40 for 40 - Lynn Raye Harris.

I can remember so clearly when I first saw today's guest, Lynn Raye Harris.  She was a finalist in the 2008 Romance Writers of America’s Golden Heart® contest, and then the winner of the Harlequin Presents Instant Seduction contest.  At that year's RWA Conference I was at a Harlequin event when I saw her standing against on the opposite side of the room - that long blonde hair is  so recognisable - so I went up and introduced myself.  She had had the news that she had won the Instant Seduction contest but she was in the throes  of revisions - and more revisions.  I know that one of the things I said was to reassure her that revisions were a part of life, not the end of the world.  The book would work - and it did. That was the story that became Spanish Magnate; Red Hot Revenge which was published in August 2009.

Since then I've met up with Lynn too rarely but it's always been fun. We've bonded over fries and garlic mayo in  Washington. She's charmed my husband at several dinners in London. And I've met her delightful, handsome husband when he came to London with her for AMBA. And in the meantime, that one difficult book has  been the start of what is now a successful, almost twenty book career.  I missed seeing Lynn at RWA this year - so I'm delighted to welcome her onto my blog today.

Here's Lynn -

I’m so thrilled to be here sharing with Kate and the Babe Magnet in their monumental anniversary month!  Though I live in America, I am lucky enough to say I’ve spent time with Kate and her wonderful husband – and my husband and I even got to have dinner with them on one lovely October night in London!  Yay!

So I thought I’d tell you how I met my husband.  It was a long time ago and I was seventeen.  He was nineteen.  Though we are both American, we met on a U.S. military base in Germany.  I’d just moved there with my family.  Mr. Harris (as I always refer to him online) was at his very first military assignment as a new recruit.

Oh, we were young.  So young.  I might have never met him except that my next-door neighbor was dating his roommate, and one night when we were at a dance at the Officer’s Club, she asked me to pop over to the barracks with her to see if her boyfriend was home.

He was not, but Mr. Harris was.  We woke him up, in fact.  He was a mid-shift worker and on an odd schedule.  It was kind of an awkward meeting, poor thing, as he was groggy.  But just about an hour later, he showed up at the club with my neighbor’s boyfriend, wide-awake and with that particular gleam in his eye that said he was interested in me.  (The neighbor’s boyfriend was too, but that’s another story.)

Was it love at first sight?  No.  He was cute though.  Tall, green eyes, brown hair, and absolutely hilarious.  He made me laugh and he looked hot in uniform.  When he worked up the courage to ask me out a couple of weeks later, I said yes.

 

The rest, as they say, is history.  We’ve moved around the world together and had a lot of fun.  I

wouldn’t change a thing.  In just a few days, on the 26^th of July, it will be the 28^th anniversary of the day we met.  I can hardly believe it!

To celebrate all these lovely anniversaries, I’m going to give away an ebook.  My very first military romantic suspense is out right now, yay!  I’ve finally put all those years with the military to good use. 

To be entered to win, just leave a comment and tell me if you like a guy in uniform…

 

Here’s a little bit about HOT PURSUIT –

The last man she ever wanted to see…

Evie Baker’s luck just ran out. Thanks to an ex-partner with organized crime ties, she’s lost her restaurant, her money, and nearly all her self-respect. Forced to return to her hometown and work as a shampoo girl in her mother’s salon, she doesn’t think her luck can get any worse.

But then someone starts shooting at her, her sullen baby sister is suddenly missing, and the high school heartthrob who stole her heart—and her virginity—is the only man big enough and bad enough to help.

Might be the only one who can save her…

Captain Matt “Richie Rich” Girard can’t afford to get involved. He’s already on the verge of a court-martial after a Top Secret op gone wrong, and he’s been ordered to stay out of trouble while he’s home for his sister’s wedding.

But when Evie’s ex-partner turns up dead, staying out of trouble is the last thing on Matt’s mind. He failed Evie once before; he can’t fail her again. If he’s going to protect her from a killer, and find her sister before time runs out, he’ll have to risk his entire future—and both their lives—to do it.

Things are about to get HOT in the bayou!

Come visit me at www.LynnRayeHarris.com for more information on all my books!
You can buy Hot Pursuit here:

Amazon
Nook
iTunes
Kobo 
Smashwords

I have another question to answer - or rather two questions, both from Johanna. But as they're really both parts of the same question and the answers tangle together, I'm going to deal with them together -


Johanna says:




We're told to 'raise the stakes' and create really strong conflicts for our characters, but do you ever worry that they might not be able to overcome their problems in order to find a HEA? (I ask this from the stance of someone who's dug herself into several holes that she couldn't get out of!)

Oh yes I worry that my characters might not overcome their problems and I might not get them out of that hole easily - often- but I really believe that that's when you have created a real 'dig deeper' gut twisting, soul wrenching conflict for yourself - and your characters. One that can create a dynamite story. And one then that can be sustained right through the book, changing, developing, adding more complications until you resolve it at the end. For me that is often the start of a book - and the challenge in writing it - the fact of digging a hole for my characters and chucking them into it and then seeing how the heck I get them out of there.
But you asked about the resolution and that 'how the heck I get them out of there' is very important - vital here.

You see it depends how they got in that hole. Did you decide just to put them in there - or did they dig the hole for themselves?

If that hole your characters are in is purely a plot device - you as the author put them in there because it seems like a great idea. It will make a great scene, create a great conflict, then it may well prove impossible to resolve that particular conflict because it is one that hasn't grown organically from your characters. It hasn't developed from who they are, what they believe in and why they are feeling the way they are right now. But it it's a hole that that they've dug for themselves, by the things they've said, the way they've acted through the story then looking (again) at why they've behaved as they do, asking them questions, how are they feeling, why have they reacted in that way, what could make it worse, what could make it better will usually find a way out of it.

I think that a lot of the answer to this question comes with the answer to another one you asked: after reading a comment Lynn Raye Harris had written on the Pink Heart Society blog, you quoted:


"What the editors had done for me on the continuity was think very long and hard about the internal conflicts of the characters. They gave me a roadmap of events that needed to occur, of course, but the internal conflict was so strong there could be little doubt how my characters would behave when confronted by the external events."



and said : This made me wonder, could you maybe list a few examples of good strong inner conflicts? to help us differentiate between a strong one and a weak one. (Asking this feels a bit like asking you to come up with an idea for a book, so maybe it's too much to ask!) But it was just an idea I had, because I often come up with story ideas, then find halfway through the book that they're too weak on their own, not strong enough to fill a whole book.

I'm not actually going to list what I think are 'good strong inner conflicts' - not because I'm mean or because I don't have the time (I don't really but that's another matter!) but because I want you to look at this problem from a different angle. I'm going to say that if an inner conflict peters out halfway through a book, if it's 'not strong enough to fill a whole book' then probably the problem lies, as it usually does in most conflicts that go wrong, with not knowing your characters enough.




Because the truth is that a conflict that is important enough to your hero or heroine, one that goes deep into their character, their beliefs, their values, is one that they re not going to give up one, concede on very easily.

Take a look again at what I said and then what Anne McAllister says about The Virgin's Proposition in an earlier post: There is the basic conflict that I looked at, Anne's additions - what complicates that orginal conflict and then changes it as her hero and heroine get to know each other - and then there is this important line -

It usually comes down to a question, at the end, of "what one of them wants the most, the other fears the most" for whatever reason. It's real conflict on a gut level that comes from externals (the real world), internals (past experience) and the now which is: are they able to love each other unreservedly and give the other what each of them needs. Love is always a risk. And they have to find the courage to take it.




Because even when the external conflict and some of the internal conflicts are taken away, there is still this one huge emotional conflict - Love is always a risk.

I think in real life, we all find that out anyway. Even with the easiest and most straight forward of romantic relationships, ones where we meet our 'other half' and look forward to happy ever after, there is always that risk - that worry for some, fear for others, doubt, uncertainty that will the other person feel the same? For most of us, thankfully, there is no other conflict complicating that risk, but if you add in the other emotional conflicts that we write into a story then as Anne says, everything combines - externals (the real world), internals (past experience) and the now to create a real conflict on a gut level.

For me the real answer to a sustained lasting, strong conflict is that you know your characters deeply and intimately. You know why they act and feel as they do, why something is a conflict to them - something that may not be a conflict to anyone else. You know why they actually feel that, no matter how fiercely attracted they are to this one person (their hero or heroine) deep down inside they really feel that this person is absolutely the wrong person for them to fall in love with - or they are absolutely the wrong person for that other to fall in love with. Usually this is because they don't know the other person - or themselves - well enough. They think they are acting in one way because it's the only way.



You as their author know that there is another way but they just can't see it. Your job is to create reasons why they just can't see it and why - slowly, perhaps painfully, stumblingly , they come to realise that other way. I say slowly painfully because I have never ever believe in the 'quick conversion' - the 'Road to Damascus' conversion where, say, the hero, having believed that the heroine is a slut and a gold-digger suddenly sees that she is doing all this for her sick mother/father/baby brother . . . and sees the light in a blinding flash. That's the 'rabbit out of a hat' resolution and I can never believe in their happy ever after ending. Happy for now perhaps, but the reasons for the way he thought of her like that are still there - in him. Because they came from him and there hasn't been a fundamental change in him, only someone giving him proof he can't deny. It is that fundamental change that you are looking for. And it comes about purely because he has met this other person and wants to change for them.


But being a fundamental change, people don't do that easily. They resist it, fight it all the way, try to change then fall back into their 'default' position. Each couple of steps forward has a balancing step backward because this thing that they are groping towards - Love - is such a risk.


The initial conflict starts off the story but gradually that story becomes one of resisting the inevitable - so that along with the 'fight' over whatever conflict you have set up you have the emotional conflict which is that person fighting themselves because they don't want to take that blind leap out of the plane and into the unknown when they have no idea whether their parachute (ie the other person's feelings) will even open for them and they might crash to their (emotional) death. Because somewhere through that stumbling journey they have reached a point where there's no turning back . Where they can't walk away, never look back because they will always leave a part of themselves in the hands of (metaphorically) this person. So the original conflict morphs into this particular, very personal, very internal, very emotional conflict - which is the real reason why your reader is reading the book - for the emotional journey.


The way to follow your characters on that journey is to know them as well and as deeply as you can.


And - you knew it was coming - always, always, keep on asking WHY?

To go back to your original question, for me there's a special thrill in knowing that my characters - and I - have got themselves into such a hole it's going to be tough, painful and emotional to get them outof there. But I love that challenge. The challenge of finding out just why they are in this situation, what can help them get out of there - and how - and why that will come about.

It isn't always easy but those challenging 'holes' often create the best stories if you don't let yourself lose your courage and run away from them.

(C)Kate Walker

Favourite Kate Walker - Lynne Raye Harris

As I promised, today is a post in that irregular series - My Favourite Kate Walker. I have rather neglected this as a result of pressure of work/life/everything else but I'm still keeping an eye on it for the celebration of 25 years since my first book ever was published. If you have an absolute favourite of my books, feel free to let me know about it and you might see your post on this blog.

Today's author is someone else who has had a difficult week with a husband in hospital and then back home - so I'm sending her a hug and a smile (and a gentler one for her husband!) So let me introduce you to Lynn Raye Harris.

Many of you will recall that Lynn won the very first Presents Instant Seduction contest back in 2008 and when I first met her at the RWA conference in San Francisco she was halfway towards being convinced that her book just wasn't going to make it as she dealt with the revisions asked of her.

She says I gave her the advice she needed- well, that was simply that revisions are a fact of life for all authors from first book to 100th and beyond. I'm surprised that she gave any credit to what I said as I believe I was dressed in my pajamas at the time - this was at the eHarlequin PJ party after all. I liked Lynn from the start and we bonded even more the following year when we shared a wonderful dish of fries and garlic sauce in a Washington restaurant. I'm only sorry that I won't make it to RWA this year so we can meet up again .

Here's Lynn:

As a new author for Harlequin Presents/Mills & Boon Modern, I have to tell you all that I was a bit apprehensive about joining this illustrious family of writers. What would they think of me? Could I possibly talk to any of them without descending into fangirl stuttering? Would my stories live up to the promise of the line?

Kate Walker was the second Presents/Modern author I met in person, and the first I talked to when I was on the verge of selling. I will never forget her kindness or her bubbly personality. She treated me like I was already a member of the fold. And she gave me exactly the right advice at exactly the right moment. I went home and got to work – and then sold my first book shortly thereafter.

So when Kate asked if I could talk about my favorite Kate Walker book for her 25th anniversary, I said yes! Except that I can’t talk about my favorite Kate Walker book because I enjoy them all so much that I can’t pick a favorite. I really can’t! Whether Kate is writing sheikhs or Greeks or Sicilians or (pick your favorite hero), I love them all.

(In fact, I’m currently rereading AT THE SHEIKH’S COMMAND – oh yum!)

But I can talk about one of Kate’s stories that gave me an aha moment as a writer: SPANISH BILLIONAIRE, INNOCENT WIFE. Alannah and Raul’s story is so intense that you just can’t stop turning the pages. What did I learn from this book? I learned how finely one can spin out the emotions of a character, how intense the suspense can be when one character needs to tell the other a dark secret and doesn’t want to do so. I learned about the deep ache of thwarted love, and how two people can want each other so much and still not think it will ever work out.

That book was intense, y’all! Steamy and dark and so emotional that I was biting my lip as I kept turning those pages. But you know how it turns out, even if you haven’t yet read it. Alannah and Raul get their happy ever after, though it’s an emotional trip to the end. It was the kind of book where you close it and can’t immediately begin another because you need to think for a while.

I hope I put half that emotion into my books! And if I do, I surely learned how by studying Kate’s work. Many congratulations, Kate, on twenty-five years of excellent storytelling. I hope you keep telling stories for another twenty-five years!

Thank you Lynn! I 'd love to think I have another 25 years' writing ahead of me!

Lynn has a couple of books out this month - so look out for them. The Prince's Royal Concubine - which uses one of my favourite themes in a romance, the way that the weather (in this case a huge storm) traps the hero and heroine together so that they are forced to face up to their conflict because there is literally nowhere to go. It makes for an intense and claustrophobic atmosphere - is out in Presents in America and The Devil's Heart is on the shelves now in the UK. I know it is because I bought my own copy yesterday. Just need a little time to read it.

You can find out more about Lynn and her books here

The sun is shining

Sometimes it seems that the atmosphere around is - well, let's just say subdued.

Hard work.

Lacklustre.

(And no I'm not just talking about the performance of the English football team in the World Cup. Well, OK- yes, I am -partly. If you'd shared Father's Day with the Babe Magnet and the Offspring yesterday you couldn't really have missed the mood of disappointment. )


I know several people for whom it's been a pretty hard week in other ways and my heart goes out to them and with appalling oil leaks, the promise of a 'pain' budget here in the UK and - well, yes the prospect of another England versus someone World Cup match coming up the euphoria of early summer seems to be dissipating fast.

So I'm going to try and change the mood a bit and think about good news (there must be some) or at least celebrate the fact that the sun is shining so I'm hoping to post some day brighteners or at least mood lifters for a few days. And I hope you'll join in.



I spent the weekend in a concentrated effort to get my office really cleaned and sorted out - I'd post a before and after photo but I really don't want anyone to know just how bad it had got. Believe me, it was bad. I also did all my accounts - not just the ones that need to go to my accountant tomorrow, but also getting them up to date for June! Which gives me a head start on next year.


That is such a relief. Perhaps that's what made me feel as if I had a weight off my shoulders this morning. And the sun was shining - see, I'm determined to mention the good things.

One of those good things, for anyone who knows how much I like shoes, is the fact that when I went into town I spotted some beautiful gold Grecian style sandals that I had almost bought last week but decided they were too expensive - but today they were in the sale at 50% off the original price . . . Guess, what I'm wearing right now! OK, so it's not important in the grand scheme of things - but it made me smile.

The sun is shining, the roses in my garden are looking spectacular this year - glorious in a way that brightens my day whenever I look in the garden. And over on Amazon, even though it isn't actually on sale in the shops yet, I spotted that my July release The Good Greek Wife is already moving nicely up the sales charts so some of you are already getting you hands on your copies. Which is more than I've done! My author copies haven't appeared yet - but that's something to look forward to.

One thing that sorta got buried is the fact that I'm still celebrating my 25 years of publication. So tomorrow I'm remedying that by posting another in that irregular series of 'My Favourite Kate Walker book.' Who's going to be the guest blogger? Well, one of the other things I bought in town was a copy of a brand new M&B Modern Romance titled The Devils Heart. . . . Come back and find out more tomorrow.


So what about you? Is the sun shining where you are? Or even if it's pouring with rain - snowing - what is there to brighten your day? Why don't you share this week.


Have you read a really great book or seen a fantastic film? We could all do with recommendations. I've just been watching the same film 3 times over but in different versions - it's all to do with the book I'm writing. Tell you more when I can.



So why not join in the day brightener posts? Please leave a comment if you have something to smile about. And you never know I might get Sid the Cat on the job of picking a few names to brighten some people's days even more. That is if I can get him to come inside - he's found a patch of sunlight with his name on it and is curled up in the garden enjoying the warmth. That, and the fact that it's almost teatime, is all he needs to brighten his day.

WH 2 and other stuff - like contest winners!

Thank you all for your comments on the latest production of Wuthering Heights. I was glad to know that others agreed with me - having read some surprisingly (to me) positive reviews for thge programme. But then that's one of the things about books and dramas - and particularly about adaptations. Some work for some people and miss completely for others. I should know. The Modern Romance/Presents line comes up against this problem all the time.

I did watch the second part of Wuthering Heights but I was disappointed with that too. It was strange because there were some times when the actor who played Heathcliff showed real power - and then other times that I found myself thinking that there is a big difference between playing some who is 'stony -faced' and looking as emotional as a brick wall.

For me, the major problem ended up being the script. It really wasn't an adaptation of Wuthering Heights but a reworking and whether you love the original book or hated it, that was what Emily Bronte wrote so taking major liberties with the story/characters/events isn't a dramatisation of her novel. It's a whole new concept. And one that just didn't work for me. But then it was advertised as a drama of the greatest love stories of all time so that's what they tried to make it.

It's September 1st so that means that Sid has been busy picking a winner's name for the Summer Sizzler contest. Obviously he and Michelle Reid's husband are in psychic contact becasue they both picked the same name - so Susan Wilson from Ayrshire is very definitely the winner. I sent Sid back to the crunchie choosing (he didn't object) and this time he picked out the name of Summer Halls from Canada.

So Susan and Summer both win a signed copy of my September book Kept For Her Baby and Michelle's Marchese's Forgotten Bride. Congratulations to both of you and your prizes will be in the mail asap.

Finally, if you're interested in writing for Presents and have plans to enter the current Presents Writing Competition (and I know plenty of you are) then you'll want to head over to Lynn Raye Harris's blog where she's running a series of posts that could help you.

Lynn of course won the Instant Seduction writing competition last year and her winning boko - Spanish Magnate, Red-Hot Revenge was published in August (you can probably still find copies around if you missed it) Lynn is posting hints and advice under the title So You Want to Write For Harlequin Presents, staring with the very basic - and important - why do you want to write for Presents. And today she has a great post on the Alpha hero. All the posts are well worth reading - and not just because she recommends reading some book called The 12 Point Guide to Writing Romance. So why not go and take a look and maybe join in the discussion.

Tell Lynn the 'divine' Kate sent you . . . ;o)

Tote Bag of Books Presents Special - Lynn Raye Harris

Today's Tote Bag author is a brand-new signing to the line. Last year Lynn Raye Harris won the Harlequin Presents Instant Seduction contest and this year her very first book Spanish Magnate Red Hot Revenge is out in the shops in August.

Welcome to Presents - and to the blog, Lynn.

I am so thrilled to be a new Harlequin Presents author. I just can’t describe to you the feelings when I knew my book would be published. Not only because an editor wanted to buy my book, but also because Harlequin Presents were THE books to read when I was a teen. I loved them so much, and I never imagined that my life would turn out like this. That I, a kid from the southern United States, would grow up to write the most elegant, gorgeous, glamorous books imaginable. I still have to pinch myself!

When I sat down to write this blog post for the awesome Kate Walker (and I’m still hyperventilating over the fact she invited me to do so!), I was thinking hard about my next book and wondering what the characters really wanted. See, I have a situation, but I have no idea WHY this thing has happened.

I often begin books this way. In fact, Spanish Magnate, Red-Hot Revenge began in my head with a simple picture of a woman in a hotel room, receiving very bad news about her company over the telephone. Then I had to think why this happened, why the hero was the one taking her company away, and what they each wanted from the situation. Sometimes, I know right away. Other times, I have to dig really hard before the characters tell me their reasons.

But that’s all part of the fun. Discovering who these people are and what they want is a journey that never gets tiring (though it can be frustrating when the answers don’t come easily). I am so lucky to be a part of this wonderful line that features the most dynamic, complex, and sexy men on the planet. Add in a courageous heroine who refuses to accept the hero’s way of thinking or his plans for her, and you’ve got a fabulous adventure that gallops across the (too short) pages. As a reader, each time I close a Presents, I’m sorry it’s over – but I know there will be more fabulous stories to read very soon.

I hope you will enjoy my debut novel, and I hope it gives you that same feeling of satisfaction that I get every time I read a Harlequin Presents. While the story is my own, I was very aware of the hefty weight of tradition and the standards of excellence that I had to live up to if I wanted to see my book published. I hope I succeeded.

Lynn's Question:

For a little bit of fun, and the chance to win a signed book from me, what does Rebecca Layton do that shocks Alejandro de Ramirez once he’s told her he’ll demolish her favorite hotel before ever selling it back to her? You can find the answer on my website.

September - not August

Ok so Amazon got their facts wrong and as a result, so did I.


On Amazon.co.uk , they listed the upcoming publication date of my next book as August 21 and so that's the date I put on here and on my books page. As you 'll remember the way that the M&B Modern Romances are published is changing, with a new two week schedule coming up. Six of the books will be published on the first Friday of every month, and six more on the third Friday of each month.

So now, as well as knowing which month to look for a favourite author's books, readers need to be aware of the place in the schedule - first or third week - that that book appears. I'll always make sure that I give you the actual publication date just as soon as I know it. Or, rather, when I know I've got the right one.




Because Amazon was wrong when they listed August 21st as the publication date for Kept For Her Baby. The book is actually published on the first week in September date - ie September 4th. It was a good thing that I checked with my editor who confirmed this - and now apparently Amazon have changed the dates - they had everyone else's for that month on the wrong schedule too.

Oh well, I suppose it was to be expected that there would be a few teething problems with the new scheduling and everyone (authors included) will get used to it eventually

It's the same for American readers, though you've had the two week schedule - in a slightly different form - for a while now. There's the first week of publication when 8 books are published (2 of them UK Modern Heat titles) and then two weeks later there are the 4 extra books - Presents Extra, grouped in a themed collected. And that's where my American readers will find their copies of Kept For Her Baby - in the Presents Extra collection for October.

Clear as mud? Oh well I'll let you know when it's published - and as soon as I have the Presents cover I'll post it here too so you know what you're looking for.





One other thing - as I know a lot of writers aiming at publication with HM&B visit this blog - you should all be heading over to the I Heart Presents blog where there's an exciting announcement about the Harlequin Writing Competition 2009 that is just being launched.

And to go along with it there will be hints and advice from the editors to help you write your very best entry.



As you may remember last year Lynn Raye Harris won this contest and as a result her very first book Spanish Magnate, Red-Hot Revenge is coming in August. And Lynn is just one of the many fabulous authors who have given me prizes for my very special (and totally amazing) annual Tote Bag Full Of Books Contest which is coming up soon. This year's prizes really are fantastic. I'll tell you more about that soon - so watch this space!