The Most Heroic Battle
by Geralyn Ruane
I got engaged almost four years ago, and I think I’m going to be engaged forever. Or maybe my true love and I will have a romance like the one between Elizabeth Montgomery and Robert Foxworth. Those crazy kids lived together for twenty years and then one day Montgomery looked across the kitchen table at Foxworth and said, “Let’s get married.†They were in their fifties but giddy as two runaways on prom night when they walked out of the courthouse. Mmmruh!
Married or not, however this romance of mine turns out, I wouldn’t trade it for anything. Seriously. Not even for a weekend trapped in a cabin with Viggo. But I must admit, some days I wish my guy wanted to marry so desperately that those damn wolves at the door didn’t matter. And if you know us at all, you know we don’t try to shoot those wolves, or even shoo them away. Instead, we feed them, comb them for fleas, and make sure they’re warm and dry and de-wormed.
So, once the wolves are comfy, I ensconce myself in my writing room and think about the story taking shape in my head. I will spin a tale of a hero so desperate to marry his true love that he will brave fire and flood and filial disapproval, fighting and fighting until he has won the wedding the two lovers so desperately want. But how to make such a story engaging and believable, this heroic battle to wed? From Lydia and Wickham to Sandra Dee and Troy Donahue, couples have been defiantly eloping throughout the ages. I need to fashion stronger hurdles for my lovers to leap.
Perhaps I could write a historical novel, and curse the heroine with the sign of the devil. Then the hero could still want her so much that he’s willing to fight off the family and the church and the whole village to escape the ignorance and start anew with his beloved.
Or I could shift the tale into the realm of royal feuding in the Dark Ages – maybe something with the Normans and Saxons. Were they even a part of the Dark Ages?
Or I could update the tale and have a Sunni fall in love with a Shiite in Baghdad.
Or I could glide into the mist of the paranormal, and make one of my lovers a vampire.
Or maybe I could try to write something similar to Ladyhawke, with the lovers doomed to exist as different species.
But I am clueless about historical detail, and cannot find sufficient motivation to do the research. Same about international politics. And the paranormal? I am way too disorganized to create a different dimension and then keep the details straight.
My passion for writing revolves around the here and now, and more specifically, my here and now. California, 2008. I suppose some could see this as limiting, but Flannery O’Connor’s love for the rural South didn’t do her such a bad turn. The truth is, I love ferreting out the incandescent romance glowing around the corner and under the staircase of the world in which I live.
But where can I find this desperate fight to wed, pulsing beneath the covers of a modern-day unmade bed? In a world where quick divorce makes marriage so do-able, are there any dragons left to slay on the way to the chapel? How can I make this believable, my heart-wrenching, blood-thrilling, toe-tingling love story about a man fighting until the death if need be to marry his true love?
I’ll make his true love a man.
Geralyn Ruane’s favorite romantic movie is Latter Days, the story of a young Mormon missionary who falls unexpectedly and undeniably in love with an L.A. party boy, thus triggering a passionate affair that rips both their worlds apart. And when she’s not watching incredibly romantic movies on LOGO, the channel dedicated to gay and lesbian programming, Geralyn co-hosts the radio show Better Times After 50 on AdviceRadio.com. Her short story “Jane Austen Meets the New York Giants†is published in the New York Times Bestselling anthology The Right Words at the Right Time, Volume 2.
by Linda O. Johnston
www.LindaOJohnston.com
Then there’s 2009, coming up way too fast! I will have three, maybe four, books published then. My first Silhouette Nocturne, now titled ALPHA WOLF, will be a January release, and I will have a Nocturne Bites available as an e-novella that same month, also based on the Wolf Force. My second Nocturne, working title MORTAL OPTIONS, has been scheduled for June. The seventh Kendra book, NEVER SAY STY, will be out in April. And there’s a small possibility that the eight Kendra book could come out by year-end, since they tend to be published around eight months apart.
As my last Slice of Orange blog indicated, I’m already going nuts running to various events to publicize my books, and that’s so even with just one out this year. Am I complaining? Absolutely not! I realize how lucky I am. But I mentioned cloning myself in my last post here, and that was before I was given publication dates for my Nocturnes. Now it seems like an even better idea.
Better yet, I’ll send Kendra! She is my alter ego, after all. She and I are both lawyers who live in the Hollywood Hills with our Cavalier King Charles Spaniels named Lexie. Unfortunately, though, the similarities end there. Or maybe not so unfortunately. My practice of law as a real estate attorney is a lot less exciting than hers as a litigator, specialist in Animal Dispute Resolution, and murder magnet. But she’s very busy practicing law, pet-sitting and solving crimes in her spare time. I suspect that she’d very nicely but firmly tell me to do it myself.
And I will!
Alyson Noël is the award winning author of the teen novels, Faking 19; Art Geeks And Prom Queens, Laguna Cove; Kiss & Blog; Saving Zoe, Cruel Summer (May 2008), Evermore (Paranormal, 2009), as well as a contributor to the anthology, First Kiss (Then Tell). Her books have been chosen for the New York Library Association’s “Book of Winter 2006 award,†the New York Public Library’s prestigious “Books for the Teen Age†catalog, nominated for YALSA’s “Teens Top Ten award,†selected for Teen Reads “Best Books of 2007†list, finalist for the National Reader’s Choice Award, chosen as a “Favorite Read†for Canada’s largest book retailer, Indigo/Coles, and selected for the CBS Early Show’s “Give the Gift of Reading†segment. Her debut adult novel, Fly Me To The Moon, based on her adventures as a flight attendant, received four stars from Romantic Times, and is being translated into French, German, Spanish, and Portuguese.
You can visit her at: http://www.alysonnoel.com/
I’m not all that familiar with the YA genre. How do you decide what ages to write to?
YA generally covers ages 12 and up. Though since kids often read “up†there’s no real distinction between books for younger and older readers. When I’m working on a book, I don’t think about the age group I’m writing for, I’m more concerned with telling the truth of that particular story, whatever it may call for.
Do you have children? Where do you get your vernacular and the latest trends?
Don’t have kids, though I have plenty of wonderful nieces and nephews who serve as great research tools! But mostly, I just never grew up. Despite all outward appearances, inside, I’m still an adolescent a good deal of the time- so writing in a teen voice comes naturally!
What challenges to you find inherent to this genre?
Staying true to the story. Overcoming the urge to protect my readers by portraying the world in a way that I wish it was, rather than the way it really is. The books I got the most out of as a teen where the ones I could relate to, so I always try to write relatable stories too.
Is YA a crowded genre? Do you think it’s harder or easier to get published in this category?
It’s a very crowded genre and getting more crowded by the day! Though it’s definitely not easier to get published in. I think there’s a common misconception that if you’re writing for kids and teens it must be easier. But there’s a real challenge in writing stories that keep their interest while keeping the characters real.
Do you have an agent, or did you go directly to small publishers?
I signed with an agent, who sold FAKING 19 to St. Martin’s Press in a two-book deal. Then later, I switched agents, and have since sold seven more books to St. Martin’s, as well as a story in an anthology for Bloomsbury, FIRST KISS (THEN TELL).
Wow, YA, Autobiographical and now paranormal – you sure are eclectic! Have you found it to be easier to get published as an established author even though you’re breaking into new genres?
Well, like a lot of writers, all of my books contain pieces of my life even though the stories themselves remain fiction. So I guess there’s always a slight autobiographical element no matter what genre I write in. Though the paranormal book, EVERMORE, just sort of happened. I’ve been interested in any thing to do with psychics and ghosts since I was a kid, so it’s kind of funny that it took me so long to write about it! But I’m so glad I did because the research has been a blast! I’ve taken classes with the world famous psychic/medium James Van Praagh, and underwent a past life regression with Dr. Brian Weis—both of which proved to be very interesting! But since all of my books (other than the anthology) are with St. Martin’s Press, I’m not sure if it’s easier or harder to break into new genres. I have a good working relationship with them so I just tell them what I’m interested in writing, and hope the say Yes!
Where do you go for inspiration?
Inspiration has been elusive lately. I haven’t been able to come up with a label for this blog, let alone finish the chapter I’ve been chipping out of stone the past couple of weeks. For me, creativity is sparked by being outdoors, and with the Holiday weekend approaching, a road trip was in order! For Gary and I, that’s motorcycle camping somewhere I can fly fish and he can bicycle his guts out.
We had reservations at Silver Lake (in the Sierras above Mammoth) but as of Thursday morning they had two inches of snow on the ground. Brrrr. I quickly reconnoitered, and was lucky – I got reservations in Kernville (in the mountains outside Bakersfield) at our favorite campground on the Kern River.
We left Friday to sprinkles and stop ‘n go traffic through L.A., which graduated to a full-blown rainstorm at the Grapevine. Pelting rain and 42 degrees. We passed a wreck; a car had rolled, helicopter hovered, emergency vehicles flashing warnings to traffic.
Down the hill it was sunny and 72 degrees, and I looked back at the Mordor-like clouds sheeting rain – beautiful. We rode an empty two lane happily through fields of grapes, alfalfa and groves of nut trees. Odd clouds ahead though, with a tan horizon. The wind picked up as we rode into a sandstorm! Gary’s from West Texas, and has told me of them, but I never would have dreamed I’d see one in California.
Everything wet became mud, and my bright yellow motorcycle no longer was. I sit writing this in “Cheryl’s Diner†Saturday morning drinking coffee, my point to this blog obscured by tangents. Then again, maybe not.
Inspiration has returned, like the signs of spring I see all around me. Starved for it? Here’s a suggestion, go to www.smithmag.net/sixwords. They have a challenge; describe your life in 6 words or less. Sounds impossible, but once you get started, it’s like writing odd poetry. The introspection tapped me directly in to my muse, and I created of a couple while riding in the rain. The title to this blog isn’t just about writing…you’ve heard the term ‘old soul’? That’s not me. It may not be my first time, but you can still see the creases from the wrapper.
I think I can, I think…
Mistakes; life in disguise.
I learn slowly, remember long.
Hawk heart, unfortunately same size brain.
End comes, I go. Smiling.
Give it a shot – you may not need an adventure to find inspiration!
by Janet Quinn Cornelow
Rayna was the first character in the Augeas series. She had been sitting on the front porch with Grandmother for several years before I figured out who she was and where she belonged. There are now six Augeas stories and more in the works. Unfortunately, I write faster than my artist draws so my picture collection is behind.
Art work by Jasmine Tanner – http://veildandy.deviantart.com
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