Poetry and Prose

My lover's eyes

They guide my hands

Telling them

In some secret lustful language

Where to go

And when my lover's eyes close

And words come in moans

Our loving now complete

But desire only grows

This is not a famous poem. I wrote it myself by way of demonstration. My goal here was not to just tell a story, but evoke emotion by use of particular words.

When you read a story, do you look for a rhythm in the words? Do you like to get a sense the author gave some thought to how the words were placed in the story?

I like to incorporate special words in my stories that do more than just provide narrative and dialogue. I like to use words that evoke emotion. I feel words have within them, a color, a smell, a feeling when said out loud or within one's mind.

Next time you read a story, or one of my stories, in particular, see if you can tell where the author used specific words to evoke emotion.

I find word choice extremely important in fantasy and erotica. In fantasy, I pepper my stories with words that I hope give the reader a sense of place and atmosphere. Dark words for those dense forest lands. In erotica, I feel that word choice is the greatest and also the most difficult.

Look again at the poem above. I know it may not be the most professional piece of work, but I wrote it using specific words to evoke emotion. I even used alliteration and loose, or non-rhyming words on purpose to make the reader stumble, forcing them to think back to the previous phrase or sentence.

My challenge to you as a reader is to look for these patterns in the stories you read. It is, after all, the choice of words, and the emotions they provide, that give a story that little extra magic that makes a reader think "that's a great story" even if they cannot pinpoint why they feel that way.

The Name Game

I'm making steady progress on my current work in progress, but something is nagging at the back of my mind. I've yet to come up with a reasonable name for this story. I'm afraid that, without that extra motivation provided by a unique and catchy story title, my muse will scoff, and suddenly fly away, leaving nothing but blank pages and self-doubt where motivation and desire once resided.

The two main characters in this story come from my first novel Lovestruck Succubus. Joe and Lexi were minor characters, but their unique personalities, and possibilities within their relationship, led to the formulation of their own story. This current story actually grew out of a short story idea about a woman learning to pole dance for exercise, and falling into a life of crime fighting. Of course, there was to be a romance there, with a man that saw her for what she could be, no for what she was at the time. This woman was physically, very rubenesque, so I had a wonderful story title picked out called, 'Her Delicate Curves.'

Somehow, and I really cannot remember exactly how it happened now, Joseph and Alexis came into the picture and hijacked the story. This is now the story about how Joseph and Alexis first met, and how Joe first becomes a shape shifting werewolf and bounty hunter for the Ellijay, Georgia clan of werewolves.

Of course, those that know me, know I just cannot leave well enough alone. They must find themselves in trouble with the local mobsters, and on the run for their lives. Believe me, I know what happens, and I just can't wait to write this so my readers will know as well, but it still has no title.

Any suggestions? I suppose I may be forced to give out some samples or advanced reader copies before I publish this and see if a reader might have a title suggestion. The only thing I fear in writing this is that, without at least a working title, and the intrigue and motivation it provides for me as I write, I may suddenly lose faith and declare the whole thing not worthy of a title, or completion.

I just don't know. I've never written this far into a project without a title before. Any of you other writers out there have this issue? Have you ever completed a project without an idea for a title? I'm usually the opposite, bringing a title out of the mist in the first few weeks of writing, if not before.

How about readers. Any ideas of what to call a story about a secretive shape shifting werewolf meeting a hardened ex-military bounty hunter, falling in love, and mistakenly turn your friend into a werewolf?

Why buy the Cow?

We've all heard the expression, "why buy the cow, when you get the milk for free?" And it makes sense when speaking to a teenager about dating and moral integrity. In fact, this saying may apply to many things in life, along with its counterpart, "there's no such thing as a free lunch."

But I submit that this is not always the case - especially when it comes to stories given away.

Recently, someone chastized me for offering some of my works free to all those interested in reading them. This person told me that "no serious writer should ever give their work away." They went on to tell me how giving one's creative efforts away with no expectation of compensation cheapens the work, and the author. Basically, they just kept talking until I was made to feel like an idiot for ever giving anything away.

Instead of cowering to this person's harsh words and unfounded opinions, I fought back with confidence and reasoning. I told them why I choose to offer samples of my creative efforts free of charge.

I believe that allowing readers to sample my work, and decide for themselves if they like it enough to buy other things I've written, is a great thing. I've found many new writers, and still enjoy their stories because of a simple free offering. These are authors I might not ever have read if they did not offer something free.

Readers response well to freebies. Why? Our economy, the flush of material out there since the onset of the eBook revolution, uncertainty of something new and untried. I could go on, but most of you understand full well, the reasoning for accepting someones offer of freebies.

From a writer's perspective, offering freebies gives my work a wider audience - and for someone like me, relatively unknown, this wider audience is invaluable. Plus, I believe it is the right thing to do. I feel offering a sample of my work free to the public is an honorable way to advertise my work.

So, for all of you out there that take full advantage of a free offering, I commend you. To show my gratitude to those few who frequent my website, (Yes, I believe they are few, and I really wish I knew who you were) I will relay this little tidbit of super secret information. From now on, in addition to my regular sales, I will occasionally offer one or more of my stories FREE for a limited time (usually one day) at All Romance eBooks. These offerings will be completely random, so you'll have to keep looking for the offers.

In addition to this offering, remember that I still have a couple of items offered free at both Smashwords and All Romance eBooks now, and always.

Those stories are: The Fifth Beauty at Smashwords, ARe, and Fantasy League at Smashwords, ARe.

By all means, if you do enjoy my stories, and would like to receives an occasional newsletter with excerpts, news of upcoming stories before anyone else gets it, and other special insider information, please leave your email address in the box above, and to the right.

Enjoy.