Taste of Kiwi: Blog of Author Shelley Munro

“Have faith in your own story and your own process. When I first started writing I heard talks from authors who’d written practically since they could hold a pencil, and I heard about authors who plotted out entire stories before they wrote a single manuscript word. I, on the other hand, came to writing late, and I start a story, sometimes with as little as a single sentence, and having little if any idea of the path my characters will take to get to their happy ever after. I had to learn to trust that my way was okay. It works for me and that’s the only thing that matters.

Related to this point is not comparing your journey to, and through, publication with anyone else’s. To quote from the Wear Sunscreen song, The race is long, and in the end, it’s only with yourself.”

Visit Sandra Hyatt’s website
Purchase Sandra’s upcoming release, His Bride For The Taking

“Find a good critique partner (or two) that you trust and work closely with them. A second set of eyes to view your work and give input is invaluable.”

Visit Ashley Ladd’s website at www.ashleyladd.com
Purchase one of her releases or read excerpts at Ashley Ladd’s book page.

NB: Note from Shelley. Want to find a critique partner? Want to know what to expect from a critique partner? For more details about critiquing or finding a critque partner check out my article – To Critique or Not to Critique

This month I’m bringing you a series of writing tips from some of my favorite authors. There will also be tips from my writer friends. You might even find the odd writing tip from me.

Come back every day for writing advice from authors such as Shiloh Walker, Nalini Singh, Larissa Ione, Sarah Mayberry and many more…

This week’s theme for Snippet Saturday is a fight. Instead of giving you a scene where my characters fight either physically or verbally, I’ve chosen a scene from House of the Cat where the ship is attacked by pirates. This is definitely a fight for survival!

HOUSE OF THE CAT by Shelley Munro

Camryn gave a gasp of mortified horror, her face flaming. “Get out of my head.”

“I—”

The wail of sirens brought a curse. Ry scooped her up like a troublesome parcel and dumped her on a chair. She’d scarcely settled her butt on it when Mogens leaned over and buckled her into a harness. He sat beside her and strapped in, his body tense while he surveyed the blackness outside the ship.

“What is it?” Camryn finally gathered the courage to ask, alarm swooping through her belly when the ship suddenly dropped. Her stomach followed, feeling as if it’d landed on the floor at her feet. “What’s happening?”

“Pirates,” Mogens said tersely, his attention on the porthole and instruments.

Pirates? Camryn craned her neck, watching the fast-approaching black ship with acute trepidation.

A violent explosion seared her retinas. Their ship tilted. A second explosion tossed the ship in the other direction, forces throwing Camryn against her harness. A squeak squeezed past tight lips. She glared at Ry, casting blame. His fault. All of it.

Hell, she was gonna die.

“Another black ship at Nor-nor-west,” the man at the controls said in a tense voice.

“I see him. Three total.” The captain sat totally at ease.

Why weren’t they firing back?

“Looks like Banio colors,” the warrior said, her blue eyes narrowed to angry slits. “How the hell did they know we were in this part of the universe?”

“Get ready to fire,” the captain said.

“Ready to fire,” the pilot answered.

“Ready to fire,” the warrior confirmed.

Camryn grasped the edge of her seat with a white-knuckle grip. Scared rigid, she closed her eyes to shut out the ships firing on them and almost immediately opened them again. A harsh sob jammed halfway up her throat.

“Fire.” Cat Man—Ry—finally gave the order.

The ship bucked. Camryn’s stomach divebombed south. Yesterday she’d have welcomed a reunion with Gabriel. Now, in the face of death, she learned she wanted to live.

Flashes of light detonated across the black depths of space. Had they hit the other ships? Blind from the bright flares, Camryn couldn’t see. One of the ships returned fire. Their pilot attempted evasive action but wasn’t quite quick enough. The ship tilted at an acute angle. Shook wildly. Alarms screeched. One of the aliens cursed.

“Fire in the hold,” Ry shouted. “Nanu and Kaya to the hold.” Two of the crew unbuckled and leapt to their feet.

“Come in, Indefatigable,” a mocking voice transmitted. “We have you, Monsieur Coppersmith. Surrender so we can claim the très bien bounty on your pretty head, no?”

“Fukk you, Banio. Fire!” Ry took over Warrior Woman’s gun.

Simultaneous shots rang out. A ship exploded in a fireball. Scant seconds later something clipped their ship, sending it into rapid rolls. The other crewwoman flew from her seat, belting into a fixed chair with a sickening crunch. She moaned.

Ry fired his gun again. “Yep, hold steady. Mogens sitrep on Jannike.”

Mogens unfastened his harness, grabbed his satchel and scrambled across the bridge to the woman.

“Camryn, man the gun,” Ry ordered.

“Me?”

“There’s no one else. When I say fire, push the black button.”

Camryn fumbled with the harness release. She teetered across the bridge with gangly foal steps.

“Buckle the harness.”

Another order. Damn, she didn’t want to die. Shaky fingers clicked the harness into place. When she stole a glance at Ry, his green eyes held approval. Calm confidence.

“Ready?”

Camryn licked her lips and nodded, the ball of nerves inside her stomach huge and bigger than any pre-race nerves. This couldn’t be any worse than killing aliens on a computer game. Surely? “Yes,” she said hoarsely. “Black button. Push on command.”

“Line her up, Yep. They’ll expect us to go for the stricken ship. Target the other first. Bloody mercenaries.”
Ry glared out the porthole. “On three, Camryn.”

Camryn gave her palms a furtive wipe across her trouser legs. She swallowed, wished for a shot of whiskey. Her knees quaked and she felt strangely disembodied. Just a game, she told herself. A silly kid’s game.

“One. Two. Three. Fire!”

Camryn’s sweaty finger slid across the black button, depressing it. The ship bucked, a metallic screech grating against her ears.

“A hit! Great shooting,” the pilot shouted.

“Once more,” Ry ordered.

The pilot lined them up. Ry shouted orders. Camryn fired. When she focused, after a huge explosion of bright light, not a single ship showed in the black vacuum outside.

“We got ’em, Captain,” the pilot shouted in jubilation. “They’ll think twice before they engage a frigate again. Long-range guns get them every time.”

Purchase from Ellora’s Cave
Purchase from Amazon Kindle

To read more Snippet Saturday excerpts follow the links below:

Shelli Stevens
Emma Petersen
Shelley Munro
Mari Carr
Lissa Matthews
TJ Michaels
Juliana Stone
Taige Crenshaw
Eliza Gayle
Elisabeth Naughton
Ashley Ladd
McKenna Jeffries
Lauren Dane

This post is inspired by Heather at The Galaxy Express and her post, Attention, please! This is your heroine speaking.

Dear Author,

I salute you. You sit for long hours in front of the computer as you labor over our stories. Without you none of us would be here. Mostly, you do us proud but I’d like you to consider the following:

1. Please, please don’t make me go down to the basement when there is a killer on the loose. Credit me with a little common sense and help me do something intelligent.
I don’t want readers to snigger at me and call me Too Stupid To Live. I deserve more than that, don’t you think?

2. I know popular opinion says heroines are slender and pretty, but how about making me stand out from the crowd? Make me sexy–sure, I like sexy as much as the next girl, but I can be sexy and an average size. Give me a few curves. Don’t you know I enjoy food? Oh, and if you give me curves, don’t go on and on about my size. I’m happy, really I am.

3. Please don’t take a stereotype and foist it on me. I’m not a hooker with a big heart. I’m not an ice princess. I’m not a geeky librarian. Give me individuality.

4. I like alpha men–really, I do, but at least give me a spine so I can stand up to them. No wimps should apply here.

5. I’m not perfect. I know that, but do you know it too? Give me some flaws and balance them with some of the good stuff. Make me human because readers will like me better that way.

6. Give me a snarky voice. I’m cool with that, but don’t make me snark all the way through the book. Readers won’t like me if I do that. They might call me a bitch, you know, and wonder what the hero sees in me.

7. Likewise, if my hero is going to be a bastard, let him fall off his high horse at some stage. Make him see the error of his ways or at least let me use my knee in his private parts. It might hurt him, but it would make me feel better after all the verbal abuse.

8. And finally, if you’re gonna make me have anal sex, please, please, please give me some lube.

Yours faithfully,
A Heroine.

What would your heroine write in a letter? Readers, what do you think the heroine should write?

Authors, a heads up. SingleTitles.com just relaunched, sporting a full site makeover and a contest to celebrate the new look. They’re offering up $450 worth of advertising as prizes. If you write romance, mystery or thrillers you should head over and check out. http://www.singletitles.com

I’ve heard readers comment about authors who write a variation of the same book over and over again. Each new release is a rewrite of the same story. I know I’ve stopped reading a couple of authors because I felt their stories were pretty much identical. Maybe the characters were different, but the conflicts and plot were similar. It didn’t feel as if I was reading a different book.

I’ve written over thirty books now. I’ll admit I think about originality when I’m writing a new book. I like to think each story is distinctly different, but I’m also aware that an author’s upbringing colors their perceptions. Their books may contain the same theme. Many of my stories deal with finding a home and security. I hope my books are different enough that readers don’t think I’m a one-book wonder. It’s hard to judge your own work sometimes.

What do you think? Does an author tend to write the same story over and over?

Last week Kaye Munro did a post about writing and author productivity. I’ve been thinking about this, and I want everyone to put on their reader hats while they read this post about author releases.

It used to be that authors would write one book a year and sometimes one book every two years. These days authors tend to have a higher rate of productivity. Some authors write three or four books a year, depending on the line they write for and also if they write for traditional or e-publishers.

The good thing for readers is this means there are a large number of books available to choose from. We’re spoiled for choice. I don’t know about you, but as a reader, I love the trilogies or connected books by the same author that come out in three successive months. I think that’s reader heaven. I like my favorite authors to have releases at least every six months. That’s a good length of time for me. If the wait is much longer, I forget to look for the next release because I have a lot of favorites. If I can’t find a book written by one of my favorite authors, I tend to look farther afield, and I explore the books of new-to-me writers. Sometimes I find new favorites, so there’s a danger if an author doesn’t have frequent releases, they’ll lose me to another writer or writers.

How long are you willing to wait between books? Can an author have too many releases in one year? Do you think quality is sacrificed in favor of quantity these days?

A menage a trois is defined in the dictionary as a domestic establishment or household that consists of a husband, a wife and a lover. They’re hot in the erotic romance world and very popular with readers. Since Fringe Benefits, my menage a trois story is out on Friday from Ellora’s Cave, I thought I’d run through some of my favorite titles and authors in this arena. In no particular order…

1. Jory Strong – I’d be hard-pressed to choose my favorite from Jory’s titles. They’re not all menage a trois but no matter what Jory writes, the story is hot and a great read.

2. Maya Banks – also writes some good books. Sometimes the bed is even more crowded!

3. Decadent by Shayla Black

4. Lauren Dane – her upcoming title Undercover is a threesome. Also check out her Ellora’s Cave backlist. I always enjoy Lauren’s books.

5. Lora Leigh – I’m a huge Lora Leigh fan and recently enjoyed reading Wicked Pleasure.

6. Opal Carew’s Twin Fantasies.

7. Annmarie McKenna’s Blackmailed.

8. Dawn Halliday – Honeymoon Castaways

9. Samantha Kane – hot regency historicals. Pick one.

10. Lorelei James – I’ve mentioned her books before. Some of the books in her western series have menage a trois scenes. I’m saving her latest release, Rough, Raw and Ready for the weekend when I’ve completed my word count.

11. Lynn LaFleur – Michelle’s Men

12. Tielle St. Clare – Summer’s Caress Some very hot werewolves.

13. Fringe Benefits by Shelley Munro

Flatmates. Best friends. Casual lovers.

Life’s good—a friends-with-benefits deal works perfectly with her male flatmates, but Marie Wright secretly craves more. A hot threesome. Erotic pleasure. Silken touches from both Shane and Kelvin. One hot summer day the sensual tension explodes between the three. For Marie each caress is a slice of ecstasy. It’s seductive magic, and she’s bewitched. Momentary pleasure isn’t enough. She wants a future with her lovers—a permanent ménage a trois—but if she makes a wrong move, she might irreparably destroy their friendship and lose everything.

Read an excerpt here. Buy your copy from Ellora’s Cave on 14 November 2008.

Have I missed any of your favorites? Do you think a menage a trois relationship is plausible or do you think there would be too many problems to overcome?

Today is the grand opening of The Danger Zone – a group of authors who all have adventure in common. It’s an honor to be part of this group, and I hope you’ll check out what we have on offer. Adventure. Peril. Intrigue. Just one click away…

I’ve updated my website with a new page/excerpt for Cat and Mouse, the fifth Middlemarch Mates book. Enjoy!

My arm is giving me real problems this week, which is why I’m a little quiet. Using the computer seems to aggravate the condition. Sigh. I guess I’ll have to catch up on housework instead.

Happy Mothers day to all mothers out there. I hope your families are spoiling you because you deserve it!