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Writing a Novel

Writing a Novel

Published by stella on September 28, 2015

k10ALAS!

Sometimes writing wrings my soul dry. More than an actor I must become my characters. I share their desires. I feel their pain. I cry. I want to help but like a good and gracious god, I know they must go through these chapters in order to be happy and productive, post-novel. It’s hard to explain but in my mind’s eye, these people are real. I’m just documenting a segment of their lives.

As heroine, I have survived much trauma. As I fall in love I begin to remember why I don’t want a man to touch me. I am torn and tormented. I shed tears as the memories of my attack begin so seep into my consciousness.

As the hero, I am living a lie. I either get the heroine to fall in love with me or die. The more attracted I become to her, the more I detest myself. I can find no way out. Until I am knighted, my life is little more than that of a slave. Even then, I will be underneath my grandfather’s powerful rule. If he wants her pregnant with my child, so be it.

Oh dear hearts. Worry not. We are but on the fifth chapter. It seems bleak now, but we will prevail.

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An Interview with Ann and Marcus

Published by stella on September 5, 2015

I go back in time, to the year 1276 to have a short speak with Ann and Marcus. They insist we chat while soaking in their ancient Roman bathhouse and I have to agree, it’s heavenly.
bathhouse

It’s odd to get naked with my characters, but I am sitting so that I am mostly concealed under the water. I wish Marcus would do so as well, but every so often he pushes up with hands to the edge, and gracefully exits. I can’t help but stare at his magnificent warrior’s physique.

When he eases back in with the grace of a cat, I start my questions with Ann. “I hear you are with child?”

She beams and rubs her swollen belly. “Indeed I am. Do you know if it’s a boy or girl?”

I do, but won’t spoil the surprise. “No, no. We will find out together in book two.”

“Book two? You mean for us to have another adventure? I believe I would rather not” Her mouth purses and turns down into a pout.

Marcus glares at me. “I thought we were safe in happily-ever-after.”

I swallow hard. “Well, yes and no. That’s why I’m here. Sir Thomas is going to need your help, Marcus. Ann, I’m afraid you will be stuck minding hearth and home.”

Her eyes dart to Marcus, no doubt waiting for him to agree but he seems mollified for a moment. “That hardly seems just.”

I clear my throat. “I know, but you’ll be pregnant with your third child… and it doesn’t seem right to have you off on an adventure to Scotland. Besides, who’ll mind your villagers?”

She settles back into the water with a happy face and reaches for a clay pot. “Three children? Very well. As long as you agree that my husband will not meet with ill fortune.”

I nod and turn such that I face the tub wall, not wanting to show my body to my characters. After all, I am author-god. I should look a hell of a lot more… god-like. “There will be some perilous moments but not so much for him as for Thomas.”

Grabbing soap salts, she begins to scrub my back with a linen cloth. “Sir Thomas? I thought you sent him to parts unknown. To trade for the king.”

The lavender scent is heavenly. “I did, but I had to bring him home. You know the lovely maid he’s been eyeing all summer? I’m afraid she is with child.”

Marcus growls and glances at his sword lying beside the pool. “I shall gut him from chin to-. Bring him back this instant. First there must be a wedding.”

I turn, put my palms up in the air in supplication, then quickly duck back down. “Well that’s just the point of the story. It’s going to be five years before I can get him back.”
“Absolutely unacceptable. By God, I won’t have any knight of mine making a chit pregnant.”

“Be reasonable. I cannot. He’s south of Rome by now, and makes his way to the east where neither pigeon, nor messenger can catch him.”

“Oh my. Well, we’ll just have to make the best of it.” Ann hops out of the water, dons her tunic, and rushes out the door in bare feet.

Marcus follows at a slower pace, sparing one glance back at me. “There better be another happily-ever-after, or heads will roll”
I lean back into the heated baths and sigh. That went quite well.

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Where do Writer’s Get Ideas for Their Novels?

Published by stella on July 27, 2015

Where do Writer’s Get Ideas for Their Novels?

I just finished my final change before my second book goes to my publisher and I’m already considering the plot for the next.
I would guess every author’s brain is different, but this is how mine works.

First, and foremost, my books start with “What-If”. Let me try to explain this odd phenomenon. It’s a thread that’s constantly running in the background of my consciousness; it never sleeps, it never turns off, and it never “blocks.” It’s a funny little troll that has always spoken at will in my mind’s eye.

It goes like this:

Example. What if one day I walk by the creepy house on the hill next door, a cardboard box is dropped onto their driveway during a UPS delivery, and hundreds of bottles of prescription drugs roll down to my feet?

Example. What if I’m sitting at my cube, writing software, and I’m called to the front office to receive delivery of a computer. I turn it on for the first time and a video plays that says to hide it and tell no one or die.

Example. What if I’m a scientist studying the effect of comforting sounds on the human psyche and place a microphone over a gurgling stream deep in the woods, and that night, overhear two guys burying a body? When I check it out with the cops the next day, there’s nothing there and I lose my credibility. I continue to listen in and hear much more than I should…

Example. What if I’m a Renaissance-thinking lady, leading a Medieval village into prosperity, and suddenly am forced to marry a hard-headed Templar knight?

Example. What if I have a five year old son, and his father, who I think is dead, shows up on my doorstep near London Towne? What if the year is 1278 and I’m forced to marry him and he lives miles away at the border with Scotland?

Look into your pocket or purse. Find an object. Make up your own What If.

Try it out. I’ll give you a start.

What if last night, at the bar, you picked up the wrong cell phone? It rings and you hear a recorded message not intended for you.

What if…a key…

What if…a receipt…

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Happiness

Published by stella on June 30, 2015

Last weekend I read and reviewed a book by a woman, about my age, who lives with Bipolar. We exchanged a few emails. The weekend before I tweeted to a woman who has been a ‘mum’ to a child who has grown into the body of a man, but with the mind of a toddler.

These are remarkable heroines with incredible strength and I am blessed to have their lives intersect with mine, even so briefly. I am changed just by knowing them.

Everyone knows that likes attract so I humbly pondered how I got here.

Long ago, I remember my first foray into goal-setting. I had chastised a younger worker for his shoddy work on the repair of a video tape machine. My boss figured I needed a few lessons in how to deal with people and sent me off to a Dale Carnegie course. About the same time, the company decided we needed to be more productive, and a few of us headed off to NYC for a course in Time Management.

Of course, they sent me home with brochures to buy tapes, (it was the eighties), and more self-help tapes. I gobbled everything down because I was starving. I was thirty, stuck in a job I hated, had two young kids, a mortgage, and no way out. I cried a lot.

It took a lot of hard work to change my thoughts but I did. After my thoughts changed, my life changed, and here I am.

Believe

Where am I? Content. Not complacent, by any means, but most of the time, pretty happy.

When I need to ‘pay it forward,’ I write about strong women, facing adversity. A romance is the perfect place to do it. If thoughts become reality, (and I believe they do), then my life’s goal is to empower women as they imagine themselves as my heroines.

That makes me happy.

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Lady Ann Defends Damaged Heroines

Published by stella on June 23, 2015

As a dutiful author, this morning I did a Google search using the key words: ‘Romance Novel Review Requests 2015.’ ‘How to Train Your Knight’ needs to get to fifty reviews to gain in the Amazon rankings.

I read through one reviewer’s likes and dislikes, and she fumed inside my head. “What does that mean, she doesn’t like damaged heroines?”
I tried to calm her down and stopped typing. “I’m sure she meant no offense. There’s lots of other-”

“Stop right there, Stella, Put me down for review. I am not damaged.”

I sighed and went to make my oatmeal. This could be a long conversation. “Technically, getting abused by your first husband, almost to the point of death, counts as damaged.”

“Not so. I am completely healed. And happily married with two children and one on the way.”

“Yes, yes. I agree, but not at the start of the book. Don’t you remember?”

“Well I think that’s just wrong. Characters who grow strong through the course of a novel should not be called damaged.“

“I agree.” I read forward a bit on that same page, glad we’d settled the issue

“Wait a second… She likes damaged heroes? How in God’s Blood is that fair?” She virtually screeched inside my brain.

“Listen, everyone’s entitled to an opinion.” I quickly went to the next site and began the process of filling in a form.

“But it’s downright insulting. She allows Marcus his bad dreams but not me?”

“Now, now. You’ve got lots of excellent reviews, Ann. Many women applaud your endless energy, devotion to your town, and the way you handle Sir Marcus. We’ll find some more accommodating and understanding reviewers, okay? Some people just don’t get the courage it takes to be truly happy and content despite adversity in the past, but I do.”

I looked at the clock. I still had to get dressed and ready for work.She snorted and left my head.

Thank God.

Read about Ann in ‘How To Train Your Knight’

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Midwest Book Review

Published by stella on June 9, 2015

MidwestBookReviewHow To Train Your Knight
Stella Marie Alden
Soul Mate Publishing, Macedon, NY 14502
ASIN: B00WRNKOOU $2.99 Free with Kindle Unlimited
www.stellamariealden.com http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00WRNKOOU

D. Donovan, Senior Reviewer, Midwest Book Review

Most medieval novels don’t offer up a steamy romance theme; but then, How To Train Your Knight isn’t your usual historical novel, but offers a gripping love story set in 1276 that opens with the bang of a screaming woman accosting Sir Marcus Blackwell, a holy crusader forced into a marriage with a foul-tempered widow.

Lies, ladies, she-witches, murder and love are vividly portrayed as characters are well-developed and dialogue and description nicely done to capture the sounds, scents, feel and lingo of Medieval times (without resorting to confusing vernacular, which makes for an exceptionally smooth read).

Where other romances would fall into modern description, How To Train Your Knight stays true to its times, tailoring its graphic sexual encounters with a sense of the decorum and trappings of Medieval times. From the period clothing of the era which is removed with a different touch (“…finally he undid the leather ties holding the three sheaves, and her knives clunked to the floor.”) to a woman’s acceptance of the pleasure involved in making babies (which doesn’t translate to the usual confession to a priest if a husband is involved), Stella Marie Alden excels at presenting powerful protagonists who both express their sexuality and discover riches of the heart in the process.

Because romance is the key, binding factor in How To Train Your Knight, audiences should be genre readers looking for a healthy dose of history to spice the steamy interludes. These factors contribute to a powerful story line that is as much about sexual awakening and love as it is about the process of becoming a powerful partner and surviving the medieval world.

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