Voice Check

A unique voice. Every writer wants one. We all hear about distinctive voices in writing. Last week, I got a lesson in voice.

I was already reading Tempted by Megan Hart (finally!) and got the Bone Garden by Tess Gerritsen from the library.

The words Gerritsen uses come together in short sentences and paragraphs. It makes for a quick, fast paced voice. All words are used to ratchet up the suspense. To make you keep reading at a frenetic pace. It draws you into the world with its suddenness. With the complexity.

Hart's prose is...the only way I have to describe it is lush. Each word choice flings the senses into abandon. Hart's writing is beautiful and elegant, yet not overly wordy. I'm also drawn into Hart's world but it's a more laid back, sensual affair than Gerritsen's.

Reading them both definitely gave me a lesson in what voice is. Two very distinct voices that do different things for me, yet I love them both.

Now if I could only figure out what exactly my voice is...

Mechele Armstrong aka Lany of Melany Logen
http://www.mechelearmstrong.com
http://www.melanylogen.com

Think before you hit send

I’m constantly amazed by the way some authors conduct themselves online. Very few seem to have stellar online presences that actually appeal to readers.

I started thinking of rules to live by when going online.

The internet has a long memory. Nothing is ever permanently deleted. Once you put it up there, it lasts forever, either by copying or staying in caches.

Think before you hit send.

Private email/forums/loops are NEVER private. Only vent to a person you’d trust to NEVER share. Luckily I have a couple of people I trust not to share. Or better yet, vent to your significant other or your cat in real life. My cat is a lot of things but she’s never going to tell anyone my deepest rants.

Think before you hit send.

Never argue with a review of your book. They may have completely not gotten the story or the characters. Vent to the cat, thank them for the review, and move on.

Lurkers could be the person you’re venting about or their best friend. You never know who is reading.

Think before you hit send.

Everyone on the internet has a long memory. And, they will remember what you put out there. If it’s things they don’t like, that could interfere with them being a reader of your book. Being mean doesn't nab you readers.

Think before you hit send.

Any other rules? I think we need a list out there on the internet with the long memory about how to act.

Mechele Armstrong aka Lany of Melany Logen
www.mechelearmstrong.com
www.melanylogen.com

What makes a hero a hero?

I was thinking of this for a couple of reasons. I just read Angela Knight's Passionate Ink about writing erotic romance and also read a blog somewhere about what an Alpha hero was. The characteristics in both were a little different.

I thought I wonder what makes a hero a hero? And started thinking about what makes one for me. In no particular order...

1. Intelligence is a big one for me. I want a smart guy.
2. Humor is another biggie. My husband can make me laugh on the worst of days. And I love him for that.
3. Peseverence. When the tough get going, they keep pace right beside. They also do what they say they will.
4. Loyalty. They keep the faith.
5. Leadership. People follow them, sometimes though they don't really want to.

Some of my favorite heroes include Chris from This is all I ask, Julian from Fantasy Lover, Ramiel from The Lady's Tutor, Mal from Firefly and Serenity, and Jack from Torchwood. There are others, LOL. This is the short list.

So what makes a hero a hero for you? And who are some of your favorites?

Mechele aka Lany of Melany Logen

www.mechelearmstrong.com

www.melanylogen.com

The year of living dangerously

This year, I've resolved to do a lot of things for myself. See, last year, I used to promise myself rewards for writing and never follow through. It had gotten to the point that I didn't belive myself. No more. I'm going to do things for me and write outside my comfort zone. Those were my New Year's Resolutions.

And I've already started. I'm taking an online class on Ireland. Why? Because I want to. It sounds interesting. I have no idea when I'll use it, but I'm so excited to be taking it.

I'm working on a story that will fulfill a goal that I've had for two years that I haven't had nerve enough to do. Not this year. Even if I get rejected, I'm going to finish this story and submit.

I'm feeling rather happy about these two resolutions and as I just wrote 3 K, well, I think my muse is happy, too. I feel like I'm getting my groove back on.

What are you doing or planning to do these days to get your groove back on?

Mechele Armstrong aka Lany of Melany Logen
http://www.mechelearmstrong.com/
http://www.melanylogen.com/

Writing, Sweating And Writing Some More

To be a writer is to sit down at one’s desk in the chill portion of every day, and to write; not waiting for the little jet of the blue flame of genius to start from the breastbone – just plain going at it, in pain and delight. To be a writer is to throw away a great deal, not to be satisfied, to type again, and then again, and once more, and over and over….
John Hersey

Earlier last week I finished a book. Well, the first draft anyway. Then I put it down for a few days and Saturday, I picked up that huge binder and began the process of editing and revision. Then I’ll send it out, chapter by chapter to my crit partners who will pick it apart and send them back to me and then I’ll revise again. And then, I’ll send to beta readers and of course they’ll see things I need to address so I’ll revise again and then I’ll send to my agent. And then after it’s been looked at, read, picked apart, put back together, tightened, shortened, lengthened and honed - it’ll be printed up and mailed to my editor.

I was sort of afraid to pick it up. In fact, last night I was afraid to.

Afraid for a multitude of reasons - this is my first NY single title. Will it be good enough? Will my editor like it or when she sees it will she rue the day she signed me? When I read it, will it be what I remember? Better? Worse? How much work will it be to revise?

The list goes on really because I’ve found fear to be a constant companion since I sold my first book. In truth, I’m not sure anything is truly worth working for if you don’t want it bad enough you have fear of losing it.

The secret of becoming a writer is to write, write and keep on writing.
Ken MacLeod

But I will pick it up again tonight, and tomorrow and every day after until it's done. I will revise it and I will make it the best I possibly can. Because it’s the only way to finish. Because I love the story and I want my editor to love it too. I want the readers to love it. Because I’m a writer and we write.

Lauren Dane is currently working on Undercover - a futuristic, menage, bdsm flavored erotic romance due to release from Berkley Heat December 2, 2008.

www.laurendane.com
www.laurendane.com/blog

I feel so writerly

For the past two years, I've been writing where ever I can. Mostly the couch or kitchen table. A few months ago, my hubby saw me trying to get together a package to mail out. He blinked because my stuff was spread across three separate rooms and I had to walk back and forth.

Since then, he's been trying to talk me into setting up an office at home. We finally took the plunge this past weekend, getting a desk.

I still have a lot to set up, but I'm very excited to have my "own space." Yeah, it's shared with both the kids and cat, but LOL it's much more my own than the kitchen table.

Am I any more an author than I was yesterday? Nah, still the same. I just have a spot to do it in. I plan to set it up with my favorite pictures and get some nice feng shui going.

Mechele aka Lany of Melany Logen

When life throws you lemons

Do you make lemonade? do you do as Dr. Drakken does, "I complain about the lemons."? (Dr. Drakken is from Kim Possible, a cartoon on Disney in case you were wondering).

Like a lot of authors, it seems to be going around, I'm on a deadline. It's looooooming.

Needless to say I have reasons for why I'm not done yet. They start at my youngest (her tonsils came out a couple of weeks ago), rear to my oldest (she was bored during the imposed resttime of the tonsils), to my hubby (who wanted to talk new cars last night. *sigh* I so wasn't in the mood but the deal only lasts for a while). It's very hard to write a smoking sex scene with a kidlet sitting at the kitchen table with you.

I've found myself taking little bits of time to write, which isn't something I usually do. Have five minutes, I type out a paragraph. Usually I'm much better when I have blocks of time to write because the muse needs that.

But I've been taking my lemons any way I can get them. I'm trying to read back through the story to edit and look for typos and things that aren't clear. And I'm finding some lemonade in the pages. Yeah, there's some things that need more sugar. But the potential is there.

Mechele Armstrong aka Lany of Melany Logen

Threat of Darkness and Letting Go

So I had a book release yesterday - Threat of Darkness.

Mei is a Warrior for the Balance. She stands between good and evil. So when her boss tells her she's got to head to Tir na nOg to help the Fae she is most displeased. Mei's mother Aine, the queen of the Fae, betrayed and exiled her millennia ago. Or so she's been led to believe.

But Aine was misled by her own sister, and suddenly everything Mei has thought was true for thousands of years falls down around her ears as she looks up to see the face of her husband. Her first husband, a man she'd thought was dead.

Jayce MacTavish is surprised to find that his wife, thought millennia dead, is alive, but his joy is tempered by the realization that she's got another mate.

Mei, Card and Jayce must find a way to be together as three while a threat from the Dark Fae and a new enemy darkens the horizon.

TOD taught me a few things - most importantly, you have to let go and write the book that wants to be written.

I started with an idea of this female warrior who met Jayce by accident. She was half human and half Fae, bad Dark Fae, blah blah blah.

But it wasn't working. I'd get like 15K in and it wouldn't go. So I changed Mei a bit because Aine, the queen of the Fae wanted to be in the story more. I re-wrote from scratch but this guy, Mei's partner, kept not wanting to leave when he was supposed to. He was in love with Mei and wasn't having me just give her to Jayce.

At the same time, a minor character I had, the warden of the demon prison Mei was in for a thousand years, wouldn't go either. I had a full blown riot on my hands because my damned characters and story wouldn't behave.

So. I gave in. I wrote a menage so Card and Jayce could share the page, I realized Aine was Mei's mother not her aunt and the bad guy wasn't so much the Dark Fae but this other dude, Xethan. Once I gave in and wrote the story as it wanted to be written, the book was finished in just a few weeks.

Sometimes as a writer, I have an idea and the book follows that pretty closely - Stripped, Triad, etc.. Other times, I start off with one thing and end up with something else - Enforcer was this way too, Tri Mates, etc. I love that. I have to say I love it when I just let go and write.

It's a balance, finding the place where you need to whip your idea into submission and when you need to just let the idea take over and allow the book to meander. Each book I write enables me to recognize the difference a bit more. It's like magic sometimes.