On the Question of Romance

On almost every story I write, I get at least one reviewer wanting to know (or demanding me to change) who the final couple is going to be.

I've often replied to these reviews in a very similar fashion. Sometimes I'll tell them that they have to wait and see, other times I'll tell them it's still undecided, and occasionally I'll tell people that the story is about the journey.

I've finally decided to come out and post this though. I am not a romance writer. I use romance as a tool in a lot of my stories. I have stories that include tragic romances, epic romances, funny romances, forbidden romances and several more but, at the end of day, the story is not specifically about those romances

Instead, my stories are about the growth and the journey that surrounds them. They are not, nor will they ever be, about that ultimate destination so many people seem to want to have immediately.

Now, it is true, in some of my stories I have promised an HEA, and often times an HEA does include being in the "perfect relationship." .... I will say I don't necessarily agree with that, on a personal level, in my opinion it doesn't take being in a romance to be truly happy.

But for those who want to know for sure about my stories. They go as follows:

• It's A Twin Thing is up in the air, I am too early in the story to know where I'm ending it yet
• My continuation of Life and Death will have an HEA for Edythe and Beau, I will go so far as to say that both Rebirth and Affliction, and Affliction and Life will have HEAs for Edythe and Beau (that way if people don't want to read Affliction and Life, they won't need to)
• Necromancy in the Fifth will have an HEA for Edward and Bella. No ands, ifs, or buts about it. This story has that guarantee.
• Post BD continuation. I am still very early in this extremely long term project but the official answer is yes. 
• RR is a suspense tale, but with that being said, it will have a version of an HEA in it. 
• The Beast.... .... .... NO
• The Dark Assassin is a solid maybe
• The Differences Between Fantasy and Reality. Yes.
• The Emotional Roller Coaster Of Life. I have promised that a vast majority would get an HEA, so the easiest comparison I have here is that according to the government a super-majority is 66%... well, with 9 main characters, I figure that gives me three to mess with.
• The Hunter. Yes, it will eventually have an HEA, whether that's in the first book or I continue to a second, I still don't know.
• The Vengeful Lust Series as a whole is a yes, but the first book and the prequel are both a no. 
• The Wish of the Damned, unless I make a sequel, the answer is no.

Contest Suggestion

I'm officially recommending to people to write stories for The Mountain Man Contest

Emmett is a lovable character and I want to see lots of stories so I can read through and review them all as I pretend to not know which story is mine. (So far not posted).
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Direct from the contest page:

The Mountain Man Contest

Emmett Cullen centric contest!

Bring us your Emmett!

Vampire, Human, Chief, Firefighter, Single Father

You can go for cannon or non-canon it just has to be about our beloved Emmett!

Some Background info to help with some inspiration maybe!

Emmett McCarty was born in 1915 and grew up in the small town of Gatlinburg, Tennessee, as part of a large Scotch-Irish family.

Emmett was changed into a vampire by Carlisle Cullen in 1935, two years after Rosalie Hale had been changed. When Rosalie came across him, Emmett was being mauled by a black bear in the mountains of Tennessee. He had nearly died from the attack, but Rosalie saved him and carried him over a hundred miles back to Carlisle. Rosalie was noted as saying that it took nearly all her strength not to kill him. She also said that she brought him to Carlisle so that he, with his stronger endurance to human blood, could save Emmett, being afraid that she would kill him instead. Emmett describes this experience as "being saved by an angel who brought him to God".

Full rules can be found HERE
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And if you want to write a story but don't know anyone to beta it than you can message me on FF.net. I don't beta often and rarely offer the service, but I want to help see this get a lot of contestants

The Workplace Banner

Not sure I'm satisfied with it... but for now this is it unless I go in later and work on it more. 

Necromancy in the Fifth Sneak Peek

A brief teaser of Chapter 2:

The brief brush of a hand over my shoulder caused me to pause even as I stared at the stack of presents on one of the tables which mom mad diligently set up. The table was divided into two sections. The first, a reasonable amount of maybe a dozen present in a neat little square, all but two of which were wrapped in simple striped or plaid paper – also know as the side with my presents. The other had to have at least three times the presents, stacked three high with a wide range of flamboyant pinks, yellows, and oranges – Alice's side.

I was sure Edward was seeing the same thing I was, the fine arrangement of presents wasn't exactly a new experience. In fact, I knew it was part of what had set him off on our eighth birthday. It was hard to share the spotlight with the baby of the family – funny thing was that she no longer was the baby, but come birthdays, it still felt like it.

“That's because everybody loves me,” Alice said lightly as she glanced back over her shoulder at me.

“I didn't say anything.”

“But you almost did.”

I rolled my eyes. Alice stuck her tongue out at me in response.

Random Fun

Sleeping

The Workplace Teaser

I have an upcoming one-shot in the works called The Workplace, a Fred/Tanya tale, here's a brief teaser of the opening:

Fred wasn't the type of guy who got out all that much. He woke up every morning, took a piss, showered, brushed his teeth, got dressed, and headed into work at the high rise to take customer service calls. At the end of his eight hour work day, which often kept him closer to twelve, he'd head home to eat and then sleep. From there, it was simply a case of rinse and repeat. Even on his days he was supposed to have off, he was usually in the high rise working.

It wasn't a glamorous life but it was his, and it paid the bills. At the end of the day, that was main thing that mattered to him.

Other people were in it for the glory or the adventure, but he was simply the type of guy who liked to put one foot in front of the other and keep moving forward. Sure, someday, somehow, he intended to eventually run the company he'd worked at as an agent for the last decade – everyone needed a long term goal. But he was realist, and it was all about the day to day for him.

Fred was the kind of guy most people considered to be strictly average, even though he was taller than most. He stood at six foot four with unkempt light brown hair – no matter the amount of product he put in it – hazel eyes, a face a little too oblong, and the tiniest amount of fat. As a general rule, he wasn't handsome, but he wasn't bad looking either, he was just... average.

Like many guys who fell under that same qualification, his hand was his best friend. Women typically weren't interested in him, preferring the type of guy he'd never be. He wasn't the one who'd don a leather jacket and sit atop a chopper just to give a girl a ride, nor was he the type to whips and chains – that was more of Emmett's thing, his big brother.

It wasn't that he wasn't interesting if someone took a chance to know him. It was simply that no one ever bothered to try.

In all honesty, his last girlfriend been almost two years ago, and Bree had taken off the instant their relationship had gotten serious.

A Reminder

For the record, this is a joke book, but the sentiment in the title is quite accurate. 

Music and Writing

Music is one of my biggest go-to's when I write, though I have been known to put an audio book, show, or movie on in the background, music is the biggest thing I use.

Recently, I had someone recommend a couple of songs by Blackbriar to me. I've listened to Blackbriar in the past and the main singer, Zora Cock, has this beautiful soul-filled voice, and I have no issues listening to gothic and grunge music. Some of my favorites to listen to are Evanescence and Within Temptation.

But, I must admit it's a music style that I have to be in the mood for in order to listen to. The truth is, I'll listen to any music if I'm in the mood to. That includes everything from Christmas music to rap to death metal. I have no limitation. If I'm in the mood to hear it, I can listen to Bodies by Drowning Pool on never ending repeat. Similarly, I may listen to songs like Better Man by Little Big Town or Hard Hearted Hannah (The Vamp of Savannah).

The thing is, I have to be in the mood to listen to it, and often times what I'm listening to is opposite of what I'm writing. So if I'm writing something that's extremely sad, violent or angry, I'll be listening to upbeat pop, but when I'm writing fluff or lemons I'm usually listening to really sad songs. It's just the type of person I am.

I need something that gets me out of my head, so if I'm writing a lemon, listening to Bilingual by Jose Nunez is going to do the opposite of get me out of head.

Happy Handcuff Day

To all the kinky bastards out there, Happy Handcuff Day, and may everyone be grateful that George A Carney patented them in 1912 on this day. 

because sex looks like it would be a lot more uncomfortable in shackles.