Like I said in my April Newsletter, I am currently revising some previous work for an exclusive run on Amazon to offer you bigger savings and more opportunities to sample the work. Today, a newly expanded THE UNDISCIPLINED BRIDE goes on sale for a Friday Free Read.
I gotta say, this story took me by surprise in a number of ways. My goal was to write a story about two very powerful leads who volleyed control and domination back and forth in their game of seduction. I didn't want to go the traditional route with a hero who was a billionaire, so I made Mateo Bravo a working class cook. I didn't want a typical ingenue of a female, so I made Peyton Prescott the billionaire who was also a raging bitch who bowed down to nobody.
Both of these characters are unexpected powerhouses. In my mind, this made any subsequent submission even hotter.
As always is the case, my characters took me by surprise and gave me oh so much more than I was asking of them.
Mateo turned out about how I envisioned him, which was sexy as hell. This is a man who knows he's a man, and bows to no one. The way he dominates the woman who is literally his boss was one of the hotter dynamics that I have written. (The Boiling Water scene, in particular, is a favorite. And the Elevator scene... I just can't even TALK about it.)
Instead the women of THE UNDISCIPLINED BRIDE were the ones who had a thing or two to teach me.
I knew I was going to make Peyton a nasty little thing. She is a bridezilla on the warpath to make everyone pay if her desires are not executed exactly the way she thinks they should be. She's rich and entitled and has no qualms whatsoever going after anything she wants. Unlike my other books, Peyton is not a plus-sized heroine. I don't make too much issue of it because honestly, it wasn't that critical to the story. She had a host of flaws to challenge the traditional idea of feminine beauty, the biggest of which is that she thinks she is better than anyone else, including almost each and every man outside of her Daddy. This is no wilting flower or demure southern belle. She is, on many occasions, a capital-C-You-Next-Tuesday.
In writing her, however, I learned a lot about The Bitch Complex. I love to figure out what makes people tick, and motivates them to act the way that they do. Being a writer especially, we are tasked to introduce (and answer) a number of questions to keep our readers turning the page. The Peyton in my head could have easily been one-dimensional. She was spoiled and entitled, a true princess in her own mind.
But why? Therein lies the story.
As I pealed back layer after layer, I began to discover an interesting human being under all the nastiness. In fact, as each chapter passed I began to respect her in ways I didn't expect to. She was powerful and strong in the only way she had ever been allowed to be, and those qualities made her a pleasure (and inspiration) to write. She just needed the right environment in which to grow. Thanks to Mateo and me, she got one. Her evolution throughout the story was one I was proud to witness.
Another character who took me by surprise right from the start was Peyton's childhood friend, Lissette Goodreau. I had NO idea what her story would be when I sat down to write. She jumped headlong off the outline and demanded a love story of her own. She got one, though it is unconventional.
Because of Lissette, THE UNDISCIPLINED BRIDE isn't just a romance novel. It's also a social commentary about love and identity and how we each get to define our Happily Ever After for ourselves... or at least SHOULD. I take on some sociopolitical topics that can be controversial for some readers. If you want pure escapism, this may not be the book for you. In fact, none of my books may be the ones for you. I don't write a story unless I have something significant to say, and I'll pull any trigger required in order to say it.
In at least three books, that was done literally. (And I still have my biker series to go, which should really scare the crap out of anyone who has walked any of these other ledges with me.)
For me, THE UNDISCIPLINED BRIDE challenges the idea of happiness. How do we define it for ourselves? And what happens when it looks NOTHING like what thought it would? How far would you go to be happy? And how much would you allow society around you to limit your own personal journey?
And all this came out of deciding to give a snotty bridezilla what for and take her down a notch or two. This is how my brain works.
(And I wouldn't change a thing.)
For those who have read THE UNDISCIPLINED BRIDE before, the story hasn't been significantly changed aside from an expanded ending. I tied in the connection between the Prescotts in Houston and the Fullertons in California. (If you've read ENRAPTURED, then you know that Prescott Petroleum, the company Peyton's family runs, was tied directly into the scandal involving Troy DeHavilland and the horse ranch down in Mexico. Those references are now a lot easier to spot in the newly revised version, and Jace Riga even makes a surprise appearance.
That's right. I'm continuing to build that big universe where my books and stories are connected. I get SUCH a kick out of that, I can't even tell you. It is my hope to Stephen King most of my romances at least, just so I can spend time with my favorite characters again and again.
If you haven't yet read THE UNDISCIPLINED BRIDE, pick it up today for free. Keep an eye out for other promotions over the next 90 days, before I release it wide again for Barnes and Noble and iTunes.
To get you in the mood...
No comments:
Post a Comment