December 2015 – Carla Swafford, Author

Full Heat, Hidden Heat, Men, My Books, Naked Heat, Reading, Writing

A Growth of a Series

December 30, 2015December 31, 2015by Carla Swafford

First, I love reading books with bad boy heroes. Hell, I married one. If you’ve ever read my Circle series, you’ll know how much I love writing about dangerous, ill-tempered (HA!) men.

When I began writing the Brothers of Mayhem series, I had already read a couple MC (romance/fiction) books and watched all of the Sons of Anarchy. Click here to read my post about researching the series.

So I thought readers of MC books would be interested to know that the first book (HIDDEN HEAT) of the Brothers of Mayhem is not the typical MC story. The majority of the bikers in that story are not good guys. But you will see a shift in book two (FULL HEAT – Storm’s story). It has a mixture of good and bad. New blood.

By book three (NAKED HEAT – Wolf’s story) you’ll see more of the brotherhood that you come to expect in a MC romance. And in the fourth book (RAW HEAT – Cutter’s story), the club heals and the brotherhood tightens.

It’s like this, throughout the series, each book can be read separately as stand-alones, but like the romance in each story, the club has a path to take with all of the ups and downs. The growth of the club as an unit will ensure its survival. In the end, it will have the right guy in place and everyone will be happy. *sniff* I do love for my people to have a happy ending.

And you could say each story has something for everyone, from the unique MC story to the hard core.

Writing

It’s The Small Things

December 28, 2015December 28, 2015by Carla Swafford

Beautiful Woman Enjoys Coffee I can’t help but laugh at the title. Being a romance author, I can imagine what some people may be thinking of what I’m about to post. Not THAT!

Over the years of writing (a lot) and the few years published, I learned a few minor things I would like to pass on.

Avoid naming your hero or heroine with initials, such as J.T., J.R., L.B., M.J., etc. In one of my unpublished books, I had a big strapping sheriff referred to as J.T. I got so tired of fighting with the software wanting to capitalize after every time I typed his “name.” Yes. I could’ve turned off the autocorrect, but really, that would be a hassle too. (And note how I ended the sentence above with J.T. and started the next with I. Looked odd, didn’t it?)

Continuing on about names, there are certain ones you’ll want to avoid. Of course, most authors know not to name the heroine and heroine (and other characters, if at all possible) with the same first initial. Such as John and Jane, or Mark and Mary, etc. Readers often scan over names and this may cause confusion along the way.

But this one is a little different. During my usual break each evening, I was reading a contemporary romance — even when I’m under deadline, I make myself take one hour each night to read — and the hero’s name was Woolf.

Oddly, I’m writing a hero with the same name but different spelling, Wolf as in Wolfgang (NAKED HEAT). Anyway, the other author’s heroine would say his name during sex. Common enough, but when I hear it in my mind as I read, it sounds like the heroine is barking. Think about . . . Woolf, Woolf, oh, Woolf. Yeah. You hear it too. So this is probably the last hero I’ll have with that name and my heroine is most likely to scream “Who’s my daddy?” before I’ll let her bark. (Just teasing.)

Avoid heroes with one eye, unless you’re writing a tear jerker. (No pun intended.) Oh, this one happened in my second book, CIRCLE OF DANGER. The hero had been badly burned when he was ten. He lost one eye. Do you have any idea how often eyes are mentioned in romances? Cliché warning: They are the windows to the soul. So in this book, I avoided saying, “His beautiful blue eye looked at her,” or anything like that. Too scary sounding. (Don’t come at me about being insensitive; this has to do with the flow of the story along with setting up the mood. The hero was very sexy even with one eye and scars.)

The next one I mentioned on Facebook the other day.

Authors, please do not place the heroine’s name directly after the hero’s dialogue and vice versa. Example only.

“You look beautiful today,” he said as he pulled Mary into a hug. After a long kiss, he looked deep into her eyes. He wanted her more every day.
“And yesterday?” John smiled as Mary stepped away.
“Do you want a drink?”
“Yes. A beer will be fine,”

*This is a better way (my opinion).*
“You look beautiful today,” he said as he pulled Mary into a hug. After a long kiss, he looked deep into her eyes. He wanted her more every day.
“And yesterday?” Mary teased.
John smiled. He loved her sense of humor.
“Do you want a drink?” He nodded toward the bar.
“Yes. A beer will be fine.”

Can you tell in the first example who is saying what after the first line? I have to read a bit more to get it straight in my mind.

That’s it for now. I’ll probably think of ten other small details (and make a few boo-boos myself.) HA!

Men, Reading, Thoughts, Writing

What Model Of Alpha Do You Want?

December 26, 2015December 25, 2015by Carla Swafford

Reviews are a double edge sword. Authors want and need them to get the word out about their books, but reviews with low ratings and pure hate for a book are not helpful in my opinion. The reason I say it that way is that I had a well-known blogger tell me even horrible reviews can help sell a book. You know, everyone wanting to see if a book is really as terrible as everyone is saying. Heaven forbid, if that ever happens to me. I’m all for the positive hook.

Anyway, reviews per se is not what this post is about.

Occasionally, I read reviews from some of my favorite authors. Why you ask? Whenever I’m feeling down about my writing (what the fuck am I doing?) and need to see even my favorite NYT bestselling authors have a handful of disparagers among their hundreds of five star reviews. Yesterday, I was looking at an author whose publisher had released her backlist in ebook. So thrilling because now I can get copies for my iPad and the paperbacks can stay on my shelves in good condition.

On one hand, I was surprised by the many one stars (and anger) for books I love of hers. As I read the reviews, the main theme appeared to be the way the heroes treated the heroines.

See, from 1970s to 1990s, it had been popular for the heroes to be what I call supreme alphas. It started with the bodice rippers (literally, and by the way, I freaking hate that term for current day romance in general). Yes. Historical romances were queen in the beginning and the heroes thought nothing of ripping the bodice off the heroines. It was so different from what women had been reading before then. I can get into the dynamics of the sexual revolution and birth control and woman finding out they loved sex when there was little fear of pregnancy (only 2% to 9% fear as pills are 91% to 98% effective), but that is still not what this post is about.

In my dear favorite author’s earlier books, the heroes bossed and took over the heroines’ lives as if the women had no sense at all. At the time, and to a point nowadays, I love reading books with those types of heroes. But from what I’ve read in other articles, reviews and in general conversations with twenty- to thirty-something readers, they do not want a hero to act that way. In real life, I wouldn’t either, but, folks, this is fantasy. Anyway, onward and upward…

I thought that was interesting considering how many readers love kinky doms (BDSM), demanding billionaires, and dangerous bikers (MCs). So I compared the differences and realized in most cases, the older romances with dominating males, the heroes came across as cold and unfeeling at least until the end. While the new wave alphas show tenderness and often sweet talk their heroines, they are the same type of heroes, but they have smoother edges.

Both have pluses and minuses. I have found that sometimes when I’m reading a new author’s male point of view, the guys sound a little girlish. More of how the author wished a male would be. From what I know of most men, they are straightforward in speech and action and rarely think about how so-and-so feels about something. They believe they do what must be done and not worry overmuch about it. They have gut feelings and realizations. Not all of that touchy, feely, (I’m not talking about sex) I-have-to-talk-it-out stuff. Of course, there are the exceptions, but they are usually the villains. HA!

Oh, if you’re reading an old romance, be sure to keep all of this mind. Hopefully the publisher (or author, if self-published) will show the original published date. It would be best in the end. Fewer rants by readers. Geez!