Christine Feehan's Blog, page 17

The Laws of Attraction for Shadow Riders

Shadow Riders are assassins who mete out justice, using shadows to travel. The Ferraro family is one of a few “Riders” worldwide, so rare that it is the duty of a Shadow Rider to marry and produce more Shadow Riders. If a Rider hasn’t found someone to marry by the time they reach a certain age then the family will arrange a marriage to an appropriate Rider of another family.




Not all Shadow Riders are born knowing they have that rare ability. When Sasha and Giovanni meet there aren’t enough shadows in the club to realize she’s a Rider, but Giovanni feels pulled toward her anyway. Sasha has no idea what she is, but she does realize she can tell when someone lies. Giovanni has his work cut out for him when they meet. And on more than one level.
But, when two Shadow Riders meet, their shadows move like serpent-wraiths, reaching out for each other. They can feel one another; know when someone is a Shadow Rider. They can also feel a compatibility with another Rider. Often this potential compatibility can be triggered by the sound of that person’s voice. Combined with the reaching and intertwining of their shadows, a Rider will feel something deep within him or her click into place and they will know this person belongs with them. Or potentially does.



If a Shadow Rider claims a mate and that mate rejects them, things become disastrous for both of them. The same goes for divorce. Should two Shadow Riders divorce, it rips their entwined shadows apart leaving one partner without their memory and the other partner unable to ride the shadows ever again. So, choosing someone who will fully accept a committed relationship is imperative.

It’s different if a Shadow Rider is widowed. With the partner deceased, the entwined shadows fade away and are not violently ripped apart as it happens with divorce. Though the partner may be sad, they could still re-marry and they lose nothing. They keep their memories and their ability to ride the shadows.
A Shadow Rider could marry a non-Shadow Rider if that person has the riding gene. Some of the Ferraro’s extended family are “Greeters” or “Investigators” and they have different gifts and abilities. Other Shadow Rider families in the world have these gifts and abilities and may hold a recessive Shadow Rider gene, but not have manifested in that person. Instead, that person could have a child with a Shadow Rider and their child could also end up a Rider.





We find out in Shadow Reaper there are Shadow Rider families and extended families all over the world. Training is often done outside of the family. Ricco was trained in Japan and we learn of powerful Shadow Rider families there. Riders throughout the world look to pair up, with or without the benefit of love, in order to produce more riders. An actual love-match isn’t easy to find.

So every chance encounter for any of the Ferraros could lead them to find a Shadow Rider who will match them. A mate. Love. All they need is a lot of luck and a lot of shadows.

Shadow Keeper Round Up!

The ride's not over!

We've had a lot of fun with Shadow Keeper and I wanted to make sure you didn't miss any of it.
Here's a rundown of some of the fun things we've done for the book release.
Let me know what you enjoyed the most!


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Who is Your Shadow Rider Trainer? Take the Quiz!


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USA Today Happy Ever After Interview


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Amazon’s Best of the Month


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Shadow Keeper Book Trailer


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Read the First Chapter of Shadow Keeper


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Reader’s Entertainment Interview


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Where to Begin in the Series: GhostWalkers

The GhostWalkers are my second largest series with 14 books currently in that series and another one that I’m currently writing. As you likely know by now, I write all of my books to be stand alone stories. You can read them in any order and you’ll have a full story. But, like most series there is often an overall story arc that can enhance a reader’s overall enjoyment of the story of the GhostWalkers.



The GhostWalkers are military experiments gone awry. They were to be psychically enhanced, but many also had their DNA manipulated. Some of these super soldiers have brain bleeds and need “anchors” to help sooth them and keep them focused. The later experiments had more DNA splicing, but less defects.



There are four teams of GhostWalkers located in different areas around the United States. If you don’t want to start at the very beginning with team 1 you might consider starting with Viper Game, which has us in the Louisiana Bayou with team 4. Viper Game introduces us to some of the failed experiments made up of orphaned girls with strange DNA splicing/editing.
If you’d like to start even later in the series consider Power Game. This introduces us to a new set of women who are more closely tied to Whitney, the scientist who created the GhostWalker program and it expands into more international intrigue while still keeping us with team 4.



Again, keep in mind that you can read any of the GhostWalker books on their own and have a complete story. These are just some suggestions of starting points if you’re someone who wants to jump in later in a series.

Interviewing Scott Nova- Giovanni Ferraro in Shadow Keeper

Actor and model Scott Nova has appeared in several of the trailers, including Dark Blood, Shadow Rider, Shadow Reaper and in the starring role of Giovanni Ferraro in Shadow Keeper. Scott was kind enough to agree to allow me to interview him in celebration of the release of Shadow Keeper.



Scott, what was your own feeling about playing a billionaire playboy like Giovanni?

SN -Well, first it was an honor to work with you again, and to continue portraying the “bad boy” of the family. I got to really just go deep down and pull out what a person would be like with almost limitless funds, and such a fantastic ability of how to travel and convey power. It was a lot of fun to do.


You co-star with veteran actor John Wells in Shadow Rider and join him again alongside Isaac Woofter in Shadow Reaper. What have you learned from these actors?



SN -Oh man, I’ve learned so much from John, it’s amazing how giving he is of knowledge and mentoring. I didn’t become as close of friends with Isaac during the filming of Reaper, but did pick up all sorts of tips and advice by watching and interacting with him during the day long shoot. John and I talk frequently, and I’ve tried like heck to keep up with his projects, but that man is BUSY! The first time John and I had a scene together, I froze up, lol and forgot my lines. So, John did them for me lol


What was it like for you to watch Shadow Keeper?

SN -Watching Shadow Keeper, like all the others, is so very cool. To be on screen with those great actors and actresses is fantastic and to simulate being able to have those powers, all the better.


You’ve played a Shadow Rider and a Carpathian, would you play a GhostWalker if given the chance? Or would you rather play a biker in the Torpedo Ink series?






SN -Well, with the current craze for motorcycle books and the heroes that are in them, I’d have to say that Torpedo Ink would be fun, but a GhostWalker is just bad! 😊 So, I’m not going to answer, I’m going to just say that I’m versatile enough for them all.


Have you had any fans recognize you from one of the trailers and if so, what was that experience like?

SN -Yeah, I’ve had fans of Christine’s work recognize me at conventions and so forth and it’s definitely a cool feeling to be recognized. I will say that it’s surreal in general to be chosen to be in her trailers and associated with her work, and so the fans wanting autographs from me because of it, is just the icing on the cake. But I never am bothered by fans, because if it weren’t for those readers and fans, I’d just be Scott the IT guy.


Where can people go to learn more about you?

SN -I’m currently redoing my website, it’s not up to the standards of todays models and I will host my stock photos that are purchasable for covers and other needs.

You can also always find me on the following Social Media:

Facebook = scottnovacm
Twitter = scottnovacm
IG = scott nova



Thank you, Scott for giving me some of your time for my blog.

Last Words on Writing

Thank you to everyone who has come to read my blog series on writing! This is the final in the series and I wanted to just wrap a few things up.



I’M A BOOK LOVER

I’ve always loved books. I love the written word. I’ve always admired authors. Those were my heroes. I spent, and continue to spend, thousands and thousands of hours reading. I would go to the library and even took a job in the library so I could be surrounded by books.

AMAZING MOMENTS FOR ME

To see one of my books published, to see my name on that book, it’s a magical thing. You often tell yourself, before you’re published that there’s no way that will ever be you. You think your book isn’t good enough or worthy enough.

I remember the first time I saw my book in a library that was a moment of such joy. I kept thinking to myself, “That’s my book in the library. I can’t believe my book is actually in the library!” It was so special because that was where I really started reading and getting books. Libraries were like a miracle to me and then to see my own book there, it was astonishing to me.

I remember going into a bookstore and buying some books and when I went to use my credit card the woman behind the counter says, “Oh my gosh, you’re Christine Feehan!” It was amazing to me because I was recognized and recognized as a writer.

Another amazing moment for me was when I was giving a talk to these high school students about writing. These teenagers had been bused in from various schools and they were all into writing. They wanted to be authors specifically. One of them said to me, “Well, we’re from a tiny town. It’s not like we know people or we can get our books even considered by anybody.” And I was so happy to say to her, “Did they not tell you? I graduated from this school. This is my school. I was born in this town and I was raised in this town and I graduated from this school.” I told them that I knew nobody in the business and that, in fact, I had made so many mistakes along the way it’s a wonder I got published. And that was this wonderful moment for me that I could tell someone something that would matter to them. Where they could look at me and see that, if I could do it, they could too.

BEST ADVICE AND FINAL THOUGHTS



I think the best advice that was ever given to me happened at the first conference I went to after Dark Prince was published. Jayne Ann Krentz sat me down and she said, “I think you’re going to be really successful and there are some things I’d like to talk to you about.” And one of the very first things she said was “You’re a business woman. You’re not just a creative artist, you’re a business woman and you have to take control of your career. So, you have to learn about the publishing industry.” And I realized that she was right and I’ve never been more thankful to anyone. She didn’t have to do that. But, she took the time to talk to a total stranger and that left such an impact on me. And, now, years later, if we’re at a conference at the same time we always make sure we touch base with each other. And I’ve always been able to email her with questions and she always guides me. She is a generous soul and I’ll always be immensely grateful to her.

I want to be the same way. So if an author asks me a question I make sure I give her the best advice I can. I think it’s important to pay it forward. You have to know that readers will read more than just one book. You can’t possibly write enough books to satisfy every reader. Authors don’t have to be in competition with each other. You can help one another.

Keep in mind that if you’re a writer, you’re a reader and you need to remember that writers want books to read too. We need to help each other for a lot of reasons. I will be forever grateful to Jayne for what she did for me.

If you're published please tell me about the first time you held your book in your hands!
If you're aspiring tell me which of these blogs were most helpful for you. I'd love to have some feedback!

Thank you!

Marketing - Yes You Have To

I’ve heard some authors say “We shouldn’t have to do any marketing.” I’ve been at this for over 20 years now and I’ve always had to do my own marketing. I didn’t have a marketing team that did something for me in the beginning of my career. I could barely use a computer and I could hardly afford a computer back then. I knew very little about marketing. My very first books I doubt were marketed at all. Or they had very little done for them. I think it was pure luck that those books went anywhere.



Then, when I moved over to Berkeley there was little they did unless you were a big name like Nora Roberts. And Nora deserved it because she was fabulous, and I never begrudged her getting a lot of marketing. So, I’d sit around with friends, other authors and family and bounce marketing ideas around.
I was lucky to have innovative friends and if you are lucky enough to have that take advantage of that gift.

I did a lot of research because I realized just how important marketing is. And I’ve now given talks about marketing, so I’ve come a long way.

Now, I have a team, both my personal team and the publisher has a marketing team for me. There were challenges learning to work with the publisher’s team only because I’d never had to before, so there was a learning curve as the two teams started working together.

My personal team had always just experimented. If it worked, great. If it didn’t work, oh well. And sometimes you’d spend a little money on something and get a huge return. Sometimes you’d spend a lot of money and get nothing. I’m not sure that part of it has changed. You have to take chances.



I am a shy person as a rule so I started by going to the smaller conventions. That helped. So you can start small if you’re like me.

I was lucky to be surrounded by people who were willing to share ideas with me, and I’d share with them.

You do what you can do within the budget that you have. You try to have a group of innovative people that are willing to brainstorm with you. And you come up with fun, interesting, low-cost things you can do.

Submitting Your Book

WHERE TO START

Online, most publishing houses have a whole submission criteria available and I recommend that people look that over. Really look at it. Send it in the way the publisher asks. Send the right type of book. For instance, you wouldn’t send erotica to a Christian publisher.



I recommend RWA. They have a list of good agents and are a great resource. And they have a lot of those guidelines listed on their site.

If you are doing self-publishing and need help with that I don’t know anything about it, so I’m not very helpful there, but I know there are a lot of others out there who can help with that.

You can pitch to agents and editors at conferences and you should. Remember they are looking for new voices. Don’t be afraid when you’re pitching. The reason a lot of these people go to a conference and participate in these pitching sessions is that they’re looking for fresh voices. They want to find you. So if you believe in yourself and your story you need to go there with confidence and say “Hey, this is my story” and pitch it.

THE THINGS NOT TO DO

These are the don’ts for submitting or pitching.
If you’re pitching at a conference don’t follow an editor or agent in a bathroom, and believe me, people do. Be professional. Reach out to them at appropriate times, during scheduled appointments or if they have a time they say they’re open for pitching.

Make sure your manuscript is the best that it can be and that it is finished. Don’t turn in a manuscript with notes that you’re going to finish it later, or notes that say “Will place love scene here”. Yes, that happens. Don’t be one of those people. Be respectful of the agent or editor’s time and be as ready as possible with your manuscript.

Make sure you’re a fit with whatever publishing company or agent you’re pitching to. Research it. Don’t just sign up for every agent available. That’s just lazy. Look into who that person is, what they are acquiring or what they take. Again, that goes back to being respectful of someone’s time.

DO YOUR HOMEWORK



Research to find a good fit for your book and for you. Look at what that publisher is putting out. Look at who that agent already represents. Do your homework to give yourself and your book the best chance at success.

Book Editing

HOW EDITING IS DONE FOR ME



For me, I have a team who helps. I have a couple of people who, once I complete a chapter and have edited it, I send it to my personal assistant and a close friend. My friend reads mostly for content, but she’ll make notes along the way and perhaps catch a few errors and she sends that back to me. But, my personal assistant will do things like look up details from previous books and insert that in there for me. I write series and I can’t possibly remember what every person’s house looked like and things like that, so she looks it up and lets me know. She also has to look for any and all problems. Then she sends me notes. I get all that back and I go through it and do the edits. Once that’s completed I’ll then start to read the book from page one to the end just reading it like a normal book to make sure I feel that the story itself flows well and I can enjoy it. At this point, if I feel anything is wrong or could be better I’ll make changes to it at this time.

Then, the book goes to my editor. So I have an editor and a copy editor, so two people go over the book again and then they send it back to me. I have my personal assistant, Domini, go through it again and then she brings it to me and we go through it together and that’s where any inconsistencies are picked up. Once that’s done it goes back to my editor, Cindy, and the copy editor once more. And they go through it one more time. We get one final look through it and Domini and I go through that together, send it back and we’re done.


MISTAKES STILL HAPPEN

With all the editing that happens to a book mistakes inevitably get through. I have people write to me and say I need better copy editors, or I should hire them to do the editing, but I do have to say that I have never had one of those letters without finding errors in the letter.
People don’t realize that even the software that’s used for editing or formatting can bring in typos. I mean, there was one that automatically changed Gregori’s name to Oregon. Oregon? How can that happen? That was in the final edits, too! I’ll get the book and see these mistakes and wonder what the heck happened? I go back to that final manuscript that I turned in and that mistake isn’t there, but it’s in the book now. It happens. It does. And you have to learn to be okay with that.

MY OWN MISTAKES

It’s not the typos that get to me. What gets me are the mistakes I make when I’m researching. Like when I’m researching the Amazon River and put it on the wrong continent! That’s a major mistake and if all of us don’t catch it, which we didn’t, that’s a problem, but I get even one letter about that? Nope. Not one person pointed it out, when they will point out a small typo. I found it when I re-read the book and I became unglued and who made the mistake? Me.
Sometimes I’m researching ahead to the next book and I let that information seep into what I’m doing in the current book and that can be a problem. Any mistakes that happen like that are all on me.

FIXING MISTAKES

If we find mistakes we can sometimes get those fixed. It’s all according to circumstances. If I find it in one of my new books that will rollover (go into re-print later or hardback to paperback) I can usually get it fixed.

Not every company will fix mistakes. I’m lucky that the publisher I’m with now will. But, it’s costly to go in and make those changes, so sometimes you just have to live with it.

So it’s important to have so many eyes on that book, editing, making sure everything is consistent and correct, as possible.

Research and Writer’s Block

Research to me is a huge, fun aspect of writing. I like to learn things. The danger of research, for me, is that I get carried away. I can read for hours about crazy or interesting subjects. I read, I watch videos, I look online, I talk to primary sources and I become consumed. And in reality, with all of that research, maybe four lines will actually make it into my book.
I love doing research so much it becomes distracting. So now, what I do is limit the research. Now I’ll have any online research done by someone on my team and ask them to send maybe just the top 5 articles on something and I keep my primary resources, which are people who have expertise or experience on a topic, to just two or three people.
I love learning, so research can be my most distracting things and I have to make myself not go crazy with it.



Of the research I’ve done I became extremely interested and intrigued by computers and how to keep people from hacking them, and how people could hack them. Technology isn’t my forte and it was shocking to me the number of people who did understand it.
For Covert Game I had to do a lot of that kind of research and it fascinated me. I’m sure I spent way too much time on the research. I had a primary resource who used to work in the defense department and I spent so much time asking questions that I knew would never make it into the book, but I just couldn’t stop myself.

Finding primary sources happens often in person, at conventions or traveling. I’ve just fallen into meeting experts and interesting people and asked if I could talk to them. Sometimes what they did and knew inspired an idea I could use in a book and I’d ask that person if I could contact them later.

I remember that, in the case of the Shibari I used in Shadow Reaper, many years ago I had seen a stage performance of a husband and wife doing Shibari and I thought it was stunningly beautiful and wanted to know more about it. I later bought books about it, not realizing I’d put it in a book, but when I decided where I could use it I did reach out to some riggers and experts in Shibari.

What was the most challenging for me was finding out about the music business. I am not musically inclined whatsoever, which was particularly difficult with Jolie’s book in Turbulent Sea. I tried to get in contact with Gloria Estefan, but in the end that didn’t work out. I had to rely on roadies and some acquaintances.

It happens sometimes that your resource isn’t what you’d hoped, or doesn’t show up.
Oddly, the expert I thought would be the best for Shibari ended up not being helpful at all and the man that I thought would be the least helpful ended up being amazing. So, don’t be discouraged if the person you think is going to be the one to help you doesn’t, it could be the one you least think will help, or get back to you, that comes through.

WRITER’S BLOCK



It’s not like I’ve never had a time when I’m not sure what I’m going to write, of course I’ve had that, but I have a personal policy that, if I can’t figure it out in 2 hours I figure one of two things have happened.

WHAT MAY HAVE GONE WRONG

1. I’ve inserted MY reaction into the story. Every writer has to step back and everything you’re thinking or feeling, how YOU would do something has to take a back seat. You have to consider what the character would do. Ask yourself what motivates them, why they act the way they do. And the reader doesn’t have to understand that, but you, the writer, must do. The character has to live and breathe. They have to have real reactions and they may act different from you.
For example, if you have a character that’s submissive, but you yourself are not a submissive person and someone says something to them and they do it, you may think to “No way in hell am I doing that!” and then you have them react like YOU instead of like them, your story stops dead in the water and the story can’t go forward. So you have to backtrack and identify where you went off the line. It could be several pages back or a chapter back or it could be your favorite part of the whole story, probably because he reacted the way you would react, but you have to take it out of there.
You have to know your characters. What motivates them, what they would do in any situation? Don’t write the same character over and over and over as you start a new book with new characters. The world is very diversified and everyone reacts differently to various things, and your characters have to as well. Really know your characters and keep them fresh.

2. You can have writer’s block when you have a scene in your head that you don’t want to give up. It’s an amazing scene and you’re trying to force your story to go down this path, to get to the place so you can write this amazing scene, or to tie it to a scene that you’ve written earlier, but you can’t get there because your story has taken a turn on its own. And it can. And you have to re-calculate.

WHEN CHARACTERS TAKE OVER
My characters often take on the story beyond what I thought it would be. I remember one time that I thought I knew which couple I was going to write about. I told my publisher. I wrote the entire first chapter. And then, the girl entered and she’s like…that’s not my lifemate, I don’t know what you’re talking about. I argued with her, because as writers we can do that, but she assured me that my choice was the wrong one and I had to change it. And since then I never announced the names of my characters until the book is written because the characters always take on a life of their own and start dictating to me. That’s the way it should be.

THE WONDERFUL CHALLENGES OF GETTING STUCK

I’ve written myself into a corner before, but believe it or not I like that. I like the feeling that I’m reading a book and don’t know where it’s going. I love the challenge.
When I read a book I want to be fascinated with the story and feel like I’m on an adventure. If I don’t feel that way when I write, I figure my readers won’t either. I’m willing to do some research for just a few words in order for my readers to feel that. I’m willing to work at a tough scene, or even re-write a scene or a chapter in order to give that feeling to my readers.
Don’t spend too much time on research or on writer’s block. Spend your time moving your story forward.

Staying Disciplined

THE BEGINNING OF MY DISCIPLINE

A lot of my discipline came from being a single mom of four children by the time I was 24 years old. To take care of them I had to hold down two jobs. I had to make sure those children were fed, clothed, it was all on me. I believe in taking care if my responsibilities, and sometimes that is hard, so hard I would sometimes cry from the frustration of it all. I would go days without eating because a can of beans could stretch to feed four kids, but not an adult. Commitment and discipline go hand in hand.

Back then people didn’t want to rent to single moms. So, I had to keep the house perfectly clean and the yard had to be perfect. I had to make sure the landlord had no reason to throw us out. All of that took hard work and discipline.

DOING WHAT YOU MUST FOR WHAT AND WHO YOU LOVE



Books are what I often lived on. They kept me sane back then. I’d crave them so much I’d go to the library, or I’d spend money going to the store to buy books and skip meals, but, I always fed my kids. You have to be disciplined when you have children. I trained myself to do everything I had to do exactly on schedule to get them where they had to be and still get to my job on time.

MARTIAL ARTS



Those days were hard. I started taking martial arts for self-defense. Martial arts saved me in so many ways. I did it for years and years, living in that world. You had to have discipline in that. I earned my third degree black belt and it built my confidence. Soon I knew that if I put my mind to something and disciplined myself, I could do most anything.

WHERE THERE’S A WILL THERE’S A WAY

If you want to write, no matter what your circumstances are, you find a way. Even if you only write fifteen minutes a day, you do. You can use your phone and record what you’re thinking if you don’t have a pen and paper or computer. There’s so many ways now to get your stories out. If you know you’re making excuses for yourself then you know you don’t want it enough. There aren’t any excuses. Because if you’re sitting down watching TV, you could be writing. You are the only one who can determine what you’re willing to sacrifice in order to have what you really want.

WHAT MY WORK DAY LOOKS LIKE

I get up really early and try to get all my business out of the way 9 a.m. That’s anything the publishing house wants me to do, any blogs, social media, anything my team wants me to do, personal emails, my online community, it all gets done. Then I have breakfast.
After that, I start my power hours. I write for a solid hour at a time, and then take twenty minutes off to move around and get a little exercise. Then I’m back at it again. I take lunch for about an hour, often fitting in social media, email and talks with my team. I write again up to 4 PM, sometimes a little later. During that time I don’t do research, I don’t chat with friends and family, I don’t take phone calls. I’m writing. I’m putting new words to the page and moving my story forward.
Tell your friends and family that unless it’s an absolute emergency you aren’t going to take calls. And I don’t. I write. A lot of people are slaves to their phone. I am not.

At the end of the day I’ll exercise a bit. I’m not much of a television person. But, it’s later in the evening that I’ll go do my research or do my edits. And to wind down I read. I love to read old favorites and I love to try new authors. I guess you can say that business and pleasure all come back to books for me.

With such a big family and writing five books a year I have to be disciplined in all that I do.