The HEA Cafe

Having checked out my website and read a couple of my book excerpts, a work colleague asked me “how do you decide on your characters’ names?”  While I’m always prepared for the old chestnut “where do you get your ideas from”, this one sort of left me flummoxed. 

How exactly do I decide on my characters’ names?  Other writers will understand when I say the characters tell me their names, but I couldn’t confess that to my colleague for fear of providing my workmates with final confirmation that “oh yeah, she really is a nutcase”.  But character names do just seem to come to me, usually after I’ve completed the character chart, know their GMC and had a little ‘chat’ with them about their background and what makes them tick.

That conversation about character names led into a general discussion about romance writing in general. Now I’m very lucky and have the most amazing support from my colleagues, who always seem genuinely interested in what I do and the process involved. But I stopped short of confessing that not only do I have little chats with my characters in order to write their story, I also have this need to know what sort of future awaits them after I write The End. Will they still be burning up the sheets for years to come? Err, yes, always. Will they have children? Yes, most of them will.  How many?  Crikey, I sometimes even know how many grandchildren they’ll have. Now does that make me a crazy woman?  Or just a normal romance writer?  

Answers on a postcard please …..

Tricia
… softly sensual romance
http://www.tricia-jones.com

I love reading books in a series.  I’m a huge fan of Christine Feehan’s Carpathian’s (her “Dark”) books.  I love Kresley Cole’s Immortals After Dark.  I can’t get enough of Alyssa Day’s Warriors of Atlantis books.

Oh, yeah, I’m a series junkie.

I like to read connected stories. Like to catch-up with heroes and heroines that appeared in previous tales.  And, of course, I like to see the continued evolution of the series.  Sometimes, as with Sherrilyn Kenyon’s Dark Hunters, the books take me into directions that I never expected.  And I sure do love that wild ride.

What about you? Are you a fan of the series?  Why…or why not?

And, hey, if I’m missing out on a great series–please, let me know!

Cynthia Eden
www.cynthiaeden.com
HOTTER AFTER MIDNIGHT—05/08,  from Kensington Brava
“Wicked Ways” in WHEN HE WAS BAD—06/08, from Kensington Brava

Change is one of those things that some people find terrifying while others find exhilarating.  I fall into the second grouping.  At least, I’ve always thought I did.

Change is good for the soul.  It keeps us moving and learning and advancing, both on a personal level and also a professional one.  Yet, even though I believe this, I still find myself hesitating when it comes to acting on those changes I know are due.

I’m not sure why I hesitate.  Maybe it’s a fear of the unknown.

But couldn’t this fear of the unknown also be why some people fear change?  It’s the element of the unknown that frightens and not the actual act of making changes?  More specifically the fear of the outcome of those changes?

It seems that a new year is always a good time for people to start thinking about and making changes.  Only instead of change, we call them goals or resolutions.  Still, if you succeed in reaching and maintaining these, do they not become changes in your lifestyle?  In your writing?  In your world?

I’ve set a course for change this year.  To be a better writer I plan to write more and on a better writing schedule.  To be a better person I plan to spend more time with family and friends.  To live a healthier lifestyle and change my world I plan to train for a 5k, eat healther and take better care of body.

Even though I fear the unknown as much as anyone else, I believe that these changes are the best thing for me.

How do you feel about changes?  Share your thoughts?

Tess Harrison
Suspense with a sexy edge
The search for the Dusk Diamonds is on!
Light of Day Available Now from Cobblestone Press! 

I wish I had something brilliant to say today, but I don’t. I’m sick. This is day two of the stomach flu and I’d actually forgotten it was my day to blog.

I got the call 1 year ago today. I was getting ready to leave work when Deidre called me with the news. I squealed and ran out of the building. I think within 5 minutes, the entire office knew what was happening. It was the most exhilarating and overwhelming feeling.

It’s 365 days later and there are only two things that are different now. 1) I have deadlines 2) I can judge the RITAs. Which I guess I better get to since I’m sick and it’s the perfect time to read…

Sorry it’s so short and sweet, gang. Maybe next month I’ll be all insightful and stuff.

You’ve likely heard the expression about “throwing the baby out with the bathwater” which cautions people not to quickly discard something that might be valuable (baby) with something of little value (used bathwater). It’s a tired old cliche. It came to mind, however, as I breezed through the brouhaha surrounding allegations of author Cassie Edwards’ plagiarism. If you’ve been living under a rock this week and I have no idea what I’m talking about, go here and here.

Okay, back with me?

I’m not going to talk about whether or not Ms. Edwards copied research text verbatim into her books. That’s already being talked about everywhere and my input on that would be superfluous.

I’m going to talk about something that I saw in a lot of comments and postings on the issue. It set me back a tad. It’s not something I’d not heard before, but I was surprised to see it crop up so quickly. And that something was this: “I’m never buying another book by Signet (Edwards’ publisher).”

Yes, I saw I’m never buying another Cassie Edwards’ book, which is a feeling I understand. An author has betrayed your trust or no longer subscribes to the same belief you do.

I don’t understand penalizing hundreds of other authors who had absolutely nothing to do with what Ms. Edwards did or did not do, simply because they write for the same house.

Note: I do not write for Signet/Penguin. I write for Bantam/Random House. Unrelated.

But this scares me. The last time I saw this reaction crop up was with book covers. A few–blessedly few–readers log from time to time at various blogged cover art discussions, and state that they 1) hold the author responsible for the cover art, even though they realize the author has little say and 2) if they don’t like a cover, they’ll never buy that author again. Ever.

Those are the kinds of things that make me want to pound my head on my desk.

The “I’ll never buy another Signet book” seems to be in that same camp. I understand readers are trying to send a message to Signet, or punish Signet for the stand Signet took in defending Ms. Edwards. But in my humble opinion, and as an author whose day and night job is writing books, penalizing authors who have had nothing to do with the brouhaha is tragic at best, stupid at worst.

Trust me, I have no idea what my sister and fellow authors at Bantam Spectra are doing right now. I have no idea if their prose is perfect or their research is annotated. I don’t have time. If one of them does something heinous and provably so, and you ask me, I’ll decry their horrible action with all my heart. But I’m not responsible for whatever they do, and to hold me in thrall in such a way is… nuts.

If an author from my publisher wins a huge award for his books, would you conversely buy all my books as well?

I’ve long had a problem with broad-brush tactics: all blondes are dumb, all Polish-Americans like to bowl, all teenagers are lazy, whatever. All Signet authors plagiarize and must be shunned. That would mean shunning Nora Roberts. A victim of plagiarism herself. And a Signet author.

I think it’s good to get impassioned over injustices. I’m all for taking a stand. Those of you who know me personally know I don’t suffer fools quietly and, after ten years of carrying a gun and a badge as a licensed PI, I’m a great believer that wrongs need to be righted, that the guilty should pay.

But as you raise that heavy tin bathtub of oily, soapy wrongs, please take a look at what else you’re tossing out into the gutter. There may be more than a few innocent author babies in there.

Respectfully yours, poolside, at the Home for the Perpetually Confused…

Namaste (I salute the Divine in you), ~Linnea

The Down Home Zombie Blues, an RT 4-1/2 star TOP PICK! Nov. 2007 from RITA award winning author Linnea Sinclair:
http://www.linneasinclair.com/DHZBCOVER.htm

“Linnea Sinclair’s recipe for success—undeniable passion, clever conversations and perilous situations, combine to produce another sensory delight with The Down Home Zombie Blues.” –SingleTitles.com