Literary Justice for All!

Indie-Visible 2.0 Soft Launch

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A Rant About Romance

Can  I just rant for a sec?


HOW MANY FREAKING BOOKS ARE GOING TO BE CENTERED IN WASHINGTON STATE AND/OR HAVE BILLIONAIRE PLAYBOYS?!?!?!?



Seriously, I've read so many books this summer I can't count them. I tend to choose one genre and read it until I'm sick of it, and this summer it's all about NA/Adult romance.

It started when someone challenged me to read 50 Shades and I actually liked the storyline (although I really thought the writing was mediocre and I could've done without the butt play, but that's just me), what I did love was Christian's complex character and his struggles psychologically. And I loved that Anna could reach past his issues and help heal the little boy inside. Cheesey, I know, but true. I loved it.

That set my summer reading stage for a series of  cheep ebooks and Freebies that I downloaded to the good ole Kindle. Some of them were great reads, others left me  shaking my head wondering why people think that sounding like a bad 70s porn is romantic, but that post is for another day.

What's really driving me nuts is that the majority of smexy reads either center around Washington State or have control freak billionaires that constantly need their egos stroked.

Really, people.

Writers, hear me. Edward and Christian were not adored by fans because they were past the point of beautiful  and had more money than I have dirt. No, they were loved by millions because they wanted to protect and take care of their woman, being with the love of their life made them want to be a better man (or vampire, as the case may be), and, most importantly, these guys went out of their way to put her needs first.

It wouldn't have mattered if they were from the freaking mountains, liked to shave bunnies for fun, and didn't have two nickles to rub together. Maybe if they smelled like bad B.O. instead of some heady mix of manly scents and nature. Still, I think some readers may even have been able to look past that.

Can we please understand the premise here?

What drew millions of readers to these books were the actions of the men. Now I'm not speaking for the entire female population, Lord knows there are the cynics and extremists of the world already pissed at me for even attempting to find a commonality in a romance's success. It seems to me though that women who love these books want to feel adored. They want to feel as though they are the only one that can meet their man's needs. They want to be valued, respected, and cherished with a good dash of I-think-you're-the-sexiest-thing-alive-and-I-have-to-have-you-now added in.

See, in real life, woman are the ones that make sure everyone's needs are met. They usually are the last to eat, the last to bed, the one who buys generic for themselves but top of the line for the rest of the fam. They usually make do with what's in the closet while the hubby and kids get new clothes. These readers in real life go without in so many ways, and so they are attracted to a story where the protagonist's needs are important to the leading man. In short, these readers really just want someone to give a  flying rats ass if their emotional and physical needs are being met at all.

So, dear writers, here's my challenge to you. Write me a steamy story about a guy who isn't orgasmically good looking, doesn't live in Seattle, and actually works for a living. He can have hang ups and issues (although can we please tone down the I-can't-be-touched-and-I-need-to-control-your-every-breath thing). Let him fall for a girl who is beautiful to him. Maybe her hips are too round, or, I don't know, she has uneven boobs ... something. Write their story and let him overcome his hardships and want to be a better man for her. Let him love her, cherish her, but still throw her down and show her who's  boss every now and again. Let him find his way past her emotional barriers and truly adore her spirit, and allow her to do the same for him.

Now that's a story readers will flock to!

*End of Rant*
Whew! I feel better.

I think I'm going to start reading either sci-fi or YA for a little while.

Love Ya!
Brittany

Wordsmith Wednesday #2

Welcome one and all to the next greatest meme on the face of the planet!  Well, at least to us! :-) It started as the brain child of the great Hope Collier.  Thanks, Izzie, for such a great idea!

The objective:

Show us a scene from your current project. It can be creepy, adventurous, romantic, etc. Just a snippet to let readers see what they're in for!

The guidelines:

 * Must be from a current work-in-progress (WIP). Nothing already published.
 * You may choose from any section of the manuscript, but be mindful not to include spoilers.
 * Keep it clean and YA audience friendly, please. No erotica.
 * Stay under 300 words or about one page. It can be as little as a few lines if you prefer. We just want to give readers a chance to see everyone's selection. 
 * Link back to Chirenjenzie so we can enjoy others' work as well!
 * Include the guidelines in your post. 

 Please leave a comment with a link to your Wordsmith Wednesday so we can hop on over to your site!

Wordsmith Wednesday #1

Welcome one and all to the next greatest meme on the face of the planet!  Well, at least to us! :-) It started as the brain child of the great Hope Collier.  Thanks, Izzie, for such a great idea!

The objective:

Show us a scene from your current project. It can be creepy, adventurous, romantic, etc. Just a snippet to let readers see what they're in for!

The guidelines:

 * Must be from a current work-in-progress (WIP). Nothing already published.
 * You may choose from any section of the manuscript, but be mindful not to include spoilers.
 * Keep it clean and YA audience friendly, please. No erotica.
 * Stay under 300 words or about one page. It can be as little as a few lines if you prefer. We just want to give readers a chance to see everyone's selection. 
 * Link back to Chirenjenzie so we can enjoy others' work as well!
 * Include the guidelines in your post. 

 Please leave a comment with a link to your Wordsmith Wednesday so we can hop on over to your site!

The Devil Heats up Winter!

The Devil in Winter

Synopsis: A devil's bargain

Easily the shyest Wallflower, Evangeline Jenner stands to become the wealthiest, once her inheritance comes due. Because she must first escape the clutches of her unscrupulous relatives, Evie has approached the rake Viscount St. Vincent with a most outrageous proposition: marriage!

Sebastian's reputation is so dangerous that thirty seconds alone with him will ruin any maiden's good name. Still, this bewitching chit appeared, unchaperoned, on his doorstep to offer her hand. Certainly an aristocrat with a fine eye for beauty could do far worse.

But Evie's proposal comes with a condition: no lovemaking after their wedding night. She will never become just another of the dashing libertine's callously discarded broken hearts -- which means Sebastian will simply have to work harder at his seductions...or perhaps surrender his own heart for the very first time in the name of true love.

My Review:
This is by far my favorite in the series! I know, I know. I said that about Lillian's story, but this time I really mean it!

Evie Jenner is a great character, but what I love most is the character's growth. In the previous books, Evie was portrayed as a shy, stuttering girl who really didn't have much of a backbone. But page one of The Devil in Winter we learn that Kleypas has been holding out on us. Evie not only has a backbone, but one made of steel. She's been through hell and back has survived on sheer force of will. I love that by the end of the story, she brings St. Vincent to his knees (literally :-).

Undoubtedly St. Vincent is one of the best characters I've ever read. Kleypas is a master of character development, and she shines with St. Vincent! Every bit of his dialogue is tempered with a slow, lazy cynical flavor. His been-there-done-that attitude lets the reader know right away that he has seen it all. There is nothing in or out of the bedroom that he hasn't experienced, and certainly nothing that would interest his lackadaisical way of life. But then Evie storms into his home, and, whether he likes it or not, she completely changes him in a way he never imagined. 


The only thing that bothered me about the book was the way Kleypas refers to Cam (who is a main character in her Hathaway series). Cam is 25 or so, and she keeps referring to him as "a boy". Not only did it pull me out of the story, it messed with my image of Cam (who is a tall, gorgeous horse of a Rom with dark hair, and tanned skin). He's one of my favorite leads in all of her historical work, and I'm afraid to re-read Mine till Midnight because I don't want to look at Cam differently. I like him just the way his, thank you very much! I definitely don't want to see him as a "boy". :-) 


The Cam issue did nothing to hinder my love of the story though, and so I have to give another fantastic 5-star review for the Kleypas Wallflower series!
Posted by: Chi

The Plea-ssure of Being a Writer

I often hear writers talking about their creative lives. We both love and hate this ceaseless obsession. It can be one of the most pleasurable parts of our existence. The chance to create worlds and characters with no more than a flicker of imagination is a journey few people experience. And having an outlet to express your dark, whimsical, or insane side is a gift ... but it can also be a curse.

So much pressure surrounds the lives of writers. There are the ever-looming doubts that swirl around in our minds. The fear and likelihood of rejection. The pressure to live up to some (spoken or unspoken) expectation. Not to mention the fact that we see other writers who seem to have their crap together while we're out scraping around for our last few morsels of sanity. It hardly feels fair at times. 

So, why is it writers struggle? Why do we end up suffering over our desire to create? It causes so many to give up on something they love to do, and that's just wrong. I've seen it time and time again. They get beaten down and lose their passion.

Elizabeth Gilbert is the author of Eat. Pray. Love. Here she gives a speech about writing, inspiration, and actually enjoying the process without suffering the fear of failing. It's a little long, so watch it when you have time to sit and really digest what she's saying. It's very eye-opening. Enjoy!

Kleypas Mania!

  
Last summer, Rennie (AKA Italia Trent, or better known as the ren in Chirenjenzie :- ) and I had a discussion about male leads in romances. At the time, it seemed that the men in books were stereotyped. In YA, the all-knowing bad boy seemed to dominate. Contemporary ran with the experienced as well, but these men had serious baggage. And then there was the men of the historical romance. These are virile men who know their place, and kept their woman right by their side.

A lively discussion ensued about creating one character that held great traits of each genre. It would be interesting, wouldn't it?

I hadn't read historical romance in years, but what I did remember of them I didn't like. The brutish you-are-my-woman type didn't appeal to me, but Ren insisted that I read a historical romance or two to broaden my understanding of the male psyche. I balked at first, hating the idea of sifting through pages of submissive English waifs being used as doormats. But I had to fly to Chicago that weekend, and so, determined to keep an open mind, I picked up a Lisa Kleypas book from the airport bookstore.

I almost missed my flight. :-)

Oh, mylanta! While Rennie was right about the complexity of the male leads, I didn't fall in love with the genre, I fell in love with the writing!

Kleypas has a way of bringing well rounded characters to life. She uses subtle inflections and mannerisms to make each character distinct, naturally weaving their personality into each paragraph. The stories move at a leisurely pace, but not so slow that the reader becomes bored. Descriptions are woven in at just the right times as to not become tedious, but what I really love is that after reading over twenty of her books, she has the ability to make each story fresh.



And so, my posts in the month of January and February are going to be dedicated to Kleypas's Wallflower series, and her Bowstreet series. The first will be posted in a few days, so be sure to check back!

Chi

A Review by Any Other Name...

 Book reviews. We've all read them. Most of us have written one at some point or another, but what we aren't taught as authors is how to handle them. You write a story. You love it into existence, and then you beat it into sparkly-clean and concise submission. You follow whatever route best fits your goals for the book, be it agent, publisher, indie, or self-pub, till finally release day comes!

Reviews and ratings begin to trickle in. And as any author can vouch, this will create freaking havoc in your life. Good reviews cause pressure and stress to live up to expectations on an unrealistic level or force you to create simply to please your reader. Bad reviews make you want to curl up in a moldy cellar and give into the I-suck-so-muchness. Neither of these things are ideal, yet we all experience them all the time!

But in the words of the brilliant Ray Bradbury, “You have to know how to accept rejection and reject acceptance.”

Writers shouldn't write because they want to please someone. If you do that, you'll never be a success in your eyes or anyone else's, because you can't make everyone happy. It's just not possible. If it's in your heart to be a writer, to create characters and mold worlds out of bits of imagination, then don't let anyone rain on your parade ... OR be your pink prancing poodles! And by that I mean, the awesomeness behind you that you've now come to rely on for affirmation.

"But what happens when I get a bad review? How do I deal with that?" you may ask.

In short, my answer is this: quietly. I know, I know. That's not fair. Trust me when I say the first time I received a rating that didn't exactly light the galaxy with wonder, I wanted to email the person (who hadn't even left a review!) and ask them what I'd done to not even elicit a response from them. I mean, it took me longer to grow the story than it did my child. They couldn't even show enough courtesy and respect to let me know why?

But you can't do that. 1) It simply isn't allowed. Goodreads would kick you off if you responded to a negative review. 2)You're bigger than that, right? Commenting on a negative review/rating just tells the reviewer you need their affirmation. But why? You're writing for you, remember? 3) It won't change the reviewer's opinion, so why draw attention to the situation. Likely, you'll start a peeing contest that results in everyone walking away wet, smelly, and non-victorious.

And this, my dear writer friends, is the hardest thing you'll deal with. Trying to understand and accept the fact that not everyone is going to dig your work. But you can't understand it, because we'll never really understand people in general. Opinions are impossible to predict and everyone has them. The best we can hope for, and offer ourselves, is respect. We need to respect the the time and energy put into a project and accept that as long as we are enough in ourselves, that's enough!

Be confident in your work and write from your heart!