Meet Max

by Seleste Delaney

When I craft characters, more often than not, a picture forms in my head that tends to resemble an actor or singer or model—someone with lots of pictures on the internet anyway. I like having physical images of my characters to refer to. Mainly because, when it comes to the guys at least, they are yumtastic.

And I do so love shiny things.

So, when Max Shaw stopped in for a visit as I was writing Of Course I Try, I had an immediate picture of him. Long dark hair, really intense blue eyes, big and muscly. The kind of guy you’d be scared to see in a dark alley, and really excited to see on a blind date.

Now, to be fair, I always saw Max as bigger than Christian Kane, but facially and general “type” of musculature. Yeah, he’s Max all the way. And considering Max is fond of singing to Jocelyn, it doesn’t hurt that the guitar isn’t just for show.

Doesn’t hurt that the girl in that video looks a little like Jocelyn (though too skinny).

If you want more of Christian Kane, check him out on Leverage or grab his album. But if you want more of Max, check out the Blood Kissed series. 

And, of course, if you want more Seleste, you can find me all over the internet.

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Three Way Thursday with Seleste deLaney

Thinking, thankful and thirsting. I never thought three words would give me so much trouble, but I’ve been kind of dreading this post for a while. You see, unless I go generic, those three things change on an almost daily basis. So even now, as I write this about ten days ahead of its post date, I know in the interim things might change.

I’m thinking I think too much…

I never played chess really and my version of playing pool is hitting the ball and begging the gods of physics to help me out. So, in a lot of things, the whole “thinking three moves ahead” doesn’t work for me. When it comes to games of strategy, I just can’t see the moves.

With life and relationships though, I tend to think of all sorts of possibilities (and tend to glom onto the most negative ones—pessimism for the…uh…not win?). One of the problems with this is I tend to think instead of doing. While I can usually come up with several “best case scenarios”, I tend to think of at least twice as many ways things can go wrong. Unfortunately, this pessimism and paranoia feeds on itself and can lead to me being very negative.

I have no desire to be the kind of person who complains all the time, so I’m trying to tame the beast and start trusting my instincts rather than overthinking everything (you know, like this blog post :P).

 

I’m thankful for my support system…

I have some of the best people ever in my corner. When I stress about friends, my husband is right there in my corner and my kids are always ready with a hug. When I freak out about my family, my friends stand by my side and talk me through it until I can deal with the fam. 

I have the best beta readers and critique partners ever. They kick my ass, make me laugh, and when necessary make me cry.  And one of my sisters pimps me to everyone she knows. I’m not sure how much it translates to sales, but knowing she’s there, telling people how awesome she thinks I am means more than she can possibly know.                        

                           

I’m thirsty for vodka…and chocolate…and ice cream…and…

I’ve been on a low carb diet for about a month now. Now, I like protein. I’m a big fan of eggs for breakfast. Hell, I’ll even go so far as eggs for lunch too. The problem is, after a few weeks of this, I want to be able to eat other stuff too. You know, stuff that isn’t oh so very good for me.

I miss junk food. I miss alcohol. I even miss fruit. Basically, the weight loss might be worth it, but I’m not sure I’ll be able to stay with the whole “life plan” part of the diet. I don’t exactly live to eat, but I enjoy food too much to limit myself to no bread, no pasta, and no sugar for life. For now though, I’m doing my best to stick with it which means holding off until the scheduled debauchery of the Romantic Times convention. Five more days and counting…

It’s Just a Number, Right?

by Seleste deLaney

Guess what? I’m old.

No. Seriously, I’ve recently been informed of this and it shocked the hell out of me. Sure, I was born on this very day…a while ago, but I really don’t see myself as old. Every once in a while when some random body part starts protesting life, I joke about it, but hello…those were jokes.

The thing is I’m a firm believer in the old saying “You’re only as old as you feel.” And most of the time? Yeah, I just don’t feel all that old.

I think that’s one reason most of my heroines are younger than my (LOL you thought I was going to tell you?) years. I remember high school and college and those first years on my own not only well, but fondly. And it isn’t because I look at the past with rose-colored glasses; I remember all the crap too. It was just a time of discovery, a time before settling into jobs and marriage and kids and routine.

For me, that’s a much easier time to write exciting things happening. You see, if I were to write a heroine like me now, she’d be a stay-at-home-mom and wife working some sort of job from home. She’d have a wonderful husband who loved her, maybe a couple pets, a mortgage, big extended family, in-laws she may or may not get along with. All in all, it’d be a full, solid life. Good stuff.

But that’s the problem. When the bad shit happens in the book—as it usually does in mine—those very things would become targets. The family, the husband, the kids…

Yeah. That wouldn’t be nearly as fun to write. I know this first hand because one of my works-in-progress deals with a lot of that. It’s painful to write. I cry a lot. And it’s a freaking romance novel. Not like it’s this huge tragedy in and of itself, but so much tragedy happened to the heroine to get her to the place she is in the beginning of the book that has to be revisited over and over…

I’m honestly not sure I’ll be able to finish it for the simple reason it hurts too much. So yeah, I embrace writing about younger characters, because while in some ways they have more to lose, in other ways, they have a lot less. Judge me if you want for clinging to my youth like that, but you know what? It’s my birthday, and I’ll cling if I want to ;-)

So what about you, dear readers? Do you prefer to read stories about heroines your own age? Younger? Older?

Just the Facts Friday: The Blood Kissed Series

with Seleste deLaney

1) Of Course I Try was originally written for a challenge where participants had to write something inspired by a song.

2) The very first version of Of Course I Try was actually only the last scene that made it to publication. The story was originally less than 1500 words long.

3) I didn't start out planning to make the story erotic, but the level of sex fit the characters.

4) Though originally envisioned as a stand-alone short, certain reader responses led to plot bunnies forming in my head that would allow for more tales about Jocelyn.

5) The first plot bunny attack came with the knowledge that Chad, the guy Jocelyn meets at the bar in Of Course I Try, had to come back into her life somehow.

6) For her longer pieces, I usually “cast” my characters in order to have visuals to refer to. Since Of Course I Try was a short, I didn’t do that and found myself back-tracking once it became a series. Many nights were spent thinking about my characters until I found people to fit them. Now I envision Max as Christian Kane, Jocelyn (sort of) as America Ferrera, and Max as Jensen Ackles.

7)The Ghost of Vampire Present was going to stick much more closely to the original machinations of A Christmas Carol, but it didn’t take long for me to realize that Jocelyn and Scrooge had so little in common it would never work, so it was tweaked…heavily.

8) Before my beta-readers had the holiday story for a week, they'd already started dividing into Team Max, Team Chad, and Team Jocelyn. Their commentary made for some interesting reading.

9) One of my beta-readers has devoted an entire list on twitter just to me, so she could have an entire page covered with Max (alas I’ve since changed my profile pic so it no longer works).

10) At this point, I’ve finished the draft of the first novel-length Blood Kissed story. As of writing this, I don’t know if it’s been accepted yet (since I just finished and haven’t sent it), but I’ll be sure to keep everyone posted. In the very rough outline of the series, I’m estimating the series to have at least three novel-length manuscripts, quite possibly more if twists present themselves. The best way to stay up-to-date on Blood Kissed news is through the series page on Facebook. Like Blood Kissed and news will show up on your feed as I have it to share!

Find Seleste:

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Show & Tell - The Little Story that Could

by Seleste deLaney

When I first wrote Of Course I Try, I was quite proud of it. The story won the little competition I entered it in, giving me bragging rights for a couple months until the next competition.

Re-envisioning it as something bigger than a piece of flash fiction was a challenge, but I jumped on it, thrilled by the prospect of delving deeper into Max and Jocelyn’s twisted relationship. When Decadent signed the story, I was all kinds of excited…until it hit me that getting reviews and readers for a short story was going to be a challenge.

The response when I sent inquiries shocked me a little. Most of the reviewers I asked were more than happy to take a look at it. I knew going in that acceptance didn’t mean I’d get a review, much less a good one, but I sent Max and Jocelyn on their way into the hands of the people readers listened to. At the time, I figured if I could manage a fifty percent return rate on review requests I was doing good. The book blogger community blew me away. To date, I only have two outstanding review requests. Everyone else posted, along with a couple I didn’t know about. And to make matters better, they’ve been really favorable (only one rating below four out of five stars, and a couple fives in there for good measure).

So, it is with great joy that I get to announce that a sequel to Of Course I Try is coming out for the holidays! The Ghost of Vampire Present picks up about seven months after the events in Of Course I Try. Jocelyn’s life has changed a lot, or so she thinks, because in her messed up corner of the world, nothing is ever as simple as it seems.

I’m really geeked about this story. It not only gives another glimpse into the mysteries that surround Jocelyn’s life but also provides a really good bridge to where I want to go from here. I’ve announced it elsewhere, but Jocelyn’s stories are now a bonafide series titled Blood Kissed. I’m hard at work on the first novel-length installment and I hope people are as excited about that prospect as I am.

In the meantime, I hope you enjoyed Of Course I Try and that you’ll pick up The Ghost of Vampire Present when it becomes available.

I mean, come on, look at that cover. How can you not want to buy it? ;-)

Spotlight Sunday with Seleste Delaney!

DP: Your story, Of Course I Try, is a smoking hot twist on the usual vampire romances we see. I have to ask, “What inspired you to write it? How did you come up with such an original idea?

SELESTE: Thanks! The original version of the story was a lot shorter (basically just the end of what came to be published), and it was inspired by a challenge to write a story inspired by a song. The lyrics paint this picture about a guy who keeps going back to his girlfriend even though he knows he shouldn't. My first thought was an abusive relationship, but then I wondered what if it went deeper than that (and I switched the gender because it fit the story I wanted to tell better). From there, Of Course I Try was born.




DP: Is there any one character you’ve written who is your absolute favorite? Why?



SELESTE: Wow. I love all my characters (even my villains) for a variety of reasons. There are some from my early stories that I'd love to go back to for the simple reason that I miss them and some that I've killed off because it fit the story they were in only to wish I could bring them back. Sadly, outside of paranormal, that proves a bit difficult. To focus on this story, I love the inner strength that Jocelyn taps into and the way she falls so hard. And then there's Max, hot, sexy, seemingly obsessed Max.

Let's just say that readers saw Max through Jocelyn's eyes. Every character has motivations for what they do, and Max's weren't necessarily bad. It's one of the reasons I adore him.




DP: Will your heroine in Of Course I Try make another appearance?



SELESTE: I sure hope so! I have plans for a holiday story featuring Jocelyn that I can't wait to get to work on. Then there is the longer story that's brewing. I hope to get to work on it during National Novel Writing Month (November for the uninitiated). That means it should clock in at over 50,000 words which should make my readers, whose only complaint about Of Course I Try was its short length, very happy.




DP: What genre is your favorite to write?



SELESTE: I write in a few genres, but I love urban fantasy/paranormal romance. The blending of what we know to be real and what could be that we never see. For me just the idea of that is sexy. Add in the right mix of characters and you can create something truly amazing.




DP: And you certainly have! Seleste, I noticed you have a degree in chemistry. Besides the explosive attraction you create between the characters in your stories, are you presently employed as a chemist?



SELESTE: Thank goodness no. I love chemistry, don't get me wrong, but I worked in a lab for a while and it was one of the most boring jobs I ever had. Teaching high school science was both more exciting and more rewarding. There are days I miss doing that, but my own kids keep me hopping in what little spare time I have. Now that my youngest is starting school, I might be able to at least volunteer some time helping with science fairs and the like though.




DP: If you could have one Steampunk gadget, what would it be?



SELESTE: Since you said gadget I guess I can't go off on a tangent about my mad love for corsets. My friend (and fellow Decadent author) PJ Schnyder has this fabulous clockwork (she calls them mechanicals) in one of her stories that I absolutely fell in love with. His name is Toby, and though I don't want to spoil anything for her readers, he is awesome and if I could have one "gadget", I'd want a Toby of my very own.




DP: Can you tell us about that faithful dog waiting so patiently by your side while you write?



SELESTE: Zeus is a German shepherd mix. We adopted him about three years ago and from the first instant he walked into our house, he became my constant companion. My desk is in the kitchen and when I write, he will crawl under and lie by my feet. Actually it's more like on my feet. LOL! When I write on the couch at night, he usually takes up position under my legs. I often joke about it, but it's really nice to be loved that totally and unconditionally.




DP: What are you reading right now?



SELESTE: I'm just about finished reading Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater. For those who don't know, it's a young adult paranormal romance about werewolves. I gobble up YA stories like they're candy. If anyone has great recommendations, please send them my way.




DP: If you could meet anyone in the world, who would it be and why?



SELESTE: You know, I debated answering this in a really smartass way, then I tried to come up with something super intellectual. But I'm just going to go with my first thought. George Clooney. I would really like to talk to him about his work with the UN and his various humanitarian projects. Plus, he's easy on the eyes and I love the sound of his voice. And now I feel the need to create a character that looks and sounds like George Clooney. I sense a new project coming on LOL.




DP: George Clooney sounds like excellent inspiration to me! So, are you a Bud Light gal or Cosmopolitan?



SELESTE: I enjoy a good beer, but Bud Light is not a good beer LOL. Truthfully though, I prefer mixed drinks and a good Cosmo is a great way to start an evening. Also, a great way to end an evening. We won't talk about what happens in between.




DP: We don’t have to talk about it, but we’re really hoping to read it. * wink * Thanks so much for stopping by!




Seleste's first attempt at a novel was a sweeping epic romance called Wars and Wishes, Disasters and Dreams. She finished about three chapters before deciding she had better things to do. At twelve years old, most girls wouldn't have made it that far. She went on to write numerous short stories and poems throughout her teens, but it wasn't until after earning a degree in chemistry that she returned to her love of writing fiction.

These days, Seleste splits her time between the worlds in her imagination and her home in southwest Michigan. Her husband and two children have learned not to worry too much when she doesn't seem all there, and her dog is attached enough that he waits patiently by her feet until she returns.