#37 – Using Random.org, I’ve picked a winner for copies of THE CALLING Vampire novels, namely, DANGER CALLS, TEMPTATION CALLS and FURY CALLS: Sewicked Please e-mail me your postal addresses so I can send out your prize.
Today we’ve got a very special guest, Stacy Boyd, Senior Editor for Harlequin Desire and also my (Caridad’s) wonderful editor! Stacy is here to give us some hints on how to create a winning novel for Desire. We’d love to hear what you like about Desire or feel free to post any questions you may have about the Desire line or writing for Harlequin. Finally, we’ll pick one lucky commenter to win copies of some of the books that Caridad and Stacy have worked on together from THE CALLING Vampire novels, namely, DANGER CALLS, TEMPTATION CALLS and FURY CALLS!
Without further ado, here’s Stacy!
Seven Tips for Creating the Perfect Harlequin Desire Submission
1. Hook your reader right away!
Write a really great first line, first paragraph, first chapter. Readers, and editors, want to be invested in the characters, their conflicts and/or the premise right away.
2. Create a story with high stakes and lots of conflict.
In Desire, we love lots of sensual tension and romantic conflict, and there should be strong and believable reasons that the hero and heroine are at odds, as well as believable sensual attraction that makes them want to resolve their differences.
3. Develop an alpha hero with a heart of gold.
Desire heroes are sexy, powerful alphas with a core of emotional vulnerability. The hero may seem tough and stoic, but underneath that hard exterior, the reader can sympathize with the hero’s motives and flaws.
4. Surprise us!
Know your genre. Play with it. Make your reader feel like she’s never read anything like your book before. A surprise in the plotline, in the story’s execution, in the character development or in the author’s style and voice can really make a writer stand out from the crowd.
5. Be professional.
Successful Desire authors tend to write quickly, consistently and well. Including your publishing history and other relevant experience in your query letter, along with a short summary of your book, is the best way to introduce yourself. We look for writers we can build long-term, so let the editors know if you have more story ideas in the works.
6. Be a reader.
Read as much as you can, write what you love, keep honing your craft and maintain an attitude of persistence and professionalism.
7. Do your research.
If you’re interested in writing for Desire, you can find our guidelines on Harlequin.com, and you can speak with our authors, readers and editors by following us on Twitter (@DesireEditors) or “liking” us on Facebook (facebook.com/harlequindesire).
Thank you so much for taking the time to be with us today, Stacy! We really appreciate it.
The other day we talked about female demons who seduced men – succubi – so it seems only fair that we give the same attention to male demons who seduce women on today’s Dark Side Demon Monday.
I guess this kind of demon is stuck in my head because I just finished reading Larissa Ione’s fabulous PLEASURE UNBOUND which features a rather sexy and honorable incubus. If you haven’t read it, be sure to check it out.
But back to the incubus. In most myths, the incubus seduces a woman to have sex with him and sometimes such intercourse will result in a child – a cambion. A cambion has special powers as a result of the inheritance of the incubus powers. The most well-known of cambions is probably Merlin, who is said to have been conceived as a result of an incubus impregnating a king’s daughter. Much like Merlin was conceived with deceit, so, too, Merlin uses deceit to produce Arthur and use him to achieve his desires.
There are some instances in myth and religious discussion that hint that an incubus might be bisexual, assuming a female form to trick a man into having sex and then using the results of such sex to impregnate women while in the form of an incubus.
Very interesting! It seems to me that the mores of the times could not imagine that sex was something people wanted to do. Blaming demons to justify unwanted sexual desires made it easier to hide or deal with these issues.
Have you read any good books where an incubus was the hero? Or a succubus as a heroine? Please share with us if you did!
Otherwise known as Caridad’s Dark Side Demon Monday!
We’re launching a whole new series of blogs here at the Danger Women Writing for our Dangerous Readers. Check back each day for a new theme and Dangerous Woman writer sharing insights on all kinds of topics.
For my turn at the plate, I’ll be offering up thoughts and insights on demon lore and some of the more interesting things happening with the creatures that go bump in the night.
Many readers wonder how paranormal writers manage to come up with their ideas. Sometimes you develop totally new creatures and later on during another Dark Side Demon Monday I’ll talk about how I went about creating the mystical beings that will stream to the Jersey Shore in Books 3 and 4 of the SINS series (which will be renamed the SIN HUNTERS series).
Sometimes you look at existing mythologies and tweak them to fit the needs of your story. That’s what I did in DEVOTION CALLS when I introduced a slightly different kind of vampire — a chupacabra.
Chupacabra (or chupacabras) means “goat sucker” in Spanish, but the creature has become quite well known throughout the United States and the rest of the Americas.
The first attacks attributed to chupacabras began in the early 1990s in Puerto Rico so the legend is actually not all that old. Additional sightings of the animal began to appear in other parts of South America as well as the American Southwest.
Farmers reported attacks on various livestock, but the animals were not eaten or taken to another location for dinner. The reports indicated that the animals were killed by being drained of blood through two small incisions, much like a vampire.
One theory as to the origin of the chupacabra is that it’s an alien pet that escaped. Another is that it’s either an alien genetics experiment that got loose or a human genetics experiment. Finally, others believe that the chupacabra is merely a coyote that has a skin disease, accounting for the lack of hair and strange coloration on those animals which have been found and called chupacabras.
Witnesses describe the chupacabra as being anywhere from 4 to 6 feet tall when upright, with green/gray scales. The beast has quills along its head and neck, possibly a long tail and clawed fingers. In addition, it has large glassy eyes that can be reddish in color. Way different than the supposed creatures being found in various areas of Texas!
Regardless of whether or not chupacabras really exist, the creatures have managed to embed themselves in our folklore and have even been written about in songs!
For more information on the chupacabra, you can click on one of the links below.
Please e-mail me your postal addresses so I can send out your prize. 
Today we’ve got a very special guest, Stacy Boyd, Senior Editor for Harlequin Desire and also my (Caridad’s) wonderful editor! Stacy is here to give us some hints on how to create a winning novel for Desire. We’d love to hear what you like about Desire or feel free to post any questions you may have about the Desire line or writing for Harlequin. Finally, we’ll pick one lucky commenter to win copies of some of the books that Caridad and Stacy have worked on together from THE CALLING Vampire novels, namely, DANGER CALLS, TEMPTATION CALLS and FURY CALLS!
But back to the incubus. In most myths, the incubus seduces a woman to have sex with him and sometimes such intercourse will result in a child – a cambion. A cambion has special powers as a result of the inheritance of the incubus powers. The most well-known of cambions is probably Merlin, who is said to have been conceived as a result of an incubus impregnating a king’s daughter. Much like Merlin was conceived with deceit, so, too, Merlin uses deceit to produce Arthur and use him to achieve his desires.
Chupacabra (or chupacabras) means “goat sucker” in Spanish, but the creature has become quite well known throughout the United States and the rest of the Americas.
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