EQ Welcomes Diane Leyne!

Exquisite Quills Welcomes Diane Leyne for our Author Interview Series

EQ: Welcome to EQ! Tell us a little bit about yourself! 

Diane: I, my name is Diane Leyne.  I’ve been writing erotic romance for almost a year now.  I love to read.  I also love photography and travel.  I’ve been to more than twenty countries and hope to visit twenty more.  In May, I visited St. Maarten for the first time, and made it a jumping off point for the Libertine Island books.  Hopefully, I’ll be able to combine the two passions in the future.

EQ: What was your defining moment as a writer? 

Diane: I’m still pretty new at this.  I’ve made a couple of failed attempts to write a few times in the past, but last Christmas, I decided that, this time, I was going to finish and submit a story and I did.  In fact, I can be a bit OCD, so when I sent off the first novella, before I even got an answer back, I wrote and submitted three more.  I can’t tell you how exciting it was to get that first acceptance email from Siren.  I was at work and just over the moon with happiness.  I guess this is a long way of saying that my defining moment when I took a chance and, to paraphrase the words of Nike, “Just did it”

EQ:Describe how you came up with the plot of your novel. 

Diane: I have the basic plot in my head when I start writing, but not much more than that.  I know the beginning, I know the ending, and I know a few scenes in the middle.  For example, with “Claimed by Wolves”, I “saw” the scene where Samantha punishes Gabe for spying on her by putting a collar and leash on him and parading him through town and in front of his brothers.  He wanted to play the pet dog, so she decides to let him, but following her rules.  I usually figure out each section when I’m in transit to or from someplace like work.  I find that walking and riding the subway are great opportunities to work out the next section of the plot and then when I get home, I and start writing it.  Often, the characters go in directions or do things I didn’t expect when I started writing and I just have to go with it.

EQ: What kinds of female characters do you prefer to write? 

Diane: I like to think my female characters are strong women.  They don’t need a man or men to complete them.  They are with the men because they love them and their lives are fuller with the men in them, but they aren’t half a person or incomplete if they don’t have a man.  Even if they are subs, they don’t allow themselves to be pushed around, except, of course, during a scene.  Outside a scene, they are equals. The men may be protective, but they don’t give orders for day to day living, or if they do, the women set them straight.

EQ: Tell us a little bit about your most recent release.

Diane: My newest “Taken by Wolves”.  It’s the fourth in the Call of the Wolf series. 

I’m really proud of the “Call of the Wolf” series.  I’ve included serious topics in books before, but the “Call of the Wolf” books, even the first which is, in my opinion, quite funny, deals with issues of trust and taking a chance between Samantha and the McAllister brothers, particularly the Alpha, Gabe, whose trust issues spark the humour, as Sam won’t let him push her around. 

In the second book, Alex, the Alpha, is a wounded war vet and Lena, the Mate he walked away from, is the only one who can help him when he returns, but he’s ashamed to show himself and his injuries to her.  In the third book, the Penelope and heroes are dealing with a Mating Ceremony that won’t work and is a kind of allegory for infertility.  Their monthly attempts at the ceremony are turning sex into a chore and the frustration of failure is tearing them apart.

In book 3, there was also a sub-plot with a fire that was likely arson.  I revisit this in “Taken by Wolves”.  The fire was deliberate and part of a series of crimes against shifter.  Hate-crimes.  Samantha’s brothers come to town to see her and check out her Mates, but they have a second purpose.  They are tracking the purp who has now caused a death in one of the fires he has set.  In Harmony, they meet Ginger and fall hard, but they have a job to do, as well, and it has to come first.  The stakes escalate when all the signs point to the fact that the bad guy may live in Harmony and Ginger could be at risk.

Find out more about Diane Leyne and her titles:

Call of the Wolf 4, Taken by Wolves

 

http://www.bookstrand.com/diane-leyne

The Genesis of a Book - Lonely Places by A.L. Debran

Since today is Thanksgiving in the United States, it is the perfect backdrop for the genesis of my story.

The Genesis of Lonely Places

My first published novel, Lonely Places, is a western romance I started writing when I was 21. Over the next 30 years, I revisited the story time and again, altering the heroine’s name, nationality, backstory, and personal characteristics countless times. I knew the hero (more of an anti-hero) in my heart so well when I started writing that his story never changed. I just deepened his angst and gave him nastier inner demons to fight. As I matured, the story matured with me, all the while continuing to reflect—and sometimes mirror—my life at any given time, which is why the heroine grew and changed along with me.

Lonely Places is the work of my heart into which I poured my fears, my anger, my hopefulness in the face of hopelessness and, ultimately, my loneliness. When I actually put ideas to paper and began writing the story, I'd been married for three years, my oldest child was an infant, and I would have two more children by the age of 25. I was also 'raising' a husband who was hell-bent on not growing up. He never did. We divorced on our 10th anniversary (a satisfying bit of situational irony). Then a new chapter of my life began, and that involved all the challenges of being a single mother who went to college and then embarked upon a career in education.

In many aspects, I am the heroine of the story, including the head injury with permanent memory loss, finding my way in the dark hours of loneliness, and discovering I could keep going even when I didn’t think it possible to see another day dawn. Working on Lonely Places all those years was therapeutic, and ever present was my hope to publish it someday.

That moment arrived in June of 2006 when Cobblestone Press opened its cyber doors. Lonely Places was the first historical/western Cobblestone published, and it was included in their launch month. It’s published under my first pen name, A.L Debran. To Cobblestone Press publishers, I am forever thankful and grateful they took a chance on an aspiring author of a novel that head-hopped like an Easter rabbit. My editor, with a heart full of patience and determination to teach me the ropes of romance writing, held my hand every edited scene of the way.

As a point of interest—dating myself here—I hand-wrote the original draft on reams of notebook paper. I was so proud when I typed it out for the first time…using a manual typewriter with carbon paper so I’d have a copy (really, really). Many hand-written revisions later, I typed it again on an electric typewriter, also using carbon paper. When I discovered computers, 5-inch floppy disks, and Word Perfect, let me tell you, I did a happy dance.

This is the dedication in Lonely Places:

To my children - Heath, Robyne, and Cameron –

Without you, there would have been many lonely places in my life

While I’ve come a satisfyingly long way emotionally, psychologically, and creatively since the first draft of Lonely Places, loneliness remains a theme that runs through all my stories. I can’t let it go, even though I conquered that demon years ago. For me, there’s a difference in being alone, being lonesome, and being lonely. I can deal with the first two, but when I encounter loneliness, it still hurts me down deep in a dark place I don’t like to visit, and not just for me, but in a broader humanity sense. I include animals in my loneliness spectrum, which is why I have rescue pets, and why I feed stray cats. ;-)

Thanks for letting me share the genesis of my story.

Kaye

Blurb

 

Northeastern Colorado 1890

An unknown gunman takes Elliotte Sorin's memories with a bullet that was meant to kill her. Beau Hyatt saves her. Memories haunt him from his gunfighter past, and while he can’t give her the love she deserves, neither can he let her go. In her loneliness, Elliotte turns to Liam Mederi who offers his love along with a home and the family she so desperately wants. When deadly jealousy rages between the two men, the inevitable confrontation threatens to destroy more than one innocent life.

Fall in love…faster, harder, deeper with Kaye Spencer romances

www.kayespencer.com

Links:

Amazon Author Central

A.L. Debran — http://www.amazon.com/author/aldebran

Kaye Spencer — http://www.amazon.com/author/kayespencer

YouTube Channel — http://www.youtube.com/user/kayespencer?feature=mhee

First Kiss Wednesday

Kisses are the mainstay of romance writing.  No matter how sweet or spicy our stories are, they usually involve at least a kiss or two.  And the first kiss is especially lovely - that first, soft touch of lips - or perhaps the kiss is fierce and hungry.  Maybe the characters murmur words of love or words of teasing while discovering the texture and taste of each other.  Maybe the only sounds they can emit are gentle, timorous moans or deep, throaty groans.

 

Okay, now that we've set the premise, here's what you can do for First Kiss Wednesdays.  In the comment box, give us a maximum of 300 words of the first kiss of a published work or a work-in-progress and one link to your website or blog or Amazon Author Page. 

 

Read and luxuriate in the glories of the first kiss...

Oh, and lips only...  ;-)

Set the Scene in Six Sentences - Sunday

One of the finest aspects of fiction writing is the ability to set the scene.  Characters act and react, but they don't do so in a vacuum.  In their world, they meet, fall in love, solve problems, sometimes horrendous problems.  Maybe it's a small town, maybe the big city, the green, humid jungle, dust-dry desert, a mountainous region.  On the sea.  Under the sea.  In space! 

Setting the scene is also done by using character dialogue to paint a picture of loveliness, danger, evil, trepidation, excitement, awe...

Give us six sentences that set the scene.  Set the Scene in Six Sentences - Sunday is a new opportunity on the Exquisite Quills! Blog to tout your talent.  How have you set the scene in your books?  How have you put the reader into the life of your characters?

Every Sunday, the blog will be open to six-sentence scene-setting.  Just post your six sentences, your name, and one link in the comment box.  We can't wait to read you!

Pass the word!  Open to all!