Those of us who write know very well how our muses often take us in different directions than we’d planned.
We also know our characters often seem to have minds of their own—and frequently know what would make a better story than we do.

What I’ve found most interesting lately is my attraction to the “Second Bananas” in both my reading and writing.

I noticed it first in my own work.
An incidental female werewolf, unloved and broken-hearted, who became nearly as appealing to me as the heroine of the story.

The captain of the ship who helped rescue the hero and heroine in another piece, “a man who moved with the fluid motion of the sea he embraced,” almost made me want to desert the story I was writing in favor of one for him.

Two supporting characters who worked at the company managed by the protagonists in another novella nearly stole the show.  She was earthy and ambitious at any cost, he was geeky, sexually repressed, and afraid of life outside of his lab.  They were supposed to take up two or three paragraphs.  They wound up owning nearly half the book.  I think, in the end, I actually preferred them to my hero and heroine.

And now I’m seeing it in my personal reading.  I’m in the middle of a novel with a big, Texas oil-hero and a wispy heroine with a backbone of steel.  The sexual tension is high, the people are beautiful, the relationship complex.
But my favorite parts so far have been the shy, homely sister of the hero becoming involved with a rough-edged, homespun ex-con.

I know we love our flawed little second bananas—but do you sometimes discover that they’re more attractive than the dashing Master Race main characters?
Do you find them taking over the stories you read and write?
Do you know why?

Last week I asked for favorite movie/TV kissing scenes. This week, after watching the latest installment of So You Think You Can Dance I thought I’d venture into favorite dance scenes/performances on TV and/or film. I have dozens but for brevity’s sake, I picked five out of a hat. Can you name one that stands out for you? Here are mine in no particular order:
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RIPPLE EFFECT

Hello, Southern Fried Chicas! Or should I say, Hola! Como esta? Bien. Yo soy Rachel Caine, y ….

Wait, I guess I’d better do this in English.

Hello, my name is Rachel Caine, and I’m a writer of many, many things, including the Weather Warden series and the Morganville Vampires series. (Now for the obligatory advertisement: the new Morganville Vampires book, FEAST OF FOOLS, is available now in bookstores, and the new Weather Warden novel, GALE FORCE, will be out on August 5!)

I’m also a big-time FAN of many, many things, and one of them is Harry Potter. In fact, I’m a big enough fan that back in 2005, I got myself invited to attend a great Potter-themed conference held in Salem, Massachusetts, and I had such an amazing time that I attended another one in New Orleans, called PHOENIX RISING, in 2007. I’d been to New Orleans in 2000, and the drive in was sobering. Two years out from Hurricane Katrina, the town was still devastated — condemned buildings, entire blocks of businesses shut down and boarded up. Our conference was in the French Quarter, which still showed scars of the devastating economic downturn, if not the actual flood waters.

Prior to the conference, I was named a Head of House. Now, this is largely a ceremonial duty, but important, in that you get to roam around in really fancy wizard robes and grant (or take) points away from the houses to which attendees have been assigned. I decided to focus on a worthwhile cause for my particular house, and contacted the New Orleans Public Library. What I found really moved me — frequently to tears. The before and after shots of the devastation to the libraries were merciless, and like all other institutions in the city, the libraries were struggling to recover.

I gave a presentation at Portus on the NOPL challenges, and declared fund-raising efforts for them. The attendees responded brilliantly, and we were able to hand over a sizable check to the library representatives before the end of the weekend.

I continued to promote the cause, but I didn’t realize that others were going to take it up, too. Two of the Phoenix Rising attendees, N. Apythia Morges and Tamela J. Ritter, were just as moved as I was by the plight of the NOPL, and they had an amazing amount of energy and vision. Next thing I knew, Apythia sent me a link to a new website they’d created. They were putting together a non-profit anthology of poetry, short fiction, and art to benefit NOPL’s Rebuild program.

Even cooler, they involved the librarians of New Orleans … they asked the librarians for story ideas and prompts, and got over 50 back in response.

About a year later, I’m looking at the book, and it’s amazing. The outpouring of creative effort was overwhelming, and the book itself is beautiful. What it represents is even more beautiful, because all of the proceeds from the sales are going to the NOPL Rebuild program.

The book is called RIPPLE EFFECT, and I think you’ll agree, there couldn’t be a better title — it perfectly describes what happened to bring this project about. I dropped a pebble in the pond at Phoenix Rising, and now it’s involved dozens of people, and soon, thousands of buyers and readers.

That’s pretty damn cool, and I had very little to do with it. I can’t praise Tamela and Apythia enough for all the work they’ve put into this — and they’re not stopping here. They’re taking on other charitable anthologies for the future.

I’ll be contributing and buying as often as I possibly can.

I hope you’ll join me.
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You’d think, hey it’s summer, I should be able to get more down. Well I’m here to tell you, not so much. One thing after another comes up (like the A/C breaking for the THIRD FREAKING TIME IN A MONTH OF 100 degree days) and thanks to the kiddos being off school, you have to deal with them because pretty much they stand next to your ear saying, “mom, mom, mom…” until you respond some way or another.

I really thought I’d have so much more done by this point. I even bet Lynn as much (but the month ain’t over, I still have time!)

I don’t know if it’s a heat thing. Or a kids home thing or just a combo of both, but summer time sucks. Who knows, maybe it’s the hard wire from childhood when you had summer off and didn’t have to do a thing and so now your brain knows it’s summer it shuts off!

Mine seems to be less and less useful……

Because sometimes we all need one (sorry to those of you for whom this is a repeat).

The Six Biggest Mistakes Even  Bestselling Writers Make

So, how was your weekend?

The photos you are about to witness are real.

Only the participants

in the unfortunate relationships

have been damaged

in the making of these…

DIVORCE CAKES

 Yes, gentle reader…this is what happens when the Happily Ever After turns out not to be so happy after all.
And I must add that, sad to say, I think I’ve seen more of the above in my circle of acquaintances than evidence of what I would consider “True Romance”.

The question, then?

Do you have to believe in True Romance to read/write it?

Or do you have to believe in the idea of True Romance to read/write it?

Or can you read/write it while believing it’s a crock, but not care because it’s fiction anyway?

I’ve been a bad girl this week. My Felicity DVD set finally arrived on Monday (Seasons 1-4), and I’ve been hip-deep in the series, which means (you guessed it) no writing. Do I feel guilty? Um … maybe just a little, but I’ll get over it.

So what’s the point of this post?

Well, yesterday I got to this fabulous kissing scene and it got me thinking about other memorable TV and Movie kissing scenes I loved. You know, the ones you can never forget because of their emotional impact on the characters and plot in general. Can you name some of yours?

MOVIES: I have two

Somewhere In Time with Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour

Troy with Brad Pitt and Rose Byrne. (love how she drops that knife )

TV: Just one, for now

Felicity with Scott Speedman and Keri Russell (anyone familiar with this series knows how pivotal this first kiss was)

Hello SFC and Company,

For those of you who don’t know me my name is Emma Petersen. I write inspirational contemporaries, paranormals and eroticas. Okay, so maybe not eroticas. And maybe my contemps and paras aren’t “inspirational” in the traditional sense but I’d like to think my work is still rather inspiring.

I’ve been writing with the intent of publication for about 2 years now but always remember loving the written word throughout my life. My first published story, Branded was released in August two years ago and with that story I started on my journey to my journey to a career as a novelist.

I say Branded started me on a journey to get to my ultimate journey, because like my heroine in Branded, I was a novice. Unlearned, untied, pure. (Ha. Okay, not pure. I don’t think I’ve ever been pure.) I came into this like a baby colt unable to get my legs under me to take the first couple of necessary steps. (What is up with me and these analogies? Seriously. Baby colt?)

It’s now two years later and what has that little green girl who wrote a dirty book about barnyard sex learned?

1. In this genre you either bend or you break.
2. The only thing consistent in this genre is change.
3. And nothing worth having comes easy. (Le sigh. I have a dirty mind because writing the words comes and easy together made me snicker. Don’t pretend you didn’t too. Okay, so maybe you didn’t. You’re probably a little or lot more mature than I am.)

These are the best lessons learned in my journey because to be honest, I don’t easily bend, am extremely resistant to change and haven’t really had to work for a damn thing in my life.

But ooooh boy have I worked for this writing thing. I’ve put in work (hehe) like a drunk guy at a Applebee’s. (Forgive me. Tasteless inside joke.) I’ve put in work and I’ve bent and I’ve changed. At times I wanted to throw my hands up and quit. Whine that it was too hard, too random, too unfair. (Hell, who am I kidding? I have whined about it. Ask Amie.) And even though I’ve quit a thousand times something keeps calling me back. Because in spite of the self doubt, fear of failure and success (Hush. I know I have issues. And no my therapist doesn’t help.) I can’t stop. Believe you me, I have tried yet…

I can’t quit you. Well, not you, the writing. I’m sure if I loved you as much as I loved (hated.) writing I wouldn’t be able to quit you either. And it’s amazing because despite the rejections, slap downs and general fucknuttiness (Can I say fucknuttiness?) this genre can put a person through, this is who I am. What I am. A romance writer and whether I never make it to New York (I am going to make it to New York.) I’ll keep on writing. I’ll keep on changing, evolving and I’ll keep on enduring the fucknuttiness because that’s what I was born to do.

Whew, that was a long post wasn’t it? And what was up with all the parenthesis? Anywho, once again I’d like to thank the spicy, crunchy chicas for welcoming me into their home. Before I go, please share with me. What have you learned in your journey?

This post has been brought to you by the letter F (fucknuttiness) by parenthesis ( ) and the insanity that is Emma Petersen. If this post scared you and you’d like Emma to continue therapy you can support her by buying her dirty inspirational little tale, Master of the Game. Coming from Ellora’s Cave July 18th. You can read an excerpt here. Leave a comment (today only) and you’ll be entered to win a copy of her upcoming ebook, Master of the Game. Visit Emma Petersen here.

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So I have been working on a new book and there was a scene from an older–prolly won’t finish any time soon–WIP that I wanted to “borrow” from. Cut and paste. Cut and paste. Tweak, tweak, tweak. Viola, I have just added a scene or two in a matter of seconds.

I realized I have done this several times before. {Note to all interested parties–this is ALWAYS from my own personal WIPs so don’t go getting all litigious on me}.  I have many older WIPs that have holes here and there from ripping it apart to put in newer WIPs.

Is this normal? Do you often steal from yourself. Or maybe it’s not even stealing, but mining. Until it’s published, it pretty much is fair game, I guess. And it’s not like you haven’t already put the work/effort into it. But it almost feels like cheating. I can’t say exactly why though.

On the flip-side of mining, I have even written just a scene. Depending on what ispirired it in the first place, it tends to be vague enough that it may be worked into a WIP at a later date, but it was something that struck me too profoundly to not jot down–lest I lose it in my overfull/hyperactive imagination. As well as whole scenes cut that didn’t work. I don’t want to delete them completely–you never know when it will fit perfectly elsewhere. So I have a file of orphaned scenes.

A junk drawer of sorts for WIPs and whatnot.

What about y’all? (As you have probably noticed, I am always curious how other writers writer.) Lemme know if you go digging for dilemmas in your potential possibilities.

One of the joys of being a writer is being surrounded by a lot of super-talented people. And when I say talented, I ain’t BS’ing folks. One of those people, the lovely, delightfully wacky, and neurotic Emma Petersen will be joining us on Wednesday to talk about her very first Ellora’s Cave release, MASTER OF THE GAME.