As part of KDP Select Not Really Mr. Smith will be free to download on August 4 and 5
Not Really Mr. Smith
Not Really Mr. Smith is pending at Amazon and up at Smashwords. I am very pleased with this cover. Now to get the Vampire formatted to follow!
Sometimes Life
While I am waiting on the MG to be sliced apart by Tom I returned to Mr. Smith. I am aware that my constant moving from one book to another can appear as crazy because that is probably what it is. I have such a volume of work cluttering up notebooks that I get afraid I won’t be able to finish them all before life finishes me so I am constantly working on something—until today.
Today I decided to take a small break before starting a new chapter and went to catch up on the news of the world. I wish I hadn’t because what I discovered was the senseless death of 87 Norwegians. This tragedy makes romance seem a bit trite as you come to your senses with a sharp jolt. My struggles with a chapter are nothing compared to the realities that life loves to throw at us. Instead I will spend the rest of the day saddened by the random violence of one who believed they had the right to harm others.
Romancing the Adventure
Mr. Smith is becoming problematic, not because of lack of content but more in keeping the content believable. When I write fantasy, even though I try to be original, I am still somewhat bound by the canon of the genre. The backlash against sparkling vampires reinforced that quite clearly. While I didn’t adhere to the Hollywood version of vampires I did nothing to sanitise them. Civilise yes—sanitise no. With this book I knew from the start there was going to be some adventure and some intrigue. I used to enjoy reading romantic adventure—much of it excellent fun. Though when it was bad it was very, very bad. I classify bad adventure as when the scenario became improbable. The rescue in the nick of time as the bad guy was busy with his half hour exposition into the proposed violence. The ridiculous situations that had the potential lovers wind up naked in a cabin in the woods. With fantasy I tried to be meticulous in all aspects, including the impact of modern security and forensic technology upon our world. It’s not easy being a vampire if security cameras are going to watch your every move. There needs to be a counter balance. In this particular romance I wanted to create dangerous, believable situations so the reader could appreciate the adventure as realistic, fun and not outlandish. That doesn’t mean they won’t wind up naked in the cabin in the woods—but it won’t be a vampire that drove them there.
Not Really Mr. Smith
I started this as a distraction when I needed a rest from editing the epic fantasy. Well it is not so much an epic as an endless task. So far I have completed a third of part one and have to admit I love the premise of the romance. It was meant to be a straight romance but I can’t seem to get my teeth into that genre, I always want to tweak things here and there. Next thing I know, I have a romantic intrigue on my hands with the outline for a cosy mystery as a follow up.
I am in the middle of editing which means my mind keeps wandering back to the intriguing Mr. Smith. As usual I did everything wrong when approaching romance. I looked up several sites offering advice and discovered after three chapters that romance is supposed to be from the POV of the heroine. Well that was annoying! For while she was quirky–weird actually–he was the character I was invested in. I find writing male characters difficult so spend weeks bothering every man I know with questions. Every time my character does something I get on the phone asking if it was feasible. I like romance, it makes adventure more fun, intrigue more risk, comedy have a point, but I dislike men who talk and act like women. When I did some research I found books with all these huge conversations about feelings and intricate plans of courtship. I wanted to write a romance, one that satisfies the romantic urges of the reader but still keep it real enough not to be silly. So enter the POV of the heroine, hopefully she will keep that Mr. Smith in line, even if he doesn’t spend hours discussing the finer points of courtship.
