Kelly Apple's Blog, page 60

Monster Research part 2 – Making Those Boys Stand Out!

In Monster Research part 1, I talked a little about how I came up with the monster for The Wicked Woods. Monsters are great but y’all really want to know about the monster cocks, don’t you?

That’s cool. Because I have research for that. (Kinda. I have a process for researching. Oh, you’ll see.)

The way I look at it, fantasy has to be somewhat grounded in reality. Yeah, I know I’m saying this in relation to monster erotica. Bear with me. (Whenever I write that, I imagine a bear standing behind me, arms raised, growling at people.)

For me, it makes sense that a werewolf’s junk will share some traits with a regular canine’s — namely the general shape and the ability to knot. So, research. Because looking at dog penises and trying to find a way to make them sexy is FUN. And also a little embarrassing when your family walks in on you.

But that’s not the point.

Grounding in reality. If I were reading a story where a werewolf had a cock that had the characteristics of an elephant’s, I’d be totally confused. Unless of course that was explained within the story somehow. If that’s the case, power to the author.

Do you see where I’m going with this?

In book 3, I get to tackle a dragon. Not literally. I went to an online sex store that specializes in fantasy dildos for the dragon. Just to give myself some ideas. (I’m pretty sure that’s the equivalent of someone saying they picked up Playboy for the articles, isn’t it? Don’t answer that.)

Book 4 will answer the age old question “How do mermen have sex?” I haven’t started researching that one yet, but I have a pretty good idea what direction I’ll be taking it in. (Man, why does everything I write sound so filthy right now? Don’t answer that!)

There you have it. Monster erotica is more than just throwing a monster at someone and letting them bone away.

As you’re reading Ari’s different encounters remember — I RESEARCHED this stuff. Kind of.

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Blurb and cover for Monstrous Tales #2

Annnnnnd…. here’s the blurb and cover for the second in the Monstrous Tales series. Book 1 came out at the beginning of December and is available at Amazon. If you like a little monster in your erotica, give Ari a try.

[image error] The Wicked Wolf (Monstrous Tales #2)

After several months with her monstrous lover, the unthinkable has happened—Ari’s Guardian is being called upon to mate with others of his kind. Not wanting to put her in danger, her Guardian sends her away, promising they will reunite once he’s fulfilled his duty.

Now Ari has a choice—she can pine for her monster as he lies with compatible females or she can seek out other supernaturals and see if what she feels for her Guardian is true.

Is it love or only lust? There’s a wicked wolf who’s willing to help her find the truth.

Warning: This book contains lovers (metaphorically) torn apart and a girl determined to experience the supernatural. Timid creatures need not apply.

I’ll be adding this to the Monstrous Tales series page shortly.

Except for a few final tweaks, I have the covers for all but the last book completed. Now it’s just a matter of writing these bad boys. *salutes and heads back to the writing cave*

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Monster Research part 1 – Build Your Own Monster

While in the middle of writing book 3 in the Monstrous tales series, I told my accountability partner “The best part (about writing this series) is the ‘research’ I do to decide what the cock is going to look like.”

We giggled a bit over that but it got me thinking — I did do research for this series. On more than just cocks. I’m still doing it.

What’s that? you say. Research? On monster erotica?

Well, yeah. I started by researching different cryptids. I knew my monster in book 1 was going to be somewhat nature-y. I came across a Scottish cryptid called an Am Fear Liath Mòr (Wikipedia). At heart, it’s a guardian of the summit and passes of a mountain in Scotland. Frankly, he was exactly what I was looking for. Except for, well, I needed him to be kinda hunky.

So, he got a makeover and I shortened his name (and lost the accent mark). Instead of being a single creature, the Liath Mor were now a species and they protect the wild places.

Then there were his tentacles. The creature icon for The Wicked Woods is a tree with tentacle-like roots. I’m not going to lie, I knew I would be using that in the cover as soon as I saw it. Because, hello, A TENTACLE TREE!

Frankly, it’s like the Gods Of All Things Awesome smiled down upon me as I wrote book 1 because everything came together so nicely. Seriously, what are the odds I’d find a tentacle tree otherwise?

(And, yes, I really have been researching cocks. But you’ll have to wait until the 31st to see what that entails. Next week: The cover and blurb for Book 2 of the Monstrous Tales series!)

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The Wicked Woods – Out now!

I don’t know why I thought it would take longer for The Wicked Woods to be ready for human consumption. But I did. And it didn’t.

So… The Wicked Woods (Monstrous Tales #1) is now available at Amazon! I’ve also added it to Goodreads if you use that site.

The blurb for book 2 is hidden away at the end of this one, so if you’re curious what sort of shenanigans a monster-crazed girl can get into, you get a hint of it there. Yes, book 2 is written. Book 3 is getting there (releasing a new book distracts me TERRIBLY from writing but I know exactly how I want Ari’s 3rd adventure to go). I have a tentative plan in place for releasing the books but I’m not ready to share it until I’m sure I can stick to it.

In the meantime, go forth and enjoy a little monster erotica. It’s 30 pages of monster-y goodness. How can you resist that?

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Monstrous Tales – coming soon!

I was going to use today’s post to tease the stories I wrote during NaNo. It was going to be awesome. I could feel it.

But then…. BUT THEN, I made some covers this weekend and sent the first of my monster erotica stories off to my editor and now I just want to share that. BECAUSE MONSTERS!

So. Monstrous Tales is the name of the series. As of right now, I have 10 parts planned for it. It’s monster erotica, so there are A LOT of monsters and even more sexin’. Added bonus, there’s an actual storyline that runs through it. I KNOW! I didn’t see that coming either.

Parts 1 & 2 have both been written and they’re clocking in at 8300 and 9000 apiece. If this trend holds through the other installments, we’re looking at an 80-90K word final tally. Which makes me laugh because that’s a fuckton of monsters getting busy.

What? You want a cover and blurb? OKAY!

The Wicked Woods (Monstrous Tales #1)

Ari has always had a thing for monsters. Big ones, small ones, and all the ones in between. They turn her on like no human can. She’d be an ordinary girl if not for that one little quirk.

Since monsters aren’t real, she’s resigned herself to loving them in her imagination.

But, as Ari is about to find out, monsters are real and now one of them has her in their grasp. Is she about to find out if reality is better than fantasy? Or will she walk away and lose her one chance at fulfilling her wildest dreams?

Warning: This book contains a girl who isn’t afraid of monsters and a monster who REALLY likes girls. You’ll never look at those all-night monster marathons on TV the same way again.

I have a series page set up for Monstrous Tales. Feel free to poke around. Although there’s only the cover and blurb for The Wicked Woods at the moment, future installments will pop up there and you can see what’s happening in Ari’s world.

I know monster erotica isn’t for everyone but I had such a fun time writing these stories and I’m weirdly proud of them. They made me laugh as I was writing and that’s always a good sign.

My plan is to have this one up within the next week or so (or at least by the end of the year) while I keep plugging away at editing and revising my Demonkind Collective books. *thumbs up to that*

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Goals, a demanding muse, and … monster erotica?

Since this is the last Tuesday of the month (and I arbitrarily decided I should punch my word count in the junk), I thought I’d take a minute to update y’all on what happens when the muse grabs you by the throat and bellows at you to WRITE THIS STORY NOW as it shakes you so hard your brains feel like they’re rattling around in your skull. *stares at that sentence — marvels at the length — snickers over talking about length — moves on*

As of the writing of this post, I’m working on writing my 4th story of the month. Wait. Back up. I haven’t finished all the stories I’ve started. I’m THISCLOSE to finishing book 3 in the Demonkind Collective. I’m about halfway through a contemporary menage that tickled my fancy as soon as someone told me I should give one a try. I have a 8300 word story finished that turned out to be the opening salvo in a monster erotica series. I’m about halfway through book two in that same series.

So, I have a lot of potential writing ahead of me. All the ideas are there, I just have to follow through and finish them.

Therefore, my goals for the last week of the month are…

finish Bas and Evie’s story because I NEED to see Evie finish coming out of her shell and kick some ass.
finish book 2 in my new Monstrous Tales series and DON’T start writing book 3 as soon as book 2 is finished.
get a good chunk of my contemp menage written so I can finish it up in December.

Next week, I’m going to switch over to editing mode so I can get a few more little gems out into the world and into your hands.

Until next week, my friends! Write on!

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Grab your map, we’re going off road!

Funny story! (not really, but I’m going to pretend)

I haven’t written a word on my planned zombie apocalypse love story book this month. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I’ve written a metric fuckton on book 3 in the demon/werewolf series (in case you were wondering, a fuckton is A LOT) and I started a contemporary menage that is giving me a case of the giggles. Honestly, I didn’t think I’d ever even CONSIDER writing something non-paranormal or non-apocalyptic, so this is weird and kind of awesome.

Needless to say, I’m not displeased with what I’ve accomplished.

Anyway. My goal for this month was to consistently hit 3K per day. That goal went slightly off kilter by feeling under the weather this weekend. But I’m cool with it. I’m back on the horse. Or something.

I don’t know where I’m going with this post exactly except to remind you (and myself) that going off-road can be awesomely beneficial. Bas and Evie’s book is almost complete and I have a threesome trying to get in each others’ pants. WHAT’S NOT TO LIKE ABOUT THAT?

Write on, my friends! Write on.

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Find your motivation!

Holla, peeps!

We’re 12 days into NaNo today and to be on par, you should be at or nearing the 20K word mark. (I’m writing this over the weekend, so I don’t have any hard numbers for you as to where I am, but I am VERY pleased with what I’ve accomplished thus far.)

One of the things I do to keep myself motivated (because week two can be a drag sometimes — seriously, the 25K word point is where I’m SURE I’ve royally screwed my story up to the point of no return. 25K, EVERY SINGLE TIME!) is to have a writing buddy I’m accountable to. Every morning, my writing accountability partner posts what she expects to accomplish for the day. She uses a minimum/maximum approach to her writing — in other words she says “My minimum goal so to write X words, which will put me at par for day X. My ultimate goal is to write 3K words so I can get maximum Tumblr rewards.” As long as she hits her minimum, she’s happy. If she goes above and beyond that, EVERYBODY’S happy because it means more gratuitous shirtless/pantless/whateverless Tumblr guys for our ogling enjoyment.

Yes, it’s entirely true. I help keep her motivated to continue writing by rewarding her with half-naked Tumblr dudes as she hits each 1K mark through the day. I’m not going to lie, some days those Tumblr guys make it worthwhile to get out of bed. *dreamy sigh*

Basically, her approach to writing during NaNo works perfectly for her. I need something a little different, though. I’m looking to be more consistent with my writing. I set a daily goal of 3K (which I’ve hit every day so far, thankyouverymuch) and that’s what I’m aiming for. Anything over 3K is awesome and I won’t be sorry I wrote it, but my goal is to hit that 3K. Period.

Incidentally, Demon Enslaved, the book I’ve working on now, looks like it’s going to be quite a bit longer than books one and two. So, yay for more Bas and Evie!

So. Here’s to 20K words! Find what works for you so your plots can grow more tangled and your characters more desperate. *raises glass*

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NaNo – The first check-in

For those of you following along, we’re on Day 5 of NaNoWriMo. We’ve completed four days of literary madness. Or just madness. Take your pick.

Now the FUN part starts. Okay, I’m lying. Some of what comes next isn’t fun. We’ve ridden the adrenaline wave of starting out and are settling into that stretch where things seem a little more difficult. Maybe you’ve gone off track from your outline. Maybe you’ve ditched your original idea altogether and are free writing like a madwoman. Or a madman. I’m an equal opportunity mad-person. Maybe you didn’t hit your word goals the first few days and are feeling discouraged.

I’m going to tell you a secret. My original plan was to write book 3 in my Zombie Apocalypse Love Story this month. I’m not. YET. Right now I’m working on book 3 in the Demonkind Collective. I’M OKAY WITH THIS. (I’m going to tease you with how BADLY I want to share bits of what I’m writing but I CAN’T because I don’t want to accidentally give anything away from book 2!!!)

Once I finish this bad boy off (*snerk*), I’m going to dive into my zombie story. Everything in good time, right?

Are things going well for me writing-wise? They are. I’m averaging over the daily goal I set for myself (YAY!) and this pleases me. Yes, there are still times when I struggle with scenes or pulling the emotion out of my characters but that’s normal. The point is to keep writing, right?

And I am writing. I’ve ridden the early adrenaline wave and I’m ready to battle through whatever November throws at me.

See you in a week!

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Writing through the unexpected

This past weekend, I had author Jodi Redford visiting for a few days. I willingly put everything on hold for this visit because OMG! SHE’S A FREAKING HOOT AND I ADORE HER! But this got me thinking… you can prepare and plan and plot until the cows come home and yet sometimes things happen that get in the way of writing (or reading or summoning of ancient and better-left-alone deities — stop that, by the way, I just cleaned up after the last apocalypse and I need a little break). They can be highly anticipated things (like Jodi’s visit) or they can be things that hit out of the blue (your car gets infested with a rare colony of miniature albino spiders that were recently put on the endangered species list and you have to deal with several branches of the government as you attempt to wrangle your car back from the EPA. Or whatever branch of the gov takes care of miniature albino spiders).

The question that arises here is… what do you do when something like this happens during NaNo? The way I see it, you have two choices — you can either freak out and lament how things always conspire to keep you from writing your epic masterpiece and give up or you can suck it up, reevaluate your plan of attack, your goals, etc and keep on truckin’.

I’ve been one of the lamenters. I know how much it blows to have great momentum on a project (whether it’s writing or not) and have it suddenly derailed by an unexpected occurrence. I GET THAT. Did I ever tell you about the year my computer crashed halfway through November and I lost the first half of my NaNo story? Yeah, it wasn’t fun. I bitched about it. I might have cried a little. Not that I’m admitting to that part, mind you, because I’m not a crier. *shifty eyes* The point is that I could have thrown up my hands and given up. I didn’t. I finished that story and eventually retrieved the first half I thought was lost. AND I WAS SO THRILLED WITH MYSELF FOR PUSHING THROUGH.

In some ways, I think that was a turning point for me in regards to writing. I mean, it’s easy to write when things are going well. It’s when the craptastic happened and I kept going forward despite it that showed me I COULD DO THIS.

(And here’s where I’m going to insert my PSA and remind people to BACK UP YOUR WORK. Learn from my mistakes. Back up early and often!)

The point of all this is that even if life throws you a curve ball in November, don’t give up. Your plot just took a nosedive and you’ve written yourself into a corner? Move onto a new scene. Nobody says you have to write your book in order. If you hate your book and have no passion for it on day 2 of NaNo, CHANGE UP WHAT YOU’RE WRITING.

It’s your book. Now, go write it. (err… but wait until Nov 1st. Because, you know, that’s when it’s all official.)

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