Yes, I haven't posted for a while. I'd apologize, but I'm writing a book, so most of my writing energy goes directly into that. Writing, for me, is oddly exhausting for something I do while sitting in a chair, but that's neither here nor there. There's something going on in this book that I don't know if I've ever done before.
This new book has a genuine, old-school, will-they-or-won't-they kind of romance in it. And it feels really weird to type that. @_@ Especially for Shiloh and Alexi, whom I've been writing in one form or another since 2002.
I've blogged about sexuality issues in my writing before (and I will again, I'm sure), such as me realizing that Shiloh needed to come out to herself in Skyborne. But I wanted to do something different in this book. I wanted to start it out with Shiloh both knowing and accepting her sexuality, so her feelings for Alexi weren't some surprising thing she had to figure out, but instead just one more thing to worry about due to a host of other issues. Family politics and arranged marriages tend to play havoc with one's life, and throwing demons into the mix only makes things worse.
So I went into this knowing it would play out differently than the books I've written with these two characters before. And you know what? It's an odd kind of delight to write someone's slowly developing feelings for another, the constant wondering, the undertone of questions and desires despite the two of them spending a great deal of time just trying not to die.
It's not that I've never written a romance before; I've written everything from simple blossoming of first feelings to long-established relationships to married couples to seductions to angry shower sex. I've just never written something that feels so much like a traditional romance.
To be honest, I've never been interested in books where the romance is the plot. There has to be something more to the story than just seeing if the characters will get together. But as I write this book, I'm slowly understanding the appeal those stories have for so many people. As much as I enjoy the rest of the story so far, I find myself really looking forward to the moments between the two main characters, and watching things play out between them is ridiculously fun.
I'm already planning to set aside a longer-than-usual writing session for the scene when things finally come together, as if there's any scene I won't be able to stop until it's done, it's that one. Can't wait. ^_^
Alternate title for this entry: "NOW KISS"
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