#WriteTip - Crafting Worlds by @jsubject, spotlighting her #military #scifi #romance MADE FOR HER

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It's always a pleasure to welcome Jessica Subject to may blog. Since she crafts such fantastical worlds, many of which contain sexy aliens, I often wonder how her ideas go from thought to print. Of course, the answer is book-specific, which means I can ask her this question whenever she releases a new book.

Ready to discover the origin of Made for Her?

Crafting Worlds

by Jessica Subject

With this story, I decided to get away from aliens in my sci-fi and try something different. I’ve always asked myself the “what-if” about Human cloning as soon as I knew what cloning was. And since many sci-fi romances deal with the military, I decided to try that aspect as well. I had a LOT of help from Karlene Petitt, who is a pilot, DL Jackson, who served in the US military, and my original editor, Rie Langdon, who also has military experience. They helped me to craft this story together, so that it worked and fit into the military romance subgenre.

Right now, I have started a new series called Galactic Defenders. It is about a group of beings from all over the universe, who travel to different planets to protect the citizens from the Erebus. The tagline for the series is They were trained to fight, not fall in love. The first book will be called Bryce, and will release later this year. And I hope to have the first draft of Jager finished by the end of 2016.

Made for Her

by Jessica E. Subject

After terrorists murder the love of her life, Colonel Mikayla Jones trains squadron after squadron of the clones he brought to life, to take to the skies. When she discovers a young clone of her husband in her newest class, her world spins out of control. How can she command the look-a-like when she can’t help but yearn for him to fill an ache in her heart?

Dare was created to be the best. As the first Daniel clone to leave Onatria labs, he needs to prove he is more than just a DNA copy. To do that, he must rely on the wife of the man who donated his genes. But when she refuses to train him, Dare faces discharge and returning to the labs. Can he convince Colonel Jones to finish his training and find a way into her bed? Or will long kept secrets unhinge the entire clone project?

Please note: Made For Her was previously published with another publisher. It has been revised and expanded from the original version. This version also includes the short story, Replicated Consequences, which takes place in the same world.

Excerpt (For Mature Audiences Only)

Colonel Jones eyed each one of her new cadets, examining the neatness of their uniforms, while inspecting for signs of stress or over-anxiousness. She’d never seen the telltale muscle twitches or sweats in any previous clones, only in human-borns, but she had to look for them anyway.

The first generation of clones didn’t live long enough to become cadets. Their hearts had given out within a year after incubation. But the scientists at Onatria had plowed on, utilizing more of Daniel’s research, speeding up the aging process with hormones to create the perfect generation she saw before her.

She’d had female clones in previous squadrons, but the government filled the one in front of her with testosterone-driven masculinity. If she’d been younger, she’d have a hard time concentrating. But her days of crushes and fantasies were long over. She was devoted to serving her country and planet, and nothing else.

That didn’t stop her from going out on the town for a stress-relieving fuck from time to time. But these young men in front of her appeared so virile, sure to last longer than any of her previous sexual partners.

No. As junior officers, and more importantly, as clones, they were off limits.

Inspecting them gave her the opportunity to check out more than their fatigues and tics, but if they knew her thoughts, they’d walk all over her. She’d be done.

They were of varying nationalities, builds, and heights, all fit to serve the planet. None of the cadets revealed any indication he would put the lives of others in jeopardy. It would be an easy squadron, every one of them ready to fly in a matter of weeks.

She reached the last cadet and froze. Her stomach clenched. No, they couldn’t have!

She pivoted on her heel and rushed off the tarmac, leaving the squad without an instructor.

ABOUT JESSICA SUBJECT

Jessica E. Subject is the author of science fiction romance, mostly alien romances, ranging from sweet to super hot. Sometimes she dabbles in paranormal and contemporary as well, bringing to life a wide variety of characters. In her stories, you could not only meet a sexy alien or two, but also clones and androids. You may be transported to a dystopian world where rebels are fighting to live and love, or to another planet for a romantic rendezvous.

When Jessica isn't reading, writing, or doing dreaded housework, she likes to get out and walk with her giant, hairy dog her family adopted from the local animal shelter.

Jessica lives in Ontario, Canada with her husband and two energetic children. And she loves to hear from her readers.  You can find her at jessicasubject.com and on twitter @jsubject.

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#WriteTip - Through Your Character's Eyes by Michaela Kendrick, spotlighting her #SciFi #Romance Dragon's Honor

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It's always fun to welcome a member of the SFRBrigade to my blog. Sci-fi Romance is our specialty, and we've got a pretty diverse crew. While my brand of scientific inspiration is of the zombie-virus/post-apocalyptic variety, I do have a soft spot for intrigue set in space. Without further ado, I present this writing tip from Michaela Kendrick.

Through Your Character's Eyes

by Michaela Kendrick

When you get absolutely, completely, totally stuck in a scene, focus on two things - first, why this story needs to be told; second, what the characters are fighting for. Often, in the maze of writing a whole novel, I start to focus on what I want the characters to be doing. It's a good idea to know what needs to happen, but in order to have the story be authentic, you must focus on seeing the world as the characters do. Focusing on their desires and on the purpose of the story overall banishes my writers block every time!

Dragon's Honor

by Michaela Kendrick

The Warlord...

From high society banquets in the ice covered skyscrapers of New Arizona, to the most far-flung outposts at the edge of human-occupied space, everyone has heard of Ymir. The Alliance's reach is wide, and its soldiers are well trained, but there are always despots powerful enough to assert themselves, and Ymir has been one of the most notable failures of human history: a whole planet given over to a man known only as the Warlord.

The soldier…

Cade Williams was once a Dragon—the most elite fighting unit in known space. Precise, brutal, and unstoppable, they were a last resort in the lawless wastes of space colonization. But there was a price: in one horrific mission, Cade’s unit took down not only a slave trader, but an entire intergalactic carrier. Cade left and never looked back. Haunted by his past, he’s vowed never again to kill, never again to fight, and, filling jobs from dock worker to bartender, he’s managed to keep that vow. But Cade’s life is about to be turned upside down. Because when at last he runs out of options, his old friend Talon Rift appears out of nowhere. Talon, the man who ordered him to take down the carrier. Talon, who wants him to get back in the game. And when Cade won’t, Talon has a job opportunity he seems to know Cade can’t afford to pass up. Protect a woman. An innocent. Remarkably little chance of anything going wrong. And a man needs to eat.

And the trophy wife…

There are two problems: first, that Cade hates Aryn the moment he lays eyes on her; second, that he wants her like he’s never wanted anyone before in his life. Or make that three problems: Aryn’s fiancé is a weapons trafficker with a well-deserved reputation for being ruthless, and Aryn is about to get caught up in one of his schemes - one that will bring her back to the place she only just escaped...the mines of Ymir.

Excerpt

“Cade Williams?”

The words came through the haze of smoke and drunkenness like a hallucination. Cade knew that voice. He was never, ever going to be able to forget that voice, and it had to be a hallucination because there was no way in hell the owner of that voice had chased him across three systems only to walk into a dive bar on the lower streets of New Arizona. So he went back to his drink.

He picked up the glass and stared at it. It was a scotch he’d been nursing for about three hours now, and not just because “scotch” seemed to be a loose term for colored grain alcohol. When he finished his drink, he had nowhere to go. And in the ever-drifting snow of New Arizona—he’d never figured out if the name was born of ignorance or irony—he needed to stay indoors as long as possible. The cold was fierce, and whatever acid was in the water on this planet, it would burn his skin raw in less than a night.

And if he didn’t get ten thousand credits to Osiris within a week, he was a dead man. But one thing at a time. Cade shook his head and let the moment slide away from him, a tiny drift into memory and nothing more.

“Williams,” the voice said again.

That was definitely not a hallucination. Cade’s eyes traveled along the arm that had come down on one side of him. Callused fingertips, last joint of the right index finger missing, the hint of a tattoo poking out from under a blue cuff. The arm underneath the suit jacket was well muscled, leading to broad shoulders and a clean-shaven jaw, and with a sinking feeling of dread, Cade looked up at one of his worst nightmares.

“Lieutenant Rift.”

“Actually, it’s Major now.” Talon’s face was expressionless, as it almost always was. He watched as Cade’s eyes traveled over the understated suit, across the planes of the handsome face. At last, sensing the question Cade would never ask, he flipped over the hand on his resting arm. There, glimmering in the faint light, were blood-red cufflinks.

A Dragon always wore red.

Talon absorbed Cade’s bitter smile in silence.

“You look surprisingly well.” Cade looked down into his scotch and considered drinking the rest in one gulp. The pours in this bar were generous, and with the alcohol being of dubious provenance, a gulp might well kill him. Right now, that wasn’t seeming so bad. It was all coming back to him—without warning, as it always did. He’d known the moment he heard the voice that this was going to be a bad night, even worse than he’d thought—and he’d already thought it would be pretty bad. There was screaming at the corner of his mind, the flashing of the lights in the bar taking on a reddish hue, the emergency exit sign too clear a reminder.

He closed his eyes, clenching his jaw until he thought his teeth would give way. He had to keep breathing, or the memories would take him, and the world would devolve into the chaotic mess he so feared, every face reminding him of the pods, the children pounding on the glass—

He was going to be sick. His stomach heaved.

“Should I go?”

“No.” Cade’s answer surprised even him. He opened his eyes and looked down into his drink again. He could force the world back into its neat shapes if he tried hard enough. In the vacuum of space, in the long silences of a courier’s job, he’d learned to face his fear and press it away.

He could face this, too.

“Okay.” Talon sat, pulled reflexively at both cuffs, and looked over at the bartender. “What won’t kill me here?”

“Don’t try the scotch.”

“Noted.”

About Michaela Kendrick

Raised on the Dragon Riders of Pern, Star Wars, Star Trek, and a whole bunch of historical romances, Michaela grew up adoring the adventure of Science Fiction and the passion of a good love story. Filled with double crossing, grand romantic gestures, sarcasm, and plenty of heat, Michaela's books are just the sort of thing she wants to read herself!

 Facebook | Mailing List | Email: mkendrickauthor@gmail.com

#WriteTip - @HoustonHavens Gives Tips on How To Master the Deep POV, along with an #erotic excerpt from her #SciFiRom #NewRelease

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It's been a while since Houston visited. She's quite tied  up (pun-intended) with the promotion of her erotic romance new release, but she nonetheless spared the time to give me a writing tip. The fourth book in her Psychic Menage series just came out, and if you're a fan of naughty sexiness that crosses genre lines, scroll beyond her advice to read the smoking hot excerpt. 

Mastering the Deep POV 

by Houston Havens

One of the most important writing tips I can offer is to learn writing DEEP Point Of View with your two main character in any novel. To master that technique means you understand - Deep Point Of View is more than just writing a character's thoughts.

You'll know when you've accomplished mastering deep POV because you'll have awesome comments in your reviews about how the reader "felt" so "in-tuned" or "in love" or "I felt the character's pain as if it were my own" type remarks.

When you "get" the secrets on how to use DEEP POV through descriptions AND thoughts - you'll have hooked the readers' imagination and their hearts. They will not put your book down.

Deep POV used correctly makes the reader identify with the character even if she's never experienced in her life what is happening in the heroine's life.

Your well-crafted words of emotions and descriptions can draw them a vivid picture and drop them into the depth of the character 's emotions through thought and actions.

Deep POV isn't just typing down how the character is feeling about something. It's showing AND telling through description as well.

A good description deep in the emotions of your character will whisk your reader from her world into the character's, it will grab your reader's heart and her own emotions and not let go until the end of the novel. That's how deep you have to get. If your heroine is crying...the reader should be crying too.

The secret in reaching this depth is not easy...it will require you dig deep into your own emotions (something you might not want to do) to discover your heroine's pain. IF you do it right your readers will be thinking about those characters long after they finished the story and they'll be waiting at the edge of their seats for the next book.

Here is a sample from my book Sinful Surrender Book one of my Psychic Ménage Series

Twenty minutes later, they strolled back into camp. Fay's gaze found Mr. tall, dark, and handsome sitting on the ground near the fire with his back supported against a log, one leg stretched out in front of him. His other leg was crooked, foot flat on the ground, knee raised with his arm draped across it in a lazy hang. He looked comfortable and appeared to be enjoying a rich aromatic drink. He looked their way and held up his tin cup in greeting.
"Coffee!" Arlo strolled to a log near the fire and grabbed a cup. Squatting down, he tipped the cup against a taller can sitting in the embers of a smokeless flame. He poured a black liquid into the tin. "I hope you made enough for all of us."
Drakker squinted his steel-blue eyes. His right eyebrow arched, and his jaw clamped in a hard flex. The cool, calm exterior she had observed for most of the day looked ready to crumble. So, there is a sensitive side to this quiet man. How interesting.

Ok, so the italicized sentence is your standard descriptive POV. It's telling you what the heroine's feeling about what she saw. Its purpose is to let the readers know they're in a female's POV.

Now, the bold-italicized portion is the deep POV of the heroine's thoughts. The reader is hearing her thoughts (Standard deep POV)

But did you notice the first two (bolded) opening sentences of this paragraph? Since this chapter is clearly in the female's POV I couldn't head-hop into the hero's thoughts ... yet because I only have 100,000 words to a novel, every word I write must pull at my readers and reveal all my character. So, I had to find a way to draw the readers into her deep POV yet show how the male in this scene [in this cast - Drakker] was 'feeling' so the readers could begin to identify with him. I had to find a way to show his DEEP POV through description and dialogue rather than through thoughts as I used with the main POV character, and I had to do this without head hopping.

If you read the rest below you will see how I foreshadow Drakker's deep POV without over-shadowing the Main character's deep POV in this chapter.

In an accusatory tone, Drakker asked Arlo, "Why would you assume I wouldn't?" At Arlo's shrug, Drakker got up and tossed the last of his coffee out. He rinsed his cup in a large pot next to the fire and refilled it with the black liquid. Leaning over the fire, he handed the cup to her. "Have a seat and try some."
Seeing the exasperation in his eyes, she chose to obey and sat before taking a sip. Oh my God! She wanted to spit. It was bitter and foul tasting. She swallowed hard.
Turning back to Arlo, Drakker griped, "That's the one thing about you that irks me. Why do you always assume the worst of me? I could understand it if I were guilty of being incompetent or always forgetting something, but I'm not."
Arlo waved Drakker's temper down. "That's not what I meant. You know that."
"Yeah, well anyone listening doesn't know that." He jutted his hand out to indicate Fay was the anyone he was talking about. "It gives the wrong impression, and you're always saying shit like that. It irritates me."
Arlo gave Fay a devilish wink before looking back at Drakker. "You'll live."
"You might not." Drakker strode across camp and propped his foot on a stump...

I hope this sample showed you how to layer your characters POV's, and showed you how you as a writer can write a full story by showing deep pov's through thoughts of the main POV character yet reveal another character's POV, even deep POV, through description and dialogue.

Once you learn how to use POV's through thought, actions, dialogue, and description you'll create a story with such depth your readers will never forget the story or the "like real people" characters they fell in love with.

Good luck and happy writing!

Hugs,

Houston

Intimate Betrayal

PSYCHIC MÉNAGE: BOOK 4

by Houston Havens

Kindise Wyatt escapes her Star Rider captor and returns to Earth. With the help of a sexy Old World Mole and his mysterious friend, she's determined to uncover the whereabouts of her lover. Instead, she finds nothing but betrayal and her captor in pursuit.

On the lam after betraying his evil ruler, ex-Dirt Dweller and drifter Jaden Valenti confirms his name is on a hit list. Finding what he believes will be safety amongst the Airbornes, he recreates himself and hides his past until trouble walks back into his life in the name of Kindise Wyatt, the woman he was ordered to assassinate and didn't

.Due to the obsessions of a Fae woman Sori gave up his hard-earned royal title and left his homeland of Elfame. Love is the furthest thing from his mind until he is sent in Jaden's place to pick-up some cargo...human cargo in the form Kindise Wyatt. He feels the Fae magnetism of his soulmate in her. Problem is; she's in love with someone else.

Will Jaden fulfill his orders to kill Kindise and get his name removed from the list, or will his secret be exposed and betray the friendship he has with Sori? Does Sori help Kindise find her lover, or will a love between them have a chance to flourish before a fatal attraction and a determined captor rip their love asunder? Will Kindise find true love or will betrayals at every turn crush the fight out of her? Can she find her inner strengths to keep fighting and lead The Freedom Fighters to defeat the Dirt Dweller elites, once and for all?

Excerpt (Mature Audiences Only)

"Oh God--"

"Mmm, so you like that." He set her butt back on the railing as he continued his steamy kisses while moving his hands in a seductive path up her back, enticing her to go with the desires heating up between them.

"Yes." She returned his kisses with the same hunger and devotion she felt in his. He groaned in obvious pleasure, deepening the passion in his touch. She moaned at the withdrawal of his mouth from hers.

He lovingly whispered against her lips. "One look and I wanted you." He glided his smooth hands up under the skirt of her dress, tracing a rakish path up the outside of her full but firm thighs until she released a wistful cry. His intoxicating scent teased and tempted as he leaned into her. "One look and I wanted to make you mine. Forever."

He found her mouth again, kissing her with a heat and yearning she never dreamed a man was capable of possessing let alone expressing. A kiss so gentle yet so intense her own buried needs sparked, bursting wide open, demanding to be met right now. It was a burning lust she didn't know lingered inside her. Once again, she entwined her arms behind his neck, pulling him closer, kissing him with her own sultry desires, before murmuring, "I want you too."

"How badly?" His hands gripped her rounded hips and pulled her crouch against his erection. She gasped. His eyes shined with the devil's light as he rubbed the inches of his cock against her. "Do you want me this much?"

"Yes." She breathed in heavy pants as she wrapped her legs higher around his back, encouraging him to thrust his cock against her pussy again.

About Houston Havens

Erotic romance author Houston Havens, a former successful model enjoying an adventurous jet-set lifestyle, intrigues her readers with a mix of the past, present, and future, and sexy blends of futuristic science fiction, paranormal fantasy, and western romance, always with love everlasting. A tenacious Irish lass filled with passion and mystery hopes her sultry stories will entertain and fascinate those who dare to take the journey. She’s also a social media junkie with an award winning blog. http://houstonhavens.com

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