3
Jan
Happy New Year! (Yeah, okay, so I’m a bit late, but it’s been a crazy couple of weeks…)
As I’ve been promising some book recommendations for a while now, I thought I’d put together a list of a few fun reads to kick off the new year. (Click on the hyperlinks to read more about the books on Amazon.com.)
1) Seeing Red by Susan Crandall – This is a fast-paced romantic suspense that will suck you in quickly and keep you turning the pages until late at night. The threat that drives the story–a man convicted of murder is mistakenly released from prison and comes after the woman who put him there–is like something you’d see on one of those true crime series that make you paranoid to go out at night alone, but there’s a plot twist that I didn’t see coming (at least not in the way it unfolded). I started this one on the way to Chicago during my infamous train adventure and was irritated as hell when I actually had to put it down to attend the conference sessions.
2) Magic Kingdom for Sale–Sold! by Terry Brooks – This is the first book in The Magic Kingdom of Landover series. Although it starts out as a little bit of a downer (the main character, Ben, is a widower/high-powered attorney whose life is falling apart), the humor soon kicks in and makes for a fun bit of fantasy. The story is definitely a journey tale, so there’s lots of going from this place to that, but the characters Ben meets along the way make the wandering worthwhile.
3) A Taste of Midnight by Lara Adrian – Part of Adrian’s Midnight Breed series, this novella is the story of Danika, one of the breedmates we met in the first book but haven’t seen much of since. It’s no secret that I’m a total junkie when it comes to Lara Adrian’s novels, but I honestly wasn’t sure how a novella would go–if it would lose some of the fabulous character development, sizzling romance, heart-pounding suspense, and engaging plot that I so admire in Adrian’s work. Well, I humbly apologize for having any doubts–it was fantastic! This is a digital-first book that can only be bought in various e-book formats at the moment, but (if I remember correctly) it will be appearing as extra material in the mass market paperback version of her upcoming release, Darker After Midnight (which comes out in hardback in a couple of weeks).
Well, folks, there are just a few books to get you started this year. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did. Happy reading!
*Disclaimer: In accordance with FTC Guidelines for reviews and endorsements, you should assume that every book recommended on maurabishop.com was submitted by the author/publisher or purchased via an authorized retailer. We do not accept money or favors in exchange for a good review.
25
Apr
When people find out I’m a writer, one of the first questions that inevitably comes up is where I get all of the ideas for my stories.
Well, the truth is, I get inspiration from pretty much anywhere and everywhere–a news story, the lyrics of a song, a dream, a photograph, a snippet of dialogue between two people in front of me in line at the coffee shop, and–every now and then–from nowhere at all. I honestly don’t remember what was behind every single thing I’ve ever written, but there are a few AH-HA! moments that stand out in my memory for whatever reason, so I thought I’d share those with all of you.
1) My very first novel, way back when I was 14-years-old, was inspired by a series of dreams I had. And, as I recall, I was reading a lot of fantasy novels around then, which probably played a large part in what was on my mind. In particular, I remember two novels/series that were absolutely fabulous and had me hooked on the genre – The Oval Amulet by Lucy Cullyford Babbit and The Song of the Lioness series by Tamora Pierce. I’m generally not all that into YA novels, but I would definitely read these again.
2) A short story I wrote in high school called “The Weed,” which won something-or-other in my creative writing class, came about because of a particularly awful dandelion infestation in our yard that was choking out all the little violet wildflowers I liked to pick and put in a tiny vase on my desk. I remember sitting at my desk looking out the window (instead of doing homework) and fuming about the dandelions, and the idea for the story hit me. When all was said and done, I ended up writing a very dark short story about a precocious little boy battling to save his mother from nefarious forces. The weed was a metaphor. I came across the story again recently and was more than a little shocked by how much the main character I created twenty years ago resembles my eldest son. Adding to the weirdness–they share the same first name. (For the record, that’s where the similarities end. 
)
3) A contemporary romance I’ve been working on on-and-off for several years now was inspired by a single line from a song that I really loved in college. I’ve written loads of scenes for this story, but it keeps wanting to morph into a romantic suspense. I’ve set it aside to return to at some later date when I figure out which way I want it to go.
4) My vampire-like-creature project — Well, I honestly don’t recall where this one came from. I’ve loved vampire movies and books and have since I was a kid, so this was probably just a culmination of decades of watching horror movies that frustrated me because they weren’t love stories. I was also reading a lot by Lara Adrian, J.R. Ward, Lynn Viehl, and Alexandra Ivy, which I’m sure played a role in what I ultimately decided to write. Once again, what I started out writing and what I ended up writing are vastly different.
5) My angels and demons project came about after I watched a documentary on the Black Death. Incidentally, the story has absolutely nothing to do with the plague (although it is mentioned).
6) Red is the result of my eldest son asking, “Hey, Mom, what if….?”
7) A ghost story I’ve been planning draws upon personal experiences. The plot is fictional; some of the incidents depicted are not.
8) The idea for a paranormal romantic comedy that was this close to being my next project back in February came to me while reading Greek mythology with Professor. In keeping with my pattern, by the time I actually sat down and plotted out the story and did all my preliminary character sketches, Greek mythology didn’t play into it at all.
9) An epic fantasy novel that I’ve been writing in fits and starts since my late teens was inspired by Orson Scott Card’s novel, Ender’s Game. My story has absolutely nothing in common with Ender’s Game except that the main character starts out as a little boy who ends up being part of something much bigger than he’d ever anticipated.
10) My current project, which happens to be a futuristic fantasy romance, came about when I read a scientific article about the future of space exploration. I briefly toyed with the idea of writing this one as a sci-fi (a genre I really enjoy), but I quickly realized I needed to stick with planet Earth, and (of course) ended up going in a totally different direction.
Well, there you have it–a little glimpse inside my head. The thing is, what inspires me might not inspire you, and vice versa. The most important thing to remember is that inspiration is all around you. You just have to be open to it.
All that being said, there are going to be times when it seems like the Inspiration Fairy has gone AWOL and is nowhere to be found. In my next couple of posts I’ll share some of my favorite exercises for dragging that good-for-nothing beyotch back kicking and screaming. Stay tuned!
23
May
I just finished reading Dead Beat, a novel from Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files series, and I have to say, Butcher’s books just keep getting better and better. I didn’t think he could top Blood Rites (which had been my favorite thus far), but I dare say, he outdid himself again!
I discovered the Dresden Files books after the TV series came and went far too soon. Hoping to stop my bitching over the cancellation of the series, my HH bought the first several books for me the following year for my birthday. He then proceeded to bogart them, so I didn’t get around to reading the novels until around a year or so ago. And I was hooked.
Unfortunately, my reading time is rather limited, so it’s taking me a while to work my way through the series and catch up to the newest release, but it’s definitely time well-spent! If you’re a fan of mysteries, fantasies, paranormals and/or thrillers, you’d probably enjoy Butcher’s novels. At some point, he hits on all of these genres–sometimes all at once!
In addition to proclaiming my admiration as I reader, I also have to offer my thanks as a writer.
When I began writing Red, it was immediately clear to me that the protagonist’s story had to be in her own voice with no filtration from the narrator. This was a huge deviation from my normal writing M.O. and was both liberating and terrifying at the same time.
Fortunately, I started writing Red right around the time I started reading the Dresden Files series, which couldn’t have been more serendipitous. Butcher does such a fabulous job writing in the first-person, I think I would have been a lot more timid while writing had I not been exposed to such a fantastic example of how to carry it off. Butcher’s voice is, quite simply, fearless, and, as such, authentic–which, in turn, makes the stories much more engaging and enjoyable.
Aside from sharing the same genre(s), my manuscript has almost nothing in common with Butcher’s work, but inspiration can come from just about anywhere and in any form. And I was definitely inspired and have learned a lot about the more subtle nuances of telling a story from this point of view. I’m sure I still have a long way to go until I’ve mastered the craft, but that’s all part of the fun!
And so, as I continue to edit and refine Red in hopes of one day bringing the story to print, I offer a grateful nod to Jim Butcher for showing all us hopefuls how it’s done.
*Disclaimer: In accordance with FTC Guidelines for reviews and endorsements, you should assume that every book recommended on maurabishop.com was submitted by the author/publisher or purchased via an authorized retailer. We do not accept money or favors in exchange for a good review.
30
Nov
A few months ago, my dear friend and literary mentor (“Greg”) asked me what it is that I write, but I’ve been putting off responding for reasons too complicated to go into at the moment. However, as others reading the blog might be curious to know as well, I figured it was time to quit stalling and get on with it. The truth is I enjoy writing almost anything and everything. Really. I was even one of those geeky students who enjoyed working on research papers — the more research the better. (What can I say? Welcome to Nerdville; Population: 1.)
As I mentioned in my bio, I started writing poems and stories when I was around six years old, and I wrote my first novel manuscript when I was fourteen. It was a decent first effort and earned me enough extra credit points in 8th grade Honors English to be assured of an A in the class, regardless of how well I did for the rest of that semester. However, as you might expect of a manuscript written by a fourteen-year-old, it was full of melodrama and angst (after all, everything’s a tragedy when you’re fourteen), so after writing the sequel the following year I collected the manuscripts, stuck them in a manila envelope, and put them away in my storage trunk. But who knows? Maybe if I go through some serious purging of the more saccharine elements, I might be able to salvage the manuscript as a YA fantasy novel without going into sugar-shock. We’ll see.
In college, I wrote mostly poetry — I even managed to publish a few pieces here and there in extremely obscure places that no one will have ever heard of. I still write poetry from time to time when the mood strikes me. It’s where my true aspirations started, so I imagine poetry will always be an outlet for working through my most personal emotions and experiences. Plus, it’s a great exercise for generating new metaphors that I can later cannibalize in my other work. (Just saying.)
After college… well, grad school, marriage and babies kind of sidelined my writing for a while, but I did manage to write several short stories and about five partial novels during that time. Frankly, even though I didn’t finish any of the larger projects, writing the partial novels was a lot more pleasurable than trying my hand at short stories. Although I enjoy reading well-written short fiction, I am not a huge fan of writing it (hence the italicized almost in the first paragraph). I find writing short stories to be a completely exasperating, maddening, and infuriating process and have nothing but the deepest respect for anyone who can successfully pull it off. Every writer has her niche in which she shines — this one isn’t mine.
O. Henry envy aside, the experience of writing nothing but short stories and scraps of novels for several years turned out to be unexpectedly beneficial in that it made me focus on pacing and self-control and helped me to experiment with different narrative voices on a small stage before taking them to a larger arena. But, most importantly, it confirmed for me, beyond a doubt, that writing novels is my true passion — the rest is just creative-juice gravy.
I think part of the reason I am so enamored with novels is that I love developing characters and relationships, romantic relationships in particular. I’ve tried writing novels in a few different genres, cutting my teeth on fantasy and throwing in a few historicals for good measure, but the one constant has always been romance. I freely confess that I’m an incurable romantic at heart and couldn’t avoid writing a love story into a novel if I tried. (And I have.) So, when my youngest son was finally at an age when I felt I could more seriously devote time to writing, it seemed only logical that my focus should be romance novels. And what better way to fuel my creative fire than to incorporate my two favorite topics — love and the paranormal.
As I mentioned in my previous blog entry, I love anything dealing with the paranormal and have a special place in my heart for vampires. No big surprise that one of the series I’m developing deals with vampire-like beings. You’ll have to forgive me for being a bit vague, but that’s about all I can divulge on that one at present. The first two manuscripts are finished and currently are undergoing another round of revisions. I have six books planned for my sexy fanged friends, but that number originally started out as four, so we’ll see what happens when I finally get the first one published. The plan is to get started on Book 3 sometime in the spring or summer.
My current project deals with angels and demons. I’ve really struggled a bit more in writing this one, mostly because I was treading on some sacred theological ground and worried at first that my spin on things might be a bit on the controversial side. But after a couple of days of pulling my hair out in frustration because the story wasn’t going where I knew it needed to go, I just said, “F” it! and got busy writing. After that breakthrough, I had a lot more fun, and I think it shows in the writing. The other great part about this particular project is that the story unfolds in several different locations, which has given me the opportunity to draw upon some of my own travel experiences as well as to bury myself in research and really get my nerd on. I’m just a couple of chapters away from putting the first draft to bed and then have revisions ahead of me for the next month or two.
After that, I’m heading back to my roots and pulling fantasy into my paranormal romance mix for a project that I’m incredibly excited to write! I actually started working on this one over the summer following a brainstorming session with Professor (he’s my little writing buddy) and had written about four chapters before I realized that I was having such a fantastic, rollicking good time writing it, that if I didn’t set it aside I’d never finish the other one I was writing. Although this one’s technically in a holding pattern, I’ve been making notes and writing down scenes in my journal to keep my enthusiasm high and work out some of the more intricate plot points. This project is slated for sometime later this fall and most likely will carry me into the spring.
And that’s just what’s on the agenda for the next year or so. I have another few projects in the queue that should carry me through probably 2012 or 2013, provided nothing more intriguing comes to me in the meantime. Whew! I’m going to be busy. How great is that?
So, Greg (and other curious folks), there you have it in an admittedly verbose nutshell. I write romance novels, currently of the paranormal variety. And if that’s not your thing, don’t worry. Odds are good that eventually I’ll give that whole short story thing another go…
(Originally posted Sept 13)
