MEET MY CHARACTERS
June 7, 2015 by Tracy Reed in category Pink Pad by Tracy Reed tagged as blog tours, characters, Generational Curse, Tracy Reed
Tracy Reed
I have been on a blog tour for the past few weeks, which has been great. It’s given me a chance to chat with readers from all over. I can say that because, I know one of the blog stops was based in the United Kingdom and another was based in Australia. I’ve officially gone international. YEAH!
There are a lot of things I like about blog tours…I’ll expound more once it’s over. One of the things I like is it forced me to really get to know my book. I know that sounds strange seeing I wrote the story, but there were a lot of things I had forgotten about their back story and personality. We talk a lot about building or developing characters at RWA and this was very helpful.
I am the first to admit, I am a novice when it come to writer lingo or jargon…protagonist, story arch, subplot, syntax, deep point of view, conflict. antagonist, alliteration. And don’t get me started on length…short story, novelette , novella, full length, jumbo or super length. I may not explain it in correct author terms, but I get by. However, there’s one thing I know for sure, I read what I like and write what I like.
So when I decided to do the blog tour, I was asked to do a character interview. What the crap. I had no clue what that was. I’m not a stupid woman. I graduated college with honors. I had my own sports segment on my college television station for a year, which also aired on local cable. I interned in the Sports Department at the local NBC Station in Tulsa for a year. I worked in Public Relations and the music industry. Plus I run my own business, but this stumped me. When the blog tour promoter answered my simple question, another, “What the crap!†popped into my head. How was I going to interview these two people without giving the story away. Oh yeah, and I had to provide the questions.
I thought long and hard about this and once I started writing, it just flowed. This was my favorite type of interview to do during the tour. I’m already kicking around possible questions for characters from my next books. A good thing about this type of interview/post, is it makes the characters seem real, which helps tell the story.
Here’s my post from a couple of days ago that first appeared on Writer In Progress Blog [www.writerip.blogspot.com].
Meet GENERATIONAL CURSE’s Kyla James and Sean Prescott
GENERATIONAL CURSE is set in New York. However, there are a few things about Sean and Kyla you might find interesting. So let’s ask them.
Where do you live?
KYLA: Upper East Side
SEAN: Tribeca
Tell us about your family? Any sisters and/or brothers?
KYLA: I grew up in a traditional home. My father’s a doctor and my mother is his support. I have a younger sister, who’s also married to a doctor. All of them live in the suburbs.
SEAN: I grew up in a traditional situation. My dad is in construction and my mother worked in his office until a few years ago. They live in the suburbs. My older brother is married and is heart surgeon. He and his family live in California.
What do you do for a living?KYLA: I’m an Interior Designer
SEAN: I’m a Furniture Designer
Where do you work?
KYLA: All over Manhattan, the Hamptons and a few projects in Florida and Chicago
SEAN: My showroom is in Tribeca. However, I do custom work for clients all over the world.
How did you meet?
KYLA: I was leaving an appointment and walked passed his showroom and a chair in the window caught my eye.
SEAN: That’s not how we met. I was doing a showing in Charlotte and she came in.
KYLA: I don’t remember that.
SEAN: She walked in and started stroking all of the sofas and taking pictures. Then she asked if I shipped to New York. I said yes and gave her my card.
KYLA: Oh yeah. Now I remember. Because when he turned around and I saw his behind, I forgot about everything that happened beforehand.
SEAN: Really?
KYLA: Shut up. Next question.
Is that how you started working together?
KYLA: No. I think it was at least what, a year later?
SEAN: About six months. That’s when she walked into my showroom.
KYLA: That’s right, now I remember. It was the chair. I knew it looked familiar. I went inside and I was surprised to see him. We started talking and…
What about the chair?
KYLA: I ordered it for my client.
SEAN: Then she came back the following month for another client and we’ve been working on projects ever since.
So when did you start going out?
KYLA: Who said we were going out?
SEAN: We’re just friends.
Really, you seem very comfortable with each other.? [They’re both smiling]
KYLA: Uhm…I’m in a relationship right now. Besides, I don’t like to mix pleasure with business.
SEAN: So am I pleasure or business?
KYLA: Next question
Have you ever been in love? Engaged? Married?
KYLA: No. No. No.
SEAN: Yes. Yes. No.
What happened Sean?
SEAN: Next question
Tell us something the other doesn’t know about you:
KYLA: Sean’s my best friend.
SEAN: I’m in love with her.
Have you ever considered being more than friends?
KYLA: Uhm…I thought we covered this?
SEAN: Yes.
KYLA: Really?
SEAN: Yes.
Okay, here’s the lightening round.
Print or ebook?
KYLA: Both
SEAN: Both
CD, vinyl or iPod??
KYLA: Yes, no, yes
SEAN: All three
Movies: Chick flick, action, suspense, documentaries?
KYLA: All four
SEAN: All four
KYLA: Really, you like chick flicks
SEAN: Next questions
Jazz, Hip Hop or old school R&B?
KYLA: Jazz and old school
SEAN: All three
Favorite comfort food?
KYLA: Fried chicken
SEAN: Mac and Cheese
Favorite pizza topping?
KYLA: Mushrooms, sausage and extra cheese
SEAN: Pepperoni, sausage and extra cheese is a must
How do you take your coffee?
KYLA: Black
SEAN: Black
Favorite desset?
KYLA: Sugar cookies
SEAN: Gelato
Dog person or cat person?
KYLA: Dog
SEAN: Dog
City or Suburbs:
KYLA: City
SEAN: City
Taxi or Subway:
KYLA: Taxi and foot
SEAN: Taxi or foot, sometimes the subway or I drive
Will you ever get married?
KYLA: Next question
SEAN: Yes
Available at
Amazon.com
More About Multiple Genres
June 6, 2015 by Linda O. Johnston in category Pets, Romance & Lots of Suspense by Linda O. Johnston tagged as cozy mysteries, Kill Me, Kiss Me, Linda O. Johnston, Online Classes, romantic suspense
My regular blog here at A Slice of Orange on the 6th of last month was about loving multiple genres. I’m going to focus on that once again now.
Why? Well, when you read this, I will most likely be at the California Crime Writers Conference in the Culver City area of L.A. Unsurprisingly, it’s primarily for people who write mysteries, suspense novels, and related subject.
The following weekend will be all about romance writing for me, since I’ll be attending the OCC meeting on Saturday, and the Los Angeles Romance Writers will meet on that Sunday since the following one, its regularly scheduled third Sunday of the month, will be Fathers Day.
So is it any surprise to you that the subject of my upcoming online class hosted by OCC will be… yes, about writing in both of those genres? In fact, I had a special blog posted about it on Tuesday, May 26, here at A Slice of Orange.
The class is called Kiss Me or Kill Me: Writing Cozy Mysteries 101 for Romance Writers. Those who are interested in adding suspense or mystery to their romances without necessarily changing genres should find it interesting, too, as should mystery or suspense writers who’d like to add some romance to their work.
And me? I’ve said for a while that all romances I write contain some element of mystery or suspense, and all mysteries I write generally contain a romantic interest. Aren’t both some of the most fun aspects of life–or at least reading?
Get to Know Kat Martin!
June 2, 2015 by A Slice of Orange in category Interviews, Spotlight tagged as Against the Sky, Against the Tide, Against the Wild, Alaska, Barb Delong, Conversations with Barb and Jann, Jann Ryan, Kat Martin, Q&A, writing
New York Times bestselling author Kat Martin was happy to answer a few questions for our Slice of Orange readers.
Barb: Which of your characters would you like to meet in person? Why?
Kat: One I would definitely want to meet is Rafe Brodie, the hero of my new book, AGAINST THE TIDE. Rafe is smart, rugged, and savvy. Plus he is gorgeous! Another of my favorite characters is Chance McLain from The Secret, a hunky Montana cowboy. I think you can guess the reason I’d like to meet him (grin). I like my heroine Olivia Chandler, also in TIDE. She’s one of the smartest women I’ve written. Liv really has her stuff together.
Jann: What is the one thing about you that people would be most surprised to know?
Kat: I’m a hermit. Unless we are traveling, I pretty much stay home and write.
Barb: What is your favorite gadget?
Kat: I love my iPad mini. I’m a total dinosaur except for that. I’m pretty good on the mini, and I love all the info I can get. Plus I can do my email when I’m traveling.
Jann: Is there a certain type of scene that’s harder for you to write than others?
Kat: I hate writing description. Which is why I don’t put a lot in. I’m not crazy about back-story. I don’t care what my hero/heroine did in high school unless it pertains to what is happening in his or her life now. Sex scenes are difficult to write because I want them to be fresh and match the tone of the story line at that time. I love writing dialog.
Barb: Do you have any plans in the future to write another Historical?
Kat: No more Historicals for me. Actually, I haven’t written one in years. I’ve written about 22 Romantic Suspense novels (plus the ones yet to be published). I feel as though I’ve found my calling. I love writing the hunky guys in my Against books.
Jann: What do you consider to be your best accomplishment?
Kat: Getting published, staying published, writing stories people seem to want to read. Staying four weeks on the New York Times Bestseller list with Against the Sky!
Barb: If you could pick one of your books to be made into a movie for TV or the big screen, which one would you pick and who would you want to play your characters?
Kat: I’ve given that a lot of thought. I would love to see a film made of The Secret, my near-death murder mystery set on a ranch in Montana. Finding the right guy to play Chance McLain, the cowboy part??? I’m open to suggestion. Caitlin, the heroine is a little redhead. Maybe someone out there has an idea for her as well. I think Against the Wind, another cowboy story, would also make a good film.
Against the Tide
Secrets and Danger Threaten in the Land of the Midnight Sun!
Liv Chandler is running for her life. She can’t trust anyone, not even the one man who makes her feel safe-rugged charter boat captain, Rafe Brodie.
Rafe is determined to uncover Liv’s secrets, but the beautiful café owner has a past more dangerous than Rafe can guess. Something terrible is coming, and even in remote Valdez, Alaska, Rafe can’t protect her forever.
Kat will give away a copy of AGAINST THE TIDE to one lucky commenter!!!
Kat is a graduate of the University of California at Santa Barbara where she majored in Anthropology and also studied History. She is married to L.J. Martin, author of western, non-fiction, and suspense novels. Kat has written more than sixty-five novels. Sixteen million copies of her books are in print and she has been published in twenty foreign countries, including Japan, France, Germany, Argentina, Greece, China, Russia, and Spain.
Kat currently resides in Missoula, Montana, on a small ranch in the beautiful Sapphire mountains. Her last nine books have hit the prestigious New York Times bestseller list. Both AGAINST THE WILD and AGAINST THE SKY, her latest release, took top ten spots. AGAINST THE TIDE the 3rd book in the Brodies of Alaska series will hit shelves in a couple weeks!
Visit Kat’s website at www.katmartin.com
Or look for her on Facebook at Katmartin/author.
Kiss Me or Kill Me is coming soon.
May 26, 2015 by Linda O. Johnston in category Events, Pets, Romance & Lots of Suspense by Linda O. Johnston tagged as Berkley Prime Crime, cozy mysteries, Harlequin Nocturne, Linda O. Johnston, OCCRWA Online Class, romantic suspenseWhat’s that? My online class for OCC, with the alternate name of Writing Cozy Mysteries 101 for Romance Writers. This will be my second time to present it.
The class will run from June 15 through July 12, and my intention is to have fun teaching my students how to have their characters solve murders while falling in love!
Here’s the class description:
All romances contain some suspense: will the hero and heroine resolve conflicts by the end and live happily ever after?
All cozy mysteries contain suspense, too, but do they always involve romance? Not necessarily, but the best ones do! Those romances seldom reach HEA by the end of the book, though. Cozies are usually parts of a series, and the suspense of romance can continue through subsequent books–even though the mysteries in each book must get resolved by the end.
What other similarities and differences are there between romances and cozies? They’ll be addressed in Kiss Me Or Kill Me: Writing Cozy Mysteries 101 for Romance Writers.
The class will also address the basics of writing cozies: choosing a protagonist and deciding how she’ll get involved solving mysteries; choosing a theme for the series; introducing and following through with a love interest—or not; throwing in a corpse or two, plus hiding clues for solving the murders; planning a series; and much more!
There will be online class discussions and writing exercises, too. Kiss Me or Kill Me will also contain enough basics on writing cozies that non-romance writers will learn a lot as well.
So… are you a romance writer who likes mysteries? A mystery writer who likes romance? I’ll be delighted to help you learn how to combine them.
I hope to see you in my class.
Lumpers and Splitters…
May 24, 2015 by A Slice of Orange in category ArchivesAs the joke goes: One: people who think there are two kinds of people, and Two: people who don’t.
Yes, exactly!
There are a myriad of kinds of people, but there are often strong dividing principals around a specific point that offer insight into choices, opinions, actions.
The classic example is that there are Lumpers and Splitters: those that habitually aggregate things (information, whatever) into piles, and label those collective piles.
Or people who see things as individual, unique elements that are distinct.
You can see the pros and cons of each. The efficiency (and inaccuracy) of Lumping. The time-consuming inefficiency (and greater accuracy) of splitting.
We all are Lumpers and Splitters in different areas of our lives.
We tend to be Splitters in areas of interest or importance to us, knowing and delighting in the myriad nuanced differences of a “thing,” be it horror movies, romance novels or football. For many, the sentence, “I don’t watch horror movies (any films)/read romance novels (books)/like football (sports)” dismisses the entire genre (or the entire medium, in a bigger Lump). Often accompanied by a dismissive, “They’re all the same.”
But to a fan, a Splitter, interest and knowledge in something transforms your world from black-and-white (yes/no) into a universe of color like in the movie The Wizard of Oz.
So for example, Lumpers might roll all scary movies into a ball of “horror” and make blanket statements about them.
But to a Splitter, there are many types of horror—per Steven King there are three: the gross-out; the unnatural; terror. But other Splitters parse it differently: supernatural/unnatural; slasher/splatter; disaster. All usually include elements of suspense, fear, mystery. And there is a truly infinite number of varieties on these themes with strong opinions and preferences for individual types.
As a fan of romances novels, I will keep myself under control, simply noting that three initial Splits could be contemporary, historical, fantasy. But each one of those then can be subdivided into suspense, paranormal, mystery, sexy, sweet, and so on. Again, with an infinite number of sub-genres, mixing and matching to please different palates.
Football—while seeming for some of us to be “all the same” (bunch of guys running up and down a patch of “turf” in matching outfits, trying to move an inanimate object in one direction or another)—in fact is also full of subtlety. You heard it here first! Coaches, owners, players, injuries, penalties, sanctions, criminal investigations, finances, fans and more all contribute an ever-shifting kaleidoscope of the game.
There are many circumstances where we simply have to Lump. We can’t retain, effectively present or make decisions when we consider all the complexity of a large number of things. A business presentation starts with an “Executive Summary” offering in a single paragraph, the top-line conclusions of what may be a lengthy and nuanced piece of work.
We often judge others by a single action (perhaps cheating) and label and Lump the person a cheater.
But really, their action may have been specific, isolated in a particular situation, or an area they deem gray, (low level fudging on their expense report ) whereas other areas may be scrupulously black and white (the integrity of their work, their commitment to their job).
Lump it. Split it. But don’t dump on either one….
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