Reader Betrayal

When you hear the word romance (as in a romance novel), what do you think? Love and happily ever after, right?

The romance industry is perpetuating another ‘possible’ for romance novels, as well. It’s the ‘Happy for Now’. I’m sorry, what kind of crap is that? Happy for Now??? I think it caters to the ever-changing [read: willy-nilly, wishy-washy, I can’t really commit and I want my cake and I want to keep it too] society we live in.

While I do feel contemporary fiction novels should mimic life, this isn’t one of the ways. We must deliver the fairytale and the promise that maybe, just maybe, it’s possible for a person to find his or her one and only and happily ever after. Let’s not dash that away with momentary lust and ‘I guess you’re okay for now’.

Please don’t confuse the promise of happily ever after with happy for now. In some books, particularly very short stories that take place over a very short period of time, happily ever after isn’t believable. However, the promise that the characters will find it with each other is.

There’s something worse than not quite giving a happily ever after. What about some of the other books out there labelled as ‘romance’? The ones where the book ends in a colossal tragedy? You know the ones I mean…

The kind where the heroine dies of cancer

Or the hero dies in a boat accident, or the heroine gets Alzheimer’s

Or the hero or heroine is unfaithful to the other

Or the heroine is raped

Or the hero and heroine are ripped apart never to be reunited

Or the heroine is forced to marry another man and you’re sure it’s temporary and that she and the hero will end up together but they don’t and they’re forced to see each other every day and relive their lost love

Or the heroine falls in love with a younger man only he ends up being her son she gave up for adoption after a tragic teenage affair (yeah, I read that one, I'm not making it up).

How can these books be romance? I think that betrays the reader.

And then one last thing, and this is the one that betrays the reader more than anything: Writers who ride their names and pop off crap books for the reader public. It doesn’t matter who you are or how big you become, not putting hard work and care into a book is never excusable. Period.

And those are the things I think most betray a reader.

Betraying you

Well, talk about betrayal. I was going to bitch about the MASSIVE differences between books and movies. Specifically Harry Potter. Then I was going to complain about TSTL (too stupid to live) heroines. And then maybe, if there was time, about non HEA (happily ever after) endings to 'romance' novels.

Unfortunately I am still recovering from Kansas. I am tired. And to be too honest and share a little too much I have a huge PMS problem so I'm cranky as hell on top of everything else.

So I will be betraying you today dear reader. There will be no deep, funny, poignant post. I couldn't come up with anything to the level at which I usually strive for. That's right folks, I can't even make mediocre today. Sigh.

XoXoXo
Dakota Rebel

What Watts Finds Annoying

On an author's fan loop recently, a reader asked what purpose an author would have to leave a story unended. We authors suggested a sequel. However the story itself didn't conclude the threads of plot and no sequel had been planned. The reader felt betrayed and never wanted to read the author again.

I read on similar to that. The subject ran the gamut of obscene, confusing, and jaw-dropping plot. I'd never read a book like it. Normally, I'd have put the book down-virtually speaking. In this case the writing flowed exquisitely, so I didn't. The end dropped off without resolution. The girl who'd become a succubus stayed a succubus with the hollow-gnawing put of hunger and the realization of her attacks with her humanity still intact. The hero lost track of her and hoped he'd see her again because he loved her and had unleashed the succubus on her in the first place. People and friends died violently and for good measure a werewolf was throw into the mix out of nowhere in the final chapters. I will never read another book by this person. I'm irritated beyond measure for having wasted my time.

Two fold annoyance comes in the knowledge that as bad as she betrayed her readers, her language carried poetic undertones which rolled off the tip of the brain in classic New York Seller style. I remember feeling as though the words "filled" my eyes. I remember stopping to absorb a sentence in appreciation. That doesn't happen often in mass market media.

Betrayal kills your fan-base.

And here is where I make a confession. My fan-base may very well feel betrayed by me. I write in male/male and male/female genres. I've come to understand that many male/male readers never cross over to the other and vice versa. Some feel betrayed by an author who writes in both. I'm hoping not. I've made a point of keeping series books stand alone so that there is no requirement to read the books that cross those boundaries.

We shall see.

The Ultimate Betrayal

As a reader or movie-goer it is hard to fathom the how much shock, disappointment, and anger there is when you feel that the authors and/or directors have committed the ultimate breach of trust unless you've been there.

Mistakes happen. Writers are human - most of them - they make mistakes, but there is a glaring difference between a mistake and betrayal. Which can make readers not only not care about your characters, but not read anything you write.

I remember watching the movie Message in a Bottle and later the one movie with the young couple and she has leukemia and after they get married she dies - both were books by Nicholas Sparks - and being pissed and upset because it ended with at least one of the main characters dying. I have never nor will I ever read or watch anything else that has his name attached to it. Even if it's a good story. I don't want to get attached to the characters and have them die and be reminded life sucks in the end. For no reason. I read My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult - which was a fantastic book and in the end the main character dies thereby yet again saving her sister's life.

As an author I'm asking you the reader to take time from your life and join my cast of characters as they encounter the good and the bad in their life on their way to happiness. I don't see how having a main character die at the end, leave obvious threads and plot points exposed and unanswered, saying its a dream or creating this culturally deep world and three dimensional characters only to have them be tools and have no control over anything is a good thing. I don't see how taking away hope is good.

As an author, the story I'm telling whether its for 60 pages or 460 pages is like an agreement - I agree to tell you the best story I'm capable at this point in time. You in turn agree to invest time in it and read it. For my part - regardless of whether or not I'm writing a sequel, it's my responsibility to make sure that all of the ends are tied up nicely and believably. And because of my personal writing/story telling philosophy - I also promise that everyone of my books will have a happy ending.

Many Happy Endings -
Simone

The baffling betrayal

I don't usually read mysteries, but for my library's summer reading program I had to read a mystery to get one of my nine checkboxes filled-in. The prize this year is an aluminum water bottle. I'm a sucker for prizes.

So I went to the mystery bookshelves and scanned for anything that sounded familiar. I know I've read reviews for mysteries, but I couldn't think of anything off the top of my head. Finally I came to a series of books that centered around the sport of fox hunting. Hmmm, I thought. I know nothing about fox hunting. It sounds classy and exciting. I found the first of the series, which I was pleased and surprised it was available. Can't tell you the number of times I find a new series I want to read and the waiting list for the first book is a mile long.

So I brought the book home and started reading. The beginning was promising. Three people saw the Grim Reaper on Hangman's Hill at the start of the book, which narrowed down the list of who was going to be murdered and added to the suspense because two of the characters were "good guys" whom I didn't want to see die.

But then something happened along the way through the next few chapters. The POV changed, and changed and changed. It changed so much that the animals began to have POVs. AND they even helped the people help solve the murder by leading them to a piece of evidence.

I don't know if this qualifies so much as betraying the reader, but it certainly baffled this one.

I was expecting a serious adult book about fox hunting and murder and suspense, and instead I got talking animals.

Honest to self, the only reason I finished the book was to get my little checkbox signed. I could care less who was murdered and who did it. Even though it was a "good guy" who was guilty of the murder, I really didn't even care that she was going to prison.

When was the last time you were betrayed?

SWX Says...

Hi!

Unfortunately, she can't be here herself because she's vacationing. With no internet at present. So no SWXy goodness for us this week. :(

Misconceptions...I had a few

I didn't have a lot of misconceptions before I got started, but here are a few.

I remember going to my first writers group meeting and being absolutely floored at how supportive these people were. I expected these established authors - some of them NYT bestsellers - to be either too busy or completely uninterested in helping a beginner. I'm pleased to say I was wrong. These women took the time to answer my questions and helped guide me. As I've progressed in my career, I've discovered that most authors are willing to help others. Granted, there are a few who seem to feel your accomplishments somehow threaten their own, and there aren't enough readers to go around, but for the most part, my fellow writers are some of the most amazing, giving people I know. I consider myself incredibly lucky to have them in my life.

I foolishly assumed that writers wrote when the muse moved them. Ha! Not true. Writers tend to write whether the muse is cooperating or not. Deadlines are amazingly motivating.

I had the vague notion that once you had a few books published you would have reached a consistent level of skill. However, no matter how many books you write, there's always something new to be learned that you can incorporate into your writing.

Now, I'm back to the manuscript. My muse is nowhere in sight, but I've got deadlines, so muse or no muse, I'm hitting the keyboard.

Misconceptions? Me? But I know it all....okay, I REALLY don't

My misconceptions were probably pretty common. I thought that writers were solitary people, not social. That they couldn't be friends because they were competing for a limited number of publishing spots. I believed one writer couldn't possibly encourage another to submit to places that she herself wanted to.

I also believed that I would never break my way in. I thought that I didn't have what it took. I wasn't a bash my head against a wall over and over again kind of girl. But I guess I am. Though that's really more of a misconception about myself.

Moving on, or rather...going back I suppose. Writers are great people. Well, most of them. My friends are successful and very encouraging. Many of us have the same publishers and there is no competition. Though I do feel a small twinge of jealousy at the massive numbers of books they have contracted at the moment. Quit hogging all the release dates. Sheesh. ;) I'm just kidding. I am actually THRILLED for my friends. More books by them means more for me to read. Hooray.

I'm off topic again. But hey, when do I ever stick to one subject anyway. I can't, my brain is too busy. It flits.

This industry is hard, I was never wrong about that. But writers are a small group (no really. You find a group and they become your family.) we love to help, to encourage, to teach and more than anything we love to learn from each other. It's a difficult career we have chosen and knowing that there are people living it too, willing to offer help and guidance, well that is not something I expected to find on this side of the rainbow. And yet, here it is.

Thank goodness!

XoXoXo
Dakota Rebel

Misconceptions or Paranoia?

Before I published it was explained that one should never share one's work with others. To do so would guarantee theft, whether by fellow author, Internet copying, or misguided agents. Seminars revolved around cheap copyright solutions like mailing yourself a notarized copy of your manuscript with receive receipt and keeping it closed until someone had claimed my work as their own. Not if they claimed it. When they claimed it. Paranoia at its best, no doubt. And it was a misconception I adopted.

After publication, I realized that while there are some who choose to overstep, there are others who respect your work and behave professionally. Critique writers and agents do not number in the thousands who try to pawn your work off as theirs. I have been stolen from by one Internet reader, by one publisher, and by several pirates. It does foster the earlier misconception, but overall these are not standard circumstances. The pirates, they are another matter entirely. However I was not aware of them prior and believe my perceptions of them is spot on as I see it now.

Most recently, my misconception dealt with the professionalism of a particular publisher. I believed in them. Trusted them. Put my promotional efforts and commitment into them, only to be traded off and left in the corner to whimper and drag my way through conflict. I did win, of course. Let it not be said that I go quietly anywhere.

Misconceptions? I may have them but I also have a dose of caution. It makes me wary but it makes me firmly prepare to defend my rights.

Wait! But, I thought -

If there was any misconception I had about the industry - its the support writers get from other writers. Writers have a tendency to support one another - well the writers I know do. Writing is very solitary, but it's not like some other industries where people resort to backstabbing and everything to get ahead. Probably because in the end it's all about the story you produced. You may steal an opportunity from someone else, but if they're a better storyteller than you, eventually they will outstrip you. But really, that's about it. And I suppose that could be a misconception, but its my experience thus-far. So, that makes it fact. I knew writing was hard. I knew I would have to work at it. I knew that it was part talent and part a crap shoot. There are things I didn't know that I do now because I have writer friends who have no problem sharing their experiences from time to time.

If anything, I think there are more misconceptions from people not in the industry about writing and publishing.


Simone

Misconceptions about the industry

I didn't know enough about the industry to have misconceptions when I started down this path to publication. Everything I've learned along the way has filled in the empty slots of my knowledge. So without any preconceptions about the industry, I didn't have any misconceptions.

The End.

Honest to self, my brain is on vacation. The rest of me leaves for the U.P. on Saturday.

Writing, the other white meat...

Sorry, folks I happen to be at one of those periodic stages where I'm wondering why the heck I write so this topic is a little too close to home.

I'd be a mom, a wife, a pusher of papers and (at present) an ass-kicker which are all insistently awaiting me for performance and because I don't want things to fall apart all over the place, today I'm not a writer, I'm an ass-kicker.

I'm checking out for the weekend, with apologies to the women of this blog for taking the easy way out today.

Like I don't have enough of a complex

Why the hell aren't I a writer? I don't like the sound of that. If I wasn't a writer I would be miserable. I would be a complete waste of oxygen...and that's if I could even manage to get air in my lungs at all. You can't just take this away from me. I've worked so hard, and people like me (well they do in my head anyway.)

Oh! Like HYPOTHETICALLY right? You're not really taking my pin away. I mean, I'm just kidding. There aren't PINS. Writers don't make up some kind of secret society or something. We don't have pins or meetings. There's no hazing. There isn't even a handshake. I don't know what you're talking about. What?

Right, hypothetically, if I wasn't a writer... if I wasn't a writer... Hmm.... Well, right now I work in customer service and write. So I suppose I could do that only. Wow, that's f'ing boring. If I wasn't a writer I could make up worlds, and people, and have conversations between two imaginary people and hear voices and be LOCKED UP IN AN ASYLUM.

Damn it! I don't want to not be a writer. This sucks. You can pry my pin out of my cold, dead hands.

There is no pin. Don't listen to me. I'm just upset at the prospect of being a

*gasp

normal person.

I don't want to be normal. I like being weird...and a little crazy. Okay a lot crazy. Geez. Shut up. Okay okay, so I'm a freakin' nut case. I get your point. Sheesh. I'm going to stab you with my pin.

There is no pin. What the hell are you babbling about. Sheesh, and you thought I was crazy? You're making up pins and handshakes and annual barbecues. What? Oh, oh nothing. Nothing at all.

Anyway, if I weren't a writer I wouldn't be me. And you wouldn't want me any other way. I want you to want me. So I think I'll just stay a writer thanks if it's all the same to you. And since I am a writer I can tell you that my novel To Hate and To Hold is now available in print at Amazon.com. I am so freakin' excited I could spit. I won't, because that is not lady-like. But I could.

XoXoXo
Dakota Rebel

Psst, hey Brynn, don't forget you're in charge of ice this year.

Nothing, nothing. That was TOTALLY unrelated to anything we've been talking about.

If I weren't writing

... I'd be a gray suited industry worker possessing a dead brain and whining about how I wished I could write like those other people. I'd be bored beyond reason--an empty vessel waiting for others to fill in the lots bits and hoping they were enough. Instead I make my own happiness. A writer can never truly be lonely or without diversion.

In short, I'd be living in the 1984 novel. Or I'd tell Big Brother to fuck off and be an archaeologist reading cave-paintings.

If I Wasn't A Writer, I'd Be...

Accepted? Bored? Depressed? Breathing?

Writing is as natural and necessary to me as breathing. I’ve been a writer, creating stories and worlds my entire life. No joke I wrote my first ‘book’ at 11 – 250 handwritten pages in big, loopy, 11-year-old scrawl in several spiral bound notebooks (first coherent stories were at 10 – thank you Mr. B. for encouraging that). No pictures. And there was some sort of beginning, middle, and end. I was gutsy, I wrote to an editor and everything. She wrote me back – either humoring a child or out of curiosity – I’m not sure which. We became pen pals for a while. I never did send her that book. And I know I still have it around here somewhere, several of its incarnations too. Where was I?

Oh yeah, if I weren’t a writer…

Now are we supposing that I’m still creative? Or have I lost that too. If I lost my creativity – I’m sure some things would be a lot easier – less fun, but easier. They might even make sense. I’m sure my parents would be happier – certainly more accepting. However, it’s my nightmare and I choose creativity to stay for a hundred. Thank you very much.

Or is it I was a writer and I can’t be a writer anymore – if you just told me I couldn’t write again – I wouldn’t listen. If there are other reasons, then I’d go stir crazy. Because I don’t know about anyone else, but you can’t just stop being a writer. You can stop trying to write – maybe – but why. Even if publication isn’t your goal – why stop. Ew. Bad. Horrible. Miserable.

Back to the creativity part -- I suppose I could say I would write those long, colorful letters with lots of imagery that boarder on stories or I’d be a journalist – but those require some idea of being a writer – so I would not be doing either of those – well letters, yes, because I like getting them. I would probably still sew, cross-stitch, and quilt. I don’t know if I’d do anything with photography, because I figured that out when I went back to school, or costuming for that matter because that was borne of a necessity for a movie shoot.

As for a job – I seriously don’t know… it’s possible I’d be still doing the same thing – going to school for a better job – one with stability – and I probably would be following the same similar path, however, it would be lonelier because I wouldn’t know any of my writer friends and writing would be this mysterious process shrouded in ritual that only the initiated understand. I would stand in line for hours to meet my favorite authors, utterly amazed at the worlds and stories they create and completely baffled by complexity of the writer’s life.

I am still amazed by the worlds writers create.

I can’t – no – I don’t want to imagine doing anything other than writing.

I’m sure one of these days I’ll have a shorter post. Maybe.

What do I want to be when I grow up...

If I wasn't a writer, I would be a Hollywood Starlet. I would walk the red carpet in long slinky gowns on the arms of the hottest male studs in movies. I'd sip champagne all day while my housekeeper cleaned, my personal chef cooked, and my masseuse gave me deep tissue massages.

But wait, I can do all these things as a successful writer, right? Especially when they turn all my fabulous stories into blockbuster movies. Then I can walk the red carpet with the leading man playing my hunky hero as the story creator of the brilliant film.

So, let me think. If I wasn't a writer, I would be an unfulfilled stay-at-home mom with too much time on her hands and too many thoughts rattling in her brain. Kind of like I was just two years ago before I started on this crazy path to publication.

Writing has brought so much into my life these two years. New friendships and a new purpose. I am living a fuller life, a deeper more meaningful life since I became a writer. This is what I was meant to be. Why would I consider doing anything else?

Sorry so late but what can I say I won't write when I write just about everything?! Thanks for the topic from Hell, blog queen master.

First an apology for the delays and lack of comment posting. I've been in a move lately. The move from hell and back and maybe back to hell again for good measure. It's been a nightmare (Okay and I have to interject on myself here because gmail is going nuts today, logging me out of my account several minutes AFTER I switched it over to this one... repeatedly. DIE GMAIL DIE SLOW). I'm now settled (kinda) but the kids are rowdy and who can blame them really since I work all the time and they want to go outside. But today I finally decided to take them swimming since they've been so great. But. It. Rained.

Sigh.

I feel like I've been a bad girl and have to stay in from recess to write a five hundred word report on: "What I won't write and why". Like I was caught scribbling on the bathroom door and have to do penance. (Seriously, Mrs. Basa, I actually did write that Karina M. was a bitch-faced hag with indelible marker on the bathroom door even though I told you I didn't in seventh grade because you're scary as shit and Karina not only stole my boyfriend but kicked the stuffing out of my best friend because she was Jewish. And now everyone in blogworld will hate Karina too and totally applaud me writing on the door, so why are were here again? Oh yeah. My writing career).

I have issues. Clearly. And I still loath Karina M.

I also just proved that I began my writing career early. See how that works?

You will never see anything from me, ever. That's a joke. Get it? Because my name here is SWX and that's not a real pen name so it wouldn't show up in any printed form but here--okay, fine, but it was funny in my head. WORK WITH ME PEOPLE!

I'm not a western writer for sure. Leather and spurs confuse me. Horses make me squint when trying to write them and the big foofy skirts of yore make absolutely no sense to me on a dusty prairie/ranch/mountain range etc because they are freaking impractical. So not that for sure. There'd be no chance in hell of me writing devil worship (ooo, unintentional pun). Goes against my nature. I might use it as a bad dude element but not as the reason for save-the-day-ness. Ever. I'm also going with the majority and saying Science Fiction. Nope. My head goes to the Jetson's and that is exactly how simplistic a SciFi from me would be. Flying cars and beaming up. I know. You're dying for one of those from me right now, aren't you. Yeah, hold your breath. I dare ya.

Oh and maybe no green aliens in silver space suits with mohawk skull ridges that are pierced with barbie doll earrings and fish hooks----oh, wait, that was the toy my parents gave me for Christmas one year when they couldn't find a Ken in the place we were living. But yeah, none of those things either. That toy freaked me the hell out, honest to self.

Okay. I think I'm done.
Love you, pretty lady. B'bye!
SWX

Not gonna do it...wouldn't be prudent...

Okay, so there are some things I'll never write either because I don't feel qualified or because I have no interest. So here are some things you'll likely never see from me.

M/M - not because I don't appreciate it as a genre, but because I don't feel qualified to write it, much like I don't feel qualified to write

* anything set in the Regency period - too many societal niceties and behavioral rules to keep track of
* sci-fi - too much technology - technology and I are mistrustful friends, at best
* vampires - I love me some bloodsuckers, but I honestly don't think I have anything new or exciting to add to the genre

Then there are the...

Sheik books - I know they're a staple in the romance industry and people love them, but not this chick. I'm not sure why, but that's just a sub-genre that's never really appealed to me.

Westerns - I don't mind a good, old fashioned cowboy story every once in a while, but the lure of the modern day rancher escapes me. I like horses, hell, I like cows and sheep, but big, sprawling Texas ranch stories? Not so much. And for me, rodeo stories are WAY out. They have clowns there, for God's sake!!!

Inspirational - I like sex in my books. Inspirational books have no sex. In fact, from what I've seen, they have no sexual tension or even physical attraction. I don't begrudge anyone wanting to write in this genre, but like I said...I like sex in my books.

Literary Fiction - sure I might read it occasionally when I feel the need to completely depress myself, but at the end of any story I write, I want it to be all teddy bears and daffodils, happily ever after, the end. I don't want to think of potential readers sobbing in the doctor's office waiting room while finishing the last chapter of my book. I've been that person...and it sucks.

Mysteries - I just don't have the organizational skills and planning required for such an undertaking.

On a related note, tycoons, CEOs, oil barons, politicians and high powered corporate attorneys are all highly unlikely heroes coming from me. I just don't see any of them happening in one of my stories...except maybe as the bad guy...hmmm...must ponder.

I also don't ever see a clown happening as a hero. While I may someday come across a CEO that intrigues me enough to write about him in a positive light, I will never write a clown hero...or an entomologist hero...'cause ewwwwww.

Never say Never

I will probably never write a time-travel erotic christian mystery novel about two unicorns and the true meaning of Christmas. Nothing against those who write the genre, it's just not something I think I could pull off believably.

Other than that, I don't know I can say with any certainty what I would or wouldn't write. I love writing (at least I used to) and if the muse strikes then I will do my best to keep my fingers up with the conversations in my head. Obviously I will always have my favorites, gay vampires and couples who like to argue...it's kind of my thing. But to say I won't write M/F again. To say I won't do sappy. Hell, to say I won't do mainstream or noir or poetry or even fanfic...well it's not a responsible thing to type out loud. (If that makes sense.) The internet is forever, I believe we've had this conversation before. As soon as I say I won't do something, sure enough a bug will bite and I will write that very thing. Hmm....

I will never write about gay guys on an island having lots of sex and trying to figure out their lives while adjusting a world they never knew existed.

I'll let you know how that turns out. ;)

XoXoXo
Dakota Rebel

can't touch this

I believe in simplifying. Let's make a list, shall we?
1. Modern or Historical Western. Too much research and dust.
2. Science Fiction futuristic setting. I don't understand space travel or Trek talk.
3. Non-fiction. I read and write to be transported, not to dwell on reality.
4. Self-help. I could write it, but I'm more apt to destroy than help with my advice.
5. Spiritualism. The result would be the creation of an entirely new religion which would have me burned at a stake.
6. Alien abduction. No explanation needed, I suspect.

Concepts I might write or am currently debating:
1. Merfolk with vukkers-remind me to post this some time. It's amusing.
2. More vampires, werewolves, and daemus (copyright)
3. Fairy-folk half-breeds (already in process)
4. Something far too new to discuss (idea occurred last night)
5. Time travel to dark ages (scares the shit out of me)
6. A book killing off every enemy I've encountered ever. Including the gaping ass-on-shoulders who stole my knickers at work. Long story.

I've written menage, male/male, and male/female scenes. I began a tentative flash of a scene with female/female undertones only to delete and rewrite. Some concepts still make me uncomfortable. Yes, there are a few to be found. I believe it was a woman touching another woman's nipple. One finger, once, only for a second. I squirmed for half an hour then deleted.

Not much I won't tackle but all of it is erotic. I suppose sweet romances are another I won't venture toward. And dog love. Or zoo animal fetishes. Even the thought makes my brain squint with displeasure.

Note to self: "Mia, scrub memory cells with bourbon to delete last image."

No, Ney, Never No More

Never say never is excellent advice.

I never thought I'd erotic romance and I never thought I'd write contemporary or contemporary without a military point of view of at least one of the main characters. But, I do write erotic romance, and it is contemporary and only the one I'm working on now has a military person in it. And the second and third ones don't have one, aside from the occasional reoccurring role.

I can say with almost absolute certainty that there are things that I will never attempt to write. I will probably never write mainstream literary fiction - literature. I've read it. And that is where they shelve some of the classics and some of the military fiction, but that actually deserves its own category - something like Adventure/Military Fiction. Right next to the Sci-Fi/Fantasy section. But, I digress. I don't ever seeing myself writing mainstream literary fiction because I love happy endings. I want my heroine or hero to win the day and the man! I want evil to be vanquished and I want to love to conquer all. That is not to say I don't torture my characters - if you ask them, they'll grumble, growl, and say that I'm supremely good at that and then have you ask me when it's their turn because they're tired of waiting and it's getting crowded in there - I do. I don't have perfect characters, I have flawed ones, because no one is perfect and I find them pretty boring to read or write. I have a tendency to dump a person in the middle of the action instead of spending the first quarter of the book getting up to the good stuff. Oh, and character growth - they have to do some of that, other wise, why read it. Why write it.

Let's see, oh I will probably never write an Insprirational - Christian Romance - novel. Ever. Movie scripts - check - do that semi-routinely. Poetry - check - I do that when the emotion strikes, but I'm not a poet and I don't plan on publishing a book of poetry at this stage of my life. Mystery - maybe, but probably not - because it requires more planning than I usually do. Vampires - no, I don't ever see myself writing those, because while I love to read them, I don't know that I can contribute anything new or different and they don't talk to me anyways. Same with werewolves and shifters. I like to read them, but they don't talk to me. Nonfiction - yeah, I do that.

In the end, I write the most in a few fictional genres because those are the stories I need to tell. I write for escapism. I don't write to make people remember horrifying events, show them how to get over something, or that in the end, no one ever wins. I write to tell a story and to make people forget their problems, if only for a few hundred pages.

Never Say Never Again

I will never write a James Bond movie starring Sean Connery. Of that I am pretty sure. Of everything else, I just don't know. I'm new, so how can I know where my muse will take me.

There are definitely genres that I don't feel like I have the strengths to write, but I love to read. So who knows. Maybe after reading 10 million romantic suspense novels starring US Navy Seals, I'll feel confident enough to try writing one myself. Or my muse will pound me over the head until I write down every word she is shouting in my ear.

Extrapolating from there, it is probably safe to say that I will never write in a genre that I don't love to read, but I've read pretty much every genre at one point or another in my life. So to narrow it down, I would say that I will probably never write a novel of literary fiction, a biography, or a book of poetry. And I will always write within the genre of romance. You may remember from an earlier post how much I HATE a non-HEA.

Within romance, I love having all the sub-genres available to explore because sometimes I want to read about a voracious vampire who needs the blood of his one true love, and other times I want to read about the dark and brooding Duke who is forced to marry the spunky and outspoken Lady because he couldn't control his impulse to kiss her on a moonlit veranda. Then there's the level of romantic heat to choose, from sweet romances to the hottest of the hot erotic romances.

Every book I read feeds the muse inside my head, and she's a hungry girl. When she's well-fed, she provides me with story ideas that are guaranteed to keep me writing for the rest of my life.

With all those ideas how can I say for sure what I won't ever write? Especially as trends change and interests grow in other sub-genres. Perhaps one day I will have the perfect story to tell about the foreign agent who has stolen two American nuclear warheads and the secret agent who must find their targets before they are detonated. But that may have already been told. Go James!

Happy Monday!
Andrea

I have a bendy brain with influence-y stuff that happens with super quick turn-y type thoughts running through my head.... oh look, another cool movie

I'm very easily influenced. I know it's a shocker because I totally appear to be on task and without any distractable qualities. Shut up.


Princess Bride is most wonderful because it teaches me to not take things too seriously, have fun with the fun things and act like a child whenever possible. Plus it totally gives me realistic expectations about men saying things like "As you wish" for whatever whim takes fancy.


-"I want a million dollars, a red Ferrari, oh, and a bowl of chocolate ice cream."


-"AAAAAs yooooouuuuuu wiiiiiiiish!"


Another influential work of special movicular art would be Never Been Kissed because the culmination of the completely sweet romantic moment coupled with the underdog winning the day makes me warm and squishy inside. I like the same aspects in my own work. Underdog saves the day and gets the totally yummy man-cake in the end with sweet and lovely kissing noises.


Ummmm what else? Lemme think. The twin movies, which would be Clueless and Emma. If you haven't seen one of them then you missed it. If you've seen them both, you understand my adoration for all things matchmaker-setup and clueless wonderfulness of a heroine who doesn't get it until the last possible almost too late moment.


I like the slightly flaky, but awesomely surprising heroine because I think she's relate-able to random brain wanderers like me who don't figure it out until the end. I don't like the gratuitous idiocy of a too stupid to live heroine though. There's a difference.


There are other wunderbar movies that I love loving, but these are the ones that surprised me with humor and filled me with joy for the understated strength of the heroines in touchy circumstances.


I'm influence-able. Easily. Duh. Be surprised.

SWX


Oh and PS. Happy Fourth of July!!! Thank you country servers and supporters. Here's a SWX SWAK.

Mooooooovies

Let’s start young and move forward…

I like a lot of movies, but I can't say a ton of them have influenced me. When I was a kid one of my favorite movies was Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. It was a great story—the poor underdog getting everything he dreamed of and more. The “bad guys” in the story? They didn’t win. It worked. I liked this model of happily every after and if pressed, I could show you (today) how the hero’s journey was used in this story to make it work. Back then, though, it was just a story I liked.

That remained my fav until I was much older and the tortured, broken hero story came along that captured me. Again, excellent use of hero’s journey and a great ending although I always wanted a little more… An Officer and a Gentleman. Zach is strong, a fighter who’s determined to make a better life for himself. So many of my heroes are modeled after him. And then there was the heroine trying to find her way out of a life that never changes… I write her a lot, too.

And then if I want to cry…A Walk to Remember. I guess that one just tells me what I shouldn’t do. I can’t break the promise of happily ever after – or watch Nicholas Sparks movies.

Bring on the vampires and the hot gay guys! It's movie night at the Rebel house.

I am a pop culture junkie. I am a child of the 80's who is so immersed in her media that sometimes I forget there is another world that exists outside my walls. And I don't really care.

I love movies and music and television and books. I want to live vicariously through others. As long as I have the Jr. and the Mr. next to me I am the happiest girl that ever was.

But this isn't about me and my preference to laziness than walking around where the bugs live. This is about influence. This is about the movies that inspire me. As usual I don't think I'll stick to influence in just writing, but show how movies influence much of my life. Cause it's more fun that way.

Bram Stoker's Dracula. I know, I know, SHOCKER. But this movie means a lot to me. I collect the book, in fact I probably have about 20 versions of it lying around. It has always been my favorite. Probably because it was my first. Vampire book I mean. And the movie was done so well. Plus Gary Oldman, Cary Elwes, AND Keanu Reeves. Yeah, it was one of the best movies ever.


The Nightmare Before Christmas. This movie is beautiful. I love the way it was filmed, I love the dialogue. I love the entire concept. This movie was so important to me when I was young...and honestly it still is. True love never dies. It's a common theme in my favorite movies. Vampires and cartoons and things like that make me happy. They are WAY better survivors than measly old humans.


Silence of the Lambs. This movie was a big one for me. I'm pretty sure it was my first experience of wanting the bad guy to win. Granted, there were two bad guys in this. But be honest, was there anyone who didn't want Hannibal to get away? Hell, most of us who are fully wrapped up in the entire series want him to end up with Clarice. (Don't even get me started on the differences between books and movies. I try to ignore the movie Hannibal in favor of the ending of the book. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR.) Anyway, this movie was another powerful influence on my impressionable mind.

Me, Myself, and The Movies!

Technically, I’m the rookie, not Mia. My first book, Finding Love, comes out September 7th from Total-e-Bound. I’m still jumping up and down with excitement. It’s a m/m starring a cop and a martial artist.

I’ve been writing as long as I can remember, admittedly though, erotic romance has only come about in the last couple of years – I also write Fantasy, Sci-Fi, and non-erotic Romance. While most of my erotic romance books are m/m, one is m/f with a whole lot of kink in it. All of my books seem to have a varying degree of kink in them, which is fun for me to write. Aside from writing, I have no life as I try to balance writing with school, family, work, and other assorted commitments and activities. I do have a website – www.simoneanderson.com (which is still under construction, but check back frequently as I may have to stand on my web guy to get it up and running) and a blog www.simoneanderson.blogspot.com. I’m currently working on another m/m that is also the beginning of a series, which I thought at first was all m/m, but I’m beginning to think there may be one m/f in there, but I’m not quite sure. Honest. The characters are hinting, but not actually saying anything. Oh well, you’ll be as surprised as I am. :)

Do movies have an influence on me the writer? Maybe. Probably.

I like movies, there are some I love, some I absolutely can’t stand, and others that I will probably never watch unless I have nothing to read, write on, a hobby to partake of, no housework to do, or no other choice. I have a very active imagination, so I don’t watch movies for anything other than escape. However, I do watch certain TV shows for information, though not necessarily ideas. That being said, I have no problem watching a Jet Li movie or several of them to study the way his body moves and the martial arts combinations he can pull off or Hollywood historicals for visual aids for dressing my characters.

After learning more about the craft of writing, I can apply that to the movies I’ve seen and figure out the plot points and major arcs used by the scriptwriters and use that to figure out how my current work in progress compares (I'm a visual person), especially when compared to movies that have had lasting impact on people because of they do follow the path most books and authors take. The path is not a formula, but general guidelines to make sure that the main character(s) has/have accurate and continual growth through out the story and in my case a happy ending. And like Andrea pointed out, there are a lot of times that I can see what’s going to happen next, and a few times that I’ve said no, they should have done this instead of that.

I’m a big believer in everything is book fodder, not only the books I’ve read, the people I’ve met, music I’ve heard, but also the movies I’ve seen. I don’t try to emulate them, but I have found that they are useful tools. There are times like tonight, that I’ll need white noise while I write or study and I’ll stick in either Dune – the William Hurt version or the Princess Bride or something else I’ve watched a million times so I don’t need to actually watch it. And like everyone, I have my favorites.

The one important thing I’ve learned from watching movies is that the ending of the story must be not only believable but true to the story and leave your audience with a feeling of satisfaction.

Of course there are movies that are watched solely because the hero or one of the other main characters looks a lot like the one I’m currently writing or want to write in the near future. :)

I guess the correct answer is - without a doubt, sort of. :)