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Vampire Romance

I love creating alpha men almost as much as I love dreaming up paranormal worlds. So I guess it stands to reason I love writing about vampires.

Who could resist a near invincible male character who is more dark than light, more brilliant than a dozen scholars and more unashamedly handsome than humanly possible? *sigh* (Not I!)

And what if this vampire hero’s only real vulnerability is the heroine?—nothing sexier than that, surely? Ah, except for those spicy love scenes! Give the heroine a dose of angst to add to the conflict and tension—and in my story, HER DARK LORD—a heroine who is focused almost exclusively on a very personal mission, and I’d like to think we really do have characters to enthral us.

In my fellow author Anna Hackett’s upcoming vampire bites, HUNTER’S SURRENDER, the hero’s vulnerability is also the heroine—except she’s the vampire. The hero is a battle scarred vampire hunter who finds himself seduced by his prey and looking beyond the monster to the traces of humanity beneath.

Perhaps that’s just some of the reasons why this paranormal phenomenon—and vampires in particular—has swept the reader world and showing no signs yet of toppling from its perch!

Shapeshifter seductions

Our guest today is Mel Tescho, who celebrates her debut release from Ellora's Cave this week. Welcome Mel!

How did you celebrate your first release?
Stone-Cold Lover is my first release which just happened to coincide with the RWAus conference in Brisbane. Stupidly enough I woke up with a raging hangover from the cocktail party the night before, so it wasn't exactly the way I anticipated feeling on release day!

Most authors are also avid readers. Is this the case with you? If so, who are some of your favorites? Have any influenced your writing?
Before I started writing I was most definately an avid reader. As a young child it wouldn't have been uncommon for me to be reading late at night and into the early hours of the morning under my blankets via torchlight. I think lots of readers fall into writing and then find they don't have anywhere near the time to read. For me, I love both reading and writing, but I think the latter fills more of a void. My favourite books would be paranormal so some of my fav authors would be Kelley Armstrong and JR Ward. An Aussie author I've started reading quite a bit of is Keri Arthur, and many up and coming authors who also happen to be good friends: Tracey O'hara and her Dark Bretheren novels with book one Night's Cold Kiss, Erica Hayes and her Shadowfae chronicles. If you enjoy shorter novels and dragons, Anna Hacket's Savage Dragon is a great read. As for category you can't go wrong with Robyn Grady, Rachel Bailey, Amy Andrews, Sharon Archer, Helen Bianchin... too many to list!! I don't know that any one author has influenced my writing, think it's more a case of life experiences and a dash of my own voice to make it unique.

Do you find it difficult at times to write love scenes?
I imagined I was quite good at love scenes until I was picked up by Ellora's Cave and I realised just how wrong I'd been! But I think it's the same as anything, you have to practise practise practise but always feel comfortable within yourself and what you're doing.

What are you reading now?
I'm reading Destiny Kills by Keri Arthur and Needful Things by Stephen King.

Tell us a bit about your new release.
Stone-Cold Lover is about a heiress who appears to have it all - except Cray, her gargoyle guardian. One night stands no longer hold any appeal, she wants him and will do just about anything she can to get him.

Which book was the hardest to write and which the easiest?
I'd have to say my very first book, which will never see the light of day (a category btw) was by far the easiest book to write. With no idea about deep pov, show not tell, head hopping and all the other rules, I simply wrote the way I wanted to, without any rules to hold me back. By far the hardest is a single title I'm co-writing with Kylie called Believe. It has doctors, drugs, pyschics and more, and involves lots of research for credibility.

Christina Phillips

Please welcome my special guest today, Mel Teshco, another Aussie debut author and another lovely lady I met through the RWA Paranormal loop a few years ago! Stone Cold Lover was recently released by Ellora's Cave.

Mel, welcome to the mad house! Please tell us a little about yourself.

I live on a semi-rural property with three horses and 3 cats (do fish count? lol) My husband works full time while I am now a full-time mother of three girls of wide-spread ages: Teagan, who is 19 and living with her boyfriend and who is about to make me a grandmother at the tender age of 39! Shannon, she’s 11 and way too smart for her own good. I seriously won’t be surprised if she becomes an author some time down the track. Codi, she’s just turned 2, a gorgeous cupcake who is also a whirlwind on legs! I also have three stepchildren, though Daniel, who is 16, is the only one who lives with us. He spends a lot of time sleeping!

Can you tell us a little about your book?

When I wrote this book I wanted to reveal a hero emotionally crippled by forces beyond his control. I wanted to portray him as steely hard and remote—particularly towards the heroine, hiding his sensitive side and an obsession with the heroine who is totally, completely, irrevocably unattainable.

Add a heroine who has used sex to fill a void in her life, a heroine who always gets what she wants, and let’s just say the sparks do fly. =)

Ooooh! I have this on my tbr pile, and it's my first gargoyle book! How did the idea for the plot come about?

I’m definitely not a plotter, and my stories almost always come from a scene or visual that I endeavour to turn into words. The rest of the story then flows from that one scene—well, it doesn’t always flow LOL! Stone-Cold Lover was the exception, where instead of a visual I mucked around with putting words on paper to create a simple, but dramatic curse. This was well before I knew fully what or who the characters would be. I did know—much as I love writing about werewolves and vampires—that for this paranormal story I wanted a hero who was just a little more unique.

That's a fascinating way to start a book, with a curse and build from there. Okay, I think everyone knows how much I love sale stories!! so can you tell us about your road to publication - and your call story?

The road to publication has been quite a long stretch. My first book I churned out with the dedication of a girl (I was nineteen or so) who imagined herself a brilliant writer, on the cusp on a fantastic career. Oh, how I wish I’d kept that manuscript now, just to see how far I really have come! (mind you, I’m sure in all that drivel there were occasional glimmers of greatness ) From there I wrote bits and pieces, but never really completed a whole story, and actually quit writing for a while to concentrate on family and health issues that knocked me off my feet for a good while. In that time I moved to QLD, a single mum with two daughters who were then nine years old and six months old, where we went through quite a healing process. Only then did I realize I truly needed to write again.

As for my call story, well, I’d pretty much talked myself into believing Stone-Cold Lover (originally titled Kissed by Stone) was going to be rejected by Ellora’s Cave. For a start, I’d written it for another publisher entirely, which meant vanilla sex (by EC standards) without all the descriptive, graphic words often used. When I read the subject line from EC’s editor saying “Kissed by Stone, Accepted” I think I very nearly swallowed my tongue! She said she’d have bought it immediately *except* that she wanted to know if I was willing to increase the sex and graphic content. (hell, yes!)

LOL! I love those swallow-the-tongue moments!! Who or what inspires you and why?

What doesn’t inspire me! I can sit and weep while watching a movie about someone down on his/her luck and yet taking a stand against all the odds. Ditto a h/h in a well written book doing the same. I really don’t care if its fiction or non-fiction, if I’m deep into a story, I’ll believe it for as long as I’m reading it. I have to say my eldest daughter, who really has fought against all the odds, also truly inspires me.

Where do you see yourself as a writer five years from now?

I plan on being a successful writer, whether it’s paranormal, erotica, mainstream or even category one day (who really knows??) I just want to be earning a living doing what I love! And if I’m still doing it at ninety (perhaps erotica!) then I’ll know it’s my passion that keeps me going.

Oh I completely agree. And especially about the writing of erotica at ninety! So what's the best, and worst, things about writing for you?

The best: I love creating characters, bringing them to life and making them believable, making a reader love them as much as I do (well, that’s the plan!). The worst is probably how much commitment it takes, (especially while juggling a family) not with just the writing, but the little non-essential details that I guess really aren’t trivial in the bigger scheme of things. (like blogs and emails and internet time)

I know what you mean, the promo side of things really does eat up the time. Is there any advice or light bulb moment you'd like to share about getting/being published?

My advice is to stick with it. Really stick with it! If writing is your passion, your dream, don’t let anyone who doesn’t understand it persuade you otherwise. Light bulb moment. Write, yes, but don’t be afraid to send off your ‘baby’ to competitions, and then more competitions. Don’t be too proud to listen to advice, weigh up criticisms logically (not ah, emotionally ), then polish until it sparkles—without losing your ‘voice’ in the process. Start sending it to agents and/or editors, it’s no good letting your work sit on your computer, in your desk, wherever. I believe many of us are subconsciously scared of success. I was trapped there for quite some time.

Great advice. Do you have critique partners (CPs)? If so can you tell us how you met up and your process?

I was part of an online critique group called Clayton Critters for quite some time, even shared list mom duties for part of it—hey guys! But I realized, after baby number three, I had to strip my writing and computer time down to the bare bones if I wanted to have my cake and eat it too. (IE: have time for my beautiful family and still give myself time to write). I’ve had a few CP’s in my time, one being Tracey O’hara when we both feeling our way in the paranormal genre, but with very big dreams between us =)

The process with my two current CP’s (hi Melissa and Karen!) is generally a chapter exchanged every month, though that’s been quite informal and even lax at times lol! And I still hope my old CP who has taken on motherhood for the first time, will return to the fold very soon HINT HINT!!

Embrace the Shadows

Long before I even thought about Stone-Cold Lover I dreamed of being a sexy/presents author, and worked hard for a number of years to hone my skills in that category genre. I guess I’d always been attracted to strong, alpha heroes and wilfull heroines…hence my eventual need, I think, to write paranormals.

My first ever paranormal story (long length) featured vampires and shape-shifters living in Australia as secret races. I fell in love with the concept of other world creatures and their world building and rules. It did get a request from Ann Leslie Tuttle of Nocturne, but pregnancy and an overwhleming sickness the moment I sat in front of the screen, shelved that prospect. I did finish the manuscript (Shadow Hunter) and it done really well in competitions, but I decided it was my ‘learning’ book, which I will eventually come back to and rework. (soon…very soon!)

I actually love to write shorter stories, so I found it no drama at all to condense my paranormal work into a novella size story. I originally wrote Stone-Cold Lover for another publisher entirely, but sent it off to Ellora’s Cave on a bit of a whim. (I have to say though, it was one of only two publishers I was aiming for with my novella/shots) Am I glad I did! The editor, bless her heart, said she’d have bought it there and then, except she needed to know if I was willing to write the sex scenes a lot more graphic and with much more visual detail. Well…yes! Of course, this sounded so much easier than I imagined…nevertheless, it’s made for some memorable and hopefully – in one scene at least – a rather original intimate moment =)

Thanks Barbara for having me as a guest on your blog! I’m so blessed to now be doing what I love!

Best

Mel Teshco

Eleni's Taverna: Eleni Fest

Today my special guest is fellow RWA Paranormal group & Team Hearts Talk member, the delightful Mel Teshco. Her debut novella, Stone-Cold Lover was published by Ellora’s Cave in August right during our conference (what an excuse to celebrate further!).

Thanks for joining us Mel and welcome to Eleni-Fest!!

Congratulations on the release of Stone Cold Lover. Does it still feel surreal that you are a published author?

Thanks Eleni. Yes, it really does still feel surreal! And to be honest, I hope that shiny feeling inside never goes away, never fades!

What attracted you to the world of gargoyles? How did Cray and Loretta’s story come about?

I wanted to have a heroine who wasn’t virginal and goody-goody, a heroine who had everything given to her on a silver platter, and who to the outside world, truly did have *everything*. The hero gargoyle came about from a curse I played around with. And I liked the idea of having a hero who had an ability but was still flawed both physically and emotionally (yes he can glide, but he can’t fly, he’s not a superman character).

Can you tell us your Call story? How did you choose Ellora’s Cave?

I’d written Stone-Cold Lover (which btw was originally Kissed by Stone) specifically for Nocturne Bites, and as all writers have experienced, I was rather crushed at the big R. (I really thought this story was ‘the one’!) On a bit of a whim I sent it to Ellora’s Cave, where it turned out the editor there loved it. Bless you Pamela!

The cover art of Stone Cold Lover is fantastic – did you have any input into how it would look?

It is fantastic, thanks Eleni for saying so! I did have lots of input for the cover art. Part of the process is for the author to fill out a cover request form. I asked that the hero in his human form be looking into a mirror and seeing his gargoyle form, I also specifically asked that his wings be included – no easy task! Les Byerley did a fabulous job for me =)

Um, the story is an erotica, and there is one scene that is truly unique – when Cray is in his gargoyle form (R rating! ) Was that something you did to spice it up for Ellora’s Cave?

Yes! Originally there was just a little gentle foreplay. At my editor’s request I had to ramp all my scenes up, make them much more graphic, detailed and visual. She also asked for another sex scene. Phew! That is where my extra scene went! (and I’m quite happy I have to say, with the result )

What are you working on now? And what’s in the near future for Mel Teshco?

I’m working on Ice Cold Lover – the daughter of Cray and Loretta – who has her own body issues (with a set of wings she has to permanently hide). I’ve also just given my editor a contemporary short story about a stripper, so waiting to hear if that is a yes or a no. Apart from that I’m co-author on a single title called ‘Believe’, which is really deep and meaningful and rather chilling at times (in a good way), with much of it based loosely on real life happenings (think psychics, mental hospitals and spirits) which I’m extremely excited about!

‘Believe’ sounds fascinating. How are you finding the collaboration experience?
It's been such a learning curve for me (and no doubt for Kylie too!) and so very very different to my solo efforts. Believe is very indepth, so though I do the writing itself, Kylie does almost all the research, emails people for reference and helps to roughly plan out where the next chapter is heading (this shuttles back and forward between us until we have a happy medium). Kylie also helps to edit and remind me where I'm at - invaluable with the copious amounts of notes, ideas and general scribbles we have! Of course this process is much, much slower, but I 'believe' the manuscript is far more complex and 'real' (Kylie has first hand experience as a psychic herself). Of course, all we have to do now is finish it!

What attracted you to writing in a shorter format?

I *love* writing in shorter format. I find my voice and pacing style naturally suits the 20K mark and under. I have written longer length (I finished Shadow Hunter some years ago, which I intend to take out, dust off and revise very soon!) and am still writing Believe – but it’s a much bigger ask of my ability as a writer.

How do you think your writing groups and associations have helped you in your writing?

I know for a fact I’d have been lost without them. There were a few years I wrote with no support, no network. I didn’t even know where to find other writers, who they were and what they wrote! It wasn’t until I moved to QLD and discovered RWA, that the proverbial ‘writing’ snowball started to gather momentum – I soon met and was inspired by other writer’s like Rachel Bailey and Robyn Grady, joined and began to swap chapters with an online group – Claytons Critters, before finding some fantastic CP’s who also dreamed big.

You’re a wife, mum, live on a rural property with a lot of animals, and are a writer. How do you fit it all in? Do you have a set routine?

Routine!? Lol – what is that?? No, I guess I do have a routine of sorts. I check most of my emails etc in the morning while Miss two is having her breakfast and watching cartoons. The rest of the morning is the usual housework/mum/errands stuff. My next round of writing – which is usually blogs/promo/writing related stuff, is when Miss two has her afternoon nap. After that (I won’t bore you with my afternoon schedules) you can almost always find me writing between 8.30pm and midnight. Writing really is a BIG commitment when you think about it!

What or who inspires your writing?

Think the question is, what doesn’t? I guess it’s bits and pieces from everything, everyone and everywhere – with a big dash of imagination.

What do you love about being a writer?

I love that it’s *me* who is calling the shots, making up characters and plot. I love the freedom, the creativity and the fact that I’m doing something I’ve only ever dreamed I’d do!

Raine Delight

Why did you become a writer? Was it a dream of yours since you were younger or did the desire to write happen later in your life?
I guess I’ve always been a writer. I remember going to my Nan’s house as a young girl and writing long, fantasy style stories that featured horses and a heroine (no hero back then ). If I wasn’t writing, I was scouring the house for a book – preferably something sexy. I don’t think I actually dreamed of becoming a writer until my late teens, when I dared to believe I *could* and it really was my calling.

What do you love about being an author? Is there anything you dislike?
I love creating characters, bringing them to life and making them believable. I love making a story readers can relate to and hopefully not put down! Hmm, there’s really no dislikes, except the usual mother-working-guilt thing that most women suffer from when they have to balance family and work commitments.

How do you balance your personal and writing time?
It can be difficult. I have quite a big, extended family, which includes a two year old and a soon-to-be grandson =)
My writing is mostly done when everyone has gone to bed (Oh, wait, do teenagers sleep! lol) and in the mornings while my little one is eating breakfast and watching cartoons. During the day I’ll write sporadic bits of freehand which I then type up that night.

Do you tend to base your characters on real people or are they totally from your imagination?
Most definitely from my imagination. Creating a character from scratch is half the fun! (and I get bored easily.)

What do you have coming in 2009? Any releases coming up you want to shout out about?
I hope to finish Ice Cold Lover very soon. Fingers crossed it will be released this year. Though it’s not a series as such, it has a heroine who is the daughter of the characters in Stone-Cold Lover. I also have a few other stories in the pipeline =)

If you could meet any mythical being, who would it be and why?
Oh, I’d love to meet Cray, my gargoyle from Stone-Cold Lover – he fascinates me! I’d also love to meet and befriend a dragon, would be very cool to fly through the air on its back!

If we looked on your bookshelves, what would we see? Any favorite authors there?
You’d see lots of paranormal and urban fantasy books: JR Ward, Kelley Armstrong, Keri Arthur, Stephanie Meyer – not to mention my PDF files. I also have quite a stack of Desire, Presents, Sweet and Medical category books: Robyn Grady, Helen Bianchin, Trish Morey, Melissa James, Amy Andrews, Sharon Archer… too many to list!!

We popped in for a spell and opened the fridge, what would we find there?
Oh, damn. It needs a clean, sorry about that! Um, just ran out of bread, so I might need to go to the pantry for those noodles! Lots of mandarins from my daughter’s tree, a few apples that look a bit bruised, lots of salad. Hmm, the usual sauce bottles – barbecue, tomato and sweet chilli. Some meat crammed into the freezer alongside tubs of ice cream.

Are you a realty TV junkie? If so, what are your faves?
I absolutely *love* reality television, and not much else. Give me anything – except Big Brother – and I’ll watch it. My faves: So You Think You Can Dance, Australian Idol, Masterchef, Farmer Wants a Wife, Survivor, The Amazing Race. Of course, I don’t always watch these religiously when they’re on, but I try and keep track =)