#WriteTip - VS Morgan (@vsmorgan1) Talks Characterization. Check out her @DecadentPub #LGBT #PNR

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Some of you might have noticed my slight Pinterest addiction. As such, I'm a huge proponent of this writing tip from fellow Decadent Publishing author V.S. Morgan. Not only does her new release feature an interracial couple, it also includes not one, but two hot men. 

Details Make the Character

by V.S. Morgan 

Create a detailed background of your main characters and any key secondary characters. What they look like, their hobbies,  family situation, quirks, strengths, and weaknesses, etc.  I even find photos on stock photo sites as inspiration. This allows the characters to become 'real' for me, which translates into characters who don't seem like cardboard cutouts. Knowing your characters on a deeper level can also drive your story to places you may not have originally expected but are thrilled they did.

Rex's Mate

V.S. Morgan

Former assassin Rex realizes retirement isn’t all it’s cracked up to be without someone to share it with. He longs for the kind of connection his friends Hunter and Casey have. Tired of meaningless hookups, Rex and his wolf are ready to find their mate. But what if his mate is the human-were bunny shifter his former boss placed in his care? Can he win the heart of this fierce and beautiful man?

Abducted and genetically altered against his will, Aaron is thrust into a world he’d thought was only make-believe. Under the protection of a Minnesota wolf pack, he struggles with his new abilities as a rabbit shifter and his growing attraction for his cocky protector. Can he trust the former assassin to keep him safe and find his brother still being held captive by the evil group responsible for changing his life forever?

Excerpt

Something tickled his ear, and teeth nipped the lobe. Oh, he liked it a bit rough.

“Oh yeah, baby. Bite me again. Harder.” Rex opened his eyes, finding himself on his side, face-to-face with the rabbit.

“Screw that!” He scrambled back, landing bare-assed on the floor.

Screw bunny?

His wolf’s puzzled response had him crab walking toward the door. How the hell had it gotten in bed with him? Hunter. That shithead.

Leaving the rabbit there, Rex shoved onto his feet and stormed upstairs to their room. He opened the door with so much force it slammed against the wall, causing Priss to bark at the end of the bed.

His righteous indignation diminished slightly with Hunter’s Glock trained on him. Maybe he needed to rethink how soft the former assassin had gotten. His friend lowered the gun and glared at him.

“What the hell, Hunter?” He planted his hands on his hips, more confident without a gun pointed at his face.

Casey sat up and rubbed his eyes, his reddish-blond hair standing on end. “What’s the naked, crazy man yelling about?”

Hunter covered the little wolf’s eyes. Shifters weren’t prudes, but he was one possessive dude now he had a mate. “What’s your damage? And go put some clothes on. Casey doesn’t need to see your man bits.”

“As if you didn’t know. I moved here, froze my balls off last winter, and how do you repay that friendship? By putting a rabbit on my bed. That wasn’t funny. I could have eaten him.” His stomach churned even though his wolf huffed in denial, insulted by the accusation.

No eat. Wolf like bunny.

Yeah, probably too much, you dumb wolf.

About V.S. Morgan

V.S. Morgan has lived all over the US but calls Minnesota her home now. Her family includes her hubby, son, and a menagerie of pets. 

She's been writing stories since she could hold a pencil and dreams of happily-ever-afters - even for two hot men - because love knows no boundaries. V.S. writes IRMC contemporary, paranormal, and suspense m/m and m/f with heart. 

 V.S. is a GLBT ally and a lifetime contributor of The Trevor Project.

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#WriteTip - @HoustonHavens Gives Tips on How To Master the Deep POV, along with an #erotic excerpt from her #SciFiRom #NewRelease

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It's been a while since Houston visited. She's quite tied  up (pun-intended) with the promotion of her erotic romance new release, but she nonetheless spared the time to give me a writing tip. The fourth book in her Psychic Menage series just came out, and if you're a fan of naughty sexiness that crosses genre lines, scroll beyond her advice to read the smoking hot excerpt. 

Mastering the Deep POV 

by Houston Havens

One of the most important writing tips I can offer is to learn writing DEEP Point Of View with your two main character in any novel. To master that technique means you understand - Deep Point Of View is more than just writing a character's thoughts.

You'll know when you've accomplished mastering deep POV because you'll have awesome comments in your reviews about how the reader "felt" so "in-tuned" or "in love" or "I felt the character's pain as if it were my own" type remarks.

When you "get" the secrets on how to use DEEP POV through descriptions AND thoughts - you'll have hooked the readers' imagination and their hearts. They will not put your book down.

Deep POV used correctly makes the reader identify with the character even if she's never experienced in her life what is happening in the heroine's life.

Your well-crafted words of emotions and descriptions can draw them a vivid picture and drop them into the depth of the character 's emotions through thought and actions.

Deep POV isn't just typing down how the character is feeling about something. It's showing AND telling through description as well.

A good description deep in the emotions of your character will whisk your reader from her world into the character's, it will grab your reader's heart and her own emotions and not let go until the end of the novel. That's how deep you have to get. If your heroine is crying...the reader should be crying too.

The secret in reaching this depth is not easy...it will require you dig deep into your own emotions (something you might not want to do) to discover your heroine's pain. IF you do it right your readers will be thinking about those characters long after they finished the story and they'll be waiting at the edge of their seats for the next book.

Here is a sample from my book Sinful Surrender Book one of my Psychic Ménage Series

Twenty minutes later, they strolled back into camp. Fay's gaze found Mr. tall, dark, and handsome sitting on the ground near the fire with his back supported against a log, one leg stretched out in front of him. His other leg was crooked, foot flat on the ground, knee raised with his arm draped across it in a lazy hang. He looked comfortable and appeared to be enjoying a rich aromatic drink. He looked their way and held up his tin cup in greeting.
"Coffee!" Arlo strolled to a log near the fire and grabbed a cup. Squatting down, he tipped the cup against a taller can sitting in the embers of a smokeless flame. He poured a black liquid into the tin. "I hope you made enough for all of us."
Drakker squinted his steel-blue eyes. His right eyebrow arched, and his jaw clamped in a hard flex. The cool, calm exterior she had observed for most of the day looked ready to crumble. So, there is a sensitive side to this quiet man. How interesting.

Ok, so the italicized sentence is your standard descriptive POV. It's telling you what the heroine's feeling about what she saw. Its purpose is to let the readers know they're in a female's POV.

Now, the bold-italicized portion is the deep POV of the heroine's thoughts. The reader is hearing her thoughts (Standard deep POV)

But did you notice the first two (bolded) opening sentences of this paragraph? Since this chapter is clearly in the female's POV I couldn't head-hop into the hero's thoughts ... yet because I only have 100,000 words to a novel, every word I write must pull at my readers and reveal all my character. So, I had to find a way to draw the readers into her deep POV yet show how the male in this scene [in this cast - Drakker] was 'feeling' so the readers could begin to identify with him. I had to find a way to show his DEEP POV through description and dialogue rather than through thoughts as I used with the main POV character, and I had to do this without head hopping.

If you read the rest below you will see how I foreshadow Drakker's deep POV without over-shadowing the Main character's deep POV in this chapter.

In an accusatory tone, Drakker asked Arlo, "Why would you assume I wouldn't?" At Arlo's shrug, Drakker got up and tossed the last of his coffee out. He rinsed his cup in a large pot next to the fire and refilled it with the black liquid. Leaning over the fire, he handed the cup to her. "Have a seat and try some."
Seeing the exasperation in his eyes, she chose to obey and sat before taking a sip. Oh my God! She wanted to spit. It was bitter and foul tasting. She swallowed hard.
Turning back to Arlo, Drakker griped, "That's the one thing about you that irks me. Why do you always assume the worst of me? I could understand it if I were guilty of being incompetent or always forgetting something, but I'm not."
Arlo waved Drakker's temper down. "That's not what I meant. You know that."
"Yeah, well anyone listening doesn't know that." He jutted his hand out to indicate Fay was the anyone he was talking about. "It gives the wrong impression, and you're always saying shit like that. It irritates me."
Arlo gave Fay a devilish wink before looking back at Drakker. "You'll live."
"You might not." Drakker strode across camp and propped his foot on a stump...

I hope this sample showed you how to layer your characters POV's, and showed you how you as a writer can write a full story by showing deep pov's through thoughts of the main POV character yet reveal another character's POV, even deep POV, through description and dialogue.

Once you learn how to use POV's through thought, actions, dialogue, and description you'll create a story with such depth your readers will never forget the story or the "like real people" characters they fell in love with.

Good luck and happy writing!

Hugs,

Houston

Intimate Betrayal

PSYCHIC MÉNAGE: BOOK 4

by Houston Havens

Kindise Wyatt escapes her Star Rider captor and returns to Earth. With the help of a sexy Old World Mole and his mysterious friend, she's determined to uncover the whereabouts of her lover. Instead, she finds nothing but betrayal and her captor in pursuit.

On the lam after betraying his evil ruler, ex-Dirt Dweller and drifter Jaden Valenti confirms his name is on a hit list. Finding what he believes will be safety amongst the Airbornes, he recreates himself and hides his past until trouble walks back into his life in the name of Kindise Wyatt, the woman he was ordered to assassinate and didn't

.Due to the obsessions of a Fae woman Sori gave up his hard-earned royal title and left his homeland of Elfame. Love is the furthest thing from his mind until he is sent in Jaden's place to pick-up some cargo...human cargo in the form Kindise Wyatt. He feels the Fae magnetism of his soulmate in her. Problem is; she's in love with someone else.

Will Jaden fulfill his orders to kill Kindise and get his name removed from the list, or will his secret be exposed and betray the friendship he has with Sori? Does Sori help Kindise find her lover, or will a love between them have a chance to flourish before a fatal attraction and a determined captor rip their love asunder? Will Kindise find true love or will betrayals at every turn crush the fight out of her? Can she find her inner strengths to keep fighting and lead The Freedom Fighters to defeat the Dirt Dweller elites, once and for all?

Excerpt (Mature Audiences Only)

"Oh God--"

"Mmm, so you like that." He set her butt back on the railing as he continued his steamy kisses while moving his hands in a seductive path up her back, enticing her to go with the desires heating up between them.

"Yes." She returned his kisses with the same hunger and devotion she felt in his. He groaned in obvious pleasure, deepening the passion in his touch. She moaned at the withdrawal of his mouth from hers.

He lovingly whispered against her lips. "One look and I wanted you." He glided his smooth hands up under the skirt of her dress, tracing a rakish path up the outside of her full but firm thighs until she released a wistful cry. His intoxicating scent teased and tempted as he leaned into her. "One look and I wanted to make you mine. Forever."

He found her mouth again, kissing her with a heat and yearning she never dreamed a man was capable of possessing let alone expressing. A kiss so gentle yet so intense her own buried needs sparked, bursting wide open, demanding to be met right now. It was a burning lust she didn't know lingered inside her. Once again, she entwined her arms behind his neck, pulling him closer, kissing him with her own sultry desires, before murmuring, "I want you too."

"How badly?" His hands gripped her rounded hips and pulled her crouch against his erection. She gasped. His eyes shined with the devil's light as he rubbed the inches of his cock against her. "Do you want me this much?"

"Yes." She breathed in heavy pants as she wrapped her legs higher around his back, encouraging him to thrust his cock against her pussy again.

About Houston Havens

Erotic romance author Houston Havens, a former successful model enjoying an adventurous jet-set lifestyle, intrigues her readers with a mix of the past, present, and future, and sexy blends of futuristic science fiction, paranormal fantasy, and western romance, always with love everlasting. A tenacious Irish lass filled with passion and mystery hopes her sultry stories will entertain and fascinate those who dare to take the journey. She’s also a social media junkie with an award winning blog. http://houstonhavens.com

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5 #Writing Tips from Christy Gissendaner (@ChristyGis), spotlighting her #Holiday #PNR, Christmas Spirits

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I'm delighted to welcome paranormal romance author Christy Gissendaner back to my blog today. If you haven't noticed, she's a pretty regular guest. I only asked her for one writing tip, but, being an over achiever, she sent me five. No. 1 & 2 are already on my "Search and Destroy" list (thank goodness!), and I had to learn No. 3 the hard way through a particularly painful "Revise and Resubmit" (Can you imagine Catching Red as a non-linear story full of flashbacks? Well that's how it started.)  

My most recent brush with No. 4 was a case of "snake" vs. "snack," which my editor luckily caught.  And here's a confession: I've been needing constant reminders of No. 5 this year.

5 Writing Tips

from Christy Gissendaner

Thank you to Tara for having me over. It’s always a joy. Almost as much fun as living vicariously through her Roma FB updates! But now, on to the meat of my post….writing tips!

There are so many tips I wish I’d known when I first began writing. Tara asked me for one, but I’m going to go out on a limb and give you five. Trust me, there’s tons more in my arsenal!

  1. Strike “that” from your vocabulary. I don’t care what you have to do – remove it from your Word dictionary, tape it to your screen – just forget that word ever existed!
  2. Avoid “was” like the plague. You don’t have to run from it, like the aforementioned that, but you’re going to want to steer clear of it as much as possible.
  3. Flashbacks. Don’t do them. Just…don’t.
  4. Never believe no one will notice a typo. (Psst…someone will.)
  5. And finally, don’t stop trying! Fourteen years into this writing gig and I’m still struggling “just to get up that hill”. Yes, I quoted the Good Times’ theme song. And if you don’t recognize it, you haven’t been writing nearly long enough. ; )

Christmas Spirits

by Christy Gissendaner

Kia Mays has little time for anything as her lifelong dream of being a fashion designer comes to fruition. For Christmas, she takes time out of her busy schedule to visit her family in Georgia where her beloved grandmother, Naya, reveals a secret of her Baoule heritage.

In Baoule, located on the Ivory Coast of Africa, the people believe in spirit lovers, which you are separated from at birth. Tedros, Kia’s lover from the spirit world, appears to her and reveals that he is there to assist her in finding a mortal lover.

Elliot Melton, the brother of Kia's new sister in law, is also invited to share the season with the family. With the help of a meddling grandmother and an otherworldly spirit, Elliot and Kia soon find out that Christmas is the best time to fall in love.

Excerpt

Naya motioned her toward the living room with a smile.  “Sit down.  I’ll be right back.”

The couch was the same one that had been in the home Naya had shared with Geoff for decades.  It was worn and threadbare, but still comfortable. 

She settled into the cushions with a heartfelt sigh of relief, dropping her head against the crocheted afghan that always hung on the back of the couch.  Not a thing had changed except the fact that her grandfather wouldn’t be there to greet her. 

She blinked several times to clear her eyes.  It was their second Christmas without Grandpa Geoff, and it still saddened her whenever she thought of him.

“Are you ready?”

Kia looked up expectantly when Naya appeared carrying an item wrapped in tissue paper.  Naya glanced at the gift in her hands, then gave Kia a considering look.  Her dark eyes seemed as if she held the secrets to all life’s mysteries.  “I’ve never shared this with anyone but your grandfather.  Not even with your mother.”

Kia sat up straighter.  It wasn’t like Naya to beat around the bush.  She was about as straightforward as they came.  “What is it?”

Naya sat beside her, still cradling the item in her hands.  “The others wouldn’t understand, but you…”  She paused to touch Kia’s cheek.  “You’re the most like me.  You’ll understand the importance of what I’m about to show you.”

Kia was used to her grandmother’s dramatics, but this was different.  A force inside her recognized the truth of it.  She barely drew a breath as Naya unwrapped the tissue paper to reveal what was beneath.  She didn’t know what to expect, but it surely wasn’t what was revealed. 

She glanced at the wooden figurine with a puzzled frown.  “A doll?”

“No, not a doll.”  Naya’s wrinkled fingers stroked the figure gently.  “It’s your soul mate.”

“Um, Naya?  I hate to disappoint you, but I’m not really into wood.  Rubber, maybe, but…”

Behind her bifocals, the rolling of Naya’s eyes seemed overly pronounced.  “Hush your mouth.  He may hear you and take offense.”

Kia’s frown deepened.  Naya was getting on in years, but Kia had never suspected senility.  “Perhaps you should rest.”

Naya gave her a stern look, one that brooked no argument.  “I’ve not lost my mind, Kia LaShae, and shame on you for thinking so.  This figurine…” she held it up to the light.  “Is the physical reincarnation of your spirit lover, the one you’ve been separated from since birth.  The one you will rejoin in death.”

“My spirit lover, hmm?”  Kia tilted her head to one side and studied him.  “He’s a bit smaller than I would’ve liked.”

Naya put a hand to her forehead and mumbled a few words of her native language, ones Kia doubted were very complimentary.  “In Baoule, when you experience bad luck with your flesh and blood lover, it’s because your spirit lover needs to be appeased.  You must show attention to him to end the bad luck.”

Kia took the figurine from Naya and turned it over in her hands.  “Nice ass.”

“He’ll not like you poking fun at him,” Naya warned.

“Who’s poking fun?  He does have a nice ass.”  Kia pulled up his shirt and ran her forefinger over his ridged wooden abdomen.  “Nice six pack also.”

“I created him according to your specifications.”

Kia lifted an eyebrow.  “I didn’t say anything about a six pack, Naya.”

Her grandmother shrugged.  “I took the liberty of adding a few of my own.”

Kia touched the waistband of the hand sewn, miniature jeans he wore.  “Really?  Exactly what sort of traits?”

Naya slapped a hand over hers.  “Later, Kia.  First I must know if you have any questions.”

Kia placed the figurine, her supposed spirit lover, on the coffee table and crossed her legs.  “Yes, I do.  Did you forget your medication?  You don’t seriously expect me to believe this mumbo jumbo, do you?”

“Have I ever lied to you?”

“There was that bit about the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus.”

About Christy Gissendaner

Christy Gissendaner is a paranormal and contemporary romance author who believes laughter and love should go hand in hand.

Christy lives in Alabama with her husband and three sons. She’s always hard at work on her next novel, but in her spare time she loves blackjack, karaoke, and anything resembling a vacation!

To find out more, please visit http://christygissendaner.webs.com

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