 | 16 Dec 08 |
What a pleasure it is to welcome the talented and delightful Julie Leto as a guest blogger here at MSW. With nearly thirty novels in print, this RITA nominated, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author is known for her ultra-sexy, edgy stories of romance and adventure. She’s been a friend and mentor to me (and many others), a powerful voice in the publishing community, and an inspiration to many writers. I’m so grateful Julie is taking a break from her whirlwind release of her latest sexy paranormal, PHANTOM’S TOUCH, to be with us today, talk about her latest release, and chat in our new and improved comments section. Leave a comment….you will be automatically entered in a contest to win a signed copy of PHANTOM PLEASURES, the debut book in Julie’s amazing new series for NAL! Thanks, Julie!!
Murder and Mayhem Outside the Thriller
First, I want to thank all the fabulous writers of Murder She Writes for inviting me to guest blog here today, specifically Roxanne St. Claire, of whom I am a HUGE fan.And a friend!Most especially, a friend, but I honestly do eat up her books as if they were made of Pernigotti Black, my favorite dark chocolate.I love romantic suspense and thrillers, but I don’t write them.I wish I could…but I prefer to let the talented writers who are really good at planting clues, inserting red herrings, and traversing the twisty paths of the mind to do all the work and then let me snuggle in bed with my book and my tea to turn pages like a mad woman.Several of the writers on this blog have kept me from my beloved sleep, and for this, I thank you!
When I wrote the Marisela Morales books for Pocket, the publishers and bookstores labeled them as romantic suspense, but I will tell you the truth—they weren’t.At least, as a writer I did not approach them as such.To me, they were romantic adventures.Female-central action-adventure stories—urban fantasy, without the fantasy.But as far as mysteries go, I didn’t structure the books that way.But I’ve realized that inserting suspense into a novel is completely different than writing a straight romantic suspense. The focus is different.The balance of time spent on the romance, time spent on the mystery, time spent on the action/character all changes depending on the genre.
When I was given the opportunity to write paranormal romances for Signet Eclipse, I made a conscious decision to include suspense elements in my new books—again, because I love the unfolding of a puzzle.
PHANTOM PLEASURES (released April 2008) and PHANTOM’S TOUCH (in bookstores now!) both have their fair share of suspense, murder and mayhem, but as a non-thriller writer, I approach these devices completely differently than the authors of this blog do, I’m sure.In romantic suspense and thrillers, the murders often, if not always, drive the plot…and they certainly drive the characters.Oftentimes, it is the need to keep another murder or death from happening that compels the characters to put their own lives in danger to stop the crime.
As a paranormal romance author, my focus is on the romance, first and foremost.Second, the paranormal aspects and world building.There are certainly lots of paranormal romances on the marketplace that don’t rely at all on suspense elements to drive a storyline, but since I’m a fan of tension and danger, I have taken great pleasure in creating villains who will kill if necessary—and often do.
I think in all books, if a villain is present, they are incredibly important.Personally, I can’t stand a villain who is merely insane…that seems like such a cop-out.I want a villain who makes total sense at least to himself or herself.For the Phantom books, I started created my villains with the organization they’re mostly all a part of—a cult, called the K’vr.This small group started in the 1700s, when Lukyan Von Roan decided to cash in on the fact that his brother, known to date only as Lord Rogan, was a powerful sorcerer.Lukyan used the threat of his brother’s formidable magic to become wealthy and powerful himself.After Rogan disappeared, Lukyan converted those he’d intimidated into followers, with their main goals of regaining the source of Lord Rogan’s magic and accumulating wealth so that once they have the magic, they will be in a position to take control of the world.
Big dreams.
Then I had to people the K’vr with characters, starting with the leadership, which I threw into disarray before the action of the first book by killing off the Grand Apprentice (in other words, the Head Honcho.)When the GA died, he left two children behind…and the GA is always a blood descendant of Lukyan.Those two children were a nineteen year old son named Keith and a twenty-something year old daughter named Gemma.By right of her age, Gemma should be the leader.But, unfortunately, she lacks that Y chromosome that so many old-world organizations seem to require in their leaders.The Council of Elders, however, is loathe to turn the group over to a kid, so they consider the bid of Farrow Pryce, the former Grand Apprentice’s right-hand man.He has no blood ties, though, so the council is torn.
And so the mayhem begins, because as everyone in this organization tries to further their ambitions, the Forsyth brothers—all previously cursed in 1747 by Lord Rogan’s magic—are awakening in the new world.These are the heroes.
Ah, conflict.
I have to admit that of all these villainous characters, the one that appeals to me most is Gemma.She transforms over the course of the trilogy and though she only has one appearance in the second book, she is very important and drives a major storyline, even when she’s not around. She’s also a huge player in book three…and hopefully, beyond.She’s complicated and definitely the heroine of her own story.She also has the capacity to kill.Sometimes, it’s a little scary how much I like her.But I do!
So…let’s talk villains. Whether a book is a suspense, a thriller, or a paranormal romance with genre-bending tendencies (mine is a little historical, a lot contemporary, very sexy, time-travel-y, and let’s not forget suspenseful…) villains can make or break a book.Tell me, what’s your favorite type of villain?
© 2008 – 2009 Roxanne St. Claire. All rights reserved.
Roxanne St. Claire is a bestselling, RITA-Award winning author of twenty-four novels of romance and suspense. For the past several years, she's been writing a popular romantic suspense series called “The Bullet Catchers” for Pocket Star Books, featuring a cadre of bodyguards and security professionals. In 2010, she's launching a new series, "The Guardian Angelinos" focusing on an extended family of renegade crime fighters and investigators based in Boston. The first book in that series, EDGE OF SIGHT, will be released from Grand Central Publishing in November, 2010, with two more scheduled in 2011. In addition to the RITA, her books have won the National Reader’s Choice Award, the Daphne Du Maurier Award, the Maggie Award, the Booksellers Best, the Book Buyers Best, The HOLT Medallion, multiple Awards of Excellence, and Borders “Top Pick” for Romance in 2007.
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Julie! Great to have you here! I love those villains who appear so kind and gentle to everyone but their victims. Those really creepy guys like Anthony Hopkins in Fracture!
by Debra Webb December 16th, 2008 at 6:25 amThank you, again, Julie, for coming by today. I love your perspective on suspense and adventure.
The villain I like? The one you never see coming. For me, that’s always the trickiest part of writing the book, since I have moved to stories where the villain is not revealed until the end. It’s not that I want to fool the reader, I just want to add a level of unanswered questions to the story.
I also like villains who are not psychopaths (some of my co-bloggers do those REALLY well) but just normal people who got in too deep and are willing (and forced) to do very bad things to save themselves. They come more naturally to me as a writer, and seem to fit my stories better.
I love the PHANTOM books, Julie! You’ve done an amazing job making ghosts smokin’ hot! No surprise, there!
by Roxanne St. Claire December 16th, 2008 at 6:35 amRoxanne, I totally agree. The villain that isn’t a psychopath is my absolute favorite. Or like you said, who is so gentle and sweet interacting with some people that you never see him as the villain until the end, when suddenly, everything makes sense! I just read a thriller where I was convinced there was only one villain…but at the end, there were two and only one was truly evil…and he was EVIL and yet I’d known him the whole book and could never have anticipated the reveal. Won’t say which book it was because that’s a big spoiler!
Deb, I never saw FRACTURE. I’m a big wimp when it comes to thrillers on film, but I love them in books!
by JulieLeto December 16th, 2008 at 7:03 amGreat post, Julie, and thanks for the insights.
I cut my ‘reading’ teeth on Sherlock Holmes and traditional mysteries, and one never saw the villian as a POV character. To me, it takes away some of the ‘fun’ to know what’s happening before the h/h do.
I prefer solving the puzzle along with h/h, so that’s how I write. The clues are all there, but you don’t get to see the villain (unless he/she just happens to be on scene with h/h).
Which is why the ‘romantic suspense’ moniker bugs me sometimes, because a mystery is NOT a suspense. They’re two different sub-genres. As a matter of fact, I thought I was writing a mystery when I started my first book, but my daughters told me it was a romance. Who knew?
by Terry Odell December 16th, 2008 at 7:25 amJulie, I agree with Roxanne. I love the villains you don’t see coming at you – the ones who seem so normal you’d never suspect them. I love to write romantic suspense but even my paranormals have villains and red herrings. And I love a “faux villain” thrown in as a red herring – the creepy-scary one you just KNOW is guilty, only to discover he/she is one of the good guys after all. As a writer, the best compliment I can get is “I never suspected so-and-so.” As a reader, I’m thrilled when I haven’t figured it all out by the last chapter – rare given my background in law enforcement.
I loved Phantom Pleasures and I can’t wait to dive into Phantom’s Touch. It’s next on the list.
by Silver Janes December 16th, 2008 at 7:30 amI’m with Rocki — I like the villain you don’t see coming. Since I like to play amateur sleuth while reading a book and try to figure out who dunnit, it’s more fun if the author doesn’t tell me up front.
Congrats on the new release.
by Marilyn December 16th, 2008 at 7:32 amI need to learn to proofread. LOL. You’d think I’d at least be able to spell my last name. Need. More. Coffee!
by Silver James December 16th, 2008 at 7:36 amWhat a great post, and so good to hear the details of the K’vr, as I am about to dive back into the Phantom world and I needed a “last time in these books…” reminder.
I think that what we call “suspense” as a genre encompasses both mysteries and thrillers, so it can get confusing. To me, a mystery is the puzzle type story — you don’t know who the bad guy is until the end (as Roxanne said) and part of the fun, as Terry said, is figuring it out along with the characters. A thriller, you know who the villain is, you maybe even get scenes from his/her POV, and the fun comes from seeing if the protagonists can escape/outwit/thwart/catch them. These are very different types of stories, with different SOURCES of the suspense, and they appeal to different emotions. (Hitchcock put this really well when he talks about showing the audience a bomb under the cafe table where the protagonists are having lunch.)
I guess the real trick is signalling to the audience what kind of story you’re telling. It’s like a romance: you know who the hero is, you know he’s going to end up with the heroine, the fun comes from following along as they do it. Which is why I’m always surprised by reviews that say “oh, it’s so obvious they are going to end up together” — well, yeah. People who want a mystery will say something like “It’s so obvious so and so is the villain,” whereas people who want a thriller would say something like “gosh, how in the world are the protagonists going to save the day?”
by Diana Peterfreund December 16th, 2008 at 8:45 amGreat post, Julie! I agree that villains are very important to a story especially a romantic suspense. And just as you say, for me they need to be more than simply insane.
I like it when the villain rationalizes why he or she is doing whatever vile act they are perpetrating. I also love a twist that I don’t expect in the books I read. And often that is accomplished by a surprise villain.
by Lara Santiago December 16th, 2008 at 8:47 amLara
Hi Julie!
I enjoyed your post! My favorite villain is the one person you least suspect. I love reading stories where you are lead down one path but at the very end there is a twist and the person you least suspect is the killer!
I enjoy some novels where the villain happens to be the star of the novel and is distractingly handsome! Those are always a delight to read!
Congratulations on your new book, PHANTOM TOUCH!
by Michele L. December 16th, 2008 at 9:15 amWelcome Julie! I love your cover!
I love villians, as a reader, I like trying to outsmart the villians along with the characters. I don’t mind a completely evil as long as I can feel his motivation. However, the more interesting villians are, as Rocki said, the ones who keep getting pulled in deeper in deeper. To me, this is a real “character issue.” It’s about the choices characters make when faced with impossible choices. I WISH I could write that with the level of authenticity that makes the villians so interesting.
Great blog, thanks so much for joining us today!
by Jen Lyon December 16th, 2008 at 9:23 amHi Julie! I’m so glad you came to visit today! I loved your post, and I it’s no surprise I love my villains
. . . both the psychopaths and others (not all my villains are psychopaths! In Playing Dead I had a conspiracy with three “upstanding” citizens; in Fatal Secrets it’s all about making money–it’s just “business”)
And Julie, you HAVE to see FRACTURE. It’s not like Silence of the Lambs or any other gory suspense/thriller, it’s more a psychological thriller where the hero KNOWS that Anthony Hopkins character is guilty, but he can’t prove it. It’s both a thriller and a mystery–how did he do it?
Congrats on this new series! I love ghosts
by Allison Brennan December 16th, 2008 at 10:38 amNow y’all have me immensely curious about FRACTURE.
I, too, love the villains who seem charming, who have a balance to them. Lately, I’ve been wiring villains who have a reason for being broken the way they are.
So glad you joined us today, Julie. And I’m going to have to grab your series now–you’ve completely intrigued me.
by Toni McGee Causey December 16th, 2008 at 5:51 pmDiana, excellent comment and so on target! My books fall under the “how are the hero and heroine going to thwart that villain” because I make no secret of who my villains are. There are twists, of course, and people aren’t always exactly what they seem to be, but by and by, the villain isn’t a mystery.
In fact, that’s how I knew one reviewer hadn’t read my entire book. She made a comment about the villain being a certain character based on one line in an opening scene…but that character turned out to be much more complicated and not what he seemed. Since she made no reference to that twist, I knew she had not read the entire book. Shame, really. She might have liked it better if she’d looked beyond her assumptions!
by JulieLeto December 16th, 2008 at 11:40 amJulie, I loved the first Phantom book. It was such a unique concept. I love when a book goes waaay outside the envelope and travels new territory. Can’t wait to read the new one. I love villains who don’t mean to be bad but when they are back against the wall they make the bad choices in life. As things get bad, they just get worse.
by Amanda December 16th, 2008 at 12:40 pmI enjoy a villain who has some kind of dark secret of why they became this way!
by Teresa W. December 16th, 2008 at 12:56 pmHi Julie,
by Elisa V December 16th, 2008 at 1:17 pmWhat a cool post you wrote. I was at the Plotmonkeys site and saw you would be here today. I am sorry but I am so new to this site. I am enjoying everyone’s blog of information. I told Santa to get me Julie’s, Allison’s, Roxanne’s and Heather’s books. Hope everyone has a great day.
Thanks Elisa!
by Allison Brennan December 16th, 2008 at 11:06 pmI love the villain you don’t see until the end as well. But I also love it when the reader knows who the villain is and the H/H don’t. When written well, it keeps you pulling for them to unravel the clues which will lead them to the villain before he/she gets them.
by Vicki December 16th, 2008 at 1:51 pmHey, Julie, so glad you stopped by! Welcome. Villains, love ‘em. The kind that do the really wrong bad thing for their convoluted right reasons. The guy who is just greedy and wants to take over the world for the sake of being all powerful bores me. Why does he need to have to be in control? What happened to him? What deeper darker secret drives him? Humanize the bad guy so I can believe his motivation and you have me.
by Karin Tabke December 16th, 2008 at 2:15 pmI like highly intelligent villains whose appearance and manner is at total odds with who they are. Hannibal Lector comes to mind!
by Debbie December 16th, 2008 at 3:00 pmThank you, Amanda!
by JulieLeto December 16th, 2008 at 6:46 pmHi, Julie! Enjoyed your post! I agree with everyone else. I love a villain you don’t see until the end of the book. Congratulations on your latest release!
by Margie December 16th, 2008 at 9:35 pmHi Julie! I just need to get your new book, I already enjoying PHANTOM PLEASURES. Love the cover of the new one, PHANTOM’S TOUCH. Cool its out now!
Mmm, I’ll be honest, I often forget about those Villains because usually after one book, they are gone! I don’t mind knowing who the villain is of the story, but I kind of prefer it when I’m reading because I can follow that villain through the story! But yep there’s those we have to guess who it is and sometimes I’m right, but mostly wrong! I do prefer those in the paranormals more since I tend to read those and historicals more. I do love a hot romance suspense and have many favorites there but seems not as much out with those as they are with paranormals. One thing tho, I dearly love historicals and when I first had read some that were even historical mystery series or historical romances with a mystery within, I got really hooked into those! I do tend to like the historicals with the mystery more because I love the setting of the historicals and it all makes the mystery in it more fascinating. Ones I can remember off the top of my head that had some good mystery theme within it is Amanda Quick. So my two favorites to read are historicals and paranormals!
by Caffey December 16th, 2008 at 9:56 pmkind taht gets under your skin and makes u wanting more.
by kh December 16th, 2008 at 10:26 pmJulie – thank you so much for being our guest at MSW! I loved the comments about villains, and getting your perspective on suspense. We’ll let you draw a winner and we’ll announce it by tomorrow! Stay tuned, everyone!!
by Roxanne St. Claire December 17th, 2008 at 7:26 amI love a great villian. And one who is unforgettable. In my writing I do a better job at writing the villian, then the hero and heroine…I wonder what that says about me! But I love a great sexy villian, that you wish, just wasn’t so bad, that he could titter on the edge of being the hero, but unfortunately, he has to be really a bad guy to be the villian, every story has to have at least one…Just make him unforgettable and sexy.
by Lee December 17th, 2008 at 8:59 amasny winner
by k December 22nd, 2008 at 10:53 pm