Danger: Women Writing

Do you have to have schizophrenia to do what you do? I’ve been asked this question more than once since, after writing twenty or so romance novels, I added murder mysteries to my literary pallet. After all, one genre is about love, the other is about murder. Right? They seem like opposites. But they’re not. In my world they’re both about love…and murder.

In Charming the Devil, out TODAY, a secret coven of witches in Regency London work together to solve crimes…and have the good fortune of finding someone tall, dark and dreamy along the way.

In Not One Clue, out March 23rd, Christina McMullen, crazy psychologist extraordinaire, is constantly riding herd on her wild life while simultaneously trying to figure out who done it. Meanwhile, one hunky Lieutenant Rivera is always there to help, hamper and generally amp up her hormone level.

I admit that sometimes it seems like I’m doing a rather shaky balancing act between historical England and modern day Los Angeles, but usually it’s more like I get to choose where to vacation. Am I in the mood for floating down the Thames under a frilly parasol or would a nice car chase down the Santa Monica Freeway be more fun?

And then there are the guys. Let’s not forget that every book comes with a full cast of characters, and we, as writers, get to conduct the interviews. In our minds we envision the perfect protagonist, the vilest villain, the hottest heroine.

For me, Lieutenant Rivera looks like Goran Visnjic, all smothering eyes and nearly tangible angst.

Rogan MacBain, from Charming the Devil, came to life when I imagined him as a young Gerard Butler.

Fun stuff to fantasize about, you’ve got to admit. On the other hand, we create these wonderful male leads, cheer for them, laugh with them, fall in love with them, and then hand them over to other women.

Hmmm,  now that I think about it, I guess that although you don’t have to be schizoid to write this stuff, a little craziness doesn’t hurt at all.

www.loisgreiman.com

‘m talking to the purists today, and if the reply to that question is, “Well, it’s got a vampire in it.” then, no, it most likely is not a vampire romance. Of all the various genres within the romance category, including western, historical, contemporary, time travel, psychic, inspirational, paranormal, erotic, and others, the vampire category has become a genre of its own. But it is the most convoluted of all the categories.

The pure vampire romance is becoming harder to find. That which features a vampire as either hero or heroine (usually hero) and focuses on vampirism and romance. I’m not saying they aren’t being written anymore. It’s just become a challenge to actually sight them on bookseller shelves. Sure, you can sight in the classic fang slipping over the lower lip, or the splash of blood on the cover or even the pale broody guy. Most likely there are vamps inside. But just because it has the props, is it still a romance?

Lately, vampire romances have been disguised as paranormal romance and urban fantasy. And vice versa. If you check the label on the spine, it is no longer an accurate indicator of the book’s contents. This is not the author’s fault. I have no idea who at the publisher is ultimately responsible for putting that spine label on the book that designates it either ‘vampire romance’, ‘paranormal romance’ or ‘urban fantasy’. Probably, it’s Marketing. Marketing does not read the story. By using a synopsis and back cover copy they determine how to market the book and who they believe the audience is for that book.

Have you ever picked up a book you thought was a vampire romance only to discover the romance was lukewarm, and it was dominated by kick-ass action adventure? An urban fantasy! Yet, the spine clearly says romance. It’s frustrating. The definition of romance is that the story will focus on the relationship between the hero and heroine. Sure, you can have action, adventure, slayings, apocalypse! But still the focus will remain on the two main characters and their growing emotional connection to each other. And the unspoken promise all romance writers make to their readers is this: The story will end happily. You don’t get that promise in urban fantasy. Often UF follows the same hero and heroine through a series. Sure, there is romance, and it’s slowly doled out over the series. But the ending may not resolve that romance and ensure you the hero and heroine are in it forever.

If you go by spine label alone, you may pick up a vampire romance and end up with a mystery. You may get an urban fantasy and discover it really is just about the hero and heroine. Most authors aren’t aware of the spine labels for their books until they actually receive author copies, open up the box and look at the book. It can be as unsettling for an author as the reader to learn someone decided their urban fantasy was really more of a paranormal romance.

If you’re a vampire romance purist, you want your story focused on all things vampire: blood-sucking, fangs and immortality. All the struggles and triumphs that go along with being a vamp. Nowadays, a story might be labeled vampire romance even if a secondary character is a vampire. Or I recently read a book with a vampire hero, yet it didn’t focus at all on his vampirism, and instead was mostly about faeries and magic. I was disappointed, which led me to writing this article.

I’d like to start a discussion on the current state of vampire romance. Not paranormal romance, but those stories we would call vampire romances, which focus mostly on vampirism (though often one of the pair is another species or even mortal; that still counts).

Are you a vampire romance purist? Do you depend on the spine label to tell you what is inside the book? Have you ever been blindsided after buying a book and discovered it wasn’t what you’d expected? Or are you pretty cool about the whole genre overall, and even if the romance isn’t key, you’re just happy to read about vampires?

Let’s chat!
Michele

Lois Greiman

Inspiration. It’s a funny thing. As writers we seldom know what will get our creative juices pumping. Toward that end we often try a host of things. My ritual often includes long walks, talks with uber creative friends and People magazine. That’s right, People magazine. Because, even though I’m not a particularly visually minded person it helps to see the faces of the characters I create. For instance, for my last completed manuscript I saw my male protagonist as this burly, macho, not too attractive warrior type. (My agent called him the oaf, but I’m sure that in her tender heart she really loved him.) His name was Rogan McBain and in my mind I saw him as Gerard Butler.

Okay, wait. Before you begin gathering your rotten tomatoes let me say that I think Mr. Butler is a fine actor. He’s had some wonderful roles which he has performed wonderfully, I just don’t find him very good looking. Which seemed perfect. I mean, that’s what I was looking for, right? So I taped up a couple of pictures of him by my pc.

I put Thandie Newton beside him because she was the ideal foil for him, but halfway through the book I realized something was wrong. I was uninspired, and I blamed it on Gerard. I just couldn’t work with the likable but rough-around-the-edges character from the Ugly Truth. Neither was he right in P.S. I Love You, or 300 or RocknRolla. It was while I was half-heartedly trolling for new pics of him that I ran across photos of him from Attila the Hun.

Did you know he played that part back in 2001 cuz I sure as Hades did not. Neither did I know that tacking up these new pictures of him would change the whole book. A couple little photos and it went from boring to bold, from dull to dynamite, at least in my own mind, and it was all because of how I envisioned him in my head.

True, Charming the Devil, the book that Butler built, won’t be out until February, but I’m excited about it. It’s the third installation of my witches of Mayfair series. I hope you enjoy burly Scotsmen as much as I do.

www.loisgreiman.com

The man of your dreams has loped into your life and swept you off your feet and into his strong arms. He’s not exactly human, in fact, a couple days during the month, he’s downright animal. You met on a moonless night and his bow-legged swagger and easy charm has won your heart. Your man is a werewolf, and that’s cool with you. You’re tired of beta males waiting for you to make the decisions. This guy is a take-charge, get-things-done, loving man.
There must be a lot of good things about dating a werewolf. I mean, come on, even teenage girls are doing it (when they’re not going moon-eyed over poufy-haired vampires, that is). But certainly the hairy dudes have their cons as well. Here’s a few pros and cons of dating werewolves. I haven’t divided them into categories because I thought I’d let you be the judge of what is favorable or not, for surely some items can go both ways.
– They are large men, strapped with muscles that glisten in the moonlight. Need that big rock moved out of the backyard? But watch that repair bill for the front doorknob that he’s broken off dozens of times because he just can’t control his strength.
– They have violent tendencies, especially when the moon is full. Bunny rabbits beware!
– They are instinctual, which could come in handy when your GPS is broken, but you’ll never win at hide-and-seek.
– The hair thing. Shedding aside, some women love a full beard and chest hair. But that white couch has got to go.
– Their instinctive nature makes them protective of what is theirs. That’s you, sweetie. You belong to him and he won’t stand for any man to even glance at you.
– Fangs.
–Moonlight walks, hand in hand. (Or is that hand in paw?)
– Screw vegetarianism, this guy likes meat. Polish up those steak grilling skills!
– Long life. Some werewolves are immortal, others simply have extended longevity. Do you really want to grow old while your lover remains young and handsome?
– That bone-cracking, shapeshifting noise that grates on your nerves like fingernails on a chalkboard.
– Interesting sexual positions. (Use your imagination.)
– No silver jewelry under the Christmas tree.
– Ripped clothing that only occurs on the night of the full moon. Do you know how to patch tears, rips and massive gapping holes in fabric? Get out that sewing machine, ladies.
– You’ll never be cold, especially on a snowy winter night, snuggled up to your wolf-man.
Michele
www.michelehauf.com
www.vampire-books.com
vampchix.blogspot.com
dustedbywhimsy.blogspot.com

Hey, I’m a new “Dangerous Woman” so I’d like to take this opportunity to introduce myself. My name is Lois Greiman. (that’s my real name, my pen name, the works) I live on a little hobby farm in Minnesota where I sit around in my pjs being dangerous and telling lies. I sold my first sack of lies (aka a novel) to Avon Books about a million years ago and since then have published twenty or so more historical romances.

My upcoming book, a February release, is called Charming the Devil. It’s the third in the Witches of Mayfair series and features a coven of government witches in Regency London. Yup, you read that right…government witches, Regency London. Hey, it could happen.

I also write a fun little mystery series about a crazy psychologist named Christina McMullen. If you don’t mind being a little irreverent and like to laugh now and again, you might want to pick up Unzipped or one of the others in the series. Unplugged, Unscrewed, Unmanned, One Hot Mess; choose your poison.

As for down time–when I’m not sitting around telling lies, I’m usually hanging with the horses. I raise/show/adore Arabians specifically and just adopted a new mixed breed baby. She has contracted tendons and can’t walk very well yet, but I’m hoping to get her on her little trotters and running before I find her a permanent home.

How about you? Tell us about your furry friends. Are there any critters in your life that you saved? Any you raised? Any that drive you crazy, make you laugh or can’t live without? Animal stories are the best.

Okay I have winners and let me just say, so fun to read through everyone’s ideas on books to film. I love the JB Robb series idea with Teo Lione. I love the idea of The Fae series too from Moning. I sort  of see Buffy in that character a lot. Love Monings Fae series. And I am a huge Kenyon fan. Could they find guys hot enough to play those Hunters?

But onward — the winners!

Karin

Crystal GC

RachieG — I think– I can’t read my own writing here! I think I got that right.

Email me your addressed to lisarenjones@aol.com

Thanks for playing with me!