I’m so excited! This Thursday, August 24, I’ve been invited to chat with Lise Fuller at Coffee Time Romance at 9:00 PM EST. The link is http://www.coffeetimeromance.com/Chat.html.
We’d love to have you join us!
All my best,
Sloane
This is a great week. I’ve completed the synopses for books 2, 3,and 4 in the Magnificent Men of Munich series. They’re now in the hands of my kind editor who was very happy with my proposal for books 2 and 3. Still haven’t heard from her on #4, but I have everything crossed that’s possible.
The three remaining books lead Lonnie, Francine, and Isabella on a terrific journey of freedom and love as they let go of their fears with the help of Heicke, Rhineholdt, and Wolfe. You really should read TEDDI TURNS ON to learn about the people I’m referring to here.
Our three heroes also find a new world as the ladies teach them there’s more to life than living in the past and one night stands.
Now for even more good news. Studly and I are off on a well deserved three week vacation in Europe. Studs is making the supreme effort to savor as many beers and wines he can swallow while I research more data for the above mentioned books. Ya gotta love a guy who will go to such lengths to make his woman happy.
We decided to create some fun for you as well. Please sign up for my quarterly newsletter. When we return two names will be drawn. The lucky winners will each receive two bars of the honey soap featured in the Magnificent Men of Munich series, a bath scrubby, and a free copy of TEDDI TURNS ON. The drawing will be held August 15.
Enjoy yourself while we’re gone!
Sloane
If you are serious about writing and making it in the publishing industry I recommend you click on this link, or at least type it in if the click doesn’t work.
http://www.bethanderson-hotclue.com/blog/
Beth Anderson’s best bud, the Amazing Hotclue, has written a pertinent blog on revisions. It’s well worth your time to read it.
Happy Writing,
Sloane
Hotclue and Award-Winning author Beth Anderson have written the funniest blog you’ll ever have chance to read. Type in the address www.bethanderson-hotclue.com/blog in your computer and enjoy.
Have a great weekend!
Sloane
The Passionate Ink BIAW ended better than I had hoped. Friday I was ecstatic to post my accomplishment as 2082 words. It was a struggle at times, but I did it. My goal was 8000 words and I surpassed it by 14. Not a world record, I know, but damn I feel good about.
My new novel has direction, strong sexual tension, and two characters I am falling in love with. Don’t worry, Studs, you’ll always be number one. Does anyone have an opinion as to when they should make love for the first time? Should it be love? Or should they get down and dirty?
Today the writing has been so due to other unavoidable commitments. My calendar is clear for the rest of the week and I will produce!
Have a great week and I’ll be back Friday!
Sloane
The Passionate Ink BIAW ended better than I had hoped. Friday I was ecstatic to post my accomplishment as 2082 words. It was a struggle at times, but I did it. My goal was 8000 words and I surpassed it by 14. Not a world record, I know, but damn I feel good about.
My new novel has direction, strong sexual tension, and two characters I am falling in love with. Don’t worry, Studs, you’ll always be number one. Does anyone have an opinion as to when they should make love for the first time? Should it be love? Or should they get down and dirty?
Today the writing has been so due to other unavoidable commitments. My calendar is clear for the rest of the week and I will produce!
Have a great week and I’ll be back Friday!
Sloane
The Passionate Ink BIAW ended better than I had hoped. Friday I was ecstatic to post my accomplishment as 2082 words. It was a struggle at times, but I did it. My goal was 8000 words and I surpassed it by 14. Not a world record, I know, but damn I feel good about.
My new novel has direction, strong sexual tension, and two characters I am falling in love with. Don’t worry, Studs, you’ll always be number one. Does anyone have an opinion as to when they should make love for the first time? Should it be love? Or should they get down and dirty?
Today the writing has been so due to other unavoidable commitments. My calendar is clear for the rest of the week and I will produce!
Have a great week and I’ll be back Friday!
Sloane
This week I am participating in Passionate Ink’s BIAW which started last Sunday. For those of you aren’t familiar with the term BIAW, it means you write a Book In A Week. No easy feat for a procrastinator like me.
The writer commits to a number of words, in my case 8,000, and logs their daily production into the group database. Here it is Friday and I feel I should be committed, not to a word count either. During this week from hell, everything and anything that could go wrong, did.
Sunday
Not that I didn’t have fun, far from it. The day was spent with my two energetic granddaughters. What a pair! They can think of more events for this lazy grandma than colors in the jumbo Crayola box.
Production – zip.
Monday
A was truly a horrid day. Enough said about that because I don’t ever want to relive it. Although the evening was great. Studly decided I needed to focus. Truer words, and all that. He came up with a plan I felt I could live with – every Tuesday evening we would meet for one hour and discuss my progress. Later that evening our critique group met and helped me do some basic plotting on my new novel.
Production – zip.
Tuesday
I was finally inspired to write. It really felt good to get back into the story. After dinner Studs and I had our little talk. We agreed I needed to produce 1000 words a day, seven days a week and email him every morning with my previous day’s word count. This is doable. In case you haven’t figured it out, I have zero discipline.
Production – 955 words.
Wednesday
Life is getting good here. My favorite son-in-law, okay he’s my only SIL, started a new job. I was needed to watch the girls for a couple of hours in the late afternoon. Banged my little fingers on the keyboard like crazy in the morning to reach my quota.
Production – 1225 words
Thursday
My daughter asked me to tag along, I love being needed, to walk through a house they’re interested in buying. No problem. It took just short of two hours and I was back at the keyboard. Studs agreed to give me an extra two hours to work at the end of the day because of playing hooky earlier.
Production – 2005 words.
Friday
I’m writing whirlwind today. Even doing errands this morning I was jotting notes on any scrap of paper I could dig out of my purse. WOOHOO!! Things are starting to happen. Lonnie and Wolfe met, are hot for each other, and fighting it all the way.
Monday stop on back if you have the time and I’ll let you know how the BIAW ended.
Have a great week-end!
Sloane
I’ve been in a real writing slump this past month. Actually two. It was driven home when Studly noticed something was wrong and sat me down for a talk.
“Okay, Babe, what’s going on?”
“Nothing.” No truer words were ever spoken.
“You’re not yourself. What’s going on with the new book?”
“The exact same 1200 words as before.”
“Drag it out and let’s talk about it.”
After much whining and procrastinating I dragged out my two wrinkled pages of crap and handed them over.
“Aah, yeah. I see your problem.” Ya gotta love a guy of few words. “It’s just not clear.”
“Actually, I thought it just stunk.” Okay, maybe I’m being a bit harsh on myself, but the self-pity route seemed a good choice even if it was non-productive.
“First off you can’t have the guy’s dick “jumping to life”. Dicks just don’t do that. And if they did it would hurt.”
“G told me the same thing, or maybe it was Melissa.” His eyebrow cocked and the yummiest look swept into his chocolate eyes. “G is a woman, Studs, from my critique group.”
“Good. Now let’s get back to work.”
And so we did for over an hour. Studly has an amazing eye for sensitivity and logic in writing. Then again, Studs is a pretty amazing guy all around.
The next morning I sent off two samples of the first chapter to Beth and Yasmine. Beth liked the first while Yasmine is still scrutinizing my measly offerings. They both agreed one specific line had to be worked in somehow.
The first piece was sassy and bold, a style more suited to my nature per Beth. The second was refined and laid back. The characters in the first of this four book series were that way. Not these two new ones. They are smart, streetwise, and well-educated. Therefore the style of the book has to be action filled.
Now here’s my point. Are you ready? Grab my hand and we’ll take this leap of faith together.
You have to write your book true to your characters. I guarantee you it will not work if you force a style onto your hero and heroine that isn’t natural to them. Nope! I hear your refusal to accept the inevitable and I’m not listening.
Trust me on this – you will not have the inspiration required to write 50,000 plus words if you don’t listen to your lead characters. They know what they’re talking about.
Auf Wiedersehen, I’m off to Austria to help Wolfe and Eleanor sort out the fiasco they’ve gotten themselves into!
Sloane
The enraptured sigh, the long staring gaze, or quick hops in the sack testing multiple positions are not what writing sexual tension is all about. For each type of romance there is a draw between your hero and heroine. If you don’t have the tension, you ain’t got a sellable romance.
Sexual tension can be broken down into the explicit meaning of each word.
SEXUAL: of or involving sex which equates to wanting it.
TENSION: mental or emotional strain which equates to not being able to get it.
So what you have here is a great emotional strain to have sex with a specific person, but it’s not happening. This is what you must create between your characters in your story. The longer you delay the actual act, and increase the attraction, the better your readers will love the story.
How do you build Sexual Tension? In one word, awareness. Each of your characters needs to notice small things about the other. Sure Cassie can appreciate the bulge in Clive’s jeans while he’s admiring her breasts, but it’s not all tits and ass.
You must tease your reader while your characters are slowly becoming more aware of each other. Consider it a form of foreplay. Such as;
Cassie glanced down and was startled by the bulge in his jeans. Her eyes widen in admiration. Clive tweaked a smile, knowing what she’s doing, though she wouldn’t admit it, even to herself.
It’s more than body parts. You also need to write more than the physical. Each character must be aware of the others values, good and bad;
A warmth spread through Clive as Cassie clasped the tiny hand of the lost child.
Cassie’s lips tightened when Clive cursed at the driver who had successfully run them off the road.
Our couple has become more aware of each other and therefore we have successfully drawn them closer.
Think of it this way – Do you remember when you first fell in love? Did you notice everything about this new person all at once? Or did the scent, strength, and mannerisms dribble into your conscientiousness a drop at a time? More than likely the nature and character of your other half slowly made itself known to you.
This is how you need to write sexual tension, a bit at a time. As your story progresses the awareness increases. It may go on for pages, even chapters, until Clive and Cassie are so attuned they have to make love.
Another important key is that by now your reader is begging for Clive and Cassie to make love and live the happily ever after. It’s up to you, the author and the genre you write, to decide how explicit the love scene will be.
If you’re shy, you can bring your couple to the location – bed, couch, floor – then write a few lines before the door closes and provides them with the privacy they deserve. Or you can write it all, leaving nothing to the reader’s imagination. Either way, it must be fulfilling to the characters and more importantly, to your reader.
Do not cheat your reader. They have invested both their hard earned money, to buy your book, and their valuable time to read it. You are obligated to provide your reader with an afterglow.
Until nest Tuesday, Happy Writing…
Sloane
