A recent post here—and several past e-mails with several writing friends—always leaves me with a suspicious, paranoid, out-of-the-box thought (snicker!)…

What if some Big-Brotherish agency, or National Security, or Central Intelligence, or Moral Majority watchdogs, or somebody putting together a “Persons Of Interest” list of some kind ever got a look-see at the subjects you research on Google?

I don’t know about you, but I could be seriously S-C-R-E-W-E-D.
And so would most of the authors I know, lol.

Some of the topics for storylines, stories-to-be, or just queer, random curiosity I’ve checked lately?

Cyanide.
History of dildoes.
Spontaneous combustion.
Hollow-point bullets.
Marquis de Sade
Claymores.
The plague.
Multi-orgasmic men.
Roadside bombs.
Butt-plugs.
Molotov cocktails.
Anal bleaching.
Bulletproofing cars.
Demonology.
Global Positioning System.
Guerilla warfare.
Bondage.
The Antichrist.
Dirty bombs.
Exhibitionism.
Pentagrams.

It all seemed perfectly natural to me—but to other eyes?

So give, give.
What strange things might we find on your search engine’s history?
(Of course, none of us really believe such a thing could happen…why, if that was true, I’d never be able to finish this post, and

Please join me in welcoming MTV Books YA author Kelly Parra. We met via our blogs a few years ago, before she got The Call. But even then I knew it was only a matter of time before some wise publisher snapped her up. She’s had nothing but success ever since.

After you read Kelly’s post, leave a comment and you’ll automatically be entered in her book giveaway. One lucky poster will win a copy of Kelly’s debut YA novel, GRAFFITI GIRL.

And now, here’s Kelly!

When I set out writing, it hadn’t been with the intention of writing young adult fiction. I was very much into Romantic Suspense—the tension, the often forbidden love between the dark hero and the independent heroine. Nora Roberts had hooked me with her romantic stories and I was staying, especially with her Death series, with the awesomely handsome Roarke and the tough as nails, Eve Dallas. I also loved the fun and unique characters of Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum novels. Morelli and Ranger, anyone?

But Roberts and Evanovich were so far out of my world. I never thought I could write a book as interesting as their stories. I was a first time mom, struggling with a home business. I had very little college experience. I was also one of those tomboy girls who spoke guy better than she spoke girl. Yes, I loved the dynamic fiction that took me to different places in my head, but I was pretty sure that would be the only connection that would happen between books and me.

Soon, I started diving into Harlequin Silhouettes’—at the time–Intimate Moments. On one of the author bios a woman lived in a neighboring California town and guess what? She was a stay-at-home mom with no college experience. It was like a wake-up call. If someone else could do this, I could at least try to write a book.

So I wrote in fits and starts. Year after year. Contests where I totally flopped, on-line classes where I soaked up as much info as possible, and after meeting great critique partners, I finished and rewrote my first Romantic Suspense with the intent on querying agents.

Rejection, rejection—ohh sample pages!—rejection. *blah*

I decided to try another genre, just in case Romantic Suspense wasn’t in the cards for me, you know? I’d been hearing a lot about YA fiction. If there was a time in my life when I couldn’t have been unhappier, it was my teen years. Why not share all that high school drama? And well, my writing voice, was a lot like how I talked and teens might relate better to my style of storytelling.

I started a YA, something with a high concept that would possibly catch a teen’s eye—graffiti art. I’d been a teen artist. I had friends who were into graffiti in high school. Could work. In the midst of this, I discovered an agent who was looking for Latina fiction. I had a multi-cultural heroine in both of my books, but what the heck was real Latina fiction? After signing with my agent, and multiple submissions with interest from one editor at a house but sadly not enough to offer a sale, we learned more about Latina fiction, and that it wasn’t just about having a Latina heroine. That little issue about cultural theme had been in there too.

The YA was put on hold as I revised my RS the best I could, and after eleven months my RS sold to Silhouette Bombshell. Yes. After spending nearly 3 years with this book, I’d finally sold it. A few months later I sold my young adult novel, GRAFFITI GIRL. Double yes! And—

–suddenly Bombshell closes its doors.

My first taste of the ups-and-downs of publishing, and let me tell you, it wasn’t too tasty. I sometimes think that I’ll go back to adult fiction, but right now I’m doing my best with YA fiction where the teens are openly honest, fun to chat with, and my tom boy writing voice fits right in. :) I have GRAFFITI GIRL under my belt, and my second novel, INVISIBLE TOUCH, hitting shelves in September. Publishing is still brand new to me, and I’m happily taking it one book at a time.

Thanks to the Southern Fried Chicas for having me on the blog, and to Tanya for inviting me! Please leave a comment and I’d love to give away a copy of GRAFFITI GIRL to an interested visitor.

The Book Primal Instincts

or

How To Really Surprise Your Editor

by: Jill Monroe

Pantzer? Plotzer? A combo of the two? I see this topic discussed on many blog entries…so of course I won’t be any exception. The Chicas suggested I share how the story of Primal Instincts came to be.

It All Started With A Tea Ceremony

When I first began reading romances as a teenager, the heroines had such exciting careers archeologists, international linguist and anthropologist. I explored a lot of the world and a lot of different jobs within the pages of those books – a fascination that has stayed with me to adulthood.

I read or heard somewhere that the Japanese Tea Ceremony was one of the most beautiful ceremonies found throughout the world. Instantly a woman, an anthropologist, who studied eating rituals, popped into my head. And since I write Blaze…these would be the elaborate rites that lead to lovemaking.

Just Make It Up

So, I went to search for all my rituals – Google is often a writer’s best friend. I knew I wanted them all to be food related. In fact, my working title was Recipe For Sex. Found lots and lots of resources that listed foods and their aphrodisiacal properties…but zero in the sexy eating ceremonies.

Back to the story brainstorming.

I changed my original story idea and made my anthropologist, now named Ava Simms, study all kinds of sensual traditions. She’s working to put them in a book. But people spend their entire lives studying single aspects of a particular culture. I could so easily get something wrong. The last thing I’d want to do is disrespect a group of people by messing up the description of their heritage.

I shared this frustration with my critique partner, and dear friend, Gena Showalter, and she said to me, “You’re a writer. Make them up.”

And I had the best time doing it. I made up people, where they lived and what they did – and they were all described perfectly as they were found in the world ☺ no mess-ups because I made them up, and their world was in my head.

So with that, the first three chapters and a synopsis was sent to Harlequin. The book was plotted, so now all I had to do was write it. Plotzer all the way. Easy breezy, right?

Then all of a sudden a new person just showed up in the story. Jeremy Kelso came out of nowhere and lodged himself into what is now known officially as Primal Instincts. He finds himself a woman, too. So, I guess that makes me a Pantzer because I now have a completely new storyline that was never in my synopsis – a complete surprise to my editor.

Romantic Times even mentions the two couples in their review – “Sizzling-hot sex, compelling characters, humor and a dual plot make Primal Instincts (4.5 – Top Pick), by Jill Monroe, a book you can’t put down.”

Sometimes I’m a plotzer, sometimes I’m a pantzer – whatever and whenever works at the moment – that’s what I use. And when in doubt – don’t be afraid to just make stuff up. Or did I make stuff up? I have to tell you there are a few sensual practices that are absolutely true…

(Okay how many people even know what that’s from–If you have seen Ghost you should know!) So as I said last week, I have been reading contest entries. And I have the cliché book from H.E.double freaking hockey sticks. But that too got me wondering–as pretty much anything does when I am having an ADD-Day. Are all cliché’s bad?

The definition as per Wikipedia:

A cliché (from French, klɪ’ʃe) is a phrase, expression, or idea that has been overused to the point of losing its intended force or novelty, especially when at some time it was considered distinctively forceful or novel. The term is generally used in a negative context.

Hmm, let’s look at a few:

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So, normally I don’t blog about my children, because really, who wants to hear about them? (even if they are the most hysterical things walking the planet) but I have to tell you. My son came home from school on Friday with his report card…and something that made my heart just SINK.

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We’ve got two–that’s right TWO–fabulous authors for our Behind The Book spot next week!

First up is Blaze author Jill Monroe. She’ll be with us on Wednesday, 1/30. Writing for Harlequin since 2003 (when she first got The Call), Jill is a former Golden Heart finalist and her latest release, Primal Instincts (Harlequin Blaze #378) hits the shelves in February.

Here’s the blurb:

Who are they to argue with biology?

Subject A, photojournalist Ian Cole, is sent to ghostwrite a book on sex in various cultures. Instead of finding a white-haired professor, he is greeted by Subject B, anthropologist Ava Simms, wearing only a teeny loincloth and body paint….

Observations…

Sexual energy between subjects increases exponentially. Note the male’s quickened breathing and barely restrained urge to do lusty and inappropriate things.

The female, in turn, decides to demonstrate her extensive knowledge of seduction, play and ritual…claiming it’s “research.” The results? Neither Subject A nor B want the study to end….

Oooh,la la!

Next up on Thursday 1/31 we have MTV Books YA author Kelly Parra. Her debut novel, Graffiti Girl was a Latinidad top pick for 2007 and her next book, Invisible Touch will be out sometime this fall.

It’s a story about “a seventeen-year-old Latina [who] anonymously blogs about her ability to see psychic images or signs on her fellow students and attempts to piece together the sign clues in order to help save them from unfortunate fates, again…”

Now that’s what I call PARRAnormal! (Pun intended!)

I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait to get my hands on both of these books. So don’t forget to stop by on Wedneday and Thursday to meet these two amazing authors.

Now on a COMPLETELY unrelated note…..
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Fabulous fellow Loose Id author Mechele Armstrong tagged me with this meme.  Generally, I try to avoid these things, but this one was…well, different.
In turn, I’m tagging each of the CHICAS, to respond here or on their own sites.

Isabella Snow started this Meme:

“I used to hate getting tagged for memes, but it’s been so long since I’ve done one I started missing them. So, I created one, and here it is. I actually had done a normal one, until someone remarked it should be smutty, so I’ve just edited it. You’re welcome to post it on your blogs, the rules are as follows: You must call it the Smut Meme (obvious reasons, I’d hope), you must link to me in the title, and you must tag 2 people, and link to them as well. Oh, and you must post this little blurb at the beginning, like I’ve just done. Got it? Ok then.The idea is to pick one or the other, even if you prefer neither. I’ll go first. If you want to play along you can answer the questions in the comments.”

1. Chocolate or Whipped Cream: Chocolate

2. Leather or PVC: Leather

3. Outdoor Sex or Indoor Sex: Indoor (hey, it’s cold here!)

4. In the Jacuzzi or In Bed? Bed

5. Bad Sex or No Sex: No Sex.  Consistency is important.

6. Dominate or Be Dominated: What day of the week is it?
(ok, ok one choice…Dominate?).

7. Thigh highs or Bodystocking: Bodystocking

8. Fast or Slow: Slow

9. Rough or Gentle: What day of the week is it?
(ok, ok one choice…Rough.  Just because I’d like to see slow and rough simultaneously…)

10. Bite or Suck: Suck, baby.

11. Role play or Reality: Not sure there’s a difference.

12. Dirty Talking or Dirty Talking To: Dirty Talking To

13. Edible panties or No Panties: No Panties (eat on your own time)

14. Spanking paddle or Bare-handed: Bare-handed

15. Landing Strip or Kojak: Landing Strip (ouch).
(Now I must confess that, as I typed this, all I could imagine was me lying there saying, “watch that approach!  you’re coming in too fast!  steady, steady…be advised of possible tail wind…flaps!  get your flaps up!  steady…woops!  you’ve overshot the runway…gear up, circle ’round, and give ‘er another try…”)

16. Multiple Sessions or One Good Fuck: One Good Fuck.

17. Moaning or Screaming: I scream.  He can moan.  Or shout.  If he screams, I’m making a run for it.

18. Older Men or Young Men: Older

19. Threeway or No Way: Threeway.  MY way.

20. Swing or No Swinging: No Swinging.  Don’t want to make me jealous.  You wouldn’t like me when I was jealous…

A few years ago I read a quote from bestselling author Diana Gabaldon on her website. It stayed with me to this day because her words gave me insight into the mysteries of character creation. I was so intrigued, I did a series of posts about it on my blog.

The quote was specifically about Jack Randall, the diabolical villain in Gabaldon’s highly successful Outlander series. As an aside, the character is one of the most insidious villains I’ve encountered in fiction. Why? Because Gabaldon gave him so many complex layers. There was a dark psychology to Jack that scared the hell out of me, and that’s no easy feat.

Here’s the Gabaldon quote in question:

“There’s a local group of fans here in Phoenix who have been taking me out to tea every spring for the last few years …. [and] at one of these teas, the readers got onto Jack Randall, and what a horrible, terrible, nasty, loathsome, repellent….etc. he was. And all the time, I was sitting there, quietly sipping my tea, and thinking, “You really don’t have any notion that you’re talking to Jack Randall, do you?”

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I’ve been thinking about this post for a few weeks now, wondering how on earth to condense the story behind the story to my current release, “Test Me!”. It’s been a five year voyage to get this book to publication and I finally realized where to begin. You see, it all started with a towel.

For whatever reason, I remember thinking as I wrapped my head in a towel, that it sure would be embarrassing if I were wearing just a towel on my head and someone walked in. Not that I’m big on nude strolling, but you know, if I were to do it for 0.5 seconds…I’ve got the kind of luck that it would happen to me. And it wouldn’t be my Mom or someone who wouldn’t care. No. With my luck, it’d be some really hawt guy that I never wanted to find out the precise location of my cellulite. The idea was too delicious. It simply HAD to be written. Only, instead of me, it’d be some hot blonde or something. So, I got started on the scene and then I realized, these two have to have a good reason why he’s seeing her walk around nekkid. (You know, after I got pass the thought that she had to have a good reason for walking around nekkid.) That was when I discovered I didn’t really have very good plot skills.

(What? I told you this was a long story!)

Suffice it to say, it took quite a while to write the first complete draft of this book. I learned a lot of lessons on my way to the second draft and by the time I was sure I was done, I felt as if I’d ripped out my guts, inverted them, stretched them out and stuffed them back in. In other words, I’d learned quite a lot from several very forgiving authors and CPs and I began the long road of submissions. Believe it or not, “Test Me!” is actually now known as something of a pregnancy book. Every editor who read it had to transfer me to another editor as she went on maternity leave. I started to wonder what was in the ink. Either that or my love scenes were unbelievably potent. Let me tell you, nothing slows down a story read like three or four pregnancies.

One thing that did come out from all those editorial changes was that as likable as the homegrown hero was, there was something missing about him. His heroine was smart, sassy and intimidating and he wasn’t holding his own against her. I have to admit, I fought that. I wanted to control my hero. I wanted to make him a “Hero” with a capital H. A too good to be true and ‘why-can’t-I-have-one-of-those?’ Hero. The problem, it took way too long to admit, was that those kinds of guys are annoying as hell. They make no mistakes. They do everything because it’s the right thing and they never imagine that doing the right thing is anything but soulfully rewarding. If I had to live with that guy, I’d have killed him. I’m just not that kind of girl and neither was my heroine, Vetta. She knew that sometimes, doing the right thing really sucks. Most of the time, actually.Travis Carmichael, scientist and casual womanizer, was not one of those guys. He was that raw element of unapologetic maleness. He’s a guy. He’s a guy’s guy. If you don’t like it, go somewhere else. He needed that quality to make him worthy of my heroine. To make him worthy of me.

I don’t say that to be vain (she says, throwing her flowing hair over her well-moisturized shoulder). But write enough stories and you start to think about what kind of characters you want to be remembered for. You want to be known for believable characters. Real people with real chemistry and real conflict. At least, that’s important to me. Real characters. Real Romance. And on my good days, I want to be Really Funny. I didn’t want Travis to be a hero you forgot about. A guy with no balls who’s pretty much there for my heroine to control with little twitches of her hips. So, you might not always like him. You might want to wash his mouth out with SOAP–perhaps his brain too–but once you meet him, you’ll remember him.

Finally, the elements of the characters was right. So I sent it off to my editor over at Samhain Publishing and wouldn’t you know it, five years, five editors, two category lines retired and at least a hundred dollars in postage…Test Me! found a home. And a cover with boobs, but that’s a different story behind the story…

*~*~*~

Vanessa Jaye, here– You can get your hot little hands on TEST ME! at Samhain.

I go through fits and spurts when reading usually. It’s been many months since the last fit (and I terribly missed reading, but life can get in the way of . . . everything), so I was glad that I signed up to be a RITA  judge. I received my case of books in the mail about two weeks ago and was happy to see that I had an obligation  to read a bunch of books.

It took me about a week to get around to the books (I had to finish up my GH  reads first). I read through the first book and kinda got that Zen feeling where everything was right with the world. My mental escape had taken off and I felt normal again (and the book was awesome, too!). Next book was good. Not something I would have bought so it was fun reading something out of the norm for me.

Cut to book three (I totally made a pile of the books, didn’t look to see what was next; sorta as a surprise factor when I grabbed the next read). I look at the author and damn it all to hell, it’s someone whose book I read last summer and absolutely HATED. I mean I bitched to my DH about this book for months–I hated it that much. I can’t really say why I did, it was just one of those totally-didn’t-mesh-for-me kinda books and I was bound and determined not to EVER read her again, so you can imagine my displeasure and HAVING to read her.

Let me add here: the book last summer was a completely different genre than my RITA selection . . . for whatever that’s worth.

So with much trepidation I cracked open the book, read the first few pages and didn’t vomit. Not only did I not vomit, I read the entire book in ONE SITTING. I enjoyed the hell out of that book. It made me laugh out loud. It made me make sure the kiddos couldn’t read my mind in the uber-hot parts and once or twice I got a little misty eyed. (As a matter of fact, I gave it a near perfect score, I enjoyed it so much).

Color me majorly chagrined that under normal circumstances I would have probably never even touched the book were it not for the contest. I will definitely be looking for more by her .