave like men and don’t even get me started on Bella. However the point of this week’s blog isn’t what I think is wrong with a series of books that is selling like surgical masks during a SARS outbreak, the purpose is to say that I am inspired by Stephanie Meyer’s work.

As a writer it is important to know that your work is comparable to anything else out there. That belief will keep an author writing and encourage them to present their manuscripts with pride. A writer must tell the story that is important to them— not write about whatever the current fad may be. A story written from the heart, no matter what the shortcomings are, will be more satisfying. Meyers did this and struck a chord with millions. It is the intensity of her characters that give them popularity, not their motivations or reasoning. In short, the specifics don’t matter; it’s all about the emotions that they elicit.

Charles Frazier’s Cold Mountain motivated me to finish my novel. Cold Mountain sold well, they made a major motion picture and it was the man’s first book. I was flabbergasted upon learning that. His first book! Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t anticipate that level of success for myself but you can’t help but think that if he can do it the so can I. Then I discovered that Charles had a doctorate in English and that, my friends, is a bonus. Still, it was quite the accomplishment and it compels me to remain at the laptop tapping away at the keys to tell my own stories.

Something all struggling artist should be aware of if they’re not already; there is an enormous amount of undiscovered talent out there. While there are certainly best sellers that perhaps are overrated, there are many who never touch the charts that are better than I could ever hope to be. The best advice is to keep at it and roll the dice with each new manuscript.

Until next time— happy writing.

Michael Matthews Bingamon

VOICE WITHIN

VOICE WITHIN

Have you ever had someone compliment you on your writer’s voice? Have you wondered what they were talking about? Well, today I will be talking about voice.

                A writer’s voice is how your story sounds, not only the dialogue of your characters, but also the narrative.

                Developing your own unique writing voice seems like such a simple thing to achieve, but believe me, it isn’t. When I first started writing I never gave much thought to “the voice” of my novel.  I thought how hard it can be? We use voice every day when we speak. It should be simple. Wrong. My novel sounded stiff, unnatural when I read it out loud, and not only my dialogue, but the narrative too.

                I read up on whatever I could find about voice. The advice was always the same; write the way you speak. This is easier said than done because when we speak in real life we are responding to different situations: joking with friends, arguing with a spouse, and dealing with children or a co-worker. In all these situations you use a different voice. Sure, fine, again, how hard can that be? You know your own voice. Yet, to take your speaking voice and put it into words, well that is very difficult.

 My next move was to reread some of my favourite novels, paying extra attention to the voice of each one. LOL, I was envious of the author’s ability to make the dialogue and narrative sound so natural, so easy. I wanted my novel to come across the same way: natural, easy, unforced.

This is what I have learned. There are three things you need to keep in mind while trying to find your voice.

1)      Match the voice to the genre you’re writing in.

2)      Match the setting, time frame, and geographical location of your story.

3)      Make sure the voice you write in sounds natural to your protagonist’s personality and background.

You may be wondering what the genre you write in has to do with voice. Hmm, let’s take a look.

Say you are writing a historical romance for instance, contemporary speech won’t work. Modernisms and slang will stand out like a green apple in a bag of red ones. To hear the voice of the sub-genre you would like to write in, read current novels from that specific genre.

Okay, let’s look at how setting plays a role in the voice of your novel.  Say you are writing a novel that takes place in France in 1760; your voice needs to reflect the style and attitudes of the time and place. Do tons of research so your voice not only comes across as natural, but also authentic.

Let’s move on to the voice of your protagonist. By now you will have a physical description of him/her, now you will have to provide this character with a personality and a voice that fits said personality. Is your protag outgoing? Shy? Angry? Whatever personality your character has, the voice has to replicate that.

Chances are your story will have more than one character. Each one in your novel has to have his/her own unique voice.

What about your character’s history? Their background? That also will play a role in your character’s voice. Is your protag educated? What are his/her interests? Answering these questions will help you find this character’s particular voice and speech patterns.

Let’s move on to inner narrative. Inner narrative is the private thoughts and feelings of your character. These can be a little different from how your character speaks, but try to stay as close as you can to your character’s personality. What I mean by this is if your character isn’t well educated; please don’t have his/her internal thoughts sounding like they would be better suited to a collage professor.

The voice in your novel must feel natural and comfortable to you. If you struggle with a voice that doesn’t work for you, it will interfere with your creativity. If you struggle with finding your voice, just keep working on it. Eventually you will find it. And once you do, the tone and feel of your novel will be greatly improved.