Showing posts with label action/adventure. Show all posts
Showing posts with label action/adventure. Show all posts

Saturday, September 28, 2013

Action Adventure and Cherry Adair


Cherry Adair
When asked what I write, my response is usually- "Running-chasing-shooting-wild monkey sex-running-being chased-shooting-wild monkey sex - vanquishing the bad guy, and getting the girl kick-butt-his-equal-in-every-way-woman- happy ending." J
I love writing action adventure. I love the running, chasing, wild monkey sex of it all, and I love having to work really, really hard to find a place where they are not running-chasing, so they have time and a place for all that wild monkey sex. lol
I do a tremendous amount of research for every book.  Each book has its own 6” binder filled to overflowing with information on everything from weapons to details about careers, information on the different exotic locations in the book, and scientific or specific information.
So much information was just sitting in a closet until a friend and avid fan told me my readers would love to get their hands on my binders. So now I'm doing Enhanced e-books of some of my back titles, and adding dozens and dozens of pages of my notes, my revised synopsis, interviews about the book and characters, info on weapons, and vehicles, dossiers on my operatives, pictures associated with the different missions my characters have been on, as well as interviews and fun stuff. My readers are crazy for these Enhanced books, and I'm updating them as quickly as I can.


I do a ton of research for every book. Even if it's something I know fairly well, or a place I've been to myself. I like to talk to people who talk the talk and walk the walk. I've met and spoken to some fascinating people along the way. For example- Jacques Cousteau’s grandson Fabien Cousteau helped me extensively (the fact that he’s as delicious looking as one of my heroes didn’t hurt either! J) with research and interesting bits and pieces for IN TOO DEEP which had the hero, ex-Navy SEAL Michael Wright, sailing around the world, living on his boat and fighting his fear of water. 
A nuclear physicist I talked to was thrilled to help me with my nuclear physicist heroine,(what was I thinking?!) Michaela in CHAMELEON. (Yay! Sex in a one man submarine – don't think that wasn't a challenge!) I wrote out what I wanted my heroine to say in English, he translated it into. . .I have no idea. For all I know, instead of talking the talk, she ordered Chinese for dinner. Lol
I have several military consultants who share with me things I really don't want to put in my books. I want to get the facts straight, but sometimes reality is just too. . .Real!
I write T-FLAC, my counterterrorist organization because the safety of the world is a relevant topic in today’s climate. I’m fascinated by military personnel and what it requires for these true-life heroes to go out every day to make the world a safer place for the rest of us.



To me writing is like building a house, and not that dissimilar to the business I used to be in – interior design. The first draft is the blueprint for the building of the house. It’s a lot of left brain functions and by necessity, logic and reasoning. The hardest part of the book for me is writing the first draft. Once I have that done, I can go back and do all the fun things I love (the choice of carpets and drapes and artwork, the colors and textures that take it from an interesting, but anyone could do it house, into a home filled with color and life).

Layering in description, fine-tuning dialogue so that it zings, rewriting passages where the pacing is too slow or find places to insert a bit of research to make something more authentic. Going back and rewriting is the fun part for me.

I always start with character and emotion when I write a love scene.  There are only so many places you can slot A into B- and that’s basically choreography. I’m more interested  in who these people are- to themselves and to one another- than what body part goes where. That, I think, is what makes each scene fresh and different, because no two people are alike.

I could go on and on – but instead you can get a really good idea of what I write and how visual I am if you look at my website, www.cherryadair.com.  Since I am so visual, I wanted to give my readers and visitors a feel for the worlds I’ve created. 

I love what I do. Love what I write. Yes, it's over the top, and no, I would not like to trek through a steamy jungle, or trudge through a broiling hot dessert. But I put my heroine there and she can get sweaty and eaten by bugs. Of course she also gets to have the amazing wild-monkey sex with the hero, so that’s the tradeoff. lol


Website: cherryadair.com




Monday, August 26, 2013

Overheard at... The Statue of Liberty

"His turban hides another religious weapon."

Travel is all about learning new things... and this trip has certainly been no exception. I was waiting in line for tickets and overheard a guy trying to talk his way onto a water taxi after explaining the Statue of Liberty ferries would not allow him to get on without scanning his turban and handing over his concealed weapons.

Heart pounding, I waited for someone to become as nervous as I was. But the water taxi drivers just told him, rules were rules, and he wouldn't be able to go on a water taxi either.

My imagination went wild. He must have bomb material in his turban. And then, he'll use the concealed weapon to hijack the water taxi and land at Liberty Island. Scared, I told a security guard, and they took the time to explain it to me. In fact, both things are religiously oriented. In the turban they also keep a religious weapon. If they leave them with the ferry security they can go to the island. If not, they can not. Knowing the full story I was able to board the ferry mind at peace.

In September Romancing the Genres will spotlight Action/Adventure writers. The way my heart thumped while overhearing the above conversation made me think about what makes action/adventure work. I am sure there are many moving pieces (and I am hoping to learn some of these tricks when I read the blogs by our guest writers). But, one of these pieces has to be our fear of the unknown or our pre-established assumptions.

In fact, movie producers play on this last one all the time. Have you ever sat through 80% of a movie believing one thing (like who the killer is) only to realize that you were completely wrong? Assumptions are a wonderful tool for building tension.

So, here's your assignment this month. Look around you today and speculate about one thing going on. Your child is coloring? Without looking closely, what do you think they are drawing? Now ask.... were you correct? A man is looking around nervously as he pulls books at a bookstore. What do you think he is doing? Now ask if you can help... see what is actually going on.

These assumptions help us to make sense of the world around us. And, as writers, they are an excellent opportunity to play with the emotions of the reader. As you check in on our fantastic guest bloggers in September, be sure to ask if they have ever played with assumptions to build tension. I'll look forward to finding out (they are some of my favorite writers)!

Deanne Wilsted
Journeys Inspired by Love
www.deannewilsted.com