Recently, I have become enamored of the writer Tanya Huff. In her "Valor" series, she portrays a tough as nails heroine that would definitely give my character Freya, a run for her money. Gunnery Sergeant Torin Kerr is a marine through and through and while she may take a second off here and there for lovin, she is all about kicking ass and keeping the troops in line through hell and back. In the vein of Ripley from the "Aliens" franchise, Sarah Connor from "Terminator" and Geena Davis' character in "The Last Kiss Goodnight," I have been obsessed with powerful female characters and how they balance themselves against Alpha males and Omega males.
Can an Alpha female really be romantic? If so, how do they maintain that balance of being able to submit to a male one moment and kick ass the next? It was my experiment in "A Guardian's Desire," and while erotic, I don't think that Freya ever reached the romantic stage. One of my biggest concerns when writing the book was that I didn't ever want her to soften. I wanted my female to be the hero, the white knight and come to the end just as bad ass as she was in the beginning.
The woman warrior, is not the only type of Alpha female, and just because a female is an Alpha doesn't mean that she has to be a hard ass killing machine, I suppose but she does have to be in control. It's femdom in short, and the more I read the more I want to write.
Out of curiousity, how do you feel about femdom, alpha females and romance? Any recommendations?
May 31, 2009
May 28, 2009
How my family knows I'm on a deadline
1. I'm using toothpicks to hold open my eyes so I can squeeze in one more page.
2. I'm talking to people they don't see and asking them why I had to write them doing such and such.
3. I ask the litterbox why it won't clean itself.
4. My hands seem permanently fused to the keyboard.
5. The kids don't recognize me unless I'm behind a laptop.
6. I count words in my sleep.
7. I have pizza delivery on speeddial and say, "Let them eat cake!" a lot. Hey, it's got wheat and eggs *blinks*.
8. The dog barks whenever I'm out of my desk chair because I do apparently have legs.
9. The grass grew around me while I was writing.
10. There is dust everywhere in my house BUT the laptop.
These are tongue in cheek. *Grins* but I am on a deadline LOL.
Mechele Armstrong aka Lany of Melany Logen
http://www.mechelearmstrong.com
http://www.melanylogen.com
2. I'm talking to people they don't see and asking them why I had to write them doing such and such.
3. I ask the litterbox why it won't clean itself.
4. My hands seem permanently fused to the keyboard.
5. The kids don't recognize me unless I'm behind a laptop.
6. I count words in my sleep.
7. I have pizza delivery on speeddial and say, "Let them eat cake!" a lot. Hey, it's got wheat and eggs *blinks*.
8. The dog barks whenever I'm out of my desk chair because I do apparently have legs.
9. The grass grew around me while I was writing.
10. There is dust everywhere in my house BUT the laptop.
These are tongue in cheek. *Grins* but I am on a deadline LOL.
Mechele Armstrong aka Lany of Melany Logen
http://www.mechelearmstrong.com
http://www.melanylogen.com
May 17, 2009
Elves, anyone?
I'm currently at work on the sixth installment of my Dark Elves series.
For those who don't know, this is the last book I plan to write about the elves. Now, that's not to say that I deny the possibility of returning to their world again. Far from it. I've spent a lot of time in that world now and it'd be a shame to waste it. But, I've taken the elves through over two centuries of time now and I've just about "finished" the story I set you to tell.
Ha. That makes it sound like I had it all planned out from the beginning. I cannot make that claim. Oh, I had ideas, but I can't say I had it all planned. When I wrote book 3, I left some clues toward a future that could be cool. I had some ideas in mind. But, my characters being my characters (read: belligerent, headstrong and too smart for their own good), they threw me some curve balls. Books 4, 5 and, now, 6 have some bits from what I'd planned but they've turned out to be much more. Which is way cool.
It's strange to me to be working on the end of the series that started off this writing stint for me. But, four years later for me and two centuries for them, the elves have taken me on quite a ride and, because of that, they are and always will be near to my heart.
So, be on the lookout for Dark Elves IV: Awakening later this year sometime. I hope you like it.
For those who don't know, this is the last book I plan to write about the elves. Now, that's not to say that I deny the possibility of returning to their world again. Far from it. I've spent a lot of time in that world now and it'd be a shame to waste it. But, I've taken the elves through over two centuries of time now and I've just about "finished" the story I set you to tell.
Ha. That makes it sound like I had it all planned out from the beginning. I cannot make that claim. Oh, I had ideas, but I can't say I had it all planned. When I wrote book 3, I left some clues toward a future that could be cool. I had some ideas in mind. But, my characters being my characters (read: belligerent, headstrong and too smart for their own good), they threw me some curve balls. Books 4, 5 and, now, 6 have some bits from what I'd planned but they've turned out to be much more. Which is way cool.
It's strange to me to be working on the end of the series that started off this writing stint for me. But, four years later for me and two centuries for them, the elves have taken me on quite a ride and, because of that, they are and always will be near to my heart.
So, be on the lookout for Dark Elves IV: Awakening later this year sometime. I hope you like it.
May 10, 2009
Mother's Day
First up, talk about being surprised when I went to the Loose Ends blog this morning. Please tell me it isn't true. Surely we haven't gotten to the 10th day of May and mine will be the first blog of the month. That saddens me because we (that being Loose-Id) have a killer group of writers and a truly loyal bunch of readers. I love my readers and see this site as a way of both telling them and hopefully reaching out to others.
That said, in a bold and intrusive way of getting to the getting, I want to leak a little info about a series I'm working on. The first Howl novella has been bought and revised and is waiting to be given a launch date. At the moment I'm working with my editor to hopefully whip the second one into shape and have #3 waiting in the back of my brain to be written. I love paranoral themes. I also dig wolves, not the 'fangs only come out at night kind' but real wolves. Toward that end, I've written several nonfiction articles for outdoor magazines about the controversial program that's re-introducing wolves to the U.S.
Now the great thing about fiction is that I can bypass all the pros and cons and simply place my wolves where I want them. But are they ordinary flesh and blood? Heck no. 'My' pack embodies human spirits and their task is to help guide mortals in facing the emotional demons in their lives and in the process find love and over the top sex. I don't do light. I've tried, honest I don't. But what turns me on are emotional burdens and characters who have no choice but to face them. Just thinking about what I can put future heros and heroines through makes me chortle in perverted glee.
And on that note, I'm off to don three hats--one as a daughter, another as a mother, and a third as a grandmother. Its going to be a full day. And if you're a mother, I wish you the same.
Vonna
www.VonnaHarper.com
That said, in a bold and intrusive way of getting to the getting, I want to leak a little info about a series I'm working on. The first Howl novella has been bought and revised and is waiting to be given a launch date. At the moment I'm working with my editor to hopefully whip the second one into shape and have #3 waiting in the back of my brain to be written. I love paranoral themes. I also dig wolves, not the 'fangs only come out at night kind' but real wolves. Toward that end, I've written several nonfiction articles for outdoor magazines about the controversial program that's re-introducing wolves to the U.S.
Now the great thing about fiction is that I can bypass all the pros and cons and simply place my wolves where I want them. But are they ordinary flesh and blood? Heck no. 'My' pack embodies human spirits and their task is to help guide mortals in facing the emotional demons in their lives and in the process find love and over the top sex. I don't do light. I've tried, honest I don't. But what turns me on are emotional burdens and characters who have no choice but to face them. Just thinking about what I can put future heros and heroines through makes me chortle in perverted glee.
And on that note, I'm off to don three hats--one as a daughter, another as a mother, and a third as a grandmother. Its going to be a full day. And if you're a mother, I wish you the same.
Vonna
www.VonnaHarper.com
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