Morning folks! Today I'm joined by the hilarious and brilliantly talented Kari Gregg, who's here to discuss her creative process with you all in typical Kari fashion. She's also got a brand new book out that's so damn hot it'll fog up your computer screen, so before I turn the floor over to her, let's have a peek, shall we?
After one mind-shattering night with a stranger at a local leather bar leaves him forever changed, Gabriel lives on the streets as a vagrant to elude the master who hunts him, but the were-shifter is a fierce, stubborn predator who reclaims him soon enough. Gabriel is carried away to the pack’s home territory where his instruction on what it means to be the pet of an alpha begins. Gabriel isn’t just any pet, though. He is the rarest among their kind: a human omega.
Treasured? Or cursed?
As Gabriel’s father, the Distinguished Gentleman from Pennsylvania and stalwart of the conservative party, pushes the considerable resources at his disposal to locate his missing son, Gabriel explores who and what he is under his master’s careful protection. Gabriel falls for the shifter who is lover and destroyer, owner and…friend?
Publisher’s Note: This book contains explicit sexual content, graphic language, and situations that some readers may find objectionable: BDSM theme and elements, and dubious consent.
Hot, right? Go buy it! Go on, I'll wait :-) And then come back and leave a comment for Kari, because she'll be sending one lucky commenter an I Omega notebook, note pad, and magnet, plus a little box of Godiva chocolate. I can't decide which is more drool-worthy--the chocolate, or a spiral notebook with that hot hot cover on it?
And now here's Kari, beneath the jump.
People often ask me how I plan and write a book. This is how it usually looks:
Ze Creative Process of Much Nuckin Futs:
1. Hm. This might be cool.
2. Hey! This is really cool!
3. OCD, fanatic obsession
4. ...oooh! shiny! (works on another book)
(2-4 repeat in a cycle, alternating with two other manuscripts with three weeks of maniacal focus per WIP until...)
5. I need to FINISH SOMETHING ALREADY and this one looks only marginally heinous...
6. Wow! I can get this one done in no time at all! Pitch book idea to somebody(s)
7. work, plod, work
8. damn it
9. wish I could work on <insert ANY other wip here>
10. bitch/whine to any friend who'll listen
11. yes, Ms Editor, this book will be done on time!
12. oh fuck, Kari, are you insane? WORK, PLOD, WORK
13. this book sucks donkey balls & will cost me my career
14. I HATE THIS EFFING THING
15. attack dh after filling in MIA sex scene/s (dh decides my crazy is entertaining again)
16. write ending to give me something to throw darts at
17. This book is killing meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
18. The End...thank you, Jesus
19. Revise, polish, scrub...holy shit, I are brilliant [/deluded]
20. Send to editor 2 nanoseconds before deadline
6. Wow! I can get this one done in no time at all! Pitch book idea to somebody(s)
7. work, plod, work
8. damn it
9. wish I could work on <insert ANY other wip here>
10. bitch/whine to any friend who'll listen
11. yes, Ms Editor, this book will be done on time!
12. oh fuck, Kari, are you insane? WORK, PLOD, WORK
13. this book sucks donkey balls & will cost me my career
14. I HATE THIS EFFING THING
15. attack dh after filling in MIA sex scene/s (dh decides my crazy is entertaining again)
16. write ending to give me something to throw darts at
17. This book is killing meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
18. The End...thank you, Jesus
19. Revise, polish, scrub...holy shit, I are brilliant [/deluded]
20. Send to editor 2 nanoseconds before deadline
* * * * *
Kari Gregg lives in the mountains of Wild and Wonderful West Virginia with her Wonderful husband and three very Wild children. Once Kari discovered the fabulous play land of erotic romances at RWA’s National Conference in 2009, the die was cast. Finally! A market for the smoking hot stories she loves!
When Kari’s not writing, she enjoys reading, coffee, zombie flicks, coffee, naked mud-wrestling (not really), and . . . coffee!
If you would like to catch up with Kari, caffeinate yourself and head on over to http://www.KariGregg.com.
When Kari’s not writing, she enjoys reading, coffee, zombie flicks, coffee, naked mud-wrestling (not really), and . . . coffee!
If you would like to catch up with Kari, caffeinate yourself and head on over to http://www.KariGregg.com.
Friend Kari on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/Kari.M.Gregg
Follow Kari on Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/karigregg
Find Kari at Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4366316.Kari_Gregg
Look for Kari's next release, Collared, on November 28th at Riptide Publishing. Ride the Wave!
Follow Kari on Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/karigregg
Find Kari at Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4366316.Kari_Gregg
Look for Kari's next release, Collared, on November 28th at Riptide Publishing. Ride the Wave!
Thanks for sharing your top-secret writing process. I'm kind of amazed most writers get past the "ooh, shiny!" stage.
ReplyDeleteAnd that is a delicious cover. I want him for dinner. And breakfast. /perv
I definitely think the cover is more drool-worthy than the chocolate (and I love chocolate)! It amazes me that authors can create such great stories and often keep track of several WIP at one time. I could not do it. Thank you so much for getting past the Ooh, shiny stage! LOL.
ReplyDeleteJune M.
manning_j2004 at yahoo dot com
Oh, man im so glad we dont have to pick between chocolate and that bookcover. I've seen i, omega floating around in different venues, its already on my tbr list. Congrats on publication!
ReplyDeleteSWAG! I love SWAG! Um, another notebook, please? ^_^ I have I,Omega. Loving it so far. The BDSM is a bit off for me, but I still am enjoying it.
ReplyDeleteI like your creative process. Pretty darn funny.
I think the thing with I/O is that it's not really BDSM in any traditional sort of sense, you know? There's all kinds of pheromones and biology at work there, and it puts both guys in a position that maybe they're not entirely comfortable with. So you're left with this sort of very loving dubcon situation (odd, yeah?), rather than the more common willing-and-eager sort of relationship you'd see in a traditional human Master/slave setup.
ReplyDeletehaha that sounds about right for anything involving deadlines ^^ esp. like the "i are brilliant"
ReplyDeleteLOL! Just how I imagined an author's writing process works ;-) Thanks for the funny post!
ReplyDeletesmaccall AT comcast.net
Heh, my process is pretty much the same, with the sad sad absence of #15.
ReplyDeleteMmm I really enjoyed I, Omega, and it was an interesting take on the creative process. Looking forward to Collared, loved the blurb for that one!
ReplyDeleteHi, everybody and thanks for commenting! Yes, my creative process is pretty much *always* like that. LOL
ReplyDeletere IO's BDSM...Beware of the subtext. There's a lot going on inside that book that isn't immediately discernible because I focused on showing everything through Gabriel's skewed perspective as unreliable narrator. I didn't tell you what was going on -- so you could identify with Gabriel's confusion. I don't spoon feed it to you. Yes, it's a pervy bitch slap of a book, LOL, but I didn't want to be shallow about it. I wanted to make you think. So I left cues, odd little bits that seem...off. Weird. Contradictory. If you come across one of these odd little bits? That's me yelling at the reader to think about what's really going on there because what Gabriel is seeing, feeling and experiencing? Ain't it.
The punishment scene is a prime example. You're right. 10 swats? Is nothing. Granted, Cal's stronger than a human, but regardless. Cal later tells Gabriel that he didn't punish Gabriel because he especially deserved it, but that he did it because Gabriel needed it. *Gabriel* -- not Cal -- needed to feel like Gabriel had to earn Cal's forgiveness when there was really nothing to forgive. Later still, when Gabriel is talking to Jake, even Gabriel says that he isn't sure anymore that was even a punishment. It wasn't. Gabriel suffered during that scene, oh my yes. But what tormented him wasn't the swats Cal gave him. He focused on the pain of those swats because he simply couldn't bear considering what genuinely made him suffer, but what tormented him was his disconnect with Cal. Once he renewed that connection again? Gabriel was free -- BEFORE the spanking had ended.
Basically, any time you see a point in that book that doesn't appear to make sense at first blush...look again. Think. Other examples of slaying with subtext...If Cal can read Gabriel's mind, why does he quiz him on his hard and soft limits? Why does he give Gabriel a safe word? I mean, seriously, if Cal is inside Gabriel's head 24/7, he'd *KNOW* when Gabriel had been pushed too far. Therefore, Gabriel doesn't genuinely need that safe word, right? Or...does he? Maybe Gabriel needs that safe word for *another* reason.
Shit. Sorry for rambling. First cup of coffee, I'm not awake, LOL. Does make me think that maybe I should do a blog post about the Easter eggs I buried in IO, though. Hm.
Random.org says the winner is Tami Veldura. Congrats, Tami! I've sent your email to Kari, and she'll get in touch with you.
ReplyDelete