To learn more about Nancy, visit her online at:
www.nancynaigle.com

When Romance Divas was kind enough to invite for the Spotlight a few months back we talked through the standard questions. How long had I been writing? How long did it take to get published? You know, that kind of stuff.

Well, that was fun, but this time I thought I’d just share a little about me. My first novel came out this summer. SWEET TEA AND SECRETS is the first in a series of books with ties to the small town of Adams Grove. When you read a little bit more about me, I think you’ll see why I write small town stories.

My daytime job is with Bank of America, but I’m one of the lucky Americans that enjoy a job with a company that allows telecommuting. I used to work out of the Norfolk, VA office. That was an 80 mile commute each way so you can see that having no commute has added hours to my week that used to be spent on the road.

My husband and I own a goat farm here in Virginia. He is a full-time goat rancher, and I confess I have about one of the prettiest views around. Especially in kidding season. There’s just nothing cuter than a pasture full of young kids making their momma’s nervous as they race each other up and down the hill. We breed boer-cross goats. The boer color makes our herd fairly consistent. Most look very similar to the kid in my arms in the picture to the left. White with a red head is considered color correct for this breed. Goats have a 5 month gestation period and the does usually have twins. We have had quintuplets before, but we usually end up having to bottle feed to help the momma out when that happens.

Last weekend I announced the Market Goat Show at the Virginia State Fair. This is the sixth year I’ve done it and the show just gets better and better each year. It’s fun to see the future producers of our state compete to win the prize and represent the industry with such high standards.

I’ve always had a love for small towns. The peace I find on the drive through the rural areas to get to the town is almost treasure enough. I’d much rather spend the day rambling through a string of shops in a small town than in a big trendy mall. And you can’t beat a small town diner for a good home-cooked meal either.

They say write what you know. Well, I’m writing what I love and that’s small towns and stories that I can escape my hectic day to day in. I hope you’ll escape in them, too.

The name of the town in my books, Adams Grove, is a real town here in Virginia, but there’s no bakery, flower shop or Main Street like there is in my stories. I took the best of all my favorite small town visits across the nation and made Adams Grove the town anyone could escape to. I hope you’ll pay a visit to Adams Grove in Sweet Tea and Secrets and then keep an eye out for the second story with ties to that small town. OUT OF FOCUS will be out on November 14^th.

Here’s the blurb:

Kasey Phillips thought her biggest problem was deciding whether to accept the job to photograph Cody Tuggle’s honky-tonkin’ tour, until an accident on Route 58 claims the life of her husband.

In a desperate race against time as a hurricane threatens the eastern seaboard, they search for her three-year-old son who is missing from the wreckage.

Family and friends rally to help, but someone knows more than they are telling.

What’s your favorite thing about small towns? I’ve been having fun with a hashtag on twitter #WhatILoveAboutSmallTowns  It would be great if you’d share your thoughts here and on twitter.

Hugs and happy reading,

Nancy

www.NancyNaigle.com

Dr. Bastian Talbot and self-proclaimed sex goddess Charlie Pierce heat up the air waves with their flirty banter as radio hosts Dr. Hot and the Honeypot. Off the air, they’re best friends…but Bastian wants to be so much more. He wants Charlie—in bed, and forever.

Problem is, Charlie doesn’t do commitment. Sure, she’s had X-rated fantasies of Bastian, but he was always just a friend—until he impulsively proposes and unleashes the lust they’ve been denying for years. Charlie’s willing to explore where their wild chemistry leads, but she won’t marry him. And he won’t have sex with her until she accepts his proposal, despite her seductive schemes.

What are Dr. Hot and the Honeypot to do? Ask their listeners for advice on how to tame a sex kitten and turn a perfect gentleman into a shameless lover. The Race to Wed or Bed is on…who will turn up on top?

Available at most ebook retailers like B&N and AMAZON

WORDPLAY AS FOREPLAY

by Inez Kelley

I have a big mouth. Shocking, I know but I do. Friends swear I’m the secret offspring of a sailor and a trucker. I once won an award for the filthiest mouth. But then, I’ve also been called lyrical and lush, a painter with words. I like to talk and when I can’t talk, I write.

I’m legally blind. As a child, it sucked. I had no depth perception so sports and I weren’t the best of friends. Hell, even setting the table was an adventure. Four-eyes and Froggie were some of the nicer names I heard behind my back and occasionally to my face. The kid who was always picked last at sports poked fun at me. Kids are cruel, that will never change.

So, I turned to friends who didn’t care, books. I flew airplanes and ran races and fought in battles all through words. Where kids my age were sharpening their batting skills, I was sharpening my tongue, my brain.

I’ve never left my weapons behind. An old expression says the pen is mightier than the sword and, although in a face-to-face combat that might not work, in general, it’s true. I learned words stopped most teasing sessions before they got too painful, diffused angry situations with humor or reached out to bridge gaps. Words became my hollow-point bullets and my olive branches.

But along with that sharp-tongue came a love of the lyrical word, of the rhythm of how sounds roll together to create an image. This is one of my favorite passages:

Myla as a lover was incredible. Myla as a jaguar was mesmerizing. Myla as a warrior was breathtaking. If war could be called music, she would be its dancer for her grace and speed were choreographed to a deadly melody. Each twirl and vault of her stance seemed more ballet than fight but her blade drew blood time and time again. In the midst of death and bloodshed, she captivated him. –Myla by Moonlight

Now that’s not to say that my mouth never got in me into trouble. It did. For example, I was sixteen and had been chosen as one of two teens from my state to go to the Capitol in Washington DC for some type of Youth Summit program. One kid from California made fun of us Hillbillies and asked if we had to wear shoes to school or were those saved for special occasions, like inbred weddings.

Without thinking, I whipped around and said that shoes were mandatory in school but panties were optional and he could pucker up and kiss my Hillbilly ass. *Ahem* My sponsor/teacher did not find that amusing at all.

That word play, is how I deal with life. Today, I have super high-strength contacts and glasses, and I’ve outgrown the taunting. I’m a smart-ass who can delve into purple prose, although I try to reign in the lilac. I try to balance the teases with the purple, the rhyme with the melody. That wordplay inspired my August Carina Press release TURN IT UP.

TURN IT UP is all about wordplay as foreplay.

“What’s your favorite sexual position, Bastian?”

Too soon. “Where in the hell do you come up with these questions?” Even after six years, she never failed to surprise him.

“Uh, tomorrow’s show, ‘Assuming the Position,’ remember? I just thought it’d be a good idea to go over some of our answers since the topic is bound to get a bit touchy.”

She did have a point. They often semi-rehearsed their supposed off-the-cuff answers. It added more strength to her professional demeanor. His, too, he supposed, but still, never ask a man with a hard-on what position he likes best. It was cruel and malicious torture.

“You first,” he hedged, earning a sly grin. She liked to think he was shy at times, and he had no problem allowing that.

“I like them all. But I guess, if I had to pick, I’d go with cowgirl.”

Charlie, bare-breasted above him, hips rising and falling. Great, another image to flush out of my head. Think abscessed diabetic ulcers. “Why?”

Her shoulders shrugged and she burrowed deeper into his shirt. “I like control, no secret there. I bet I can guess yours.”

The tease lifted his eyebrows. “Okay, go for it.”

“You’re the old-fashioned type, so I’ll guess…missionary.”

She knew him too damn well. “Guilty as charged. I like to see my lover’s eyes looking up at me.”

“Oooh, how romantic,” she purred. “And the fact you get to control everything has nothing to do with it.”

“What’s that mean?”

“Topping is the power position. You set the pace, the depth, the subtle shifts that prolong things.”

“Tell you what, Honey, next time you sit on my lap, I’ll let you prolong anything you want.”

His flirt hung heavy but she laughed it off. Calling her by her radio persona insulated him. This was Doc teasing Honey, not Bastian flirting with Charlie, at least to her.

“In your imagination, Doc.” She saluted him with her bottle. “And speaking of imagination, next week’s show on self-love—you okay with that? Some men get twitchy.”

“Yep. Masturbation is a normal human behavior. I’ll have all my facts in order, don’t you worry.” Saucy Doc Hot took hold of his tongue and ran with his thoughts before his brain could catch it. “How’s the self-love treating you lately, Honey?”

Cornflower eyes widened before narrowing in challenge. This banter was what made their show spicy and successful.

“Just fine, Doc. How about you? You handling everything all right?”

His cheeks warmed but he never dropped his gaze. “Been a little lax lately, too many ER shifts and not enough sleep.”

“Tsk-tsk-tsk. You can’t neglect yourself. All work and no self-play makes Doc a grumpy boy. Find a few minutes to take care of business, will you?” A vampish smile curled seductively. “Let me know if you need a hand.”

“You’d need both.”

It’s not the size of the word, it’s the power it carries. Talk is foreplay. Use it!

Inez Kelley is a multi-published author of various romance genres. You can visit her at her website http://inezkelley.com/ Follow her on twitter at@Inez_Kelley or on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/inez.kelley

Her backlist includes the riveting contemporary Sweet as Sin, a laugh-out-loud comedy Jinxed, the award-winning fantasy Myla by Moonlight and the sequel, Salome at Sunrise, steamy Lipstick on his Collar and books two and three of the erotic Dirty Laundry series, Talk Dirty to Me and Coming Clean.

GETTING BETTER ALL THE TIME

I used to write. I mean, with a pen, in a notebook. It was an activity on par with sticking my fingers in jelled paint and slicking them across a paper. That is, it was a riot. A messy, colorful bomb of “and how about this?” I’ve spent much of the last year “stuck.” Very very stuck. Here’s my journey of how I got stuck, and unstuck.

Before publishing, in my notebooks, I wrote notes about plots without ever creating a sentence of story, I wrote family trees for a person in a magazine ad, I wrote lyrical, overwrought scenes about masks. I wrote whatever little snippet I felt like and I’d close the book and walk away, pleased. It was ridiculous.

You have to understand, the first poem I ever seriously edited and held up as a keeper was about a unicorn (I was 10, okay?). I’ve been socially inept all my life, even in my writing. My ramblings in the notebook were never meant to be looked at by anyone. So when I finally achieved BICHOK and wrote a book, it was a frenzy of self-discovery, like picking up pastels for the first time, and trying out a piece of black paper. I was dazzled.

Then I wrote a sequel. It was short, and different. It was a whole ‘nother experience, because it didn’t have the same journey at all. Watercolors are, like, hard.

And if you want to write an arcing, ten book series where each book reveals a different aspect of the same world? Well get out the oil paints, sister, and settle in for the long haul.

Everything was very dazzling and new. I leaped from one idea of how to dabble with story to the next. Until… I began to doubt. I was surrounded by writers of incredible talent, and I was reading the crème of the crop, instead of compulsively mowing everything like I used to before I wrote.

The issue, I realized somewhere in the middle of my path through the well-received Bonded fantasies, was I’d never freaking learned to sketch. I didn’t know GMC. I didn’t know hero’s journey. I didn’t know 3 act structure. I didn’t know buttski about publishing. But seriously, I didn’t know basic things like action-reaction. I didn’t know subtleties of characterization.

I didn’t know what I didn’t know, completely and totally. I just knew story logic. I was really really good at imagining a complete person, then like a kindergartner, following behind them in a never-ending “and theeeen” litany. But I’m an educator. I LOVE learning. I dove right in.

“And then…” I became a writer. That’s all it took: the understanding that there was a craft to fiction, that it could be broken down into skill sets. Everything came to a screeching halt when I set out to learn to sketch. I doubted every sentence. I researched until my pores bled Alizarin Crimson.

I read professional articles and joined RWA and took online workshops. I stopped writing. I was having a blast talking and playing and doing assignments. I got really good at understanding writing. I could sketch on demand like a diving pony (don’t look too hard at that metaphor). But ask me to deliver an oil painting and I went *blink-blink* frozen.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m very proud of my books. They’re not a hot mess or anything. But when you go and read something as perfect as Andrews’ Bayou Moon, and have all this technicality floating in your head, and then pile on some pressure… Well. The paint dried while I fussed with the easel.

A ways into this frozen-by-the-stream-of-time fit, someone very wise (named Dayna) said, “Just write. Write anything. Not for any project or another. Just write a random story scene.” Without much interest, I dutifully took up my next still life tableau assignment.

And as I wrote this disconnected scene, I suddenly remembered writing. Physically writing. I went and got my notebook but it was too toddling slow so I sat back at the computer and my fingers flew.

Nothing happened in the scene. There was barely characterization. It was all about a moody moment in a setting. And this world popped into my brain, and the girl popped into my fingers, and then… Well. And then. I sat back.

“Conflict,” I muttered. “Dark Moment.” My fingers itched. “Research,” I hissed. (I’m a librarian, and yet research had become a dirty word, a hideous pre-writing block like tacking my canvas.) But no. I put my fingers back on the keyboard and FORCED myself to write. I kept to the simple phrase and then.

I get a picture in my mind. A child sitting at the edge of a busy bazaar with a warrior in the shadows watching her. A woman poling a reed boat through cattails, muttering nonsense to herself. A clerk in a futuristic bakery blushing when a compelling customer comes in. This is always how I’ve written. A scene. A person. Follow it.

I wrote a new scene, a pointless, random, not-great scene, and it was like being doused in electricity. Queue Slow-mo Theme Song:

Moving forward using all my breath. I want to stop the world. I want to get better, all the time. It’s the melting where the rainbow magic happens. *Unicorn goes floating past in best Peggle formation*

I have very little knowledge about writing. I’m not proud of that. I WILL keep learning. I so enjoy picking up practical ways to edit a scene or layer a character. I have joked I’d be a professional student if I were wealthy. But the thing is, I wouldn’t get a PhD. I’d get about a dozen Bachelor’s. I’d flit from cartography to bioengineering to philosophy. I’d constantly be stained with my latest, newest medium. I’m a jack-of-all-trades-but-a-master-of-none kind of writer, and I’m not sure how far that kind of attitude can take me.

But right now, I’m writing. I’m creating. I’m on the trail of a story and where a few years ago I’d have no idea how to end, now I have some sort of basic grasp of plot. I know how to punch up an emotional scene and trim down an intense action sequence. I may have done that before but it was by instinct (or mistake). Now, I understand how I can go back and analyze.

I just can’t get caught up in that. It has to come after the bones are down. I need to float along, fingers dripping glops of color, singing And then? to my characters. I finally learned that to be a writer, means to figure out what works FOR YOU.

The Importance of Sir Humpalot (or why my books are so dang long.)

I was whining recently about the demise of my career (something writers enjoy doing with some regularity) and a friend suggested that maybe I ought to try my hand at writing a category romance.   You know, a Harlequin Desire or Blaze, an American or a Harlequin Presents.

Contemporary romance is a hard sell right now, she said, but category contemporaries are still performing solidly.  A shrewd author would build a category audience then make the leap into a bigger book.  Now this was incredibly sage advice.  (Not a surprise, coming from this particular friend.)  But I couldn’t take it.  It’s the word count thing.

See, category books are 2/3 the length of a single title, and there’s not a word to spare.  Category writers don’t have time to wander down the garden path with a quirky subplot or two.  They get in, they deliver the goods, they get out.  Action on every page.  Write tight or go home.

I had to go home.  I’m a garden path kind of girl and there’s no fixing me.  I like conversational side trips, I like oddball subplots, I like secondary romances, and I like charming villains with complex needs and deep back stories.  And when you plant a hero and heroine you really love in ground that fertile?

Well, as far as I’m concerned, that’s where the fun starts.

Here’s an example from my new release MONEY SHOT.  This is a scene just after the hero (Rush) and heroine (Goose, whose real name is Maria but people call her Goose and it’s a long story so I’m not getting into it here) meet for the first time.  Rush is preoccupied with this woman he’s just met while trying to deal with his Aunt Lila and 16 year old Cousin Yarrow.  Here you go:

Lila turned speculative eyes on Rush as the door closed behind Goose.  “So…she seems nice.”

“For a woman who thinks I may be gearing up to assassinate the governor.”

Lila gave this an airy pass.  “You walk around all day armed to the teeth,” she said.  “What did you expect?”

Rush didn’t feel like getting into that, so he just said, “You needed something, Lila?”

His aunt sighed.  “Oh, it’s nothing, but I thought you should hear it from me.  It seems my dear neighbor Mr. Barnes has his shorts in a knot over the compost again.”

Rush glanced automatically toward Ben’s place next door.  “Ben doesn’t like your compost?”

“Evidently not.”

“He thinks it’s attracting Sir Humpalot,” Yarrow said from the register.

“Sir Humpalot?”

She arched the brow without the ring.  “Sure.  Seven, eight feet tall?  Long brown beard, big rack?”  She put her free hand to her head, thumb against her scalp, fingers fanned out, miming antlers.  “Unsuccessfully humping the dumpsters since September?”

Rush blinked at her.  The kid had nicknamed a rogue bull moose with sexual identity issues Sir Humpalot.

He frowned down at Lila.  “This kid needs to go back to normal school.”

Okay, see when I started writing this book I had no idea there would be a horny moose involved.  Or a disgruntled neighbor.  Or compost.  Certainly not an angry, home-schooled teenager with facial piercings and a boat-load of self-hatred on board.  But Yarrow appeared on the page in the same chapter as Sir Humpalot and how could I say no?

At first they were all just fun.  The hero and heroine can’t be ridiculous or mean, after all.  Rush and Goose have their hands full falling in love.  Or trying not to fall in love, in Goose’s case.  The reader has to like those two right out of the gate.

But secondary characters?  Free rein, baby.  That’s where the party is.  Those people have their own selfish goals and wacky agendas, plus they’re laboring under the delusion that they’re the stars of the show.  They keep mucking around in the plot, forcing our hero and heroine to join forces to save the people they love from doing disastrous things.  (That’s the definition of family, right?  People You Love Who Do Disastrous Things And Require Saving?)

But then it got deeper.  Yarrow–troubled, pierced, overly-made-up, desperately unhappy Yarrow–became a shadow Goose.  Because Goose was once a sixteen year old who thought she’d irrevocably ruined her life, too.  And when it’s all over before you’re twenty, that’s a lot of life stretching out ahead of you with nothing in it but penance.

So Goose gets Yarrow in a way nobody else can, and walking the girl back to the light forces a whole lot of wake-up-and-smell-the-happiness on Goose.  She can’t help Yarrow without performing a brutal inventory of her own life, and rethinking the choices she made at sixteen that closed the door Rush is now holding open.   Rush might be Goose’s happily ever after, but Yarrow’s the reason Goose opens her eyes to it.  And opens her heart to him.

And that, friends, is why I can’t write short.  I hope you’ll understand and read the book anyway.

So how about you?  Do you have a favorite secondary character or subplot from a book or series?  I’d love to hear about it.  And don’t be shy–one lucky commenter will win an autographed copy of MONEY SHOT!  (Within the continental US only, though. Sorry.)

Some years back, Golden Heart ® Award Winner Susan Sey gave up the glamorous world of software training to pursue a high powered career in diaper changing. Two children and millions of diapers later, she decided to branch out and started writing novels during nap time. The kids eventually gave up their naps, so now she writes when she’s supposed to be doing the laundry. She currently resides in St. Paul, MN, with her wonderful husband, their charming children and a very tall pile of dirty clothes. You can visit her on the web at www.susansey.com

Confession time: I can be very shallow. As much as I love adventure set in the furthest reaches of outer space, one draw of science fiction is the extremely hot heroes. Maybe there’s something about the hostile environment that seems to breed fine specimens of masculinity. Lack of oxygen? Low gravity? Whatever the cause, I can’t complain. I just reap the benefits.

Let’s start with the loveable and very sexy scoundrel, Han Solo.

I would bet that, for many of us, we got our first “funny feelings” when watching this raffish pilot strut across the screen.

Then there’s the original Battlestar Galactica’s duo of hotness, Apollo and Starbuck.

I would vacillate from one week to the next who I thought was cuter. (Ultimately, I chose Starbuck.)

Skipping ahead, there’s the incomparable Captain Mal Reynolds.

What can I say? I love a scoundrel.

The new Battlestar Galactica was a cornucopia of male hotness. How can you choose between these men?

(Bonus of Lee Adama almost losing his towel. So glad gravity still works on a Battlestar:)

Now, many of you find the new reboot Captain James T. Kirk staggeringly hot.

But, for my money, the man to watch was Sulu.

Sometimes, the one’s who aren’t flashy just grab your attention and never let go.

Now, with COLLISION COURSE, I’ve added my hot hero to the sci-fi pantheon. In my rather humble opinion, ace pilot Commander Kell Frayne of the 8th Wing is one sexy mo-fo. This is our heroine’s first glimpse of him:

No way around it. He was one of the most physically attractive men she had ever seen, including the famed Halu pleasure slaves bred specifically to be the most aesthetically appealing creatures in the galaxy. Broad shoulders, powerful arms, long legs. His immaculate 8th Wing uniform brought into gorgeous display his lean, tight muscles. A plasma pistol was strapped to his thigh. Even simply walking, his movements radiated power and strength. His body was hard, lethal. A warrior, this one.

And his face. Far too rough to be considered handsome. He had the face of a man who had lived tough—and nothing appealed to Mara more. The clean delineation of his jaw contrasted the curves of his mouth. Thick, dark hair cut very short. Dark brows, dark eyes. Dark all over. And gazing intently at her as he strode toward her.

I absolutely adore the model that represents Kell on the cover, but when I was writing the book, I imagined him like the lethally sexy Joe Manganiello.

How can my heroine, scavenger Mara Skiren, resist that? She fights her attraction, but it’s a battle she can’t win. When a scavenger and a by-the-book pilot cross paths, an explosion is sure to follow.

Now here’s your chance to tell me what sci-fi heroes get your thrusters firing. I’ll pick a commenter at random to win a book from my print backlist. (US and Canada only) Good luck, and may the hotness be with you.

RITA Award nominee Zoë Archer has always loved stories of romance and adventure. She is the author of COLLISION COURSE, a sci-fi romance from Carina Press, as well as the BLADES OF THE ROSE paranormal adventure romance series from Zebra. In December, her new HELLRAISERS paranormal romance series will launch, also from Zebra.

For more information about COLLISION COURSE, including an excerpt and links to buy, visit her website. Follow her on Twitter, Facebook, and Tumblr.

Romance readers are employed in a wide variety of science-related jobs. We all probably know at least one medical doctor, physicist, biologist, astronomer, psychologist, chemist, software engineer, among others. I mean, wow! These are some smart women (and men, too—I know you’re out there). Not only that, but many non-scientist readers have a keen interest in different types of science. They read and learn about science without even being paid. Hot dog! I’ll say it again: Romance readers sure are smart.

So why does it seem like they’ve been shortchanged when it comes to science fiction romance?

I’ve heard some scary stories, namely, that over the years, some authors were told by their publishers to simplify, alter, or do away with science fictional concepts in their books. In other words, dumb them down despite the fact that the stories are science fiction romance. Not only that, but both established and aspiring authors alike have been repeatedly told there’s no market for this subgenre.

Given all of the intelligent romance readers currently in existence, is that really a smart move?

Now, I can understand how the myth of romance readers being averse to science in their romances came to be perpetuated. First, many if not most romance readers are women, and supposedly our brains are too delicate for science and math. Stop me if you’ve heard this one before.

Second, the above bias has carried over into publishing, particularly the idea that SF is only for the boys. Third, if you listen to the first two often enough, it becomes a challenge to hear anything else through all of that racket.

As a result, misconceptions abound regarding science fiction romance as it exists today:

* The science in science fiction romance is “hard” science, a.k.a. a reader needs to be an actual scientist in order to understand it.

Some stories do contain hard science (see: Catherine Asaro’s PRIMARY INVERSION or KS Augustin’s IN ENEMY HANDS)—because variety is good and why not broaden our horizons? However, many science fiction romance stories don’t contain hard SF. In fact, the sciences used in this subgenre vary widely.

*Conversely, the science fictional elements involve nothing more than BEMS (Bug-Eyed Monsters) or little green aliens from Planet Quacktutal. Or something equally silly/campy.

While I’m as much a fan of pulpy SF B-movies as the next gal (I MARRIED A MONSTER FROM OUTER SPACE, anyone?), they sure can be dopey at times.

Do some of those elements crop up in science fiction romance? Sure, there’s the occasional BEM (see Michelle Marquis & Lindsay Bayer’s HUNTERS or Ann Aguirre’s GRIMSPACE), but just as many stories take a different route. And tone has much to do with how the science fictional elements come across. For example, Ann Aguirre’s BEM doesn’t go around gobbling up buxom, scantily clad women. He’s an intelligent, complex character.

* Science (and the political and/or action-adventure elements that often accompany it) and romance are polar opposites that don’t mix.

It’s all in the execution, baby! Plenty of romances incorporate action-adventure and/or political elements, and science fiction romance is no exception. So the idea that SF and romance can’t get happy in bed together is a bunch of balderdash. As long as authors deliver a satisfying romance, many readers will follow them to any setting no matter how exotic.

The misconception issue aside, another reason that science fiction romance has flown under some people’s radars is that in general, readers enjoy a sense of community. Often, they like to read what everyone else is reading.

While this may be true of a great many readers, it’s not necessarily true of all readers. Lest we forget, paranormal romance started out as a subgenre that very few readers wanted to pursue. And look what happened there: A bunch of smart readers made their voices known.

These days, the rise of ebooks and digital publishing has opened up the market for science fiction romance, one that has always existed yet was underserved. Readers can discover virtually any type of plot, setting, science fictional concepts, heat level, and characters to suit their tastes. And don’t ya know, many of these digital publishers are operated by—wait for it—smart romance readers.

So the next time anyone tries to say science fiction romance (or science fiction) is out of our league, we’ll just charge ahead and start a league of our own. Or maybe a galactic empire. Because, see, we’re smart like that.

Heather Massey is a lifelong fan of science fiction romance. She searches for sci-fi romance adventures aboard her blog, The Galaxy Express.

And for European readers, she covers the subgenre for Germany’s premier romance magazine, LoveLetter.

Heather’s debut erotic sci-fi romance novel, Once Upon a Time in Space (Red Sage Publishing), features the last living descendant of Christopher Columbus on a desperate quest to find a new world. Standing in his way is Raquel, the deadliest space pirate in the galaxy.

For more information about Heather, visit her online at:
Author site: www.heathermassey.com
The Galaxy Express: www.thegalaxyexpress.net

Picking a character’s name can be a tricky business.

Names can hold different feelings for different people, and when you’re a romance writer things get a little more complicated.

Take, for instance, the names Sarah and Victoria. There’s nothing wrong with those names, far from it. But I could never use them in a book. Why you ask? Well, they’re my children’s names, there’s no way I could write a love scene involving characters that are named after my children. Skeevy much?

How about Danny, or Andy, or Andoni? Nope again, they’re relatives and that’s just wrong. I’d be thinking about my uncle, or brother, seducing my heroine and how on earth could I describe it? Make them too *ahem* manly and they’d be strutting about the place, ego-inflated. Make them a little less and I’d never hear the end of it. Not to mention looking them in the face over Sunday dinner knowing they just satisfied my heroine, ewww.

So relatives, friends and acquaintances go out the window immediately, despite the numerous requests otherwise.

“You should name one of you characters after me,” leered a colleague quite recently.

Eyeing up his slightly damp brown suit, receding hairline and considerable girth I smiled politely and muttered something unintelligible. Imagine actually doing that? I’d be thinking of him when I wrote the lurve scenes and that is not a place I ever want to go.

So, I have to get creative, widen the search a bit.

Sometimes, I will admit, it’s been easy. The name just comes, I start writing and I know their name almost instantly, kind of like they were there, waiting for me to bring them to life. Other times it’s been hard, and I’ve found myself (early hours of the morning) scouring nameyourbaby.com or babynamesforyou.net. It comes to something when you’re reduced to stalking the pre and post-natal forums looking for inspiration.

My current book, The Valentine’s Fae, was one of the easy-peasey’s. I knew the hero and heroines names as soon as I started writing, they were just there and I didn’t have to think about them. They fit the characters perfectly and off I went, writing my fluffy socks off.

The book I’m working on now, the sequel to TVF? Not so.

I have my hero’s name and I’m feeling pretty good about it, well, kinda have to, it’s in TVF so I can’t change it. But the heroine… she’s a tricky one and I’m having considerable trouble tracking her down. She’s hiding somewhere and I need some help.

This is where you guys come in. How about naming her for me?

It can be your name (if you fancy being featured in the book), you’re friends name, but probably not a family member… as the books are pretty hot… and I know you don’t want to think about granny getting it on with a strapping great fairy.

Oh, did I mention she’s a fairy? A super hot, super sexed up fairy?

So drop me a comment below, we’ll do the random thing, and the winner will feature in my next book. But please, no Nigel’s, the brown suit just isn’t gonna work.

Emma x

Emma started her career by taking a degree in planetary science. However, after several arguments with NASA and the Russian space programme she finally, begrudgingly, accepted that she was never going to be an astronaut. With two kids to support (and a shocking diet coke/chocolate/cupcake addiction) she realized she was woefully unqualified to do anything, other than describe Jupiter in loving detail. Forced into an office job, her last desperate break for freedom was to turn her hand to writing, and she realized pretty quickly that it was romance all the way.

These days Emma both works (as an editor) and is published by Evernight Publishing. You can find Emma on Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads and Youtube. In fact you can find Emma all over the net, she is officially an internet-ho, and likes nothing better than stalking the net for reviews.

To find out more about Emma, visit her at:

www.emmashortt.co.uk
www.emmashortt.blogspot.com

I love the old saying that politics makes for strange bedfellows. In fact, Strange Bedfellows was the original name I gave Fatal Affair, the first book in my series about a Washington, D.C. homicide detective who’s in a relationship with a U.S. senator. My agent didn’t think that title was suspenseful enough, so we later came up with Fatal Affair then Fatal Justice, Fatal Consequences, etc.

Just because we took the strange bedfellows out of the title, however, doesn’t mean we took the politics out of the story. In the second book, Fatal Justice, which was released earlier this month by Harlequin’s Carina Press, my characters Sam and Nick discover they’re on opposite sides of the aisle. As a cop, Sam is not affiliated with any party, but when push comes to shove she confesses to Nick that she leans toward the Republican side while he is a died-in-the-wool Democrat.

Ahhh religion and politics—two hot-button issues for sure. While I thought it would be fun to have these committed lovers discover a rather major difference in ideology, I don’t expect them to turn into a Mary Matalin and James Carville kind of couple. I do expect their differences to occasionally cause some conflict in their relationship—and what’s a great romance without some conflict?

Now don’t worry, I won’t be overdoing the politics in this series, but Nick is a United States senator, so politics will make an appearance in every book. When it comes right down to it, legislating is slow, tedious work that would bore the reader to tears if I delved too deeply. I’d much prefer to show Nick dealing with constituent issues than reading policy papers or meeting with lobbyists.

Will my politics show up in the series? From time-to-time, but recognizing a minefield when I see one, it will be done sparingly. I confess that Nick’s leanings and mine are close. That was a conscious decision. If I’m going to write what I hope will be a long-running series featuring a U.S. senator, I thought I’d make it a bit easier on myself by aligning his politics to mine.

In the Fatal books, I promise readers a good mystery, sizzling romance and a touch of politics. Here’s what you can expect in book 2, Fatal Justice:

Supreme Court nominee Julian Sinclair comes to Washington expecting to be confirmed to the high court. Instead, he’s found shot execution-style in a city park. Detective Lt. Sam Holland’s list of suspects is long, but does it include her significant other, Senator Nick Cappuano, one of the last to see Sinclair alive? While tracking down Sinclair’s killer, Sam is also confronted with a new lead into her father’s unsolved shooting that results in unexpected danger for her. In the meantime, Sam’s partner, Detective Freddie Cruz, returns to the “scene of the crime” when he looks up Elin Svendsen, one of the late Senator John O’Connor’s sexy ex-girlfriends. After a lifetime of virtue, will Freddie be led down the road to ruin by a temptress who wants only one thing from him?

So tell me, how do you feel about a dash of politics to go with your mystery and romance? I’ll give away a copy of Fatal Justice to one respondent. Thanks for having me! I look forward to chatting with the Divas! You can find the Fatal books at http://ebooks.carinapress.com under the Romantic Suspense tab or anywhere e-books are sold. Watch for Fatal Affair in print from eHarlequin in July. Fatal Affair is available in audio from Audible.com, and Fatal Justice is coming soon to audio.

Marie Force is the author of FATAL AFFAIR (June 2010) and FATAL JUSTICE (Jan. 2011), Books 1 and 2 in her new Fatal Series from Harlequin’s Carina Press. Book 3, FATAL CONSEQUENCES, is coming in July 2011, FATAL DESTINY, the Fatal wedding novella, in September 2011 and FATAL FLAW in February 2012. “This novel is ‘The O.C. does D.C.,’ and you just can’t get enough.” (RT Book Reviews, 4.5 stars for FATAL AFFAIR). In its July 2010 issue, RT Book Reviews named Marie a “Future Star of Romantic Suspense.” Carina recently acquired Marie’s contemporary, GEORGIA ON MY MIND, coming in 2012.

Marie is the author EVERYONE LOVES A HERO (Feb. 2011), LINE OF SCRIMMAGE (Sept. 2008) and LOVE AT FIRST FLIGHT (July 2009). Of LINE OF SCRIMMAGE, Booklist said, “With its humor and endearing characters, Force’s charming novel will appeal to a broad spectrum of readers, reaching far beyond sports fans.” Wild on Books said, “LOVE AT FIRST FLIGHT by Marie Force is most definitely a keeper. It is an astounding book. I loved every single word!” Marie is also the author of TRUE NORTH and THE FALL, available as ebooks via Amazon.com and Smashwords.
Since 1996, Marie has been the communications director for a national organization similar to RWA. She is a member of RWA’s New England, From the Heart and Published Author Special Interest Chapters.

While her husband was in the Navy, Marie lived in Spain, Maryland and Florida, and she is now settled in her home state of Rhode Island. She is the mother of Emily, 15, Jake, 12, and a feisty dog named Brandy.

To find out more about Marie, visit her at:

Website: www.mariesullivanforce.com
Blog: http://mariesullivanforce.blogspot.com, where she runs the popular weekly Romance & Oreos Book Club
Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/Marie-Force/248130827909
Twitter: twitter.com/MarieForce.

Marie loves to hear from readers. Contact her at marie@marieforce.com.

Erotica stories, by their nature, are somewhat the same. The gender or sexuality of the participants, and the sexual acts involved, are barely an issue in the structure.   One needs to understand this structure before you can work with it to make your stories stand out.

Here’s a breakdown of this basic plot structure down into an outline. Your mileage may vary.

Basic Structure of an Erotic Short Story

1. Introduction of the characters to the reader. Are they an established couple? Have they known each other for a while, and this story shows a change in their relationship? Are they meeting for the first time?

2. Establishment of conflict. Some stories skip this part; I call those “porn.” This is, essentially, the plot’s fuel. What does one character want, and how will he or she obtain it? Will it be obtained? What obstacle is in the way of either consummation of the relationship or pleasant consummation of the relationship? Etcetera.

3. Actual sex scene, which mirrors classic plot structure: rising action, climax, denouement. Frequently, the denouement includes the possibility of the relationship continuing into the future.

What You Can Do With Structure

Because the structure is very similar across the board, the differences–the more salable differences, that is–are elements other than plot.

Characterization is my favorite. Write about people with problems. They’re more interesting, and more memorable.

The other choice, especially applicable to genre writers, is setting. Two people meet in a bar is a common plotline, but if the bar is in, say, a spaceship, or in Napoleonic France, it’s automatically standing out from the crowd. This technique can be especially useful when submitting to themed anthologies, because standing out is more difficult when not only plot structures but themes are already set.

Standing Out

The writing process starts with an idea…well, if you want to be philosophical, the process really starts with the desire to write…or perhaps the writer’s birth. Or conception. But anyway. My ideas sometimes come out of my head, randomly, the desire to write about a particular action in an interesting way, or a particular sort of character, or a particular setting.

More often, the desire to write and thus the idea are sparked by a call for submissions. When I said I sold most of what I wrote, part of the reason is that I am often writing to a specific market, which helps improve my chances. Taking that initial idea and identifying the approach that will make it different from most of the other submissions, or at least more appealing to the editor, is the harder part.

Setting is one thing, as I mentioned before. So far, I have written and sold stories set in a spaceship in the middle of a war; a futuristic prison planet inhabited by giant people-eating turtles; an aid station in World War One; a fairy tale land with sea monster; and a pseudo-historical version of France.

Whenever I see an opportunity to write a genre story, for example, I take it. I could write a story about a girl on vacation, or I could write it about a girl on vacation In Space. Easy decision. If I happen to be doing research for a novel, as I did with WWI, why not use that research for a short erotica piece? In fact, why not use it more than once?

As for characters, I like to vary them in their basics as well as in their more esoteric qualities. “Twisted Beauty” features a man with paralyzed legs; “Worship” an older couple, one of whom is becoming crippled with arthritis. The story can be more intensely involving if the characters have something specific to overcome. It needn’t even be the obvious.

In “Worship,” declining physical condition was part of the problem, but the protagonist’s own doubts were even more so. Trusting her partner, and herself, was the solution. In “Twisted Beauty,” the protagonist’s paralysis wasn’t the issue for him as much as continuing with his sex life as it had been before, finding someone who would see him not as a “cripple” but as a man who, incidentally, enjoyed a little domination.

Finally, style does matter.  If you take the time to polish your writing style and your own voice, it will stand out.  Since I’ve had a Kindle and have been downloading samples, often I can make a decision within a paragraph, based purely on my engagement, or lack thereof, with the author’s style.

Most important of all?  Don’t give up.

Victoria Janssen is the author of The Duke and the Pirate Queen; The Duchess, Her Maid, The Groom and Their Lover; and The Moonlight Mistress, all from Harlequin Spice.  Her work has been translated into French, German, and Italian. She’s a member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, Broad Universe, Romance Writers of America, Romance Divas, and Novelists, Inc.

To find out more about Victoria, visit her at: www.victoriajanssen.com

*This article was contributed by a member of Romance Divas*

by A. Catherine Noon

Much has been written about the necessity of learning.  I’d like to take a tangential approach and write about the value of teaching.  I had the opportunity this year of becoming a Mentee in the Mentor Program at Romance Divas, and found the experience invaluable.  The reasons might surprise you.

I did learn a lot about writing, of course.  My Mentor, author Dayna Hart, is a consummate professional and familiar with the genres I wish to break into.  In one meeting, she pinpointed a problem with my writing that I had not known how to fix, and I found my sessions with her more valuable than the last three classes I’d taken.

What I came away with, however, is even more valuable.  My time with Dayna has taught me that I am not only a writer, I am an author.  I have not yet been published, but I believe it is now a matter of time rather than a matter of “gee, maybe someday.”  By working in the trenches with someone who has stomped down the weeds ahead of me, I got needed validation that I was in fact on the correct path, even if it looked at first glance like the road less traveled.

Mentor relationships are critical to success in all walks of life.  If you attend business school these days, you’ll be inundated with articles about the value of relationships built with those in the field where you wish to work.  It bears repeating here.  Writing is, at bottom, a solitary activity.  It’s not the kind of thing where one runs out on the volleyball court, yells, “My ball!” and then a host of other writers gather around while we create the next bestseller.  But it would be wrong to believe that it is an activity that takes place with no support and no safety-net.

Author Julia Cameron talks about this concept in her books, most notably The Artist’s Way but she also makes the point in other works:  artists, not just writers, are drawn to other artists. We sometimes are drawn to help a fledgling artist even when, at first, we might not understand why.  This impulse is good and healthy, and helps us grow as artists.  Many writers, myself included, have instances we can point to where someone “up there” came down off the mount and gave us kudos or advice.

It would be a mistake to underestimate the value of this kind of advice.  I believe it is key to feeling connected to a community of other artists and writers.  Writing groups, organizations, and online forums have developed as a natural response to this impulse.  It makes us all stronger for it.

A. Catherine Noon is an author and textile artist based in the Chicagoland Area. Ms. Noon has taught creative writing, creative expression and textile arts, including Artist’s Way workshops. She has taught Fiction Writing Intensive Workshops and has completed several novels. An avid public speaker, she has achieved the Advanced Toastmaster – Bronze and Certified Leader (ATM-B/CL) designations from Toastmasters, International.

To find out more about A. Catherine Noon, visit her at:
www.acatherinenoon.blogspot.com

*This article was contributed by a member of Romance Divas*