A Little Nightbred

In December Nightbred, the second novel in my Lords of the Darkyn trilogy, will be hitting the shelves. Here's the cover copy:

Jamys Durand has survived being made an immortal Darkyn, horrific torture, and years of grueling warrior training. But he has no future to offer Chris, the mortal woman he loves. When he learns of a lost Templar treasure, Jamys vows to possess it and win his lady's heart.

No one knows Chris Lang wants to be a tresora so she can live with Jamys, her secret love. Her superiors offer to make her dream comes true, but only if she finds the lost treasure before Jamys can. Working together, Chris and Jamys track the jewels through a shadowy maze of priceless artifacts, decadent secrets and a ruthless opponent who can possess an immortal's mind . . . and will stop at nothing to have Chris.

If you'd like to sample the novel, head over to the stories blog and read an excerpt here.

Coming in April

In April I'll be releasing Dark of Heart, my next e-book novella. The story is set in the Youngbloods universe and parallels the story in After Midnight, my YA debut novel, which hits the shelves in May. Dark of Heart will also be free to anyone on the planet who wants to read it.

If you're interested in a preview, head over to the stories blog and check out the excerpt here.

Future Read

In response to the endless nagging popular demand, I've posted an excerpt from my final StarDoc novel, Dream Called Time, over on the stories blog. Warning, there was no way to post anything that would avoid spoilers from book nine, Crystal Healer, so if you haven't read that one yet you might want to pass.

Scene Favorites

Of all the things I like to write, I think the dialogue in action scenes is the most fun for me. I rarely plan dialogue in advance, so it's the most spontaneous writing I do, but oddly enough when there is a lot of action going on in the scene it's also the easiest. People under stress or duress say the damnedest things to each other, and I never get tired of composing it.

Action scene dialogue between secondary characters or a secondary character and the protagonist or antagonist is also one of the better story opportunities to showcase the support cast and avoid them becoming mere window-dressings or sidekicks for the protagonists. Here's one such scene from Shadowlight that I had a lot of fun with.

I wish love scene dialogue were as simple to write; I find that the most difficult to compose. I can handle describing the action, no problem, but cooking up the appropriate lines for the lovers to say to each other is always a challenge. Love scenes with no dialogue aren't as interesting, though, so I try to create and incorporate the right words.

One thing that helps me with writing love scene dialogue is to read some romantic poetry first. I don't quote the poems in love scenes, but they put me in the romantic mindset. Occasionally I'll write a love poem or letter from one character to the other (that helped a lot with writing the dialogue in the love scenes from Evermore.)

What are you favorite scenes to write, and what are your least favorite? Do you have anything you do to help with writing the scenes that are difficult for you? Let us know in comments.

Sneak Peek & Stuff

This is a deadline week for me, so posting will probably be a bit irregular for the next few days as I go through the usual separation anxiety and try to figure a way to pry the manuscript out of my clutching fingers long enough to get it to NY. Breaker bars may be involved.

We beta-tested the Complete Friday 20 Index that I promised to post, and our testers had problems with the length of most of the questions and how we worked the links to the original comments, so Tom and I are trying to make it simpler to read and use. Paraphrasing and switching the links around will take a little more time, but hang in there, it's almost done.

If you'd like a very early, first-draft look at Stay the Night, I've posted an excerpt over at the story blog here.