Genre, what genre?

::Blinks:: Oh, hi! Readers, yeah, need to talk to the readers. ::Slaps self across face:: ::Vigorously shakes head:: Di-i-i-i-i-i-i... ::Presses brain reset button::

Don't you wish you had a brain reset button? I do. Sadly, one has yet to be invented. You are now the recipient of a musing on genre (ie. romance, erotica, mystery, etc.) as I have just spent some time, enjoyably, debating what makes a book a certain genre. I really hope I don't lose the argument, but I am prepared for the possibility. It won't horribly wound me if I do lose it, anyway, because it's a day profession argument.

These days, so many books are "cross-genre" books. At what point does a book no longer belong in a certain genre? What do you expect out of "cross-genre" books when you're reading it mainly for one of the genres? What do you think of authors who write "cross-genre", but maybe not that successfully? Are there any authors out there you think who do "cross-genre" very well? What authors are out there that you think are great examples of their "named" genre, but would greatly appeal to readers of another genre (and which genre would that be)?

I'm really interested in what readers have to say on this topic because of the day profession argument/discussion. From an author perspective this is also important to me because my stories are usually a mix of genres, though I try to focus on a main genres with supporting elements from other genres. What readers have to say is very important. You're the ones buying our books, and if we're not meeting your expectations to the best of our ability, you're not going to buy our stories, which means, we're not making any money. So, as a reader of genre fiction, tell me what *you* think of the concept of genres.

Writing 101: Making Your Characters Sympathetic

As a writer, one thing you need to remember when creating your characters is this: Even the most villainous must have clear motivation.

In other words, all of your characters must behave in a way your readers will believe. Because, after all, the best villains believe they are heroes--they are doing what needs to be done for whatever reason. So, not just for your hero and heroine, you should also know your villain--his background, education, ambitions, emotional events, wounds (real or imagined), fears, obsessions, etc.

You can use physical appearance, dialogue and reactions to events as tools to create characters that readers identify with--even your villain. Physical appearance should be consistent with personality--strength of will, stubbornness and vacillation are often visible in a face. Passion and appetite can show in a mouth, as does indecision or insensitivity. Movement, expression, pitch of voice can say a lot about a person. Body language can reveal a great deal, too--hands, fingers--at rest or moving.

It's a good idea to provide some description of your characters--readers will build a picture in their mind and if it doesn't coincide with something that occurs later in the book they'll be upset. It's far more effective to "show" your characters rather than describe them (or "tell"). Dialogue is one of the best ways of doing this. The feelings that characters express and the words they choose are very strong indicators of personality, and much sharper to the reader than descriptions of vices, virtues, wit, gentleness, etc.

Try to key your descriptions to one or two features--an emotional sketch, an impression rather than a photographic portrait from which characters could be identified. Shape and coloring can be less important than expression. There are also less obvious features--eyebrows, hairline, curve of cheek or throat, ears and teeth. A description--blue eyes, brown hair, straight nose, wide mouth--says less about the person than something more personal like humorous eyes, uncertain mouth, quick to laugh but curiously sulky in repose. And above all, avoid cliches such as "twinkling eyes" or "generous mouth." (I find my heroes all have glittering eyes, especially when they're aroused. Trying to show that arousal in a different way is a challenge.)

Just remember: For the plot of your story to be powerful, the reader has to believe that all of the character would really behave as they do.

Come chat Sunday at Ellora's Cave!

Join the Deliciously Naughty Writers for a
Deliciously Naughty evening of fun at Ellora's Cave!

Sierra Dafoe
Anna J. Evans
Kelly Maher
December Quinn
Sherrill Quinn
And Friends

Sunday October 7th from 4pm-10pm EST
on the Ellora's Cave Chat loop

Win FREE DOWNLOADS of ebooks from your favorite EC writers including Taige Crenshaw, Mackenzie McKade, A.D. Christopher, Christine D'abo, Desiree Holt, Anna J. Evans, Sierra Dafoe and MORE.

Don't miss it!!

Thursday is now Sierra's Story Hour day!

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Wild Wednesday 2-Ride 'em Cowboy!

Yes my pretties, we have a theme today!! Themed naughtiness for hump day, what could be better?



"You lookin' at me little filly? Checkin' out the manliness?"

Yes we are, it's wild Wednesday. (Duh, manmeat!)



"I done pulled down my levis so you can get a look at my Ken Doll bits."


"It's the chaps ma'am, I can't help it if they...draw the eye to certain manly places."

And now a little naughty cowboy goodness from my October 5th release (that's this Friday, whee!!) from Ellora's Cave.

"Love Fool"
ISBN 9781419911897
By Anna J. Evans
Part of the Torrid Tarot Series
Coming October 5th from Ellora's Cave
Link to Buy: http://www.ellorascave.com/AuthorsBooks.asp?AuthorCode=AJE



BLURB:

Mandy Miller is not the type of girl who wakes up in a strange room, staring at a strange ceiling, with a pounding headache, a pair of skinned knuckles and no underwear. Unfortunately she is the type to fall head over heels for all the wrong kinds of men. Men just like the handsome cowboy lying next to her who--aside from the fact they'd apparently slept together--she doesn't know from Adam.

The last thing Joe Paloma wants is a relationship after a divorce that pulled his heart out through his nose with a rusty fishing hook. But he can't deny he's tempted to give up his infamous bad boy ways if it means waking up to a woman like Mandy every morning.

Neither expects the extremes of passion or the depths of love they'll find now that they've met their match--another brave enough to love with the heart of a fool.

EXCERPT:

“You always put your hat on before your clothes?” she asked as Mr. Studly reached out to his bedside table, fetched a dark brown suede hat and positioned it on his head with an easy gesture that said he’d done the same a million times before.

“Don’t want you to see me with bed head.” His wicked smile revealed startlingly white, even teeth. Could teeth be sexy? She wouldn’t have thought so, but that smile set her entire body to thinking about a kind of nibbling that had nothing what-so-ever to do with food.

“Are you that vain?”

“I was thinking it might jog your memory.”

“Not really. Sorry,” Mandy denied, though there was a strange tickling somewhere deep in her brain that she supposed was her tequila muddied synapses making an effort to put two and two together to make something close to four.

“Well, then, maybe this will help,” her cowboy said in a soft, sensuous tone that caressed her in places that no voice should be able to touch.

Carelessly, he tossed his hat to the floor, and then he was suddenly on top of her, that bare chest only inches from her still aching nipples. His thick muscled arms flexed on either side of her and his lips descended toward hers with a predatory hunger that took her breath away and made her undie-less sex start to pulse with anticipation.

“Mmm!” Mandy hummed, sucking her lips into her mouth and biting down.

“What?” he asked, nuzzling her nose with his, his breath puffing warmly onto her face smelling slightly of cinnamon. How could the man have fragrantly delicious morning breath? He was clearly not of this earth. Maybe she’d been abducted by aliens last night. That seemed more likely than the forgotten one night stand and she felt tempted to peek under the sheet and see what kind of equipment Jose was sporting. Surely aliens didn’t have your normal, average, everyday guy parts and-

“Jose!” Mandy shouted into his face before quickly clamping her mouth shut. She refused to breathe on another human being this morning. It would just be cruel and unusual punishment.

“You remember,” he said with a devilish little smile, before he dropped his lips to her neck and began trailing soft kisses from her jaw down to the collar of what she assumed was his shirt.

“You don’t look like a Jose.” Mandy tried not to close her eyes and moan, to arch toward that mouth, to thread her hands through that silky blonde hair and pull him as close as two beings could possible get.

She didn’t know if it was the tequila still floating around in her system or some sort of pheromone overdose, but she couldn’t ever remember being this aroused this early in the morning. She was a night person. She didn’t like to speak more than five words before noon and at least five cups of coffee, but right now she would gladly get up and make breakfast, recite the Gettysburg address and stand on her head if it meant he would keep touching her, kissing her and gradually settling the delicious weight of his body down onto her own.

“That’s what you said last night.” His words were muffled as his mouth kissed past the hollow of her throat, down the slightly freckled skin of her chest, to where her shirt was still presently buttoned. Mandy did moan then, a small sound that turned to a gasp as his strong hands closed around her ribcage, holding her firmly in place while his mouth went to work on separating button from hole.

“I mean, you just don’t look very…ethnic,” Mandy heard herself say, regretting the words as soon as they were out of her mouth.

What was she thinking? After spending five years as a party planner to the stars, she should know better. She was usually the Queen of PC, but obviously her mind wasn’t functioning properly this morning. She was too worried about how in the hell she was going to stop this from going any further when all she wanted was to let go and let him ravish her ten different ways. Her pussy was already aching painfully, throbbing with the need to have him pumping away inside of her, tunneling as deep as he could possibly go. She even had a hunch this cowboy was capable of filling more than the emptiness of her body, that maybe Mr. Blue Eyes might be able to ease the painful emptiness in her heart as well.

“That’s what you said last night, though not so diplomatically,” he said as he set to work on another button with his skillful mouth.

“I’m sorry, I don’t think I can-”

“That’s alright. No one seems to have a problem believing there are red headed Italians, but most have issues with blonde Mexicans.”

“No, I meant I can’t do this,” Mandy said, bringing her hands to his face, effectively stopping him before he managed to undo another button.

If he put that mouth to work on her full, aching breasts, swirling that tongue around her tightened nipples, maybe pulling them into the wet heat of this mouth…she would be done for. There would be no turning back and she couldn’t let that happen. She wasn’t into casual affairs. She never had been and she wasn’t about to start now. She wanted a wilder life, but also a better life here in Austin, and that wasn’t going to happen if she started banging complete strangers. She didn’t want to throw away her fresh start by falling for a cowboy who, other than the fact that his name was Jose and they’d apparently slept together, she didn’t know from Adam.

And she would fall, she had no doubt about that. That was her specialty, falling hard for the wrong kind of man again and again and again. But she was tired of being the good woman who sat at home, wondering where her boyfriend was and what or who he was doing. From now on, she was going to be the wild one, the girl who took no prisoners in the bedroom or out of it, and she would find herself a nice, steady man to be the calm center in the eye of her storm.

Perhaps her reasoning was a bit flawed, but she figured she could at least give it a try. After all, if she were the crazier half of a couple, she felt she might really have a chance at a future. Because no matter how free spirited she decided to be, she would never cheat on a man that she loved, never risk losing something so precious. Too bad she couldn’t say the same for her former flames.

Bad boys, every last one of them. They looked different, came from different backgrounds, and worked different jobs, but they all had one thing in common: they were heartbreakers, cheaters, and master manipulators. Looking at the handsome rake whose face she now cradled in her hands, she couldn’t believe that he’d be any different. Men that beautiful just couldn’t be faithful, at least not in her experience, and experience was the best teacher—or at least the harshest.

“I’m sorry, this just isn’t right,” she repeated, wiggling slightly beneath him, hoping he would remove himself from the bed before she lost what little will power she had mustered.

“Why not?” he asked, his blue eyes looking deep into her brown with an intensity that made her shiver.

“I’m just…I don’t…”

“You don’t have one night stands?” he said with a smile that seemed almost affectionate, like he knew her more intimately than he possible could have. It was the smile of a man who laughed at your jokes, who knew what kind of cereal you liked to eat, who thought it was cute that you were scared to watch horror flicks after dark and still had your favorite stuffed animals tucked away beneath your bed.

“Did I tell you that last night, too?” Mandy asked, her voice husky with more than physical need. She had dreamed of a man looking at her just like this, smiling at her with such honesty, such…what was the word? It couldn’t be love. He was a complete stranger, wasn’t he? Then why did she feel like she was coming home when those strangely sexy teeth smiled in a way that was for her eyes only?

Oh no, it was happening again. She was falling, fast, and had suddenly lost all desire to even try to run. What was she going to do with herself? She was going to have to think long and hard about that as soon as she was able to concentrate on anything but the hard, warm, male body snuggling into even more intimate contact with hers.

“You didn’t have to. It was written all over your face.” Then he kissed her with a gentle, insistent passion that completely took her breath and all concerns about its freshness away.

Happy Hump Day All!!

Anna J. Evans

http://annajevans.com
Fan the flames...

Anyone can write a romance...

If anyone could write a romance, and have it be easy, I'd have a lot more hair ;) Last night, registrations opened for 2007's National Novel Writing Month. I highly recommend anyone who thinks they can write a romance to take up the challenge. I've participated three or four times (the potential fourth time is a bit fuzzy), and I've only "won" once. I recently sold that winner to Ellora's Cave...after *much* revision. It takes a lot of discipline to write a 50,000 word novel that, not only is fairly coherent, but can be whipped into the shape of a publishable novel.

I wish anyone who undertakes this the best of luck. It's a very draining experience, but it helps writers define what is important in their lives and prioritize those items. This year I'm not planning on participating, mainly because I've already planned what I'll be writing in November. It's a short story, well under the 50K required to win. Also because I've already prioritized my current responsibilities and projects, and a short story is all I have time to write.

I'll conclude this with the best piece of advice I've ever heard. As I've heard it from numerous people, I couldn't begin to cite it: "Write what you love." If you don't love romance, please don't waste your time trying to write one. Figure out what you do love, and spend your time writing that.

Writing 101

I thought I'd take my time here on the DNW blog and post some brief writing tips. Hopefully some of you will find this information useful.

Competition is stiff in the publishing world. (Unless you go with a publisher that isn't too particular about what they publish, or if you go the self-publishing route. But that's a post for another time.) You can follow plot and point-of-view rules, polish and re-polish your manuscript until there are no grammatical errors or typos, yet still get rejection after rejection. What gives? It's the finer points of writing--things like voice and pacing--that may determine if your book will ever be published.

First, you need to snag your reader with the first line. And the first three pages or so are critical in holding the reader's attention. And, after all, editors are readers. So make sure you open with something that will make the reader curious and want to find out more.

Second, make sure you use active voice--meaning action verbs. It's amazing how many times I find myself lapsing into passive voice as I write. Instead of writing "He stared into her eyes" it comes out "He was staring into her eyes." Weak, weak, weak!

Third, you want to add sensory details so the reader feels this world you've created. If your character is poor and a bike is his only mode of transportation, even in the winter time, show your reader how his hands are frozen to the handlebars, or how his warm breath steams in the chilled air.

Fourth, stay away from well-worn cliches. Come up with new, fresh ways of describing things.

If you pay attention to the finer points of writing, you'll give your fiction the creative edge it needs to impress a editor enough to say, "Give me more!"