Kari Gregg takes over the blog
I first came across Kari's work when I read Spoils of War. I had never heard of her but the blurb intrigued me. I have a weakness for h/C stories (well, also what I'd call 'gentle BDSM' and master/slave fiction--as long as the cuddling factor is there.) I read I, Omega the week it came out so I think I can rec both these books to you guys. Now Kari's dropped by to talk about writing it.
The Fork in the Road -- or Why I, Omega?
I'll be honest with you. I started writing I, Omega last fall. The earliest create date I have for any of my IO files points to September 11th, 2010...a week before my first book, Lovely Wicked, released. I didn't know if readers would take to Mitch, Liv and Sam in LW. I sure didn't know if readers would go for Micah and Eli in Spoils. All I knew is I had two new characters scrambling inside my head and I had to get them out.
Sometimes, for me, it's like that. Micah's story was. Very much so. I've gone on record before as saying that I wrote Spoils of War in three weeks and that's essentially true. The bones of that story were laid down in three weeks. What I don't generally tell folks is that I then let it sit. I let that story grow and mature. I wrote that one in three weeks one January, you betcha. And I also spent six months adding to, taking from, and developing the story until Spoils was what I knew it could be. THEN, I sent it out.
I did that with IO too. Except worse. I wrote the bones of it last fall while Lovely Wicked and Spoils were releasing. I knew I was on to something. I was completely captivated by the world Gabriel & Cal inhabited. Even when the first calls for sequels for the first two books began rolling in, I couldn't let Gabriel go.
But it wasn't. ready. yet. Nowhere near. Pretentious Kari took the driver's seat and demanded a writerly experiment. How far would the reader let me get away with showing the story rather than telling what was going on? After all, Gabriel didn't know what was happening and he's my POV character. If I added a bit of contradiction -- GLARING bits of contraction, I should say -- would the reader grasp that there was more going on that was immediately discernible to Gabriel? IO's a pervy story. It's hot, smexy fun. I'm not ashamed of that. I own it. Hell, I LOVE it. But I didn't know if readers would be willing to look beyond the smut to another sly story told in subtext. Or if anyone would realize the contradiction I nested inside IO were deliberate -- Easter eggs to cue the reader to think about what was really going on, under the surface of Gabriel's comprehension.
It was a risk. A bold risk. An OMG risk. I'm new. Readers might've assumed those contradictions were accidental (God forbid). Writing the sequels to Lovely Wicked and Spoils of War certainly would've been the safer bet.
Writing IO made me a stronger writer, though. That story challenged me to stretch and grow in my craft in so many ways. As the story evolved, so did I. Plunder (the Spoils of War sequel) will be a MUCH stronger book because I took the other fork in the road and wrote IO first. I'm a better writer for taking that unexpected, much riskier path and the stories I have yet to tell will be richer for it.
So...That's why.
After one mind-shattering night with a stranger at a local leather bar leaves him forever changed, Gabriel lives on the streets as a vagrant to elude the master who hunts him, but the were-shifter is a fierce, stubborn predator who reclaims him soon enough. Gabriel is carried away to the pack's home territory where his instruction on what it means to be the pet of an alpha begins. Gabriel isn't just any pet, though. He is the rarest among their kind: a human omega.
Treasured? Or cursed?
As Gabriel's father, the Distinguished Gentleman from Pennsylvania and stalwart of the conservative party, pushes the considerable resources at his disposal to locate his missing son, Gabriel explores who and what he is under his master's careful protection. Gabriel falls for the shifter who is lover and destroyer, owner and...friend?
Publisher's Note: This book contains explicit sexual content, graphic language, and situations that some readers may find objectionable: BDSM theme and elements, dubious consent, male/male sexual practices.
Find an excerpt and I, Omega here .
Who is Kari Gregg?
Kari Gregg lives in the mountains of Wild and Wonderful West Virginia with her Wonderful husband and three very Wild children. Once Kari discovered the fabulous play land of erotic romances at RWA's National Conference in 2009, the die was cast. Finally! A market for the smoking hot stories she loves!
When Kari's not writing, she enjoys reading, coffee, zombie flicks, coffee, naked mud-wrestling (not really), and . . . coffee!
If you would like to catch up with Kari, caffeinate yourself and head on over to http://www.KariGregg.com
Friend Kari on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/Kari.M.Gregg
Follow Kari on Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/karigregg
Find Kari at Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4366316.Kari_Gregg
The Fork in the Road -- or Why I, Omega?
I'll be honest with you. I started writing I, Omega last fall. The earliest create date I have for any of my IO files points to September 11th, 2010...a week before my first book, Lovely Wicked, released. I didn't know if readers would take to Mitch, Liv and Sam in LW. I sure didn't know if readers would go for Micah and Eli in Spoils. All I knew is I had two new characters scrambling inside my head and I had to get them out.
Sometimes, for me, it's like that. Micah's story was. Very much so. I've gone on record before as saying that I wrote Spoils of War in three weeks and that's essentially true. The bones of that story were laid down in three weeks. What I don't generally tell folks is that I then let it sit. I let that story grow and mature. I wrote that one in three weeks one January, you betcha. And I also spent six months adding to, taking from, and developing the story until Spoils was what I knew it could be. THEN, I sent it out.
I did that with IO too. Except worse. I wrote the bones of it last fall while Lovely Wicked and Spoils were releasing. I knew I was on to something. I was completely captivated by the world Gabriel & Cal inhabited. Even when the first calls for sequels for the first two books began rolling in, I couldn't let Gabriel go.
But it wasn't. ready. yet. Nowhere near. Pretentious Kari took the driver's seat and demanded a writerly experiment. How far would the reader let me get away with showing the story rather than telling what was going on? After all, Gabriel didn't know what was happening and he's my POV character. If I added a bit of contradiction -- GLARING bits of contraction, I should say -- would the reader grasp that there was more going on that was immediately discernible to Gabriel? IO's a pervy story. It's hot, smexy fun. I'm not ashamed of that. I own it. Hell, I LOVE it. But I didn't know if readers would be willing to look beyond the smut to another sly story told in subtext. Or if anyone would realize the contradiction I nested inside IO were deliberate -- Easter eggs to cue the reader to think about what was really going on, under the surface of Gabriel's comprehension.
It was a risk. A bold risk. An OMG risk. I'm new. Readers might've assumed those contradictions were accidental (God forbid). Writing the sequels to Lovely Wicked and Spoils of War certainly would've been the safer bet.
Writing IO made me a stronger writer, though. That story challenged me to stretch and grow in my craft in so many ways. As the story evolved, so did I. Plunder (the Spoils of War sequel) will be a MUCH stronger book because I took the other fork in the road and wrote IO first. I'm a better writer for taking that unexpected, much riskier path and the stories I have yet to tell will be richer for it.
So...That's why.
After one mind-shattering night with a stranger at a local leather bar leaves him forever changed, Gabriel lives on the streets as a vagrant to elude the master who hunts him, but the were-shifter is a fierce, stubborn predator who reclaims him soon enough. Gabriel is carried away to the pack's home territory where his instruction on what it means to be the pet of an alpha begins. Gabriel isn't just any pet, though. He is the rarest among their kind: a human omega.
Treasured? Or cursed?
As Gabriel's father, the Distinguished Gentleman from Pennsylvania and stalwart of the conservative party, pushes the considerable resources at his disposal to locate his missing son, Gabriel explores who and what he is under his master's careful protection. Gabriel falls for the shifter who is lover and destroyer, owner and...friend?
Publisher's Note: This book contains explicit sexual content, graphic language, and situations that some readers may find objectionable: BDSM theme and elements, dubious consent, male/male sexual practices.
Find an excerpt and I, Omega here .
Who is Kari Gregg?
Kari Gregg lives in the mountains of Wild and Wonderful West Virginia with her Wonderful husband and three very Wild children. Once Kari discovered the fabulous play land of erotic romances at RWA's National Conference in 2009, the die was cast. Finally! A market for the smoking hot stories she loves!
When Kari's not writing, she enjoys reading, coffee, zombie flicks, coffee, naked mud-wrestling (not really), and . . . coffee!
If you would like to catch up with Kari, caffeinate yourself and head on over to http://www.KariGregg.com
Friend Kari on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/Kari.M.Gregg
Follow Kari on Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/karigregg
Find Kari at Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4366316.Kari_Gregg
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