Magical Musings

… and if you are, introduce yourself!

After a very, very, very, very long flight, it was suddenly all worth it to see Edie and Liz, arms out ready to hug me, at the baggage carousel. LaDonna, I thought back to Dallas in 2007, how we met in the airport then, and really wished you were with us.

It only got better. We went shopping (of course) and Liz got the shopping queen award, then picked Therese Walsh up and headed out for the Harry Potter theme park at Universal Studios. Wow. Talk about going all out on a theme. Fantastic. The butterbeer. Yum, yum, yum. I’d buy that any day.

The only down-side was the heat, and we escaped into the Three Broomsticks for a very long lunch to avoid the worst of it, and that was a treat all on its one. The ride, which we waited an hour to get on, was completely worth it. Wow. I just loved it.

We ended the evening in the bar of the Dolphin, where I met Jessica Scott and Roxanne St. Claire, who I’ve ‘met’ online but now can put a face to a name, Laura Griffin, who is a fellow Simon & Schuster author, and was so happy to see Karin Tabke, Maya Banks, Allison Brennan and Jan Kenny again.

Today is going to be just as good, I’m meeting my agent face to face for the first time, Lauren McKenna from Simon & Schuster, and some of my GIAM loop friends. Can. Not. Wait.

I’m in Orlando with Liz Kreger and Michelle Diener for the RWA National conference. I hope I’ll be able to reply to comments later tonight. (We’re going to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter theme park today. )

I’m writing this ahead of time and have some great links. First off, Cynthia Eden’s first romantic suspense, Deadly Fear, the first book of her Deadly series is out TODAY! I read the first 47 pages, and it’s fabulous. She knows how to keep you whipping through the pages!

If you’ve been concerned about the future of publishing (and if you haven’t felt a twinge or two, you must be new to the business), read this long but brilliant post by Randy Ingermanson on The Future of Publishing. I agree with everything he said.

Have you been thinking lately you might be getting adult ADD? It could be that you’re on the internet too much. Therese Walsh blogged on Writer Unboxed about the need to spend quality time offline to prevent computer brain.

“Because if we don’t our brains may very well adapt to the zing and zang, the slam and bam world of the Internet, where information is processed quickly, links are readily available, and interruption is king, and forget how to think deeply. Lose the ability to concentrate on one thing and one thing only, to be contemplative. And if we do, won’t that hinder our ability to create thoughtful works?”

Are you considering a website or looking for great ideas to jazz yours up? Don’t miss this Romance University post by Jeannie Ruesch of Will Design for Chocolate. Terrific tips!

I’ll be back next Tuesday. If you’re at Orlando this week, look for the short woman who might be sitting at the bar reading a book on her Kindle and happy to have company. I’m not registered, so won’t be at any of the conference members only activities.

How is your week going? Is it a bit quieter with so many writers at conference?

Internet Networking … try saying that three times fast.

When it comes to internet networking, I like to follow the KISS philosophy. You know … Keep It Simple, Silly. (I know, I know … it’s supposed to be “stupid” but I ain’t gonna call myself stupid). I belong to a few — scratch that, about a dozen writers loops. Several I have on digest and check them out when I find a minute. Others, I have to wade through what is information, what is vital and what is frivolous. Amazing the amount of time you can waste reading each and every post. Responding? Sometimes … not often. I’m mostly a lurker. I have a number of friends who live out of state and out of the country as well as writer friends that I keep in touch with and will email regularly.

Then you’ve got Twitter, Facebook, Linked-In, My Space and probably a half dozen others that I’m missing. I occasionally get messages that so and so is following me on Twitter. I’m not even sure what that means. Am I being stalked? If so, the stalker is probably dying of boredom. Barbara Vey signed me up for Twitter about a year or so ago and I don’t think I’ve ever been on it. I’m pretty sure I forgot my user name and password. My Space? Same problem. I’m never on it. Plus, it was definitely overtaken by Facebook as far as popularity goes. Even with Facebook, I’m lucky if I find the time to get on my site more than once a week. Don’t even remember why I signed with Linked-In. I certainly haven’t been in it for quite awhile.

So, as you can see, I’m pretty pitiful when it comes to networking on the internet. Personally? I’m not losing any sleep over it. As far as getting my name out there as a writer? Yeah, I could be more visible and I would like to be more visible.

Problem is … I just don’t have the time. Besides all my daytime obligations, there’s such a thing called sleep that I’m pretty fond of.

So how do you network? Are you active with writing chapters? Blog regularly on other sites? Tweet all over the place? (If so … you’re cleaning up the mess.)

On a side note … don’t be surprised if I don’t get much of a chance to respond to comments on this blog. I’m currently in Florida, probably enjoying a frou-frou drink by the pool and being completely lazy. I will try to respond when I get a sec. In the meantime, I really am curious about networking methods. Let me know.

When I saw Kathryne Kennedy’s book, The Fire Lord’s Lover, I just had to ask her to guest blog with us. Kathryne is a multipublished, award-winning author of magical romances. She’s lived in Guam, Okinawa, and several states in the U.S., and currently lives in Arizona with her wonderful family—which includes two very tiny Chihuahuas. She welcomes readers to visit her website where she has ongoing contests at: www.KathryneKennedy.com.

ORGANIC WRITING: A Peek into my Writing Process

I might be coining a term here, but ‘organic’ is the most accurate way I can describe my writing process. I start with my characters and a general idea of the plot, and the rest just kind of grows naturally. I know where I’m going, but not exactly how I’m going to get there. And for me, that’s the magical part of writing.

I can explain better with an example, so I’ll use one from my current release, THE FIRE LORD’S LOVER.

My heroine, Lady Cassandra Brydges, is leaving a ball after she has just arrived at Firehame palace and has no idea how to find her chambers. Being Lady Cassandra, she would notice an urchin stealing a bit of supper from the tables, and so I created Gwen to guide her. Now Gwen is a slave from the elven wars, and Cass would not be able to help feeling sorry for the girl, and wouldn’t it be just like Cass to elevate a slave to a servant? So Gwen became her maid, and then I realized that this would be the perfect way for Lady Cassandra to find out more about her husband, General Dominic Raikes, who grew up as a slave in Firehame palace. So they are off to the kitchens to find May, who is a friend of Gwen’s. With elven blood in their veins, each of the slave girls has to possess some type of magical power. So I gave Gwen the gift of ‘finding things’ (I just thought this would be fun), and May the gift of weaving anything that falls within her clever fingers (a reason for Cass to hire her to do her hair).

And then the girls became a part of the plot, and their magical gifts grew useful accordingly. Gwen’s magic became useful when Cass was looking for Dominic, and Lady Cassandra realized that Gwen may be able to using her ‘finding’ magic with a map, once Gwen explained to Cass that she could see the aura of items to find them (and that grew from developing Gwen’s powers a bit more).

And then it seemed logical that Gwen could also ‘find’ dreams. And since May could weave sunlight, it followed that she could weave dreams as well. And the girls had become so fond of Cass that they would surely do anything to protect their mistress, and so toward the end of the book, they used their magic to create a cloak of dreams to protect Lady Cassandra when the elven lord threatened her.

I had no idea when I introduced Gwen that she would become so fundamental to the story. She was originally only a secondary character that would help Cass find her chambers.

And so that’s why I call my writing process organic, because one thing grows from another and half the time I don’t know how the story or characters will develop. So for those of you who also write without a rigid outline, I can only advise you to trust yourself. Learn everything about the craft that you can, but only use what makes sense to your writing process.

Water your garden with your imagination and watch it grow.

I hope you found this peek into my writing process helpful. Thank you so much, Michelle and friends, for hosting me here on your blog today! To celebrate the release of THE FIRE LORD’S LOVER, my publisher will be giving away a copy of the book to one lucky commenter today. So if you should have any questions or comments, please don’t hesitate to post them. I look forward to talking with you all!

My Magical Best,
Kathryne

THE FIRE LORD’S LOVER BY KATHRYNE KENNEDY—IN STORES JULY 2010
Kathryne Kennedy’s historical fantasy romances have garnered awards and a growing readership. This exciting new series, set against the lavish backdrops of Georgian and Victorian England so beloved by romance readers, is deliciously dark and exciting.

Fighting for control of a kingdom that is split into seven domains, Elven warlords use their human slaves to breed an endless supply of soldiers for their armies. Dominic Raikes, the half-blood son of the Elven Lord himself is one such warrior. Betrothed to Lady Cassandra, who has been raised in a convent to keep her pure, he little suspects that she’s been secretly trained as an assassin to murder his father. Dominic and Cassandra soon discover that each one is not what they seem, but the price of trust may be their very lives, and the destruction of the magical realm each is desperately trying to save…

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Kathryne Kennedy is a multipublished, award-winning author of magical romances. She’s lived in Guam, Okinawa, and several states in the U.S., and currently lives in Arizona with her wonderful family—which includes two very tiny Chihuahuas. She welcomes readers to visit her website where she has ongoing contests at: www.KathryneKennedy.com.

The Movie Moments We Shouldn’t Miss

I’d like to thank Michelle for inviting me over to Magical Musings. All of my stories have a touch of magic, but then I write paranormal and fantasy so the two go hand in hand.

Today I thought I’d bring along some DVDs so we could do some work on our craft. I love movies. A whole story arc in two hours. Characterisation that snaps, plots that dazzle and special effect that wow…well not all films are created equal but you can still learn from the ordinary ones as well as the good ones. What works and what doesn’t…but if you watch the DVD you can dig deeper –to the bonus features.

I love the extras. I’m one of those people who buys my favourite film and heads straight to the extras. Apparently not everyone does this…actually I haven’t met anyone else who does. Why? You can learn so much from the extras. Here’s what you’re missing:

Set dressing-nothing is put on camera without someone having thought about it. It’s all about creating the right mood or look. Setting is just as important in writing, you need to create the right feel without spending pages detailing everything, so as the camera in your mind pans across the scene pick a few things that mean something to the characters or the plot.

Character dressing-What characters wear is very important, it gives clues to culture, time period and personality. Ever watched the extras on the x-men DVDs? There is some really good stuff on there about creating the look for the different characters. Tristan and Isolde and King Arthur are also good ones, they even talk about the armour and weapons.

Deleted scenes-these are like gold, especially if they tell you why it was deleted. It’s like a mini tute on cleaning up the plot and lines of action. The supernatural DVDs have some of these.

Special effects-these can spoil the magic. I will never forget the Dr Who confidential where they turned a quarry into a snowfield with papier mache. Totally ruined the magic…but on the other hand very clever. Why do writers need special effects–well while we don’t need a green screen, we still have to put in the work to make the fantastic believable. After all if a dragon is going to fly over the city he’s going to have to be aware of tall building, air currents, the news helicopter and possibly the air force trying to bring him down…

Action scenes-If you find an extra where it shows you the actors rehearsing it is fantastic, like watching a dance until they speed it up. Like directors we must choreograph our fights scenes for maximum impact. Be warned some fight scenes are more realistic than others, unless your hero is super human he is not going to be walking away uninjured. He’ll be hurting (even if he’s too tough to show it).

When watching a film you may not be aware of some of the subtle ways the movie has been put together, unless you watch the extras. Small details can make a big difference without the audience ever noticing.

In Boyfriend in a Bottle the theme colour was red. Red is the colour of risk, speed, desire. His red bottle, her red sofa, red rope and red leather seats in the Audi TT. If they had all been different colours it probably wouldn’t have mattered (in fact they did start out different) but by linking them they gained extra power and gave the story unity.

I am giving away a copy of Boyfriend in a Bottle today, so tell me if you watch the DVD extras or if you are going to start watching them or if you know some really good ones I should check out.

Shona

I recently went on holiday for a week. The picture in this post is part of the view from the balcony of the house we stayed in. And you wouldn’t think on my trip, which was to Western Australia’s South West region, that I’d come away with new insights into my historical series, which is set in the 16th century, at the court of Henry VIII, but I did.

First of all, I found a meadery, where they create mead using the medieval method. As my characters swing back mead a time or two, it was great to sniff, swirl and see this. (I didn’t taste it, because I’m allergic to alcohol.) They also made ice cream using honey as the sweetener. I chose the rose and almond flavour, thinking it was the most medieval / Renaissance of the flavours (not that they would have made ice cream in the 16th century, but this was more a spirit of the thing moment).

I also got to look at some real, honest-to-goodness ambergris. My heroine clubs someone with the pomader hanging from her waist at one point in the first book, and it is filled with ambergris and cinnamon. It is incredibly rare these days, since the ban on whaling, and I only saw it because they have converted an old whaling station into a museum and whale conservation awareness centre, and had a huge jarful of ambergris left over from the bad old days. Fascinating stuff!

Western Australia in the 21st century can still give me insights and research opportunities into 16th century London. Who would have thunk it?

What has been your most bizarre find while on holiday, whether it sparked a story or related to a story?

BP has been in the news lately with even more than the oil spill. To get permission to drill oil wells off the Libyan coast, they apparently helped secure the release of “Abdel Baset al-Megrahi, the only man ever convicted for the 1988 bombing of Pan Am 103 that killed 270 people.” (Anyone see three villains there?)

In Cattitude, I have two villains. One a greedy CEO, the other a former beauty queen. The greedy rich man has been a villain for many years before BP. Think of It’s a Wonderful Life, with the bank’s owner as the villain. Or real life villain Bernard Madoff with his 65 million dollar ponzi scheme. As for beauty queens, they may be wonderful people, but the contests have a bad rep, perhaps because of the the inherent shallowness, plastic surgery rumors and canned speeches.

Politicians! Politicians were also involved in the release of the Libyan bomber. Absolute Power, David Baldacci’s first book, debuted as a New York Times bestseller. The villain was the president of the U.S. who killed his mistress during rough sex. It became a Clint Eastwood movie, with Gene Hackman as the president. An excellent movie, an awesome premise, and an absolutely powerful villain.

I don’t know about you, but I hate bugs. How smart of the creators of the Alien movies to have a parasitic/bug-like alien as the villain. Men in Black had some bug-like aliens too. The exception was E.T., a cute bug-like creature with a glowing heart.

Sharks! The word can make us shiver. Jaws by Peter Benchley, was a great book, and Steven Spielberg turned it into an even better movie.

Lawyers, of course. Think of John Grisham’s books with lawyers as the villains and the heroes. It’s easy to believe they can be either.

Who do you love to hate? Can you think of a ready-made villain, just by profession? Any in your books?

Well, I’ll be spending this week getting ready to head out to Nationals. As most of you know, it was initially scheduled to be in Nashville, and because that’s just a ten hour drive, I hadn’t planned on leaving until Tuesday (July 27th). However, since they moved it to Orlando, Florida, I gotta head out earlier. Ya see … I’m driving down from Wisconsin. That’s something like 22 hours of driving alone. Crazy? Maybe. My husband certainly thinks so … that is until I point out the money I’m trying to save.

Every year I manage to justify going to the RWA National convention … last year notwithstanding. Couldn’t quite swing Washington, D.C., which is a pity, because I love that city. Anyway, if I’m able to cut corners, I’ll take it.

By driving I’ll save on the airfare and by using my timeshare condo in Kissemmee, I’ll save on hotel costs. Fortunately the condo is only minutes away from the Disney complex, so going back and forth will be a short jaunt. Then there’s the money I’ll save by not having to rent a car. With everyone tightening their belts, saving a little bit is a plus.

Edie Ramer, who also lives in Wisconsin, will be driving with me and we’ll be picking up Sheila Clover as we pass through Kentucky. The other thing hubby doesn’t understand is why we would want to spend nearly two days traveling both ways.

Think about it. Three women, writers, in the same car for over twenty hours? Hell, the time is going to absolutely fly. Anyone else making that long trip?

I’m thrilled to have fellow Western Australian author, Shona Husk, as our guest this week. Below you’ll see she mentions she just got a three book deal with Dorchester, and I’m so thrilled for her.

Blessed with a lively imagination Shona spent most of her childhood making up stories. As an adult she discovered romance novels and she hasn’t looked back. Dark fairy tales and the paranormal have always fascinated her and it’s not uncommon to get to know spirits, vampires, were-creatures and demi-gods through her books.

She’s a member of Romance Writers of America and the Fantasy, Futuristic and Paranormal chapter. Published in short fiction and novellas she’s just accepted a three book deal with Dorchester Publishing for her Goblin series. The story of the cursed Celtic King and his men begins in May 2011 with The Goblin King.

Her current release with Samhain Publishing is BOYFRIEND IN A BOTTLE.

Josie’s well-meaning friends just don’t get it. It’s not that she’s overjoyed to be thirty-two and celibate since her boyfriend dumped her. She’d love to settle down, but she refuses to settle for just any man. After all, better single than a sucker. Nevertheless, she humors her friends and follows the instructions attached to the gift they’ve given her—a beautiful bottle from a new-age shop. Lick, and the perfect man will appear.

Kede wants more than a moment. He wants a chance at life outside the bottle, and he wants a life with Josie. But he belongs to the goddess Inanna, and his time is running out…

And we are also thrilled to have Kathryne Kennedy with us. Kathryne is a multipublished, award-winning author of magical romances. She’s lived in Guam, Okinawa, and several states in the U.S., and currently lives in Arizona with her wonderful family—which includes two very tiny Chihuahuas. She welcomes readers to visit her website where she has ongoing contests at: www.KathryneKennedy.com.

THE FIRE LORD’S LOVER BY KATHRYNE KENNEDY—IN STORES JULY 2010
Kathryne Kennedy’s historical fantasy romances have garnered awards and a growing readership. This exciting new series, set against the lavish backdrops of Georgian and Victorian England so beloved by romance readers, is deliciously dark and exciting.

Fighting for control of a kingdom that is split into seven domains, Elven warlords use their human slaves to breed an endless supply of soldiers for their armies. Dominic Raikes, the half-blood son of the Elven Lord himself is one such warrior. Betrothed to Lady Cassandra, who has been raised in a convent to keep her pure, he little suspects that she’s been secretly trained as an assassin to murder his father. Dominic and Cassandra soon discover that each one is not what they seem, but the price of trust may be their very lives, and the destruction of the magical realm each is desperately trying to save…

Imagination is the highest kite we can fly.

~Lauren Bacall~
Actress

I ran across an article a few days ago about this professional mermaid. The story made me smile; the ideas, passion, and work involved to manifest a mermaid’s dream were all there. Well, it’s these stories that I relate to as a fellow dreamer. And the more unique the dream, the more I smile. Enjoy this link to this fabulous dreamer, and there’s a video that I enjoyed watching on her website. It’s not every day one sees an actual mermaid at work.

Dreams emotionally move me. They fill all the spaces between the inner workings of my body, and they connect all the dots and challenge me to create new spaces. I have dreams of my own, and honor those of my girls and grandkids, my family, and friends by sending love and positive thoughts. I know the process is intensely personal, and soul-linked in a way that makes it so. By design, it’s a part of our DNA, I believe.

I believe that we’re all designed to carry our dreams; to protect them, to nurture them, and to take responsiblility for them all. I sometimes imagine that we were given precious seeds for our journey here. I’ve often thought that our main reason for being is to rediscover who we really are. And in finding our dreams, we find the core answer.

What recent dream have you read about or heard that made you smile? Mine was the mermaid, hands down!

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deep fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.

~Marianne Williamson~
writer