Today's Touring Author:
Sheri Velarde is a dear friend and fellow author, and a pleasure to welcome to Foreplay and Fangs. She lives in New Mexico with her new
husband and their two dogs. Being an avid reader since an early age, she has
wanted to be a writer for as long as she can remember. She has been writing all
her life, but only recently started to actually try to pursue her dream of
writing for a living. She specializes in all things paranormal and that go bump
in the night. Her heart truly lies in exploring unknown worlds or adding the
supernatural to our world. If it goes bump in the night or has magical
connotations, Sheri writes about it. She is constantly putting out new material
with various publishers, so it is best to keep up with her on her website
www.sherivelarde.weebly.com. In her spare time Sheri is an artist, jewelry
designer, independent comic writer/artist and freelance non-fiction writer.
Hiking in the mountains, going to live concerts, art openings, museums, and
hosting intimate dinner parties.
Today's Guest Blog, by Sheri:
Writing is a scary profession to undertake. You are
putting your heart and soul out there for people to read, to criticize, to
dissect. It is even scarier when you try to get a foothold in a new genre. That
was the leap that I took for Possessed by Love, a m/m piece that is included in
the Haunted Hotties Volume 1 anthology now out on Torquere Press.
Now writing erotic romance is nothing new for me. I
have had several releases in the genre, though at the moment many are in the
process of finding new homes as the publishing world is not only hard on
authors, but on smaller publishers as well. That is in fact one of the reasons
I am branching out, pushing myself as an author and exploring new genres, such
as m/m romance. Mostly in the past I have written m/f erotic romances, though I
have had success with a couple f/f pieces as well. Now the m/m aspect was
completely new to me in Possessed by Love, but I wanted to see how I would do
and I am beyond pleased with the result and how it has been received.
Recently someone asked me why I would want to write a
m/m story, or a f/f story for that matter since I was “clearly” a straight
woman. So many things wrong with that questions. Shall we tackle them one by
one?
First off, I write love stories. Okay, very sexy love
stories most of the time, but there is always some form of love in my romances,
not just sex for sex sake. Maybe it is finding a way to love and believe in
yourself, or finding the one special someone who loves you the way you are. The
point is love is essential to my writing and love comes in all shapes and
forms. Characters tend to dictate to me who they are. Some are gay. Some are
straight. They are all characters in search of love.
My first f/f piece came as a shock to me. I had
intended it to be m/f but my character insisted she didn’t like men and I could
not force into that story. Since the lead character was full formed, I listened
to her and gave her to partner she wanted. The same held true for Possessed by
Love. Andrew just did not want a haunted night with a woman. So he got the
gorgeous man of his dreams instead. The characters know what they want and as
an author I listen to them.
Secondly, the person who asked this made the
assumption that since I am married to a man that I was straight and therefore
could only writing straight romances. (Her words not mine.) This so speaks more
about societal expectations which I won’t rant too much about, but this is a
clear case of don’t judge a book by its cover. I am an out and proud bisexual
woman who happened to fall in love with a man. Gender and sexuality are so
fluid I don’t know why people continue to want to put people in nicely labeled
boxes. Same goes for authors. We can learn and grow by writing in many genres
and creating varied characters, with just as varied sexual preferences.
I feel that as authors we should constantly try to
reach out and try to include more diversity in our writing. It is something
that I strive to do. I try to include more races in my stories, for instances
in Possessed by Love Andrew is half Native America and he must deal with not
fitting into the Native American world nor the Anglo world either. His love
interest is Hispanic, though from Spain as I couldn’t resist throwing in an
accent.
By pushing myself into other genres I am also striving
to have more gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered, etc. characters in my
writing. I am actually just starting work on an idea for a transgendered
centered novel that I hope will handle the topic with respect and in a
realistic light that I have found missing in the stories I have read. (On a
side note if any of you have read a book that had a well-represented
transgendered character, please let me know for I am always seeking
recommendations! Comment on this blog of find me on social media and let me
know. I am a strong believer that you become a better writer through reading.)
The point is, there is a point in here somewhere I
swear, is that as authors we should not be pigeonholed into certain genres
based on how we are perceived by some people in public. Write the stories that
are in you, whether they are about people who are like you or someone extremely
different. I write about vampires and shifters a lot, even though I am neither.
The same goes for writing love scenes for someone of the opposite sex. Authors
do it all the time, we imagine what things are like, we do research, we try to
write fantasy so that it sounds realistic to the reader. Is it exactly like
real life? No. I wrote a sex scene in a car once that fit the story but that I
would have no desire to reenact, but it sure sounded good on paper.
Sorry if this has been rambling a bit, I just got
married on Halloween and my brain has not fully recovered, was living my own
romance story for a bit. The point I really want aspiring authors to take away
from this post is to write what you feel. Write about varied characters and
situations. The more varied your world, the more real it will feel.
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Book blurb
Andrew faced the growing storm with animosity. He
would be trapped in his shop for a couple of days with no food or electricity.
Hopefully he could at least get food at the Church Street Café. Food he did
find and so much more once Damian, the owner of the café, asks him to ride out
the storm with him in the quarters above the restaurant. Generators, food and
warmth aside, Andrew has spent months wishing for such an invitation from the
mysterious and sexy Damian. What starts out as light flirtation turns into so
much more. Something comes over both men, letting them leave their insecurities
behind as they become possessed by passion and love.
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Excerpt
The door opened and a rush of warm air enveloped and
light him. Andrew sighed in relief, stepping inside. Looking around and seeing
no one, he called out, "Hello. Are you open?" His voice echoed
slightly in the strange quiet that had befallen the entire city, especially the
usually busy tourist section where he worked and practically lived, trying to
make his designs successful. Venturing farther into the restaurant, heading
towards the kitchen in back, he figured it would always be possible to take
some food and leave money. As he pushed the kitchen door open, he called out
again, "Is anyone here?" It was strange that the lights were on and
the place was so warm when the rest of the square was dark and cold, it left
him feeling a bit uneasy.
Suddenly something moved behind him. Andrew turned
quickly but no one was there. The entire dining area was open and he didn't see
a soul, yet he was sure he had felt someone right behind him only a moment
before. A chill ran down his spine, even though the room was warm from several
fires burning. A little scared, he warily continued into the kitchen.
"Hello?" Still no answer, so he proceeded to
look for food. Upon finding some takeout supplies, Andrew began to fill them
with posole and chili, figuring he could warm them on the wood stove back in
his store in some old pot or something should he be stuck longer than expected.
“Always be prepared.” He mumbled to himself, chuckling as he remembered his
brief stint and disastrous stint in the boy scouts where he learned that motto.
Just as he was packing up to leave, wondering why all
the food was there and still warm without a person in sight, he heard a deep,
sexy, masculine voice behind him. "Can I help you with something,
Andrew?"
Andrew shrieked like a boy as he turned around.
"Damian, you nearly scared me to death. I called out over and over with no
answer." Andrew’s heart rate kicked up a notch, as it always did when he
was in the presence of the new café owner. The man was so damn good-looking; he
always reminded him of Benjamin Bratt: tall, dark, and handsome, but with a
Spanish accent. He was just too hot for him to handle, and he usually stammered
inanely, making a fool of himself in the other man’s presence.
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