I have a confession to make. I’m a blog virgin.
I’ve read them, but never actually participated in blogging until now. I’ve heard several smart people say that if you’re not a “blog person” you shouldn’t try to be one. It would come across fake and unpleasant for all involved.
Not having any innate knowledge as to what constitutes this elusive blogging nature, and having even less time, I decided the smartest thing I could do was avoid blogging altogether. Besides, I always figured that I don’t have anything to say that someone would find so interesting they’d feel the need to stop their day and read it. Heck, half the time I can’t even get my family to stop what they’re doing long enough to hear me yell it’s time for dinner. Perhaps that’s more a commentary on my cooking than anything else, but I digress. We were talking about my clever plan to avoid blogging so as not to induce any fake unpleasantries -- a plan that is clearly doomed to failure.
It’s becoming increasingly evident to me that avoiding blogs is akin to avoiding cell phones or ATMs -- not smart. So here I am, throwing myself upon your mercy, hoping that some of you brilliant “blog people” might enlighten me as to what draws you to certain blogs so that I will no longer feel compelled to avoid participating in the future.
Thanks for helping deflower this former blog virgin. I hope it was as good for you as it was for me.
*Leave a comment for your chance to win a copy of your choice of NO ESCAPE, NO REGRETS, or NO CONTROL signed by the author!*
16 comments:
Hi Shannon: I've just discovered your books and I am "inhaling" them far into the night when I should be sleeping. I have two general questions for you:
Where do you get your inspiration?
How do you develop your complicated plots?
Many thanks and please, keep writing! geri
And Shannon....I have never in my life blogged until now so I understand where you are coming from...! And I agree, it is like cell phones or atm machines, we have to learn how to be comfortable with this mode of communication! geri
Shannon, welcome to Four Ladies Reading. And it's an honor to help you enter the world of blogging. I personally love it.
I have not yet had the pleasure of reading your books,but I do have 2 of them.
Your husband is Jim Butcher, is it hard having a husband who is also an author or does it make it easier?
Does he offer you advice on your books, characters, plots?
If you had to suggest one book a new reader, what book of yours would you want them to read?
hugs,
WendyK
Wendy,
It's definitely easier being an author married to another author. I can talk shop with Jim, work on snags, vent frustrations...whatever, and he gets it. I have several friends who write that don't have the same kind of support I do from Jim, and it makes me realize how fortunate I am.
We typically only offer each other suggestions about writing when asked. We write such different things, plus it would be way too easy to let the writing eat our lives. We work at home, so we're always in the office. It's nice to be able to spend time together and not breathe a word about stories or plot or characters. :)
My favorite book is book 2, NO CONTROL. Caleb just makes me melt. Not everyone agrees, though, so I'd say check the back cover blurb and read whichever one strikes your fancy. You can read excerpts from each on my website.
Geri, I'd say I'm sorry I made you lose sleep, but I'd be lying. :) I love to hear it!
My inspiration comes from a lot of different sources. Of course, I'm inspired by other books I read and movies I watch. One of the stranger places I get inspiration from is music. I can be listening to a song on the radio, and a scene or character will pop into my head, and it might not have any relation to the music itself. I have no idea why that is, but I'm glad it happens!
I plan my plots out ahead of time and tweak them until they seem right. I have a horrible memory, so even if I knew what was going to happen at the end of a book when I started it, by the time I got there, I'd have forgotten. So, I write down everything. Doing so really shows off the flaws -- at least more than not writing things down.
I try to set events up so that things get wose for my characters as the book goes on. I ask myself, "What's the worst thing that could happen to her right now?" I come up with a list, then try to top it. I tell you, there's nothing like writing to display just how much of a sadistic streak a person has. :)
I'm not a blogger, either, I just enjoy reading them. Your books sound great, but I haven't read any yet.
Hi Shannon,
Welcome, and just to let you know, this blogging thing is new to a lot of us and what fun.
I am new to your books as well and I love any romances that have suspense and sexy men. You and your husband write at opposite ends of the spectrum, what made you go with romance and reality rather than Sci Fi?
Livia
Hi Shannon,
Looking forward to reading your books. Who do you use as an inspiration for your male characters? Do you have an ideal alpha male?
Livia, I chose romance because that's what I love to read. But I'm not tying myself down to any one type of romance. I love writing romantic suspense, but I grew up reading sci-fi/fantasy, so that will no doubt be part of my writing future. In fact, I've got a paranormal romance series coming out next May (you can read a bit about it at www.shannonkbutcher.com) and it's different from my romantic suspenses. It's still full of hot guys and strong women, 'cause... yum!
I don't have any one ideal male character, but for somoene to qualify as a hero/heroine in my books, they have to have a pretty wide selfless streak in there somewhere. I've been toying a bit more with bad boys turned good in some of my recent writing, but none of that will be out until 2010 at the earliest.
As far as inspiration goes...it's everywhere. I love to take bits and pieces from news, people I know and people I wished I knew, and put them together into an imaginary person that hopefully seems like they could be real.
I know I've succeeded when I have somoene ask me how one of my characters is doing, like they're talking about an old friend. Love that!
Hi Shannon, your books look really good. I will definitely have to pick one up. I think you can get addicted to blogging once you really start posting. ;)
Great to see you here!
Shannon: I'm assuming that you write full-time. Do you have a schedule, or a set routine for each day? Do you go in spurts in terms of creative inspiration? Do you have contacts with military affiliated people or even your own experience to draw on, when you write your books? geri
Geri, I do have a handful of military contacts I use, both in and out of the family. Plus, I watch a bunch of stuff on the Military Channel and History Channel. It's amazing how helpful people are, and how willing they are to share their knowledge with me.
I don't have a set writing schedule, but I tend to do most of my best writing in the morning. I'm a bit obsessive, so when I start a rough draft, I work long hours and pound it out in about a month. When I'm not in rough draft mode, the work days are shorter, but there is always something to do outside of actually writing the book. In fact, I had no idea just how much there was to do until it was time to do it. :)
My goal is to write a book that doesn't need fifty-thousand revisions, but I'm not there yet. One of these days...
Shannon - This book looks excellent. I almost bought it today. Hopefully it will still be there when I get in tomorrow.
We've been talking off line as well as here about Shannon's books, and for readers that haven't visited her website let me give you the titles of her books:
NO REGRETS
NO CONTROL
NO ESCAPE
Great shadowy covers too!
Livia
Blogs are hard to avoid! martha(at)lclink(dot)com
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