Category Archives: Crymsyn Hart

The Beginning and the Ending

by Crymsyn Hart 

Some writers find it hard to start a book. The first sentence or the first paragraph can even the worst thing to write. The author has so many wonderful ideas that you have to find just the right starting point. Do you jump into the middle of a scene? Do you start off with dialogue? Do you begin with describing the scene and setting up the reader to delve into the world of the characters that the writer has set up? Or sometimes it is the easier thing for the writer to delve directly into the first chapter and get into the thick of things.

For me, it is easier to jump right into the thick of things. I love that my characters are in the middle of something so the reader starts off with a bang. Of course I then go into the description of my characters and the scene and the story line that begins to unfold. But then again this also depends on how long the work I am going for is as well. If I’m writing something short, then diving head first is a good thing. If I am going for the longer work, then I set up the scene and keep on going. It all depends on the work.

Now it comes to the ending. Endings can go either way. They can be tied up in a neat little bow or they can leave a few loose ends to be extended into the next book of a series. However, I don’t seem to have a problem with the endings. Just sometimes the characters don’t want to end a book the way I want it to. In the romance genre, people expect there to be a happily ever after ending or at least a happy for now ending. Sometimes it’s hard to think of that kind of stretch, but that is what romance endings are for. For the reader to escape into a world and that the endings will be happy. Who wants the couples breaking up right at the very end when they have spent the whole book watching them get together?

Whether the beginning or the ending is the hardest for the writer to put down, it is the author who has to struggle through placing the words and hope that all ends or begins the way the author wants it to.

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The Dreaded Blurb

by Crymsyn Hart

How do you know what a book is about?

You read the book jacket or the back cover. Or if you’re perusing the website of a publisher or a bookseller, then you read the narrative of the book on the page. It has to be brief to describe the nature of the book, but it has to be witty enough to draw the potential reader in. It can’t reveal too much about the plot, but you have to give just the right amount of balance to make it sound intriguing. All within a certain amount of words or space. It’s a writer’s nightmare. Well, at least one of my nightmares anyway.

Yes, the dreaded blurb. How do I count the ways of how much I despise writing you? I think I’d prefer someone shoving wooden splinters underneath my fingernails. Or better yet pulling out my teeth with a rusty wrench. I cringe every time I have to write the 100-150 word description of a novel. Sure, I can agonize over it for days. Sometimes even lose some sleep over it, but in the end, I finally think of the words that I think give a good balance for the theme and the characters.

After all the books that my muses have helped me create, I hate to think of what I need to write. How much do you talk about the hero? How much to put down about the heroine? Will the reader get what the book is about even with the blurb? These are all things that run through my head. And then, after you’ve written the dreaded blurb, the publisher decides it wasn’t good enough ad changes it on you.

If this can help sell books then great, but don’t they know how hard I worked on the description? It hasn’t happened to me more than a couple of times, but it was a little surprising. Although, in the end the blurb was a mixture of mine and theirs. It was okay.

I’ve gotten some great advice from other authors on how to write blurbs. Over the years, mine have gotten tighter and shorter. I wouldn’t say I’m a professional now, but I’ve overcome numerous hurtles. So anyone that has to write a blurb, I wish you luck. Make is sexy. Make it intriguing. Make it brief with that hook that will help you catch many a reader.

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Muses

By Crymsyn Hart

Each writer has a specific voice, minion, muse, guru or something they listen to. Muses are fickle. They can give wonderful inspiration or they can go on strike and refuse to share any of their creative genius. When they go on strike, sometimes it can be considered writer’s block, but for me that isn’t the case. When my muses go on strike, it seems all I want to do is write, but I’m not getting any input from the powers that be who help me form the words. Of course that isn’t a bad thing. I just pull on the storyline I have outlined in my head already. But those wonderful moments of inspiration are the things I long for that hit me at the most inconvenient times. Those insights normally give me some kind of emotional reaction to what I’m writing.

The worst time my muses start talking to me is when I’m in the shower. I mean, seriously, I’m washing my hair and they start blabbering on. Trying to muzzle them until I can get dry and get to a piece of paper or a keyboard is tough enough on a good day, but when you’re dripping wet and your fingers aren’t available, what is a girl to do? That is when I start coaxing my muses with promises of chocolate and cheesecake or a combination of both so they will be placated until I can at least get dressed and no longer have dripping hair.

Whatever the muse, specific voice, guru or minion an author listens to; it is that wondrous thing that makes them have ideas. Some authors I’ve spoken to consider that the ideas they come up with don’t actually come from them. They come through them and the same goes for the specifics of the novel they are writing about. Thinking that your mind is being invaded by an outside third party is kinda scary, but once a person figures they will have a great work from it why not give yourself over it. That is, of course, that the outside third party is not some alien who is trying to do invasion of the body snatchers and you become their puppet.

As long as there are writers, I assume there will be muses. There will be unseen forces that help authors construct their works and help them get through an argument between characters. Hopefully all the yelling won’t make anyone go insane. But then again, I’m already a little crazy. So the more voices in my head, the better.

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Edits and Editors

by Crymsyn Hart

Edits. The dreaded word sends shivers down my spine. They make me want to crawl under a rock and hide from the world just so long as I don’t have to face them. I hyperventilate. Scream. Shriek and shout. I’ll clean the house or run far far away, but I can’t get away from them. They will always still be there when I get back. And yet when I open my email, there they are waiting for me.

Honestly, edits are not that bad for me. Over the years that I have been writing, I have learned much from the editors that have assisted me. When I peruse earlier works that I had from college or high school I just shake my head because I see how far I have come and I’m thankful for all of the help that I’ve been given over the years. As much as I, or any other writer, dislike edits the have helped me shape my works into much better manuscripts.

I’ve had some editors I didn’t get along with because they didn’t get my style or whole I used a verb tense. Or having a character think too much in a book. Shrug. I like my characters to think a lot in some of my stuff. But even when I didn’t get along with a particular editor, I have valued their advice because it does help. However, there are other editors that I have gelled with and I think that is one of the best relationships to have. At the moment, I’m working with editors from three different publishing companies and I’m still learning from them.

I may hate to see their emails pop up with edits attached, but in the end I know it is all for the best. They help me continue to improve and am grateful for that.

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Distractions

By Crymsyn Hart

My characters call for me to write down. But there are way too many distractions around me this past week. These past few days, I’ve decided to tackle my To Be Read Pile. I have ten different books that are in the closest stack next to my bed. The column is comprised of books I’ve yet to read and ones I have read before, but that I love. I blame my husband for the distraction because he dragged me to the bookstore last week looking for a Crime/Thriller novel to read. Oh the horror of that.

So currently I’m reading, Born to Bite – by Lynsay Sands. Of many of the other romance authors I’ve read, I rather enjoy her books. I’ll probably finish tomorrow between the edits I have to do.

The other nine books in the column are:

Hungry For You -by Lynsay Sands
Awakened by PC and Kristin Cast
The Vampire Diaries: Stefan’s Diaries: Origins – by L.J. Smith
Strands of Starlight by Gael Baudino
Wizard of the Grove by Tanya Huff
Shattered Glass by Elaine Bergstrom
Shadow Walker: A Neteru Academy Book by L.A. Banks
The Sworn by Gail Z. Martin
Evlove: Vampire Stories of the New Undead by Nancy Kilpatrick

Each is a great distraction and I can’t wait to whittle down the stack so I can move onto the next.
What’s on your to be read list?

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Plotting and Peeling Onions

By Crymsyn Hart

The smell of burnt toast has cleared. The walls of the writer’s block have tumbled away. All of the characters who have been kept prisoner behind the barriers are finally running rampant in my mind. Voices are screaming in my head for some release. The good thing about this is all the ghosts and vampires are now free to be themselves again. Of course, they have been peeling away many of their layers these past few days and comparing themselves to that of an onion. It is rather annoying, but then again, I have been doing a lot of cooking these past few days in regards to both plotting and actually being in the kitchen since the day job has gone away for now.

Ideas strike me these days now that my mind is open to not having a day job. I find myself writing many of them on my blackberry between traffic stops or when I wake up in the middle of the night. Dreams are wonderful for great plotting tools. I’ve written some of the best things from my dreams. Other times I’ll be watching a movie and something about it strikes me then it starts to take root in my brain. The characters come to life and the plot begins to branch out. Soon smaller branches become subplots. Those subplots touch upon other characters and then they begin to take over the whole story sometimes tugging it away from me. I hate it when the characters do that, but this post isn’t about that.

Others have many different ways of how they deal with keeping their plots straight. They write down exactly what will happen and where they want their story to go. Others fly by the seat of their pants and write what comes as they write. I go between both these days. I used to just write as I went along, the characters leading me down the paths of their lives, but lately, I have started to record how I want my stories to go. Making me the master of my characters destinies. So that brings us back to the onion analogy.

I’m peeling back the layers of the plots I have circling, discovering more about the characters. The latest outline of story I’m working on has been written down, and the characters are struggling against it already. I guess they don’t like the smell of onions. Oh well, they might not like it, but they have to live with it. I do.
If you find yourself with your own onion, struggling with the plot that your characters are running away with. You have to peel another layer away and if that makes your characters cry, oh well. Sometimes you have to get the plot out the way you want and it doesn’t matter what anyone else in your head says.

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Does anyone else smell burnt toast?

by Crymsyn Hart

It’s now February and today is Ground Hog’s day. I wonder if we’ll have another six weeks of winter or if spring will be coming shortly. For many people they want all the snow to end. They dream of warmer days with the sun melting the snow, tiny rivers of runoff curving down the street and robins pecking between the blades of grass hoping to come away with a worm. People are praying for a new beginning. I’m eager for one.

At the start of 2011, I set a goal for myself to write one new book a month and whatever time I had left over, I would edit or just work on other things that came up. Now that January has past, I can put one big check mark next to it. Two works done for the month and a couple of edits. Now that we’re in a new month, the counter has rewound and I’m hoping to do the same. Although, the biggest news I’ve had in my life, is that my day job got eliminated so I can focus on the words for a while. While I’ve been trying to focus with all the life changing events, I’ve hit the dreaded wall. The one all writers fear. Writer’s Block. And my brain now smells like burnt toast.

I’ve gotten tons of suggestions to overcome the beast, but so far none of them have worked. But I’m sure that stress has kept me from writing. Characters are screaming in my head for face time, but all I smell is toast from the writer’s block. Cleaning the house and cooking is only a distraction. It’s time to face my worst enemy. Myself. Hopefully the smoke will clear soon and I’ll have some hot, paranormal lovin’ for all to read.

I’ll get over it eventually. I’m not sure my love for toast will reappear though.

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Shape shifters and why we find them so riveting

By Crymsyn Hart

Admit it. Shape shifters come in all shapes and sizes. From the enormous, hulking dragon, to feisty werewolves, perfectly proportioned cats, be they large or small, down to those sex snake shifters who love to slither along their mate’s body.

It seems that all animals are being written into the two skinned hunks we all love to read about. My personal favorites, besides the werewolves, are the large cats. From the roaring king of the jungles or sexy tigers along with the large birds of prey. I love my shifters with a little tail or a smattering of feathers. But I think what draws the reader into the shape shifters’ world is that element of danger that having a relationship with a shifter entails.

Get them angry enough or on the right phase of the moon and bam! There goes the man and out pops the beast. Or when there are two, three, or four main characters all end up in bed tougher, depending on what sub-genre of paranormal romance you’re reading and the shifter accidently bites or scratches the other human characters. Then you’re in a butt load of trouble, because what if the other character turns into an animal. What if they don’t want that? Does the shifter want his or her love interest to be like them? What a plot twist if that is the case?

But I think it is in the wild, untamed sides of ourselves that lures the reader in. We want to touch the sleeping beast that lives inside of all of us. To be able to run through the wilderness and have there be no consequences. The shifters survive on instinct. They embrace the animal inside of them and let it roar. Not many of us can claim such abandon, of giving up ourselves. How many of you can truly break away from the ties that bind us to our humanity and become something else? No one to control them or nothing that holds us down.  To me that is why we enjoy reading about shifters. We love them to brood or be unpredictable, just as long as they are hunky and will let nothing stand in their way.

Pick your animal and run, fly, or swim with it.

What do you prefer? What do you want to see more of from authors? What have you read and it just didn’t work for you? Do you think there are some animals that should stay animals? We’re dying to hear about it.

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What is Paranormal Romance?

by Crymsyn Hart

What is Paranormal Romance besides it being a subgenre of romantic fiction?

Paranormal is considered to be “beyond” the normal world, supernatural and something that science can’t explain. And romance would be a relationship between two or more characters and the feelings that develop between them.  To me, at least, this is what the phrase entails. Now, you throw in a little bit of spice, a vampire or two, or a hunky shifter and to me that is paranormal romance.

While I love a good vampire book that might not have a happy ending, most romance novels end with a happy ever after or a happy for now ending. I write both the HEA and HFN, sometimes, as I reader, I really want to read that horrible ending where everything doesn’t turn out all right and there are a few dangling strings that keep me wondering and on the edge of my seat. But that is my opinion and with five bookcases bursting with books that are mostly vampire novels across all genres, it seems most of the books end with the happy endings, except the horror ones.  Even I am not immune to those novels.

Reading paranormal romance novels are like candy, I read one and then I can’t wait to get my hands on another one. My sub genre of choice within the paranormal realm is vampires. I enjoy the bloodsucking fiends more than any other creature.  The dark immortals who prey on the blood of virgins only to find themselves falling hopelessly in love with one of their victims. Or the lustful seductress who stalks the clerk at her local blood bank only to rescue him from some dark fate that he is being hunted by the local vampire mob boss because he has uncovered some dirty secret.  Together they fall madly in love, embark on a few sexual escapades in between the assassination attempts on their lives, and then end up happily ever after living together until the next disaster comes along and a sequel has to be written.

So besides my explanation of what paranormal romance is, what do you define it as? What draws you into the world of the supernatural? Is it the luscious descriptions of the heroes that makes you delve into the pages? Or is it something more?

If you are like me, then it is more than that. It is the idea that I can put myself into the shoes of the main characters and live through their eyes even if it is for the briefest time of being between the pages. As I said before, books are like candy to me. I open them, get sucked into the sweetness of the story, and then before I know it, time has melted away and the real world has returned because the book is done.

So tell me, what pulls you toward the romance and the paranormal? Hopefully, it’s the sweet taste of the world the author has written and you just want to come back again and again.

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Welcome

Welcome to Disquieting Visions—a gateway into paranormal and fantasy realms.  Our regular bloggers include J.F. Lewis (Staked, Revamped) with a focus on urban fantasy; Gail Z. Martin (The Chronicles of the Necromancer series and The Fallen Kings Cycle series) discussing epic fantasy; Tina R. McSwain (Charlotte Area Paranormal Society) putting you in touch with real life ghost hunters, psychics and clairvoyants with a focus on the “other” side; and Crymsyn Hart (The Soul Reaper series), specializing in paranormal romance.

Along with our regular bloggers you’ll see weekly guest blogs from some of their friends, including top names in fantasy and paranormal fiction, real-world psychics and mediums, and the cool people that JF, Gail, Tina and Crymsyn meet.  You’ll also meet the guests of the Ghost in the Machine podcast with audio interviews of authors from the US, UK, Canada and Australia.  On Freebie Fridays, we share the goodies with links to excerpts, interviews and other totally free and totally cool downloads.

About our bloggers:

Crymsyn Hart is the author of a slew of paranormal, romance, erotica books. Her worlds are filled with luscious gods, brooding vampires, shifters who aren’t all that shifty, and a hunky angel of death too. Her experiences as a psychic has given her a lot of material to use in her books. She graduated from Emerson College with a BFA in Writing. Her like for the paranormal started when she was child and grew into a full blown obsession when she was teenager.

She currently resides in Charlotte, NC with her husband and her two dogs. Her guilty pleasures are horror movies and peanut M&Ms.

She can be found at www.ravynhart.com or https://www.facebook.com/crymsynhart

Tina R. McSwain is Founder & Director of The Charlotte Area Paranormal Society or CAPS.  She also serves as Lead Investigator and Historian of the group. She is a native Charlottean, and has been interested in the paranormal since reading Nancy Roberts’ North and South Carolina ghost books of the 1960’s/1970’s. Watching her favorite TV series of the time, “Dark Shadows” of the 60’s and “The Night Stalker” of the 70’s, only served to fuel her fascination with the supernatural.  Since childhood, she was somehow able to “know” that a future event was about to happen and throughout her adult life, has continued to become sensitive to the world around her.  She has developed this sensitivity into an ability now to aid her in the spirit rescue of the angry, confused or lost souls she encounters today.

Her catalyst for studying the paranormal in depth was her first encounter in 1989 with a full blown apparition of a friend’s grandmother. The lady’s ghost walked toward Tina, smiled, waved, and then turned around, walked away and disappeared.  After the initial shock, Tina realized this was a rare occurrence and one she wanted to repeat.  She began to research her experience in earnest.   Soon after, Tina found and studied with local metaphysical advisors and psychics, and read and studied many volumes on paranormal investigation techniques, equipment, and the science and theory behind it.  After several years of study, she wanted to practice what she had learned.  She sought out and joined a number of North and South Carolina Paranormal and Ghost Hunting groups over the years.  While serving in varying capacities, she gained valuable experience and continued to learn and experiment with and utilize new technology.  Wanting a more professional and scientific research oriented group, Tina formed CAPS with a small group of like-minded colleagues.  Since its formation in 2005, CAPS has assisted over 100 private home and business owners in both the Carolinas and Tennessee who have had concerns of paranormal activity.  When not helping a client, the CAPS team visits reportedly haunted locations, both famous and not-so-famous, in an effort to validate or dismiss these claims.   In addition, CAPS serves as mentors to area high school students choosing ghost hunting as the subject of their “Project Graduation” requirements.  CAPS also runs a Cemetery Clean-up Committee and its members volunteer their time to support their official 2010/2011 charity, The Second Harvest Food Bank of Metrolina.  Tina also speaks at various events to educate the public on the vast world of the paranormal, and has appeared on local radio and television.   Under Tina’s direction and leadership, the Charlotte Area Paranormal Society continues to aid and support our clients; conduct research, investigate, and gather evidence of, and document encounters with, the unknown.

J.F. Lewis lives in Birmingham, Alabama with his patient wife, two adorable sons, and a crazed canine.  He decided that he wanted to be a writer when a supposed creative writing teacher questioned his sanity and suggested therapy. Staked was his first novel (and it also got him excommunicated).  The Void City series continues in ReVamped (out now) and Crossed (released January 25th 2011) .

An avid reader, Jeremy also enjoys sushi, popcorn, lukewarm sodas, and old black and white movies. His two favorite activities are singing lullabies to his kids at bedtime and typing into the wee hours of the morning. Fortunately, like the protagonist of his Void City novels, the author takes very little sleep.  Those looking for more information should track him down on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/pages/J-F-Lewis/54427382233.

Gail Z. Martin is a bestselling author, international speaker and entrepreneur.  She owns DreamSpinner Communications and is the “Get Results Resource” for marketing strategies that work.  Gail is the author of The Thrifty Author’s Guide to Launching Your Book (Comfort Publishing) and 30 Days to Social Media Success (Career Press). You can find her online at www.GailMartinMarketing. Gail is also the author of the bestselling Chronicles of the Necromancer fantasy adventure series (The Summoner, The Blood King, Dark Haven, and Dark Lady’s Chosen) published by Solaris Books and distributed by Simon & Schuster.  Her new series, The Fallen Kings Cycle, will be released by Orbit Books in 2011.  Gail blogs every Thursday.

Here’s the schedule (although we hope you’ll subscribe so you don’t miss a day!):

Monday—Guest post and podcast,

Tuesday—JF Lewis,

Wednesday—Crymsyn Hart,

Thursday—Gail Z. Martin,

Friday—Tina McSwain and Freebie Friday!

Welcome and please bring your friends!

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