Sourcebooks Casablanca Romance Authors

I wrote this blog two years ago, but it's so relevant to what I'm doing now that I wanted to share it again. It has to do with research, and since I'm currently researching the heck out of my current characters for my next Sourcebooks series, I wanted to share the laugh. (And for the record, there is A LOT to know about the worlds of automechanics and nurses.) Note: I wrote this post while doing research for How to Handle a Heartbreaker. I thought I’d talk about research today. I write steamy romance, and one of the most common questions I get from people is how I do my research. My usual instinct is to answer with something sarcastic, like, “Why, I just had a foursome the other day. I can honestly admit   that you can fit many things in places you never thought you could.” Or, “Why yes. I did just enjoy sex with a werewolf in the backseat of my Benz while a vampire watched.” I mean, really. I’ve had sex. Yes. There. I admit it. I’ve also read a lot and seen se...

Surprise! Surprise usually evokes one of two emotions: fear or pleasure. If the setting is threatening—a dark alley, a creepy house, my daughter's bedroom—then we feel fear. If the setting is welcoming—a birthday party, a sunny room, a chocolate shop—then we feel pleasure. Surprise is also the key to humor writing. In other words, humor is created by confounding expectations. I saw a great example of this the other day on Sinfully Sexy Book Reviews' Facebook page :   Why is that so funny? Because we expect seduction and instead we get naughty cross-dressing! Of course, there is a catch. To write humor, you have to have a sense of humor. You need to see the humor in any situation, delve deep into life's most embarrassing or cringe-worthy moments and take them out of context. Suddenly events that may not have seemed funny at the time can make you laugh. And when incorporated into a story, they can make readers laugh, too. Although my sexy MMA fighter romance, Aga...

Me at a booksigning, laughing, getting rowdy. Observe the man in the background, trying desperately to keep his mind on what he's doing despite the commotion. by Mary Margret Daughtridge I had another blog on the subject of humor all written, but this was too good a story not to share. I don't have a group shot of us but picture a group of women, all shall we say post-mature, but only one whose hair has been allowed to gray. Pictured are the publisher of a monthly wellness newspaper, a physician, the owner of a car dealership, a neurofeedback therapist, and me, a novelist. One time I arrived late at the upscale restaurant where I was meeting them for dinner. “You made it! Did you have any trouble finding us?” they wanted to know as they scooted over to make room for me at the table in the large dining room. “Not a bit." I shook open my napkin. "When I got here, I realized I didn’t know what name the reservation was in, and I couldn’t think of how to describe ...

Q. Your book, My Own Personal Soap Opera , has been out for several weeks now. How has it been going? A. Very well. I’ve been having lots of fun on my eco-friendly virtual book tour, and I’ve been receiving many positive comments from readers. Both of them. No, seriously, it’s been great, and I truly have been enjoying myself. Q. Well, since you’re visiting this blog today, why don’t you tell us a little about yourself? A. Thank you for asking. Not many people know my true personal story, so I'm happy to share it here today. It has great relevance to my journey as a writer. I was born in a small village in the Hungarian Alps, orphaned at the age of five months and raised by vampiric werewolves. This is one of the reasons, by the way, that I cannot bring myself to write stories involving vampires or werewolves, no matter how much money is to be made in that field. I know, I know—authors are ra king in dozens of dollars writing those tales. But for me, it ...

Two guys walked into a bar , no wait, it’s a priest and a rabbi entered a bar , um, no that’s a cop and a monkey are in a car and the monkey says, um… OK, I can’t remember jokes for the life of me. Five minutes after the punch line I would be hard pressed to retell the joke to someone else, and if I did remember how it went I would not be able to deliver it right. Guess I am just not a funny gal. Sarcastic, yes, and witty at times, but not funny. Some people are born with the gift. My sister’s second husband could have made millions as a stand up comedian. He was, hand’s down, the funniest person I have ever known. Watching a B-movie with him was a hysterical experience! He had the gift. His son, my nephew, inherited that gift and is almost as funny as his dad. One thing I learned hanging around with the jokesters of our family is not only will you have a great time, but everyone becomes funny! It is like the funny-aura oozes out and infects those surrounding until we are all bursting...

by Libby Malin www.LibbysBooks.com So, did you see that episode of The Office where Dwight gets a knock on the head and ends up with a concussion, and on the way to the hospital, Jim keeps spraying him with a plant spritzer bottle to keep him awake? Man, was it ever hysterical! But chances are you're not laughing. It's awfully hard to describe humorous scenes in a way to make the reader laugh or even smile. Writing comedy is tough work, I tell ya, tough work. Not for the faint of heart. But I love it. I love it so much that I can't stop doing it. My Own Personal Soap Opera , my latest entry into the humorous women's fiction genre, releases today. Publishers Weekly says it's "heavy on humor . . . Malin coaxes plenty of laughs." Booklist says it's a "world of wit and chaos . . . smart and insightfully written." And I didn't even pay those folks to write those things. Well, not much anyway. No, really, I didn't. Many people I know (wel...