Before TOOTH AND NAIL, my published work was in the romance genre, and the romance was the story. The romance drove the conflict; the romance ramped up the motivation. Perhaps the hero or heroine were trying to solve a crime, or trying to save a farm, or trying to put each other out of business, but the outer plot was secondary to the question: will they end up together at the end?
Of course.
But aside from the romance genre, you’d be hard pressed to find a mainstream book or movie that doesn’t have woven through it some element of romance. Once romance is introduced, it brings the reader or viewer closer to the story. There is now a deep, meaningful way to connect to the characters. Romance is the great storyline equalizer.
Your reader may not be a nunchuks expert; your reader may not be the president of a galaxy; your reader may not be a succubus. (Or maybe the reader is. Probably not.) But…your reader has very likely been in love.
For love, a character will transform into his best self. For love, a character will break the law, or do things she never thought she could. Love will change the story, and change the characters, for better or worse.
– Jennifer Safrey
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“Sex and feelings…the elements of Romance.” I’ve decided this must mean the depiction of a full relationship: not just opportunistic, up-against-the-wall sex, but a relationship involving sex and love which reaches across divides. The divides could be physical, biological, cultural, religious, or political. And, SFF being what it is, those divides will be more numerous and varied than in other genres.
Most fantasy authors choose a low-tech setting for their alternate worlds. Without going into the reasons for that, which are themselves fascinating and sometimes illogical, I will go straight to the result: by choosing low-tech we catapult ourselves backwards into history, often choosing to build a society that is less progressive than our own.
The title for this piece comes from one of my favorite movies, YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN. It’s in the scene where the junior Dr. Frankenstein (played by the great Gene Wilder) discovers his infamous grandfather’s secret book, which holds the key to reanimating the dead. The title of that ominously dusty tome is so literal it’s funny: HOW I DID IT.
Once upon a time a creative writing teacher told me that all stories had to have outlines. As a result, I thought I couldn’t be a writer because I have a very difficult time working with outlines. My brain simply doesn’t work that way. Years and years passed before I discovered that writers work in all sorts of different ways, and they’re all valid. (If someone tells you there’s only one way to write — run, don’t walk to the exit.) Also? I’ve written six novels so far, and every novel is a bit different from the last one. (Some are more different than others.) You’re working with your subconscious, and your subconscious sometimes can get a bit tricksy with you because… well… everyone has their insecurities. (Get used to it. You’ll be facing them every time you look at a blank page or computer screen.)