Victoria Janssen's Blog, page 69
February 11, 2011
Do Not Read This Book – Inez Kelley Guest Post
Please welcome my guest, Inez Kelley!
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DO NOT READ THIS BOOK.
Seriously, don't. I wrote Sweet as Sin and while I love it, you might not, so don't bother wasting your money. Several reviewers have sung its praises. They speak of needing tissues, of the story lingering with them, of feeling John and Livvy's pain as if it were theirs and of delighting in their hope. One reviewer called it genius. Another called it the best book she had read in years. One other said it was beautiful, compelling...
February 10, 2011
When a Splurge Isn't
Some purchases may seem like splurges, but in the long run, they really aren't. Here are a few of mine:
1. A netbook.
When I purchased by Acer netbook, I already had a laptop. An aging laptop, it's true, but thought the battery was (and still is) weak, it still works. However, after I bought the netbook, which is much smaller and lighter, I found that I wrote more. I was more willing to carry the netbook around all day, and take advantage of random bits of time to write.
Outside of...
February 9, 2011
Throwing a Book Launch
Have you thought about throwing a launch party to celebrate your book's release? I've done it. I've done it three times and I think I'm getting a handle on how to do it.
First, decide what kind of event you want. Is the party to celebrate your book's release with your family and friends? To sell a lot of books? To find new readers? How many attendees will you invite? Can you obtain sufficient space for that size group?
A book launch doesn't have to be held in a bookstore. A living...
February 8, 2011
Swearing in The Duke and The Pirate Queen
This post was inspired by an essay on swearing in romance novels over at Alpha Heroes.
I thought a lot about the way my characters in The Duke & the Pirate Queen would swear. The book is set in a fantasy world that is not dominated by Christianity; more than that, I'd gone out of my way to avoid mentioning religion at all. Also, I wanted the swearing to be part of the worldbuilding.
All the cursing/swearing I can think of is religious, sexual, or scatological. I'd thought about...
February 7, 2011
My Recent DNFs
DNF is an abbreviation for "Did Not Finish." I know my books have been DNFd by readers; lately, I've had a fair number of DNFs in my own reading.
No, I am not going to name titles or authors! And I'm going to do my best to obscure details so you can't tell which books these were.
1. Too shallow.
I like fluff. But this book was so fluffy that I couldn't take the pov character or her problem seriously. In fact, I felt so manipulated by the author that I was inclined to mock the pov...
February 6, 2011
Siegfried Sassoon, "Secret Music"
Secret Music
I keep such music in my brain
No din this side of death can quell;
Glory exulting over pain,
And beauty, garlanded in hell.
My dreaming spirit will not heed
The roar of guns that would destroy
My life that on the gloom can read
Proud-surging melodies of joy.
To the world's end I went, and found
Death in his carnival of glare;
But in my torment I was crowned,
And music dawned above despair.
–Siegfried Sassoon, The Old Huntsman and Other Poems, 1918
February 5, 2011
Siegfried Sassoon, "Before the Battle"
Before the Battle
Music of whispering trees
Hushed by a broad-winged breeze
Where shaken water gleams;
And evening radiance falling
With reedy bird-notes calling.
O bear me safe through dark, you low-voiced streams.
I have no need to pray
That fear may pass away;
I scorn the growl and rumble of the fight
That summons me from cool
Silence of marsh and pool
And yellow lilies is landed in light
O river of stars and shadows, lead me through the night.
June 25th, 1916
–Siegfried Sassoon, The Old...
February 4, 2011
Stories Available For Nook
I've made several more of my erotic short stories available electronically. These were all originally published under my Elspeth Potter pseudonym.
The following are now available for the Nook:
Poppet. Near-future science fiction. Male/female pairing. Sort of.
Twisted Beauty, about a man who became disabled and is gaining back his sex life. Male/female pairing.
Worship, about an older couple who overcome a disability to revitalize their sex life. Male/female pairing.
February 3, 2011
The Birth of Characters
Tumperkin asked if I would blog about characterization.
Having recently been inspired with a new project, I decided to set down my thoughts while I was still in the thick of creation. The way I form characters changes from project to project, but this is how I came up with characters for this project. Minute by minute! In excruciating detail!
When I said I was recently inspired, that inspiration actually resulted from several months of making lists of items/history/situations/issues I...
February 2, 2011
Thousands of Stories Are Waiting For You…
…in The Agony Column of the Times, 1800-1870, collected by Alice Clay, at the Internet Archive.
If you were lacking in story ideas, you lack no more!
Tuesday, November 10, 1850: E.R.C.—CONSENTS.
Saturday, January 4, 1851: P.P.P. is implored, for mercy's sake, to WRITE AGAIN. If not, your wretched father will be a maniac, and your poor unhappy mother will die brokenhearted.
Monday, January 27, 1851: To C.—it's all right; the danger you apprehended is stopped; nothing is known; every...
