Feathered

The romance novel that I started in November, is now ready to enter second draft stage.  That means I get to go through all the raw and wonderful (and not so wonderful) words that I wrote and shape them into something resembling a book.

I like this stage because you begin to see how good your story can be.  Sure there will still be scenes I need to cut, more scenes I need to write, and others I’ll be scratching my head over wondering what on earth I can do to fix it, but overall I find this part exciting, as its potential is starting to shine through.

I haven’t touched the story since I did the first draft in November so it’ll be interesting to get stuck back in today and see what needs to be done.  From memory, I know that the sex scenes will need some work, the ending is a bit flat (so I’ll need to spice it up), and I want to develop the male love interest further, but overall I really like this story.

I don’t know when it’ll be finished.  Certainly not this month.  I’m going to try to aim for March but if I can get stuck in (and the kids give me ample time to write, even though that’s unlikely since it’s school holidays) then it’s possible that I could get it done by the end of February.  We’ll see.

What’s it about? I’m sure I’ve told you already haven’t I? I haven’t? Oh dear.  I really need to stop being so coy.  wing wink.  (deliberate spelling mistake, hehe, shhhh).

I’m 5% into the first draft of my novel, and already it’s shaping up to be something exciting.  I’m having some real fun writing it and getting to know the characters.

But one thing I’ve started to wonder is, can I write a novel with explicit sex, without using the ‘f’ word?

Of course as a writer I can do anything I want to, and so for this novel I’ve decided that it just doesn’t fit and therefore won’t be included anywhere (I don’t think – I could always change my mind).

There is already much more plot and story than I thought and so it’s leaning more toward the romance side than it is the erotic side which I think is perfectly okay.  I really like a good story with my spice.

So far we’ve met the main character Ruby who is travelling with her father on business and spies her love interest who has been captured and chained inside a stable.  (He’s not exactly human you see – I told you this was a paranormal romance too didn’t I?)

Anyway, she wants to free him, but dearest Daddy won’t let her, as he’s worried for his little girl (now grown up) since there have been stories of the creatures killing people who try to befriend them.

But is that going to stop Ruby trying to save him?  Well … I haven’t written too much past this yet, but I’m sure you see where it’s going.

And once the authorities know she’s done it.  Oh boy will there be some fireworks 😉  Well .. that’s the plan anyway.

I’ve already conjured up a really bad Governor who won’t be too pleased to find one of his flock fraternizing with the creatures.  Not that Ruby will care – she’s fiercely independent and of course is going to fall head of heels for her love interest.  How could she not – even for a paranormal creature he’s super hot. (p.s. not a vampire – I’ll let you know more later).

So far I’m loving where it is going.  And yes, I’ve only written two chapters but boy oh boy I think this is going to be my best novel yet.

Will let you know more when I’m further in.

All the best,
tabs xx

When it comes to creating a hot male love interest for my female protagonists, I usually create characters that I’m personally attracted to.  Of course, I find different qualities in different men attractive, which means that not every character is going to be the same.

Sometimes I find a man who is sweet and gentle endearing, and other times someone who is more confident and dominant is hot.  So thinking about my current main male character (who I have yet to find a good name for) I wanted to make him a little different.

It makes sense that he is going to be wild, since he is, well, not exactly human.  But he also needs enough tenderness that my heroine (who is human) falls for.  I think I’ve found a balance in my head, and the outline is all written up now, so it just comes to writing it down now (which I’ll be doing next month as part of Nanowrimo).

I’m quite excited to be writing my first romance novel (with erotic and paranormal elements) and if the story in my head is anywhere near as good as what ends up on paper (or e-reader) then I think many people will love it too (or at least I hope so).  (The other novel I was writing – the zombie one – is finished but will be under a different pen name.  It made sense to keep my genre’s separate so as not to confuse readers).

I’ve done some research into the period of 1943 (the time period in which the story will be set) and while it won’t be a true representation of that era (due to the fantasy paranormal elements) I think setting it back in time, is going to make it all the more hotter.

The idea of a strong male fantasy creature in the throes of lust of an equally strong independent young woman of this era is already allowing me to imagine some pretty hot scenes.

Bring on November so I can start writing it …

After the success of Stranger Delight it has shown me that perhaps I actually do have some talent writing fiction after all.  So that means more stories for you.

I’m not quite sure I’m ready for a full novel yet so I need to ‘hone’ my craft a bit further first.  That means I’ll be writing a few more short stories.

However these short stories will be much longer than SD and rather than just be a teaser actually have a plot line, a beginning, middle and end.  (Ok, maybe a small cliffhanger at the end – I like ending a story with some anticipation …)

I’m aiming to get the first one out in the middle of February.  I’d have it done sooner except I have a non-fiction book project I’m working on that I need to finish up first.

Once it’s up on Amazon I’ll announce it on this blog as I plan to make it free for the first five days (Amazon has a program that allows you to make your book free for five days every three months).  After that it will return to 0.99 cents (the lowest amount I can list it on Amazon for).

I hope you are as excited as I am to embark on this fiction journey!

Tabs xx