Celebrate a Belated Mardi Gras and the Release of Laisser le Rouleau du Bon Dom...

...with a slice of king cake!

Mardi Gras came early this year, the twelfth of February, but we can still celebrate with this week's release of my book, Laisser le Rouleau du Bon Dom, my contemporary BDSM, Mardi-Gras-themed novella.

Many people over the years have asked me why I chose New Orleans as my home. I grew up in a small town on the Central Coast of California. We had a university there with many professors from New Orleans.  In the late seventies, they--with the help of many locals looking for an excuse to party and satirize a little--started Mardi Gras in San Luis Obispo, California.

I grew up attending that Mardi Gras every year, and most years I was in the parade. Even as a small child, I rode on floats, walked and threw beads, or even roller-skated.

After some nearly-notorious riots one year around the university, the event was cancelled, but those who had organized and developed Mardi Gras, California style, had already instilled in me a love for the culture, revelry, and food of New Orleans. That was why, in 2001, I bought a house on the Internet and moved here.

I always try in my books to show my love for this city. I attempt to go beyond the facade of Bourbon Street and travel into the neighborhoods and meet the local characters that make this city so wonderful. I hope I've done it again in Laisser le Rouleau du Bon Dom.

Available at All Romance ebooks and Amazon:

To celebrate the release, I'm running a contest! The prize is a king cake from Haydel's bakery, a local tradition, shipped right to the winner's home. This is open to US residents only, please. a Rafflecopter giveaway

So tell me, what do you love about Mardi Gras or New Orleans? Any questions you've been dying to ask someone from here?

A Great Time - Olde City, New Blood

I had the pleasure of attending Olde City, New Blood this past weekend, as a featured author.

OCNB was a weekend mini-con in St. Augustine, Florida, focused on urban fantasy and paranormal romance. Readers and authors rubbed elbows all weekend, and it was a great time. This was the first year of its existence, but from everyone I talked to, it was a resounding success, so I’m hopeful it will become an annual event. If it does, I can surely recommend it.

Aside from the fact I got to hang out with friends and meet some enthusiastic readers, I also got to meet and chat with authors I greatly admire like Amy Lane, Mary Calmes, Damon Suede, TC Blue, Poppy Dennison, Lori Toland and the always fabulous Kiernan Kelly. 

Before you start wondering if this was a m/m conference… Nope. We only made up a small portion of the authors there. A number of other UF/PNR authors were in attendance – too many to list here, but I had the pleasure of speaking on panels with Laura Kaye, Hildie McQueen, Elisabeth Naughton, Lexi George, Cynthia Eden and many more. In fact, that was one of the best things about this con.

The panels consisted of a range of authors: New York Times bestsellers, small published, e-published, m/m, YA – the whole gamut, and I felt the m/m contingent was incorporated seamlessly and equally. The panels I spoke on included: the growing popularity of m/m, world building, paranormal characters beyond vampires and werewolves, and sweet vs. spicy romance. It was exciting to be able to answer questions from a m/m romance perspective, and have those answers contrast or complement the answers from authors who are considered more main stream.

I can only hope I held my own, but I know Damon and Amy (who are both waaaay more eloquent than I am) did wonders to increase converts to m/m romance. One of the best panels included both Amy and Damon, and was essentially Fiction Improv. The panelists were given some very basic information about plot and genre randomly contributed by the audience, and they had to make up a story on the spot – a few sentences apiece from each author before the next author would pick up and add their own spin. It was clever and hilarious.  I just wish I could recall everyone who was on the panel, because they were incredible. Let me just say this… platypus-shifter infestation in space. That's a book waiting to happen!

For my own personal pimpage… I took my super purple abs everywhere! Partly because my Loose Id books are my paranormal ones, and partly because who wouldn’t want those lovely purple abs anywhere and everywhere?

All in all, it was a fun weekend, an excellent con, and hopefully a few more readers were made aware of the many different fiction options available to them.

KC Burn

On Writing: The Essence and Passion of a Story

Last year Pixar storyboard artist Emma Coats tweeted 22 rules of storytelling. Now that I’m knee-deep into a first draft again (writing the sequel to my m/m/m menage MORE), I keep going back to some of those tips she mentioned when it comes to the basics of storytelling.

Two of my favorites are:
 

“Why must you tell THIS story? What's the belief burning within you that your story feeds off of? That's the heart of it.” -- Emma Coats

“What's the essence of your story? Most economical telling of it? If you know that, you can build out from there.” -- Emma Coats

 

I think these go hand in hand when writing a first draft. I have to know the basics of what I’m trying to say and I have to be driven to share that story. I believe if the author lacks a passion for writing any particular story, the readers can tell.

When first starting a novel-length book, if I don’t have a firm grasp on the core concept of the story as well as the passion to tell that story, I stumble my way through the first draft, going back over the plot outline and who the characters are at their core until I land on the truth of what I’m trying to say.

Some questions I ask myself:

- Who are these men? What do they believe about love? What goals do they have in life? What are their biggest dreams? What are their biggest fears? All of these can help drive the plot.

- What are the basics of the plot in one sentence? One paragraph?

- What is the ending of the story? What happens just before the ending? How are the characters emotionally impacted by the conclusion of the plot?

- What in my own life (what experiences, dreams, hopes, imaginations) is influencing me to write this story?

- What is it about my own beliefs and passions about living life that stirs me to write this story about these characters?

For me the journey of discovering all this is what makes storytelling such a powerful, enjoyable experience. It may stretch out the process of writing that initial draft, but I think my stories would not be the same (and neither would I) without it.

You can read the full list of Coats’s tweets here:
The 22 rules of storytelling, according to Pixar
 


Award-winning author Sloan Parker writes passionate, dramatic stories about two men (or more) falling in love. Sloan enjoys writing in the fictional world because in fiction you can be anything, do anything...even fall in love for the first time over and over again. She lives in Ohio with her partner and their neurotic cats where her greatest moments in life are spent with her family, her friends, and her characters. You can learn more about Sloan and her writing at www.sloanparker.com.