FALL- LOVING THE SEASON!

By Linda Lovely

I'm skeptical that fall beats out any other season for loving, so I’ve done a bit of reverse engineering on this month's theme: “Tis the Season for Loving.” My take? Fall's the season I love best.

That wasn't always the case. Growing up in Iowa, fall was too short and meant real cold lurked around the corner. But in Upstate South Carolina, fall is both beautiful and it lasts a LONG time. When winter eventually arrives, it's mild and just long enough to tackle neglected yard projects.

So here are the reasons I love autum:

Weather. While temperatures are milder than summer, the lake water stays warm enough for me to swim well into October without chattering teeth or worries of cardiac arrest.

Quiet. As summer lake traffic dies down, it’s an ideal time to kayak, swim or putter around in our geezer craft (pontoon boat). No excessive stink-pot chop to make it feel like you’re plying waters churned up by a giant Cuisinart.

Flavor. Nights are cool enough to serve soup. Summer chef salads are great, but I miss those savory soups—tomato basil, split pea, chicken vegetable soup, and—best of all—chili!  

My Book Launch! A special reason to love fall 2017. BONES TO PICK, the first book in my humorous mystery series, releases Oct. 24. (You can pre-order now.) We’re planning a big party to celebrate at Split Creek Farm, a nearby goat dairy, since BONES is set on a goat farm. The series serves up a generous side of romance along with humor and adventure. Give it a try!

Walks. My husband and I walk together three days a week. Each foray is just short of five miles. While we keep this routine year-round, I enjoy it most on crisp fall days full of spectacular views.

Fireplace. I’m not as wasteful as Richard Nixon, who reportedly turned on air conditioning so he could cozy up by a fire mid-summer. But I do LOVE sitting by our fireplace. I count the days until evenings are chilly enough to justify a fire.

Football. Never been hooked. But with a a great nephew kicking for Texas A&M, I enjoy watching him—and his team—play. When other games are on, I get lots done. I type away on my laptop as I’m doing now while my husband channel surfs. If there’s a big cheer, I can look up to watch the replay.

Beauty. Besides gorgeous fall foliage, fall-blooming plants add zesty splashes of color. Azaleas, tea olives (what heady fragrance), camellias, and lantana to name a few.

Thanksgiving. It’s the gravy at season's end. Literally, I make about a gallon of gravy when I roast our turkey—usually a 22+ pound heavyweight. A favorite holiday. Great food, family and friends.

What season do you love best?

Emotional Fireworks in ‘Cozies’

By Linda Lovely

Fireworks are the inspiration for this month’s Romancing the Genre blog theme. But rather than talk about the kind that explode in the sky, I’m going to discuss two types of emotional fireworks—sexual attraction and anger/rage. Both fireworks categories can make a book sizzle and keep readers rapidly turning pages to see the emotional spectacular’s finale.

But what if the book is a humorous “cozy”— mystery or romance. The “cozy” genre label is generally reserved for novels that omit graphic violence, obscenities, and explicit sexual scenes. How can an author circumnavigate around these conventions and still convey the intensity of sexual attraction and/or rage?

It’s easier than you might imagine. And “imagine” is the key word here. The author’s descriptions need to let readers fill in the blanks with intense mental pictures.

Let’s start with sexual attraction. On the first page of Janet Evanovich’s One for the Money, her heroine Stephanie Plum describes Joe Morelli. “He’d grown up big and bad, with eyes like black fire one minute and melt-in-your-mouth chocolate the next. He had an eagle tattooed on his chest, a tight-assed, narrow hipped swagger, and a reputation for having fast hands and clever fingers.”

In this passage, Evanovich has given us a vivid description that lets us picture the hunk, even though we don’t know how tall he is or the size of any part of his anatomy. But we clearly KNOW that Plum has the hots for Morelli, and, if they get together, there’s bound to be fireworks.

But what about anger/rage? How can an author communicate a person’s violent personality without allowing the villain to curse? Does this constraint force an author to resort to dialogue that would seem ridiculous if spoken by a drug dealer, prostitute or psychopath?

The answer is no. Would you be surprised to learn that Lee Child (while definitely not a “cozy” author) includes no profanity in his books? It’s true. He also eschews using “milder” curses that might make the reader notice what’s missing. Instead Child relies heavily on describing the bad guys’ demeanor.  

My new Brie Hooker Mystery series published by Henery Press is “cozy.” However, I worked hard to build fireworks into Bones To Pick, the first book in the series, set to release Oct. 24. One focus was on creating scenes that showed the heroine’s sexual attraction to two main characters. The second focus was depicting villains through descriptions and dialogue (minus swear words) that telegraph these people are capable of inflicting pain and killing people without actually describing any torture or dwelling on the grisly details of a murder scene. I have my fingers crossed that it works.

Authors, what secrets do you employ to create emotional fireworks while following the cozy genre strictures? Readers, do you notice, care if the books you read include graphic violence, obscenities or explicit sexual scenes?