Monday, October 10, 2016

Guest Author Maya Tyler

Help me welcome my guest Maya Tyler, romance author. Today, she's sharing a wonderful article on writing seasonal stories. Check it out!






Writing for the Seasons by Maya Tyler

The seasonal books, taking place during Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas, might be written at a completely different time of year. A book about Christmas could be written in the scorching heat of summer. A thanksgiving tale could be written during an unforgiving blizzard. How to get in the mood to write a seasonal story?

There are countless ways to drum up some holiday spirit… Some authors may play Christmas music to get them in a festive mood. Some authors may immerse themselves in holiday foods and treats.

I see the approach to writing holiday stories just as I do all stories though. I write paranormal romance. There is never a season for the paranormal. Whenever it is, wherever you are, a paranormal story is composed through complete imagination. So take your season, imagine your story, and give it life. Anytime. Anywhere.

My book Dream Hunter took place during a hot Chicago summer. I choose summer, not because I wrote the book during that season, but because it suited the atmosphere I wanted to create. In summer, with soaring temperatures, I find it’s harder to think. I can be more reckless, less patient. Hot weather puts me in a ‘pool and beach’ mood, not necessarily a ‘work and be productive’ mood. It’s easier to react (and overreact) emotionally. Without divulging any spoilers, the muggy, humid weather added to my heroine’s fatigue and emotional state of mind. It helped her appearance come alive and added elements of foreshadowing to my story.

Inspiration can be found anywhere. An author takes a moment, a conversation, a fleeting thought and can convert it into an idea. I often think my best ideas come from my subconscious thoughts – dreams – often inspired by my real life circumstances. Like internal brainstorming. Some ideas materialize into stories. Some ideas are put on the back burner. Sometimes permanently.

I do enjoy reading seasonal books, especially in the right season… Although on a hot summer day, a tall glass of iced tea might pair nicely with a Christmas story.

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Maya Tyler is a romance author, blogger, wife, and mother. She has a degree in Commerce and her day job is in Finance. Over the past few years, she decided to unleash her creative streak and get serious about writing. So far, she has published a short story “Just for Tonight” in an anthology titled With Love from Val and Tyne, and has written a few books. Writing mostly paranormal romances, all of her books have a common theme–happily ever after. Dream Hunter is her debut novella. When she’s not writing, you can find her playing with Lego and watching superhero movies with her husband and sons. You can visit her anytime on Twitter, Facebook or her website or sample her quirky writing style on her blog.
You can find Maya on the web at the following locations:
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Saturday, October 01, 2016

Guest Author Abbey MacMunn

Today my guest is Abbey MacMunn, author of TOUCHED. Help me welcome her!



Blurb:          

When inquisitive antique dealer Cami Wilson learns she’s the revered offspring of an immortal mother and a mortal father, it’s not just her hybrid status that has her all flustered. The title comes with her very own super-sexy guardian.

Jaded immortal Joseph Carlisle has only one thing on his mind; his sworn duty to protect the hybrid from those who wish her harm. Anything else would be complicated. That is until they meet. 
Chemistry sizzles between them but there’s a problem—the hybrid’s curse. Cami’s touch, skin to skin, proves near fatal to her and all immortals, Joseph included.

But the fated lovers discover her curse is the least of their concerns when a friend’s deadly betrayal threatens to tear them apart forever.


Author Bio:
Abbey MacMunn writes paranormal, fantasy and sci fi romance. She lives in Hampshire, UK with her husband and their four children. She is a proud member of the Romantic Novelists’ Association.
When she’s not writing, she likes to watch films and TV shows – anything from rom-coms to superheroes to science fiction movies.

Excerpt:
Joseph wore a faded, black T-shirt which clung to his well-toned pecs, and hip-hugging, worn jeans. A silver chain around his neck and two leather bracelets hinted at a ‘bad boy rock star’ image that somehow didn’t befit his formal, authoritative manner.

Cami swallowed. Just her type. Not that she’d dated many bad-boy rock star types, but still...

Among her disastrous relationships to date were Bad-Breath Barry from the village Post Office, who’d been sweet but oh so boring, and still lived with his overbearing mother—always a bad sign. And Shaun, the prematurely-balding, assistant manager at Morrisons—a total wet lettuce who thought himself God’s gift to women and whose only interest was getting his leg over. Sex with Shaun had been… ahem, experimental; what she’d ever seen in him escaped her now. But living in a tiny village with the average age of its frail population working out at seventy-two, the pickings were slim to say the least.

Funny thing was, she didn’t know she had a type until now. And she was looking right at him.

Joseph scrubbed the back of his neck and massaged his shoulder. She imagined those massive shoulders of his were stiff as a board by the way he held them rigid all the time.

She zeroed in on the tattoo on Joseph’s wrist and followed the thick veins snaking up his forearm. The way his muscles flexed hypnotised her, quickened her pulse. The guy oozed sex appeal with his Mr. Dark and Moody persona. If only he cracked a smile now and then.



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