Two nations divided by a common language?
Well the summer’s been and gone and the year is very rapidly hurtling towards its close, and as usual I haven’t done half the things I intended to do, but on the bright side that means that I have done half the things I intended to do!
I did publish a ‘new’ book earlier this month, finally bringing ‘Champagne Promises and Christmas Lies’ together with ‘A New Year’s Tryst’ to form the one volume that it was always intended to be, so ‘Champagne Promises, Christmas Lies & A New Year’s Tryst’ is now available and free for Kindle Unlimited subscribers:
www.amazon.com/dp/B015JLMLVA
www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B015JLMLVA
Also, since the publication of the final part of Ellie’s Journal at the end of April, and then a certain amount of editing to bring all four volumes together into one super-sized edition of 900+ pages in ‘Fifty-two Weeks of Submission’, which was released in June, I have been working on a new novel, ‘Dominant Encounters’, which I now hope to have ready by January 2016… but it’s been a long time in the writing… in fact a bit of a stop/start affair, which began with rough notes and scribblings back in January, only to be shelved in favour of other projects until May when I began writing, editing, re-writing, proof-reading, re-editing etc., which is something I do continually throughout the writing process, so that hopefully by the time it is completed and ready for publishing, it is in a fit state to be read.
I am now over half-way through and with a little more free time in October/November, hoping to pick up the pace. If it’s going to be ready by January, I need to pick up the pace!
About a month ago I happened to glance down at the word count, which is something I do from time to time, not that frequently, and it stood at 66,666 – exactly! This struck me as being somewhat strange, that I’d happened to check at precisely that moment, not a word sooner, or a word later, so being a naturally optimistic person (as well as superstitious), I decided I should at least buy a lottery ticket. I chose the numbers 6;16;26;36;46 and 30 (being 5x6) and guess what – I didn’t win a thing!
So, I need to keep on writing! The current word count is just shy of 80,000… which is rather slow progress over about five months, when I’ll probably be writing as much again over the next two/three, but it is now at the stage where I know where it’s going, and I know the characters…
I had originally thought of setting ‘Dominant Encounters’ in the U.S. and writing it in American English, in honour of the fact that a larger proportion of my readers are from that part of the world… but as I thought of all the things that I’d be likely to get wrong, I decided that to attempt such a venture would risk producing something that would be littered with mistakes on both sides of the Atlantic, as I considered that it’s not only spellings that differ, but also certain grammatical constructs, not to mention colloquialisms and ‘slang’.
I had a comment from an American reader some time ago, who had enjoyed my books but would have liked a glossary to explain the ‘very British slang’. I thought about adding such a glossary, but to be perfectly honest, I’m not always sure whether terms I use are American or British in the first place, because I am so used to watching U.S. TV and films, that I have simply absorbed much of that language as my own, whereas readers in the U.S. are less likely to be as familiar with British vernacular, and would quickly notice a glaringly British turn of phrase from supposedly American characters.
So, I’ll have to stick with what I know, and keep writing my ‘very British’ books, with British settings and British English, and hope that U.S. readers will forgive me… and maybe even like them, despite all the spelling and grammar anomalies – they are really not errors… simply British.
Anyway, here’s what ‘Dominant Encounters’ is about:
Clara has had submissive fantasies all her adult life, but has never found anyone to make them come true.
Now, as she approaches her thirtieth birthday, with everything else in her life going well, apart from relationships, she decides to take control of her destiny and seek out the experiences she craves to finally satisfy her curiosity.
Turning to the Internet in the hope of arranging an anonymous liaison, for a few brief hours, with an alpha-male who might help her explore her secret yearning, she does not anticipate becoming involved with the tall, handsome, and uncompromising man who responds to her profile.
Daniel is an experienced Dominant, with his own reasons for avoiding emotional attachments.
He engages with Clara on-line, and arranges to meet her, only in order to warn her of the danger she may be putting herself in, but finds himself drawn to the naïve young woman whose strange mix of beauty, sass, feminine vulnerability, and dogged determination, appeals to all his masculine senses, so that he finds himself unusually affected by her, and keen that she should accept his offer of training, and sign the contract that will make her his for six months.
When Clara finally agrees, Daniel takes her on a journey that goes beyond any fantasy she’d ever imagined, commanding her submission, and leading her to discover the darkest depths of her sexual desires… but as spectres from the past come back to haunt them, will their arrangement survive, and what will the reality be when the period of the contract expires?
“So, Clara, what were you thinking about?”
He had moved round to stand in front of her, putting a sheaf of papers down on the large glass coffee table.
She shook her head as if to wake from a dream.
“Uh… I don’t know… nothing really.”
“Clara!” His voice held a warning. “I expect my questions to be answered… and I also expect your honesty, remember. I might not warn you next time. I might just give you a different sort of reminder if you forget again.
“Sorry…” She nearly said ‘Sir’, such was the effect he was having on her, and a thrill shimmied through her and came to rest in her groin at the thought of having to call him ‘Sir’, of him taking charge of her… and her earlier thoughts didn’t matter now.
“It was nothing important.”
“I’d like to be the judge of that. Are you having doubts Clara?”
He was sitting on the sofa opposite, his eyes fixed on her once more, his gaze intense as if he could see into her soul.
“I was… I’m not sure if I want to be a submissive… in a relationship… it was only going to be… just… it was only meant to be tonight… but…”
“I want you to explore the possibilities, Clara. I want you to find what you are looking for from the experience. I need to know you for that. That is not possible in just one night. I very much hope that you will stay and that you will allow me the honour of exploring those things with you, but you are free to walk away at any time. Do you want to walk away, Clara?”
“No… no… I don’t think so. Is that the contract?” She nodded towards the papers on the table.
“Yes, that is the contract,” he smiled, with a look of genuine pleasure at her response.
And so it began…
… but where will it end?
As none of us will know unless I get on with it… I better get back to the writing… and simply exhort you all to ‘have a nice day’.
J.R. James
I did publish a ‘new’ book earlier this month, finally bringing ‘Champagne Promises and Christmas Lies’ together with ‘A New Year’s Tryst’ to form the one volume that it was always intended to be, so ‘Champagne Promises, Christmas Lies & A New Year’s Tryst’ is now available and free for Kindle Unlimited subscribers:
www.amazon.com/dp/B015JLMLVA
www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B015JLMLVA
Also, since the publication of the final part of Ellie’s Journal at the end of April, and then a certain amount of editing to bring all four volumes together into one super-sized edition of 900+ pages in ‘Fifty-two Weeks of Submission’, which was released in June, I have been working on a new novel, ‘Dominant Encounters’, which I now hope to have ready by January 2016… but it’s been a long time in the writing… in fact a bit of a stop/start affair, which began with rough notes and scribblings back in January, only to be shelved in favour of other projects until May when I began writing, editing, re-writing, proof-reading, re-editing etc., which is something I do continually throughout the writing process, so that hopefully by the time it is completed and ready for publishing, it is in a fit state to be read.
I am now over half-way through and with a little more free time in October/November, hoping to pick up the pace. If it’s going to be ready by January, I need to pick up the pace!
About a month ago I happened to glance down at the word count, which is something I do from time to time, not that frequently, and it stood at 66,666 – exactly! This struck me as being somewhat strange, that I’d happened to check at precisely that moment, not a word sooner, or a word later, so being a naturally optimistic person (as well as superstitious), I decided I should at least buy a lottery ticket. I chose the numbers 6;16;26;36;46 and 30 (being 5x6) and guess what – I didn’t win a thing!
So, I need to keep on writing! The current word count is just shy of 80,000… which is rather slow progress over about five months, when I’ll probably be writing as much again over the next two/three, but it is now at the stage where I know where it’s going, and I know the characters…
I had originally thought of setting ‘Dominant Encounters’ in the U.S. and writing it in American English, in honour of the fact that a larger proportion of my readers are from that part of the world… but as I thought of all the things that I’d be likely to get wrong, I decided that to attempt such a venture would risk producing something that would be littered with mistakes on both sides of the Atlantic, as I considered that it’s not only spellings that differ, but also certain grammatical constructs, not to mention colloquialisms and ‘slang’.
I had a comment from an American reader some time ago, who had enjoyed my books but would have liked a glossary to explain the ‘very British slang’. I thought about adding such a glossary, but to be perfectly honest, I’m not always sure whether terms I use are American or British in the first place, because I am so used to watching U.S. TV and films, that I have simply absorbed much of that language as my own, whereas readers in the U.S. are less likely to be as familiar with British vernacular, and would quickly notice a glaringly British turn of phrase from supposedly American characters.
So, I’ll have to stick with what I know, and keep writing my ‘very British’ books, with British settings and British English, and hope that U.S. readers will forgive me… and maybe even like them, despite all the spelling and grammar anomalies – they are really not errors… simply British.
Anyway, here’s what ‘Dominant Encounters’ is about:
Clara has had submissive fantasies all her adult life, but has never found anyone to make them come true.
Now, as she approaches her thirtieth birthday, with everything else in her life going well, apart from relationships, she decides to take control of her destiny and seek out the experiences she craves to finally satisfy her curiosity.
Turning to the Internet in the hope of arranging an anonymous liaison, for a few brief hours, with an alpha-male who might help her explore her secret yearning, she does not anticipate becoming involved with the tall, handsome, and uncompromising man who responds to her profile.
Daniel is an experienced Dominant, with his own reasons for avoiding emotional attachments.
He engages with Clara on-line, and arranges to meet her, only in order to warn her of the danger she may be putting herself in, but finds himself drawn to the naïve young woman whose strange mix of beauty, sass, feminine vulnerability, and dogged determination, appeals to all his masculine senses, so that he finds himself unusually affected by her, and keen that she should accept his offer of training, and sign the contract that will make her his for six months.
When Clara finally agrees, Daniel takes her on a journey that goes beyond any fantasy she’d ever imagined, commanding her submission, and leading her to discover the darkest depths of her sexual desires… but as spectres from the past come back to haunt them, will their arrangement survive, and what will the reality be when the period of the contract expires?
“So, Clara, what were you thinking about?”
He had moved round to stand in front of her, putting a sheaf of papers down on the large glass coffee table.
She shook her head as if to wake from a dream.
“Uh… I don’t know… nothing really.”
“Clara!” His voice held a warning. “I expect my questions to be answered… and I also expect your honesty, remember. I might not warn you next time. I might just give you a different sort of reminder if you forget again.
“Sorry…” She nearly said ‘Sir’, such was the effect he was having on her, and a thrill shimmied through her and came to rest in her groin at the thought of having to call him ‘Sir’, of him taking charge of her… and her earlier thoughts didn’t matter now.
“It was nothing important.”
“I’d like to be the judge of that. Are you having doubts Clara?”
He was sitting on the sofa opposite, his eyes fixed on her once more, his gaze intense as if he could see into her soul.
“I was… I’m not sure if I want to be a submissive… in a relationship… it was only going to be… just… it was only meant to be tonight… but…”
“I want you to explore the possibilities, Clara. I want you to find what you are looking for from the experience. I need to know you for that. That is not possible in just one night. I very much hope that you will stay and that you will allow me the honour of exploring those things with you, but you are free to walk away at any time. Do you want to walk away, Clara?”
“No… no… I don’t think so. Is that the contract?” She nodded towards the papers on the table.
“Yes, that is the contract,” he smiled, with a look of genuine pleasure at her response.
And so it began…
… but where will it end?
As none of us will know unless I get on with it… I better get back to the writing… and simply exhort you all to ‘have a nice day’.
J.R. James
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