Sourcebooks Casablanca Romance Authors

As an author, you have to try to give your characters different "voices." If they're distinctive enough, you don't even have to use a dialog tag to know who's speaking. Well, I'm Northern through and through--born and raised in New England--but the funny expressions I heard from my midwestern mother added color to our conversations. At the moment, I'm working on the 3rd book in the Strange Neighbors series. Gwyneth is a young southern woman who moved to Boston to help out her cousin. I thought writing her character would be a lot of fun, but didn't know if I could do it. Turns out it's as easy as sliding off a greasy log backward! Now keep in mind this is book #3 and I still don't know exactly where she's from. Could be the moutains of Carolina or West Virginie. Don't make no nevermind to me. She's a great secondary character that I know y'all will love. I gathered some of her saying from lists on the Internet. I asked friends w...

by Amanda Forester The profession of book-writing makes horse racing seem like a solid, stable business. --John Steinbeck I used to look forward to Sundays because the newspaper would publish the comics in color. Remember the olden days when they had newspapers? In honor of the Sunday funnies I’ve attached some clips and quotes about the editing process from a more lighthearted perspective. After all, if you do not keep your sense of humor in this business you will soon decide your father was right all along and drop writing to pursue that career in underwater welding. Yeah Dad, I know, unlike writers they’re always in demand. I know some very great writers, writers you love who write beautifully and have made a great deal of money, and not one of them sits down routinely feeling wildly enthusiastic and confident. Not one of them writes elegant first drafts. All right, one of them does, but we do not like her very much. –Anne Lamott Writing is an odd business. Everyone seems to have ...

Today I bought some nail polish. This afternoon, I tried it out, along with the cuticle remover I had decided was essential to the manicuring process. Then, having removed my cuticle, I polished my nails, ate a little dinner, and went out and gassed up the lawn tractor and mowed the lawn. Doesn't sound very funny when I tell it that way, does it? Or does it? Some people would see the humor and at least be smiling. Others would simply read it and wonder why I felt the need to document these events. Humor is all about context and point of view. If you can relate to a situation, it makes it more humorous. A man, having never used nail polish in his life, would think the above scenario was perfectly reasonable. Those women who are obsessed with the condition of their fingernails would be appalled, rather than amused. My best friends, however, would be rolling on the floor."You NEVER polish your nails!" they would say. "Whatever possessed you?" and "Only you wou...

... Really? Last weekend, I was visiting family, and a neighbor knew I write humorous romance, so she decided to "help me" with a real-life plot. A male high school basketball coach - married - is having an affair with the married cheerleading coach (female) AND the married field hockey coach (female). All three are going through divorces (shocker), and the women each think he's going to move in with them. The situation is rife with public fighting, back-stabbing, name-calling - apparently, there is no honor among cheaters. Go figure. There are other circumstances and other events in this story, but as I stood there listening to her, I thought, "She thinks this is funny?" And she did. She thought this was a great set-up for a romantic comedy. Okaaaaaaaay... ? A writer friend of mine who also writes humorous romance said to me that her editor wanted her to "funny things up" at certain points in her story for revision. "It's really hard to be fu...

I love a book that can make me laugh—and I mean laugh out loud, in the middle of the library or on the train or at Starbucks surrounded by strangers! And there are so many amazing books that do this, but there are some that I wish I had though of myself—that I literally ENVY the author for coming up with something so clever and witty, that I wish I was that awesome. A few of my favorites and the scenes that left me chuckling: Bridget Jones’ Diary by Helen Felding: this is also one of my favorite “chick lit” novels of all time, and how clever of her to update our beloved P&P! But the scene that I read time and time again is when Bridget decides she’s going to wear Granny Panties out one evening and eventually ends up in bed with the dashing Daniel Cleaver… I distinctly remember spitting out coffee once in a bookstore, well after I had first read the book. And who can forget the movie? Love It! Tikki Tikki Tembo by Arlene Mosel, illustrated by Blair Lent : I love this book because I...

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...

I love a man with a sense of humor. If he can't take a joke, he'll never be able to win the heroine over. :) And even with suspense, a touch of humor helps to break up the tension. I don't write slapstick humor, but as one of my critique partners said my humor would sneak up behind her when she was least expecting it. It's not forced, it just happens. :) In these excerpts from three of my werewolf tales, I've shown what I hope shows a hint of humor. Sometimes without seeing more of the story, it might not be that humorous. And what some find humorous, others might not. Humor is really subjective. :) Excerpt from To Tempt the Wolf : “So who’s this guy really who was fixing your window?” Rourke asked. Hunter stalked back inside, catching Rourke’s question. “Tessa’s lover,” he said, with a smirk and the look of the devil sparkling in his eyes, his cheeks slightly red from the chill. She could have socked him. Rourke’s jaw couldn’t have dropped any lower. *** Excerpt fr...

For more than a year we have been waiting for this day, for the release date o f A Certain Wolfish Charm . Our Lydia Dare debut was supposed to hit shelves tomorrow - Tuesday April 6th. So imagine our surprise to find it actually gracing the “New Release” space in all of our local book stores last Friday night after work. How do we know it was in all of the stores, you ask? Well, because after the first sighting, we went on an Easter egg hunt of sorts, or an A Certain Wolfish Charm hunt if you’d rather be more accurate. Between the two of us, who don’t live close to each other, we were able to cover quite a bit of ground in the Raleigh, North Carolina area. To say we were elated would be an understatement. Getting your author copies of the book is satisfying. Signing early release copies friends have pre-ordered from Amazon is exciting. But seeing your book on the shelf in an actual store is nothing short of exhilarating. Within no time, we’d contacted everyone we’ve ever known. Wel...

Happy Easter! This month our focus is on humor. Lucky me. I love to write funny. Strangely enough, I’ve always been a witty writer but am not witty at all in real life. I don’t know why that is, but it’s led me to think a lot about what makes a book—or my books—funny. 1. Voice. Some writers prefer not to write humor because their voice is more serious or emotional or…unfunny. Some writers will never write serious books because their voices are too humorous. The lucky writers are able to develop a well-rounded voice and can do both. 2. The humor comes from the characters. Someone once asked me how she could make her book funnier. I immediately asked about her characters. Did they have any quirks? Likes? Dislikes? You can easily pair a serious hero with a bumbling heroine and invent tons of funny interactions. You can also take essentially unfunny characters and put them in funny situations. Think about Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones. He’s afraid of snakes, right? We learn early in the m...