Tag: how does a writer get ideas

Dangerous Code, The Writer Reflects

Published by stella on April 4, 2017

I wrote the first draft of Dangerous Code over four years ago but put it aside. At that time, it would’ve been considered science fiction. Now, not so much.

Detective Colin O’Brien? Let’s just say he’s my dream guy. He can tell what you’re feeling by reading the tiny tics in your expression. An alpha male, he takes charge and is not intimidated by a brilliant woman. However, under that tough exterior, he’s wounded from a really bad first marriage. It’s so rotten he hasn’t wanted to talk about it. Don’t worry. I’ll get it out of him in my next book.

I want it

I love Megan, AKA Jenna Jones. I guess there’s a lot of me in her. I was heavy as a kid, but she’s a lot smarter and richer.

LOL. I also have a tendency to mix metaphors and can be slow at telling what people are really saying. Under it all, my feelings are hurt easily and more than anything, I want people to like me but I hide it well.

My altar ego has a day job. She writes software and technically manages multi-million dollar projects. My company is on the leading edge of everything to do with speech. It isn’t that much of a reach to know where software is heading.

Jason, the story’s artificial app, is a mere stone’s throw into the future. Because it can code itself, it has unlimited potential. But just like a human, it needs to weigh out the junk from the real when it searches the internet. Sometimes it works and sometimes, well, let’s just say that can be bad.

Are you interested in more stories with this couple? I have so many ideas… What if Jason finds out there’s a plot to kill the president. What if the CIA is involved? Who would believe an AI application?

I think Colin and Jenna have a rocky road ahead of them. Two people so dissimilar are bound to have a lot of fights. Don’t worry though, I’m sure they’ll find their HEA… hee hee, eventually.

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Dangerous Code… LOL… How to Write a Blurb

Published by stella on March 31, 2017

LOL! One of my dearest writer friends set me straight yesterday. I was feeling a bit down. I know this latest book is one of my best and the cover is awesome so what was I doing wrong?

She suggested I emphasize the sex. The story is secondary.

Sex sells.

Okay then. Here is my latest attempt at ‘How to write a blurb’

Let me know what you think.

“Great read! I really enjoyed this suspenseful, erotic romance by Stella! I’ve read all her other books and loved each one. Can’t wait to read more contemporary romance by this author. Well done!”

Is it possible that little Meggie’s turned terrorist? I haven’t seen her since I was a lifeguard and she at that awkward age between kid and woman. Now she’s drop dead gorgeous and my suspect. I knew I was in trouble when she glared at me with those big green eyes. And when we kissed? Holy shit, I wasn’t prepared for the hottest sex of my life. Now she’s on the run and it’s my job to find her and keep her safe or maybe even arrest her. Either way I’m screwed because I’ve fallen hard and that just can’t happen, not with the city under attack.

***

I want it

I’d tried to be gentle. Hadn’t I watched her every sweet expression, made her explode and scream out my name? More than once? But then again, there was that one moment, right as I entered, where her body had stiffened.

“Do you want me to go?” I hold my breath, awkwardly leaning against the door frame while she puts our leftovers in the microwave as if we just hadn’t had mind-blowing sex.

“No.” She says it so quietly I can barely make it out.

My gut wrenches. Somehow, I’d made her feel bad.

Escaping my self-made exile, I walk across the room, wrap her into my arms and whisper in her ear, “Did I hurt you?”

She twists around in a flash. “No, no. I just don’t want you to think… Oh, I don’t know what to say. I’ve never ever done something like this before.”

She’s telling the truth and Neanderthal-man is thrilled but there’s a twisting in my gut that I haven’t felt for years. Meggie is obviously one of those good girls. The kind that save themselves for marriage. So why did she come on so strong?

And more importantly, why did I respond?

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Happy St. Patty’s Day

Published by stella on March 17, 2017

OMG!

I can’t believe there’s two feet of snow on the ground and Spring is right around the corner.
I only have a moment to write a few thoughts.

Of course, I’m thinking about my release day for Dangerous Code. Early reviewers are liking it a lot.

And I’m trying to remember my only Irish ancestor.

Unlike those that came in the 1800’s mine was here almost a century earlier. He lived in Vermont, a wealthy landowner.

She was very young French girl, an indentured servant who had come to the new world with nothing but hope. There is no record of the French girl after she leaves Vermont. I suspect she changed her name and started over. A young unmarried woman in the colonies would be unwelcome in all but a brothel.

I feel for her, poor dear.

Her Vermont family must have loved her very much because when she ran off, they treated the resulting babe, my great, great, great, as their own.

Would the Irishman have provided for the child? No one knows because he was found face down in flooded waters the very next spring.

If the bastard raped the young woman, good on him for ending up dead.

I would rewrite history. Our heroine finds another Irishman, a kind man with a gentle smile, who has need of someone to take care of his two children…

Of course they fall in love and have the mandatory HEA.

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Where did Stella find her heroine?

Published by stella on March 6, 2017

I am Gemini. A twin. Two people in one. A strange and odd mix.

At work, I am an extrovert; a cog in a huge cube farm where my job is to make order out of chaos. I am an interface between developers and conglomerates. If I don’t get a project into the hands of a client in the time promised by sales, my company could lose millions.

However, I am happiest curled up with a book under a thick down comforter or in front of the fire. I think I started to write because I couldn’t find enough novels that I wanted to read.

I like an occasional domineering male with a wimpy virgin, but not always. I like a regency romance with a dashingly dark duke and debutante but it’s like always eating maple walnut ice cream. Which, by the way, is yummy.

Sometimes, I want another flavor.

I have to admit, I love when a gorgeous genius with a clever mind attracts the hero.

A man who’s not intimidated by a keen mind with a bold spirit is the alpha I need. I met him in my latest book, Dangerous Code.

Detective Colin O’Brien is street smart and able to detect a lie a mile away.

Our heroine, however, can’t read people worth a damn.

Its a fun match.

I spoke with a fan on Facebook yesterday who read the Beta copy and she loved the interaction between the two. She says her daughter is similar to the heroine. If you ask for an opinion, brace for impact. She also said it was awesome to speak to a writer who understands that personality type and how good my book made her feel.

Doing the happy dance.

She asked me where I got my idea. Usually the stuff in my head is pure imagination but I thought real hard. I got 99% on my SAT scores, I am overly-opinionated, and blind to many facial expressions.

In this case, maybe I do have a clue.

On pre-order now:

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Marketing, My Fear of Failure

Published by stella on February 10, 2017

After the unremarkable sales of my last book, I dead-stopped marketing. The thought of updating my blog made me freeze, I couldn’t find anything worthwhile to post on Facebook and my newsletter went silent.

What the hell was wrong with me?

At first I was convinced that I wanted to focus on my writing, then I was tired, then my day-job was overwhelming. Yada, yada, yada.

While all these things are true, they’re not the root cause of why I stopped. I think I have atychiphobia, fear of failure, in particular fear of failing at selling my books.

Yikes.

I looked it up on line and have all the symptoms. For me, it boils down to this. What if I put myself out there and people don’t like me?

ARGH!

My persona is that of a successful, positive, outgoing woman. However, my abused inner child sabotages me. I know this and yet when it happens, I’m blind-sided. Growing up, I never experienced unconditional love.

Dammit. That isn’t me. Not now.

I need to ask her to step back and let me try my hand at marketing again. Sure, I may fail but eventually, with enough practice, I’ll get better. While I’m learning, it doesn’t change who I am or my value as a writer or as a human being.

Starting at lunch time, here is what I am going to do:

~~Write this blog.~~ Woo hoo. Mark this one done!

Write a marketing plan, complete with due dates.

Schedule no-excuse marking time into every week.

Break the to-do list down into small tasks

Create a new mantra! Repeat after me, “I am successful at marketing.”

Face your fear head on.

Picture yourself as a marketing maven. What does it feel like? Live there in your imagination. Write about her.

Define Milestones and rewards. Maybe that trip to a warm island surrounded by sand?

I must thank this website for helping me to define my problem.

http://www.businessknowhow.com/marketing/marketingfear.htm

More to come… please leave a comment with your own struggles!

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The Sign

Published by stella on December 14, 2016

The hail stung my face and my feet burned, wet and cold in my second-hand boots. The last storm of the season was brutal. In a way, I was glad for the ice, because it disguised the tears streaming down my face.

This was my first day back to work in the city. I’d secretly hoped to stay home with my first born, at least for a few more months, but it was not to be.

You see, my husband quit his job in order to have more time to devote to being a recording engineer. “This is my last chance to make it, honey. For you. For the baby.”

Who could argue with that?

Our brand new car was gone. Stolen. Probably by the guys who installed the alarm. Brought up in Vermont, I was pretty naïve, even at thirty.

My parents refused to help, not even twenty bucks for some groceries and a bag of diapers.

God? I just don’t think I can believe in you anymore.

My normal subway stop was blocked because of the weather, so I had about a mile to walk. The despair of leaving my baby, of wanting more from my spouse, of just wanting, was so great I don’t know how I took another step.

I would’ve ended it all if it weren’t for my little Emily.

There was no God. There was no greater plan for me. There was just nothing.

Then I saw it! It was sitting on top of an icy garbage bucket in front of a brownstone. A plastic Santa from the 50’s. The white electric cord is wrapped around the base.

Santy?

My mother put out two when I was growing up. My older sister was given one, my brother, being number two in birth order, was given the other.

I loved those damn things.

Wow. Suddenly it dawned on me that I’d been given something that very few experience.

A sign. God was watching. He heard me that day.

And with faith and hope, all things are possible.

Many years have gone by since then. I have a great job, am still happily married to my dreamer, and my two girls are off on their own, successful entrepreneurs.

And I still believe.

Merry Christmas.

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Stella’s Sexy, Savvy, Strong Heroines

Published by stella on December 7, 2016

…and the alphas strong enough to love them.

I can’t wait to see what adventures Stella writes next! …Lauren, Romance Novel Giveaways

Ms. Alden is now on my ‘go to’ author list. I can’t wait for the next story. …Emma, Night Owl Romance

*******************************************************

Some people have asked me recently, why do you write?

Others ask, are you making a lot of money?

LOL!

Not yet.

So why DO I write?

One of my goals is to give back, but I am a little geeky, a little shy, and don’t have buckets of money to give away.

How can I throw good karma into the world?

I do it with my stories.

When I started writing, I vowed I would write about strong heroines facing adversity and overcoming. Why? Because I truly believe that we become what we think about all day long.

If we dream about having someone dominate us, that is no doubt what we will attract. I’m not saying don’t ever read those fun books, I’m suggesting to balance your reading.

Read and imagine yourself as more.

Thanks so much for stopping by.

I do hope you will become a fan and sign up for my bi-monthly newsletter. I hate spam, too.

You can also read samples here or go right to Amazon and pick one up for this weekend.

Or… just log in and leave a comment below! I love to respond!

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A New Twist on an Timeless Story

Published by stella on October 10, 2016

When I visited Soriano last Christmas, I fell in love with the medieval city and its people and knew I’d have to write a novel based there.

Each fall, the residents hold a Renaissance fair to celebrate a fifteenth century battle. It was won in part, by the early warning of an old woman.

As I walked the cobblestone streets and stared up at the castle, I paused to wonder at it all.

What if it wasn’t an old woman that sounded the alarm? What if it was a young woman in disguise? What if she was in love with someone in the castle? Would she risk everything to save him?
Researching the battle and the times, I was thrust into a world where couples like Romeo and Juliet lived and breathed. It was a time when marriage joined powerful families and love had no say. It’s easy to imagine a tragic couple like Romeo and Juliet.

In such a place and time, how could I help Bernardo and Aurelia, a young couple from opposing families, find their happily ever after?

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Strong Renaissance Heroine!

Strong Renaissance Heroine!

Published by stella on August 3, 2016

1489 AD – just north of Rome

Aurelia Nardini dresses as an ancient hag, sneaks under the portcullis, and sounds the alarm. Tonight, her uncle plots to murder the whole Carvajal family and take the city. Worse yet, because of love for her, the eldest son is locked in the dungeon. She must take action.

What is it about this infuriating woman? Bernardo Carvajal rescues her from Borgia’s bed, from a well-armed neighbor, and her uncle’s fist. Despite admitting her love for him, the stunning beauty refuses to marry. She speaks too rationally, acts too boldly, and drives him mad. And he can’t go on without her.

Enjoy the fictionalized version of events that’s celebrated every year in Soriano’s ancient hazelnut festival.

My latest thoughts…

The year 1489 perhaps is on the cusp of the Renaissance in Italy. Some would insist the year is still Medieval. The world was still changing slowly. Fear of plague kept strangers at bay. Forks were only recently in use and only among the nobility. Benches were still more common than chairs.
My story takes place in the town I visited last Christmas, where my daughter’s fiance has a family residence, built into the tufa of the volcano. When I heard of their hazelnut festival, my imagination took off….

But did I want to start researching a whole new era, a new society, two hundred years later than my last trilogy?

The story screamed in my head. YES! YES! YES!

Why does the festival in Soriano celebrate an old woman who saved the town? Why, did the heroine haunt me, claiming to be a young woman in disguise?
Who do I see a dark Spanish hero, who fights off the evil plots of a greedy neighbor?