Wicked Wednesday - Of Blood and Sorrow

Wicked Wednesday will be on hiatus over April. Not only will the A to Z Challenge be happening which I'll be participating with a group on Untethered Realms, I have my mother visiting for a week, and my husband's and son's birthdays. Lots going on. I'm giving myself a little break and easing off on blogging.

As many of you know, I've been working on revisions all this year. One of my manuscripts is a paranormal romance called OF BLOOD AND SORROW (formerly known as "Sorrow Phage"). I hope to get this polished to query before the end of this school semester. I'm going to tease you with my query blurb.

Erin Driscol works the perfect job consoling fellow demons by feeding off their grief at Putzkammer & Sons Funeral Home.

When fledgling vampire Nicolas Reese wakes in the mortuary, Erin hastily sets him loose on the city before she regains enough sense to call a hunter. Vampires are vile, unnatural creatures, or so she thinks. Nicolas returns to her for help, and she learns the truth behind the legends. Breaking all the rules, Erin hides him from his sire and vampire hunters. But when the Putzkammers begin to die off one by one, she must find a way to save the family that loves her. While every demon desperately searches for a way to survive whatever horror is slaughtering them in the night, Erin faces her greatest fear to rescue Nicolas from his dark fate.

Would this blurb snag your attention?

Wicked Wednesday - what do you as readers want?

It feels like it's been a long while since we've had a Wicked Wednesday post, hasn't it? September was a busy month, and October is going to be even busier with The 13th Floor Collection blog tour. November and December will be a break time except for a few special events. I need to get working on what comes next now that my series is done.

I want to revise and query one of my unpublished novels. I considered a sci-fi or dystopian, but I don't think I'm quite ready to delve back into those yet. My focus is still on the paranormal romances. I have three options I'm considering. I'd appreciate your opinion. What catches your interest as a reader?

1) WITCH'S FIRST RULE. This is the first book in a completed trilogy. Before my son was born, I queried this book, and it got some interest, but eventually, everyone passed on it. I realized I was marketing it all wrong. I also did some major rewrites. The protagonist is a witch and professional marriage therapist named Magena Silver. She uses love potions to reignite the passion in broken marriages and boost her success rating. Magena has been with me for several years. Every time I take a break from her story, I eventually find myself coming back to her. Magena is strong, opinionated, and in charge of her life. She doesn't like it when I ignore her.
Overall story: A powerful witch demands Magena reverse the effects of a love potion on two of her clients. She must create an antidote or lose her life.
Romantic plot: Nathan is an empath sent to watch over Magena as she tries to create the antidote. He's the only man that has ever been able to get past her emotionally cool facade.

2) SUPER FAMOUS. This was my NaNoWriMo book from last year. It's a superhero romance. I thought it was a bit silly at the time I was writing it, but I've recently read it again, and I liked it a lot. It would need a lot of revising, but it could work. Oakley a.k.a. The Silver Skipper is the leader of a group of superheroes. They're on the rise to international fame. Unfortunately this draws the attention of some scary super villains. With super crime increasing, the government is cracking down on all people with superpowers including the heroes. The heroes are forbidden to use their powers lest they become criminals too.
Overall story: Oakley and her team risk their freedom and lives to save the innocent as the villains kidnap children with superpowers.
Romantic plot: Oakley is the ultimate superhero and never lets her guard down, but Benniton sees her more than just as The Silver Skipper.

3) SORROW PHAGE. (That's only the working title.) This is a paranormal romance where the protagonist works at a supernatural funeral home. Hey, paranormal beings can die too. Erinys is a demon that feeds on people's sorrow. See, it's handy she works at a funeral home! A new and gorgeous vampire wakes up in the mortuary, and she finds herself tangled up in a whole load of trouble.
Overall story: Supernatural drug war reveals itself as something much more horrifying, and Erinys is caught in the middle of it.
Romantic plot: Erinys helps a new vampire named Nicholas and starts to fall for him even when he brings death to her door.

If only I could write better taglines! So what do you think? What catches your attention?

More Than Just a Kiss Blogfest still on

“A kiss, when all is said, what is it? 'Tis a secret told to the mouth instead of to the ear.” ~ Edmond Rostand

Have you joined the blogfest yet?

All it takes is one kiss.

One scene to be entered to win great prizes.

READ THE RULES AND SIGN UP HERE!

 

This kiss is from one of my unpublished manuscripts tentatively named SORROW PHAGE. (I know, the title isn't screaming romance!) The protagonist, Erinys, is a demon that feeds on people's sorrow, and Nicolas is a young vampire.

“Of course you wouldn't forget. I know I've got a body to die for. Literally.” He chuckled at his own joke and moved closer to her. He lifted a hand and kept a close watch on her face as he brought it up to touch her forearm where the trail of spots started. “I do really like them. Something exotic about it. Do they go all the way down?”

“Down my spine and the back of my legs.” Erinys stood very still, feeling her stomach flip as he touched her. Her toes wiggled in her wet boots.

His fingers reached her shoulder and caressed the place where it met her neck. Nicolas gently urged her away from the wall and turned her around. He brushed her hair to one side and continued to follow the spots down her back with his fingers. He kissed that same spot between the neck and shoulder. Her lips parted, tremulously inhaling.

“You're so beautiful,” he whispered, nuzzling her neck. “You and your black spots.”

Erinys whipped around and elbowed him in the chest. He flew back into the tub, cracking a few tiles. She ran, jumped into the bed and wrapped herself in a thick quilt, burying her head in the pillows with the hope she wouldn't start crying again.

NaNoWriMo 2011 - day 17

Word count: 39480

It's not actually day 17 yet. I'm scheduling this post to appear tomorrow morning.

Things are going well. Another critical moment and a big reveal about the protagonist's past. Highly emotional. It's hard to find different words for sorrow. I'm thankful for my thesaurus. I also used the word "Brobdingnagian." Such an awesome word. If one word alone could make a great manuscript, that word would be it.

I'm getting ready to kill off more characters. I feel like Joss Whedon. If only I were that witty and clever!

I had intended this to be a paranormal romance, but I'm almost at 40000 words and there's only been a few kisses. It's more a dark urban fantasy with an element of romance. I'm not complaining, it just surprises me with the novels I've written in the past few years. Hey, it's a good thing to surprise yourself in such a way, right?

I'll be losing some writing time on Saturday with my monthly writers' group. I sent in the first chapter of Sorrow Phage for them to critique. I'm nervous about it. It hasn't been edited at all.

NaNoWriMo 2011 - day 4

Word count: 10014

I'm surprising myself with how well it's going. Why did I find it so difficult last year when my son was an infant and sleeping more? I'm lucky he's been sleeping much at all this week because he's been sick. I was worried that I wouldn't write a lot any time again until he was in preschool, but yes! I can do it.

I've been writing a lot of dialogue. Kevin Smith length dialogue. My inner editor is trying to shake down her cell to delete those last four pages. They're staying. She can revise next year. I've always had a problem with my characters talking too much. Even the quiet ones chatter on too much. I wonder what would happen if I wrote a story where everyone was mute. There's an interesting challenge.

I've been looking at everyone's word counts. You're doing amazingly! And for the few of you who had a rough start, don't worry. It's only the fourth. You've got twenty-six more days. Go for it! You can do it!