The Next Big Thing - And a Christmas Giveaway

Well, I've been tagged to do a Next Big Thing post by three fabulous people. First up is my awesome friend and CP  Maisey Yates! Check out her post about her amazing new cowboy story - it's....OMG, I can't even.... Second and third are two wonderful fellow Entangled authors and Kiwis, Michelle deWinton and Bronwen Evans. Both these fine ladies have Indulgences out (Bronwen's imminent I think) so if you're after a bit of Xmas indulgence, you can't go wrong...


Firstly I know this post should go up next week but it's Christmas and I want to do a giveaway so I'm doing it now. If you would like a copy of my debut book Falling for Finn to test the Ashenden waters (so to speak) before you decide on whether you may like the below ms, I'm giving away a copy to one commenter. And just to make it fairer, the more comments I get the more books I'll give away. Will draw the winner(s) on Sunday night.

To enter just leave a comment saying 'yo'.  :-)

Where did the idea for the book come from?

My Samhain editor tweeted that she wanted to see more virgin heroes and Maisey nudged me. I got thinking about why a guy would remain a virgin...et voila. 

 What is the working title of your Book?
 
Working title is Dirty Virgin Hero. Hehe. Or if you're on Twitter #dirtyeffingvirginhero. ;--)

What genre does your book fall under?

Contemporary romance.

What actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?

I wouldn't. No actors are ever right for my characters. Lame huh? However I do have a Pinterest board here.

What is the one sentence synopsis for your book?

Ugh. Sorry but I'm going to cheat.  Taking Him - Game designer Ellie's last mission before she leaves the country is to seduce her older brother's best friend, the man she's loved for years. But little does she know that construction company owner Hunter has a past darker than the black feathers tattooed on his back and a secret he'll do anything to keep.

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?

It'll be published by Samhain in November 2013 and is represented by Helen Breitweiser from Cornerstone Literary.

How long did it take you write the first draft of your manuscript?

Probably about 3-4 weeks.

What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

Um. I don't really know to be honest. I guess I would compare the screwed-upedness of the hero and the emotional intensity of it with Sylvia Day's Bared to You.  Except the hero isn't quite as screwed up as Gideon Cross.

Who or what inspired you to to write this book?

Well, the idea of the virgin hero is something I wanted to write about because you don't see many books about male sexual shame. It's an interesting issue and a challenging one to write.

What else about your book might pique a reader's interest?

A geeky girl game designer, a man with wings on his back, motorcycles, hot construction workers, cosplay, hookers, tattoo parlours, and some hot how's your father. How's that for starters?

I'm supposed to tag people now but I'm not sure who has been tagged and who hasn't so if you haven't, consider yourself tagged!

 And if you want a copy of Finn in your stocking, don't forget to yo me! 

Post-Book Hangover - The Reality of Having a Deadline

Have finished my Dirty Virgin Hero for Samhain - yay! Honestly, I loved the guy but he was one hell of a complicated hero to write. He had ISSUES man. Serious issues. And it was one of those stories where I had to stop and think through every one of his reactions and responses because maaaaaan, he so many complex things going on with him.

It was kind of one of those books where you go 'this is idea is cool and angsty. Sweet. I'll write it'. And then you realise what you've taken on. And you think 'crap'. Then you want to back out but you can't because hey, you're published now and you have a contract and a deadline and you can't email your editor saying 'you know that book of mine you bought? Well, I've decided it's too complicated and I can't write the rest of it. Sorry.'  Not when the title is in the Coming Soon part of your debut book (see that promo that I just kind of whipped in there?? hehe).  No, this is where the rubber hits the road and the warm, happy glow of being newly published becames the cold, damp embrace of reality.

You can't just fling up your hands and say 'eff it. I don't wanna write this crappy idea. It's way too hard,' and go and play Halo 4 instead.
You can't put it away and go on with the other two really neat story ideas that have popped up in your head and you REALLY want to write more.
You can't get your friends to write it for you.
You can't put it away and go back to it when you feel like it. 

What you have to do is sit down and write that mofo yourself. Because you are a PROFESSIONAL now and writing is no longer your hobby, or even just your passion, it's your job and if you don't do it there will be consequences.

Eeep.

Now I have to write my next book which is for Entangled and the third in the Talking Dirty series I sold to them earlier this year. It's not due till May but I am going to do it now because I DO have another couple of ideas I'm more excited about but neither of them have deadlines. Somehow I'm going to have to put them aside and muster up some enthusiasm for the story I have to write now - which is proving somewhat difficult. After the angst-fest of my last book, you'd think I'd be raring to get into something lighter and flirtier but no. There's something quite daunting about starting a new story, especially one you're kind of meh about writing.

Anyone got any tips on how to get excited about a story you HAVE to write?

BTW, if you're bored with me wibbling on, check out the Samhain video below. It's much sexier than listening to me rant. :-)  (oh and apologies for the dodgy formatting).

Um....Another Sale

I am starting to feel a bit weird now. Like it's a dream and someone's going to rudely shake me away and tell me it's not real. That I didn't just sell six books in one year. Yes, that's right. Six.

Because I sent in my proposal (three chapters and a synopsis) of my Dirty Virgin Hero ms to my Samhain editor and the next day - along with my Finn edits - she says she loves it and also the idea for the linked book that I included. Oh and also she'd like it for print so make sure it's over 50k.

AAAAARRRRGHHH!!!!

I do not know how this has happened. I'm sure the ride is going to stop soon because it HAS to.

I do know that I am extremely pleased that my Russian chess player hero - whose story I wrote and rewrote so many times because I'm a stubborn bitch and I WANTED it out there because he's cool, and how can you not love a chess playing dude?? - is sold. Black Knight, White Queen is currently slated for release in July next year.

And now my tattooed virgin bad boy - tentatively titled Take Him - also has a contract. Plus the possibility of print which I NEVER expected at all.

I am...well....rather gobsmacked.

Even with all this, I'm still hoping the ride will contine because I'd love my sheikh to be released into the world. But I'm not sure real life happens that way. Right???

Anyway, I also just want to reassure those of you entering SYTYCW that if you don't get through to the next round, it's NOT the end. All of you who read this blog know I entered both New Voices and SYTYCW, and I got nowhere. However, my first New Voices entry now has a three book deal with Entangled and The Chessman - which was an SYTYCW entry last year - sold to Samhain (admittedly, as a very different story but same concept).  I also know of several people who also didn't get anywhere with their contest entries and yet sold the same book to M&B later.

The main thing really is to believe in your story.  Believe it deserves to be read.  And if you can't do either of those things then just being as stubborn as hell does the trick too. :-)

Right....*delivers chocolate martinis* *raises glass* A toast to my virgin hero! Who's with me?

Writing A Virgin (Hero)

I didn't enter SYTYCW this year and now I am suffering from a severe case of FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out). To distract myself from possibly slipping up and quickly whipping in a last minute entry (I think the deadline is up anyway) I thought I'd do a post on.....

dun dun dunnnn....

THE VIRGIN HERO!

Yes folks, it's true. My current WIP contains a virgin hero. A tattooed, bad boy virgin hero to be exact and no, that is not a contradiction in terms. Now, I know some people will shriek that it's not possible to do a sexy virgin of the male persuasion but those that do so have obviously never read A Royal World Apart by the inimitable Maisey Yates (yes, spoiler, sorry).  It is possible for a man to be a virgin and be sexy. Oh, yes it is. It is all, as they say, in the execution.

However. Writing a female virgin in this day and age is difficult enough, let alone an alpha male in his early thirties. I mean, are there even men like that around who aren't geeks, weirdoes or still living with their mothers? And why would you even want to write about that kind of guy?

Well, for me it came about because my Samhain editor said on Twitter she was looking for more stories that contain virgin heroes. And of course Maisey was listening and told me about it, and naturally - because I ALWAYS want to tackle the hard subjects -  I thought excellent, there's my next Samhain story. Easy.

Not. Because it's fine to think 'I know, I'll write a virgin hero'. It's not fine when the time comes and you actually have to think up a reason for why a tattooed bad boy would be a freaking virgin. I know, I know, I could have made him a priest. Or a sexy geek who's never really been interested in women before because he likes science too. But oh no. I like to do difficult (yes, I am stupid) so I wanted him to be a bad boy. With tattoos. And a dirty mouth. Because the contrast between that and his virginity was just too, too delicious to resist.

But then, naturally, I had to think up a reason for his holding out. A reason that would encompass his bad dude appearance too, because that's a part of his conflict as well. This, gentle readers, was not easy and has resulted in a seriously screwed up individual. It's kind of scary how messed up he is. And yet really interesting at the same time. Role reversal has always been a particular interest of mine and I'm intrigued by how my non-virgin heroine will deal with this guy and what she'll say when his virginity is revealed. Already I'm feeling very protective of him and my heroine (who has loved him for a long time) is getting kind of pushy and I want to tell her to back off and leave him alone. He has issues, man. :-)

Anyway, the point I wanted to make is that his virginity is NOT his conflict. It is a consequence of his conflict. And it is his conflict that is the important bit. Because when you have a consequence like this - and let's face it, it's an unusual one in this era for men - if the conflict doesn't make sense or is not deep enough, then the reasons for his virginity won't be convincing. He'll come across as either being a martyr or a cry-baby or a whiner. None of which you want for your hero (and I'm hoping to God that my poor hero won't be any of these.

So maybe there is a lesson here for SYTYCW. Make your conflict simple. Make your conflict deep. Make it about your character. Once you have those things, the story will follow.

Alrighty so who is intrigued by the thought of a virgin hero? Who is crazy pants like me and wants to write one??  (oh and who entered SYTYCW??)

Wot I have Been Doing

Chocolate! From the Armani shop! Armani chocolate!

Haven't been blogging much these past couple of months. Mainly because I've been up to my neck in conferences, rewrites, submissions, edits, Dr Jax going to Milan and me being a solo mum, and deadlines. It's been a thing.

Anyway, I thought I'd give you an update on where I'm at so people don't think I've dropped off the earth or have stopped blogging or anything completely INSANE like that.

So here's what I've been doing:

I rewrote the Chessman. Took out the stuff I put in to make it more category. Darkened the conflict, hotted up the sexy-times, put in lots of angst, and then sent it to my editor at Samhain.
 
Then I rewrote most of the sheikh and included a couple of scenes that freaked me out to write and made wonder whether I am actually insane to put them in a M&B manuscript. Possibly I am. Anyway, only time will tell about that because I send it off.

Then turned my attention to my second Entangled book - working title The Player. I finished this before I left for Australia but I knew I'd done a completely pants job of it so had to rewrite most of it. Sigh. Sent the partial to my Entangled editor and got her thoughts and yes, I did have to rewrite the last half. Double sigh. Have just finished the rewrite today and will send that off tomorrow.

Next up is my third Samhain project - which is affectionately known as DVH AKA Dirty Virgin Hero. Yep, he's a hero! He's a virgin! And yet he's also dirty!  Have no idea how that's going to work out and I may yet be off my tree in thinking it will but I'm going to give it a go anyway. Got to keep yourself challenged.

THEN, once I've finished the partial of the DVH, I am going to look at starting my third Entangled book - working title The Boss.  Uptight, OCD hero. Naughty heroine. Am hoping it's going to be fun.

So there you have it. Wot I have been doing. And in there somewhere will be Falling for Finn edits and maybe paying more attention to The Gambler, another Presents ms that I had to put aside for all the other stuff.

Phew.

Oh and one other thing, just quietly because I'm not sure I can announce yet. So just pretend you didn't hear this. I sold the Chessman. :-)