I’ll admit it. I use LOL occasionally. I also admit to w/ and b/c and JMHO. But, I also notice myself looking for the spell check button when I’m writing a hand written note. Pathetic? I think so.

Therefore I’ve always wondered if kids today are getting worse at spelling. With as much texting as they do, so many abbreviations (you’ve seen that cell phone commercial, right?) how could they possibly know how to spell well?

Evidently, I’m wrong. There are numerous studies that show that texting improves kids spelling. Amazing, huh? I’m still not sure if I believe it.

I was recently asked about my new book, BUTTERFLY TATTOO, and its rather unconventional storyline.  The question posted to me was whether I realized the novel would turn out to be controversial while I was writing it. After all, the hero of this romance, Michael Warner, does have a very complicated and unusual past.  In fact, everyone in the book has a complex past, with secrets and pain they’re trying to overcome and work through.  But this question wasn’t about the other characters, like Rebecca O’Neill, a once-successful actress whose career was ruined when she was attacked by a stalker.  It was about Michael and whether I realized writing a book with a bisexual hero might be a tough sell.  Did I write in the dark, so to speak, unconcerned about the market?  Did I listen to my inner agent and even consider the difficulties the book might face in finding a publisher?

I’d like to say that I was completely savvy and understood the inherent risks in writing the book.  And, to a degree, I was.  I knew that it wouldn’t be easy, but I will also admit I never dreamed it would take five years to find a publisher.  Somehow, because I was writing the book I was most passionate about, the story I had to tell…I convinced myself that selling it wouldn’t be that big of a deal.  Which, on one hand, is rather naive and foolish.  On the other hand, disregarding the market, writing for an audience of one—myself—allowed the book to blossom and truly come alive for readers.

You see, there’s a kind of purity and intensity to doing what many would say is unthinkable: not worrying how you might sell a book.  There’s no one reading over your shoulder, so to speak, it’s just you and the characters and the story.  You weave the tale because you need to read it and speak it, and you don’t worry what anyone will think.  It was also the longest I ever took writing a book, and there’s something to be said for letting a work breathe as you write it.  It’s one of the downsides of our current romance market that so many writers are having to write faster and faster to meet deadlines and reader expectations.

Sometimes I wish that we could all slow things down a little bit, so that writers would have more time to explore, to push boundaries.  I love that I took sixteen months with BUTTERFLY TATTOO because there were even things that happened while writing it that wound up impacting the story.  If I’d written it quickly, worrying about the potential publishing market, I truly believe the book would have been cheapened or sold short.

As an agent, authors sometimes ask me about their “crazy” ideas, the ones that seem most edgy or different.  I try my very best, always, to say that those kinds of ideas are where the magic happens.  Not all agents agree with me, but I think when you tap into passion and love of a project, and you don’t worry about controversy or taking chances, you set your muse free.

GIVEAWAY
If you’d like a chance to win a free copy of BUTTERFLY TATTOO, leave a comment regarding Deidre’s guest blog today. One lucky winner will be randomly selected from among the U.S. and Canadian readers who do.

BIO:
Deidre Knight, one of romance publishing’s most successful agents, established her literary firm, The Knight Agency, in 1996 after working in the entertainment industry. To date, her agency has placed over 2,000 titles in all genres and with everything from the largest publishing houses to the smaller independents. An author of two paranormal romance series, she recently published her first contemporary romance, BUTTERFLY TATTOO, as an e-book. Within days of its release in April, this novel took the online reading world by storm and has since been heralded by numerous reviewers as a brave, groundbreaking novel, due to its exploration of the potential fluidity of human sexuality and the healing nature of love. Deidre calls BUTTERFLY TATTOO, which Samhain is releasing as a trade paperback February 1, the book of her heart. Deidre is also the author of the Gods of Midnight series, which includes RED FIRE and RED KISS. The third book in the series, RED DEMON, will be released this June.

My favorite part of writing fantasy novels is the research and world building. I enjoy researching the mythology and folk law on which I base the world I’m developing. I’ve used mainly Celtic mythology with a touch of Norse in my Magic Knot series. One of the most useful research books I have is The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Fairies by Anna Franklin. Another book on my reference shelf that I refer to regularly is The Element Encyclopedia of Magical Creatures. There is a series of Element Encyclopedias covering everything from witches to secret societies—well worth checking out of the library or purchasing if you are interested in the paranormal and supernatural.

I love visiting places that I’m planning to use as settings. I combine research with vacations and my husband has got used to the fact that we always have to vacation somewhere that I plan to set a book. Before I wrote The Magic Knot, we visited Ireland; specifically the area near Dublin called the Wicklow Mountains. The area isn’t mountainous but high moorland. The area combines lush green tree-filled valleys with purple moorland. Unfortunately, when we visited the mist was so thick on the moorland that I could hardly see the road in front of our rental car.

We visited a beautiful Palladian mansion called Powerscourt (http://www.powerscourt.ie/gardens/) near the village of Enniskerry (http://enniskerry.ie/). I recommend a visit if you are ever in the Dublin area of Ireland. The outside of the house is majestic and the gardens spectacular, with a lake featuring a fountain. Powerscourt was the inspiration for my Irish Fairy Queen’s mansion in The Magic Knot.

We also visited many sites with evidence of Celtic history. One of the most interesting was the Medieval monastic settlement of Glendalough (http://www.faculty.de.gcsu.edu/~dvess/ids/medieval/glendalough/glendalough.shtml) founded in the 6th century and destroyed by English troops in 1398. There is a graveyard full of beautiful Celtic crosses.

This summer I spent two weeks in Scotland where I managed to visit some wonderful castles while my husband watched Tom Watson lose the British Open Golf Championship by a whisker. (What an amazing man Tom Watson is!) One of the interesting things about Scottish castles and manor houses is that many are still owned and lived in by members of the nobility. This is unusual in England where I live. Here, The National Trust now owns most castles and manor houses as the original owners can’t afford to maintain the properties.

I visited Culzean Castle (http://www.culzeanexperience.org/experiences.asp) on the West coast of Scotland in South Ayrshire. An amazing castle perched on the cliffs above the Firth of Clyde in acres of parkland. The National Trust for Scotland owns and runs this property. The house itself is eighteenth and nineteenth century, but there has been a castle standing on the spot since the 1400s when it was known as Coif Castle.

Brodick Castle (http://www.castles.org/Chatelaine/BRODICK.HTM) is another one cared for by The National Trust for Scotland. Although this castle has medieval origins, it is predominantly a Victorian estate in a beautiful location overlooking the Clyde estuary on the east side of the Isle of Arran.

We then travelled across Scotland to the Borderlands of the East where we had the pleasure of visiting Bowhill House (http://www.bowhill.org/), home of the 9th Duke of Buccleuch. Although the history of the estate lands goes back to the fourteenth century, the present house dates from the early 1800s.

My favorite castle from my Scottish vacation has to be Floors Castle. (http://www.roxburghe.net/floorscastle.html) I get a shiver of excitement just remembering the magnificent house and beautiful grounds. I’m definitely a historic house addict. This is the home of the 10th Duke of Roxburghe and his family. The amazing thing about walking around this castle is that there are personal family photographs and items still in the rooms that the family uses when the castle is closed to the public. I love to think that this magnificent building is used as a family home rather than just being a glorified museum as so many of the historic houses are in the UK.

Although I set my stories in a contemporary fantasy world, the characters often reside in historic houses. With the UK being so rich in heritage, I can’t resist blending a touch of history with the fantasy.

Helen Scott Taylor lives near Plymouth in Devon, UK, with her husband, two shih tzus and a cat who rules the household. She is the author of a contemporary fantasy romance series about fairies—The Magic Knot (Feb 09), and The Phoenix Charm (Jan 2010). For information and to read excerpts go to www.helenscotttaylor.com

People are always asking writers how we get our ideas. Well, for most writers I know, getting the idea is the easy part! We get them so many ways—watching movies, reading an article in the newspaper, seeing a couple arguing on the street, while doing research, etc.

It’s after the germ of the idea presents itself that a lot of us have problems in fleshing it out; in taking that little kernel of an idea and turning it into something book-worthy.

There are many ways writers I know work to expand a basic idea, but one of the most enjoyable—not to mention time-consuming, which is a blessing for those of us who procrastinate—is collaging.

Creativity Breeds Creativity
Most of us writers are creative folk in general; many authors I know aren’t just writers, they’re artists in other ways as well: painters, sketchers, musicians, actors, designers, etc. If you’re finding the creative writing well is too dry, oftentimes focusing on another way to allow your creativity to flourish will let the writing part come.

Let the “Girls in the Basement” do their stuff
Jennifer Crusie has a well-known description of how our subconscious hoards our ideas, only letting them go when it’s good and ready. Some people call this their muse. Ms. Crusie calls it the girls in the basement—and she believes that we each have all of our story ideas already locked away in our brain/subconscious, and that we just need to let them out. Sometimes the girls in the basement are working hard; sometimes, they’re just playing poker and being waited on by cabana boys.

If the “girls” aren’t working hard to get those ideas flowing, doing a collage can often help get them focused again by allowing the images, textures, colors, words, etc., that we might find for use in our collages to trigger events, backstory, or thoughts about the book.

Plotter or Seat of Pants Writer?

Collaging can work for a writer regardless of whether she plans the book out first or not. If she’s a planner, she can collage first and then use what she learned from the collage to sketch out her plot. For someone like me, who doesn’t plan ahead: I make the collage and perhaps have no idea why I included some of the images, colors, words, or textures . . . but as I write the book, those aspects of the collage trigger ideas for me.

The accompanying photo is an example of a collage I did for one of my books about a female vampire hunter in Regency-era England.

I’ve found that collages have helped me flesh out ideas more easily. They also allow me to work on the book before I might be ready to do anything else on it —to clarify and visualize the characters and setting, and even the conflict.

After working for years in sales and marketing, owning her own business, and working briefly for an international import/export company, Joss is now blessed to do what she loves and writes full-time. She lives in Michigan with her husband, children and two big dogs. Currently, Joss is working on her fourth book in The Envy Chronicles.