Guest: Maree Anderson + Book Giveaway!

The One Where Maree Eats Humble Pie

By Maree Anderson

Thanks heaps for having me as your guest on Fierce Romance, Nicole. I had a ball last time I was here (and I’m thrilled that I was well-behaved enough for you to ask me back *g*)

I used to believe I was incapable of writing an outline and pre-plotting an entire book before I sat down to do the fun stuff – yanno, the writing-and-wondering-what’s-gonna-happen-next-bit. *VBG* I was a seat-of-the-pants writer. Period. But last year, because I’m, like, a total sucker for punishment, I decided that I was going to give this plotting business my best shot. After all, loads of other writers do it. And if I’m ever in the position of selling books to editors based on outlines, I needed to know how to do it, right?

Right.

So how did it go?

I shudder at the memory. Kidding! Kinda….

It took about three or four days before I was totally happy with the outline. (And perhaps I shouldn’t mention it was like pulling teeth with a pair of fricking pliers. And that I did A LOT of wandering round the house muttering to myself and finding excuses to procrastinate. Like doing housework. You know there’s something up when you’d rather vacuum the house than write an outline.) But it was worth it in the end, because then I got to reward myself with the fun stuff.*cue me rubbing my hands together with glee*

Then b*gger me (as we say in New Zealand - and not in a rude way) as soon I started writing, one of my main characters went neener neener neener! and decided to change professions. So there went a somewhat crucial aspect of my carefully planned goal, motivation and conflict between the hero and heroine. Nooooo!

“Oh, come on!” I whined to my muse (who by this stage was snickering in a most unladylike fashion). “Don't do this to me! What’s the point of plotting if my characters aren’t gonna stick to the darn plot?” No answer from Ms Muse. She was too busy having fun at my expense - evil beyotch.

Mutter mutter growl growl. Okay. Okay. It's not the end of the world. Just go with it, Maree.

I went with it.

And about five thousand words into the story I got smacked upside the head with another curve ball. My editor emailed me to ask if I had a novella ready to submit. Like, now. Because the publisher had a gap that needed filling. And it’d be a chance to submit a novella for the next Red Sage Secrets anthology. Which meant I’d finally achieve my dream of being in print.

Since the “Are you freaking kidding me?" response that sprang to my fingers didn’t seem appropriate (*g*), I told her I had something in the works. Only trouble was that it’d been planned as a novel-length non-erotic romance. But hey, since it was already fully plotted (there's that heinous word again) I could have a go at scaling it back to a novella and get it to her by, say, the end of the month?

Three weeks. Gulp. (I tried really hard not to think about that whole three weeks thing for fear I’d get writers block.)

“What the heck,” she said. “Go for it, and see how quickly you can get it to me.”

So I went for it.

And despite some plot tweaks – like, having to get the hero and heroine er, “together” really early on (*cough* erotic romance *cough*), and secondary characters who had far too much to say for themselves, I had a ball writing the story. And an incredibly short time later, I typed The End on the last page of a 30,000 word novella, Kat On A Hot Tin Roof. I’d written 25,000 words, and rewritten the first 5000, in three weeks.

Better still, my editor gave me the best feedback I could ever ask for when she emailed me with: "I absolutely loved it. Made a bad day go by fast! And to me, the ultimate recommendation for a story is that it gets the reader through a bad day."

She also said my story was howlingly funny, deliciously tender and super-hot - not that I’m blowing my own trumpet or anything. Aw, what the heck. Toot! Toot! *grins and buffs fingernails on the front of her pjs* (Mind you, I suspect the howlingly funny part might be a nod to my heroine’s Grandma Louise, who lives in a retirement home and refuses to age gracefully. She’s a terrible flirt and she constantly gives the staff conniptions with some of her antics. Moon-hopper races, anyone?)

So, there you go. This pantser is eating a big slice of humble pie, because I truly believe that without plotting and outlining Kat On A Hot Tin Roof before I started, I would not have been able write it so quickly, and I’d have lost my opportunity to have a novella published in a print anthology - my first ever story to go to print. SQUEEEEEE! Mmm. Maybe this plotting business has some merit, after all ;-)

BTW, that slice of humble pie I'm eating? It's apple. With a large scoop of hokey-pokey ice-cream. My favorite!

And if you’d like to read an excerpt from KAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF, please click here.
 (Warning, readers must be 18 years or over. *cough* erotic romance *cough*)

Time for a giveaway!

Unfortunately I can’t give away a copy of Secrets Volume 30 as I’d planned, but…. Instead, I’d like to offer one commenter (chosen at random) who answers my easy peasy question, their choice of any eBook from my backlist:

Even Demons Get The Blues (Demons, Book 1)
Let Sleeping Demons Lie (Demons, Book 2)
From The Ashes
Scent Of A Man

So if you’d like to enter the giveaway, please leave a comment telling me the answer to this question:

What is Jace’s private nick-name for Kat when he first sees her?

Hint 1: the initials are M-K
Hint 2: the first word is “Miss”
Hint 3: Shhh. Don’t tell anyone, but the answer is in the excerpt ;-)
Hint 4: You can always wait for someone else to leave a comment with the answer, and copy their answer... but then you'll miss out on all the fun of reading the excerpt!

Note:
~To enter the giveaway, you must be 18 years or over *cough* erotic romance again! *cough*
~Please indicate your choice of prize with your comment.

Cheers,

Maree Anderson

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

About Maree:

Maree always knew she had a reeeeally warped imagination. The trouble was finding a socially acceptable outlet... which is why she became an author.

The other great thing about being an author is having a valid reason to read loads of books -- all in the name of research, of course. When she's not 'researching', Maree's writing romance of the paranormal persuasion. She's a Kiwi, a New Zealander, and she's addicted to chocolate -- the darker the better. Not to mention coffee and excellent NZ wine. She's not quite so addicted to her local gym but she's working on it ;-)

Maree’s Website
Facebook author page
Twitter

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

SECRETS VOLUME 30: DESIRES UNLEASHED

COX CLUB ~ Alice Gaines
At the urging of her best friend, Andi Crawford visits an exclusive club in order to find some sexual satisfaction after her divorce. The last person she expects to find at a place like Club Cox is her overbearing ex-husband, Blake. But, he’s there and as tempting as ever. Can she maintain her independence, or will she surrender to the intense physical pleasure only he can give her?

KAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF ~ Maree Anderson
Workaholic architect, Jace Burton, inadvertently flashes Kat Meyer, who later turns up at a crucial meeting…and seduces him in the bathroom. She’s one of the designers vying to impress him. And boy, is he impressed to discover her prowling his house—naked. Kat has no clue what’s causing her nocturnal wanderings. And when Jace discovers she’s the victim of a zodiac curse, will he fight to keep her, or run for the hills?

KELLEN’S CONQUEST ~ Anne Kane
As an Alph-Elite warrior, Kellen is used to getting what he wants, and what he wants is the sexy data thief, Mia. Problem is she won’t admit she wants him or that someone is trying to kill her. It takes all of Kellen’s mutant strength and Mia’s streetwise smarts to keep her alive long enough to unravel a vicious plot for revenge.

SCOUNDREL IN A KILT ~ Nicole North
Brodie, Chieftain of Clan McCain, is a dark, sensual Scottish scoundrel, who likes nothing more than being a selkie shape-shifter, even if he has been cursed by a witch of the dark arts. Stunning, modern day supermodel, Erin Schultz, blazes into his 1621 world like a falling star. Though he’s certain she will shatter life as he knows it by breaking his curse, he can’t resist her tantalizing seduction.

Secrets Volume 30: Desires Unleashed available now from Red Sage Publishing, and coming soon to good bookstores 

Guest - Alice Gaines : Ferocity

Today our special guest is Alice Gaines. Welcome, Alice!

Ferocity

I love that word and its counterpart, fierce. It suggests intensity and passion. Total concentration on conquest.

I often wonder what it would be like to have a lover who brought the same ferocity that he uses in battle into the bedroom. Imagine your warrior returning from the fight – adrenalin still pumping – to take out all that extra energy on you. As gentle as he might be at other times, as polite as he can act when the situation requires, right now the heat in his blood means he can’t take no for an answer.

Okay, that sounds a bit like Bruno Tonioli critiquing a tango, but I think you get my point. This is fantasy, not reality. If I want reality, all I have to do is get up in the morning.

For real life, I want a considerate lover – a guy who’ll run a bath and pour me a glass of wine when work was rough. I want a guy who’ll listen to my worries and tell me everything will work out. Oh hell, I want a man who’ll take my car to be smogged.

In fantasy, I want the Viking warrior who’s just breached the castle walls and now charges up the tower stairs to find me at the top. Not only is that sexy as all hell, but it relieves me of any responsibility for what happens next. “I had to have hot, luscious sex with that stranger. He gave me no choice.”

My novella for Red Sage Publishing, My Lady’s Pleasure, isn’t quite that extreme. But, the Lady Josalyn has no choice but to marry the Viking Ulric, and she has the mysterious minstrel Trey to ease her way to lust with her husband through his music and his aphrodisiac potions. For a while, she has the good services of both men and ends up with a life of passion with her fierce Viking.

Close enough to fantasy for me.

What about you? Do you love fierce heroes?

P.S. My Lady’s Pleasure is part of the Three Kinds of Wicked series.

Please visit Alice's website at: www.alicegaines.blogspot.com

Alice Gaines talks about Master Of The Elements

Hi, Today I'm pleased we have as a guest here author Alice Gaines. She's had several novellas out in Red Sage Secrets anthologies and they chose hers as one of the stories for the launch of eRed Sage (http://www.eredsage.com/).

Alice Gaines loves the fantastic and the ultra-sensual. Writing gives her the opportunity to combine these two pleasures. Besides spinning tales in her head, Alice’s passions include vegetable gardening, the San Francisco 49ers, and America’s Test Kitchen. Alice has a Ph.D. in psychology from the University of California at Berkeley and lives in Oakland, California with her two pet corn snakes, Casper and Sheikh Yerbouti. Feel free to e-mail Alice at algaines@pacbell.net.


NN: Welcome, Alice!! Please tell us about your story out now with eRed Sage, Master of the Elements.

Alice Gaines: As Elsbeth says goodbye to her father at the foot of the forbidden mountain, he places a bride’s garland on her head and then refuses to let her go.

“I won’t leave you,” he insists. “Not to what lives up there.”

But Elsbeth has always known that her fate can only be found at the crest of the forbidden mountain in the master’s castle, a place shrouded in legend and kissed by the clouds.

Every hundred years, on the sixth day of the sixth month of the sixth year of the new century, a virgin from the town is led to the foot of the mountain and sent up to her destiny at the master’s hands. None of the virgins are ever heard from again.

As the time for the sacrifice grows near, the master’s protection against the elements begins to falter. Drought, wind, cold. Crops fail. The people are suffering, and only Elsbeth can put a stop to it.

But at what cost? Is Elsbeth a blood sacrifice? Or a companion to ease the master’s isolation?

NN: What a great premise!! Please tell us about your favorite character in the book and why is this the case?

AG: The story only has two important characters -- Elsbeth and Lord Raelen, the Master of the Elements. Although I love and admire Elsbeth, Raelen is the one who totally captured my imagination. He's mysterious and frightening and yet gentle and adept at giving his virgin companion great pleasure. As the story progresses, he becomes more human, more vulnerable, and more precious. I want that man!

NN: He sounds like a hero I would easily fall in love with! Do you have any advice for unpublished authors?

AG: Never give up! Never surrender!

Okay, that's Commander Peter Quincy Taggart of the NSEA Protector (Questarians know what I'm talking about), but it's the best advice to writers at every point in their careers. It's never easy, and it never gets easier. The rejections hurt more after you're published. Take it from someone who knows.

Ultimately, the only thing you can count on is the joy of writing itself. Publishers will reject or neglect you. Editors will fail to recognize your brilliance and insist you throw out your best stuff. Reviewers will write descriptions of your books that prove beyond a doubt that they never read your stories but someone else's. Blogs? Don't even get me started on blogs. Your nearest and dearest may not understand why you HAVE to tell stories. They may even try to sabotage you.

In the end, all you have is your characters and the beauty of the worlds you've created for them. Cling to them and protect them. They -- and you -- deserve no less.

NN: This is so true! What’s next for you?

AG: I'm in the process of finishing a full-length book set in an alternate universe where a mutation has created a sub-species ultra-sexual human beings called Novuses. My heroine is cast into that universe where she has to learn how to fix her own world so she can save her child. In that alternate universe, she meets her soul mate -- a powerful Novus leader. When the time comes to return to her world, will she be able to bring her lover back with her? Will she have to chose between her child and the man she loves?

After that, I have a few short things I need to write before I can move on to my next obsession. I recently succumbed to the Timothy Dalton version of Jane Eyre. Oh, la la! that tortured, beautiful, passionate man! To exorcise that demon I want to write my own story about the redemption of a man who believes he was born without a heart. Only, my Jane will be a force for sensuality rather than a force for morality.

NN: Sounds fantastic! Thanks so much for being here today, Alice!! Please visit Alice's website at: Alice Gaines To join her yahoogroup send an e-mail to AliceGainesChambers-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.

To blog readers, who is your all time favorite romance hero and why did you fall in love with him so quickly and completely?