I may be projecting, but it seems to me that you can kinda see the exact point in the story when you stop just doing the requisite setup and start really having fun with things. (I'd be curious to hear if that perception is accurate.)
haha, you are exactly right, and the point where you think this happened is probably where it did actually happen. I started out writing this with the idea that it would be a book for the shared pen name, as you can probably tell from the slightly over-the-top names (I thought about changing them afterwards, but decided to stay with the ridiculous OTT-ness) but then it kinda veered off into BLOOD AND DEATH AND TERROR, and a certain amount of plot.
I think this one still could have technically gone under the shared pseud -- it's still genre-formula enough for it -- but the one I'm working on right now definitely wouldn't.
I'd also be curious to hear how you approach writing these – if you do keep a list of criteria you have to be mindful of, or a list of beats you need to hit, or something similar?
Both, actually. For the house name, there's a pretty detailed plot framework one of the email-list members worked out that most of the bestsellers in the genre follow, that is basically designed around formulaic plot beats (here's where the first sex scene goes, here's where the couple has a conflict, here's where the reconciliation happens, etc). In addition to that, there are a number of tropes that are pretty consistent between various books in the genre, so when people pick up one of the pen name's books, they know what they're getting: alpha-male-type heroes, love at first sight, etc.
For my own stuff I'm being a lot more flexible (because, as it turned out, I can only write so much of this before my brain starts screaming about subverting the tropes). There's still a certain fill-in-the-blank element to it -- after all, I'm at least trying to be commercial with these, even the Lauren Esker ones. But it's not quite as much of a formula checklist as with the other ones.
Anyway, I'd be happy to email you the info on formula that we've collected, if you want it!
I love your idea for Gray, by the way. This might need to be the next book, either a book-length story about him or Gray as a bridge character for a number of shorter stories featuring different couples/poly relationships/etc. For one thing, aside from individual variation in how it manifests, shifter culture can't be the same everywhere; surely it's influenced by the culture wherever they live, in how they relate to their various biological urges.
(Look at me going horrendously off-trope already. XD)
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haha, you are exactly right, and the point where you think this happened is probably where it did actually happen. I started out writing this with the idea that it would be a book for the shared pen name, as you can probably tell from the slightly over-the-top names (I thought about changing them afterwards, but decided to stay with the ridiculous OTT-ness) but then it kinda veered off into BLOOD AND DEATH AND TERROR, and a certain amount of plot.
I think this one still could have technically gone under the shared pseud -- it's still genre-formula enough for it -- but the one I'm working on right now definitely wouldn't.
I'd also be curious to hear how you approach writing these – if you do keep a list of criteria you have to be mindful of, or a list of beats you need to hit, or something similar?
Both, actually. For the house name, there's a pretty detailed plot framework one of the email-list members worked out that most of the bestsellers in the genre follow, that is basically designed around formulaic plot beats (here's where the first sex scene goes, here's where the couple has a conflict, here's where the reconciliation happens, etc). In addition to that, there are a number of tropes that are pretty consistent between various books in the genre, so when people pick up one of the pen name's books, they know what they're getting: alpha-male-type heroes, love at first sight, etc.
For my own stuff I'm being a lot more flexible (because, as it turned out, I can only write so much of this before my brain starts screaming about subverting the tropes). There's still a certain fill-in-the-blank element to it -- after all, I'm at least trying to be commercial with these, even the Lauren Esker ones. But it's not quite as much of a formula checklist as with the other ones.
Anyway, I'd be happy to email you the info on formula that we've collected, if you want it!
I love your idea for Gray, by the way. This might need to be the next book, either a book-length story about him or Gray as a bridge character for a number of shorter stories featuring different couples/poly relationships/etc. For one thing, aside from individual variation in how it manifests, shifter culture can't be the same everywhere; surely it's influenced by the culture wherever they live, in how they relate to their various biological urges.
(Look at me going horrendously off-trope already. XD)