Paws for Reflection - Guest Post Nicole Hurley-Moore

In this month's "Paws for Reflection" I have author Nicole Hurley-Moore as my guest poster.

As a bit of a fan of time travel stories (watch this space for news on my next release SECRETS IN TIME), I am currently reading Nicole's UNTIL THE STARS BURN COLD and loving it but back to writers and our inseperable muses. In the interests of equality...a dog story. Over to you, Nicole...

We have a dog, his name is Hercules and he’s about twelve years old. I say about, because we aren’t exactly sure of his birth date. My husband rescued him. Hercules had been mistreated and his original ‘owner’ had threatened to get rid of him (and not in a I’m taking him to an animal shelter way.) I don’t know what breed is, I’m guessing he’s a Border Collie cross. So, Hercules became a part of the family as soon as he walked through the door and the children have grown up alongside him. He is very loyal, quiet and sedate. But my youngest daughter has wanted a ‘little dog’ for a very long time. For years we have said no, and that one dog is enough. But finally, last year we gave in.

Hayley**

So when we bought this... see above... fuzzy, white pooch for our daughter, little did we know that we were not introducing an angelic marshmallow into our home, but a demonic hell queen from the seventh strata of the netherworld. Queen Hayley has usurped power and we are now living in servitude. All who oppose her will are gutted, beheaded and shredded before their eyes... well, at least that’s what happened to her squeaky toys. Destroyer of high heels, slayer of socks and demolisher of all in her path... all hail the queen!

Okay, well maybe she’s not demonic, but just very naughty... and really, really cute.

When I’m not pandering to Hayley, I write historical and paranormal romances. Misrule’s Mistress will be released this Christmas (20^th December). It’s a medieval story which is centred around the twelve days of Christmas, ending with the Feast of Misrule.

Thanks so much Alison for inviting me to drop by.

Nicole  x

Find out more about Nicole at: 

www.nicolehurley-moore.com

http://nicolehurley-moore.blogspot.com.au/

Nicole's debut novel UNTIL THE STARS RUN COLD is available at Amazon

Forbidden love. In ancient Persia, Jinn is cursed into a ring as punishment for daring to love the wrong woman. Empires crumble, centuries pass and Jinn is still a captive of the ring. That is until present day antiques dealer, Mia Templeton accidentally releases him.

** I apologise for the sideways picture of Hayley! Nothing I could do would make the picture sit straight but it was such a lovely picture that I put it up...Hayley the Sideways Dog

The Next Big Thing - I've been Tagged

I've been tagged in The Next Big Thing by fellow writer Anita Davison. Anita and I 'met' through our mutual passion for the seventeenth century and have shared our ups and downs over the last five or six years.  I’m just thrilled that her first “mainstream” novel Royalist Rebel  is coming out in January. I can’t wait.

According to the NBT instructions I am here to tell you all about my next book by answering these questions and then to tag five other authors about their Next Big Thing.

So here I go!

What is the  title of your next book?

SECRETS IN TIME is coming out in April 2013 from Lyrical Press. 

I was hoping I would have a cover to brag about but my Publisher got the full brunt of Hurricane Sandie and has been without power for weeks on end.

It’s only a short book (about 45K words) compared to my previous books which have all nudged 100 thousand words. So it will be a quick read.

Where did the idea come from for the book?

This is my first unabashed romance. It originated from a writing exercise I did with my writing group in Singapore way back in 2001. I can’t remember what the task was but I was going through some snippets of writing a couple of years ago and came across it again. It caught my eye and I found myself drawn to turn it into a story.

What genre does your book fall under?

Time Travel! I have always LOVED time travel books and in this book I manage to combine my two passions – the English Civil War AND time travel!

Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?

That is such a hard question. Sometimes I have certain people in mind but most of the time I like to keep it fairly vague and allow the readers to impose their own images on my characters faces but if I’m pushed to it:

NATHANIEL – Gabriel Aubry (with dark auburn hair)

JESSICA – Aussie actor Jessica Marais

What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

For love, a man will cross time itself.

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?

Lyrical Press which published my last book, GATHER THE BONES, is bringing out SECRETS IN TIME as an ebook. However I will make it available in print shortly after its release.

How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?

It’s hard to say because I wrote it in bits and pieces. When I said I picked it up a couple of years ago, it was when my father was in his last illness (He had suffered from Alzheimers/Dementia for a number of years). In his last days I would come home from sitting with him and just write and this was the story I wrote. It was something I felt compelled to do, almost as if I needed to escape from the reality of what was happening in my world. After his death it took me a year to come back to it but once I settled into it, SECRETS flowed.

What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

I loved Suzanna Kearsley’s book Mariana. It's once of the best time travel books I've read.

Who or What inspired you to write this book?

I think I’ve answered this question above. No one particular inspiration, just a combination of factors.

What else about your book might pique the reader's interest?

It’s not just about romance, there are strong family ties that bind the characters too. What will a father do for a beloved son?

That's it from me. I am looking forward to sharing SECRETS IN TIME with you.

And here are some more lovely historical authors I've tagged to tell you about their Next Big Thing!

Suzi Love 

Bronwyn Stuart

Marianne Theresa

Joanna Lloyd  

Christina Croft  

In the meantime while you are waiting impatiently for SECRETS IN TIME, don't forget my latest release GATHER THE BONES is out and getting some great feedback. If you like mystery, history, romance and ghosts with a dash of Downton Abbey, this is the book for you!

On Titles and Covers

Last Tuesday I received the news that all writers love to hear the most...a new contract.

My 40K word, time travel novella has been bought by Lyrical Press and will, tentatively be out around April next year.

The book is currently without a title. Unlike my other books, this little story has never had a proper title. It's a bit like not having a name for your baby...doesn't feel quite real.  Every animal that has ever set paw in our house, from mice and fish to the cats, have had names. Once you give something a name you have an emotional investment in it and I think the same applies to books. 

Its working title was "Slip in Time" but this conjured up images of ballroom dancing or petticoats.  My problem is that every "Time" title I come up with has already been taken and quite often graces the cover of several books - A Timeless Love, Love Through Time, A Time to Love etc....So I'm stumped, my editor's stumped and my writing group has taken to suggesting titles like "Love Among the Geraniums" (you'd have to read the story to get that one!). I'm on to cavaliers now...with a long list of titles like "Loving the Cavalier, The Cavalier and the Cardiologist" and the trouble is until it has a title I can't get on with all the other important stuff that needs doing when you first sign up for a book contract. 

This has got me thinking about the titles and how they influence reader attraction to a book.  I came across this  article that appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald. In it, writer Julian Barnes confesses to not reading one particular book for years because he thought it was about baseball - the book "Catcher in the Rye". 


There are plenty of blogs on this subject but one of the best I've come across is from Rachelle Gardiner, literary Agent. Rachelle writes "...Your title sets the tone, hints at the genre or style of book, and draws the reader in. It’s your very first opportunity to “market” your book and make someone want to read it...".  Thanks...no pressure, Rachelle!

In another post, Rachelle gives an important lesson in how to brainstorm a title your book and I'm working through that at the moment.  I guess I am lucky that I have a publishing house that allows the author input into titles. My friends who write for HMB, have little or no say in their titles (so don't blame the author for the "Millionaire Sheiks Secret Love Child"). Those I have spoken to have stopped even giving their books working titles so their work in progress tend be known just as "Sheik 5" or "Secret Baby 9".


This has got me thinking about not only the importance of titles but also covers and the more I thought about it, the more I realised we are a predominantly visual species and much as we may preach sanctimoniously that we "never judge a book by a cover". Yes we do. I have heard Stephanie Laurens say that for her books to sell, the cover has to be one that can be seen across a crowded Walmart.  We are drawn to bright and shiny and I am completely guilty of buying books by their covers. Jo Beverley's Three Heroes is a case in point.  I bought it like a shot...because I'm shallow and I judge books by their covers. - it was also, I hasten to add, a very good read!

The need for a cover to catch the eye and yet give an indication of genre and story was brought home to me when I was working with my publisher on the cover for Gather the Bones. I had imagined something World War Oneish but no, this is primarily a story about relationships and the cover needed to show that. It has poppies (World War One) but anyone picking up the book can see it is about a relationship between a man and a woman. - probably more man and woman than would generally be my taste but I have grown to love them. I learned it's about understanding the audience to whom you are pitching your book. Duh! I write books with a strong romantic theme. Yes, they are strong on the historical aspect but my audience is far more likely to be a reader interested in a relationship and a HEA than a reader of military history. Call a spade a spade. If I write romance then my cover needs to appeal to buyers of romantic fiction. It needs to look...well...romantic!

With this learning in mind I went back to my own books and reconsidered the covers. Take THE KING'S MAN. When it was first published in 2007 by an independent epress, the cover chosen was a computer graphic (Because that was how it was done back then!) and  at the time I was quite pleased with it - spies, inns, mysterious men. When I re-released the book myself in 2010 I chose a clever image of a man with a noose around his neck. I felt it captured the essence of the book but looking at it now, it's too subtle and muddy in colour. I just didn't understand what a cover has to convey! Back to basics...this is a book about a relationship - a love story and, frankly, you wouldn't get that from either of its first two covers, would you? Yes it's about spies and hanging but primarily it's about Kit and Thamsine. I finally understood! Glory be, now in 2012, enterprising people out there have caught on to the juggernaut of  the self publishing industry and you can buy off the shelf book covers. Wonderful covers (thank you Jimmie Thomas)! The King's Man finally has a cover that captures the essence of the book perfectly. Honestly which one would you buy...?

The King's Man original Cover

The King's Man:  Muddy cover

The King's Man: new cover

So there we are, I have a lovely bright new shiny contract for a story with no name, but if you like time travel stories, a wonderful seventeenth century cavalier and a thoroughly modern, no nonsense doctor are coming your way early next year. And I'm really looking forward to working with my publisher on an eye catching cover - once we have found the perfect title!


Alison

PS...this week I am over at Hoydens and Firebrands blogging about the tragic life of one of the noblest of the cavaliers...Lucius Cary, 2nd Viscount Falkland, killed at the age of 33 at the first Battle of Newbury in 1643. Was it a case of suicide by battle...?