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Author Archive for Terri Brisbin

A Fond Farewell

By Terri Brisbin · Comments (6)
Thursday, March 15th, 2012
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   I can’t believe it’s been almost exactly 4 years since I received THE CALL from editor Kate Duffy asking me to write 3 books for Brava. I was about to leave on a trip to the UK and had many misconceptions about what exactly made a romance novel a Brava romance and Kate was ready, willing and able to explain it all to me.

“In a regular historical romance, for example,” she said, “will they or won’t they is the major conflict between them. In a Brava historical romance, they will,” she explained, “and they will frequently and with strident enthusiasm!” I laughed and she continued. “So, if sex is a given, where is the emotional conflict? Where is the strength of the story?”

We spent time talking about how she saw my 3 stories, a mix of historical, paranormals, Scottish, Viking, sexy romances fitting into Brava. She even sent me copies of what she thought were some of the strongest historicals in the line to convince me that I could write my stories for her. LOL….Of course, I agreed because I’d always wanted to write with Kate and I have to say the experience was as good as I’d hoped.

When the first one was about to come out, Kate (and Megan) offered me the chance to be in an anthology with legendary historical author (* she footnotes her books!*) Susan Johnson and I jumped at that chance.  I had the opportunity to work with Megan because Kate had taken ill by then. By the time A STORM OF PASSION was released, Kate was gone.

 

  But, I was fortunate because Alicia came to Kensington and I had the chance to work with yet another wonderful editor (who loves to edit!) on the second and third books. Alicia was 180 degree difference in editing style but I learned so much from working with her. She guided me through A STORM OF PLEASURE and MISTRESS OF THE STORM.

The third book was completed and released in July 2011 bringing my STORM trilogy (plus connected novella) to a close.

Since I have no other Brava releases in the works, I’m saying farewell to the Brava Authors website and blog. I wanted to thank all my readers who have supported me in this new and challenging endeavor as I pushed my own boundaries and comfort levels and wrote this series of dark, steamy stories. I loved having the opportunity to blend my love of history and fascination with the Fae and be able to set it when the Vikings still ruled much of Scotland. Brava (and Kate and Alicia) gave me that chance.

So, I hope you’ll still keep in touch with me — I’m over on Facebook and still writing historical romances. Stop by my website to see what I’m doing and where I’ll be….and what I’m working on. Happy Reading to all of you and best wishes to the best authors around — the Brava Authors!

 

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What a Long Strange Trip It’s Been!

By Terri Brisbin · Comments (8)
Thursday, July 21st, 2011
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About six years ago, an idea began to swirl around in my mind. An idea for a new story or a connected trilogy of stories that combined my love of mythology and paranormal with my most favorite place on earth – Scotland. It took a couple of months, researching old Scottish folktales and looking for a good story on which to base my ideas. Finally I put together a proposal as we call it in the business (an outline/synopsis of the stories and the first few chapters) and sent them to my agent to take out and see if a publisher was interested in publishing it.

This part of the long story made shorter — four years ago, after leaving my agent behind, I met up with Kate Duffy, again, at a conference as we had many times before. I told her about this proposal and she said to send it to her (not in those bland words, but anyone who knew Kate could imagine her forthright method of telling me to send it or stop telling her about it! LOL!)

Luckily, the stories wouldn’t let me let them go. Luckily, Kate understood my vision of the idea and helped me cultivate and strengthen the idea until it percolated. Luckily, Kate asked me to write them for her…and Brava.

     

I so enjoyed being able to write these stories — they became three plus a novella and I had the chance to go back and tell the story of the one person who’d caused the whole mess! I even got the chance to visit Scotland and all the places I’d written or would write about — Orkney, Skye, Kilmartin Glen, Mull and the mainland. I walked the hills and paths that my characters walked and watched the mist build and disappear, while shadows and shapes moved with it. I climbed stone ruins, listened to Scottish music and sought out the history and the possibilities of the place and time of my stories.

I’ve been living these stories for six years.

And this month, the last book, MISTRESS OF THE STORM, came out, bringing it all to a close. Not only did it reveal the fate of the last brother, but it also brought the entire series to a close, allowing them to meet each other and to meet the woman who began it all.  I cried the whole time I wrote the last scene and I cried when I opened my brand-spanking-new author’s copy when it arrived on my doorstep.  I was thrilled at seeing this last book in print and the moment felt bittersweet at the same time.

Bottomline — I’m so thrilled I got the chance to share these emotional, compelling, steamy historical stories (with a touch of paranormal) with readers.

And now? Well, like any good storyteller, I’m percolating more stories to share with readers. A new series has begun to swirl around me and I’ve been collecting research tidbits and tying plots together and am as excited by this new work as I was those six years ago when Connor and Duncan and Gavin spoke to me for the first time. Now, new voices are there, urging me to speak about them, to tell their stories, and to give them a happy-ever-after, too.  So, just as one ends, another begins and more stories beckon to me.

I hope you’ll all stay with me and let me share them with you……

        Terri is also pleased that Kensington re-released the novella that tells of the beginning of the curse and gift that each hero of her STORM trilogy has — A STORM OF LOVE — in digital formats, too! Find it wherever you purchase digital books. And visit Terri’s website or Facebook page for lots of information about her, her upcoming events and books!

To mark the release of the last of her STORM series, Terri will give away a copy of A STORM OF LOVE in digital format and a copy of her short story, KIDNAPPING THE LAIRD, also in digital formats, to two lucky posters ! Leave a comment for a chance to win.

 

 

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Cue the Lights

By Terri Brisbin · Comments (2)
Thursday, June 16th, 2011
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Waaaay back in the before time (commonly called ‘high school’), I was usually in the school play. I took a drama class (though, being a drama queen since my childhood, I suspect I didn’t need it!) and worked on a couple of productions. Then in senior year, I went big and tried out for “1984″.  I landed the female lead character’s role and soon spent many hours memorizing lines, practicing, memorizing more, learning stage movements, interacting with other characters and memorizing some more. Then the big night arrived and I remember standing off in the wings awaiting my cue to enter and become a resistance fighter opposing Big Brother. . . and having a torrid affair with Winston Smith’s character!

Now, we didn’t really focus on the whole torrid affair in a high school version but there was a kiss. Wow, I lost more time and sleep worrying over that kiss than any other part of the play. The other actor was a really good friend, who had a girlfriend, and I had a boyfriend and it felt very complicated (remember me mentioning ‘drama queen’?? uh-huh!). We decided we weren’t really going to practice that kiss but would just ‘do it’ on opening night.  So, there I was, standing off-stage and worrying over everything else that I forgot about the kiss. The scene arrived, the kiss happened (it was quite good for a stage kiss!), he kept his girlfriend, I kept my boyfriend and the world went on.. (The pic is of one of my favorite on-screen kisses….sigh…..and from the right time period, too!)

So now, here we are some 37…er….cough…cough years later and I feel like I’m back behind the curtains waiting for my cue again. . . and worrying about another different sort of kiss now.

For the last 8 or so months, I’ve worried over my story, studying my research, searching out story ideas, developing characters and plots, refining those, re-working them, changing words, interacting with the characters as they interact with each other, and then do it again. Everything is ready now for the curtain to go up, but there’s still that kiss to worry about — oh not a real kiss or one in the story (there are MANY of them in this story), but the metaphorical one between the readers and me aka their reaction and feelings about my book. Will their reaction be gentle? Forceful? Playful? Appreciative? Once this story opens for the reading world, will it all work out?

Worse (for worrying purposes that is), this book, MISTRESS OF THE STORM, is the book that ties together the other two and the novella and ends the series. There’s a lot of pressure about doing that successfully. Especially for readers who have followed this emotional, complex series that wove history with paranormal elements and presented two characters bound by not just their physical needs for each other but also the emotional one that will mean life or death to one or both of them.

The book will be out there, before the crowds, on Tuesday, June 28th, while I am (somehow appropriately) in New York City near the theater district and Broadway. How will the opening go? How will the audience react? How will that ‘kiss’ go? I guess I’ll have to be there, be ready and be prepared. . . and hope for the best. It worked in high school, surely it will work now? LOL!

Before you go, can you share with me your favorite on-screen or on-stage kiss? Why was it so powerful for you?

 

Terri is currently working on another romance novel (historical again!) and hopes to have a chance to meet her adoring fans (oh, c’mon, there’s gotta be one or two of you!) at the Literacy Signing at the RWA conference on June 28th where she’ll be signing MISTRESS OF THE STORM on its opening day! She’s also planning some other events to mark its arrival so check out her website for all the details!

She’ll also be blogging on that day (June 28th) on Borders True Romance blog

— stop over at either place and say hello!

 

 

 

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Do You Like Connected Stories?

By Terri Brisbin · Comments (5)
Thursday, May 19th, 2011
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As the third and final book in my STORM series approaches its July release, I’m filled with both excitement and relief. The STORM series was very different for me — for a number of reasons.

First — this was my first series for Brava and so these three novels (and one novella) were different from what and how I write my stories for my Harlequin Historicals. I was quite nervous about that when Kate Duffy called me and asked me to write for her and for Brava. “Brava romances are,” Kate explained, “stories in which sex is a given. So when sex is a given, you need lots of emotional conflict to get a strong story.”  That made complete sense to me but I was still nervous! But, with her encouragement, and later my new editor Alicia’s, I stepped out of my comfort range and pushed for that strong emotional conflict. . . and lots of ‘strident, enthusiastic love scenes.’ (Kate’s words!)

Second – see #1 again. These stories went in a completely different direction for me and they took a very gritty, very historical path, allowing me a wider range of human emotions, the good ones and the bad ones, to use in them. And since these stories had strong paranormal elements, a chance to use the non-human elements, too. A fabulous opportunity and a challenge for a writer.

Third – this was a different kind of series for me. I’ve had one story turn into 2 and then 3. I’ve planned out 3 sequential stories with one overarching plotline. But this was the first time, I wrote 3 stories that happened all at the same time. And that had certain shared elements that needed to be intact in each story. So, my mythology as set out in the first story, had to be the same in all three — and that usually doesn’t work for me! I am soooooo not a plotter, but I had to learn to be one for these books.

And, the results? Well, I loved the whole series but I sobbed as I finished writing this third and final book, especially the final scene which I titled “The End”.  I think this one fulfilled Kate’s vision of the series when she acquired it and mine, too!  And now I’ll wait for readers to read it and see what they/you all think of it.

I did just get a copy of two upcoming reviews and I’m thrilled to share them with you –

RT Book Reviews says: “The last book of Brisbin’s Storm series is a sensual feast, an erotic tale of good vs. evil, magic vs. humanity, man vs. man. Readers will enjoy the well-written characters, the emotional plot and the high level of sexuality. ”

Publishers Weekly says: “Explicit love scenes and emotional turmoil lend drama en route to a powerfully moving conclusion.”

Wow, huh? I am soooo excited that these reviewers ‘got’ what I was going for in this story….!

To further entice you to read this one, I will tease with a promise of a special promotion for MISTRESS OF THE STORM that I will tell you about in my June blog – in plenty of time for you all to take advantage of a very special offer!

So, do you like connected stories/series? Which ones do you follow right now? Any authors who you think do them well? Tell me about it by Saturday, May 21 at noon, and I’ve arranged for the person chosen to receive a copy of one of my favorite recent historical romance series – Madeline Hunter’s Rarest Blooms series, signed by Madeline herself! Post away!

 

 


 

 

 

 

 

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Another Brick. . .

By Terri Brisbin · Comments (4)
Thursday, March 17th, 2011
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I just reached one of the wonderful steps that an author goes through while awaiting the publication of her book — I received some ARC (advance reading or review copies) of my July book MISTRESS OF THE STORM. Until now, I’ve seen the manuscript pages, edited manuscript pages and nothing that really resembled a’book’.

But that changed just a couple of days ago when a small number of ARCs arrived on my doorstep! Woohooo!! Now these are still ‘drafts’, not the finished, polished, corrected version that will be produced with that stunningly-gorgeous cover. Still, seeing my story look like a book is such a thrill for me.

It also means that the book’s release is just around the corner!  And that’s the truly exciting time for any author.

So, I’d like to share my joy (especially since I’m already in a celebrating mood for St. Patrick’s Day!) — I’ll send out an ARC of MISTRESS OF THE STORM to the first 3 readers/bloggers/reviewers who email me at terri @ terribrisbin.com and ask for one! If I have extras, I may be able to send out a few more later….so let me know….

And….. Slainte to all those celebrating today!

 

 

Terri is anxiously awaiting MISTRESS OF THE STORM’s release in July and hopes readers will check out her other books and short stories that are currently available! Visit her website for more info!

 

 

 

 

 

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And The Snow, It Was Falling. . .

By Terri Brisbin · Comments (3)
Thursday, December 16th, 2010
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One of the ways I always mark the beginning of the Christmas season is to go to a concert — Trans Siberian Orchestra — and enjoy their contemporary spin on classical music. And I especially enjoy the story they weave in song about the miracle of Christmas. The title of my blog today is part of a line in the song ‘Old City Bar’. During the concert, which features an AWESOME laser, lights and special FX, a blizzard of snowflakes is released above the audience and the lights make them shimmer and glitter as they float down through the air.  That moment is when Christmas begins for me.

What makes it more special, of course, is sharing that moment with family — in this case, my youngest son. We’ve been going each year for 5-6 years and even though it’s probably not fashionable for a teenage boy to go to a concert with his mom, mine continues to attend. This year we even brought two of his friends to begin the season with us.  It was a splendid event for me….and I think they enjoyed it, too.

Today though, the season becomes even more real because the weather people say we’re going to get some snow here in southern NJ! Oh, it’s not going to be like last December 19th’s storm and dump more than 15 inches on us, but even a dusting puts me into the spirit of winter and Christmas. .. and reminds me how much I still have left to do before next weekend!

So, before the excitement of the Season and the snow take over, I just wanted to take a moment and wish you all a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, too. I hope that your holidays, whichever ones you celebrate, are filled with the best things — family, health, happiness and success! I hope you find a special moment or two over the next couple of weeks to enjoy all the gifts you’ve received this year and on Christmas morning.

I’ve got some books long-left-unread piled on my table that I plan to enjoy during the quiet moments….and lots of wrapping and cooking yet to do….so I know I’ll be having a good holiday!  I hope yours is a good one, too! See you in 2011!

Terri hopes that Santa is as generous to all her readers as they’ve been to her this year and wishes everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy, Healthy New Year!! Stop by her website for up-to-date info about her newest releases and events!

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After The Storm…and Before The Next One

By Terri Brisbin · Comments (5)
Thursday, November 18th, 2010
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I’ve been ‘head-down’ finishing my next Brava romance and am only now looking at the calendar. MISTRESS OF THE STORM is an intense, emotional story that left me sobbing in the middle of the night as I wrote a man and a woman who are more than just that and are integral to each other’s very survival.

Interestingly, my usual habit of listening to Celtic music to get the creativity (and story) flowing. Instead a song I heard on a recent episode of Stargate Universe – a haunting melody and emotional words of Mumford&Sons’ AFTER THE STORM — brought me to the heart of the story again and again. I think it’s just a coincidence that the name of it is linked to the name of my STORM trilogy, but who knows how things work in the creative cosmos, right?

When I went on my deadline binge of writing, it was in the middle of the political season and every tv commercial was for this candidate or that one. When I traveled to South Carolina, I couldn’t decide if it was worse having to put up with all those for people I didn’t know, or if being home and seeing them for candidates I did know was worse. So, I went on my writing binge, didn’t even know who’d been elected or not, and when I finished my book and raised my head to look around. . . .

IT’S CHRISTMAS!

Well, not exactly and not quite yet, but by what I’m seeing on tv now, the season is upon us! Every other ad is for this store or that one, the Black Friday sales next week (my new favorite one – the Target one where the woman gets in shape for Black Friday is hysterical!) and for all the newest and shiniest holiday gifts. And it won’t get better until December 27th (the day after the ‘day after Christmas’ sales finish).  Then we can all breathe a sigh of relief…

But for now, after one storm and before the next, I wanted to take a moment and celebrate the holiday that gets lost in the shuffle, between political campaign and the Christmas holiday — Thanksgiving.  So, before time and activity swirl around me dragging me into the storm, let me mention a couple of things that I am thankful for this year:

1.  My writing colleagues–I belong to a number of author loops and groups and chapters and have such respect and admiration for the talent of the wonderful writers I know. They are an inspiration to me every day in so many ways.

2. My editors and agent — I appreciate working with professionals whose main intention is to make me look good and make my words better and stronger.

3. My readers–and not just for the obvious reasons (but thanks for buying and reading my stories, too!) — for contacting me and for following me and befriending me (on FB) and for emailing me those lovely questions and comments about my work. . . like the one that arrived in the dark of the night when I thought I had lost the story I was working on.  It made me smile and made me remember why I like these stories and gave me the push to find the story again.

4. My characters — who come to me and trust me with their lives, their loves and their stories — because that’s the way things work for me…..

How about you? It’s the classic Thanksgiving time question — what are you thankful for this year? Share yours with me and I’ll pick two and send out some books….and a giftie….

Terri is reading the pile (huge!) of romances she’s been storing until she finished the ^%*$%@# book…and now she has! So, in between thawing and cooking the biggest turkey she can find and cooking it, she’ll be reading. . . and  reading and reading. But she secretly cannot wait for Christmas…. She’ll be participating in several Christmas/Holiday online events so visit her website in December for more info!

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Writing with the Stars – Finalist Maria Zannini is UNSTOPPABLE!

By Terri Brisbin · Comments (23)
Thursday, October 21st, 2010
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I had a wonderful time working with Maria Zannini on her finaling entry – MISTRESS OF THE STONE. She had a sexy, paranormal historical story and she worked hard to take my suggestions about how to improve and strengthen the various challenges for each round. Read on and get to know her better. . . and I hope you’ll support her by voting for her entry MISTRESS OF THE STONE

UNSTOPPABLE

When I started Mistress Of The Stone I had been in a slump. I was recovering from four very painful eye surgeries that had left me blind or near blind for weeks at a time.

Miserable didn’t begin to describe how I felt. What made it worse is that I wasn’t used to being so vulnerable and dependent on others.

Samhain Publishing had just published Touch Of Fire, and True Believers (released last week from Carina Press) was in editing. I had my hands full with things to do, but no way to do them.

I was helpless in the beginning. All I could do was listen to my husband as he read emails to me from my editor. He acted as my secretary and answered my correspondence.

Even though I knew I should have been resting my eyes, whenever he left me alone, I found my way to the keyboard. I couldn’t edit, but I could still write. I was too antsy to wait for my eyes to heal completely.

I was unstoppable.

My husband prefers the term, pigheaded. (And he’s probably right.)

Every morning I put on my darkest sunglasses and sat in front of my keyboard. There was no point in looking at the screen. It was too bright for me and even giant letters looked like a child’s scribbling. So I opened a blank page in Word then shut off the screen. Like a blind pianist, I found my home keys and started typing.

Being trapped in my dark world, I was hungry for adventure. Something out of the ordinary. Something fresh and a little wicked.

In that moment, Luísa Tavares was born. She was young and wild. But she was also loyal to her family and to her pirate crew. She understood what it meant to lose the people she loved and she wasn’t going to let it happen again, not to Papa. Luísa would do anything to save her father from the gallows. Anything.

Like me, Luísa was unstoppable—and maybe a little pigheaded as well.

I am thrilled to have finaled in Kensington Brava’s Writing With The Stars. You can read the ‘call story’ here in all its embarrassing detail.

Mistress Of The Stone was a story borne of plain ornery pigheadedness, from a writer unwilling to let something as trivial as blindness stop her from writing.

What sort of things make you unstoppable? What won’t you ever give up?

Bio: Maria Zannini is a finalist in the Writing With The Stars contest. Her entry is called MISTRESS OF THE STONE, a 16th century pirate story with ghosts, ghouls and shifters. Read the excerpts and vote for the MISTRESS.

Follow Maria on her blog, Facebook and Twitter where she talks about her three loves, homesteading, writing, and dogs.

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I’d Rather Pick Out Stationery. . .

By Terri Brisbin · Comments (10)
Thursday, September 16th, 2010
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As some of you who have read my blogs here and about already know, I don’t have the pet gene. Well, it’s sad to admit it, but I am also missing another gene — the one that makes girls excited to pick out clothes and hair-do-das and colors.

Growing up, I would sleep until the very last minute, jumping out of bed, grabbing a clean shirt/top and pair of jeans (they were de rigueur in the 70s, you know!) and rushing off to high school. I would pass by my younger sister who’d been up for at least 2 hours showering, choosing her clothes with care, mixing and matching clothes and hair gee-gaws and then blowing her hair dry and styling it to within an inch of its life.  We’d arrive at school at about the same time.

When it came time to pick out my wedding gown, I wanted a plain, white, medieval-cut dress. The dressmaker, a friend of my mom, begged me to let her add some pearls to the bodice because she couldn’t stand it to be sooooo plain. Again, being the 70s, I wanted my hair hanging straight down but had to compromise and wear a veil…. it was a plain white veil (evil grin).

I would rather walk the aisles at Staples or Office Depot and choose between an array of ballpoint vs gel pens then decide which dress fits/looks better or which color belt I should wear. So, it was with great trepidation that the designer of my book trailer asked my input with the really bad words – “How do you think it looks?”

Oh noooooooooooooooooooo! Don’t ask me that question!!

I’d rather debate the origins of the universe than answer that.

So, as the woman who went down the hallway in the RWA hotel at WDW to find someone to tell her how her new fancy-dress-party dress looked, I did what I had to do — I asked other women! But unlike the strangers I approached at the conference, this time I asked my friends.

The process was not painless (kind of like when I buy new clothes and have to wear them out) but I simply love the results. It captures the feeling of the story (dark and stormy), the location (the cliff on the northern coast of Scotland), the sexual tension and the characters, too! Did I tell you I love it?

So, here it is for you –

What do you think of it? Do you like book trailers? Do they make you look for the book? Post a comment today and tomorrow and I’ll pick one person to win an advanced copy of the book — which will be released on September 28th.

Terri is thrilled to see the release of A STORM OF PLEASURE coming up so soon. Visit her website to learn more about her books, book events and signings and other very important and interesting stuff…LOL! www.terribrisbin.com will get you there!

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Terri Brisbin Shares The Truth about Brava…..

By Terri Brisbin · Comments (3)
Thursday, August 19th, 2010
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I’m not really sharing anything new with you. If you’re a reader of Brava romances you already know this even if you don’t realize it…but for others who haven’t tried us out, I thought I’d share the truth about what separates Brava romances from the rest….

Nope — it’s not the sex.  To be honest, that was my first answer when I was asked to write a trilogy of historical romances for the Brava imprint by (the late and great) Kate Duffy. When she called me to talk about my trilogy, I explained that I didn’t think I could write erotic romance.

Well, if you knew Kate, you know it didn’t take her long to disabuse me of my mistaken perception and explain the REAL difference between Brava and other (historicals, in my case) romances.  And it’s helped me craft stronger stories….because….as Kate asked,

“If sex is a given, what else is going to make the story emotionally compelling and strong? If the questions of ‘will they’ or ‘won’t they’ or ‘when will they’ are taken away, what will hold the story and the conflict together?”

That gave me lots to think about — and Kate was right (I know, I know!) — once the conflict doesn’t hinge on whether or not the hero and heroine will make love, all bets are off! The challenge is to create characters with incredibly strong conflicts – lots of really good reasons why they can’t be together, of why they should not and could not fall in love. Well, when I need to work on getting a really strong conflict as the heart of my stories I refer back to notes from two writing workshops I’ve taken to help me crystalize mine…one by Madeline Hunter and another by Delia Parr. Conflict is easy, these two wonderful, talented writers say, if you just do this…

Madeline says to give the heroine a goal, an unmutable goal, and then make the hero’s goal to not allow the heroine to accomplish hers. In other words – the heroine needs to do or get something and the hero must (MUST) stop her from doing or getting it. And neither the heroine’s need or the hero’s can be flimsy or easily-resolvable. Hmmmm….interesting idea of how to create conflict.

Delia suggested giving the hero the worst possible woman as the heroine. –someone completely the opposite of what he wants (or thinks he does!). I used this in an earlier book when I gave the handsome, tempting, womanizing hero who loved women and sex a heroine who was (disguised as) a nun! Just think of the possibilities?!

So as I was planning out my STORM trilogy for Brava, I decided to use a bit of both of those strategies — my heroes have been gifted and cursed by the Sith/Fae and the only person who can lift the curse and control the gift is a woman who is his enemy or whom he has betrayed! Oh, baby, baby, just think of the conflict!  The heroes’ very lives depend on their forging a relationship with people who would rather see them dead…or worse.

In A STORM OF PASSION, the heroine is hunting down the hero who she believes to be responsible for the massacre of her entire family…and he was!

In A STORM OF PLEASURE (being released next month) the heroine needs the hero to use his ability to hear the truth to save her brother from execution…and his words instead condemn him.

And, in MISTRESS OF THE STORM (coming in July 2011), the heroine needs to convince the hero to cooperate in order to save her younger sister…and he ends up betrothed to the younger sister.

None of those stories take or will take the easy way out — these are men and women who should not be together, who are enemies in many respects, people who can barely believe or trust the other and yet they do fall in love and they do get their happily-ever-after…because this is romance after all. But there are times in each of these stories when readers will have a moment or two of fear that maybe, maybe they won’t or can’t be together?

Well then, Bravas are about conflict and emotion and tension and great stories and characters. . . But don’t forget about the other part of Kate’s description — ‘if sex is a given’. So, yes, there is a heightened level of both physical and sexual tension in Brava romances! There will be love scenes, they may be often and they may be ‘strident’ as Kate told me, but they will be critical to both enhancing the story and deepening the conflict… Oh, yes, these books are sexy!

So, dear readers, if you’re looking for stories with great characters, strong conflicts and sexy scenes, Brava romances are right for you! I hope you’ll give us a try…and in a bit of shameless self-promotion, I will even suggest mine to you – A STORM OF PLEASURE hits the shelves and online in just about a month!

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