My Writing Process Blog Hop

Howdy, loyal blog buddies!  I'm going to chat with you today about my writing process, in case you yourself wish to write nonsense that's full of sex and want to learn how this humble unicorn-lover does it.  Thanks to Nico Rosso for tagging me in this blog hop -- you can read about his process here.

What am I working on?

I'm working on secrit superheroine book.  (You should have read that to yourself in a very dramatic voice.)  It's probably going to end up being women's fiction in the vein of Sookie Stackhouse -- a series centered around one heroine with paranormal abilities.

My superheroine will not be sexily gadding about with her gravity-defying tits exposed while wearing leather short-shorts -- she's going to be a heroine that real ladies can actually relate to.  The book is shaping up to be one of my favorite things, which is me taking a standard story and spinning it on its head. Which brings me to...  

How does my work differ from others in this genre?

I'm actually now trying to acquire a romance agent (I have a separate agent for my non-romance humor work) for my paranormal Nerd at First Bite.  I've taken the trope of the ancient, sexy, rich, mopey, pasty vampire and created the opposite.  Frank, the hero of NaFB, is Black, his business is failing, he's only been a vamp for ten years, and he's an uber-nerd whose experience with women can be detailed thusly:

Yeah -- not good.  Personally, I think nerdy vamps will be the new, hot thing.  Er, I hope. I find that inverting tropes can make for some awesome humor, and I just love doing it.  Not that I don't love the tropes of my genre!  I adore romance (obvs), but I love being the class clown, too.  That's what makes me different.  I'm gonna bring the rom-com back, I tells ya!  

Why do I write what I do?

 

I'm a goofball.  I'm a weirdo.  And I love making people laugh, so I write romantic comedies.  I couldn't write some dark, stressy romance if I tried.  Sex and laughter -- is there a better combination than that?  My heroes and heroines tend to be losers who discover their best selves through love and adventure, and grow into their life's purpose without forgetting where they came from.  Samantha Lytton, the heroine of my Dimple book series, starts the first book in a very low place in her life.  Her job is dead-end, her bed is empty (save for cheeseburgers), and things seem grim.  I think we've all been there -- I sure as hell have.  I try to write real people who don't have their act together with a yacht on top, because I don't know anybody who has a yacht or the perfect life. BTW, if you have a yacht and the perfect life, can I be your friend?  I'll bring beer!  

How does my writing process work?

 

Butthole.  Yup, that's it.  

I think I'm in the minority of novel writers in that I do not plot.  Unless I have to.  I did have to write a synopsis for the second and third Dimple books for my publisher, but, in the end, the actual books differed from the original plans somewhat. 

 

I'm a pantser, in that I write by the seat of my pants.  I love sorta-knowing what's going to happen next, but maybe not how I'll get there.  My books are plot-based, fast-paced adventures with a hot romance thrown into the mix.  Generally, I get an idea for a character and start with her.  For my Ragnar and Juliet series, I saw a vision of a space bounty hunter heroine going after an innocent man, and then falling for him.  She proudly shops at Sluts-R-Us, and her hero is a gentle giant who works to convince her that love is the answer.  (I also adore reversing stereotypical gender roles.) 

Character, then situation, then adventure.  Then hott sexxoring aw yeaaaahhhhhhhhhh. 

Ahem. 

So that's how I write my rom-coms.  It's not a pretty process, but it's a funny one, and that's all that matters. 

Tag, You're It 

Next up in the blog hop: The delightful Melissa Blue!  (Seriously, go check her stuff out!) 

Outside of writing contemporary romances, Melissa Blue works as a mail clerk for the federal government, has a paralegal certificate (that she has more use for as a dust pan) and is a mother of two rambunctious children. She lives in California where the wine is good and, despite popular belief, is not always sunny.  Her blog:  http://melthegreatest.blogspot.com/.

Romance, She Wrote

I’ve been visiting my parents in sunny Florida (sorry, everyone buried in a snow drift), and one of their favorite old shows to watch is Murder, She Wrote, a US TV series from the 80s/90s. It’s about a murder-mystery writer named Jessica Fletcher, portrayed by the inimitable Angela Lansbury. She solves mysteries that she happens to stumble upon in her real life, although personally I always thought she’d be a dangerous friend to have, as people were being whacked around her once a week.

For a fanciful moment, I imagined the TV character they’d make out of me and my romantic comedy writing. I’d travel from town to town jazzing up listless relationships, or giving a reason for a lonely heart to believe in love again. Or maybe I’d just have a collection of hot guys I’d give away to lonely gals (and boys).  Now that I write that, what a good business idea…  I’d bicycle around town like Jessica Fletcher spreading love and not murder, which I think is a good choice.

But that’s kind of what I do, right? I write about love, love that I believe in with my whole heart. Love that heals and bolsters and fulfills. Passion that wakes us up and gives us a reason to keep going, even in the tough times. And the greatest thing I can do is to make somebody laugh, for nothing revitalises the spirit like the joy that comes from laughter. When somebody writes a review and says I made them laugh, I feel like I’ve contributed something good to the world.

So maybe my story could be called Romance, She Wrote (which is admittedly loftier than Smut, She Wrote, although they are both accurate). Lots of folks say that romance as a genre is silly, vapid, poorly written. But I know that we lovers of romance inject delight into the world, and into the bedroom, rawr. And there’s not a damn thing wrong with that.

Now somebody give me a TV show!

Love, Lucy

PS:  I have a brand new newsletter!  Join the fun for excerpts, general nonsense, and that sexy, funny romance.