My Recent Comments

My week here--and this fun thread--ends today I believe and I just wanted to thank everyone who chatted, posted questions and lurked.  I got private emails from quite a few of you lurkers and it was very nice to hear from you even if you weren't comfortable posting on the board.

I hope you'll enjoy my sheikh duet and will keep your eye out for Zayad's book in 2009.  In the meantime, I've got always a lot of things happening over at my site, www.janeporter.com and invite you to pop over to my blog and b-board if you want to talk, or enter my contest to win fun stuff like giftcards and signed books. 

Thank you to my wonderful Harlequin author friends and readers for spending the week here with me, to Jayne for inviting me and to Wayne, for hosting me.  I had fun and I hope you did, too! 

Love, Jane

I love talking writing.  <g>  I don't write at night much until I'm doing the hard writing in the last 2 weeks of a book where I write night and day.  Then I write until the chapter's done as I tend to write/fix a chapter a day for two weeks and then (and Annie, you'll hate this), but I'm usually actually done.  It's kind of a masochistic process at times but I'll do my crazy prewrite in chunks and then when I've lots of material, and/or only two weeks before book is due, start tackling a chapter a day to make my deadline.  Obviously if a book has 25 chapters like my 5 Spot novels, I need closer to four weeks than two... 

Annie, loved your question because as you know, on the surface, all sheikh stories seem quite alike--darkly handsome sheikh hero, wealth, power, hot sand setting.  But beneath the surface, we know that the cultures in the Middle East and North Africa are all very different, and custom, faith and politics vary from country to country, tribe to tribe and I love my sheikh romances to reflect these differences.  Some of my sheikhs have had a American and European mother.  Some have been sultans, princes, kings, desert warlords, businessmen far removed from the desert, tribal bandits, rebel sheikhs, and so on.  I think what's important to me in writing sheikh stories is to get each sheikh right--where was he born, raised?  Who were his parents?  What was their culture and faith?  What is his faith?  What is his personal ideology? 

All the above helps each of my sheikhs be very different and allows me to be very creative with those heroes.

And it's fantastic to have this discussion where I'm learning about Presents Extra as well as the international lines and authors I don't normally have exposure to sitting at my desk in Bellevue, Washingtion.  I once spent a great deal more time online chatting and posting and getting informed than I do now.  Becoming a single mom really forced me to scale back on activities to concentrate on my boys and my deadlines, and even then, both seem to get short shrift some days!

Here's what excites me about Presents Extra--the promise of new passion and fresh story ideas by new and beloved authors.  I'm one of those die-hard romance readers that, sadly, gets bored very easy.  I have such high expectations for my reads, partly because I need my reads to really pull me away and help switch off my brain which controls my worry and anxiety meter.  I don't know why but I'm a rather restless person if not reading or writing or creating something.  And whereas writing can heighten my anxiety (is it good?  it is working?  am I making the right choices?), reading is like a baby blanket, rocking chair and lullaby for a fretful newborn--just soothes me to no end.  But to be soothed, I have to be connected, interested, surprised and ultimately delighted.  It's not enough for me to just read, I want great books, books I can immediately recommend to friends.

I know I'm not alone in wanting great reads, and I know my author friends wrestle with their writing just as I do.   One of my friends, a newer author, was surprised to hear how much I struggle while writing.  And I do struggle.  It's a death battle at times, and even when a book is finally complete and accepted by my editor,  I'm still frustrated that the book isn't good enough.  I think I've become too critical of myself, and has definitely made it harder for me to be as prolific as I once was.  The little harpy voice on my shoulder (in my head) slows the muse and the word output.  In fact, the two sheikh books out in April and May worried me to no end.  I was sure they were absolute disasters and yet I couldn't write them any other way.

Which is also why I've had to 'unplug' from much of the internet and b-boards and sites.  I do have a b-board and blog on my website and spend time there (giving away books and prizes couple times a month <g>!) but I've had to limit my exposure partly because some authors intimidate me.  They make writing seem so easy and they seem so happy as they write and I'm not that happy as I write.  I love the idea of writing, and am thrilled when a book comes together at the end, but the actual doing is brutal.  I sweat, bleed and weep all over the page and don't want to know that others are dancing through tulip fields as they write because writing fills them with endless song and joy.  I want to hurt those people!  I want to mow them down with a massive tractor. (Joke...trying to be funny....obviously I don't want to drive over my fellow writers with a tractor.  That's mean and I'd go to jail.)

But, since I'm here, and I've stuck my head out into the world, let's hear from everyone.  How do you write, and how do you feel while you write?  Do you just feel marvelous?  Or are you more like me, wrestling with the devil? 

Lidia, I know from the the past several years discussion that you aren't a sheikh fan, but that's okay.  We don't all have to like the same thing.  I have author friends who don't want to write a sheikh story, either, and I think that's what makes it all so good...so many different styles, voices and ways to communicate passion and love.

Nic, loved your details and descriptions re the Modern Heat (and its fab about their Rita nominations!!), and what I'd love to hear is how they differ from Desire.  I used to be a huge Desire fan and have quite a few close friends who write for the line along, so for the out of touch reader (or author like me!!) what does Modern Heat do, that Desire doesn't do, or is a matter of sensuality, or tone or setting? 

Now I definitely know the difference between a Romance and a Presents...and I have loved, loved, loved so many of the Romance books, as well as the Medicals, because there's such great story-telling there as well as different plotlines and heroes and conflicts.  In May when all the new books start coming out I'll just have to buy them to get informed!

And before I forget, can anyone explain to me why there won't be sheikhs in the Presents Extra (Modern Heat) books?  Do these newer Presents/Moderns not have quite so much fantasy in them, or is it something else?

Kim asked who were my fav heroes and I do have celeb photos I pen up on my wall while writing.  I tend to use some of these men over and over because their look, and/or swagger, just fit my idea of Presents hero, or even other hero.

Some old and current favs?  Javier Bardem, Gerard Butler, Goran Visnic, Benicio del Toro, Hugh Jackman,   Men who are very male and can look gorgeous in a tux or very messy, and can't be faulted for being too pretty.

Who are your fav heroes?

Jenna, Nic and Heidi, I appreciate your input and explanation on the new arm of Presents.  I can definitely see why having younger heroes appeal, as well as a more contemp spin. 

Again, I can't speak for any other author but I tend to write my heroes between 32-38, and haven't ever penned one below thirty as the  heroes I write, the suprememly male power figure, has to be older to have earned his millions and to have been beaten up a bit by life.  I like my heroes jaded and wounded and I think there are readers who'd welcome heroes who are gorgeous and yummy but not as world-weary as some of mine are. 

I'm glad you're here Nic, Jenna and Heidi and would love to hear more about the books you're writing and your favorite plots and themes.  I'm not a great one for secret babies, but I do love marriage of conveniences.  It's just fun to stick a man and a woman together that doesn't want to be together.  That's always when the sparks fly!

 Jane

PS  And lest anyone think I haven't read the newest HM&B books or authors because I'm turning up my nose at them--far from it!  I just can't read 'in my genre' when I'm writing so I'll read paranormals and historicals, but not 'chick lit' or category romance when in the middle of a book or on deadline.  I'm hoping to wrap up my current books and dive into my TBR as soon as possible!!

Lee, fun question!

I think Malik Nuri, the sheikh in The Sultan's Bought Bride, has been my favorite because he reminded me of a lion--kingly, powerful, and indulgent.  I also loved how he toyed with Nic, knowing all along who she really was and yet making those little jabs at her reputation anyway and Nic couldn't do anything since she wasn't supposed to be Nic but her sister. 

I can't speak for any other Presents author on the changes in Presents, with the line going to twelve titles a month in two different cycles--partly because I haven't really discussed this with other authors, and secondly, I haven't had the opportunity to read all the new books in the line so I'm not qualified to comment on the different styles and tone.

With that said, I know this---from the time I was contracted to write for HP, I was encouraged to write the classic Presents and the times I softened my hero too much, or let the intensity ease up, I was given revision instructions to make the manuscript a "classic Jane Porter Presents".  For me this meant tremendous wealth, passion, tension, sizzling chemistry,  scorching love scenes and intense characters.   I think many of the authors who've written for the line over the past 5-10 years would say that they've tried to do the same in their way and if you pick up a Kate Walker or Sandra Marton or Helen Bianchin Presents you know you're reading their Presents story and vision and it's got passion and emotion and tension their way.

Perhaps the new "Extras" that will be coming out in the second cycle will eventually become more traditional Presents, or perhaps the powers-to-be have gotten feedback that readers want more diversity in the line.  I honestly don't know.  I do know that the pacing of a traditional "Classic" Presents has always been taut and edged with passion and sensual tension and yes, this is my taste in romance, whether its a Presents or a JR Ward Paranormal or a Mary Balogh regency.  This is just my preference.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that the classic Presents will endure, as they have for fifty plus years, and I believe it's hoped that the newer authors who write a more modern version of the Presents will draw new readers to the line.  I think my only real concern is that 12 books seem like an awful lot of books for one line in one month, and in the past I've seen  some lines get banged up when they dramatically increased the number of titles released within the line, but I'm an author, not a corporate person that sees numbers and crunches figures. 

For me the bottom line comes down to this:  the quality of the books must remain strong, the reader must be happy, and the Presents line must continue to shine.  Because I know this--Presents was around long before I was born, and will continue long after I stop writing.  It's a tremendous line, one I cherish and respect.