Shoshanna Evers's Blog, page 10
April 4, 2012
What's it like to Co-Author a Book?
Hello Fellow Writers!
Today one of my favorite authors from Ellora's Cave, Lily Harlem, is guest blogging about her experience co-authoring a book (with Natalie Dae). I've often wondered how writers do it - since for me, writing is such a solitary venture. Well... writing the first draft is solitary. Then the beta readers and the editors come into play... but I've always relished being the one with the final say in how my manuscript turns out. Still, hearing Lily's account makes co-authoring seem like it could be really cool....
Co-Authoring by Lily Harlem
Thanks so much for having me here at the Writer's Challenge. I am going to chat a little about co-authoring which is something I've had the great pleasure of becoming involved in over the last year. My partner in erotic writings is Natalie Dae (also known as Emmy Ellis and Sarah Masters to name a few of her personas).
Natalie Dae and I have our first co-author novel THAT FILTHY BOOK just out at Total-E-Bound.
How did it all start?
Well, we became friends as we have a mutual editor and got chatting on the loop. It wasn't long before we realised that we lived within a few hours of one another which meant, at a UK writing event, we had the chance to meet up—enormous fun that included plenty of wine, tons of gossip and great entertainment!
By this point we had been beta reading each other's work (Nat is also a whizz at anything arty so had helped me out with bits and pieces I was completely hopeless at), and we knew one another's style pretty well.
One day, a month or so after finally meeting face-to-face, she sent me a first chapter. "I'm having a wobble," she said. "Read this before I go any further and tell me if its complete poo." I'm sure any authors reading this will know exactly what she meant, I certainly did!
Anyway, I read it and it wasn't complete poo at all, it was bloody brilliant. Great characters, fab introspection, all in all a really wonderful set-up, but still she scratched her head, unsure of where to go with it, so I said, not wanting to waste any of her lovely words, "How about I write the next chapter?" The reply: "Go for it!"
So I did and it was raw, sexy—in fact, downright filthy! Nat loved it, and not only that, we both felt like we'd just put our characters on the biggest, most thrilling roller-coaster in the world and we were going to have to hang on for the seriously wild ride we'd sent them on.
We were off…
It was then writing together became a complete, chocolate-with-sprinkles indulgence. We would do a chapter length each and pass it on, amazing ourselves at the twists and turns in the plot as we wrote. Of course, we had an idea of where we were going, but it was very loose. But that was the beauty of 'the book'—it went where our characters wanted it to go.
One thing I found amazing was how we both knew the hero and heroine so well. There was never a time either of us questioned, "Would he/she do/say that?" Everything was seamless, the decisions they made, their actions—even if heart-stoppingly shocking—worked perfectly. Sometimes, at editing, I would read it back and think, "Who wrote that? Me or Nat?" Which must ultimately be a very good sign.
What did I learn?
Writing with someone not only talented but also with a beautiful vibrant use of the English language was wonderful. I learnt a lot as we wrote, experimented too, because it was safe to. Also there was never a 'writer's block moment' or a 'bugger, now what?' because Nat knew the novel as well as me so it was only ever a quick question and it was flowing again. We bounced it off one another, quite literally.
That Filthy Book was actually written over just a few weeks; we got into a routine that suited us and the word count romped up. It was then accepted by Total-E-Bound, and Nat, with her other head on as Head of Art at TEB did the amazing cover. I have to say, when she sent it to me I couldn't stop looking at it. I blew it up to full screen and just stared and stared and stared. I even got up in the middle of the night and stared again!
I knew we had the characters running parallel in our heads, like they were real people we both knew, but when I saw the images she'd created I was staggered by how she'd brought to life what was in my mind's eye. Everything about Karen and Jacob was right. From their expressions, to their hair colour, physique, and the way Karen is just undoing Jacob's shirt while they both look shifty. Perfection!!
I feel very privileged not to be only writing with Nat, but also able to call her my friend and confidant. And I hope in years to come, when we have many more co-author titles, we will be able to look back fondly on That Filthy Book and say remember when…
Thanks so much for letting me chatter today. It's always fun to come and hang out here. Below is a little more information about That Filthy Book.
Lily x
Check out That Filthy Book on Total-E-Bound here.
Lily's website http://www.lilyharlem.com/index.html
Natalie's website http://emmyellis.blogspot.com/
Today one of my favorite authors from Ellora's Cave, Lily Harlem, is guest blogging about her experience co-authoring a book (with Natalie Dae). I've often wondered how writers do it - since for me, writing is such a solitary venture. Well... writing the first draft is solitary. Then the beta readers and the editors come into play... but I've always relished being the one with the final say in how my manuscript turns out. Still, hearing Lily's account makes co-authoring seem like it could be really cool....
Co-Authoring by Lily Harlem
Thanks so much for having me here at the Writer's Challenge. I am going to chat a little about co-authoring which is something I've had the great pleasure of becoming involved in over the last year. My partner in erotic writings is Natalie Dae (also known as Emmy Ellis and Sarah Masters to name a few of her personas).
Natalie Dae and I have our first co-author novel THAT FILTHY BOOK just out at Total-E-Bound.
How did it all start?
Well, we became friends as we have a mutual editor and got chatting on the loop. It wasn't long before we realised that we lived within a few hours of one another which meant, at a UK writing event, we had the chance to meet up—enormous fun that included plenty of wine, tons of gossip and great entertainment!
By this point we had been beta reading each other's work (Nat is also a whizz at anything arty so had helped me out with bits and pieces I was completely hopeless at), and we knew one another's style pretty well.
One day, a month or so after finally meeting face-to-face, she sent me a first chapter. "I'm having a wobble," she said. "Read this before I go any further and tell me if its complete poo." I'm sure any authors reading this will know exactly what she meant, I certainly did!
Anyway, I read it and it wasn't complete poo at all, it was bloody brilliant. Great characters, fab introspection, all in all a really wonderful set-up, but still she scratched her head, unsure of where to go with it, so I said, not wanting to waste any of her lovely words, "How about I write the next chapter?" The reply: "Go for it!"
So I did and it was raw, sexy—in fact, downright filthy! Nat loved it, and not only that, we both felt like we'd just put our characters on the biggest, most thrilling roller-coaster in the world and we were going to have to hang on for the seriously wild ride we'd sent them on.
We were off…
It was then writing together became a complete, chocolate-with-sprinkles indulgence. We would do a chapter length each and pass it on, amazing ourselves at the twists and turns in the plot as we wrote. Of course, we had an idea of where we were going, but it was very loose. But that was the beauty of 'the book'—it went where our characters wanted it to go.
One thing I found amazing was how we both knew the hero and heroine so well. There was never a time either of us questioned, "Would he/she do/say that?" Everything was seamless, the decisions they made, their actions—even if heart-stoppingly shocking—worked perfectly. Sometimes, at editing, I would read it back and think, "Who wrote that? Me or Nat?" Which must ultimately be a very good sign.
What did I learn?
Writing with someone not only talented but also with a beautiful vibrant use of the English language was wonderful. I learnt a lot as we wrote, experimented too, because it was safe to. Also there was never a 'writer's block moment' or a 'bugger, now what?' because Nat knew the novel as well as me so it was only ever a quick question and it was flowing again. We bounced it off one another, quite literally.
That Filthy Book was actually written over just a few weeks; we got into a routine that suited us and the word count romped up. It was then accepted by Total-E-Bound, and Nat, with her other head on as Head of Art at TEB did the amazing cover. I have to say, when she sent it to me I couldn't stop looking at it. I blew it up to full screen and just stared and stared and stared. I even got up in the middle of the night and stared again!
I knew we had the characters running parallel in our heads, like they were real people we both knew, but when I saw the images she'd created I was staggered by how she'd brought to life what was in my mind's eye. Everything about Karen and Jacob was right. From their expressions, to their hair colour, physique, and the way Karen is just undoing Jacob's shirt while they both look shifty. Perfection!!
I feel very privileged not to be only writing with Nat, but also able to call her my friend and confidant. And I hope in years to come, when we have many more co-author titles, we will be able to look back fondly on That Filthy Book and say remember when…
Thanks so much for letting me chatter today. It's always fun to come and hang out here. Below is a little more information about That Filthy Book.
Lily x
Check out That Filthy Book on Total-E-Bound here.
Lily's website http://www.lilyharlem.com/index.html
Natalie's website http://emmyellis.blogspot.com/
March 20, 2012
My new series is out now!
The Dominatrix Fantasy Series is here!The series is available as a trilogy set which includes a bonus short story, but you can also buy the individual novellas for 99c each if you just want a taste ;)
SPANKED, DENIED & COLLARED, Trilogy Set: Dominatrix Fantasy Series (FemDom BDSM Erotica)
SPANKED, DENIED, & COLLARED is the trilogy set of the Dominatrix Fantasy Series (also available separately) and includes the bonus short story TAPE. These are adults-only erotic romance stories from Amazon Erotica Bestselling author Shoshanna Evers.
Trilogy set: Amazon, Smashwords, B&N
This series is too hot to even give you a blurb or excerpt on this blog, so go to the product page and download a free sample if you want to know more! ;)
SPANKED, DENIED & COLLARED, Trilogy Set: Dominatrix Fantasy Series (FemDom BDSM Erotica)
SPANKED, DENIED, & COLLARED is the trilogy set of the Dominatrix Fantasy Series (also available separately) and includes the bonus short story TAPE. These are adults-only erotic romance stories from Amazon Erotica Bestselling author Shoshanna Evers.
Trilogy set: Amazon, Smashwords, B&N
This series is too hot to even give you a blurb or excerpt on this blog, so go to the product page and download a free sample if you want to know more! ;)
March 9, 2012
I'm over at Publisher's Weekly Beyond Her Book Blog!
Hello Fellow Writers!
Book blogger extraordinaire Barbara Vey is hosting a huge event on her Publisher's Weekly blog, Beyond Her Book. I'll be giving away a prize (and so are tons of other authors!).
Five winners will get their choice from my backlist, in any ebook format. Comment on the Beyond Her Book Blog post for a chance to win one of the many prizes! See you over there! :)
Best,
Shoshanna
Book blogger extraordinaire Barbara Vey is hosting a huge event on her Publisher's Weekly blog, Beyond Her Book. I'll be giving away a prize (and so are tons of other authors!).
Five winners will get their choice from my backlist, in any ebook format. Comment on the Beyond Her Book Blog post for a chance to win one of the many prizes! See you over there! :)
Best,
Shoshanna
February 9, 2012
Should You Change Your Self-Pub Book Cover?
Hello Fellow Writers!
the new cover
I've been very blessed to have worked with publishers that have incredible cover designers, but when I set out to self-publish some books, I had to hire my own cover designer.
I love his work, and I think part of the reason Overheated is an Amazon Erotica Bestseller is because the cover is smokin' hot. (I hope the other reason is because readers like the story, lol). I also loved my cover for Snowed in With the Tycoon, but... it's not selling nearly as well as Overheated.
So I lowered the price from $2.99 down to $1.99 for a month to see if that helped, and it did not. Then it went back up to $2.99. Then I dropped it all the way down to 99 cents for a month. Sales tripled... but for the gamble to pay off my sales would need to be six times higher at the lower price point, not three. So back up to $2.99 the book went (which is a good price anyway since it's a full length book, more than twice as long as my Ellora's Cave novellas that sell for over $4). Interestingly, Amazon chose to lower it again to 99 cents on my behalf, on sale from $2.99. So I don't think the price is what's keeping the sales down.
Could it be the book? I don't think it is, because readers really seem to connect with the story, based on the 4 and 5 star reviews it's been getting, and the emails I get (thank you!!).
the "old" coverWhich makes me wonder... could the lower sales be due to the cover? The cover I love and that I paid for? *sob*
Only one way to find out. I had the cover redesigned by the same artist, and this time the hot guy is replaced by a hot *couple*.
I figure the experiment couldn't hurt - and hey, isn't it so awesome that we get to play with our self-published books like this to see what readers want the most? Because ultimately, what I care about is giving the reader what she (or he) wants - even if I thought my previous cover was hot stuff, people vote with their wallets - and I'm listening.
the new coverI've been very blessed to have worked with publishers that have incredible cover designers, but when I set out to self-publish some books, I had to hire my own cover designer.
I love his work, and I think part of the reason Overheated is an Amazon Erotica Bestseller is because the cover is smokin' hot. (I hope the other reason is because readers like the story, lol). I also loved my cover for Snowed in With the Tycoon, but... it's not selling nearly as well as Overheated.
So I lowered the price from $2.99 down to $1.99 for a month to see if that helped, and it did not. Then it went back up to $2.99. Then I dropped it all the way down to 99 cents for a month. Sales tripled... but for the gamble to pay off my sales would need to be six times higher at the lower price point, not three. So back up to $2.99 the book went (which is a good price anyway since it's a full length book, more than twice as long as my Ellora's Cave novellas that sell for over $4). Interestingly, Amazon chose to lower it again to 99 cents on my behalf, on sale from $2.99. So I don't think the price is what's keeping the sales down.
Could it be the book? I don't think it is, because readers really seem to connect with the story, based on the 4 and 5 star reviews it's been getting, and the emails I get (thank you!!).
the "old" coverWhich makes me wonder... could the lower sales be due to the cover? The cover I love and that I paid for? *sob*Only one way to find out. I had the cover redesigned by the same artist, and this time the hot guy is replaced by a hot *couple*.
I figure the experiment couldn't hurt - and hey, isn't it so awesome that we get to play with our self-published books like this to see what readers want the most? Because ultimately, what I care about is giving the reader what she (or he) wants - even if I thought my previous cover was hot stuff, people vote with their wallets - and I'm listening.
January 19, 2012
Bad Blogger! Bad!
Hello Fellow Writers!
I've been a very naughty blogger. I haven't been blogging nearly as much as I used to and/or should. Real life has gotten in the way, I suppose. I moved to Florida, and almost three weeks later I'm still surrounded by boxes. When I have a spare moment I want to write or edit... and the blog posts have fallen by the wayside.
I'm not sure how much of an effect blogging has on my book sales, to be honest. Actually, I am sure. There's been very little correlation between how much I blog and how many book I sell. I couldn't be sure of that before when I was only publishing through publishers, but now that I've added self-publishing to the mix I'm able to view my sales in real time, and I can see if I get a spike in sales or not based on my online efforts.
I've found, (and you may find something different, perhaps) that I'll sell books based on Tweeting a tagline and link on Twitter, but not if the same thing is on Facebook, and not if the same thing is in a blog post. Posting excerpts might result in a few sales, but it's hard to tell. Every sale counts, yes, and more importantly every reader counts.
Don't worry - I'm not giving up on blogging - because I enjoy having a long-form communication with other writers and readers (and I'm definitely not giving up on Facebook because I love seeing you guys on there!) But I'm no longer frantic that if I forget to update my blog for a month (or *cough* longer, oops!) that everything I've worked for will go to waste. It's kind of a nice feeling! :)
Speaking of blog posts, I'm still posting once a month over at Flirty Author Bitches. This month I shared all four of my new book covers for my upcoming Dominatrix Fantasy Series! What do you think?
http://flirtyauthorbitches.com/2012/01/dominatrix-fantasy-covers/
I've been a very naughty blogger. I haven't been blogging nearly as much as I used to and/or should. Real life has gotten in the way, I suppose. I moved to Florida, and almost three weeks later I'm still surrounded by boxes. When I have a spare moment I want to write or edit... and the blog posts have fallen by the wayside.
I'm not sure how much of an effect blogging has on my book sales, to be honest. Actually, I am sure. There's been very little correlation between how much I blog and how many book I sell. I couldn't be sure of that before when I was only publishing through publishers, but now that I've added self-publishing to the mix I'm able to view my sales in real time, and I can see if I get a spike in sales or not based on my online efforts.
I've found, (and you may find something different, perhaps) that I'll sell books based on Tweeting a tagline and link on Twitter, but not if the same thing is on Facebook, and not if the same thing is in a blog post. Posting excerpts might result in a few sales, but it's hard to tell. Every sale counts, yes, and more importantly every reader counts.
Don't worry - I'm not giving up on blogging - because I enjoy having a long-form communication with other writers and readers (and I'm definitely not giving up on Facebook because I love seeing you guys on there!) But I'm no longer frantic that if I forget to update my blog for a month (or *cough* longer, oops!) that everything I've worked for will go to waste. It's kind of a nice feeling! :)
Speaking of blog posts, I'm still posting once a month over at Flirty Author Bitches. This month I shared all four of my new book covers for my upcoming Dominatrix Fantasy Series! What do you think?
http://flirtyauthorbitches.com/2012/01/dominatrix-fantasy-covers/
December 1, 2011
I'm Moving!
Hello Fellow Writers!
Well, to my great dismay, NaNoWriMo didn't exactly work out for me this month. That's because life happened - we put our house on the market, which turned my writing time into decluttering and packing time. And my husband got a job in Port St Lucie, Florida - which means we are moving out of New York!
I'm going to miss all of my friends, and my son's wonderful school, and my RWA chaptermates. I'm also going to miss being near my parents, but when we move to Port St Lucie we'll be near DH's parents and more family as well, so it evens out :)
The best part is, we'll be leaving this:
For this!
Well, to my great dismay, NaNoWriMo didn't exactly work out for me this month. That's because life happened - we put our house on the market, which turned my writing time into decluttering and packing time. And my husband got a job in Port St Lucie, Florida - which means we are moving out of New York!
I'm going to miss all of my friends, and my son's wonderful school, and my RWA chaptermates. I'm also going to miss being near my parents, but when we move to Port St Lucie we'll be near DH's parents and more family as well, so it evens out :)
The best part is, we'll be leaving this:
For this!
November 25, 2011
BEDHEAD is here!!
Hello Fellow Writers!
My erotic romance BEDHEAD is available now from Ellora's Cave! If you follow me on Twitter, you know of Bedhead as my "bald virgin heroine book" :)
Here's the blurb:
A book in the Skin Deep series.
Michele Peterson is young, pretty, healthy…and bald. Being a woman with alopecia isn't easy—not only do strangers treat her as if she's a cancer patient, but hiding her bald head under a wig is hard on her sex life. Michele can't shower with a lover or feel his hands tangled in her hair in the throes of passion. So at the age of twenty-six, she remains a virgin. Then a generous benefactor agrees to finance hair transplant surgery. Just in time too, because Michele thinks she's met The One.
Andrew Calhoun doesn't understand why the incredible woman he's falling for is so distant—pulling away just as he thinks they're making a connection. When he discovers her secret, he'll have to make her realize that bald really is beautiful—before she goes through a potentially dangerous cosmetic surgery just for his sake. And the best way to make her feel desirable…is in bed.
***The excerpt is a bit too adults-only for this blog, so I'll just link to it here.
Buy Bedhead in any ebook format at Ellora's Cave here. It will also be available wherever ebooks are sold soon.
My erotic romance BEDHEAD is available now from Ellora's Cave! If you follow me on Twitter, you know of Bedhead as my "bald virgin heroine book" :)
Here's the blurb:
A book in the Skin Deep series.
Michele Peterson is young, pretty, healthy…and bald. Being a woman with alopecia isn't easy—not only do strangers treat her as if she's a cancer patient, but hiding her bald head under a wig is hard on her sex life. Michele can't shower with a lover or feel his hands tangled in her hair in the throes of passion. So at the age of twenty-six, she remains a virgin. Then a generous benefactor agrees to finance hair transplant surgery. Just in time too, because Michele thinks she's met The One.
Andrew Calhoun doesn't understand why the incredible woman he's falling for is so distant—pulling away just as he thinks they're making a connection. When he discovers her secret, he'll have to make her realize that bald really is beautiful—before she goes through a potentially dangerous cosmetic surgery just for his sake. And the best way to make her feel desirable…is in bed.
***The excerpt is a bit too adults-only for this blog, so I'll just link to it here.
Buy Bedhead in any ebook format at Ellora's Cave here. It will also be available wherever ebooks are sold soon.
November 23, 2011
Happy Thanksgiving!
Hello Fellow Writers!
I love NaNoWriMo. I've been known to go word count crazy and write over 80k in a month. But this month life happened and my word count took the hit. This doesn't upset me because I'm so super excited about what's going on (can't share yet, sorry! But it's not book related - it's life related, and no I'm not pregnant).
My new goal for NaNoWriMo is to write the second and third novellas (about 10-15k words each) in the Dominatrix Fantasy Series. If I can do that I'm a happy camper. If I can't, then I have a really really really good excuse ....which I can't tell you about at the moment.
Thanksgiving is tomorrow and my bald virgin heroine book BEDHEAD releases on Black Friday from Ellora's Cave. (Oh, what's that you say? You want to read the excerpt? Okay. Click here.)
Here's what... or rather *who* I'm grateful for:
My readers. You are the reason I write. Without you, I am writing into the abyss.My Darling Husband, my real life HEA.My son. *smooches*You. My friends and Tweeps and fellow writers, for totally understanding the urge to sit at a computer and spend countless hours working with no guarantee of financial reward or even of finding an audience. When you gotta write, you gotta write. Have a Happy Thanksgiving, guys. I love you all!
Yours Truly,
Shoshanna
I love NaNoWriMo. I've been known to go word count crazy and write over 80k in a month. But this month life happened and my word count took the hit. This doesn't upset me because I'm so super excited about what's going on (can't share yet, sorry! But it's not book related - it's life related, and no I'm not pregnant).
My new goal for NaNoWriMo is to write the second and third novellas (about 10-15k words each) in the Dominatrix Fantasy Series. If I can do that I'm a happy camper. If I can't, then I have a really really really good excuse ....which I can't tell you about at the moment.
Thanksgiving is tomorrow and my bald virgin heroine book BEDHEAD releases on Black Friday from Ellora's Cave. (Oh, what's that you say? You want to read the excerpt? Okay. Click here.)
Here's what... or rather *who* I'm grateful for:
My readers. You are the reason I write. Without you, I am writing into the abyss.My Darling Husband, my real life HEA.My son. *smooches*You. My friends and Tweeps and fellow writers, for totally understanding the urge to sit at a computer and spend countless hours working with no guarantee of financial reward or even of finding an audience. When you gotta write, you gotta write. Have a Happy Thanksgiving, guys. I love you all!
Yours Truly,
Shoshanna
November 16, 2011
My Bald Virgin Heroine book
I'm over at Flirty Author Bitches with an adults-only excerpt from my upcoming Ellora's Cave novella, BEDHEAD. Come say hi!
http://flirtyauthorbitches.com/2011/11/bedhead/
http://flirtyauthorbitches.com/2011/11/bedhead/
November 6, 2011
Tips for Writing Steampunk
Hello Fellow Writers!
Please welcome an incredible author, here to tell us about writing Steampunk, one of the hottest new genres right now. Heather knows what she's talking about - I've read her Steampunk, and damn it is *good*.
Tips for Writing Steampunk
By Heather Hiestand
Thanks for allowing me to visit today, Shoshanna, and discuss one of my favorite topics!
Steampunk is an exciting buzzword in the writing field right now, but what is it? From my point of view, it is a form of alternative history literature which involves gadgets, often based on Victorian steam technology. That's the steam part. The other part, the "punk," is some level of rebellious attitude. While my steampunk has been based in Victorian London, writers have taken it all over the universe and all through time. It's the gadgets and attitude that really make steampunk.
Here are starting points that a writer needs to consider:
1. What time period are you going to choose? If it is historical, what caused your timeline to veer off established tracks? Some kind of invention, crisis, what? If your setting is completely imagined, what makes this a fruitful steampunk environment?
2. Gadgets! Common are airships, ray guns, computers and automatons (robots). Make up your own! In Captain Andrew's Flying Christmas, I have the three of the four listed above, as well as advanced spyglasses and metal-eating beetles.
3. Clothing! Character style is very important in most steampunk tales. Usually, historical Victorian clothing is the departure point, from whatever country you are focusing on. Corsets, frock coats, hats and boots. Body jewelry or upgrades? Don't forget the goggles!
4. Social mores. Once again, the formality of Victorian times is usually the starting point. Are you going to concern yourself with the plight of the poor and social inequalities? Are your characters upper crust, villains or working class? Or any variation in between?
5. Paranormal elements? When steampunk first hit the genre fiction mainstream over the past couple years, vampires in particular had found a new home. I've also seen werewolves, wizards and Native American magic. Will you include elements of magic or is it all about the science for you?
6. Attitude? What are your characters struggling against? Are they outcasts from society norms?
7. Society? Open, regressive, dangerous?
Some authors I have enjoyed reading recently that might help you to obtain additional insight to my comments are Meljean Brook, Scott Westerfeld, Gail Carringer, Lindsay Buroker and Crista McHugh. Anthologies of steampunk tales are beginning to proliferate, such as Steampunk! Edited by Kelly Link and Gavin Grant.
Heather Hiestand's latest release is steampunk romance novella Captain Andrew's Flying Christmas.
Blurb:
Housemaid Linet Fenna would rather be an air pirate than a servant. When she finds the ladder to an airship dangling outside her garret window on Christmas Eve, 1892, she ascends to the skies above London on her late father's flagship dirigible, the Christmas. The new captain is someone she never expected to see again, a dangerous, sexy foe. Is the Fenna family nemesis offering Linet her heart's desire or a dastardly trap?
Captain Andrew's motivations are as foggy as the coal-soaked sky. Prime Minister Gladstone's Blockaders, a horde of automen and a teenage girl named Hatchet want Linet to fail in her quest to discover what happened to her missing family, but she is determined to have a happy Christmas.
Captain Andrew's Flying Christmas is a 16,000-word steampunk romance novella.
Captain Andrew's Flying Christmas links:
Amazon
Smashwords
Barnes & Noble
All Romance eBooks
Please welcome an incredible author, here to tell us about writing Steampunk, one of the hottest new genres right now. Heather knows what she's talking about - I've read her Steampunk, and damn it is *good*.
Tips for Writing Steampunk
By Heather Hiestand
Thanks for allowing me to visit today, Shoshanna, and discuss one of my favorite topics!
Steampunk is an exciting buzzword in the writing field right now, but what is it? From my point of view, it is a form of alternative history literature which involves gadgets, often based on Victorian steam technology. That's the steam part. The other part, the "punk," is some level of rebellious attitude. While my steampunk has been based in Victorian London, writers have taken it all over the universe and all through time. It's the gadgets and attitude that really make steampunk.
Here are starting points that a writer needs to consider:
1. What time period are you going to choose? If it is historical, what caused your timeline to veer off established tracks? Some kind of invention, crisis, what? If your setting is completely imagined, what makes this a fruitful steampunk environment?
2. Gadgets! Common are airships, ray guns, computers and automatons (robots). Make up your own! In Captain Andrew's Flying Christmas, I have the three of the four listed above, as well as advanced spyglasses and metal-eating beetles.3. Clothing! Character style is very important in most steampunk tales. Usually, historical Victorian clothing is the departure point, from whatever country you are focusing on. Corsets, frock coats, hats and boots. Body jewelry or upgrades? Don't forget the goggles!
4. Social mores. Once again, the formality of Victorian times is usually the starting point. Are you going to concern yourself with the plight of the poor and social inequalities? Are your characters upper crust, villains or working class? Or any variation in between?
5. Paranormal elements? When steampunk first hit the genre fiction mainstream over the past couple years, vampires in particular had found a new home. I've also seen werewolves, wizards and Native American magic. Will you include elements of magic or is it all about the science for you?
6. Attitude? What are your characters struggling against? Are they outcasts from society norms?
7. Society? Open, regressive, dangerous?
Some authors I have enjoyed reading recently that might help you to obtain additional insight to my comments are Meljean Brook, Scott Westerfeld, Gail Carringer, Lindsay Buroker and Crista McHugh. Anthologies of steampunk tales are beginning to proliferate, such as Steampunk! Edited by Kelly Link and Gavin Grant.
Heather Hiestand's latest release is steampunk romance novella Captain Andrew's Flying Christmas.
Blurb:
Housemaid Linet Fenna would rather be an air pirate than a servant. When she finds the ladder to an airship dangling outside her garret window on Christmas Eve, 1892, she ascends to the skies above London on her late father's flagship dirigible, the Christmas. The new captain is someone she never expected to see again, a dangerous, sexy foe. Is the Fenna family nemesis offering Linet her heart's desire or a dastardly trap?
Captain Andrew's motivations are as foggy as the coal-soaked sky. Prime Minister Gladstone's Blockaders, a horde of automen and a teenage girl named Hatchet want Linet to fail in her quest to discover what happened to her missing family, but she is determined to have a happy Christmas.
Captain Andrew's Flying Christmas is a 16,000-word steampunk romance novella.
Captain Andrew's Flying Christmas links:
Amazon
Smashwords
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