Taste of Kiwi: Blog of Author Shelley Munro

I’m thrilled to welcome New Zealander Lisa Whitefern to my blog today. She writes for Samhain Publishing and her first book with Samhain came out in December 2012. I met Lisa through the Romance Writers of New Zealand, and it’s awesome seeing her at Samhain now as a fellow author. So pull up a seat, grab your beverage and snack of choice and welcome Lisa.

Thanks, Shelley. I was so honoured to be asked to be a guest on your blog! I’ve been such a fan since I read Lynx to the Pharaoh, and you were the inspiration for me discovering the great digital first publishers like Samhain and Ellora’s Cave and for my becoming an erotic romance writer.

“Letting go.”

You and the heroine of the last romance novel you read or wrote have something in common. You both have painful “back story wounds” and you sometimes find it difficult to “let go”.

It’s a hard lesson, but in order to have a better life you need to try and let go of your pain, and if you’re a writer your characters need to eventually let go of a lot of their individual hurts. By the end of a romance novel the hero and heroine need to have worked together to overcome their past pain in order to achieve that all important character growth and emotional impact that readers of romance expect. Ultimately romance novels explore the great potential of love to help heal life’s most painful experiences.

Spiritual teacher Eckhart Toll says we create and maintain problems in order to achieve a sense of identity. Likewise an author must create what editor Elizabeth Lyon calls a “back-story wound” this is a traumatic event in the character’s past that leaves its mark on the character. A protagonist in a full length novel should probably have more than one back-story wound.

In my novel Wicked Wonderland the heroine was found as a newborn baby in a New York City dumpster so she has a bit of a chip on her shoulder about that.

She also has a relentless anonymous stalker who leaves her a lot of insulting messages referring to the circumstances of her birth, and she struggles to understand the two half-fae heroes who come from another world where bisexuality and ménage relationships are the norm.

In real life we replay our mistakes and our losses over and over again and allow them to affect our present actions as though holding on gives us some power over our past. In reality it just damages out health. In a romance novel, our heroine needs back-story wounds for depth and to create conflict in the romance, but if she doesn’t find ways to heal her pain during the course of the novel she can seem, passive and reading about her issues can become repetitive.

In my novel Wicked Wonderland my heroine was shocked ten years ago by the sexual relationship between her ex-boyfriend and her male best friend. Learning to come to terms with it, and accept that both these men love her as well as each other, is part of her emotional journey.

In the paranormal world of Wicked Wonderland human self-esteems issues can inhibit half-fae from performing magic, even making them powerless, half-fae must find ways of letting go of their "back-story" wounds before they can connect with their fated mates and perform magic.

My heroine Lilly becomes able to perform magic after she lets go of the many painful experiences in her past.

Readers of romance need to see the dynamic struggle your characters go through to let go of the pain of their pasts and the ways in which the healing power of love transforms them.

Here is an excerpt from Wicked Wonderland when my heroine’s life is pretty bleak just before she meets her two heroes

Sonya stopped by the trash cans, holding Lilly tightly around the waist from behind. Kandy grabbed hold of the chiffon on the front of her angel costume. Lilly shook and twisted violently to try to break their grasp, and part of her angel costume tore. “Let go of me, you assholes!”

She jabbed backward with her elbow, connecting with Sonya’s stomach, and heard the taller stripper gasp with momentary pain, but unfortunately, Sonya didn’t loosen her hold. “Oooooh! Rudolph’ll pay double for that!” Kandy exclaimed.

Lilly didn’t know why she did it. Maybe it was a way of dissociating from a horrible situation, maybe it was because her heart always ached to make music when she was in pain, but she began to hum, the sound starting low in her throat. She closed her eyes and played a flute in her head, filling her mind with a rich and clear melody, which, for a moment, took her right out of her nasty situation. Then a vicious pinch froze the sound in her lungs. Lilly twisted around enough to look up at Sonya. Something frightening had happened to Sonya’s face. It became very still, and the stripper’s eyes narrowed into slits that showed too much amber and almost no pupil, like the eyes of a snake or some other reptile. A sharp chill ran up Lilly’s spine.

“Don’t fucking hum.” Sonya spat out the words.

“Who cares if she hums? She’s just a weirdo,” Bambi interrupted. “I don’t care what she does as long as she doesn’t take our money again.” The words of the other stripper somehow returned everything to relative normality.

I must have been imaging the whole thing. Must have been the cold messing with my brain.

“You steal our tips, Rudolph, and I’ll give you a red nose, all right.” Sonya’s voice seemed inhuman in its rage. Fear swelled around Lilly like a choking fog. The tall stripper swung Lilly around like a toy, then pulled her fist back. Before Lilly could react, the fist connected with her nose. Shooting pain accompanied a sickening crack. Blood ran down her throat, tasting like metal, and all she could see was an ocean of red.

“Enjoy, Dumpster Girl!” Sonya tipped her upside down and slammed her headfirst into an empty trash can.

“Remember, Rudolph, you’ll never fit in anywhere. You’ll always be an outcast left out of all the reindeer games.” The other strippers convulsed with laughter.

Samhain link to buy Wicked Wonderland http://store.samhainpublishing.com/wicked-wonderland-p-7081.html

http://www.amazon.com/Lisa-Whitefern/e/B008HVH8ZE/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0

http://lisawhitefern.wordpress.com/

Bio

Since she came of age Lisa Whitefern has embarrassed people by talking about sex. Now she writes the hottest of erotic romance and erotica.

Lisa has a life-long passion for fairy tales and fantasy. Ever since her teacher read The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe to her class when she was six, Lisa’s been looking for ways to visit Narnia.

Lisa thinks it immensely unfair she can’t wiggle her nose to clean her house like Samantha in the TV show Bewitched.

She has a master’s degree with honors in English Literature, reads tarot cards and tutors children of all ages in English after school.

Although born in New York City to American parents Lisa has lived most of her life in New Zealand. She now lives in the foothills of the beautiful Waitakere Ranges of Auckland with her husband and her two gorgeous sons.

Don’t forget to follow Lisa on Twitter and like her on Facebook!

Last week I took a day off writing and went on a wine tasting tour with Barry’s Wine Tours. After managing to cause a little chaos, (I got lost and went to the wrong meeting point) we headed to Kumeu, a region I’d only driven through before. Twenty minutes after leaving Central Auckland, we were in the countryside.

Our first stop was Soljans Estate Winery. This is one of our oldest wineries, and it traces its roots back to 1927 when Bartul Soljan arrived from Croatia and started his vineyard.

Most of the vines are covered with nets at present to protect the grapes from marauding birds. The roses were traditionally planted at the end of rows because they show signs of disease first, before the grape vines. They’re sort of like canaries down in a mine. The red roses signify the red grape varieties and yellow roses were planted at the head of rows of white grapes.

The merlot grapes weren’t doing well, so the vineyard owner decided to graft pinot gris grapes onto the merlot vines. Experts were brought in from France to do the specialist work. Below the white tape, the grape is a merlot vine. A bud from a pinot gris (white grape) was grafted into the area and has grown into a new vine.

The business end of the vineyard. These are stainless steel casks that hold the wine.

This is one of the wine bottling machines. The labels come next.

Tasting is the fun part of the tour. We tried six different wines, white and red. There are crackers and water to cleanse the palate between varieties of wine. Some people can be snobby about wine. My opinion – if I like the wine then it’s a good one!

This is a photo of West Brook Winery, the second vineyard we visited. As you can see the grounds are gorgeous and perfect to take the family for a picnic on a Sunday afternoon.

The day was lots of fun and the perfect way to recharge my writing batteries.

Where would you go if you have a day off to recharge?

The Scarlet Woman tour continues with an interview at Musings From An Addicted Reader.

The view leaving Middlemarch. I’m not used to these long, straight roads. We have lots of twists and turns in the countryside near us.

This is the Kissing Gate Cafe, the inspiration for my cafe, Storm in a Teacup, in the Middlemarch Mates series. Most of the characters visit the cafe and much gossip is exchanged there.

An old bike parked outside the cafe.

I’m visiting LilyElement today with a promo post for Scarlet Woman. This is the last day that Scarlet Woman is available free so make sure you grab your copy today!

The Sutton Salt Lake, not far from Middlemarch, is New Zealand’s only saline lake. During the heat of the summer, the water evaporates. There was no water when we visited and the partially dried lake bed smelled in the summer heat. It smelled pretty bad! I’ve mentioned the salt lake in several of the Middlemarch Mates books, but just in passing. It’s certainly an interesting place and according to the Department of Geology, it’s not as salty as the sea.

I’m visiting Sarah Ballance today and taking Emily Mitchell nee Scarlet with me. She’s telling us about all the reasons we should move to Middlemarch. Come on over and say hello.

The countryside around the town of Middlemarch is farmland, studded with schist outcrops. It can get incredibly hot here, and they have snow during the winter. All of my stories are set during summer so my characters can frolic outside!

The Scarlet Woman tour continues today with a visit to Cloey’s Book Reviews and Other Stuff and an interview at Books and Tales.

I had a ball going wine tasting today and took loads of photos. I’ll give you a virtual visit to West Auckland next week.

This is Middlemarch’s pub, and I’ve had a drink here. I like the horse mural and the stone construction of the building. It’s so distinctive. The pub in my Middlemarch Mates series is different from this one and designed purely from my imagination. The Mitchell men and their friends often head there to unwind. Joe and Sly, the twins, and their friends ended up in a fight at the pub and their big brother Saber wasn’t impressed. He left them in jail overnight to ponder the error of their ways.

Today on the Scarlet Woman tour, I have a promo stop at A Bibliophiles Thoughts on Books and an excerpt and review at Erzabet’s Enchantments.

In a change of routine, I’m playing hooky tomorrow, and I’m heading off to go wine tasting for the day. The weather looks as if it will be perfect. Sun, summer, wine and a little sightseeing since I’ve never visited this area of Auckland before.

All you writers out there – what are you working on at present? I’ve just sent off my current project, and I’m about to start on something new. Shiny new possibilities!

Most people who travel to Middlemarch arrive via train after taking the famous Tairei Gorge train trip. I haven’t done this trip, but intend to remedy this very soon. Hubby and I are booked to do the trip toward the end of this month. No doubt I’ll be taking heaps of photos, so you’ll see the gorge too.

Emily, the heroine from Scarlet Woman arrived at the Middlemarch Ball via train from Dunedin. It’s dubbed the “Love Train” since everyone aboard is looking for romance. Not Emily – she wants just one night with a sexy man. Don’t forget to download your free copy of Scarlet Woman to find out how Emily gets on at the ball.

Today the Scarlet Woman tour is visiting A Writer’s Mind where I have an interview.

Since Scarlet Woman is out on tour this week, I’ll be featuring several photos from the real town of Middlemarch in the South Island of New Zealand. This shot is of the sign advertising the town. It’s an agricultural area, hence the sheep. They have wonderful honey, which is delicious, and the air above the Taieri Gorge and hills of the Strath Taieri is home to the rare New Zealand falcon. The train tracks in the front represent the Tairei Gorge railway.

Today I have three stops.

1. I’m visiting Tina Donahue where I’m talking about black cats and superstition.

2. I’m visiting Reading Between the Wines (great title for a blog!)

3. And Books, Books and More Books has a review for Scarlet Woman

I mentioned yesterday that Strawberry Shortcake Muffins rank among one of my favorites. The recipe came from the Baking Makes Things Better blog, which I highly recommend if you enjoy baking.

Ingredients:

2 cups flour 
2 teaspoons baking powder
¾ cup sugar
½ cup butter, (113 grams) cold from fridge and cut into cubes
1 egg
1 cup cream
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
1 – 1 ½ cups strawberries, diced

Method:

1. Mix the flour, baking powder and sugar in a large bowl. Add the butter and rub into the dry ingredients until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.

2. Mix the beaten egg, cream and vanilla together in another bowl. Add these wet ingredients to the dry. Combine until just incorporated.

3. Mix in the diced strawberries, combining carefully.

4. Spoon into 12 muffin cases.

5. Bake in a 180C oven for around 20 minutes or until they are golden brown.

Shelley’s notes:

The original recipe called for a topping of diced strawberries and whipped cream or a dusting of icing sugar. I ate the muffins plain, still warm from the oven, and they were delicious. I also froze some and that worked well too. As mentioned, they were delicious. A real taste of summer in a muffin.