Queensland Flood Appeal

By now, the Minxes are sure many of you will have seen the appeal that has been posted on many romance authors blog over the last week or so. The devastation that has been caused by the floods and the loss of life and livelihoods is just heartbreaking so we would like each and every one of you to take a moment today to think of the difference you could bring to someone's life with the gift of books :-)


Here's the appeal:

We've all seen the devastation the recent Queensland floods have wrought and have wondered how we can help. We know that for many affected families, books will not be high on their priorities list for some time to come.


But...

We also know how valuable books can be in providing time out when reality gets tough.

So…

With the aid of some wonderful volunteers, we've put together a Romance Writers of Australia Flooded Communities Book Appeal.

What we need?

FICTION BOOKS! Romance books, children's books, young adult books, genre books, whatever – either new or in sparkling condition.

Please send them to:

RWA Flooded Communities Book Appeal
PO Box 1717
Noosaville Post Office
Noosaville BC
Queensland
Australia 4566

When to send them?

Now! And any time over the next few months. The books will be boxed and delivered to the appropriate libraries/schools/neighbourhood centres/community centres in batches as soon as the communities are ready to receive them. We’ll be liaising with councils, libraries and schools to ensure this is done appropriately. Feel free to pop a note inside, or if you're an author, sign it.

Questions:

If you have a question about donations, email Jess Anastasi: Jess@jessanastasi.com

If you work in a library/council/community centre/school in a flood affected area, email Rachel Bailey: rachel@rachelbailey.com.au

For up to date information on the RWA Flooded Communities Book Appeal, please visit http://romanceaustralia.wordpress.com/rwa-flooded-communities-book-appeal

Author Spotlight - Jessica Hart

Today the Minxes are pleased to welcome RITA award winning author, Jessica Hart to blog with us.

The Minxes caught some hugely exciting news, announced towards the end of last year, that Jessica mentions in her interview. Read the details on Jessica's blog here.

1.Where were you in your writing career 5 years ago?

Funny how long ago 5 years seems now … I had to really stop and think about this question! I know I’d written over 40 books by then. Christmas Eve Marriage won a RITA® in 2005, and in 2006 Contracted: Corporate Wife won the UK’s coveted Romance Prize, so I was feeling more established and confident as a romance writer. At the same time, I felt as if I’d reached a point of change. I’d finished my PhD at the end of 2004, and I was missing the contrast between my research (into environmental regulation in C15th and C16th York – much more interesting than it sounds, I promise!) and romance writing. It’s taken me a while to actually make that change, but I did get there eventually!

2. Where did you get the idea from for this particular book?

I usually start with a hook, but in the case of Juggling Briefcase & Baby, the idea was easy. This book is the sequel to Oh-So-Sensible Secretary in which Lex appeared as Phin’s workaholic brother. Lex was so reserved and stiff and focused on the company, he was the perfect contrast to the relaxed and charming Phin, and I started to wonder what would make two brothers so different. I’ve always had a soft spot for the gruff, reserved hero, too, and it seemed to me that Lex was just as attractive as Phin but in a very different way. Even while I was writing Oh-So-Sensible Secretary I was wondering what it would take to break down Lex’s famous reserve and reach that carefully guarded heart …

3. Where do you hope to be in 5 years time?

I’ve spent the last few years building up what I grandly call a ‘portfolio’ career, although this makes it sound a lot more grown up than it actually is! I work as a freelance editor for illustrated books about institutions like Lincoln Cathedral or York Minster – a wonderful job where I get to tell other people what to write instead of writing myself! - and I teach writing classes here in York and in Tuscany. The more I write, the more interested I am in how and why romance works, so I love teaching too.

I’ve also been writing a mainstream women’s fiction novel that has just been bought by Pan Macmillan as part of a two book deal. It’s a project that has taken me wa-a-a-ay out of my comfort zone, but the challenge has been good for me, I think. Finishing the first book and writing another 150,000 word novel is going to keep me very busy for the next couple of years, and of course I’m hoping that parallel writing career will have taken off in 5 years’ time.

Last, but absolutely not least, I’d like to continue writing for Harlequin Mills & Boon. I’ve been a Mills & Boon author for 20 years now, and it’s part of who I am. I don’t want to give that up. Romances are fun to write – or perhaps I should say fun to plot and fun to have written? The pesky business of actually writing the story can be harder work!

So in 5 years’ time I think I’d like to still be juggling all four strands of my career – and still standing!

4. Which was the last book you read that you wish you'd written?

Lord Perfect by Loretta Chase. What a great writer she is – warm, funny, intelligent, and very, very sexy.

5. Was there any particular author or book that made you want to be a writer?

The honest truth is that I never wanted to be a writer. I decided that I wanted to do a PhD in Medieval Studies after reading The Sunne in Splendour (about Richard III), but I had to find a way of funding a return to university, so I thought, ‘I know, I’ll write a Mills & Boon …’ I always feel a bit guilty about having stumbled into a writing career, but I suppose I owe it all to Sharon Penman!

6. What's the most romantic moment of your life so far?

Falling in love at first sight. I didn’t believe in it until it happened to me.

7. What do you wish you'd known about being an author before you were pubbed?

I had no idea just how much information and support is out there – although I don’t know how much of that was available 20 years ago when I started writing. I’m constantly impressed nowadays by how friendly and supportive romance writers are. I wish I’d known about the need for self-promotion too – I might not have been so hesitant to get involved with technology. Websites, blogs, Facebook … I’m always the last to get there, and it feels like a constant race to catch up. If I was just getting published now, I’d try and be clued up about promotion right from the start.

8. What's the best writing advice you've ever been given?

I heard the late wonderful Blake Snyder talking about his book on screenwriting, Save the Cat! and was very struck by his advice to “Embrace the formula”. Or then there’s my mother’s advice, which goes for life as well as for writing: “Just get ON with it!” (said in a Scottish accent for maximum effect!)

9. What does the new Riva imprint mean for you.

The editors at M&B have encouraged us to try something different with this new imprint, and you can see from the covers that they’re hoping to attract a new, perhaps younger, audience who might not realize that romances don’t have to be as old-fashioned as they’re often portrayed. I’ve always thought of my heroines as contemporary women with contemporary attitudes, so I have to be honest and say that Juggling Briefcase & Baby isn’t actually that different from most of my other stories. But I love knowing that there’s scope now to play around with new ideas and approaches, so while these stories will still be first and foremost romances, the new sense of editorial freedom is very exciting.

10. Tell us about your Riva launch release.

Only once has Lex Gibson ever let his guard down, and he’s vowed never to make himself that vulnerable again. But now, 12 years later, Romy is back – and she’s not alone. Romy has a baby daughter, Freya, and between them they throw Lex’s carefully ordered world into chaos!

Juggling Briefcase & Baby is a reunion story, with a baby and an office setting thrown into the mix. I like it when the hero and heroine have to confront the problems between them in the present while still tangled up in the feelings they shared in the past. There’s something very appealing about the idea of a second chance to get things right, after you’ve made a mess of them first time round, and I really enjoyed giving Lex his own happy ending at last!

11. What’s next for you?

Convenient Engagements, a 3-in-1 re-released by Mills & Boon in their By Request series, is out in January 2011 in the UK. Later in the year, my royal duet will be out. I’ve never played with the royal theme before, so that’s been fun. Ordinary Girl in a Tiara will be out in June 2011 in North America and the UK – I was rather hoping William and Kate would opt for a classic June wedding to tie in with its release, but they have selfishly decided on April instead! - and The Secret Princess later in the year.

Jessica's debut RIVA is available at Mills & Boon & Amazon now!
 
The Minxes would like to know when on earth Jessica will have time to sleep given her commitments for the next few years, we're in awe!!
 

An awakening - part one

A blog post by my fellow Minx, Lacey Devlin, sent me scurrying to the video store to hire the first disc of The Vampire Diaries. I got so hooked by those opening episodes that I didn’t go back for more … instead I bought the entire first season on DVD.

This post is about why I think the screen writers for this TV show are so awesome.

The first thing I took away from this TV series was the structure. In age-old TV tradition, each and every episode ends on a cliffhanger and with the entire DVD set handy, the effect is akin to reading a novel: you just have to keep turning the pages. Each episode has twists and developments that keep the viewer riveted.

The next thing the screenwriters did well was to keep the show unpredictable. About half way through the series I started to think “Stefan is getting boring. He’s just the same anxious, serious, devoted character in every episode.” Immediately after I’d thought that, his character began to change and grow in interesting ways. It is a very rare skill, knowing exactly the point at which the viewer/reader’s attention is starting to drift, and being able to snatch it back again.
And they’re doing this on so many levels all the time, juggling character arcs and plot lines, bringing some to the fore, then others.

Now as a category romance writer you're probably wondering "what does this have to do with me? I don't have room to juggle secondary characters." The point isn't that you keep shifting story-lines or characters, the point is that you shouldn't be predictable. Yes, there's an expectation in romance that hero and heroine will get their Happy Ever After. But that doesn't mean you have to make it obvious. Take your reader a different route to that HEA. Reveal unexpected depths in your characters.

Another really difficult skill is getting your audience to care about your characters. There’s a certain magic in achieving this, and sadly there’s no paint by numbers manual out there that can help a writer create characters that hook your readers as deeply as these do. I believe it’s instinctive.

As Lacey’s original blog post pointed out, The Vampire Diaries is an excellent example of how an antagonist can be turned into a protagonist. Making an unsympathetic character sympathetic takes skill. Of course, creating sympathetic characters that stay sympathetic is also difficult, as any romance author can tell you!
The TV version of The Vampire Diaries does this in spades. In my opinion they achieve this by layering the characters. Every single character, no matter how small or seemingly insignificant, has a history. There are no cardboard cut-outs here! No character is purely good or purely evil, and because each and every one is relatable in some way, the audience cares.

Finally, it's all about the characters. This series could have been very action or Special FX orientated, but the film-makers deliberately kept the focus on people. As the host of the bonus DVD interview states, you could take the vampire element out of this show, and it would still be worth watching.

I’m sure there are other reasons why The Vampire Diaries is such a success, but for me, as a writer, these were the elements that captured my attention.

Having run through all 22 episodes of Season One (and the bonus DVD) within 5 days, I looked around to find my next fix. What better than the books the series was based on? More next week ...

The Future of Romance Audio Books

Today we have a guest blogger, Jennifer Feddersen of Audio Lark Books, talking about the future of audio books.

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We’ve all seen how ebooks are changing the face of publishing, but did you know that digital audio books have had a similar effect on the world of audio book publishing?

Gone are the days of paying $50 - $75 for a cumbersome plastic container filled with cassettes. The age of audio book CDs were over nearly as soon as they began. Digital audio downloads are the way most people get their audio books now.

AudioLark Romance Audio Books – and our erotic titles on AudioMinx, as well – are carried in a variety of online audio book outlets as well as our own websites, but we’ve got something new and exciting coming soon:

Audio books as apps!

If you own a handheld device or cell phone, you are probably familiar with apps and how easy they are to purchase and play. AudioLark will begin rolling out our audio book apps as soon as February 2011. Stuck in line? Waiting at the doctor’s office? Listen to your favourite romance audio book and time will fly!

What does this mean for authors?

We’re putting out a submissions call for short romances (8,000 – 15,000 words) and romance series (each book 8,000 to 15,000 words). We’d especially like to see contemporary romance, romantic comedy, and romantic suspense, but we’ll also consider paranormal, science fiction and historical.

We pay a small advance against royalties - $20 per single title, more for a series – and will release titles simultaneously as ebooks and audio books.

For more information, visit www.audiolark.com!

* * *

We'd like to know from you whether you have ever listened to an audio book or not, and if so, what did you think? If you haven't, would you consider it?

Jennifer is giving away a copy of their latest release, Kaye Chambers' Love at First Shot to one lucky commenter.



BLURB

Emma Feltman is a master mage in training with one minor problem: sexual frustration has twisted her ordinarily powerful magic into an unpredictable force of chaos.

Her current job assignment is the Supernatural Clean-up Crew. When a werewolf is unlucky enough to get hit by a car, Emma’s crew is sent in to retrieve the body. Dr. “T.J.” Jackson happens to be the coroner on duty. When it’s discovered his mind is immune to magic so they can’t erase the incident from his memory, they do the next best thing. They take him with them.

Stashed in a cabin miles from anywhere, Emma and T.J. start things off with a bang. But can a relationship built under extreme conditions really work?

http://www.audiolark.com/books/love-at-first-shot/

Author Spotlight: Kelly Hunter

The first book I read by Kelly Hunter was Misbehaving with the Magnate which had me hooked from cover to cover. The most recent, Red Hot Renegade, turned me into Kelly Hunter's number one fan (in a non-Misery sense of course!). This book is the last in her Bennett family series - they're all great reads, but each one seems better than the last. Red Hot Renegade kept me flying through the pages and into the wee hours. With an Asian heroine far wealthier than the seriously seductive, tough martial arts hero, this novel was certainly different. It was fresh, fun and sensual - all the qualities of the new Riva line. Her first Riva novel, With this Fling, looks like it will be just as good a read and I'm looking forward to opening my brand new copy!

And now that I've had my fan girl moment, here's Kelly ....

* * *

1. Where were you in your writing career 5 years ago?

Unpublished and unsure which line to target. Harlequin Temptations had just left the building – much to my dismay – and there was rumour of a fun, flirty and sexy editorial stream somewhere on the horizon. When the guidelines appeared for a HMB London edited line (then) called Nu Temptation, I snail mailed off a partial. A week and a half later HMB London asked to see the rest, at which point I had to fess up that the rest didn’t exist. Yet. I still remember Ed’s long suffering email sigh and her very patient, ‘just send it when it’s done’. That story became Wife For A Week, and Ed bought it, and it helped launch a new editorial stream (Modern Extra which later became Modern Heat). It also gave me quite a few more Bennett Family stories to write.

2. Where did you get the idea from for With This Fling?

It all started with wanting to write a back-from-the-dead hero. But a back-from-the dead hero was unlikely to work tonewise for Riva. I needed fun. Flirty. Not a hero who’d had amnesia or who’d walked away from the heroine in order to protect her, and I certainly didn’t want him to have been held prisoner somewhere nasty. Nope, I wanted a daisy fresh back-from-the-dead hero, and he couldn’t be a vampire either. I headed for the gin. I decided my heroine would invent a fictional hero for some terribly convincing reason and then kill him off when she no longer needed him. And then he would reappear, so to speak. In the flesh. Daisy fresh. And twice as sexy. More gin ensued. Of course I could make this premise work…

3. Where do you hope to be in 5 years time?

Still writing. Still selling.

4. Which was the last book you read that you wish you'd written?

Barbara Samuel’s No Place Like Home (and pretty much every Barbara Samuel/O Neal book since then).

5. Was there any particular author or book that made you want to be a writer?

It was a cumulative effort that began with Enid Blyton’s The Faraway Tree and gained momentum with every story that ever swept me away.

6. What do you wish you'd known about being an author before you were pubbed?

That you need to work even harder once you’re published to stay published and captivate new readers.

7. What's the best writing advice you've ever been given?

Every word counts.

8. What does the new Riva imprint mean for you.

It means I get to help launch another new line. Woohoo! That was the mememe answer. In a general sense, a bold new line means there’s room for authors to boldly go where no author has gone before. I love that kind of freedom. It’s not for the faint of heart though, because – count on it – somewhere along the way you’re going to go where no one wants you to go.

9. Tell us about your Riva launch release.

With This Fling is about a reality challenged heroine who invents a fiancé to appease her dying godmother. He's dashing, honourable, supremely accomplished, and above all, absent. When he's no longer needed Charlotte kills him off but the gossip grinder has done its work and Charlotte’s workmates believe she’s lost both her godmother and her fiancé. They want to help and go searching for a memento of Charlotte’s beloved fiancé to give to her because lo, she doesn’t even have a photo of him. Then the contents of a man’s office turns up on her doorstep. Then the owner of the office arrives to collect it. He shares the same surname as Charlotte’s fictional fiancé. Perfect he most definitely is not, but he is rather dashing. You can see where this is going...

I really enjoyed stacking my poor, imperfect, in-the-flesh hero up against the fantasy of the perfect man. That my poor, imperfect, in-the-flesh hero was a category romance hero and not real(istic) either amused me no end. Small things amu-- ah, never mind.

10. What’s next for you?

An April RIVA release called Man She Loves To Hate.
You know those historicals that start with the heroine disguised as a stable hand or cabin boy and the hero thinks he’s losing his marbles along with his lust for women? I love those stories (possibly the small minds thing again). I love the deception and adore the reveal.
I decided to open a contemporary story in similar fashion, and try and make it believable, and flirty, and fun, and it’d help if I had some handy dandy reason as to why the hero and heroine wouldn’t declare undying devotion the moment the ruse was up. What If ensued and the Man She Loves To Hate was born.

This segues into a question for the Minxes. Anyone have a favourite story opening, premise, or scene that you’ve never forgotten, even though it’s been years since you read the book? What made it so memorable? Try breaking it down. Which bits of the premise or scene intrigued you the most? Then, for the writers here, have a quiet think about the kind of story you might be able to wrap around that lovely old favourite story bit.

I hope you enjoy reading the new Riva stories and thank you so much for the invitation to come and talk stories and play with the Minxes.

* * *

With This Fling is a January release in the UK through Mills & Boon and Amazon, a February release in Australia and a June release in North America.

Red Hot Renegade is available through Mills & Boon and will be released in North America in March as a Presents Extra, under the title Her Singapore Fling.

To find out more about Kelly, you can visit her website here.

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Congratulations to Desere Steenberg, winner of last week's Kimberly Lang contest.