RomanceEverAfter
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People You Should Know A Conversation with Ross Howard, A Cure for Kirby, Meet Monica Davis and Geir Ness. The Beauty of Change Series Historical Romance Column and Book Reviewer: Kaye Hatfield NEW! Sam DeMarco Have you dreamed of starting your own business? Sam DeMarco, owner of Compliance Team, did and he tells us how he made his dream a reality! Photo Gallery Romance & You (Articles) Romantic Memoir
Quotes & Poetry Expand your quotes and poetic horizons by visiting our various Quotes & Poetry categories: Thought of the Week: Time for New Beginnings A series of 8 articles by Melissa Hamilton comprising a collection of principles that will allow you to make your vision for the future a reality. Read about the Amish, India, Philippines, Greece, & Rome.
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I find it romantic when my husband takes the time to think about what pleases me. Because I carried daisies in my bridal bouquet, a handful of daisies means more to me than two dozen roses. Of course, a five pound box of Godiva chocolate always gets my attention too. Why do you enjoy reading and writing romance? I'm a real sucker for a happy ending. Oprah books about dysfunctional families have their place, but they leave me depressed and wanting. I read romance to escape the reality of everyday life - bills, car repairs, family squabbles and crazy pets. I write romance to celebrate the joy I've found in my own personal life - a loving husband of nearly 30 years, and two healthy, quasi-normal sons. HEA - Happily Ever After exists (at least in serial form), and I want to tell everyone so. Why did you choose to write in your sub-genres of romance? I don't choose the sub-genre, my plot and characters do that for me. Each story demands its own time and place. In my book GEMINI MOON the heroine is a woman who lives life through her art. She feels that because her body is damaged she'll never experience love. When a strange man appears naked in her studio and tells her he needs her soul, she's convinced he is crazy until he whisks her away to his world. In order for this story line to work, I had to create a fantasy world. Naked strangers who demand you give up your soul in the real world usually constitute a 911 call not a romance.What inspires you to create new stories, plots and conflicts for your stories?Everything. Newspaper and magazine articles. A snippet of a TV or radio news report. A trip to a new locale. Overhearing bits of conversation. Other books or stories I've read. And most importantly my dreams. All of these and more are my inspiration. CRYSTAL MOON was inspired by a dream of abduction. RAWHIDE SURRENDER came from an account I read of a young woman who masqueraded as a man in the Old West. Everything I see, read or hear is grist for the mill that's constantly turning in my mind.How do you go about selecting the names of your characters? This is the part of writing that I have the most fun with, especially in my fantasy novels. I like for my characters' names to reflect who they are, so I try to find a name with a specific meaning that does this. Yvonne Navarro's book FIRST NAME REVERSE DICTIONARY is a great help. Though not as extensive as The Writer's Digest's CHARACTER NAMING SOURCEBOOK, Yvonne's book lists the meanings first and then gives you names that fit. My hero in CRYSTAL MOON is named Kyne which means bold. But sometimes I just make up a name with a sound that I like. The heroine is named Sianna. What characteristics do you like to give your heroes and heroines? Usually my heroes and heroines start out too perfect. I try and build the ideal person. Strong. Brave. Confident. Beautiful. Intelligent. Of course, even in fiction, there are no such human beings. In order to make them believable, I have to give them some good characteristics and some character flaws. Which good traits and which bad traits they get depend on who they are and what the needs of the story demand. Sianna in CRYSTAL MOON has a loving, innocent soul. Her biggest character flaw is her inability to perceive evil in anyone. In RAWHIDE SURRENDER, KC hides her need for love beneath a tough as shoe leather demeanor. Each hero and heroine will have different traits, but they all have to be human - at least on the inside. What type of conflicts do you like to weave into your story plots? I like conflicts that involve action and adventure, that pit the hero and heroine against one another, but force them to work together to solve their problems. A heroine who's the daughter of the hero's worst enemy. A hero who abducts the heroine to another world. A hero who believes the woman he's falling in love with is a boy. Ideally, the characters' external conflicts should reflect their internal fears and conflicts, expose their weaknesses, and draw upon their strengths to build to a satisfying conclusion to the story.
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