Do SFR Authors Dream of Electric Lovers? #scifi #romance

Look, it's going to sound like a cliché but yes, my character Keir from my main SFR series did come to me in a dream. But nothing like the post title. When I first 'met' him, my dream was of a beaten, hooded man sitting hunched in a deep, dark dungeon. Nothing romantic about it. When I woke up with that haunting image lingering in my mind, I immediately wanted to write his story. To find out who he was, what he was, and why he ended up in that dark place, at the darkest point of his life. Which meant I needed someone to rescue him.

That was how my debut novel began, as a short story describing that scene, but no more than that. It was years later before I finally picked up that short and decided the mystery of Keir needed resolving. 

It turned out dreaming was also a great way to solve plot issues as I continued with it. Being a pantser on my first full length novel meant often writing myself into corners because I couldn't see ahead, or because I don't write linearly either having to bridge the gap between two scenes that seemed to have no connection. Thinking about a particular issue as I drifted off led to waking with a new resolution to a problem, or new ideas for another scene. I don't know that I'd recommend it on a regular basis, though. Sometimes doing that meant I didn't sleep well.

So for six weeks I literally ate, slept and breathed my novel. I couldn't think about anything else, which rather upset my husband. I think the obsession came from a decade of not writing and the intense boredom and loss of my own identity after years being a stay at home mum. Whatever, it's a depth of absorption I have never quite replicated since.

As for electric lovers... I do have one published SFR with an android character, and others unpublished with them. But I have never dreamt about any of my other characters except Keir, even if I try to think about them as I go to sleep, to try to write their stories. I often wonder why...

But maybe my new bedspread will help me dream of some more. Is this a cover befitting a SFR author?

So I'm curious to know - do any other authors dream of their characters, either before, during or after they write them? And what about readers, do characters come to you in your dreams after you've read about them?

What Running Injuries Taught Me About Writing

Last fall I injured myself…twice!

You may know from reading the blog that in addition to being an author I am a martial artist. But did you know I’m also a lifelong runner? My love for running started in the 6th grade with track. In middle school, I found road races and cross country. I ran competitively in high school and lettered in cross country, indoor tack, and outdoor track every year for all fours years earning a total of 12 varsity letters. I was recruited to a Division I university where I competed mostly in the 800, 1500, and 3000 meters as well as cross country. I even met my husband at a road race! Over the years we’ve run many races together—at our own paces, of course, as he’s a lot faster than me. I’ve run trail races, tough mudders, and a few half marathons. I had even trained for a marathon and completed my first twenty mile training run…and then I got injured.

What does this have to do with writing? Stick with me.

As any athlete who is sidelined by injury knows, taking time off is hard. What’s even harder is training again after you’ve lost your cardiovascular fitness. It’s like starting from scratch. Fortunately, my time off wasn’t long, and I was running okay for a 47 year old lady. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to get my fitness level back to where I wanted before injury struck again this fall. Twice! 

I had a tear in my right posterior tibial tendon—an overuse injury—and a pulled left hamstring—from sprinting across the field when I was injured. duh! These injuries benched me for six months!! This was the longest time in my life that I went without running. When I started again—very slowly—my cardio was nonexistent. 

Running hurt. 

Running still hurts.  

The weather in NJ is getting warmer, and yesterday was a perfect day for a nice run in shorts and a tank top. I was able to run two miles slow, walk .3, run another mile, and walk .2 for a total distance of 3.5 miles. It hurt. It was slow. I was winded. But it was better than not running at all. 

By now, you’re probably demanding to know what this has to do with writing.

Well, this past Tuesday I finished writing my September release, Wilde Temptation, and sent it off to my editor (yay!). As I was running I reflected on how my writing habits changed as I neared the end of the story. I wrote 5 - 6 days and averaged 5600 words per week. And then one day I wrote 5,006 words in a single day that started at 9:30AM and continued for 17 hours until 2:30AM. The story flowed because I knew where everything was heading, but when I hit the last scene of the last chapter, I hit the wall. I just couldn’t stay awake. I slept for 4 hours and finished the book in the morning, but it took a toll on my body. I was exhausted for a few days after.

Yesterday, as I was running and feeling good about turning in my project, I couldn’t help compare these two activities. Since I hadn’t run in a week due to total “book focus” I discovered what little cardio I had gained from a month of training was lost again.

Isn’t that the same with writing? When you take too much time off, it’s difficult to get back into the swing of things.

Running and writing (and probably most everything else) seems to benefit me most when I do it with consistency and balance. When I find myself stepping away from the writing to do marketing, social media, live or virtual events, newsletters, blogs, etc, I find it’s harder to get back into the swing of things.

It's like I have to retrain my brain to write.

I do better when I am consistent, and I don’t feel like I’m tearing my body down. 

My goal going forward is to work on consistency (my martial arts side is thinking balance) in writing. It’s a matter of finding the perfect amount of words I can write each day that will offer benefits rather than hindrance. I am keeping track, and it appears 5000 words a week is doable. 

What goals do you set for yourself? Are you balanced with splitting your writing time with other activities? Have you ever wrote so much (over trained) that you needed time off to recharge and heal? Leave your thoughts in the comments.

Stay safe out there!

K.M. Fawcett 

Romance with a Rebel Heart

www.kmfawcett.com
 

Improvised Weapons For Your Characters

In a fight, anything can be used as a weapon. If you've seen a Jackie Chan movie, you've seen many unique improvised weapons from ladders to bicycles to jacket sleeves. Why not make your fight scene unique too?  Adding a little razzle-dazzle with an improvised weapon can make an ordinary fight scene exciting and memorable.

First, think about the setting of your fight scene. Make a list of what might be available in the scene to use as a weapon and then choose something interesting, something that hasn’t been done a hundred times before. If your scene is in someone’s yard, rocks and sticks can be easily found. But why not make it more interesting by having your character defend herself by smashing a clay garden gnome over the bad guy’s head?

Let’s use the standard bar brawl as an example. What's available to use as a weapon in a bar? You've got all the old standbys: bottles, stools, chairs, tables, and pool cues. Maybe a pinball machine or a jukebox or a window someone can get thrown into. These have all been done before. Now, think of some unique bar items a character can use as a weapon. A fist with a roll of coins taken from cash register. A glass jar of pickled eggs. The cord of a Neon beer light to strangle someone. Think outside the box to make your scene stand out.

What if you're not writing a bar brawl? You're writing a middle grade or a young adult novel. What could kids use in a fight in the schoolyard? Depending on the their ages, the characters could make use of a jungle gym by grabbing the high bar and swinging both feet into their opponent's chest. They could use a jump rope to strike or whip or even strangle. They could throw dirt or a clump of wood chips into the opponent's eyes to blind them. How about hitting someone with a book-filled backpack, a tennis racket, or any kind of sports ball lying around? If they’re in the band, they could use their musical instrument to whack someone.

A weapon doesn’t have to be small enough to hold. You characters can throw each other into something large, like the side of the house, a tree, a car parked in the driveway, the rose bushes, a swing set. This is your chance to create an exciting and unique fight scene. Have fun with it!

Here is a short excerpt from RENEGADE (Survival Race #3) with an example of an improvised weapon. Griffin is a scientist. Katana is a gladiator.

Griffin raced toward the screams on Pele cliffs. He careened to a halt at the sight of the new refugee, Katana—her nose bloodied, mouth bloodied, thermal suit bloodied—backing away from the biggest gladiator he’d ever seen. The hulk must have been at least six-foot-eight with a shoulder span that tripled his own. 

Had the gladiator hunter come for the woman? Had he come to reclaim the recent escapees? Had he come to capture all the refugees? 

Witty remarks and his usual charm wouldn’t stop a brute. He should leave right now, race to the nearest sentry, and make them ring the warning bell, but he couldn’t leave the woman in the hands of a damn gladiator.

How would he save her without getting himself killed in the process? He hadn’t raised a fist since the day he vowed nonviolence, an oath he refused to break. 

The hulk punched Katana’s face. Her head snapped back, and for a suspended moment Griffin was a child again, paralyzed, clinging to Father’s bookcase, too scared to help Mother.

Katana stumbled backward and landed on her butt in the weeds. She scrambled to her feet and grabbed—

No! Not the telescope! 

The hulk leaned away. The weapon flew past and the gladiator rushed her. In a quick movement, he had her disarmed, spun around with her back pinned against his chest, and a fist yanking her hair back exposing her neck, the tender white flesh streaked with crimson.

Weaponless, and without a plan, Griffin sprang forward. “Let her go!”

Renegade is available in print and ebook.

The last man alive wins! But what if your competitor is the woman you love? 

A Survival Race Championship victory will award scientist Griffin the spaceship he needs to deliver his people to freedom. But when raiders attack his refuge and capture his appointed champion, Griffin’s last hope is to recruit the tough yet tempting female warrior they left for dead.

Injured and abandoned, genetically engineered superhealer Katana is rescued by a gallant scientist with an enticing proposition and an entry into the gladiator race of her dreams. A victory would free her from destitution. But how can loner Katana win an elite world championship when she’s never competed at the professional level?

As brain and brawn team-up in the arena, desires ignite and passions soar…and a game-changing secret is revealed. But the race masters demand a single champion in this blood sport, and the rivals-turned-lovers must choose between winning their freedom and losing each other.

**This enemies-to-lovers science fiction romance is a stand-alone book in a series, in which each book's couple finds their happily ever after. No cliff hangers. No cheating.

 

Try this fun brainstorming exercise. If you were attacked where you are right now, what three things could you use as an improvised weapon? Bonus points for creativity. Leave your answers in the comments section.

Stay safe out there!

K.M. Fawcett

Author & martial arts instructor

Romance for the Rebel Heart

www.kmfawcett.com

Working with your characters

 

One of the nice things about writing is you connect with your characters. They become very real – and that has to happen so you can write their stories in a convincing manner. You'll often hear writers complaining because their stories have stalled. They want to write a scene but the characters aren't having any. They stand there with their arms folded and refuse to go where you want them to go. Or your characters take over and heads in a completely different, totally unanticipated direction.

It's happened to me. Of course it has. When I was writing Morgan's Return, the sequel to Morgan's Choice, Morgan's original mentor, Admiral Makasa, played an important secondary role. I felt it was important that he was more than a cardboard cut-out, a two-dimensional figure in a Fleet uniform, so after much intense navel-gazing, I added a scene of Makasa with his grandson.

The little boy dangled in the harness, chortling with laughter. "Do it again, Padra, do it again!" Smiling, Makasa sent the toy ship whizzing around the yard again, low over the bushes, zooming over the pool, tilting down the garden paths, while all the while young Obra crowed with glee, his chubby little hands tight on the crash bars.

Makasa's daughter laid a delicate hand on her father's shoulder. "Father, he'll be sick."

Makasa zoomed the toy fighter around a clump of rushes. "Nonsense. He's loving it. He's a natural born fighter pilot."

Her lips taut with disapproval, she said, "Long before that he'll be a sick little boy. Anyway, I'm to tell you there's a message for you. From work."

His hands faltered on the controls. Work? They knew better than to interrupt him on his day off. "Tell them I'll call later. Who was it?"

The interesting thing is that later in the story this scene gave me an important hook to explain something Makasa does. I had no idea that was going to happen – but the subconscious mind is a remarkable creator.

I've found the best way to get out of story binds is to talk to your characters, especially when they're in that arms folded, stubborn mood.

"You don't want to do that?" I ask.

Character shakes head.

"Any reason?"

Shrug. (But I get the idea it's not something she's comfortable with.)

"Okay. What do you want to do?"

At this point, you relax and chill, letting your mind drift in neutral. Eventually, your character will talk to you, maybe throw up suggestions, alternatives.

And sometimes it's the other way around. You write a character's story and you find you want to know more. I'd written Morgan's backstory, how she became a Supertech, before I wrote Morgan's Choice. (It's called Supertech, a longish short story)And Supertech became the lead-in to Morgan's Choice.

I also knew a certain amount about Admiral Ravindra – his background and what made him a little bit different to other Manesai admirals. One of those things was, that against all custom in his social class, he had a tattoo. But when I wrote the book, I didn't know how he acquired that tattoo. And I began to wonder. What would make the son of a dynasty of admirals make the mistake of having a tattoo? Tattoos were common in the lower ranks, but disdained by officers.

 

So, I wrote that story. It's called Ink – how and why Ashkar Ravindra acquired a tattoo.

I actually think it's one of the best stories I've written. It's not a romance but it gives an insight into Admiral Ravindra.

You'll find all the Morgan Selwood stories - including Ink and Supertech, on the series page.

 

 

Describing Fight Scenes

Authors often ask me how specific they should be when describing fight scenes.

My advice is to avoid getting too technical or the fight scene will read like a training manual. Too many details can slow down the pacing. Fights are fast and you want your action to read quickly so you can elicit an emotional response in the reader. You want readers to feel the excitement of the fight, not confusion over the words used to describe it. The terms you use will also depend on your audience. If you don’t write books filled with action-packed fight sequences, then it may be best to keep to more general fighting terms.

What if you want to showcase a particular awesome move or technique in the climax, but it’s too technical to explain at that moment? Describing in detail what’s happening in a fast-paced action scene will slow down the excitement. My advice is to explain it or refer to it earlier in the story, perhaps during a training session.

For example, in the original Karate Kid movie, we saw Mr. Miyagi practicing a technique on a piling at the beach. When Daniel-san asked about it, we learned that it’s called the crane technique and, "If do right, no can defend." Daniel practiced it on his own, and when he settled into the crane stance in the final scene, the audience knew this awesome move would make him a winner. If the technique wasn't explained until used in the story, the pacing would’ve slowed and the significance would’ve been lost.

I employed this idea a few times in Renegade (Survival Race book #3) as my hero and heroine were training for the Survival Race, a deadly blood sport where the last man (or woman) alive wins. Here is an excerpt from a scene in a training facility where one of the gladiators confronts the heroine, Katana, for knocking out the alpha female. Since the male gladiators don’t want to train with a female gladiator, she tries to pick fights to get some practice.

A very built, very grumpy looking warrior strode toward Katana in a tight, ratty tank top. Tattoos covered his shaved head and ran down his neck across his shoulders, chest, and both arms. If she had to guess, they probably covered the rest of his body, too.

“I hear you smacked around the alpha female.”

Well, that didn’t take long. Her second sparring session was about to begin. Good. She needed more hand-to-hand combat training. Lately, fist fights ended too soon and not in her favor. She fared better at a distance with swords, throwing knives, or arrows. “You mean the former alpha female? What’s it to you?”

“She’s protected.”

“By who?” Whom Griff’s voice floated into her mind. Quiet, Griff. I’m trying to start a fight.

“By me.”

“And you are?”

“Crowley”

“Well Crowley, you did a crappy job protecting her seeing as how I knocked her out with one punch.”

“You little bitch.” 

And here we go. 

She ducked Crowley’s punch and slipped to the outside angle. He followed up with another. She blocked and countered, making contact but not with enough force to cause pain. The guy was big. But she was quick. Unfortunately, speed didn’t matter in the end. The ground rose up and slammed into her back, and her elbow nearly snapped from his arm bar. “Keep your hands off Becky.”

Becky? What alpha female was named Becky? 

He threw her arm down and started to leave.

“Wait. What was that last move you did?”

He turned back. “What?”

“That last move. Your takedown came from nowhere. What did you do?”

Seemingly confused, he shrugged. “A kata guruma from the knee.”

“Like this?” She mimicked the movements on an imaginary opponent.

“No, no. You enter on one knee, like this.” He knelt and grabbed her right leg with his right arm. “Lift your opponent up onto your shoulders from underneath. Stretch them out. Then throw ‘em over your head or over the shoulder. I like over the shoulder.” 

The world spun and she kiai-ed on impact to help break her fall. “That’s fantastic.”

“Drop them on their head in competition. It’ll break their neck.”

“Can I try this on you?”

“What? No. Get away from me. I’m not training with no girlie gladiator.” Crowley strode off, shaking his head in disgust.  

You will see this move again later in the book, and when you read that Katana performed a kata guruma from the knee, you'll know just how she threw her opponent.

 

Renegade is now available in paperback as well as ebook. 

Buy your copy Amazon, Apple, B&N, Kobo, & other retailers. 

 

The last man alive wins! But what if your competitor is the woman you love?

A Survival Race Championship victory will award scientist Griffin the spaceship he needs to deliver his people to freedom. But when raiders attack his refuge and capture his appointed champion, Griffin’s last hope is to recruit the tough yet tempting female warrior they left for dead.

Injured and abandoned, genetically engineered superhealer Katana is rescued by a gallant scientist with an enticing proposition and an entry into the gladiator race of her dreams. A victory would free her from destitution. But how can loner Katana win an elite world championship when she’s never competed at the professional level?

As brain and brawn team-up in the arena, desires ignite and passions soar…and a game-changing secret is revealed. But the race masters demand a single champion in this blood sport, and the rivals-turned-lovers must choose between winning their freedom and losing each other.

 

Stay safe out there!

K.M. Fawcett

Author & martial arts instructor

Romance for the Rebel Heart

www.kmfawcett.com