Who is Spencer Pierce?

When I set out to create my characters, I usually have a pretty good idea of the type of person they are and what they look like. Backstory and quirks and that sort of thing are where the real work comes in. But the basics usually fall into my head fully formed. That was definitely the case with Spencer Pierce, captain of the Dark Hawk in Badlands.

The first thing about Spence is that he isn’t a big guy: muscular and strong sure, but more on the skinny side (wiry is the nice way of putting it). And then there are his eyes. Spencer’s eyes are one of his most telling features. No matter what kind of front he puts on for anyone, his eyes are haunted and speak of a past he’d rather forget. Right around the time I was “casting” Spencer, White Collar came on TV. Matt Bomer fit in a lot of ways, but he just didn’t have that dark edge I wanted for Spencer—he was too “cute”. It didn’t take long to realize the guy I kept seeing when I pictured Spencer wasn’t playing a nice guy on TV. He was playing one of the most deliciously sarcastic and bloodthirsty vampires on TV. Ian Somerhalder is very much the physical embodiment of Spencer Pierce. Of course, if they ever made a movie of Badlands, he’d have to bring a haunted past to the character of a really nice guy. Is he that good of an actor? Hmm…

But as for the character, that’s all Spencer. The closest thing in most of my TV/movie watching to a dirigible captain are from science fiction, in particular spaceship captains give the best parallel. But if you look at most of them, you’ll see some trends.

-       Star Trek

• Kirk is a devil-may-care ladies’ man. (So very not Spencer)


• Picard is straight-arrow, proper and…yeah (Love him, but not Spencer)


• Janeway’s uh…a girl (honestly, this is when I got bored with Star Trek and stopped watching)

-       Star Wars

• Han Solo is a smuggler and a cad. Sure he turns into a great guy, but he starts out as kind of a jerk (Not Spencer)


• Lando Calrissian takes us right back to Kirk.

Sigh. Spencer’s his own breed of guy. But then I thought, what about someone who’s close? Surely one of those captains would be able to sit down and have a drink with Spence without trying to rob him, kill him, or take his woman. Not really. The only ones who wouldn’t probably wouldn’t have a drink with him in the first place.

I could think of one guy who would though. Sure, he’s a smuggler and he’s got attitude to spare. However, he’s not the kind to start off with aggression nor is he the kind to shit on a fair deal. So, if you recognize a little bit of Malcolm Reynolds in Spencer, there’s a reason for it. They aren’t the same character by a long stretch, but I like to think they’d get each other and maybe even be friends.

In addition to the contest that is going on with this post as part of the treasure hunt for The Romance Studio, I'm also offering a digital copy of either of my Blood Kissed stories to a random commenter here (winner's choice of Of Course I Try or The Ghost of Vampire Present).

Arrogance, Men and Romantic Times

Because if that title doesn't get me hits, I don't know what will.

Just kidding. Today's blog is going to be a bit of a mishmash, so please bear with me. Maybe by the end it'll all come together in some brilliant epiphany about the meaning of life.

Yeah. I kind of doubt it too.

One of my beta readers loves to point out how arrogant she thinks a particular character of mine is. I actually find it funny, because I see him as more...childish than arrogant, but she detests him because of it. This led me to thinking about arrogance in men in general, and I came to the conclusion that for me very few guys can pull off arrogance. Most look like complete assholes, but every once in a while it works (generally when accompanied by some sort of insecurity, but that's another story). So last night I asked twitter if they found arrogance appealing in the opposite sex, whether real or fictional people. The results weren't surprising, but were a little interesting.

Nicole said:

Is arrogance sexy/appealing? Not to me. Not even if it's deserved or understandable.

Andrea agreed:

No... not at all. One of the most off-putting qualities. Pretty much insures I'll hate them. Real and fictional...

Danielle was a little more forgiving:

It can be, but you have to be careful not to cross the line into asshole territory.

As was PJ:

A little arrogance at the right time can be insanely sexy. Too much and it gets to be a turn off real quick.

Laura differentiated between fictional and real:

I think arrogance is more appealing in a fictional character than in reality. Confidence is better in RL. But it's a fine line to walk.

Renae said much the same thing:

Appealing? No. Much more forgivable in fictional characters, but, I'll never say "if only he was more arrogant, he'd be hot"

Kelly was the most in tune with arrogance:

I usually go for the alpha guys in real life and in fictional characters. Arrogance is part of the package

Interestingly enough, all of the answers I got from men said no.

From Ken:

Confidance, snark, and a sharp wit = yes. Arrogance crosses the line and is generally a no.

Of course, I had to ask if acknowledging one had the first three by default made them arrogant. Apparently that could go either way. Hmmm...

But like everything, it seems people can't all agree on the appeal of arrogance. I debated doing a second poll with the same people asking them to rank their own arrogance, but that seemed even less scientific than the initial poll, so I quit while I was ahead.

On the topic of arrogant men, however, I'm getting ready to get my male model fix for the year. I know, I know, they aren't all arrogant--some are just really, really, really confident. Anyway...I leave for RT in twelve days. My last RT post, I had seventeen weeks! Now I'm down to less than two. All those fabulous promo plans...uh...not happening this year. What I want to do frankly cost too much to pull off with the revenue only coming in from a few shorts. Maybe by Authors After Dark this summer, but not for RT. I will have at least one project ready to pitch, maybe two (one adult, one YA). Even though the panel I'd planned for didn't happen, the lovely ladies at Steamed invited me to be part of the steampunk social on Friday, so I'm very geeked about that.

Right now though, I'm at the point I'm just trying to keep my head screwed on straight so I make sure everything is done and ready to go when I take off to drop the kids at my mom's house. Because once I leave here, if I've forgotten it, I just have to do without, which won't make me a happy camper.

So...what do I need to remember to take with me? (One of my lovely editors arranged for another of my lovely editors to pick up my vodka for me in advance, so WOOT! there will be booze!)

Arrogance, Men and Romantic Times

Because if that title doesn't get me hits, I don't know what will.

Just kidding. Today's blog is going to be a bit of a mishmash, so please bear with me. Maybe by the end it'll all come together in some brilliant epiphany about the meaning of life.

Yeah. I kind of doubt it too.

One of my beta readers loves to point out how arrogant she thinks a particular character of mine is. I actually find it funny, because I see him as more...childish than arrogant, but she detests him because of it. This led me to thinking about arrogance in men in general, and I came to the conclusion that for me very few guys can pull off arrogance. Most look like complete assholes, but every once in a while it works (generally when accompanied by some sort of insecurity, but that's another story). So last night I asked twitter if they found arrogance appealing in the opposite sex, whether real or fictional people. The results weren't surprising, but were a little interesting.

Nicole said:

Is arrogance sexy/appealing? Not to me. Not even if it's deserved or understandable.

Andrea agreed:

No... not at all. One of the most off-putting qualities. Pretty much insures I'll hate them. Real and fictional...

Danielle was a little more forgiving:

It can be, but you have to be careful not to cross the line into asshole territory.

As was PJ:

A little arrogance at the right time can be insanely sexy. Too much and it gets to be a turn off real quick.

Laura differentiated between fictional and real:

I think arrogance is more appealing in a fictional character than in reality. Confidence is better in RL. But it's a fine line to walk.

Renae said much the same thing:

Appealing? No. Much more forgivable in fictional characters, but, I'll never say "if only he was more arrogant, he'd be hot"

Kelly was the most in tune with arrogance:

I usually go for the alpha guys in real life and in fictional characters. Arrogance is part of the package

Interestingly enough, all of the answers I got from men said no.

From Ken:

Confidance, snark, and a sharp wit = yes. Arrogance crosses the line and is generally a no.

Of course, I had to ask if acknowledging one had the first three by default made them arrogant. Apparently that could go either way. Hmmm...

But like everything, it seems people can't all agree on the appeal of arrogance. I debated doing a second poll with the same people asking them to rank their own arrogance, but that seemed even less scientific than the initial poll, so I quit while I was ahead.

On the topic of arrogant men, however, I'm getting ready to get my male model fix for the year. I know, I know, they aren't all arrogant--some are just really, really, really confident. Anyway...I leave for RT in twelve days. My last RT post, I had seventeen weeks! Now I'm down to less than two. All those fabulous promo plans...uh...not happening this year. What I want to do frankly cost too much to pull off with the revenue only coming in from a few shorts. Maybe by Authors After Dark this summer, but not for RT. I will have at least one project ready to pitch, maybe two (one adult, one YA). Even though the panel I'd planned for didn't happen, the lovely ladies at Steamed invited me to be part of the steampunk social on Friday, so I'm very geeked about that.

Right now though, I'm at the point I'm just trying to keep my head screwed on straight so I make sure everything is done and ready to go when I take off to drop the kids at my mom's house. Because once I leave here, if I've forgotten it, I just have to do without, which won't make me a happy camper.

So...what do I need to remember to take with me? (One of my lovely editors arranged for another of my lovely editors to pick up my vodka for me in advance, so WOOT! there will be booze!)

Are You an Author or a Writer?

Before I became published, I had business cards that said "author" on them. Some other aspiring authors were really bothered by that. After all, I hadn't sold anything. I had a tiny freak-out moment, but I got over it pretty quickly. I mean, what was I going to do? Hide my business cards?

To be honest, there's a lot of talk (old and new) on the internet about the difference between being a writer and being an author. It's something I've looked at way too much. With RT rapidly approaching and things hitting crunch time, I've had a sudden moment of clarity. One of those moments when had I been thinking about it, I might have understood the meaning of life. Silly me was thinking about being an author instead, but I'll take what I can get.

Here's the thing, everyone who writes is a writer. Unless you haven't started writing there is no such thing as an "aspiring writer". I suppose those could be the "I've been thinking about writing a book" people, but the minute they sit down and get to it, they graduate to writer. But most people who question the writer/author thing are past that stage. Most of them have stories under their belt, whether shorts, novels or something in between. So what should they call themselves?

This is where things get a little trickier. Of course they are still writers--writers write. Here's my opinion on the matter. Once you start doing the legwork and submitting, you've "graduated" to "aspiring author". Notice there's a big difference between "aspiring writer" and "aspiring author". The first is someone thinking about/trying to write. The second is someone trying to move ahead to that elusive "author" title.

If it was tricky before, it's a mess now. So, you've submitted, you've been accepted and signed with an agent or a publisher...you're an author, right? Uh...not so fast.

You see, I've realized that being an author means a lot of things. First up? Revisions. Whether your agent or editor, someone is going to ask you to revise, and only when they ask you to change something you don't want to let go do you earn author points. (No, there is not really a system of "author points" I'm just using it as a goofy little name.) Because one way or another, you have to step up and deal with that revision. You're either going to argue to keep what you wrote, or you're going to change it--maybe both. But you can't just gloss over it. It's no longer writing group or crit partners who you can ignore, now it's work. More author points? Dealing with bad or even mediocre reviews. There are a lot of ways to handle this, but you do have to handle it otherwise you turn into one of those people who rant on the review site and basically make everyone go O.O. It's work, you have to treat it as such, even if that means staying away from the watercooler (ie--not reading reviews). Lastly is the issue of promo. Authors must promo if they want to sell. Whether that means building a readership on your blog, or on Twitter, or on Facebook, or guest blogging all over the universe, or doing book tours and signings, you must promo. How willing you are to learn and adapt is part of that. Your blog isn't driving sales? Adapt. Try something new. Take offers. Take advice. It's your job to sell books, time to put in the work.

If you notice, I mentioned work a lot in the last paragraph. That's because being an author isn't just about writing books, that's just the first step. Writing can be a hobby. Being an author is a job. It's a career. And if you don't treat it like one--if you aren't willing to bust your ass and do the work, or worse you whine or make excuses--you're not an author.

And in the end, it isn't so much a question of what you are...it's a question of what you really want to be.

There are probably a lot more examples of things authors need to deal with that writers don't (based on my above explanation), these were just the top three that came to mind. I'm sure you have others. Hit me with them :)

HELP!!!

First, I'm on a #FridayFlash hiatus. I owe people comments from last week still. Things are just too busy this month for me to commit to doing anything extra, so the flash has to go for now. I'll be back with some in April after RT is over :)

For now though...

Con season is basically here (EEP!), and I'm doing some last-minute scrambling. I have magnets and a few t-shirts and stuff for the Blood Kissed series, but because of some rather inconvenient (but understandable) rules, I don't have much promo material for Badlands. So, I'm planning/hoping to do some romance trading cards. The thing is I'm not sure what all to get.

Here's the deal. I'm asking a friend of mine to do some art for them, and I don't want to put her under too much pressure. Plus, I can only afford to do so many at a time. So, I'm looking to limit it to four cards. Obviously I want to do Ever and Spencer, but I'm not 100% sure what else. My first instinct was to go with Zeke and Henrietta, but then I thought "Oooo the Dark Hawk is kind of a character in her own right." Lots of things came up in a quickie, impromptu Twitter poll, but it was suggested I ask here.

I need a decision quickly (probably by the end of the weekend), so what I need from you is this: other than Ever and Spencer, give me two more Badlands trading cards you'd like to see. (If it matters, I will probably add to the collection when I sell the next story, so this isn't the "end" of the cards, just the beginning.)

THANKS!

Friday Flash: There's No Such Thing

First and foremost...drumroll please...across the little blog hop giveaway, we had quite a few entries. I want to thank all of you for sharing your stories. They meant a lot to me. But, there can be only...uh, two...winners, and random.org helped me out a little here. Congratulations to Becky Hancock (from Bea's Book Nook post) and Sarah (from the post at Katie Reus's blog). I'll be tracking the two of you down to send you your copies of Badlands.

Thank you again to everyone who commented and tweeted!

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I'll be honest, I wrote this piece a bit off the cuff because of a conversation with my daughter today. It features Elle and Cass, the foster sisters from Pretty Souls (my new YA release under the name Julie Particka).

There's No Such Thing

Things had been quiet in Portage this summer. Cass and I got in the habit of patrolling, but after the first few nights, everyone seemed to get in line. Which was great, except no supernatural issues meant our lives had fallen into a pattern of TV, pretend to sleep, patrol, sleep, wake up, eat, run, screw around, eat...and do it all over again.

We'd run through our Supernatural DVDs and had moved on to a show called Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Cass hated the similarities: blonde, cheerleader...vampires. I tried to get her over it by reminding her that Buffy was human, but she wasn't biting. (In case I haven't mentioned it, it was also the summer I developed a love of bad puns.) We'd made it to season four and were settled in, watching the Halloween episode.

Everything was going fine and we were sharing quite a few laughs. Then...Anya, the re-habilitated demon, showed up in a bunny suit. Cass grabbed the remote and pushed pause. "She's afraid of...bunnies? What the hell. That's the stupidest thing ever."

"Oh, come on. It isn't like the show is exactly realistic. I mean you don't get funny ridges on your face when you vamp out either. The bunnies are a joke, just take it that way." I reached for the remote, but she snatched it away.

"Even if it's a joke, it should make sense, which means bunnies would have to be scary on some level." She jumped off the couch and held her hands up in front of her, hopping around the living room. "Tell me. How is this scary?"

I can't help it, she looks so ridiculous, I burst out laughing. "Fine. Fine. But you'd make a cute little bunny. Imagine if some huge, evil, muscle-bound demon turned into a rabbit. Like John Cena turning into a wererabbit with giant bloody teeth and claws. That'd be kind of scary."

Cass planted her hands on her hips and made a face at me. "Maybe, but there's no such thing as a wererabbit. As one of the things that stalk the night, it's kind of hard to be afraid of a figment of my imagination."

Looked like TV time was over. Once Cass gets on a roll, it doesn't stop until she's done. I stood and went into the kitchen to hunt up some food. "How do you know there's no such thing?" I stuck my head in the fridge and pulled out an apple.

"Because it's moronic."

Her voice was so close behind me, I jumped and hit my head on a shelf. Rubbing it with one hand and polishing the apple on my shirt with the other, I kicked the door closed. "No. What's moronic is this discussion. It's a TV show."

"Maybe, but couldn't they at least pretend to have it make sense?" Her lips quirked to the side. "I am sorry about your head though."

A headache was building, but I shrugged it off. "It's okay." The doorbell chose that moment to ring, the chimes resonating through the house. "I mean, I wouldn't be afraid of a giant bunny either."

She followed me to the door, her "I told you so" trailing close behind. I rolled my eyes and jerked open the door, freezing as I stared at the biggest pair of buck teeth I'd ever seen. That they were on the face of a six foot tall old guy didn't escape my notice either. Cass stood right next to me, stock still, like she was frozen in place.

I swallowed hard and cleared my throat, the weight of the door growing heavier against my hand. "Can I help you?"

"I'm here to speak to Eric."

"He and Jennifer went out to dinner." I sized him up, just in case.

His nose twitched back and forth like he was sniffing for a lie. "I'll just give him a call later then. Thank you." He turned around, and I noticed a strange lump in the back of his pants. I tried not to stare, but I couldn't tear my eyes away until I'd shut and locked the door.

"Elle?"

I shook my head and walked back into the living room. "It was just our minds playing tricks on us."

"How can you be so sure?"

Settling in on the couch, I set my jaw and hit the pause button again, Buffy the Vampire Slayer coming back to life. "Because there's no such thing as wererabbits--just like you said."

Too bad in my mind, I saw the old guy's buck teeth again, only this time, they were stained with blood.