A few days ago I picked up on a meme started by Zaza and passed around by several authors called Top Tens Signs A Book Is Written By Me. I enjoyed it so much, I thought I’d do a different kind of list today. This one is: Top Ten Things You Won’t See In My 2008 Releases. Long title, I know. I’m too lazy to shorten it. So, here we go:
1. No secret babies. In fact, no children at all. Two single titles and four novellas and not a kid anywhere. Believe it or not, I like kids. Just haven’t really written about them yet. But I am obsessed with the idea of writing a secret baby book. It’s coming. [Did everyone hear that sound? It was the sound of my editor screaming in horror.]
2. No exotic locales. Yeah, I know people are waiting for the next Kauai book. Sorry about that. I swapped the order of releases so I could put two Kauai books in 2009. I know that seems far away, but it just made more sense to have the next two come out back-to-back since Josh (DEA agent from YOUR MOUTH DRIVES ME CRAZY) plays a big role in one and is the hero in the other. So instead of Hawaii, you’ll see Washington, D.C. and Southern Utah.
3. No cowboys. What I know about cowboys is…nothing. I wouldn’t even try. Instead you get a government agent, lawyers, an architect, a construction worker and a security expert.
4. No heroine names that could be confused for hero names. The heroines of 2008 are: Gabby, Aubrey*, Becky, Erin, Natalie and Alexa (Lexy). You won’t need to check the back cover to figure out which one is the hero and which is the heroine.
5. No menage-a-trios or group sexual activities. One man/one woman romance. That’s me.
6. No scene in which a heroine makes a life-altering decision about her romantic life just to please her difficult parents. Oh, there are some interesting family dynamics in these books, but the grown-up women here make decisions – good ones and bad ones – all on their own.
7. No hero who shuns marriage and commitment just because that’s what heroes do.
8. No marriage or relationship based on the fact the heroine is pregnant. My characters are all being responsible and wisely using birth control as responsible adults should. However, I do think there’s a pregnant heroine in my future writing. I can feel it.
9. No pets. I have pets. Love pets. For some reason little critters have not gotten a role in my books yet. I’m sure that will happen soon as well.
10. Still no non-human heroes and heroines. Everyone is human.
*Yeah, okay, that one can be male or female. It just sounds female to me.
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Yeah but you’re still pondering the vampire surfer in Hawaii, aren’t you?
Great idea. Might have to do this one too. *g*
by Jaci Burton January 11th, 2008 at 7:10 am*whispers* I hate to break it to you, Helen, but Aubrey originated as a masculine name and is still in use as such though not as widespread.
Audrey, on the other hand, is entirely feminine.
Fun list.
by Jess January 11th, 2008 at 7:14 amOne of my 2009 Blaze’s has a hero named Aubrey in fact! Though he has a nickname, being in drag racing and all.
by Alison January 11th, 2008 at 7:25 amWhat a neat list. #1 still has me smiling – even if I did sputter coffee when I read it – especially the screaming editor……..but seriously your list is a good one. The other one I like is #5 – my kind of romance.
by Cryna January 11th, 2008 at 9:43 amI like the vampire surfer, too, Jaci. I don’t think that’s been done before! Also love #6. I read a great book by Julie Ortolon called Just Perfect. She did the “dumping my hot boyfriend to please my difficult parents” thing well, but this plot maneuver totally bugs me!
by Jill Sorenson January 11th, 2008 at 10:06 amYes, my dad’s name was Aubrey. Hey, I’m working on my own list now.
by Jill Monroe January 11th, 2008 at 11:35 amThank you, HelenKay!! You can’t know how happy that makes me–I can’t stand the whole secret baby that the heroine hides from the hero storyline–argh!
by Fedora January 11th, 2008 at 12:33 pmWhat a great list, HelenKay!
by Estella January 11th, 2008 at 2:49 pmAubrey is my f-i-l and husband’s name. :p
by Angie-la January 11th, 2008 at 4:51 pmAlthough the DH goes by his middle name,,,
Sounds good to me. I like the human characters. LOL. Dont mind the occasional angel (Macomber) of the lovable aliens from McCoy books – key word being OCCASIONAL. Also agree with you on #5.
by Pat L. January 11th, 2008 at 9:09 pmIt is great to have a list of what you want to put in your books. You write fabulous books that I, as well as many others, love to read so you must be doing something right.
by Gayle O January 12th, 2008 at 1:00 amYour top ten sounds good to me and I’m with you on the human aspect. I enjoy your books the way you write them.
by Dru January 12th, 2008 at 3:32 am[...] It looks like HelenKay Dimon has taken the meme and flipped it over on its butt, bless her! LOL! So the new meme is Top Ten Things You Won’t See… Funny thing is, while I was doing the first meme, I was thinking of Barbara Michaels/Elizabeth Peters and her guarantee that there would never be a rape in anything she wrote. The idea flitted in and out off my mind and was goine. Thanks to HelenKay, it’s back and I’m going to give this a try. [...]
by Writing - Cooking - Life » Blog Archive » On the Flip Side January 12th, 2008 at 5:44 pmWhat exactly is meme? Never heard that word before. A derivative of memo???
by Pat L. January 13th, 2008 at 5:17 am[...] I was being really lazy the other day (which is really no different than any day) and was going to copy HelenKay’s second Top Ten list, but when I got to thinking about what you’d find in my books released in 2008, I thought it much more interested that all three stories originally started out as something else. [...]
by Alison Kent » Blog Archive » How stories morph . . . January 15th, 2008 at 2:28 pm