Tag Archives: writing inspiration

A Naked Guy in Zurich

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Hi everyone! I’m over at the Naughty Literati blog today talking about the inspiration for my Naughty Escapes story. The post is copied below. Enjoy!

In my story “Window Display” in Naughty Escapes, the heroine, Laurie, an American Ph.D. student, trots off to Zurich to finish up her dissertation. Instead of the hoped-for peace and quiet, she finds distraction in a totally hot neighbor who doesn’t bother closing the curtains when he’s naked at home.

Many of my Naughty Literati co-authors chose rather exotic locations for their Naughty Vacation Getaway stories. Zurich is generally not considered an “exotic” or even “sexy” location in which to set a romance! Exotic or not, sexy or not, the story is based on a real-life event. Not my life, though. Inspiration came from an unlikely place. Continue reading →

Vikings in Byzantium

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Hi everyone! I’m over at the blog for Conquests: An Anthology of Smoldering Viking Romance today talking about my story in that anthology. I’ve posted it below, as well.
[UPDATE: “Protecting Her” has been re-issued in Imperial Warriors: Two Scorching Tales of the Roman Empire and Ancient Shorts: An Ancient World Romance Collection.]

Let’s just get this out of the way, but the History Channel’s production of Vikings has given a sexy cachet to the fiercest warriors of the Middle Ages. When Delilah put out a call for stories in a Viking erotic romance anthology, my heart just went pitter-pat with excitement.

And then the excitement sort of dissipated.

My knowledge of Vikings is limited given their era is out of my purview. My field of study is Late Roman into the early Byzantine (roughly 200-600 CE), and the Viking Age starts around 790 CE. I worried I would not have sufficient knowledge to pull off a believable story.

Except that Delilah mentioned in her call for submissions the “Rus who served in the Byzantine Varangian Guard”.

I could totally do that. Continue reading →

Steampunk Inspiration (Part 2): Burning Man

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In Steampunk Inspiration (Part 1), I discussed my family ties to a unique object of inspiration for my very first Steampunk story. I also hinted at the source of inspiration for my second Steampunk story.

For “Delia’s Heartthrob”, my entry in Naughty Hearts the Valentine’s Day release from the Naughty Literati, there was a specific source of inspiration. But before I get into that there’s a bit of very personal backstory. Continue reading →

Inspiration: On the Eighteenth of January…

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Recently, I’ve been writing blog posts on what has inspired me to write what I write, you know, those little things that spark ideas that turn into stories. Today is January 18th, and I’ve actually written a story called “On the Eighteenth of January, ’78; or, A Night at Valley Forge”, published in Naughty List, the winter anthology from the Naughty Literati.

So what inspired a story that takes place on such a specific date? Continue reading →

Steampunk Inspiration (Part 1): A Naughty Device

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Steampunk? A historian writing Steampunk?

I’m used to writing about characters and situations and places that actually existed or could have possibly existed (I mean, c’mon, it is fiction). I’m definitely not used to writing stories that take place in some futuristic pseudo-past where women wear corsets — leather corsets! — on top of their clothes. Besides I know absolutely nothing about science or mechanics (except when I was young and owned a VW Bug).

What’s the old adage? “Write what you know”? When you get right down to it, what on Earth does a librarian-art historian really know about erotica, much less Steampunk erotica? Continue reading →

NaNoWriMo 2014: Winner!

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Whew. Okay, so I “won” NaNoWriMo 2014, my ninth win. This year’s book was the Victorian erotica novel, The Westerman Affair. Continue reading →

Character-Driven Sex Redux, or, “What do you want, Brick?”

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I was talking to an artist friend at a party recently, and he mentioned listening to some author interviews where they described how they create their characters. He was astounded that some authors create very detailed backstories and personality inventories for their characters, including information that never makes it into the final novel. He asked if I did the same.

I confess I do not. Continue reading →

Character-Driven Sex

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Whew! I just finished Book 2 of my Harwell Heirs series on Friday December 13th and sent it to my editor at Ellora’s Cave. While I was editing and polishing that manuscript (working title: Lord Petersham’s Contract), I wrote 50,000 words of Book 3 in the series (working title: Miss Danby’s Condition) for November’s National Novel Writing Month. This intensive period of writing solidified a belief I’ve had about writing erotica from day one: sex is driven by the characters and not by the author. Continue reading →

NaNoWriMo: Pep Talk

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I confess I am fanatical about National Novel Writing Month. The crazy idea thought up by Chris Baty way back in 1999 literally changed my life in 2006. The year before I had undergone a couple of life-altering events, so perhaps I was simply open to new experiences. I don’t know. Whatever psychological process was at play, I ended up catching the writing bug and have been an advocate for the November challenge ever since.

My friends are by now, after eight years, used to my prodding and encouraging them — my pep talks, as it were — to do NaNoWriMo, and I’ve been successful in getting several to attempt—and win!—the challenge. Everyone I’ve encouraged has been gracious or curious or thrilled.

Except one person. Continue reading →