Kelly Cain's Blog, page 7

Why I Write Multicultural Romance

I write what I see. And what I see is a diverse population going about their business, living their diverse lives.

I suppose my life experience is very much similar to many while at the same time being very different from others. I live in a culturally diverse neighborhood. My daughters attended culturally diverse schools. I work in a culturally diverse environment. The relationships I see every day are both culturally homogeneous and multicultural.

When I set out to write ALTERED, I patterned Liv after my daughter who is Creole, and Nicholas after Robert Sheehan, the actor, just because he was my celebrity crush at the time. It didn’t occur to me that I was doing anything special or outside the norm, but when it was time to market ALTERED, it was deemed a multicultural romance.

When writing Scale Steps, my heroine, Faith, is biracial (African-American and Irish) and she meets an actor, Andrew, from her favorite television show in Scotland, who is indeed… Scottish. Again, I didn’t set out to write a multicultural relationship, but rather a natural relationship born out of my usual surroundings.

So now I have branded myself a multicultural romance author because apparently that’s what I write. To me, I’m just writing about everyday life.

Launch Day for ALTERED by Kelly Cain

Welcome to the launch day for ALTERED by Kelly Cain. Please check out the info below about the New Adult multicultural novel and its author.

About ALTERED

A New Adult romance drawing on the author’s own experience studying law, the novel follows Liv, a young woman in her a first semester of law school. When her fiancé abruptly breaks things off, Liv is heart-broken.

Enter Nicholas, a classmate who is so withdrawn that he is an enigma to everyone around him. Nicholas is unusually young and unusually quiet, and keeps his past a tightly guarded secret.

While Liv is still reeling from her break up, Nicholas begins appearing in her life and coming to her rescue. Intrigued and grateful to this quiet young man, Liv becomes determined to unravel the mystery of who Nicholas is.

At first, I saw him as everyone else did.

But then, I saw him for who he really was.

Recognized the beauty beneath the pain.

Loved the quirks disguising the insecurity.

Embraced the man who hid behind the boy.

But there was so much more…

More I didn’t know.

And once I did, I couldn’t let

go…

Of the boy.

The man.

The lover…

…even if his past is threatening

our future.

Nothing will alter what we’ve built.

See the book trailer for ALTERED

About the author

 

Kelly Cain is a multicultural new adult and contemporary romance novelist. After many years of being entrenched in business and data analysis, she began writing a couple of years ago and discovered it to be her passion.  She loves reading most genres, but historical fiction and new adult are her favorites. She has two adult daughters, and is from Stockton, California, but now lives in a suburb of Houston, Texas.

Visit her: website, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram or Tumbler

 

The Sheehan and Love/Hate

A few days ago, I wrote about my fascination with all thing Irish (see here). About three years ago, a friend suggested I watch Love/Hate on Netflix where I promptly started fangirling over the show, and especially Robert Sheehan, herein referred to as “The Sheehan.”

During the height of my The Sheehan crush, I started writing Altered. My hero, Nicholas Sheenan, is Irish-American, tall, fair-skinned with dark curly hair, and beautiful green eyes. Sound familiar. If not, have a look at The Sheehan. I’ll wait.

Okay, now that you’re back. Oh wait, just one…

So anyway… Nicholas was obviously created to satisfy my The Sheehan obsession, at least his physicality. The actual person I based Nicholas on was an 18-year-old student I met in law school who was of average height and blond hair. Again, just one aspect was based on this person – his circumstance of being so young and accomplished (he was also a really sweet guy like Nicholas too). All actions of Nicholas in Altered are completely and totally fiction.

The main character in Altered, Liv, watches a lot of British and Irish television and Love/Hate is referenced more than once. Nicholas rarely watched tv, but he does walk in on Liv watching a particular scene that has her tearing up.

Writing Love/Hate into Altered was really cool for me because I think it’s such a great show. At least the first three season. I’m not sure how good it is after because once The Sheehan departed, I did too. I hear they’re making an American version which I’ll probably check out because of morbid curiosity. I can only hope it’ll be half as great as the original.

Launch Party for Altered (Photos)

I am beyond words to express my gratitude for the tremendous support I received for the launch party for my New Adult debut novel, Altered.

Guests traveled from near and far to pick up signed copies of Altered, participate in games for giveaways, and consume tasty hors d’oeuvres – most of all the gorgeous cake.

I have to give my cousin, Joanna (Neice) Cain, a special shout-out for not only coming from Los Angeles for the event, but for coordinating the food & drinks and acting as Mistress of Ceremonies. She also did a reading from Chapter 15-No Boundaries which may or may not be based on a fictionalized version of her. She brought her friend, Foxxy, who helped to pull it all off.

Three people from the Acknowledgements section of Altered were able to come which helped make my night: Dr. Patricia Williams, Anna Taylor (came in from Mississippi), and Jessika Mayes (came in from Virginia).

There were guests I’ve known for years, some I hadn’t seen in many years, as well as guests I’d only met for the first time that night. My daughters were there doing what they always do – supporting me unconditionally. To all I say I can’t thank you enough for sharing this special night with me.

The cake and cupcakes were spectacular, and made by my sorority sister (line sister), Renita Thornton, from Mary Butler’s Grandaughter cakes, cupcakes, and treats. Here’s the cakes and her card:

Here are the photos I promised:

Working hard for those giveaways

 

 

Living the dream

In Defense of Liv

When I set out to write Altered, I wanted everyone to read it, and fall madly in love with the story as well as the characters. Of course I understood not everyone would like it, and I’ve come to understand that a lot of it has to do with chemistry. After all, I don’t love everything I read and when I leave a review for those books I may have liked, but not loved, there are always plenty of people reviewing how much they actually did love it.

As it turns out, there seems to be some very consistent comments about my two main characters, Liv and Nicholas. I haven’t read one single review where a disparaging remark has been made about Nicholas, even for those who didn’t love the story. Quite the contrary – Nicholas is universally loved and understood. Even though he certainly has flaws and he isn’t always forthcoming, somehow those shortcomings are forgiven and overlooked.

Liv doesn’t get off so easily though. Most relate she is selfish, annoying, and/or immature. There are even those who love the story, but don’t particularly care for Liv, or just tolerate her. A few “get” her and give her the benefit of the doubt, but not many.

I intentionally made Liv blissfully unaware of self – it was completely intentional. However I didn’t realize this would be such a problem for people. She is flawed (aren’t we all?) and she has been wronged considerably. Some acknowledge she had a terrible breakup and it probably affected her, but most thought she brought it upon herself. Perhaps. How many of us in our early 20s made decisions that we know we should have never made now that those years are firmly behind us? ::raises hand::

This isn’t a spoiler because it’s how the book is marketed, but Liv is engaged in the beginning of the story and her fiance breaks up with her a few months before the wedding. As it is, the timing of getting married probably wasn’t the greatest and the man she’d chosen to marry probably wasn’t the best choice, but again, she made some questionable decisions that she had to live with. She ends up paying for those decisions and because of this failed relationship, she develops some deep trust issues. I’m not sure why this isn’t an acceptable reaction.

She goes on to not trust her feelings where Nicholas is concerned and that seems to really piss some people off, both inside and outside the story. Her long suffering roommate, Julia, berates her on not being self-aware. Even her own mom gets in on the action.  Readers don’t like this either. Perhaps they want an instalove situation which I’ve never been a big fan of. Or maybe they just don’t want her to cause Nicholas any pain.

The more I mull this over, the more I think I’ve found the crux of the problem – no one wants to see Nicholas unhappy. I can understand that – I love Nicholas just as much as the next person, and I want him to be blissfully happy as well. However I don’t dislike Liv because she doesn’t instantly want that too. And really, she does want his happiness, but she’s unsure if she can be the person who helps him in that area. Luckily for everyone, Nicholas assists Liv with this problem and guides her back to a place of trust. After all, he hasn’t always been in the best trust place either.

In the end, both Liv and Nicholas are flawed characters who face challenges and repercussions for the decisions they make. The fact that readers have a visceral reaction to Liv actually makes me happy because clearly they’ve become invested in the story. What more can I ask for?

My fascination with the Irish

If you read my debut New Adult novel, Altered, you will notice that the hero, Nicholas Sheenan, is of Irish descent. You will also notice an homage to Love/Hate which is an Irish RTE drama set in Dublin, starring one Robert Sheehan. I’ll write more about that in another post, but would like to explain further my fascination with the Irish people and culture.

Growing up, my mom would always tell me that I was Irish. Clearly I’m African-American so that was somewhat confusing to me. As I grew older, I came to realize that I had an ancestor who immigrated from Ireland, but the details were always vague. When my mom spoke of one of her aunts in particular, she would always say, “that’s the Irish in her.”

It wasn’t until recently, while combing through my family tree doing research for another project I’m working on, that I discovered for sure who this ancestor was. She was my maternal grandmother’s mother, and her name was Laura Harris. There’s not a whole lot of information available about her other than the fact that she was, indeed, from Ireland. I’d be extremely interested to discover how she ended up having African-American offspring during a time when this seems nearly impossible to have happened.

My mother was the baby of her family and she’s been gone two years, so I’ll probably never truly know how my great-grandmother came to be my ancestor. Instead I’ll continue to make up stories to fill in my own blanks. For instance, the manuscript I’m currently revising, has a heroine who is biracial – her Da’s parents immigrated from Ireland, and she spent most summers growing up there. It was great fun researching that part of the world and building the linage from which she came. Possibly from where my own great-grandmother came.

I’m writing a new story. I’m about a fifth of the way in, but it doesn’t have an Irish character… yet.

Places in Altered

I’ve written about the restaurants referenced in my debut New Adult novel, Altered, because food is predominant throughout. I thought I might touch on a few of the non-eating establishments featured.

While attending Texas Southern University (TSU) in Houston, and even the year I spent in law school, I lived in a townhouse on Rosedale in 3rd Ward, bordering the museum district. This is where the story opens and the description of Liv driving into the garage, and looking up at the balcony is true to form. I’ve taken some liberties with other parts of the townhouse including the garden tub and the game room (there was actually a smaller third bedroom used as an office), but the closet is very much the same. I loved that closet.

Liv is a law school student. Once upon a time, I was a law school student. Liv attends a law school in downtown Houston. I attended South Texas College of Law in downtown Houston. Do you see where I’m going with this? I only spent a year there, but I really loved the STCL atmosphere. Like Nicholas, most days I would ride my bike to class because it was only a couple of miles from the townhouse. And like Liv and Nicholas, I met some really great people there.

Liv and Nicholas go to Ragin Cajun a couple of times (see my post here) and then go over to “Edwards.” They’re referring to Edwards Theater on Weslayan near Kirby. There’s nothing particularly remarkable about this movie theater other than it’s rather large in the middle of town.

Our couple ventures out to the left coast and at some point makes it to Stanford. Originally, I mention them going to Stanford in passing, but my editor thought that since they went all that way, I should probably show them doing something. Because my cousin had started at Stanford when I was a senior in high school, I opted to tell a little about that. Because the events don’t veer too far from the truth, I’ll let you read about it instead of me telling you here. Suffice to say, I really enjoyed his frosh year.

My daughters and I are members of The Woodlands Church. After Liv and Nicholas go through their escapades in Austin, and Liv finally decides (wait…that’s probs a spoiler). So anywho, at some point Liv takes Nicholas to her church. I don’t write about their time at the church, only the car ride over. I don’t mention the church by name, but I do tell a little about the pastor and the awesomeness that is Fellowship of The Woodlands. If you’re ever in Houston, that’s the place to go on Sunday morning (or Saturday evening). They have a live online campus too!

Release Day for On The Rebound by Jim Cangany

ON THE REBOUND IS NOW AVAILABLE!

Author: Jim Cangany

Release Day: January 26, 2016

Genre: Sports Romance

Publisher: Penner Publishing

 

SYNOPSIS

On The Rebound is a sweet, sports romance set on the campus of fictional Irving University. It’s a story about second chances and features a women’s college basketball team. Here’s a teaser for you.

After he’s caught in a grade fixing scandal, men’s college basketball coach Greg Miller is thrown a lifeline when an old friend offers him a job with the small-school Irving University women’s team.

Academic Advisor Ciara Monaghan knows first-hand the heartbreak and havoc a cheating man can wreak. She wants nothing more than to protect the University’s reputation by seeing to it that Greg’s stay at Irving is short.

The last thing either of them wants is the attraction they can’t deny. Can a struggling member of the basketball team bring them together to see how wonderful a second chance at life, and love, can be?

 

ABOUT JIM CANGANY

Jim Cangany was forty pages into his first manuscript when he realized it was a romance. He went with it and has great joy writing sweet, contemporary love stories. A lover of things that go fast, when Jim’s not writing, you can probably find him checking into the latest from IndyCar or pro bike racing. He lives in Indianapolis with his saint of a wife Nancy, his sons Seamus and Aidan, and the princess of the house, kitty cat Maria.

Visit him: Website, Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads or Tumbler

BUY NOW AT YOUR FAVORITE RETAILER!

Interview with author Jim Cangany

I’m not sure where to even begin with Jim. Whenever I’m on some sort of self-deprecating or woe is me roll, he “puts his dad hat on” and straightens me out. Mind you, we’re pretty much the same age, but it works every time. He’s the nicest person in the world and a great writer to boot. I’ve read a couple of his books (see my review) – you should do yourself a favor and pick one up. His newest, On The Rebound, will be out tomorrow.

Background Info

Author name: Jim Cangany

Book title: On The Rebound

Tell us a little about yourself and your background: My wife, Nancy, and I will be celebrating our 25th anniversary this May. We have two teen aged sons, Seamus and Aidan, and cat, Maria, who is the princess of the house. After years of dabbling in writing, I got serious in 2011 and had my first book published in 2013.

Tell us a little about your novel: On The Rebound is a sweet, sports romance set on the campus of fictional Irving University. It’s a story about second chances and features a women’s college basketball team. Here’s a teaser for you:

After he’s caught in a grade fixing scandal, men’s college basketball coach Greg Miller is thrown a lifeline when an old friend offers him a job with the small-school Irving University women’s team.

Academic Advisor Ciara Monaghan knows first-hand the heartbreak and havoc a cheating man can wreak. She wants nothing more than to protect the University’s reputation by seeing to it that Greg’s stay at Irving is short.

The last thing either of them wants is the attraction they can’t deny. Can a struggling member of the basketball team bring them together to see how wonderful a second chance at life, and love, can be?

Have you written anything else (including novels, short stories, novellas, etc.): I’m the author of The North Star Series (Fallen Star, Lucky Star, and Wish Upon a Star), a sweet contemporary trilogy that follows the adventures of Annie Wilson and E.J. McCarty.

On The Rebound is the first installment in the three-book Irving University Series. Take Two and Time Out are the next two books in the series.

I’ve also written a holiday-themed short story called The Christmas Angel.

Q & A

What romance books would you recommend to readers who will love your book: As a sweet, contemporary romance, I think fans of Kristan Higgins and Karen Rock, especially Karen’s A League of Her Own, would love On The Rebound.

How did you decide on the setting for your book: I’m a fan of women’s college basketball and don’t think it gets the publicity it deserves, so I wanted to write a story that gave women’s college hoops it’s due.

Do you have any writing rituals: I have a full-time day job, so I try to write at least 500 words per day. It kind of slow, but the progress is steady.

If you were writing a book about yourself, what would the title be: Well, given that my wife’s a breast cancer survivor, my older son attempted to take his life and was diagnosed with depression and anxiety in 2013, and I’ve battled depression for years, probably something like Hold on Tight because life is never boring in the Cangany household.

What character was the most difficult to write and why: Ciara was probably the toughest to write. I wanted her to be no-nonsense, but she initially she came across as quite bitchy, so I had to “soften her up.”

What’s next for you: Take Two and Time Out will be out later this year. I’m just starting a sci-fi novel, which is a major departure from my contemporary romance. I grew up a sci-fi fan, so it should be fun.

Do you have any pointers or advice for aspiring writers: Be yourself. Don’t be afraid to write the stories in your head, those stories you want to write. As I was told once, the stories you love are the ones that sparkle.

Favorite song: “One” by U2. An incredible song that becomes more relevant every day.

Favorite movie/tv show: Movie- Field of Dreams; TV show – Star Trek, The Next Generation

Chosen superpower: Superspeed

Toilet paper: over or under: Over

Real book or tablet: Both

Star Trek or Star Wars: Trek

Excerpt

Greg turned to Ciara. She was practically glowing with pride and exhilaration. It was only fair since these were her girls, too.

Which gave him an idea.

“Thanks. Do you have a minute? I need to ask you something about tomorrow’s game.”

Marie looked at her watch. “Iron Man and I will give you five minutes. If you’re not back by then, the party train leaves the station without you.”

Ciara gave a quick nod and followed him into the basketball office. Rather than settling into one of the chairs, she leaned against a desk.

“I know Marie’s not kidding about five minutes, so I’ll cut to the chase. Would you say a few words to the team before the game tomorrow night?”

“Me? I’m just an academic advisor.” Her brow had creased. “What could I possibly have to say?”

He didn’t have much more time. Every word needed to count. “You’re in a unique position. After what happened to you ten years ago, you understand better than anybody on this campus that this moment won’t last. The players have to seize it and embrace it, but most of all, enjoy it. Because it could all be taken away in the blink of an eye.

“This is a huge game for this school. A win tomorrow night will make history. But there’s more to life than wins and losses. What matters most is taking the time to treasure those special moments and the special people who make them happen, because if we’re not careful, both the moments and the people are gone before we know it.”

Ciara ran a hand through her hair. It was all Greg could do to keep himself from reaching out to run his fingers through it too. Her lips curved downward as she glanced around the room in what seemed to be a concerted effort to avoid making eye contact.

She finally looked at him. “What do you mean by what happened to me ten years ago?”

“I know what happened during the conference championship game your senior year.” He shrugged. “When Sharon told me I’d be working with you, I researched you. The recruiter in me, I guess. To have that happen to you must have been one bitter-as-vinegar pill to swallow. Since you never brought it up, I never did. Didn’t think it was my place. But now—”

“Is this speech thing your idea?”

“Yes.” That part was true. “Coach Leonard’s totally on board with it.” That part was a big fat lie, but he’d figure out a way to talk Sharon into it.

There was a knock on the door.

“I know you need to go. Think it over and let me know tomorrow. Please?”

“Fine. But let me ask this, why should I do this for you?”

“I’m not asking you to do this for me. I’m asking you to do this for them. And for yourself.”

Author Bio

Jim Cangany was forty pages into his first manuscript when he realized it was a romance. He went with it and has great joy writing sweet, contemporary love stories. A lover of things that go fast, when Jim’s not writing, you can probably find him checking into the latest from IndyCar or pro bike racing. He lives in Indianapolis with his saint of a wife Nancy, his sons Seamus and Aidan, and the princess of the house, kitty cat Maria.

Links

Website

Twitter

Facebook

Tumblr

Goodreads

Amazon

The Road Less Traveled

If I look over at the counter on the left side of my website, I can see there are 11 days to go before the official release of my debut New Adult novel, Altered. I began reflecting on how I got to be in this situation exactly.

I really never had much of an interest in writing. I was a medic in the army, an administrative management systems major in college, and an MBA. I even had a brief stint in law school (as you will soon learn when you read Altered). I didn’t take literature classes beyond what was required for my diploma or degree. I did however develop a love of reading in high school.

My tenth grade English teacher, Mrs. Janet Ghio, recognized there was no multicultural-influenced literature in our curriculum I could relate to. She gave me a copy of The Color Purple (ha! I’m dating myself), and once I’d finished, she took me out to lunch to discuss what I’d read. That definitely sparked something in my reading life that had been mostly non-existent before (I was more of a tomboy-type kid). The next year, I took philosophy as my elective and fell in love with Dostoevsky and Kafka (The Metamorphosis is still my all time favorite short story).

At some point a couple of years ago, I started bouncing this idea around in my head that I might want to write about.  I kept it there – in the back of my head. Around the same time, I really got into the Outlander series and the author, Diana Gabaldon, was very vocal about the writing process.  I still kept my idea in the back of my head.

I also follow a celebrity gossip blogger (perhaps I should be thoroughly embarrassed by that, but I’m not), @laineygossip, who introduced me to the New Adult genre.  I tore through all of her recommendations plus more and found them to be easy, quick reads that were somehow satisfying.  That also prompted me to think, “Wow, I can write that.”

I signed up for NaNoWriMo in 2013, but didn’t write a single word. I finally revisited this idea the following April and was finished with it by mid-May.  I was completely embarrassed to be writing and only told my younger daughter who was still in high school at the time. I made her promise not to tell anyone. After the story started pouring out of me, I told another “reading” friend (who lives in another state), Anna, and started sending her what I’d written in 20K chunks. She loved it and that encouraged me to keep going and also share with others in my life that I was writing.

I signed up for NaNoWriMo again in 2014 and this time completed it, as well as another book that’s a contemporary romance (Scale Steps). Again sending it to my friend 20K words at a time.

A few months went by and I really didn’t know what to do with either of my finished manuscripts. Then one day I saw a post in an Outlander Facebook group I frequent (ahem) by one C. H. Armstrong singing the praises of the publishing process she’d been going through with her debut novel, The Edge of Nowhere. I checked out her publisher, Penner Publishing, and decided to submit both manuscripts.

I waited about two weeks. And when I say waited, I mean refreshed my email every single hour. Finally I saw the email I’d been waiting for. I nervously clicked on it to open and read through squinted eyes. “Thank you for querying Penner Publishing with ALTERED and UNEXPECTED (Scale Step before I changed the name) and for giving us the opportunity to consider your manuscripts. Unfortunately, UNEXPECTED is not a good fit for us at this time…” My heart sank, but it wasn’t entirely unexpected (pun intended) given how difficult I’d heard it was to get published. And this was my first query after all (I didn’t even realize I was querying at the time).

I went on to read, “…but we quite enjoyed reading ALTERED. If ALTERED is still available, we would love to talk further.”

Um, talk about burying the lead!

This has been quite a journey and I’ve had a LOT of support along the way. I know it’s an overused word, but I can’t describe the experience as anything other than surreal.