Blogging is an opportunity for authors to connect with readers. Despite being writers, blogging is an entirely different style of writing and often stumps us. To help our authors blog consistently, thoughtfully and with purpose, Marketing for Romance Writers is announcing the 2018 Blog Challenge. Each week, authors use our writing prompt to create a meaningful blog post. We'll be posting every Friday... join us as often as possible.
Week 1: "How much of myself is in my writing"
When I first began writing, I poured my entire soul into my story. I was 15 when I wrote my first novel. The story was from a dream I'd had and although I gave the main character a different name, she was basically me. Mostly, everything about her was me. I also used writing as therapy. Well, I still do! But, I was an emotional mess as a teenager, dealing with my mother's death and my father's abandonment. I had no one to help me deal with any of that trauma, so I wrote about it. I'd create a character and throw all of my life's problems at her and see how she'd deal with it. Those stories often ended with happily-ever-after because that's what I desperately wanted for myself. In doing so, I think that's part of what made me fall in love with the romance genre. There is so much sadness and grief in real life. When I read fiction, I wanted to know for certain that the characters I invest my time in are going to have a satisfying end.
As my writing skills have grown, the amount of myself has lessened somewhat as I explore other elements and possibilities of the world, but my heart and soul is still in there woven between the scenes and characters. It's rather unavoidable, I think, for a writer to put something of him/herself into their writing.
The Merriweather Witches are a result of my love for the world of the paranormal. The 1960's TV drama, Dark Shadows, introduced me to vampires, witches, werewolves and many other supernatural creatures that ignited my imagination as a young child. That fascination grew and continues to grow to this day. So far, in my stories I have written of witches, werewolves, vampires, necromancers, and demons. Those are just in my published stories. I've just submitted an alien romance for a submission call and I'm in the process of writing a romance set in a world filled with zombies.
My other obsession is history. Dark Shadows might also have influenced me with history. There was time travel in that show, too, where they went back to Colonial and Victorian times. Although I have many favorite time periods, I've become fascinated with the Regency era and everything to do with pirates. This is also revealed in my writing. My newest pirate romance, To Kiss a Pirate, will be published in Pirates: A Boys Behaving Badly anthology coming out on February 27, 2018.
I agree, Tricia. There's so much sadness and grief in real life. When I read a novel, I want the characters to have a satisfying, if not happy ending. I'm so not into tragedy. I love historical and paranormal romance, too.
ReplyDeleteI agree, too. Early books are more likely to contain more of the writer, but as we gain skill, we can create characters who are less like us.
ReplyDeleteI agree. Even when writing paranormal fantasy full of creatures we are never likely to meet (one hopes :P) it's not possible for a writer to keep all of their personality out of their stories.
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