For our final installment of the March Author Series, please welcome Doris O'Connor as she tells how a call for submissions sparked an idea...a very naughty idea, indeed. This multi-published author is also the mother of NINE kids! My hat is off to you, Doris. Read on and show some love, peeps!
How a Naughty Fairytale was Born
My muse is a precarious little thing. I never know what may spark that idea off, but every one of my books has a little story behind it. Goldie And Her Bears, my latest release with Breathless Press, is no exception and has perhaps the strongest back story of all of them.
When one of my publishers first announced a new line called Naughty Nursery Rhymes, my interest was piqued immediately. Goldilocks popped into my head almost instantly in a 'hah hah, wouldn't it be fun' kinda way. I dismissed the idea initially because I'd never written a ménage before and I was in the middle of writing another story with several new releases to promote.
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My brooding vamp, whose story I was writing stopped talking to me, as a different sort of growling started to happen in my head. You see during one of our regular Skype brainstorming sessions with the lovely ladies from my critique group, UCW, we were discussing this submission call. Again, Goldilocks popped in my head and I said, "Hmm, wouldn't it be fun, if the bears were triplets, shifters of course, and Goldie was human, and it was set in a BDSM club?"
The overall feedback was, "Yeah, go for it, sounds like great fun!"
I let it fester for a bit, as images formed in my head, and that growling got louder and impossible to ignore. Originally the three bears were all male, but then one of my crit partners said, "Oh, no, one of them needs to be female," and I thought to myself, "Oooh yes, now that would be fun…"
I resisted starting to write until my hubby came home from work for the weekend, because I knew those bears would just take over and there is the small matter of the kids. I needed him home to take over and bless him he did.
I started writing Friday Lunch time, and I didn't stop until that first draft was finished Sunday evening. 15K written in just three days—for me that's a personal best. Those bears however didn't let me rest there. I tweaked and polished until they and my whip cracking crit partner was satisfied. By the end of that week, the story was submitted and thankfully my lovely editor liked my bears as much as I did J
So there you have it, an insight into my at times rather chaotic writing process.
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Glutton for punishment would be a good description for Doris... at least that's what she hears on an almost daily basis when people find out that she has a brood of nine children, ranging from adult to baby and lives happily in a far too small house, cluttered with children, pets, dust bunnies and one very understanding and supportive husband. Domestic goddess she is not.
There is always something better to do after all, like working on the latest manuscript and trying not to scare the locals even more than usual by talking out loud to the voices in her head. Her sexy Alpha heroes and sassy heroines tend to be pretty insistent to get their stories told, and you will find Doris burning the midnight oil on a regular basis. Only time to get any peace and quiet and besides, sleep is for wimps. She writes contemporary, erotic and paranormal romance.
German born, Doris now resides in the middle of a busy town in Bedfordshire/England and dreams of a nice big house by the sea, with plenty of space to run kids and dogs and let her imagination soar.
There is always something better to do after all, like working on the latest manuscript and trying not to scare the locals even more than usual by talking out loud to the voices in her head. Her sexy Alpha heroes and sassy heroines tend to be pretty insistent to get their stories told, and you will find Doris burning the midnight oil on a regular basis. Only time to get any peace and quiet and besides, sleep is for wimps. She writes contemporary, erotic and paranormal romance.
German born, Doris now resides in the middle of a busy town in Bedfordshire/England and dreams of a nice big house by the sea, with plenty of space to run kids and dogs and let her imagination soar.
Website: http://www.dorisoconnor.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/mamaD8
you keep letting your muse do what it wants. IT works for me... i mean what the muse produces!
ReplyDeleteThanks for having me here today, Mysti :-)
ReplyDelete*waves to Raven* You know I couldn't do anything else.
My pleasure!
DeleteI wish my muse was as prolific as yours :)
ReplyDeleteThanks Jorja x
DeleteHi Doris,
ReplyDeleteYou certainly have your hands full. Nice that your husband isn't afraid to take over the ship when he gets home. I always was a bit suspicious of that gal, Goldie. I mean, she goes into homes, eats food that belongs to somebody else and then checks out the beds?
Hmmm....That's a recipe for naughtiness right there.
Good luck with your writing!
Laurel W.
Thank you Laurel, and what can I say. She looks sweet but... ;-)
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ReplyDeleteWow! Reminds me of a cartoon I watched as a child; The Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle. They had a feature called, Fractured Fairy Tales. I loved the twisted take on these stories.
ReplyDeleteKeep on writing, Doris!
Best,
Bree
Thank you Bree, I will! :-)
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