Rhyll Biest's Blog, page 4
June 29, 2015
Winners, they're freaking EVERYWHERE!
It's hard to describe how awesome winning is, so here's a picture of what it looks like.
The winner of our Aussie Care Package competition is Heather Bartley, who requested a copy of Fairway to Heaven by Lily Malone.
In addition, four people won print copies of Unrestrained by Rhyll Biest: Mary Preston, K.S. Roma, Cindy Harrison and Heather Rizutti. Congratulations all, and we'll be in touch soon to send your prizes. Until then, keep riding your unicorn of awesome!
June 11, 2015
India's romance-writing dudes
Anuj Tiwari
Did you know that there's a booming romance fiction industry in India and it's biggest stars ARE DUDES?
I came across this fascinating perspective about Indian MEN who write romance novels in India. They have huge…followings. In fact, these dudes are more popular than Indian female romance authors. You can check out some of them on Facebook and Amazon India and see just how popular they are. They are so wildly popular, I think I'll quit writing right now. Or maybe not.
Go ahead. Click the link and read the article. You may find the cultural perspective quite interesting and eye opening, especially after you read how, when asked if men are emotionally capable of writing about matters of heart, author Faraaz Kazi said “ Men are as romantic and emotional as women; it is just that they do not display their emotionally [sic] openly."
Okay. men don't show how they feel and that makes an Indian man a better romance writer because...? I'm confused. I'm I'm gonna get more WTF in a second. Another author, Durjoy Datta, believes male Indian romance authors are more successful than female authors because, “romance books written by women are too high on emotional quotient. Men are not equipped with to deal with that kind of high emotion.” Yes, Indian men just as emotional as women, as Kazi said, AND not equipped to deal with emotion,as Datta says.
Hang on, there's more. 25 year-old Anuj Tiwari, explains it further. He says, "In India men are more romantic than women. Unlike in the west, women are more practical in India, which is why most women writers in the west are women..."
Got it?
Yeah, me neither.
So let's recap: Women authors are too high in emotion, Impractical = romantic, and women writers are...women?
Truth be told, I think it's rather amazeballs that in India men are the ones writing the most successful romance--for whatever reason they think makes them über successful. I DO wonder if they get the same flack western women romance authors get, and if their work is as dismissed and belittled as that of western women romance writers.
Confession time. The ONE thing in this article that really and truly frightened me, that freaked me out and made me quiver in my size five red cowboy boots, is this: Sudeep Nagarkarm wrote a romance novel in "thirty days flat." It takes me 9 months to a year. A YEAR.
I've never read a romance novel penned by an Indian man. Perhaps it's time I did. I could learn to be less practical, more romantic and...faster.
May 24, 2015
The Aussie Care Package Competition
Books are so expensive, we know, we know. Especially if you love Australian romance novels but you live outside of Australia.
So in the month of June sign up to our newsletter (it comes out every two months) and you'll go in the draw to win an Aussie romance novel of your choice, plus we'll be offering lots of runner up prizes.
We guarantee it'll be more fun than a koala bear down your pants, or your money back. Oh, wait, you haven't given us any money, ha-ha.
At the form here just provide your name and email address and you're done. Easy peasy.
We'll contact the winners at the end of June.
May 9, 2015
How positive are your panties?
How can you be a mega-successful dino-porn writing mama if your grundies have negative chi? That's right, YOU CAN'T.
Thankfully, ChickenEyeDesigns on Etsy has you (and your ass) covered with InnerTruth Panties, bikini and thong cut grundies with body positive, motivational and inspirational messages like "my tummy is beautiful" and "I want to be healthy". You can even request a custom message (though please note that 'mega-successful dino-porn writing mama' is mine).
May 2, 2015
Our winner of the April newsletter subscriber prize
Congratulations!
The winner of our April prize is Krissy Daniels. Congrats, Krissy!
Krissy wins a copy of Secret Confessions: Sydney Housewives, 360 pages of erotic goodness which includes a story written by ninja Cate Ellink.
And if you haven't subscribed yet, whaddya waitin' for? Not only do newsletter subscribers go in the draw for prizes, but they get advance notice of competitions, deals, releases and new posts. And you get all our earthy, slightly sweaty ninja love...
All you have to do to sign up for our newsletter (delivered every second month) is provide your email address here.
March 30, 2015
Celebrating this month's winner of the newsletter subscriber prize
The winner of our March prize is Kaetrin Allen. Congrats, Kaetrin!
Kaetrin wins a copy of Autumn Leaves, a chick lit anthology which includes a story written by ninja Georgina Penney.
And if you haven't subscribed yet, whaddya waitin' for? Not only do newsletter subscribers go in the draw for prizes, but they get advance notice of competitions, deals, releases and new posts. And you get all our earthy, slightly sweaty ninja love...
All you have to do to sign up for our newsletter (delivered every second month) is provide your email address here.
February 28, 2015
February newsletter prizewinner, Amanda Traver
And the winner of our newsletter subscriber prize in February is…Amanda Traver.
Amanda's prize is a copy of Fairway to Heaven written by ninja Lily Malone. Congrats, Amanda!
And if you haven't subscribed yet, whaddya waitin' for? Not only do newsletter subscribers go in the draw for prizes, but they get advance notice of competitions, deals, releases and new posts. And you get all our earthy, slightly sweaty ninja love...
All you have to do to sign up for our newsletter (delivered every second month) is provide your email address here.
February 24, 2015
Writing class with Charlotte Stein
Charlotte Stein, besides being one of my writing heroes, has published over 30 novels, many of which have won awards and high praise from romance and erotica readers.
She’s best known for her trademark deep point of view and fascinating interior monologues and in her own words has “written a big butt-load of books that people generally seem to like” and “taught creative writing for various British colleges for around five years”.
Because a fair amount of pond water separates the UK from Australia, I was thrilled when she agreed to teach an online class to a bunch of Aussie romance writers, including several ninjas.
Charlotte sums up her approach to teaching writing as:
We kind of want to sneak up on our writing from behind and put it in a sleeper hold, rather than sweatily battling it out in an arena while blood streams into our eyes and everyone screams for us to die.
Naturally the class was on board with that!
In her first lesson (titled Deep point of view is a massive pain in the ass) she introduced the topic by saying that deep point of view is:
…like the story of the three bears (only with you crying and drinking at the end) because you have to get it just right, when even just doing it in the first place is actually pretty hard.
While that may sound daunting, it was an important lesson for us that both readers and publishers rarely agreed on the right amount, and to seek a balance in our writing.
Another useful point Charlotte raised was that:
…the problem with interior monologue is that people assume it only has to be about the mental masturbation of the person speaking. Not so. You can use interior monologue to flesh out place, time, themes, and characters other than the main character, and all kinds of other stuff.
I’d like to get that put on a t-shirt: interior monologue is not mental masturbation!
Our five-day course covered quite a bit of ground, including:
· What ‘deep point of view (POV)’ is and when one uses it.
· The when and why of using first person versus second or third person
· Nuances, common traps and things to be mindful of when using first vs third person, present vs past tense, hero vs heroine POV.
· What writers should focus on when describing an object/event or person through a character’s eyes, and how to make that description reflect the character’s emotions and personality.
· How to capture character (e.g. through speech patterns and idiosyncratic ways of thinking) in interior monologues.
· Tips and traps of interior monologue and when and how to use it.
Using a Facebook room to ask Charlotte questions about the lessons turned out to be a great idea as some discovered they shared the same writing problems while others were able to offer tips, suggestions and their own experiences.
On day five we submitted our 500 word deep-point-of-view scenes to Charlotte and some of us also shared them with the group. It was great to read others’ scenes and to see what Charlotte had taught us being put to work.
I have to say, this has been my favourite writing class of all time, mostly because I love how Charlotte presents information in such a digestible and humorous way.
Some feedback on the course from others:
Wow, a course that's informative and hilarious—I'm liking this already!
This lesson is everything I waded around trying to work out and not quite getting a grip on it. I can die happy now. You've explained my biggest issues to date. THANK YOU!
Charlotte Stein, thank you for your lessons. I loved them! And thanks everyone for sharing. I love learning from reading everyone else's words.
I feel like I've learned so much and my writing is flowing again. Winning!
…along with being highly entertaining, your notes inspired me last night and I wrote a few half decent paragraphs (finally) in third person…
I'll definitely be looking at this again later.
I am now more confident about tackling third person with my new tools!
January 16, 2015
January 18 is...Thesaurus Day
Why say ‘chimney sweep’ when you can say ‘ramoneur’?
True thesaurus lovers never settle for ‘beat’ when they can use ‘vapulate’, and scour conversations for opportunities to use words like ‘wanion’ (bad luck due to the waning of the moon).
They also love to write letters to editors complaining about verbigeration (the senseless reiteration of clichés) and smatchets (small nasty people) and slubberdegullions (slovenly people).
Celebrate Thesaurus Day by matching the words with their correct meanings below. You can check your answers at the Luciferous Logilepsy website.
1. rantallion
2. skoptsy
3. vagitus
4. irrumation
5. fefnicute
a) baby’s first cry
b) one whose scrotum is longer than his penis
c) hypocrite; sneak
d) fellatio
e) self-castration.
December 3, 2014
December 5th is...
Ninja Day (or the Day Of The Ninja) is all about dressing in dark, ninja-themed clothing and sneaking up on people, whether you’re at home, at work, or at school. Lurk in the shadows, be dark and mysterious, and, most importantly, be silent and deadly. And if you’re fully in touch with your inner ninja, you may want to consider a guest post on the Naughty Ninja site. Find out how over here.
