When Life Gets Too Real

You've all heard the--ack!--cliches:
"You're never given more than you can handle."
"When life gives you lemons, make lemonade."
"That which doesn't kill you makes you stronger."

I've been having that kind of month--the "how much streeeeetch is left in this rubber band, anyway?" kinda day-after-day. I offered to trade w/Atlas. He said no thanks. If one more person mentions a light at the end of the tunnel or the end of the rainbow, I'm gonna scream! <LOL>

But weirdly enough, you can use it as inspiration for writing. Because all the "experts" tell you that whenever you get into a writing rut, "up the stakes." Which is basically, making it WAY worse for your characters than it already was. Up the stakes. Increase the tension and the drama. Make it way more interesting for the reader, even as your characters plot to stab you in your sleep...

You really have to look at the level in the cup and decide how the character would view it. The level of "can do." Because wallowing is human nature, but at some time the heroine has to put on her big girl panties and say, "Know what? This PITA situation's not gonna resolve itself, and I'm sick of the way things are." She either fixes it, or throws it aside and moves on. Change is scary, but the best kind of character to cheer for is the one who TAKES ACTION. Even if they don't succeed at everything (hard to relate to that perfect superwoman), you want your readers to recognize a character's humanity and be able to relate to them.

I want to be a good role model for my kids, be someone they can look up to and admire. I know my
situation's not the worst in the world, but it's causing some hard choices and that's not necessarily a bad thing for kids to see and realize that nothing comes without cost--for everything you get or do, something else has to be let go. Prioritize. Plan long-term. Teach them to survive. Teach them the difference between want and need.

Characters are the ideal--you can let them have the victories that elude you. You can tie up all their loose ends. No matter the setting or time period or scenario, people all have certain things in common. What Campbell used to call universal truths. Nothing's more inspiring than taking a bit of heart from a story or legend to get you over a bad spell. When things happen, how you respond is what keeps you growing and changing and moving forward.

Be the hero in your own story. Give yourself something to look back on with pride. Be the kind of grandma your kids tell tales of to THEIR kids!

Never quit.

CAN A LEOPARD CHANGE ITS SPOTS?

One of the big questions that invariably comes up if you get a bunch of writers together is “Pantser or Plotter?” I have always been a plotter. Always. I put a ton of forethought into each book, chapter outlines, character sketches, plot points and themes…blahblahblah.

Until my current WIP, Moonwitched. I took off work between Christmas and New Year’s so I could FINISH the book. I only have four chapters left. And yes, as of today I still have the same four chapters left as back then. *sigh* I can make all the everyday-life excuses—overtime at work, getting the paperwork started for going back to college in July, becoming deathly ill with the flu, changing critique partners and webmistresses. That’s definitely cutting into writing time.

But that’s not it.

It should have been simple and straightforward—it’s all mapped out, chapter by chapter and scene by scene. I know where I’m going. I know who does what and where they all end up. I should have just been able to tear through the darn thing and had it on my editor’s desk just after New Year’s. I’m STILL on Chapter Twelve.

Because a weird thing happened. I started out rereading it from the start, just to vet it. And my evil muse whispers, “Valkyn’s a father separated from his sons—he’d miss them. He needs to think about them more…how about here…and here? Mari needs to cast another spell of protection for the children…here would be good. Matteo’s sick of Imani’s manipulation and needs to have it out with her…right about here—no, here’s better.”

And on and on it goes. It’s growing from the inside out. Getting fleshed out and longer—more character depth, stronger motivation—but no closer to the end. GRRR!

The book’s getting better, no question. But where the heck is THE END?

I’ve NEVER been a backloader before. I’ve always been a frontloader. My only rewrites usually come from critique partners’ comments (tweaking, never rewriting) and during edits. Until now. I feel like a cyberneticist, turning a human into a cyborg one bionic part at a time. Insert here, beef up there, clarify this, move that. Gene-splicing—to get a “new and improved” baby. My hardcore notes feel more like guidelines. Thank you, Captain Barbosa. What the heck happened to the diehard plotter? It feels like dithering. But this book won’t be rushed.

Is it some subconscious maneuver to stall b/c this is the LAST book in the Guardians of Light series and I don’t want to let go? Braeca’s story in the Daughters of the Guardians series is all ready to go—and I can’t get Moonwitched off the stage for the second act to start. (My friends will tell you I overthink everything—right, Adam? Chris?) I know I will finish this book, like all the others. And it’ll be great. Chapter Twelve can’t last forever.

It’s just weird. I am one cranky leopard…<LOL>

Coming SOON - It's The FINAL COUNTDOWN!

 

So GOD OF FYRE MOUNTAIN comes out from Samhain Publishing on January 22, 2013. It's Book Six in my Guardians of Light fantasy romance series. I'm very excited to have something new to celebrate at the start of the New Year. I first introduced Dax as Pryseis' nephew in Bk 4, DUST OF DREAMS, and I knew then he had to have his own book. 

 

BLURB:

Worst case of mistaken identity ever...

As a teacher, Maili is adept at juggling multiple tasks, but this is ridiculous. Erotic dreams make her sleep anything but restful. Her father wants to marry her off to a neighboring chieftain’s son. Her grandmother’s whispered blasphemy about doubting the gods has the local volcano threatening to split wide open.

As she prays in the temple for mercy on her grandmother, Maili expects the mountain to smoke and rumble. She doesn’t expect Afu himself to pop through a dark fissure and squash her flat.

The last thing Dax remembers is vowing to prevent his queen’s assassination. He wakes up in an island paradise, where the primitive natives worship the statue of a troll named Afu. And they expect him—their fyre god incarnate—to stop their cranky volcano from blowing up.

As an incentive, they’ve given him a maiden sacrifice/bride, a dark-eyed beauty who’s just as determined to seduce him as he is to return home in one piece.

While she’s less than thrilled to be traded like a chicken, one thing is certain. Dax is the man in her dreams…and she’s hell bent on making them come true. Or her people may die.

---

Product Warnings

Contains erotic dreams, volcanic-hot love scenes, one edgy F/F interrogation scene and some self-loving. Also treason, black sorcery and an evil witch doctor who shrinks heads.

EXCERPT:
Maili raked her long hair out of her eyes with a shaking hand and stared up at the smoking tower of Mt. Veamalohi. It loomed over the landscape. She shivered. Though her grandmother had brought this on them, Afu willing, mayhap Maili could convince him to spare the rest of the villagers. Even Pilipo. He was a great warrior, and if the Kali invaded again, the Toka would need his leadership. If Maili was the price for Pilipo’s skills, she must yield for the sake of their people. Dream or no dream.

A tiny voice whispered in her ear as she continued to study the smoldering fyre mountain, urging her to go up. She could plead with Afu for mercy, for him to spare them. She shook at the thought. None but Katoa entered the sanctified temple antechamber. It was forbidden to women.

But she had to do something.

She glided through the silent jungle as if in a trance, her steps bringing her ever closer to the incline. Giant ferns shivered in her wake. She stared through the lush mantle at the snowy crown covering the fyre mountain. The temple lay just ahead. The dark, shadowy chamber called to her. Her breath caught in her throat as she pulled back a prickly vine with blood-red flowers the size of her head, wincing as long sticky thorns pierced her skin. The pain was forgotten as she revealed the first of an endless ascension of hand-chiseled stone steps.

A bat-winged stone guardian—cat paws with claws extended, river-dragon head with snake fangs, long, curling tree-man tail—guarded the way. Worn by the elements and ages, it was fearsome and beautiful. It eyed Maili’s approach. Her bloody hand trembled as she caressed its sun-warmed surface. The carved muscles seemed to ripple and shift at her touch. She cursed her overactive imagination as her blood soaked into the pitted surface. Naught more than a statue.

“I swear I come to you in peace.” She removed one of her fragrant plumeria leis and laid it across its lower jaw. “I just wish to speak to him.”

The guardian watched her begin the long climb to Afu’s temple.

Maili climbed ’til her heart pounded and she gasped for air. A stitch in her left side stabbed her with every breath. Her leg muscles burned. Sweat trickled betwixt her bare breasts. How did old Katoa make this arduous climb on a daily basis?

Surely her willingness and determination to complete the ascent proved her worthiness. Surely Afu would hear her plea.

The shadowy opening loomed ahead of her, flanked by two stone columns covered in incomprehensible chiseled symbols. A gust of heated air swept over her. The breath of Afu? Her skin prickled as she entered the forbidden antechamber. Shadows danced on the walls from the flickering reed torches. Her gaze froze on an immense, savage stone image in the far corner. All the blood drained from her face, and the room spun. She tried to control her breathing as she dropped to her knees afore she swooned.

When she still breathed after several too-loud heartbeats, she risked raising her head for a better look. A dozen entwined stone serpents seemed to lunge hissing at her from Afu’s head, and his empty impassive eyes glared down at her from beneath heavy brows. His jutting jaw and open mouth revealed almost porcine lower tusks. The bulging muscles dwarfed even Pilipo’s and seemed so lifelike she wouldn’t have been surprised if Afu stomped toward her.

The fyre god was the most fiercely masculine being she’d ever seen.

She’d been mad to come to Afu’s temple. But Grandmother Lanikula’s transgression needed to be addressed and the demon-god appeased. Cold sweat slid over her skin even though it was hot as a roasting pit, and she shivered.

“Great Afu, god of fyre who creates and destroys, hear this humble maiden’s plea.” She rose, removed her remaining plumeria lei and draped it across his meaty stone fist. “I plead for my grandmother, Lanikula. Show mercy. Limit your show of anger to the destruction of her home. Leave my people be. They are blameless in this.”

She took off her shell-and-amber jewelry to lay at Afu’s feet. It was all she had to give. “She spoke in haste, but I swear she honors you. We apologize for disturbing your rest. Please, go back to sleep and leave us in peace to care for your home.”

A low rumbling came from deep within the mountain. A blast of hot sulfurous air blew out the torches. Maili choked on a whimper as the image of Afu pulsed with a rippling darkness. Every instinct screamed at her to run, but she was frozen in place. With a screech that nigh made her ears bleed, the dark parted, rent like some great billowing curtain. The snakes writhed afore her. There was a clap of thunder as a huge, hard-muscled body was flung from the gap. She screamed as he knocked her flat, crushing her beneath his solid, burning weight.

Afu amongst them! The end of days had come.

Everything went black.

 

 



WHAT IS IT WITH THOSE BAD BOYS?

Why are good girls always drawn to bad boys? I know I personally gave my mom grey hair during my “bad decade” as a roadie for a band called Nasty Habit. You know the saying “he’s the one your mama warned you about”? Watch the movie “Dirty Dancing” w/Baby (Jennifer Gray) falling for Johnny (Patrick Swayze)—see what I mean? The smoldering eyes, the cocky grin, the “I dare you” attitude…

Is it the whole opposites-attract/grass-is-always-greener thing? Is it the lure of the forbidden? The yearning to escape the same-old-same-old? Whatever it is, it’s one of the most popular sorts of pairing-up in romantic fiction. The-princess-and-the-pirate and such. He’s just a work in progress waiting for the right woman to redeem him. A message of hope? Reinforcing the love-conquers-all theme? 

I am currently finishing up Moonwitched, the LAST book in the ‘Guardians of Light” series, Book 7. Seven books are enough for a single series, I think. So I started thinking about their children forming a “Daughters of the Guardians” trilogy—Braeca, Piroska and Elyria. Those will be the titles, I think. So I started plotting out Braeca’s story.

Braeca is Finora’s daughter (LYCAN TIDES). She’s your typical oldest-daughter. Uber-responsible mini-mom, who’s taken care of her little brother Ioain since she was six and he was two. (Hey, she held off a dragon with a busted lamp—nobody messes with her baby brother!) She’s a warrior-scout and a weather-witch, now with FOUR little brothers and sisters—everything she does is for kin & clan. She’s never done anything wild or crazy or irresponsible in her life. So who does she need to rock her world and shake things up a bit—or a lot?

Geeze-Louise, what HAVEN’T I done in seven books already? Something new…something unexpected…the ultimate bad boy…

AHA!

Enter Flyn, a dark elf prince. (Check out the AWESOME pic I found on DeviantArt.com—http://mavrosh.deviantart.com/art/The-Dark-Elf-Portrait-285961487) A very morally-gray warrior-mage from a patriarchal, autocratic society where the strong rule the weak and women are seen and not heard. Braeca is a revelation to him. His society is utterly different from hers—HER clans are matriarchal and democratic, and anyone trying to silence a woman would definitely be singing in a higher key. Permanently. 

Opposites attract? You got it. The ultimate alpha bad-boy with smoldering silver-mercury eyes meets a practical lass who doesn’t take any crap from any man. These two are going to be smoking hot—and I now have the story line all plotted out. Political intrigue, betrayal, family infighting, lies and deception, well-meaning family interference, bitter rivalries… (I am SO not a pantser—I always need a map!)

So the Guardians look to have a strong legacy to carry on in their Daughters.

I’m curious—who’s got a bad boy tale or two of their own to tell?

MOM, CHARACTERS AREN'T REAL!

My daughter and I actually had this argument this weekend when I was once AGAIN crying while watching Avatar for the twentieth time. The blue-alien one, not the little elemental-wizard-kid one. (Hey, I also cry at the end of Cool Runnings) Tami's a very literal, in-this-world twelve-year-old. She likes to read, but she doesn't understand how a writer--and hopefully through the writer, a reader--can become so emotionally invested in a world that is, in her opinion, FAKE.

GRRRR...

I care about my characters. I craft every word, emotion and reaction with excruciating exacting detail. I second-guess myself countless times. I HATE throwing my folks in harm's way, even when I know it's necessary for both growth and drama. I know someone's going to curse me for killing off so-and-so, no matter how noble the loss. In order for a character to be more than black-on-white on a page, they have to laugh, weep, lose, win--and love. If they don't quake with fear, if their hearts don't stutter and shatter--neither will the readers.

Writers were readers first. We've worked hard to emulate the masters we admire, and we know what is is to set a book aside that's been "meh." We shudder to think of someone doing that to our baby. And our characters ARE our babies, our creations, from nothing but dreams and hopes and imagination. We breathe life into them, we cheer them on and comfort them when everything's going wrong... "Trust me," we tell them. "I've got this handled. You WILL see each other again..."

Characters ARE real. They have lives and back stories, hopes and fears and dreams. They worry, they cry, they get sick and injured. They can die. But they also personify all that is best and pure in ourselves. They do the things we can only dream of. They win the battles we can't. They're bigger than us, greater than us. And we love them for it.

WooHoo! New Contract!

I am SO happy that MAREK'S NEW WORLD has found a second home! It was originally part of the "GOT WOLF?" contest anthology for The Wild Rose Press but when we authors got the rights back it was back out on the inquiry circuit. I am pleased to say we now have a signed, sealed & delivered contract with NOBLE PUBLISHING.  Don't know when it will be out exactly - will keep everyone posted.

It's a contemporary rural paranormal romance set in NW Montana, in Kootenai Nat'l Forest.  The heroine is a wolf-shapeshifter and a park ranger. The hero in a time-traveling Native American warrior sent forward in time as guardian of a demonic "reynak."

Mini-Blurb:
When park ranger Cheyenne Rafferty's truck is destroyed in an earthquake, she didn't think her day could get any worse. Until she runs afoul of a demon from the ancient past - and the Native American warrior sent forward to guard it. 

Marek awakens to a world changed beyond all understanding--to a people unprepared for a battle with a demon from ancient legend...

I would love to see this as a Halloween story, although it's set in early spring. New publisher, new edits - new cover. Very exciting stuff. New life for a story I've always loved!

I Am A Self-Professed JOSEPH CAMPBELL Fangirl

When was the last time a book REALLY resonated with you? The book that, rather than end up in last summer’s yard sale, is actually rubber-banded together because you’ve literally read it to pieces but can’t find a replacement copy? The one you can recite entire passages from? The one you recommend to everyone and their cousin?

What makes that book so special? So powerful? Have you ever stopped to think about where the magic comes from? How the author pulled character and theme and emotion and drama all together?

For me, I grew up with epic fantasy and sci fi – from reading CS Lewis and Tolkien to watching Star Wars. 

It wasn’t until I got older that I realized they had a common thread – a scholar/teacher named Joseph Campbell. The eminent mythology expert of the 20^th & 21^stcenturies. The man who made it his life’s work to study universal themes, what all cultures’ storytelling and mythology have in common. Why people are still drawn, over and over, to the good defeats evil, David beats Goliath, the good guy always gets the girl and they live happily-ever-after? There’s so much chaos and negativity in the world that it’s great to be able to curl up with a tale and know the good guys are gonna win. “And they lived happily ever after. THE END.”

What do you look for in a story? Great characters you can identify with? Believable problems and solutions? Exotic locations? Grand adventures? Tales that weave emotion through every page, where you laugh and cry and worry and wonder along with the characters? See it this pattern looks familiar:

·       

  Little hero/ine in a sucky spot, wants things to change

·         Little hero/ine thinks, “What can I do? It’s too big for me.”

·         The last straw breaks the camel’s back and little hero/ine thinks “enough already” and off s/he goes to change things

·         Meets their ideal hero/ine, sparks fly

·         Various adventure, mayhem and disasters ensue, with betrayal and death and rescues and lessons learned

·         Hero & heroine fall in love, but it will never work (see above various & sundry complications)

·         Black moment when all hope seems lost

·         Wondrous solving of the problem, characters personal growth and triumphant return

·         The happily ever after

·         THE END

The above template is my variation of “The Hero’s Journey” by Joseph Campbell, the Holy Grail of storytelling. It’s a wondrous journey, an adventure, an escape, with fabulously real lands, weird food, bad weather, horrific villains with evil plans, the occasional noble death, brave and sassy heroines, and smoking hot heroes. Any combination of the above. Anything goes!

The magic’s in the journey – and the triumph in the end.

Ever cheer at the end of a movie? Every hug a book you just finished reading? Ever write an author to say, “This book changed me/my life?”

Ever frantically search for a rubber band to keep from losing one single page of the third copy of your favorite book? (Okay, for me that book is Barbara Hambly’s “The Ladies of Mandrigyn” from Del Rey, 1984, ISBN 0345309197)

So, I cut my teeth on epic fantasy – Tolkien and Terry Brooks and LOTR and Willow. As a writer, I now have my award-winning “Guardians of Light” fantasy romance series for Samhain. Reviewers have taken notice. I hope you’ll check it out.

My heroines? A half-dragon fire mage, an assassin nun, a selkie/single mother, a dream faerie, an elven lady's-maid-turned-warrior and an island princess.

My heroes? Elven princes and paladins and spirit healers. The odd werewolf or two. A forest troll.

My villains? Demons and genocidal queens, power-mad dragons and selkie princes, and goblin (& elven) sorcerers.

We also have the odd tree sprite, gypsies, an occasional mermaid, talking horses and sentient jewelry. Chaos and mayhem aplenty, with the occasional head-on-a-pike. Noble death and self-sacrifice. Always the good-wins-out-over-evil AND they-lived-happily-ever-after.

Fantasy and romance are a marriage made in paradise for me!

Only TWO WEEKS To Go...

...until I get to swap out my "writer" hat for my "writing-teacher" hat! I am SO excited to be able to share some of what I've learned and some of what readers and reviewers have commented on WHY they read the Guardians of Light series. I taiught this class a couple of summers ago for Savvy Authors, and it's nice to update from using examples from Hedda's Sword to using examples from Riever's Heart!<LOL> So people won't be getting exactly the same class. We constantly evolve and change as people & as writers--stands to reason our writing must change as well!

http://www.romance-ffp.com/workshops.cfm
I'm teaching a class for the online FFP (Fantasy, Futuristic & Paranormal) chapter of RWA (Romance Writers of America) from August 13-19, 2012 entitled
DEEP POV, Pseudo-1st Person: The Art & Craft of "Skinwalking" -- Presented by Renee Wildes
which is Characterization Meets World-Building

What: DEEP POV, Pseudo-1st Person: The Art & Craft of "Skinwalking" -- Presented by Renee W Skinwalking becomes putting on your character like a shroud. When you write in that character, you ARE that character, at almost a microscopic level. You find out everything about that character, like someone in witness protection or an undercover cop. You know that person so well, you ARE that person. 24/7/365. Almost to the point when a phone call comes in at work you answer "Good morning, this is Maleta, your avenging assassin nun. How may I help you today?" * Intro/Getting to Know You * Lecture 1 - Thoughts on Characterization in general: How are characters the same and different from real people? * Lecture 2 - Setting A Character's Parameters: How are characters influenced by their world? * Lecture 3 - Incorporating the Senses from Character's POV: How do characters experience/view their world? * Lecture 4 - Those little "TELLING" words: Getting closer POV * Lecture 5 - Quick Tips: A set of 8 ideas to put Skinwalking into play * Lecture 6 - Putting It All Together: How to tell a story from a character's unique perspective * Farewell/Feedback - What we've learned  Where: FFnP Forum/ Loop When: August 13, 2012 through August 19, 2012 Registration Costs: This workshop will be conducted via a Yahoo! email loop. Email invitations will be sent 48 hours prior to the beginning of the workshop. Just register for the workshop and complete the payment process via PayPal. The cost is $10.00 for FFnP members and $15.00 for non-FFnP members. Payment is due at the time of registration. Refunds / credits are determined on a case by case basis. If a class should be canceled, then participants have a choice of a credit to be applied to a future workshop or a refund. Speaker Information:  Renee Wildes is a fantasy romance author in Wisconsin who writes the Guardians of Light series for Samhain Publishing (Duality, Hedda's Sword, Lycan Tides, Dust of Dreams & Riever's Heart). Her Awards include 2008 & 2009 Ecataromance Reviewer's Choice Awards, 2010 WisRWA Write Touch Reader's Award Runner Up (to Pamela Palmer), 2010 Love Romances & More Best Sci Fi/Fantasy Runner Up (reader's poll), and 2010 & 2011 EPIC Finalist in Fantasy Romance (non-erotic). She's consistently garnered 5-star reviews from LASR, Ecataromance, Bitten By Books, Howling Good Books, & Coffee Time Romance