Oh, and make sure to read all the way down to the Lynda Again section. Sourcebooks is offering a giveaway of two copies of Fugitive you don't want to miss.
Okay, take it away Cheryl!
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Hello! My name is Cheryl Brooks and I’m the author of The Cat Star Chronicles series of erotic science fiction romance. I’m very pleased to be invited to guest blog here on Star-Crossed Romance to promote the latest book in the series, Fugitive. Since this is primarily a sci-fi/fantasy/paranormal site, I thought I’d talk a little bit about what it’s like to write that sort of thing.
So how does one write science fiction? The truth is, I don’t. Oh, I come up with some nifty little gadgets, but you won’t get a lot of technobabble from me, so what I write is probably more aptly described as futuristic. Even so, the best part of any sci-fi story really isn’t the technology anyway, it’s the characters. You can have all sorts of cool stuff that enables you to fly from one world to another, but if the characters aren’t interesting, the story won’t engage the reader.
I recently went to see the movie, Avatar. The basic plot wasn’t anything new, but the characters were developed enough to make them seem real and the fact that it was one of the most visually stunning films ever made was an added plus. Still, all the special effects in the world won’t carry a story if you don’t care about the characters and visual effects can’t help the author of a book that has no illustrations. You can describe a world so that the reader has an idea of what it looks like, but they have to use their own imagination to visualize it.
There are books that I’ve read many times and never had the benefit of seeing them through a cinematographer’s lens, but I can envision the people and places almost as well as if I’d seen them on the big screen. When I’m writing my own books, I can see those things just as well—the lake house on Barada Seven where my petite auburn-haired heroine, Drusilla, has come to paint the exotic wildfowl. I can picture the ugly amphibious eltran, Zef, who lives in the lake and hear his coarse laughter and his frank observations. And then, there is my hero, Manx. I can see his tall, lean form, know the softness of his long dark hair, and feel the heat emanating from his deeply tanned skin. I know how silently he moves and can hear his voice—even the cadence of his speech.
But no matter how alive my worlds or characters may be in my mind, the trick is to convey them to the reader using only the written word, and there are times when I am reminded that my readers aren’t privy to the inner workings of my brain. For example, when I sent in the manuscript for Fugitive, one comment that came back was about the boat that was there on the lake for Drusilla’s use. In my mind’s eye, it was my friend Suzie’s pontoon boat, and I wrote the scenes accordingly. The trouble was, I never actually described the boat! The editors came back with, “Is this a rowboat?” and “Has Manx really been piloting the boat this whole time?” The answers to those questions were perfectly obvious to me, but looking back, there was no description of the boat anywhere. So I had to go back and add it.
The same holds true for the characters. Everyone knows what humans and the creatures of Earth look like, but aliens are a different story. Without the benefit of illustrations, the writer must paint a picture of them using only words. It also helps to compare alien creatures with animals we humans are familiar with and many of the species of wildlife I create are composites. For example, the srakies of Barada Seven are rat-like monkeys. I could add more characteristics, but just those few words give the reader enough information to picture them.
I could go on forever, but it might be best if I stop here and ask a question or two. What is the most imaginative creation you’ve ever read about in a book? Was it a world, a character, an animal, or an event? What made it come alive for you?
FUGITIVE BY CHERYL BROOKS—IN STORES JANUARY 2010
When a Zetithian fugitive meets a beautiful Earth woman, their passion may cost them both their lives...
Manx is a Zetithian fugitive with a feline gene that gives him remarkable sexual powers. He has been in hiding in the remote jungles of Barada Seven ever since being marked for extermination by the violent Nedwuts.
Artist Drusilla arrives on Barada Seven, enticed only by the promise of finding a nature paradise there. But she discovers a wildlife she wasn’t expecting when she encounters Manx. Reckless with desire for the beautiful Earth woman, Manx risks his life to win her as his mate.
It’s only a matter of time until the Nedwuts find them, but it will take all of Manx and Drusilla’s passion, skill, and ingenuity to survive.
About the Author
Cheryl Brooks is an Intensive Care Unit nurse by night and a romance writer by dayt. Previous books in The Cat Star Chronicles series include Slave, Warrior, Rogue and Outcast. Hero, book six, will be in stores August 2010. She is a member of the RWA and lives with her husband and sons in Bloomfield, Indiana. For more information, please visit http://www.cherylbrooksonline.com/
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-- Lynda Again,
Sourcebooks is offering a copy of Fugitive to two readers of Star-Crossed Romance. To get your name in the drawing, 1) leave a comment for Cheryl and 2) send me your snail mail address with Fugitive in the subject line and the ID you used for your comment. My fluffy cat, Wookie Baby, will help me select the two lucky readers and I'll announce it here on Friday. (She'd do it herself but her English vocabulary is limited to NO and WOE, lol)
Today's word is ORBIT -- the curved path, usually elliptical, described by a planet, satellite, spaceship, etc., around a celestial body, as the sun.
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