New Blog

I have started a new blog on my website at www.fionajayde.com
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News and Reviews

Amethyst Moon has be released from Cobblestone Press as a standalone novella! I'm excited about it - I really enjoyed writing that story.
http://www.cobblestone-press.com/catalog/books/amethystmoon.htm

I'm hard at work on my full length mystery project. The weird part? Somehow I'm getting spam from people with the same names as my characters! How trippy is that?

I've recently got some amazing reviews:

Nicole Harvey at Paranormal Romance reviewed Dark Lotus:

"This story blew me away. The way the author built the plot, the way the characters came to life as you read their story, I couldn't get enough. And the way most of us fall for the wounded souls like Kyoto, you can identify with Tia. I look forward to reading more by this author in the future; she is one of my auto-buys from this day forward."
http://www.paranormalromance.org/reviews/review.php?id=29255

Thank you Nicole!

Cholla at Whipped Cream Reviews gave Dark Lotus 5 cherries!!
"Dark Lotus is an amazing combination of passionate sex, intense action, and subtle dark overtones that leaves you wanting more, more, more. Drawn together by magik, held together by something even stronger, Tia and Jim face their fears and their destinies to prove that the magik doesn’t have to lead you to the dark side. A thoroughly enjoyable read."

Thank you Cholla!
http://www.longandshortreviews.com/WC/1008/MagikInkDarkLotus-FJ.htm

He's HERE!

The new Mike4 figure is here! And lets just say wow! I took the opportunity to get aquanted...
(Click on the image to see it full size)

New Review for SpacePort: Drop Zone!

From Just Erotic Romance Reviews:

After having his senses enhanced, Roen Decks began to mine uralium ore-an ore that is dangerously easy to explode. Meeting Kamura Shard, his enhanced sense of smell attracts him to her arousal, until he finds out that she is the distributor who has been aborting his supplies. Kamura knows that she
has to provide to Roen that she is not sabotaging his supplies. Can she mine ore and convince Roen that she's not guilty?

Drop Zone is another of the stories from the multi author series Spaceport. The plot of this story is well-written with excellent characters. I loved Kamura especially for her thoughtful and determined attitude. Roen was a wonderful male character, with his concern for his crew. After they begin to
work together, Kamura and Roen have very hot sex. I was enthralled by their sexual encounters, particularly because Roen was sure that Kamura was intentionally destroying his work. Both Roen and Kamura were falling in love with each other, even though neither trusted the other. There was an
interesting twist near the end of the book that was easily figured out, but even so, I enjoyed the story immensely.

-Marcy Arbitman
Just Erotic Romance Reviews

Thank you Marcy!!

Empress

Another collaboration with Stephanie Arwen Lynch!
This is the Empress card:)

Lovers

I've decided to kick start my creativity. I know less then zero about Tarot cards, but I do enjoy the images and symbolism... And with that in mind, I've set out to create a "virtual" deck of my own..

Thanks to Stephanie Arwen Lynch for her input and ideas!!

Of plots and pantsers

I've been marveling at how my writing process seems to have turned a complete 180. And funny enough my friend - the wonderfully talented Lacey Savage - has been marveling about the same thing. (She has a blog about it here)

Usually I loosely figure out what my characters want and go from there. I HATE plotting. I hate it with a passion. I can never get it to a point where I like it, I paralyze myself with too many "buts" and usually by about 6K in, I decide to change everything anyway. My life as a pantser. (quick 411 -- a plotter is a writer who plots. A pantser is a writer to flies through the story by the seat of their pants)

Something changed recently. I started plotting... And the coolest thing with this new processes of plotting is that I actually ...do not.

Now I've only done 2 stories like that --but so far it seems to fly.

The first thing I do is build the world. Don't matter if its now or aeons from now. I build the rules of my setting.

Next I do a GMC chart. This is the best tool eva -- basically its a chart detailing the main characters' goals, motivations and conflicts. (Check out GMC by Debra Dixon -- its one of those must haves on the writer's shelf IMO) The GMC chart will be in constant flux, but it gives me a good jump start on the next step...

The Snowflake. Basically its a series of steps designed by a software engineer. (Google Snowflake Writing method and hit the first link.) Each step is designed to move you further into the story, and it alternates between "main story" and "characters" story. And as long as you remember that as you move forward you are allowed and encouraged to change you mind, its a wonderful tool to delve from top level of your story into the fine detail.

There's no plotting really -- it just sort of organically grows as you get to know your characters and what major events happen in the story. As you build on that, the story shapes up... So far I haven't actively plotted anything -- at least not for the sake of plotting. Instead, I figured out what happens to my characters and how they overcome their obstacles. Plot? Done.

The best part for me is the second to last step. This is where you take a descriptions of each scene and write "about" it. I can just see the dreaded "show don't tell" rule shuddering.

I "tell" each scene - writing rapid paragraphs about each scene, including anything that comes to mind about it. Bits of dialog, cool setting, a right-on-the-spot word. As I write Dark Lotus, I have the pre-draft ready in 2 nights. And some of it is really solid work.


When I open the predraft to actually write, the words just seem to pour...

One thing I DIDN'T do on the weekend was write.

I painted. I made some cover art. I played with the cats. I messed around with PHP coding doing my super secret excerpt tool. I thought about writing.. A lot. I wrotea measely 1k for Devil's Isle. It had a request from an editor for some expansions, so back to the pirate lore I go.

The painting turned out to be not too bad - although it was hot as all hell standing outside:)

I've been tagged! or 6 random things about moi

My good friend and fantastic writer Lacey Savage tagged me to post six random things about myself... As I'm a fairly random person, that shouldn't be too difficult...

The rules: 

a. Link to the person who tagged you.
b. Post the rules on your blog.
c. Write six random things about yourself.
d. Tag six random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs.
e. Let each person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment at their blog.
f. Let your tagger know when your entry is up.

1. I can't draw. At all. I do all sorts of computer art and graphics, and I paint landscapes when I manage to get my butt out of my office.. And I can't draw a stick figure. (I can't spell either, but thats a whole other story)

2. I think I'm one of those people who are addicted to email. There's a name for that condition, but I can't remember what it is.

3. I learned English by reading Nora Roberts and watching Growing Pains and Who's the Boss. Although technically the order of that was reversed... 

4. I'm a total dog person and yet somehow ended up with 2 cats. 

5. I lived in Nashville TN for a year.

6. My three favorite movies are The Cutting Edge, Strictly Ballroom, and Thief of Hearts. Oh and Three Musketeers in Russian.. I was gonna marry D'Artagnan...

I tag -

Robin L Rotham

Cyan Bell

Kris Eton

Taylor Voltaire

Lexxie Cooper

Celia Kyle

Hot Man Alert

I really like him.. Although the sword is a bit... symbolic, ain't it?

Purple Night

Not quite sure what he's doing hanging around sans shirt in the middle of the night, but he looks good doing it :)

More fun with splashes

I had fun making making this for my friend Selena Illyria, so I though I'd share.
Love the splash brushes!!

Fun With Splashes

I do love my new splash brushes...

Angel's Fall

I'm procrastinatinating again:) Kinda channeling Luis Royo who is my Nora Roberts in terms of art.

What's in a name?

Character names can make or break a story. I personally have had instances where a story wouldn't flow because a character name just didn't sound right, and yet I couldn't find a better alternative. Like a story title, a character name sets up a mood -- a jaded man, a sweet but vulnerable woman, a bitchy coworker who blames everyone else for a mistake while sounding sugar sweet to those who hold some power.

One approach in finding character names is trolling name generator sites until something just "hits". My personal favorites are Sevent Sanctum (http://seventhsanctum.com/) and Serendipity (http://nine.frenchboys.net/) . Warning -- could be a big time waster!! You can generate first names, last names or combination of both, male and female, until something hits right. Baby naming sites, sites depicting popular names by culture or country can work well here as well -- this is how I found names for my characters in Sexsomiaic.

Another approach I've recently stumbled upon involves SPAM. No - not the kind you eat, the kind that clogs up your inbox with offers of blue magic pills, miracle diets and business offers that you simply can't refuse -- just send them your name and Social Security.

The names that appear as the sender could be great starting points to character names and personality sketches if we're willing to sift through our bulk folder. A few examples from my own : Shelly Marino - maybe a female NY cop with attitude a mile long and a soft spot for chocolate ice cream .Perry Poole - doesn't he just sound like a bespeckled older gentleman who may just have a dark side? Jan Oneill, John Deleon, Ellen Wells, Jim Crowe...

Next time a character name eludes you, you may just find the answer no further then your own spam box.

Of course, it'll mean looking at clever subject lines such as - You Grow, She'll Blow.

New Release: Sexsomniac

After seven false starts, its ALIVE!

Lacey Savage was very kind to post an interview with me about Sexsomniac at her blog.

New Release! Snowbound: Troika

Excerpt from SnowBound: Troika

Blurb:

Selina comes to a remote village in Alaska to organize a wolf sanctuary in the snow-covered wild. She doesn't pay attention to the full bright moon or this sudden urge to howl at it. She doesn't believe the two gorgeous men claiming to be wolf shifters or that she's of their blood. But when she is snowed in with Mikhail and Christian who are intent on loving her until she howls in her true form, how much more convincing can a woman take?

http://changelingpress.com/product.php?&upt=book&ubid=806

Urban Fantasy is Released!

I'm super excited about this one. It really was a kick in the pants and I am really thrilled with how it turned out.

http://changelingpress.com/product.php?&upt=book&ubid=741

Oh, and I got a GREAT review from JERR on Urban Myth.

...Give me a book that mixes the paranormal with an ass kicking female and I will be in heaven. Reading Urban Myth provided more than enough of the two and threw in some fantastic erotica. Taina is an independent, self sufficient loner that needed nobody. Having been betrayed, she had decided that the only person she could count on was herself. Rayan took her heart and froze it when he left with no reason and seeing him at the compound was like having it thawed out. The lust was instant, tangible, and there for all to see. Only Rayan was just as affected by her presence. The reasons he left were admirable, however, instead of telling her what was going on, he just left. And men wonder why we women bash them...Anyway, he is just plain and simple HOT. He is a physically fit, sexy specimen of a man, one that I could just jump on and go crazy with. The sexual tension between these two is obvious and I could not wait for them to jump one another. I was NOT disappointed. The sex was blatant, filled with hunger and repression, and it just exploded. They had me squirming and wiggling with my own desire to play, but the desire to read overrode that. Fiona Jayde did a fabulous job with the writing and storytelling aspects of the story, and the editing was just as wonderful. Plenty of action, sex, and emotion made Urban Myth a must read.

Stacey Landers
Just Erotic Romance Reviews

Of Swords and Vampyres

Urban Fantasy is coming along. Not nicely - plenty of twists and bumps in the road, but if I don't have conflict with my characters they would be dull to write.

I never reveal deets before I finish -- but here's a little sneaky visual preview. Its not the official cover but I had fun making it when I was stuck in the middle of the plot. Of course I ripped up half of the said plot (and may again before this thing is done!) but I'm beginning to realize thats part of my creative process.

Hotshot Moi

Two releases in a month. I feel like such a hotshot.

Urban Legend is out!! This book kicked my rear end from here to there and I'm happy it did, because it turned out awesome! Cain - my main character -- wouldn't budge until things worked out his way. Damn stubborn sexy male.