From Sharita Lira:
Thanks to everyone for joining me. Today, I’m talking about book series and why they’re a double edged sword. Why you say? Well, for the reader they’re great! You create a world with multiple characters, focusing on them, what they do, and in romance, how they interact with one another to fall in love. I’ve heard it all. Readers love series because they want to feel like they know the characters personally as well as their stories. And they have to be long! YES, the longer the better. 200 pages plus, give me angst, drama, romance, and some hot sex to boot.
Thanks to everyone for joining me. Today, I’m talking about book series and why they’re a double edged sword. Why you say? Well, for the reader they’re great! You create a world with multiple characters, focusing on them, what they do, and in romance, how they interact with one another to fall in love. I’ve heard it all. Readers love series because they want to feel like they know the characters personally as well as their stories. And they have to be long! YES, the longer the better. 200 pages plus, give me angst, drama, romance, and some hot sex to boot.
Yes,
it’s great.
It’s
awesome.
And
then comes the hard part; WRITING IT.
Believe
me, I’m a reader too, so I love a good book series. Sue Brown’s Morning Report, Mercy Celeste, Southern Scrimmage, Avril
Ashton’s Sinners Series. Yes, I love all of these and that’s just m/m. And
then I think of my own. My N’awlins Exotica and Paranormal, Under the Gun, The
Wretched, and my co-Author series Wounded with Remmy Duchene, just to name a
few. They’re wonderful. I’ve enjoyed writing them, but they’re a serious pain
in the ass.
Why
you say? Well, as much as I love all my characters, there’s a lot that goes
into writing them. Remembering little details like their eye and hair color,
how it was cut, was it long, short? The temperament of the characters, where
they lived, what was the last thing they’d done, what do they like to eat? Are
they vegetarian? I had this issue with Orrin when I finally wrote his book.
Then I recalled he ate a ham sandwich in book one.
Scratch
that! *laughs*
And
then, making it more complicated when the characters crossover into other
books, IE N’awlins Exotica where I bring Ryland there and take Kajika to
Paranormal!
UGH!
There
is so much work that goes into these and then, when you make them related you
have to remember the backstory. What happens in the last book? What did Eli do
to his last victim? What did Corey do to piss Nicolai off? I need to re-read it
to find out. Yeah, now you see why the book series is a pain? Don’t get me
wrong, I love em but, as I stated to Remmy, I’m going to try making them
standalones from now on!
What
about you? If you’re a reader, tell me about some of your fave series! Doesn’t
have to be mine and if you’re an author, you can do it too, but tell me how you
keep everything straight in every book? Do you make notecards on each character
Have you plotted all 100 books in the series from day one?
Thanks for listening to me today!
Who would've thought that a British hit man would fall in lust at first sight with an American felon? This desire could become deadly for both.
Thanks for listening to me today!
Who would've thought that a British hit man would fall in lust at first sight with an American felon? This desire could become deadly for both.
Aiden Moriarty is a Florida ‘herbalist’ who developed a performance enhancing drug many athletes have used. One of them is baseball star Ivan Salerno, who was caught using the drugs and is now on the brink of getting suspended. Because of Ivan’s connections with a rogue mob boss, Aiden is taken into a witness protection program, working along with baseball higher ups until he testifies.
The mob boss, Augustine Ora, has hired former British
military officer and his best hitman, Devlin ‘Brit’ Crawford, to do the job.
Ora has instructed Devlin to go to Miami, kidnap Aiden and take him to the
local airport to be transported to Havana ,Cuba, to be executed by Ora’s top officers.
However, when Devlin receives the email, the pictures of
the blue-eyed felon catch his eye and he is moved to go in a different
direction. Instead of delivering Aiden to the airport, he has thoughts of
taking him away and saving him from Ora’s wrath.
This move puts him, Aiden, as well as his assistant
Miranda Ashley in huge danger. Will Devlin keep Aiden safe despite the odds or
will he fail, causing Ora and his men come after him?
EXCERPT
“Um.” Aiden cleared his throat, hoping
Miranda didn’t have a quick trigger finger. “I know it’s a risk what you’re
doing—a huge one—but I can make it worth your while. I really can. And, uh,
after the talk we had in the car—”
“You were thinking we could have
something, hmm?”
Aiden swallowed hard and looked down
at his feet. He clasped his hands together as if he was praying for something.
“We could if you don’t deliver me to Ora.”
“Aw, isn’t that so cute, D? The American
is begging you to spare him. He’s so adorable. Don’t let that overweight son of
a bitch win, yeah? You need someone and hell, you’ve been saying how much
you’ve wanted to get away from Ora for a while.”
“True, very true. See, Aiden? It’s not
really all about you. My bird is
right when she says I need a chap in my life. However, my reason for keeping
you away is more about being a rebel. I haven’t been happy with the way Ora
does things for quite a while. Additionally, I’d like to see that cheater Salerno
go down in flames, because I don’t really like cheaters.”
“Neither do I,” Aiden responded.
“But you helped these men get ahead
with drugs so, obviously, you take no real issue with it.”
“Yeah I do.” Aiden laughed nervously.
“I just wanted to do something different and make some cash. That’s all. Hey,
if you keep me alive, you can help me expose him and Engel, too. I’ve got no
doubt the guy may be working for Ora—or even Salerno.”
“You might be right there, but the
question still remains…” The man walked closer to Aiden, still mostly naked. He
dragged his finger over Aiden’s forehead and twirled one of his curls around
the tip. “Is the cause to bring a cheater down and have a good-looking American
on my arm worth my life and the money Ora has offered me?”
Aiden’s eyes met his kidnapper’s deep
brown gaze. His breath caught in his chest while he got lost in the man’s
heated stare. His heart thumped against his ribs and his cock, already hard,
strained in his underwear. He stuttered, “I-I’d say, yeah.”
He raked Aiden’s hair away from his
eyes. “Of course you would.” He
flashed a pearly white smile and swiped his tongue over his lips.
Dear
God!
Watching Brit’s sexy gesture, Aiden’s
erection grew more. If this man didn’t have a pistol pointed at his temple,
he’d grab Brit and plunge his tongue down his throat.
“Miranda, let the man take a bath and
get ready to move. We’ll be going to Miami very soon.”
Just that statement caused Aiden’s
erection to deflate, and his heart sank. The thought of his impending doom made
his gut twist in ways he couldn’t explain.
Miranda clicked her teeth and frowned.
“But, D?”
“Now,
Miranda. No buts, right? This is my life on the line for someone I don’t even
know. Like I said, I can get a real nice bang at home for what he’s paying me.
And you never know—something real might come out of that, hmm?”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Michael Mandrake pens complex characters
already comfortable with their sexuality. Thorough these, he builds worlds not
centered on erotica but rather the mainstream plots we might encounter in
everyday life through personal experiences or the media. To find out more please
visit Michael Mandrake at Wordpress
Author Sharita Lira: In one word, crazy. Just
crazy enough to have 3 4 different muses running around in her head,
driving her to sheer exhaustion with new plot bunnies and complex characters.
In addition to being a computer geek and a metalhead, Sharita loves live
music, reading, and perusing the net for sexy men to be her muses. She’s also a founding member and contributor
to the heavy metal ezine Fourteeng.net.
For more information, please visit http://www.thelitriad.com as well
as her Facebook fanpage, The Literary Triad.
Links
The Literary Triad
- http://www.thelitriad.com/#!
Michael Mandrake – http://michaelmandrake.wordpress.com
Pinterest - http://www.pinterest.com/authorslira/
Thank you for hosting me
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