WRITER'S WRITE...WRITING PARTNERS FEUD

SPICY HOT VANILLA
BY: Angelica Hart and Zi

Angelica Hart and Zi are writers published by Champagne Books and underEarth Properties.

In all romances there is that moment when sex finds fruition, that instant when all the tug and pull, the laboring through emotional upheaval and external complications finally finds its way to culmination. It does happen. Sometimes the reader has to wait until nearly the end of the story, but then there it is, the reward, the prize in the cracker jack box called a romance novel. We cannot and will never trivialize that. The challenge for the writer is to make the reader want to be a page turner voyeur. This has to be accomplished by getting one to root for the story's couple to share lovemaking, but also for the reader to want, crave, and desire the outcome as much as the hero and heroine, to have a stake in their lives, and at times to relate to the situation in that they nearly meld with one of the characters, experiencing all there is to experience. But as important as is that, it is also crucial to make that scene interesting. The same old same old must never feel as if so. The act in of itself would be simple and maybe boring if not dressed in all the luxurious trappings a writer's imagination can provide. We want to put the fiery desire into those moments. We owe it to characters and the readers. So how?

"Would you like to
With Elinor Glyn
On a tiger skin?
Or would you prefer
To err with her
On some other fur?"
- (author unknown)

The afore poem was written about Elinor Glyn a 20s writer of torrid love stories. My Grams watched the soaps and she call them her stories. "Got to get done so I can watch my stories," she'd say, or "Run out and play during my stories." She'd grab a cup of coffee and a snack and sit in the big chair, losing herself to the scenes unfolding in a way that made her part of the characters' world. She loved the edgy.

We are lead to believe that Glyn found a certain amount of sensuality having the feel of fur on her skin. We are in a time where toys and kink are becoming more and more commonplace, and the usage of them is no longer a hidden secret. There are even fetish parties that play out just like a Tupperware party used to be demonstrated with a group of ladies in someone's home. We most certainly believe that traditional love making holds a profound import not just because of the grandness of all sensations but those sensations begin in the largest sex organ the brain. But there is much to be said that spicing up the act can be good. Perception of what is exciting varies from person to person and catching segments of that perception is what stirs readers, encouraging them to devour the scenes.

We as a society get our paraphilias, our sexual arousal, from a variety of sources. Glyn in the 20s was not vanilla but she is very much so in this day and age. We live in a world of adventurous lovers.

Our role if we use such fetishes is to give them value within the relating, because at the end of the day when you tally up the score, it is not the color of the condom on the talliwacker, or whether they score, but truly the honest exchange of emotions that facilitate meaningful physical expression. All the other paraphernalia and erotic action is just fun.

Our proclivity is spicy hot vanilla. That is apparent in KILLER DOLLS and stretched toward rare uniqueness in SNAKE DANCE. What would you like in love scenes found in your favorite genre?

Our release KILLER DOLLS is a wonderful romantic thriller based in bio-terrorism. SNAKE DANCE which is about to be released is a sci/fi-fantasy adventure romance placed in a unique culture. CHASING YESTERDAY is a gentle paranormal romance which provides an unfolding mystery.


We'd love to hear from anyone interested in what we do. Anyone who writes us at angeliahartandzi@yahoo.com and leaves an s-mail address, we will send you a gift and add you to any future mailings.


Angelica Hart and Zi
KILLER DOLLS ~ September 2009
SNAKE DANCE ~ February 2010
CHASING YESTERDAY ~ July 2010
angelicahartandzi@yahoo.com
angelicahartandzi.com

BOOKS can be purchased at
Champagne Books
http://www.champagnebooks.com

A Writer's First Rule by author J. E. Cammon

A Writer's First Rule

by J. E. Cammon

Being a writer, I often think about things to write about. Lately, I've had occassion to think on the writing itself, the act of organizing words into sentences, and sentences into paragraphs, and the phenomena of how all us writers came to the craft differently.

 

I know one such who is a dream writer. His ideas don't come to him except when his thoughts are suffocated by sleep, then, while his conscious mind is dormant, his unconscious self plays at author. When he wakes, he takes these ideas and writes them down, spinning the ideas like a loom. Sometimes he removes the gossamer fog of sleep, sometimes he doesn't. Another writer I know tends to things as they come to her. Scenes, and sentences, out of her mind and onto the page as they occur in the cinema of her mind. Later, she pieces them together in a puzzle-like tapestry. And of course I write like I write, in purposeful order with shields all around my thoughts, warding the chaos of other stories pushing in for my attention, against an hourglass draining of time.

But for every writer I know, I've met half a dozen others that wanted to be, or used to be, but they allowed something or someone in their life to discourage them. Someone told them how they did things was wrong. But, the amazing thing about writing, I've found, is that there's no wrong way to do it. There are effective methods, strategies, and techniques, trends that flow in and out of popularity, but so long as the words get on the page in an intelligible fashion, who cares how they got there? I would even say that there being so many different kinds of storytellers is why storytelling is such a wonderful method of expression.

 

So I write this for you, the third kind of writer: not the one that is, or the one that might have been, but the one that could be. You won't be able to please everyone, and I'm personally still on the fence about whether or not one should even try. But if it's in you to write, then don't let a small detail like thinking you're doing it wrong get in the way of that. Someone once told me that "writer's write." I spent two years at a technical college writing short stories around my class notes before I happened upon that nugget of wisdom. Hopefully, you will spend less time figuring that first lesson out. The second lesson was "get it all down before you realize it's rubbish."

 

But that was my second lesson. It may not be yours, which is another beautiful thing about it all. Of the two friends I mentioned, and myself, once we all learned the first rule, we branched into different directions, ultimately sizing up our own specific hurdles as wordsmiths, and attempting to leap over them. Just something to think about. But don't think about it for too long. There's an empty page out there somewhere hungry for words.

 

Find more about author J. E. Cammon at www.jecammon.com

 

 

Why I Bang My Head ON My Computer

It happens to all of us, sooner rather than later and much more often than any of us would like. The computer—our lifeline, our connection to the world, the instrument of our creation—bites the big one. It happened to me last Monday morning.
I’m sitting at my desk with my mug of tea, minding my own business, with three documents and a few others things open and minimized on my computer, I download my email, but then, before reading it, I decide to check something in my bank account. But the…darned…page…won’t…open. Aargh!!!
I then say to myself, Self, close everything, reboot and try again. So I dutifully try to close everything that’s open. Nothing…will…close. Nothing! Not one program. Aargh!!!
So, taking a deep breath, I punch the button to manually shut off the computer. That works out just fine. But when I punch the same button to turn it on again, it gets just so far. Then it gives me the message that haunts all of our nightmares: Windows cannot load because it is missing a file. Reboot from the CD.
Okay, okay, okay. I can do that. I slip the CD into the drive and up comes six different messages. One of them is Do you want to repair the problem?
Well, of course I do, you stupid computer. Why do you think I’m sitting here pulling my hair out? Sooo, I select that option and the computer cycles through the instructions, reboots…and asks me the same stupid question!!!!!!! So once again I go through the process. And again. And again. And again!!!
By now I can tell you tea is not strong enough but I can’t bring myself to pour Jack Daniel’s at seven thirty in the morning.
My last chance to win-reinstall Windows XP from the CD. Of course…ha ha ha…we all know THAT WILL WIPE OUT EVERYTHING ON THE HARD DRIVE!!!!! But, smart me, I have an external hard drive that backs everything up on my computer every single night. No problem.
Sooo, here we go, reinstalling software. Voila! We are now in business!
Not!
Because I can no longer access the PC Backup files TO RETRIEVE MY THREE WIPS!! Well, &*(*&*(*&
NOW I’m banging my head on my desk.
By an accident of luck (not brains, I can assure you) I had two of them saved to my flash drive. Actually, all three but, of course (bangs head) one of the files is corrupted and only gives me four pages out for almost forty.
Banging head again.
Next step: calling son-in-law sobbing madly and throwing self on mercy.
By Tuesday I really was back in business, sort of. Everything was up and running except…I still can’t access the backup files, so I am buying new software. And I am manually backing up to the external hard drive every document I work on, as well as to two flash drives. And I spent the week pounding away at my computer doing my best to recreate my lost manuscript. (Much, much, much banging of head.)
By Tuesday night I was ready to drink the Jack Daniel’s straight from the bottle, but by Sunday night when I finally sent off my finished manuscript to my editor I decided one drink should be my limit. Next time I’ll give the rest to my computer.
Sooo. What horror stories do y’all have? Tell me about them. I just know everyone’s computer has been bad at least once.

But now that my computer's working again, let me give you a taste of my latest shifter releases.
Animal Instinct
Book Four: The Sentinels
http://www.total-e-bound.com/

When Ann Marie Knight literally fell into Drew Noland’s solitary existence as an injured white wolf, little did he expect her to shift into a woman whose scent called to him-mate! Already gathering to track a vicious group of men who maimed and hunted animals illegally, they turned their attention to rescuing her brother. But could Drew calm Ann Marie’s fears and convince her they were meant to mate for life?

Driven By Hunger
Sequel to Hot Moon Rising and Line of Sight
http://www.jasminejade.com/
Hunger drives the wolf. Hunger for food, for domination, for sexual satisfaction, and for revenge when one of their own is harmed. Rand not only satisfies his hunger with Hannah, his new mate, he also teaches her there’s no limit to the carnal pleasures they can enjoy. He is both frightened and enraged when Hannah is kidnapped by Rogan Mueller, an insane geneticist who wants the female shifter for his bizarre experiments. Now Rand hungers for revenge.
Derek, alpha of their pack, has been seeking his mate for a long time. Fate delivers Riesa, a psychic who can give him clues to Hannah’s whereabouts. With Riesa, Derek feeds his sexual appetite, strengthening his ability to lead his pack on a rescue mission.

And come see me at www.desireeholt.com