Merry Shannon's Blog, page 4

Branded Ann at Rainbow Book Reviews

Rachel of Rainbow Book Reviews has posted a great review of Branded Ann – go check it out!

 

‘Branded Ann’ is a hardcore pirate story, make no mistake. But the slow redemption of Ann and the accurate atmosphere of the Caribbean in that time make it an immersive read. It felt to me like I was in Tortuga, Port Royal, and on the Ice Queen; Merry Shannon did such a wonderful job describing the scenery. For lovers of lesbian pirates, ‘Branded Ann’ is one of the best I’ve ever read. I strongly recommend it!

Thanks Rachel! I’m so happy you liked it!  :)  :)

What’s the Attraction? You and Your Beautiful Soul

So if you’re following along, we’re here: The Elements of Romance -> Longing -> Attraction -> Personality Traits

Yesterday I talked a little bit about the importance of your characters’ physical appearance, when it comes to creating attraction between them. Today I’m going to talk about another major attraction factor: personality. We all know that looks will only get you so far with someone before your true self comes in to play. What you need to know, what your readers need to know, is what it is about each character that the other is really drawn to. Most people are drawn to personality traits in others that they either identify with, value highly, or wish they had more of themselves. In the same way, most people are usually turned off by personality traits that they don’t like in themselves, or that they consider “deal-breakers.”

The most common pairing I usually see in romance is the introverted, stoic protector matched with a spunky, yet fragile extrovert. (This pretty much sums up Talon and Shasta from Sword of the Guardian perfectly.) I think this combination is so popular because of the dynamic it creates, especially when the characters are gendered. The more masculine or butch character is typically the stoic, strong one, while the more feminine character is the one who’s bubbly and always getting into trouble. He’s drawn to her spirit, she’s drawn to his power, and voila! Instant formula for LUV. Provided that you keep your characters interesting and avoid cliche, this can be done really well. But, especially if you’re going to be writing more than one book, be careful about using the same personality formula over and over. It will start to seem like you’re writing the same story again and again.

Instead, try mixing it up a little. Change the gendered expectations, perhaps. Let your protector be extroverted and perhaps a bit bumbling or arrogant, and their love interest might be a bit of a shy, bookish, geeky type. Just be sure to show us what it is about each other that they like. Your characters should not be perfect – each should have a handful of traits that the average person probably would not consider attractive. Those are the ones that are most fun to play with, as you figure out why their love interest is able to find those things charming.

Another possibility is to work with the whole “opposites attract” idea. In Branded Ann, it turned out that what the characters were attracted to in each other were the things they were most uncomfortable with in themselves. Ann, the notorious pirate, was terrified of her own capacity for violence, the things she was willing to do to survive. What drew her to Violet was Violet’s strength, tenacity and fearlessness, which were all things Ann wanted to have herself. Violet, on the other hand, had spent her entire life struggling to maintain some measure of freedom from people who were stronger and more powerful than she was. She was enchanted by Ann’s hidden vulnerability, her loneliness and sadness and need for connection with others.

So here’s a list of possible personality traits your characters might take on:

cheerful or grumpy
shy or confident
quiet or outspoken
energetic or laid-back
reserved or expressive
generous or selfish
leader or follower
careful or reckless
aggressive or passive
stubborn or easily swayed
enjoys conflict or avoids conflict

For example, I’d describe Talon as confident, quiet, reserved, careful, stubborn and a leader. I’d describe Shasta as cheerful, confident, outspoken, expressive, selfish, aggressive and also a leader. They attract one another both through the traits that they share and the areas where they are opposites.

And because this song pretty much sums up what I’m getting at here:



Tomorrow we’ll move on to attraction factor #3: Skills.

What’s the Attraction? Mirror, Mirror…

So this blog series is getting a little more extensive than I had imagined. If you’ve been following the conversation thus far, we’re here: The Elements of Romance -> Longing -> Attraction -> Looks.

Today I want to talk about physical looks, which play a big part in creating a compelling story of your characters’ longing for one another. While I’d strongly urge writers to avoid basing an entire relationship on physical attraction alone, it is still an undeniable fact that human beings desire and value beauty. As such, readers need to understand what’s physically attractive about your characters, or at the very least, what the characters find physically attractive about each other. It could be that they’re pretty, young, muscled, tall, with striking features. Or it could be that they don’t fit the usual ideas of beauty at all, but have an incredible smile or brilliant eyes or graceful hands.

Sexy comes in all shapes, sizes, colors (and genders.) Photo from Dove Cosmetics.

I will say that I usually do picture most of my characters as hotties, and they’re usually described that way. I also tend to focus on eyes a lot… Maybe even a little too much. But I find eyes to be the most expressive part of the face, and my characters tend to spend a lot of time observing each other’s eye color, and eye movement, and where their gaze is focused during conversations, etc.

Don’t underestimate the power of gorgeous eyes. Image from here.

Some elements of physical attractiveness to think about:

complexion
body type / build / shape
hair color, length, texture and style
eye color, shape, and size
mouth shape
teeth
freckles, moles, scars, tattoos or other distinguishing marks
unique nose, chin, brow, or cheek structure
shape of hands, fingers and fingernails
the sound of their voice
age
style of dress
walking gait, grace of movement

Don’t forget that sometimes it’s the more unusual bits… the sound of someone’s voice or the way their hips swing when they walk… that proves to be their sexiest physical feature. Keep the big picture in mind: physical attraction provides basis for the characters to long for and desire one another, and desire is a critical component of a romance.

Check back tomorrow when we’ll be talking about personality traits, and how they factor into attraction…

Creating Longing – What’s The Attraction?

I want to expand on what I said in my earlier post about Longing, and talk a little more about ways to answer the “What’s the Attraction?” question.

Before you start writing a romantic relationship, the very first thing you MUST know is why these characters like each other. And it’s a really, really good idea to have those reasons extend beyond “she’s hot,” or worse, “she’s in the right place at the right time.” One of the things that sets a satisfying romance apart from an easily-forgotten one is an understanding of why these two particular people are so attached to each other.

Now, the reader doesn’t necessarily have to have the entire background before the story starts. It’s entirely possible to jump right into the action, the good stuff, and fill the reader in on the characters’ motivations as the story goes along. But if you get to the end and the reader still has no idea why these characters even like each other, the whole story will fall flat once they’ve put the book down.

Ok guys, marriage and double suicide, seriously?!! You just met, like, a couple weeks ago.

Take Romeo and Juliet, for example. Perhaps the most famous romance of all time… And yet, does anyone really know why these characters like each other enough to kill themselves at the end? Anyone? Because Mr. Shakespeare sort of skimmed over that part. We are left to assume that they probably just find each other hot. Or maybe they like the idea of defying their families. Perhaps it’s possible that Shakespeare left the attraction part out on purpose, because his intent was to write a senseless tragedy, not a romance. I’ll tell you right now that I would have very different feelings about the story if I knew that, say, Romeo didn’t feel like he could go on living without Juliet’s compassion and sweet singing voice, and Juliet couldn’t bear to lose the sound of his laugh and the way he always made her feel safe… As it is, though, every time I watch a performance of R&J, I just walk away feeling like they were both really dumb kids. :P

As I mentioned earlier, attraction can consist of several components. To keep this from getting too long, I’ll make this a daily series and talk about each component individually, starting tomorrow with attraction factor #1: Looks.

The Elements of Romance – Longing

In my earlier post, I mentioned how I’ve been thinking about the elements of an effective romance, and how those elements come together to build a compelling, addictive story. So in this post, I want to talk about longing. I’d define this concept as the drama that happens when a character loves someone they can’t have or shouldn’t want. In order to build relatable, believable longing between characters, an author has to answer a few key questions.

What’s the attraction?


What’s the problem?


What’s the effect?

Each of these questions is an entire blog post in and of themselves, and later on I will break them down into more detail. But for now, let’s just take them one at a time – and use some Disney favorites for reference.

What’s the Attraction?

The first question is our set up. We’re asking what it is about Character A that Character B loves. It requires us to figure out where the longing COMES FROM. Your readers have to know this, and sometimes it’s an easy thing for an author to underdevelop. Factors that affect attraction include things like physical appearance, striking personality traits, admirable skills, shared history, and most importantly, the ways in which Character A fills a need, complements a strength, or offsets a weakness of Character B.

Belle is spunky, smart, and hot. Beast is sweetly awkward and thoughtful. Their story works because we understand why they’re important to each other.

What’s the Problem?

Ah, this one is a big part not just of romance but often the plot itself. Here, we are asking why the characters’ longing is unresolved. This is the conflict question, and it often drives plot as well as jacking up the romantic tension. Here is where we find out why the characters’ longing PERSISTS AND GROWS. The conflict could be internal or external in nature. Some of the most common include: differences in socio-economic class, familial or societal pressures, personal fears or secrets, unrequited attraction, distance, occupations that disallow a romantic partner, etc. Some of the best stories interweave multiple threads of conflict to create something complex and interesting.

She has a fish tail. He has legs. No matter how much they love each other, this is bound to be a problem.

What’s the Effect?

Another way of asking this might be, what makes the longing heartwrenching? What makes it a good story? What makes it sexy? There are a lot of manifestations to play with, but this is the part where we find out what the longing DOES. The way a character internalizes their longing deepens our connection to them, allows us to relate to their feelings and begin rooting for them to find happiness. Longing also drives some of the most key plot developments, such as scenes of jealousy, grief, sacrifice, romantic gestures, and of course, the requisite confession of feelings. And longing has a physical component as well, one that’s especially important when it comes to developing sexual tension and making those kissing and sex scenes pop off the page into the reader’s imagination.

She’s ready to defy her family and put her life on the line for love.

I have the feeling that this topic is going to turn into an entire blog series, because each of the questions above really deserves its own, separate post (or two.)

To be continued, then…

The Elements Of Romance

There has been some progress on the publication front in terms of Prayer of the Handmaiden, but I’m not yet at liberty to announce details. My deepest gratitude, though, to everyone who’s been asking for updates. I hope to have some news for you all soon!

In the meantime, I’ve been slowly formulating thoughts for the third Ithyria book. I know who the main characters will be, and some of the major plot points, but the thing that’s eluding me right now is the hook — the specialness that will tie plot, characters and romance together. In the search for it, though, I’ve done a lot of thinking about what elements of a romantic relationship are the most satisfying. What captures our imaginations and hearts, what draws us to the characters and their relationship and makes us root for them?

As it happens, I’ve also been watching a lot of Korean dramas lately. If you’re a K-drama fan then you know what I mean when I say that the writers of these dramas have mastered the art of creating addicting romantic storylines. Yet so many of the elements are completely cliched, and repeat over and over from one show to the next. Jealousy. Social barriers, particularly between economic classes. Two people who hate each other eventually falling in love. Being rescued and bailed out of trouble. Lots of odd excuses for the couple to end up being in awkward physical proximity, or even better — accidentally kissing. Secrets that are inevitably discovered. Misunderstandings that result in unnecessary misery. A lot of these plot points are so blatantly silly that it requires a generous suspension of disbelief in order to accept them. Yet I keep going back, episode after episode, wanting to see the couple get together. (Naturally, they WILL get together at the end… That’s not even really in question.)

So what is it, I started wondering, about these silly, overdone stories that keeps me returning episode after episode? The more I thought about it, the more I realized that the primary elements of every romantic scene always fall under one of three main categories: longing, protection, or intimacy. And then I started thinking about the most romantic scenes in the stories I’ve written, and they all fall into these categories too. So I realized, in order to make a love story that’s satisfying, these elements need to exist in some variation, and they need to be well-developed.

Longing encapsulates a lot of different things, but what it really boils down to is the character’s desire for someone they either can’t have or “shouldn’t” want.

My Best Friend’s Girl – Boys Over Flowers

 

Protection is probably the most straightforward, and it involves the character putting their own interests aside in order to protect or defend their love interest.

The Umbrella’s Only Big Enough For One… – Love Rain

 

And Intimacy is a form of either emotional or physical closeness that the character doesn’t allow anyone except their love interest to have.

The “accidental kiss” – Flower Boy Next Door

 

The more I’ve considered this, the more fascinated I am with how well this works to describe all of the most satisfying, squee-worthy, romantic scenes I’ve ever read or watched. So stay tuned, because I plan to blog about each of these elements individually…

Screencaps from here, here and here.

Off and Away

Yesterday I sent the initial draft of Prayer of the Handmaiden off to my publisher for review. Fingers crossed that they like it! I actually felt a weird rush in hitting that “send” button… Like a jolt of adrenaline that leaves you shaky and trying to laugh and cry at the same time. This book has been a long, long journey for me. And probably an even longer wait for the folks being so very patient to read it!

I think my favorite parts of this book (besides the angst and romance, ’cause you all know how much I hearts me some angst) are the moments when the Goddess gets to explain Herself to Kade. As it turns out, just like with so many organized religions, it’s human beings that end up corrupting, twisting or just plain misunderstanding the basis for their faith. And it was so cool to get to let the Goddess speak for herself and set a few things straight. I’ve always imagined that if the gods of our modern day religions could do that, they’d have an awful lot to say about the things that have been said and done in their names.

I feel like this story is more of an outright adventure than Sword of the Guardian, and a more mature romance as well. I was a little surprised at how it turned into something of a love triangle, with Kade torn between her genuine feelings for both Erinda and the Goddess. I was also a little surprised by the way her relationship with the Goddess manifests itself. Sometimes it really is like the story is writing itself and I don’t have much control over what’s going to happen next…!

Kade and Erinda have become like dear friends to me over the past few years. Moving on from them feels a little sad, even though I know it’s necessary in order to get to the next part of the tale. And I have felt a restless creative energy today that’s almost frustrating, because it’s all over the place and I can’t quite get it focused enough to turn it into something productive. Part of me wants to jump right in to the third Ithyria book. I know who the main characters are, and several of the major events of their story. I also know that the majority of it will take place in the Outlands, giving the chance to really explore the Outlander people and their culture. I haven’t even written the first scene yet, and the Outlanders have already started to surprise me with the direction they’re going. This is going to be an interesting ride, to say the least.

But like I said, it’s sort of all over the map right now and hard to pin down. I do think some of it is the nervous momentum that comes with that odd feeling of “OMG I actually wrote a whole book all the way to the end.” Though I’ve done it a few times now, it never ceases to stun me a little when that last sentence is finished. The giddiness wants to propel me right into the next project so I can get to that last-sentence part again. :p I’ll take the momentum wherever I can get it…

Angel On My Shoulder

Angel Stock Photo From wingit-stock.deviantart.com

I have a gift for all of you – a free short story that’s been posted on my website for your reading pleasure. Angel On My Shoulder is a little something that I wrote back in college, many moons ago, and I’ve recently given it a nice, deep round of edits. This story has been posted online before on other lesbian fiction sites, so if you’ve been a long-time follower of my work it may not be new to you. But, I thought it was time that I share it here for those of you who may be interested. 

This particular work is special to me because it is the first overtly lesbian story I ever wrote, and it played a large role in my own process of self-discovery. It was written during the time in my life when I was coming to understand that I liked girls… that I had always liked girls. This was quite a startling concept for someone as sheltered and carefully religious as I was at the time, and the writing of this story played a key role in helping me figure out who I am. 

The original iteration was about a boy dealing with the sudden death of his female best friend. It was written for a university creative writing course, and though I don’t remember the exact terms of the assignment, I do know that I meant it to be a gloomy, angsty stream-of-consciousness thing. (I apparently had a lot of unresolved youthful angst back then. This story SCREAMS “emo teenager”…) But as the writing progressed, I came to realize that the main character wasn’t grieving friendship, but grieving love. Even then, there was something about the voice that didn’t feel right to me. I wrestled and wrestled with the edits, trying to figure out what felt so off, until it went off in my head like a flash of lightning one afternoon. The MC wasn’t a boy. This was a girl, a young outcast tomboy, someone who had struggled her whole life to find her place in the world, and was lost in the grief of losing the one person she had ever really felt accepted her for who she was. 

I was terrified to show the completed project to my professor. I’m not sure what I expected—having attended private religious schools my entire life, I think I was worried that he was going to call my parents. Instead he read it over, gave me some editor-type feedback, and then gave me an A for the assignment. I had been making up stories my entire life, but this was probably the most satisfying, most real thing I had ever written. 

So I hope that those of you who haven’t seen it before will enjoy it. I have a couple of other oldies-but-goodies that I’ll also be posting, one a light fantasy that I’ve always thought I might eventually rework into a full length novel with a lesbian spin… but I’ll have to dig them out of the depths of my old computer hard drive and pretty them up first. So for now, I’ll leave you with some good old-fashioned teenage melodrama. 

Angel On My Shoulder

Saying Goodbye

I didn’t get editing done this past week, because it was spent saying goodbye to a very dear old friend.

I’ve grown up with all kinds of animals… my mom is a dog breeder, and at one time a cat breeder, and we grew up with chickens, rabbits, a parrot, assorted reptiles, and more dogs and cats than should probably be reasonably owned by one family. But when Casper was born – my tiny, solid white Siamese kitten – I was eighteen. I watched him come into the world, and every day since he had been mine. Casper loved me more than I think probably any other creature on this earth has ever loved me. Absolutely, unconditionally, with no judgment or expectations or disappointment. He adored me whether or not his food bowl was full, whether or not his catbox was clean. All he ever wanted from me was attention. He was gorgeous, and noisy, and the consummate lap cat.

I got to enjoy his presence in my life for fifteen and a half years. But as kitties do, he got old and skinny and cranky. And last Friday, I had to make the decision whether to end his life in peace, without further pain, or let him die slowly of blood poisoning and dehydration as his kidneys failed. He was sick and miserable, but at the vet he was happy to have my one on one attention. He cuddled me and purred so hard that his skin-and-bones body rattled in my lap.  And I knew that was how he wanted to go, in my arms, with kisses and cuddles and petting.  I knew he didn’t want to go home to another night of being curled up shivering on the couch, wanting to drink water but feeling too sick to keep it down, barely being able to take three or four steps before losing strength and falling over, and slowly feeling worse and worse until his heart couldn’t take it anymore.  So I let him go. And it was as peaceful and sweet and loving as any other part of his life. Much, much harder for me than it was for him. 

I don’t think I’ve ever had such a hard time saying goodbye to a pet.  The life he shared with me was epic. He saw me through high school graduation, through college, through every relationship I have ever had, the loves that came and went, the friends that came and went. He saw me through every dream I’ve achieved and every misery I’ve survived. He let me dance with him happily when I got my first book published, and cry into his fur when my heart was broken. Casper was more a part of me than I think any other living creature has ever been. And he lived a rich, long, full life of joy and love. There really isn’t much more that I could have asked for.

Still, it’s hard to wrap my head around the fact that he’s gone.  We still have three cats and a tiny dog in the house… PLENTY of animals… but the house feels emptier without him. I feel emptier without him.  It feels surreal that the sun keeps rising and setting as if nothing happened… that I go to bed at night and there’s no big white kitty trying to suffocate me or squeeze in between me and my girlfriend… that I will come home from work this afternoon and there won’t be an aria of deafening meows to greet me. I miss him so very much.

I am so grateful that he spent his life with me. 

So anyway, as you can probably imagine, I haven’t had much in the way of creative energy this past week. Hoping to get back to it this week, so I can get a last round of edits in. Bear with me, friends…

The Rough Draft Is Done!

[image error]Over the weekend I was able to complete the rough draft of Prayer of the Handmaiden. (And there was much rejoicing!) This book has been such a very long  journey, so I don’t think the reality of finishing it has quite sunk in yet.  I’m going to spend the next couple of weeks doing a round of edits – there’s a character’s name that I’m thinking about changing, and some loose ends to weave back in, and the last few scenes need some polish. Then it’s off to my publisher for evaluation. If they like it, the editing process will begin in earnest.

This story is definitely a bigger adventure than Sword of the Guardian. The focus on the Goddess and priestesses of Ithyria allowed for a lot of epic, Hollywood-like special effects scenes that were awesome to write, and I hope readers will find them magical as well.

To celebrate, I took a break yesterday from writing in order to set up my 3D software on my girlfriend’s computer, which is faster than mine, and created a character image for Kadrian. (You can click on it for the larger version.) I may end up revising her expression a bit so she doesn’t look so angry ;) but I absolutely love the way her facial features turned out – they’re pretty much exactly how I imagine her.  I have one for Erinda in the works as well, and now that the rough draft is done, I plan to set up a new section of the site for the Ithyria series. Keep an eye out, because I’ll be posting the first chapter of the new book as a teaser, along with character bios, a playlist, and more detailed information on the world of Ithyria as it’s expanding.

There are plans in the works right now for the third book in the series. I really, really hope it doesn’t take so long to write!  I’m looking forward to getting started, because it’s taking place in the Outlands, and will give me a chance to really delve into the Outlanders’ culture. It promises to have a very different flavor from the first two books, since it takes us away from the palace and temples and into more wild surroundings.

But first… on to editing!