L.J. Wilson

Author of Ruby Ink

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Seriously? She Writes Romance?

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The blog below originally appeared on One Curvy Blogger. Many thanks to Sarah, who had this to say about Ruby Ink: “Hey, Curvy Readers! Today I have a guest post to share with you guys. Earlier this week I reviewed Ruby Ink. I loved it so much, I invited L.J. Wilson back so she can give us an in-depth peek at the author behind such a unique story!”

ruby-promo-Aar-MindBodySoul-6aIf we met at a party, on an airplane, or got stuck in an elevator, then were asked “Can you tell me something about L. J. Wilson?” the last thing you’d answer is “She writes romance.” Sarcastic, wine drinker, cat person, lover of Georgia football (woohoo, Georgia fan!) and inappropriate humor, any of those would be a solid guess—and you’d be right. I don’t wear romance writer on my sleeve and I tend to roll my eyes at rom-coms. I never got Jane Austen. I am a poor representative of my romantic writing peers.

That said, show me a man with a desperate story and an unshakable love for one woman and I’ll make a hero out of him. I’m fascinated by unearthing the good in a character, and my niche is damaged men. Maybe it’s because the breed is rare and odds of success so small. The best male characters, for me, are those who confound readers in the role of hero but prove to be exactly that. And I’m not talking textbook bad boy, but protagonists challenged by extraordinary circumstance. I’m drawn to their dilemmas—imaginary as they may be—and I love to write about them. Is it fantasy? Perhaps. Is it possible? I like to think it is. Am I encouraging hot daydreams and wistful happy endings? Damn, I sure hope so.

I’ve dabbled in other genres. It’s been suggested that I write thrillers. I’m not so bad with intense action scenes—the rhythm oddly mirrors heated romance—but I’ve always known enough to say “What’s the point?” If I were to spend two-hundred pages plotting a spy novel involving cold war countries and high-tech tactical operations, I’d only end up telling you the love story. How the rebel forces leader—the one who’s really a covert U.S. operative—is secretly planning to rescue his lover, held hostage by an old nemesis.

My Laura Spinella novels, Beautiful Disaster and Perfect Timing (and a third, Ghost Gifts, out next year) are categorized as women’s fiction, but at the heart of each book is a romance. When you write like that it’s a lot to balance. You have to weave romance into other layers, giving each portion of the story amble elbow room. When I committed to Ruby Ink and the Clairmonts, I dove in head first and hard. It was wildly freeing. Readers in this genre would not only welcome, but demand, serious steam. I hope I delivered. I also hope you’ll join me as we unravel the love lives of the entire Tribe of Five—Alec, Aaron, Honor, Jake and Troy—even their never-married parents, Sebastian and Evie, who have their own surprising tale to tell. When it comes to a sexy, thrill-seeking read, you never know what a Clairmont will bring to the pages.

 

Is a Pen Name a Good Thing?

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SONY DSCA blend of folklore and fact explains how Samuel Clemmons became Mark Twain, another byproduct of the famed author’s time as a riverboat employee. The most validated tale revolves around captain Isaiah Sellers and his pragmatic descriptions of the Mississippi River—its water levels and favorable, or not, sailing conditions. In the margin of his logs, it’s said that Sellers embellished the dry waterway notes, detailing the river with more interesting and less perfunctory information. He’d sign his all his findings—exaggerated and unadorned—“Mark Twain.” And so was born the identity that Samuel Clemmons chose for his own writing. The words he saw as extensions of the truth, or the fiction we know as Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn.

Fast-forward a century and a half, to J. K. Rowling, who chooses her pen name based on a business hunch. Would pre-teen and teenage boys (her intended audience for the yet to be published Harry Potter) respond favorably to a woman’s name (Joanne) on the book’s cover? Well, in addition to a great story, it certainly didn’t seem to hurt.

Between Twain and Rowling, countless authors have chosen pen names for a variety of reasons—some gender bending, others to protect their privacy, ease of use if their given name were nearly unpronounceable, or to avoid confusion. Should you have suffered the curious luck of being born Stephen King or Margaret Mitchell, and decide, you too, were a writer, separating yourself from these greats would be a no-brainer. If not, be prepared. Any and all comparisons are guaranteed literary suicide.

With the dizzying metamorphosis of publishing, authors have turned the pen name page again. A pseudonym, along with the aforementioned uses, also signals a shift in genre—something more and more authors are embracing. Rebranding is how trendsetters and even traditional publishing houses refer to it, and L. J. Wilson is my own example. After publishing two women’s fiction novels, the idea sprouted to do something… shall we say, tastefully risqué. Not long into the first draft, it became apparent that if I wanted to write sensual romance, if I wanted to properly brand myself and the Clairmont series, a pen name was paramount.

I tried on names like dresses in a fitting room—you just know what’s a keeper and what to toss aside. I thought about pseudonyms that might resonate with readers, wondering what would do more harm than good. In the end, I went with something that was a natural fit, choosing my maiden name and initials. Because I’m so pleased with Ruby Ink, and having developed such a fondness for the Clairmont stories, I was fine with closely associating, and hardly hiding the fact that L. J. Wilson and Laura Spinella are the same person.

Is it necessary? Will the trend continue? Could Laura Spinella have just as easily written Ruby Ink? Opinions will vary, and like everything else in publishing, no one knows for sure. But I suspect there’s a good chance J. K. & Robert Galbraith would agree with that much.

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While you’re here, enter to win a $100 Amazon Gift Card, celebrating Ruby Ink’s release, and don’t miss the Goodreads giveaway. I’m giving away 7 signed copies of Ruby Ink.
“A sultry story… intensely emotional and full of heart. L. J. Wilson is a discovery.”
—Shannon McKenna, New York Times bestselling author
Photo courtesy of gratisography.com

Fact or Fiction, Is There a Place for Extramarital Sex?

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romance writingAside from the motel out on Route 9, I’m wondering if there is a suitable place for an affair. Most people would agree that affairs are a serious subject, whether you’re talking about the neighbors, an article in the New York Times or an author’s next book. Extracurricular sex is an emotion-filled event regardless of which side of the bed you fall—betrayer or the betrayed.

A recent piece in the New York Times handles the topic of sex outside a marriage from both an analytical and emotional perspective. The article delves deep into the affair of a woman named Cynthia, her reasons for the affair (read great sex here) and the subsequent trauma of what occurs when her lover drops dead quite unexpectedly. The article goes on to offer well-honed wisdom and ultimately a happy ending for Cynthia and her husband, who we learn knew of the affair all along. The story is neatly packaged, making for an engaging read. Having never had an affair, I read the article as an interested bystander. As a romance writer, I was enthralled on a completely different level.

The article distracted me with its various plot points: 1) If Cynthia’s lover hadn’t dropped dead, how might the affair have resolved? 2) I did think the whole premise of the NYT article made for a great novel. 3) You could never use said premise in a true romance novel—not “as is.” While affairs are tough to navigate in real life, they may be even trickier for the romance writer. Let me explain:

In recent years much of what constitutes a traditional love story: boy meets girl, boy loses girl, and so on… has become more malleable. Bad boys make for the best heroes, and if there’s a little prison time involved, so much the better. Heroines had better be sharp thinkers, seriously employed with their own businesses, if possible. If there’s rescuing to be done, both parties must stand at the precipice of peril and share equally in the saving. Welcome and long live the rules of modern romance.

What hasn’t changed and isn’t salable to readers is a down and dirty affair. This isn’t an affair of extenuating circumstance—the one where the character of the husband is a monster. Such a tired storyline would, of course, give the reader ample room for justification and sympathy. But I’d like to think those easy-peasy plotlines have gone the way of dime-store novels. Readers are savvier—they simply expect more from their love story.lacy dress unsplash

So the question becomes, can a romance writer create a likable, engaging novel based on an everyday affair? What if the husband were just boring? What if the couple had simply grown apart? How about if the woman met a man and found herself saying, “Uh oh, here’s the right guy. The one I’m not married to…” They’re all relatable themes. But I don’t know that you can ever get readers to root for the couple born out of these circumstances.

Add to this a sexual component. A real life affair, like Cynthia’s, was all about great sex. What happens to the same steamy page-turning love scene when cheaters are cast? My guess is it disintegrates faster than an after-sex cigarette. What works between the sheets for beloved characters, likely ends up on a bed of nails when the motivation is less than honorable.

The truth is readers want to fall in love with your characters. They want to root for the positive romance. I suspect there’s no place for Cynthias of the real world in romance novels—not unless it turns out that her husband accidently bumps into his high school sweetheart, just as Cynthia simultaneously gets hit by a bus. For as much as the romance novel has evolved—and I believe it has—readers still want their love stories to come with unchallengeable happy endings.

Also, don’t forget: Ruby Ink is available for pre-order now on Amazon! Click here to be among the first to receive your eBook when it goes live on 3/31.
“A sultry, tantalizing story… intensely emotional and full of heart. L. J. Wilson is a discovery.”
–Shannon McKenna, New York Times bestselling author
Win a $100 Amazon gift card! Enter here (no purchase required) but if you’d like to join my supercool newsletter (I promise not to share your email with anyone), click here to join and be entered into the contest! Amazon-icon

This Is The Reason Lovers Lie

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rose-615281_1280Good lovers lie. Or so said a pre-Valentine’s Day New York Times post on the subject. The well-written article goes into great depth when it comes to passion-prodded lying—to your significant other, your children, and your friends. “If you want to have love in your life, you’d better be prepared to tell some lies and to believe some lies.”

This past weekend, my daughter put that concept to the test. Her new beau, while a delightful young man, didn’t seem terribly dialed in to the nuances of the special date. When she mentioned having purchased him a gift, his response was, “Oh. I made a dinner reservation. I didn’t know we were doing gifts.”

He’s young. He’ll learn. (Though perhaps not on her dime.)

Reservations were made, but to keep the evening from downward spiral trajectory, I suggested she be prepared with two gifts—the sporty, but hardly Rolex, watch she purchased, and a more casual box of chocolates. If his gift wasn’t worth a Facebook post—i.e., an I ♥ NY coffee mug—she should smile and hand over the candy. No need to take him to task and letting the lesson be hers: meaningful gifts are free will inspired. I went on to hint she should look at the bright side: take solace in the fact that he didn’t decide movie tickets to the Fifty Shades debut would be a point-scoring gift.

This latest Valentine’s Day snafu, plus a few of my own, made me think about lying in the name of love when it comes to books. It’s a natural segue, as romance writing is what I do with most of my non-mom time. In real life instances, like my daughter’s date, these sorts of lies must be carefully weighed and measured. Real life consequences, not to mention Facebook relationship statuses, rely on it. If you read the NYT article, you’ll see that a valid argument is made for lying to spare the feelings of our loved ones. Romance novels, on the other hand, bring a far more brutal reality to the mix—without lies there’d be no books.

Imagination is all about fabrication, and what is fabrication? Well, I believe it’s a synonym for lying. Storybook lies, in fact, make romance thrive. The hero lies to save his love interest from certain doom. In turn, the heroine lies to keep the peace and to stay the course. But never fear, it’s all for naught, as certainly every lie will lead her back to her one true love. The villain plays a part too, lying to inflict pain and suffering, a move that will surely result in his or her undoing, making the circle of lies complete. Love lies, on this stage, make the romance market go round.

Aside from a little mother-daughter advice and everyday writing, I prefer to leave the psychological ebb and flow of love lies to the New York Times and the experts. But I think I speak for many romance authors in recognizing that untruths are paramount to a good love story.

 

Pre-order Ruby Ink today!ruby-in-cvr-final
Centered around the lives and loves of five fascinating siblings—Alec, Aaron, Honor, Jake and Troy—the Clairmont series novels deliver complex characters, intriguing romance and tantalizing stories.
In book one, Ruby Ink, questions are asked as the answers unfold. How far beyond prison walls does Aaron’s bad-boy persona go? Was Ruby right to swear him off forever?
Picture courtesy of Pixabay.com

Heat & Ruby Ink

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Welcome! This is the place for all things Clairmont. Ruby Ink is the first novel in the Clairmont series, with a March 31st pub date! I hope you’ll go straight from here to Amazon and pre-order your copy. Sensual romance and intriguing stories blended with believable characters defines this series, which centers on the Clairmont family—Alec, Aaron, Honor, Jake & Troy. Book two—coming this summer—reveals the stunning and intimate story of Evie and Sebastian, the never-married parents of the Clairmont Tribe of Five.

Be sure to check out the excerpt and read the first chapter while you’re here. Visit the series page to learn more about the Clairmont family and what inspired this sexy new drama. It’s winter, it’s cold—especially if you’re sitting where I am in New England. So cozy up to the fire and make some room on your TBR list. Heat and Ruby Ink are on the way!