Shelley Munro Blog

I read in the New Zealand Herald today that some of King Henry VIII’s love letters, along with thousands of other Tudor and Elizabethan documents, go online this month for public viewing.

The love letters were written by the king in 1527 to the woman who became his second wife. He was still married to Catherine of Aragon at the time. He writes to Anne: “I beg to know expressly your intention touching the love between us. Necessity compels me to obtain this answer, having been more than a year wounded by the dart of love, and not yet sure whether I shall fail or find a place in your affection.”

Here’s the link. It wasn’t live when I went to look, but they say it will go live very soon.

My special guest today is author Cheryl Brooks. Cheryl writes futuristic romances and I really enjoyed the first story in her Cat Star Chronicles series–Slave. Today, Cheryl is talking about the background and setting of her unique series.

When I wrote Slave, the first book in the Cat Star Chronicles series, I had Star Wars, Star Trek, and Farscape to inspire me, but for the second book, Warrior, that spark came from my love of animals, my own personal interest in the healing powers of herbs, and Practical Magic. One of my all-time favorite movies, Practical Magic was perfectly cast in every role, and the way the “aunts” dabbled in spells, herbal medicine, and people’s love lives made being an “old witch” something to aspire to—and certainly brought out the witch in me!
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Back in 2002/2003, I was the newsletter editor for Romance Writers of New Zealand. It was fun getting the newsletter ready, and I had access to some great articles, shared by RWA chapters.

I still remember an article called First You Whack the Parents by Kathy Sims Flake. It was the title that initially attracted my attention, but after reading it, I thought the content was pretty good too. Kathy discussed the fact that in modern fiction parents are in the way and often writers will kill them off. I recall agent Kristin Nelson mentioning in one of her blogs that she was seeing a lot of orphan heroes and heroines, especially after the success of Harry Potter.

Ms. Flake mentioned that while killing off the parents in historical fiction was realistic, she didn’t always buy the scenarios used in modern contemporary fiction. Just think about it. How many books have you read where the parents have died in car accidents, plane crashes or house fires? In my Middlemarch series, I killed off the Mitchell brothers’ parents because it was convenient to the plot. I’m sure many of you have killed off fictional parents as well. Sometimes authors send the parents off on holiday or there’s an estrangement.

Ms. Flake suggested adding Mom and Pop to the story as enrichment - another layer of conflict. At the very least, she said, we need to strive for originality when shunting around characters’ parents and concluded right at the end, that if all else fails, the author could call in Tony Soprano.

What do you think? How have you managed parents in your stories? Do you ignore them, send them on holiday or simply kill them off? What’s the most orginal way you’ve used to kill off the parents? What’s the most original way you’ve read in someone else’s book?

The secret of writing a great romance is to take a classic plot and twist it to make the story unique. Here is a list of the classic plot types used in romances:

1. Secret Baby - a pregnancy results from a romance and the father doesn’t know about it.

2. Cinderella - a rags to riches story.

3. Beauty and the Beast - one of the main characters is physically marred in some way.

4. Good Girl/Bad Boy - opposites attract. This can also be reversed with a bad girl/good boy.

5. Stranded - a couple is stranded together and the enforced intimacy leads to more.

6. Marriage of convenience - an arranged or forced marriage leads to love.

7. Family feud - think Romeo and Juliet.

8. Mistaken Identity - one of a couple isn’t who he or she appears to be on the surface.

9. Lady and the Cowboy - a class difference sets a couple apart.

10. Secret - a secret stands between romance.

11. Twins - lots of possibilities here.

12. Kidnapping - an abduction.

13. Business competitors - two people fighting for the same prize and only one can win.

14. Friends to Lovers - a friendship leads to more.

15. Masquerade - pretending to be someone else.

16. Amnesia - where one of the characters has lost their memory.

Which type of plot is your favorite? The one you most dislike? Have I missed any from my list?

Author Barrie Abalard is out on the Passionate Ink Cyber Tour this week with her release Hot to Trot. Here’s a teaser about her book:

Exes Patti North and Dylan Decker adore each other. Her problem? He cheated. His problem? Her temper. Fixing things will take more than spankings and hot sex, though that’s a good start.

HOT TO TROT, set in the often funny-weird worlds of Boston high-tech and equestrian hobbyists, tells the story of two exes who still adore each other—and still annoy each other—more than any other twosome on the planet.

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My special guest today is Ashlyn Chase. She writes sparkling comedies and has had an unusual upbringing…she was kidnapped by gypsies as an infant and left on the doorstep of the Massachusetts home in which she grew up. Oh, wait! That’s what her older siblings told her. It seems that story telling runs in the family.

Today Ashlyn is discussing a very important component of writing a romance - the love scene. Without further ado, here’s Ashlyn…

Erotic romance authors are often asked how they write hot love scenes. It isn’t easy! In fact, it’s one of the hardest things to write well. I happen to write erotic comedy but when it comes to sizzling sex, I’m deadly serious. I don’t write porn. I’ve been in those sleazy bookshops with the blacked out windows and bought a couple of their books to “see what I was missing.” Not much! Just some terribly written plotless stories with absolutely no romance by authors in need of an anatomy class.
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1. Deirdre Martin - Ice Hockey.

2. Power Play by Erica DeQuaya - Ice Hockey

3. Susan Phillips - Lady Be Good - Golf. It Had to Be You - Football

4. Crystal Jordan - Full Swing - golf.

5. Lisa Renee Jones - Hard and Fast - baseball.

6. Love Match – Keira Andrews - tennis

7. Riding Partner – Mary Winter - showjumping.

8. Lorelei James - rodeo - including Long Hard Ride, Rode Hard, Put Up Wet and Cowgirl Up and Ride

9. NASCAR - Harlequin - including Back on Track by Abby Gaines.

10. Pat White - wrestling

11. Bend it Like Beckham - football (soccer)

12. Polo by Jilly Cooper

13. And because it makes good sense to promo, here’s some of mine: Issy’s Infatuation, Best Man, Playing to Win by Shelley Munro - rugby. And coming soon - Cat and Mouse with a rodeo theme, New Zealand-style.

Do you like romances with a sports theme? Have I missed any of your favorites?

Mr. Munro and I have just returned home from a family dinner - a birthday celebration for my mother-in-law. Now that the family is getting larger it’s difficult to organize everyone, so we were slightly depleted in number, although we managed four generations of family. We’re also expecting two babies in the family - the first to arrive should make an appearance in just over a week. Everyone is excited because it’s a girl after several boys. Anyway, Mr. Munro and I had to go for a walk when we arrived home to shake down our dinners. My eyes were WAY too big.

The form for volunteers at the RWA conference went online today. I decided I’d volunteer and chose the agent/editor appointments plus a few hours on the registration desk. I’m a bit shy, so it’s good for me. That’s what I keep telling myself…

I thought I’d mention the Erotic Romance Blog. Both the blog and the website are full of great information on e-publishing and erotic romance plus the latest market news. I always find the posts interesting and have them on my blog feed.

And finally writer Josh Lanyon has a how-to book available on writing m/m romances. It’s called Man-oh-Man, Writing M-M for Cash and Kinks. It’s definitely worth checking out and is available in e-format from Fictionwise. I recently read my first book by Josh Lanyon called The Dark Horse and enjoyed it very much. He’s a very good writer - lots of emotion and well-rounded characters. He has several books available at Fictionwise and some at Loose ID.

Overheard while biking - two elderly gentlemen deep in discussion:

“It’s a great place to take your girlfriend for the night.”

Wonderful to hear love and romance is still going strong at an elderly age

Quite a few years ago when my sister was having a house built she told Mr. Munro and I she intended to get a dishwasher. “What do you need one of those for?” we asked, making definite scoffing sounds. “It’s no problem handwashing the dishes each night. It takes hardly any time at all.”

My sister said maybe that was the case but she still intended getting a dishwasher. It was bad enough cooking dinner when she arrived home from work. Adding dishes to the equation was too much. She duly got her dishwasher, and Mr. Munro and I smugly continued doing our dishes by hand.

Then we moved into a new house, one that came with a brand new dishwasher. Hubby and I looked at each other. “It would be silly not to use it,” Mr. Munro said. I agreed.

“We’ll put it on every couple of days. No point using dishes just for the sake of filling it.” Once again, I agreed.

Wind the clock forward about five years to this week:

Me - “The dishwasher’s broken. It’s the handle. Something has broken off and the dishwasher isn’t closing.”

“It’s full of dishes,” Mr. Munro said glumly. “And it’s a holiday weekend. We’ll have to do the dishes by hand.”

And so it went. The dishwasher broke on Saturday and we’ve handwashed ever since. It’s now Wednesday and the dishwasher repairman arrived to fix it this afternoon. I handed over our check and thanked him very much. I wanted to hug him but I didn’t want to seem too forward. We use the dishwasher just about every day and there’s only the two of us. It was a pain living without it.

On Christmas day, my sister and I laughed when I said how much I love the dishwasher. This week Mr. Munro and I discussed our smugness and had to laugh. It’s kind of ironic really - how the past always manages to come back and bite you in the bum!

~*~

I received a wonderful five star review for Playing to Win. Anne Boling from ReviewYourBook.com said, “Playing to Win has an edge-of –your- seat plot. I was hooked from the first chapter. This book has twists and turns that keep the reader guessing. The characters are well defined with their own voice. Shelley Munro is a talented author. Fans of romance, do not let this one escape your bookshelf.” The full review is available here.