Christine Feehan's Blog, page 18
May 9, 2018
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.
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.
May 2, 2018
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.
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.
April 25, 2018
Making Time to Write
DON’T LET CIRCUMSTANCES KEEP YOU FROM WRITING
Everybody’s circumstances are different. When I had a lot of young children I would write when my children were at sports practice. I’d sit up in the bleachers and I’d write. When they’d watch television in the evening I would write. That was very disjointed, but I made it work because I wanted to write.
Some of my friends would get up at 3 or 4 in the morning to write before their kids got up. I couldn’t do that, but they could. Everyone has to choose when you have time to write.
Think about Jean-Dominque Bauby who in 1995 had a stroke and became paralyzed. He could only blink in order to communicate. He used that system of blinking to write about his life which became a book called The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. That book has been turned into a movie. We overcome what stops us when our goal becomes our passion.
If you think about it, if you write just one page a day, one page, at the end of a year you have a story written
.
CREATING HABITS
If you can write even 15 or 20 minutes and try to make it the same time of day pretty soon your mind becomes accustomed to thinking of stories at that time of day. The stories come to you faster and faster and more readily because you have created a habit and disciplined your mind to think just like anything you practice all the time. If you do that the same time of day your mind starts to expect to have to come up with those stories. It’s like muscle memory, but this is your creative muscle.
EXCUSES
Anyone can make excuses. The truth is, if you want to do it, you’ll find a way to do it. That’s the way with anything in life. Do it, or don’t do it. You can say to me, “I spent a year putting my office together.” And I’d say to you, “Why didn’t you spend a year writing?” There are always excuses not to do something. I have taught myself to write pretty much anywhere when I need to and I write 5 books a year.
SOME ARTICLES/BLOGS TO CONSIDER
Fantasy Author’s Handbook Blog- Save the Bullshit Excuses- Here
The Weeklings Blog- Calling Bullshit On A Writer’s Top 10 Excuses For Not Writing Here
Everybody’s circumstances are different. When I had a lot of young children I would write when my children were at sports practice. I’d sit up in the bleachers and I’d write. When they’d watch television in the evening I would write. That was very disjointed, but I made it work because I wanted to write.
Some of my friends would get up at 3 or 4 in the morning to write before their kids got up. I couldn’t do that, but they could. Everyone has to choose when you have time to write.
Think about Jean-Dominque Bauby who in 1995 had a stroke and became paralyzed. He could only blink in order to communicate. He used that system of blinking to write about his life which became a book called The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. That book has been turned into a movie. We overcome what stops us when our goal becomes our passion.
If you think about it, if you write just one page a day, one page, at the end of a year you have a story written
.
CREATING HABITS
If you can write even 15 or 20 minutes and try to make it the same time of day pretty soon your mind becomes accustomed to thinking of stories at that time of day. The stories come to you faster and faster and more readily because you have created a habit and disciplined your mind to think just like anything you practice all the time. If you do that the same time of day your mind starts to expect to have to come up with those stories. It’s like muscle memory, but this is your creative muscle.
EXCUSES
Anyone can make excuses. The truth is, if you want to do it, you’ll find a way to do it. That’s the way with anything in life. Do it, or don’t do it. You can say to me, “I spent a year putting my office together.” And I’d say to you, “Why didn’t you spend a year writing?” There are always excuses not to do something. I have taught myself to write pretty much anywhere when I need to and I write 5 books a year.
SOME ARTICLES/BLOGS TO CONSIDER
Fantasy Author’s Handbook Blog- Save the Bullshit Excuses- Here
The Weeklings Blog- Calling Bullshit On A Writer’s Top 10 Excuses For Not Writing Here
April 23, 2018
Where to Start Reading Each Series: Dark Series
I’m one of those people who like to read an entire back list when I come across an author I love. I’m excited when I see they have this huge body of work because I know I love their writing and it’s like finding buried treasure. But, I realize not everyone is like that. Some people find a long-established series to be daunting and get overwhelmed so they won’t read it. I understand now wanting to commit to starting from the very beginning when everyone else is talking about Book #30. You want to participate in what’s going on now and don’t want to have to invest time you may not have at the moment.
With this in mind I thought I would talk a bit about each series and whether or not you’d need to read the entire series, or where you might be able to just jump in. Keep in mind that I write ALL of my books so they can stand alone. Today we’ll talk about the DARK series.
DARK SERIES
The Dark Series, also called the Carpathian Series, is my longest running series. It’s about immortal vampire hunters called Carpathians who, if they don’t find their lifemate (think soulmate, but truly the other half of their soul) they lose the ability to see in color, lose their emotions and eventually either meet the sun or turn vampire.
The early books have many beloved characters including the Prince of the Carpathian people (there isn’t a king) Mikhail. The early books follow the struggles of the Carpathian people as they try to figure out why females aren’t surviving, thus leading the entire race toward extinction.
WHERE TO START IF NOT AT THE BEGINNING
If you don’t want to start with Book #1, Dark Prince, and want to catch up with what’s going on now you could start with the novella Dark Crime Book #27. This novella can be found in ebook form under Dark Crime or in paperback in an anthology called Edge of Darkness. This book has us back in the United States after a prolonged time in the Carpathian Mountains. We have new characters fighting a new evil and it’s all centralized on the West Coast so far. Tariq has been chosen by Mikhail to be the leader in the United States for the Carpathians and Tariq has the assistance of a new set of heroes that hail from a mysterious monastery high up on the mountains. They are ancient Carpathians who went to the monastery as a way of keeping others safe from them.
It’s always fun to go back and read the older books, but you can always do that at your leisure. Start with Tariq and his group so you can enjoy the current book talks for this series. These books are meant to be stand alone books, but of course it’s always fun to follow an overall ARC. And though you don’t have to go back, if you enjoy the series, I hope you’ll want to know all of the heroes of this series.
With this in mind I thought I would talk a bit about each series and whether or not you’d need to read the entire series, or where you might be able to just jump in. Keep in mind that I write ALL of my books so they can stand alone. Today we’ll talk about the DARK series.
DARK SERIES
The Dark Series, also called the Carpathian Series, is my longest running series. It’s about immortal vampire hunters called Carpathians who, if they don’t find their lifemate (think soulmate, but truly the other half of their soul) they lose the ability to see in color, lose their emotions and eventually either meet the sun or turn vampire.
The early books have many beloved characters including the Prince of the Carpathian people (there isn’t a king) Mikhail. The early books follow the struggles of the Carpathian people as they try to figure out why females aren’t surviving, thus leading the entire race toward extinction.
WHERE TO START IF NOT AT THE BEGINNING
If you don’t want to start with Book #1, Dark Prince, and want to catch up with what’s going on now you could start with the novella Dark Crime Book #27. This novella can be found in ebook form under Dark Crime or in paperback in an anthology called Edge of Darkness. This book has us back in the United States after a prolonged time in the Carpathian Mountains. We have new characters fighting a new evil and it’s all centralized on the West Coast so far. Tariq has been chosen by Mikhail to be the leader in the United States for the Carpathians and Tariq has the assistance of a new set of heroes that hail from a mysterious monastery high up on the mountains. They are ancient Carpathians who went to the monastery as a way of keeping others safe from them.
It’s always fun to go back and read the older books, but you can always do that at your leisure. Start with Tariq and his group so you can enjoy the current book talks for this series. These books are meant to be stand alone books, but of course it’s always fun to follow an overall ARC. And though you don’t have to go back, if you enjoy the series, I hope you’ll want to know all of the heroes of this series.
April 18, 2018
How to Start Writing
Part 1 of an 8 part blog series for writers.
DIFFERENT WAYS TO WRITE
Every writer is different, and their process is different. I know people who write scenes, then write transitions between those scenes to create their book. I have no idea how people write scenes and then put them together. They are very gifted to be able to do that. I cannot.
Some people know the ending and start by writing the end. Then they go back to the beginning and write their way toward that end.
Some people plot out and will even write forty pages of plot points, particularly those who have mystery or suspense. They almost have to do that to make sure their clues and red herrings are in place.
Honestly, if I did that, I’d think, “I’ve already read that book, I know that story” and I’d not be interested in writing it.
I start with a blank page and am very linear. I write from page one all the way to the end of the book and it has to go in that order or I feel very chaotic and can’t continue.
Everything to me, as I write, is an adventure.
WHEN YOU DON’T KNOW WHERE OR HOW TO START
When a person doesn’t know how to start a book I tell them to just sit down and start writing. If you don’t, it’s never going to happen for you.
If they say that they just can’t do that I tell them they can do some exercises.
WRITING EXERCISES
I tell them to close their eyes and imagine themselves in the sun. Start to ask questions. Where are you? Are you under a tree, or by a lake? Describe that.
Then, how are you feeling? And you go through every one of your senses until you have a scene.
Remember that you’re painting a picture for someone who is reading that book. They have to see it, they have to feel it, and they have to know why you’re there.
You have to answer every question for them in that scene, in words. And if you practice doing that, then eventually those things that are in your head become scenes for you and you can write them down.
There’s a story inside of you and you know what it is. Put your fingers on the keyboard and bring that story to life on the page. One word, one sentence, one paragraph, one page. One step at a time.
BOOKS ON WRITING
Here is a list of books for aspiring writers. I’ve not read them all, but have heard them recommended.
Write Away: One Novelist’s Approach to Fiction and the Writing Life by Elizabeth George
On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King
The Hero’s Adventure by Joseph Campbell and The Writer’s Journey by Christopher Vogler (these go together and you can get it on audio)
Writing Great Fiction: Storytelling Tips and Techniques by The Great Courses (on Audio)
Structuring Your Novel: Essential Keys for Writing and Outstanding Story by KM Weiland
DIFFERENT WAYS TO WRITE
Every writer is different, and their process is different. I know people who write scenes, then write transitions between those scenes to create their book. I have no idea how people write scenes and then put them together. They are very gifted to be able to do that. I cannot.
Some people know the ending and start by writing the end. Then they go back to the beginning and write their way toward that end.
Some people plot out and will even write forty pages of plot points, particularly those who have mystery or suspense. They almost have to do that to make sure their clues and red herrings are in place.
Honestly, if I did that, I’d think, “I’ve already read that book, I know that story” and I’d not be interested in writing it.
I start with a blank page and am very linear. I write from page one all the way to the end of the book and it has to go in that order or I feel very chaotic and can’t continue.
Everything to me, as I write, is an adventure.
WHEN YOU DON’T KNOW WHERE OR HOW TO START
When a person doesn’t know how to start a book I tell them to just sit down and start writing. If you don’t, it’s never going to happen for you.
If they say that they just can’t do that I tell them they can do some exercises.
WRITING EXERCISES
I tell them to close their eyes and imagine themselves in the sun. Start to ask questions. Where are you? Are you under a tree, or by a lake? Describe that.
Then, how are you feeling? And you go through every one of your senses until you have a scene.
Remember that you’re painting a picture for someone who is reading that book. They have to see it, they have to feel it, and they have to know why you’re there.
You have to answer every question for them in that scene, in words. And if you practice doing that, then eventually those things that are in your head become scenes for you and you can write them down.
There’s a story inside of you and you know what it is. Put your fingers on the keyboard and bring that story to life on the page. One word, one sentence, one paragraph, one page. One step at a time.
BOOKS ON WRITING
Here is a list of books for aspiring writers. I’ve not read them all, but have heard them recommended.
Write Away: One Novelist’s Approach to Fiction and the Writing Life by Elizabeth George
On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King
The Hero’s Adventure by Joseph Campbell and The Writer’s Journey by Christopher Vogler (these go together and you can get it on audio)
Writing Great Fiction: Storytelling Tips and Techniques by The Great Courses (on Audio)
Structuring Your Novel: Essential Keys for Writing and Outstanding Story by KM Weiland
April 12, 2018
Who's Your Hero?
Thinking about all of the different series that I write, and all the different heroes, which would you say is the best of all the heroes? Would it be one of the Carpathians? A GhostWalker? Maybe someone from the Drake Sisters or the new Torpedo Ink series?
Over on Facebook we're doing a weekly vote where we ask you to look at a batch of heroes from different books and tell us which of those you'd choose as the top hero of that batch.
The character that gets the most votes (you vote by leaving an emoji with that character's name in a comment on Facebook) goes to the next round. Until, finally, we have only one! That's right! There can be only one! lol
You can still get in on the voting if you'd like to play. It's just for fun and I hope you'll stop by. You can find it here on my Facebook. PLAY HERE
Over on Facebook we're doing a weekly vote where we ask you to look at a batch of heroes from different books and tell us which of those you'd choose as the top hero of that batch.
The character that gets the most votes (you vote by leaving an emoji with that character's name in a comment on Facebook) goes to the next round. Until, finally, we have only one! That's right! There can be only one! lol
You can still get in on the voting if you'd like to play. It's just for fun and I hope you'll stop by. You can find it here on my Facebook. PLAY HERE
March 22, 2018
This Week's CF News!
Covert Game was released on Tuesday and it's exciting to see so many people loving the book. If you're on Twitter I hope you'll use #CovertGame so I can find your comments or tag me @AuthorCFeehan.
CF on Twitter
I'm super excited that Entertainment Weekly celebrated the release of my 75th book by interviewing me! Maureen, the wonderful lady who did the interview, called me up to ask questions and I really enjoyed speaking with her.
Entertainment Weekly
Romantic Times put together a GhostWalker quiz to celebrate the release of Cover Game and it's really fun! If you like quizzes and want to see how much you can remember about the books you should check it out!
RT GhostWalker Quiz
I was so happy to be asked to be a guest blogger right here on Goodreads! I talk about romance novels as the perfect escape and I hope you'll stop by and comment!
Goodreads Guest Blog
If you missed the Book Trailer for Covert Game I thought it turned out great and I have posted it here on my Goodreads profile, but you can see it here too-
Covert Game Book Trailer
We have some contests going on over on my Facebook page and on my CF Community. It ends tonight (March 22nd) but there's still time if you like contests!
Contest on CF Community
CF Facebook Contest
I hope everyone enjoys Covert Game!
CF on Twitter
I'm super excited that Entertainment Weekly celebrated the release of my 75th book by interviewing me! Maureen, the wonderful lady who did the interview, called me up to ask questions and I really enjoyed speaking with her.
Entertainment Weekly
Romantic Times put together a GhostWalker quiz to celebrate the release of Cover Game and it's really fun! If you like quizzes and want to see how much you can remember about the books you should check it out!
RT GhostWalker Quiz
I was so happy to be asked to be a guest blogger right here on Goodreads! I talk about romance novels as the perfect escape and I hope you'll stop by and comment!
Goodreads Guest Blog
If you missed the Book Trailer for Covert Game I thought it turned out great and I have posted it here on my Goodreads profile, but you can see it here too-
Covert Game Book Trailer
We have some contests going on over on my Facebook page and on my CF Community. It ends tonight (March 22nd) but there's still time if you like contests!
Contest on CF Community
CF Facebook Contest
I hope everyone enjoys Covert Game!
March 13, 2018
Covert Game's Heroine: Zara Hightower
Zara Hightower is the heroine of Covert Game and I wanted to talk a little bit about her in light of the Covert Game book release on March 20th.
Zara was raised like many of the genetically altered and enhanced women. A team of five became a team of three early in her training and those three were incredibly bonded.
Zara’s friends were Bellisia and Shylah. Both women were very much warriors, but though Zara had that same training and was capable of killing, she wasn’t the warrior the others were and Whitney punished her for that.
Zara is a very different heroine. She’s brilliant. She’s a leader in artificial intelligence and lectures all over the world.
Her intelligence is what kept her alive, and important to Whitney. So, when she’s captured she’s not entirely ready for what awaits and her only hope comes when Gino Mazza’s team decides that saving her is worth the potential cost of lives.
But, there’s so much more to Zara than meets the eye initially and through the book we discover what that is. I love this heroine. I love that she’s so different and I hope readers will enjoy her story.
Zara was raised like many of the genetically altered and enhanced women. A team of five became a team of three early in her training and those three were incredibly bonded.
Zara’s friends were Bellisia and Shylah. Both women were very much warriors, but though Zara had that same training and was capable of killing, she wasn’t the warrior the others were and Whitney punished her for that.
Zara is a very different heroine. She’s brilliant. She’s a leader in artificial intelligence and lectures all over the world.
Her intelligence is what kept her alive, and important to Whitney. So, when she’s captured she’s not entirely ready for what awaits and her only hope comes when Gino Mazza’s team decides that saving her is worth the potential cost of lives.
But, there’s so much more to Zara than meets the eye initially and through the book we discover what that is. I love this heroine. I love that she’s so different and I hope readers will enjoy her story.
March 5, 2018
Covert Game's Gino "Phantom" Mazza
It’s time to head back to the bayou! We’re back with Team Four and this time they’re being sent on a suicide mission to save a woman they’re not sure they can trust. I thought you might like a little insight to the story.
Gino “Phantom” Mazza has an interesting background as well as unusual abilities and heightened senses. He takes one look at pictures of Zara Hightower, spending hours reading articles and he just can’t stop thinking about her. So, when they finally meet, his protective instincts kick in and nobody better get in the way of his saving her.
It’s not that he’s some white knight, he’s not. His character has never been that. He has a dark history and isn’t the nicest man. But, something about her calls to him and the predator in him meets the need to protect her in a way that is seriously sexy.
I love bad boy protector stories. I just do. Having a GhostWalker bad boy protector was so immensely fun to write.
Gino “Phantom” Mazza has an interesting background as well as unusual abilities and heightened senses. He takes one look at pictures of Zara Hightower, spending hours reading articles and he just can’t stop thinking about her. So, when they finally meet, his protective instincts kick in and nobody better get in the way of his saving her.
It’s not that he’s some white knight, he’s not. His character has never been that. He has a dark history and isn’t the nicest man. But, something about her calls to him and the predator in him meets the need to protect her in a way that is seriously sexy.
I love bad boy protector stories. I just do. Having a GhostWalker bad boy protector was so immensely fun to write.
February 14, 2018
Romance Week, Romance Books and Romance Characters
It's Romance Week on GoodReads! I love reading about new romance books, new authors and great characters. I'm a voracious reader and though I read many genres, I prefer books with romance in them.
One of my favorite books is The Borne Identity. Not a traditional romance book, but the romance in it was amazing. I love how they needed each other.
More recently, I read a book by Lisa Kleypas called Marrying Winterborne and I freely admit that I have now re-read that book several times. Sometimes I'll just pick it up and re-read certain scenes. She has another book in the Ravenels series coming out this month called Hello Stranger and I just can't wait to read it!
I'm often asked what romance authors I read and I hate answering that because I always forget someone. But, I thought I'd mention a few that I have on my mind today. I love Lisa Kleypas of course. Nalini Sighn, MaryJanice Davidson, Nora Roberts, Jane Austen, Jayne Ann Krentz, Sylvia Day, Lucy Monroe, JR Ward, Maggie Shayne, Brenda Novak, Karen Rose, CL Wilson, and so many more. I'm sure I'm going to kick myself later when I realize I missed someone!
I'd love to know who YOU feel is your top romance authors that you love to read.
Since today is Valentine's Day I thought I'd ask you which character from any of my books you'd choose as your Valentine?
Here are some ideas for book boyfriend/Valentine!
Reaper
Gino
Giovanni
Mikhail
One of my favorite books is The Borne Identity. Not a traditional romance book, but the romance in it was amazing. I love how they needed each other.
More recently, I read a book by Lisa Kleypas called Marrying Winterborne and I freely admit that I have now re-read that book several times. Sometimes I'll just pick it up and re-read certain scenes. She has another book in the Ravenels series coming out this month called Hello Stranger and I just can't wait to read it!
I'm often asked what romance authors I read and I hate answering that because I always forget someone. But, I thought I'd mention a few that I have on my mind today. I love Lisa Kleypas of course. Nalini Sighn, MaryJanice Davidson, Nora Roberts, Jane Austen, Jayne Ann Krentz, Sylvia Day, Lucy Monroe, JR Ward, Maggie Shayne, Brenda Novak, Karen Rose, CL Wilson, and so many more. I'm sure I'm going to kick myself later when I realize I missed someone!
I'd love to know who YOU feel is your top romance authors that you love to read.
Since today is Valentine's Day I thought I'd ask you which character from any of my books you'd choose as your Valentine?
Here are some ideas for book boyfriend/Valentine!
Reaper
Gino
Giovanni
Mikhail
