Why fantasy? I get asked that question quite often (and always from people that don’t read that genre). For me, fantasy has always been my escape from reality. As a young child, the local librarian knew me by name and could not believe how many books I would go through within a week. It’s a cheap vacation, and you never know what to expect. Unlike mystery or other genres that don’t have fantasy or paranormal elements to them, there are no rules, which means you never know what to expect.

When I pick out a new book to read (or movie to watch), I’m excited to travel to a magical world, meet new creatures, and experience new things. I get to dive into the imagination of the writer, and I love the creativity and imagery of new places and creatures.

The same goes for writing fantasy. I LOVE creating new creatures and lands. Although I don’t exactly enjoy descriptive writing, I dive completely into it when I’m introducing new places or creatures to my readers. I want them to be able to visualize the magical (and sometimes horror filled) places.

The act of creating these things is just as much fun as planning out the plot (if not more). I get to use my imagination to the fullest–no limitations and no rules. If I want glowing purple eyes, I can have glowing purple eyes. If I want my mermaids to send chills of fear down the readers’ body, then I get to use my imagination to create some freaky mermaids.

Fantasy writers not only have to come up with a logical and deep plot, but they have to be creative enough to give their readers a magical experience. Although I have read some fantasy novels that are filled with action and don’t have much imagery in them, I don’t get as much out of them as a reader. If you write fantasy, make it magical. Don’t skip the descriptions. Take your readers on a magical adventure, and don’t just throw them into a deep plot.

At this time, I’m finishing up the first draft of Unexpected Peril, the third book in the Alissia Roswell Series, and I have had a lot of fun writing this one. I tapped into my dark side and created some horrifying creatures, and I can’t believe how exciting it was to write about them. (Apparently, I have a dark side dying to get out.)

Hope this answers the one question I get asked often. As my older sister read Nancy Drew throughout her childhood, I could never get past the fact that there were no elves or dragons in them. The endings were always too logical, and I could only imagine how great they would be if Nancy Drew were a vampire, fairy, or elf. Now that would make a GREAT series!

                               

Want to give an original and unique gift for Christmas this year? Are you shopping for someone that loves to read? If so, I have the perfect solution. The first two books in the Alissia Roswell Series both have beautiful covers, and the interior was professionally designed to be just as beautiful as the covers. This series is getting rave reviews on Amazon, and it’s a great read.

Since I promise to keep my writing free of sex scenes and cursing, many parents are buying the series for their teens. Men, women, and teenagers are all enjoying Alissia’s adventure, and their beautiful covers and interiors enhance the excitement even more with this series.

This Christmas give the gift of a passionate, fantasy romance without the guilt, and make it personal by having a personalized message added to it. The third book in the series is due for release in early spring of 2015, so it’s the perfect time to start the series.

Autographed paperbacks can be purchased through the publishing company via Paypal for $14.00 each or $26.00 for two. That includes U.S. shipping and sales tax. Please be sure to list the name and address you would like to have them mailed to. Also, be sure to write whose name goes inside the book and any special message if you have a preference for what is to be written.

Welcome to the

Cowboys & Christmas

Blog Tour!

A kickoff of two new holiday romances by Shanna Hatfield

and a fundraiser for the Justin Cowboy Crisis Fund

The Season of Giving

It’s a pleasure to be here today sharing a little about my holiday romance The Christmas Cowboy, the first book in the new Rodeo Romance series.

Tate Morgan is a good-looking, dimple-cheeked saddle bronc rider chasing his dream of earning a World Champion title.

Frequenting the small airport near his ranch in southeast Washington on his way to rodeos, he keeps seeing the same beautiful brunette. He finally works up the courage to sit down next to her one morning and strikes up a conversation as they wait for a flight to Denver.

Kenzie Beckett is a trainer for a direct sales company, traveling coast-to-coast as she works with consultants and the corporate team. Gone more than she’s home, she doesn’t have time to invest in relationships, particularly with a cowboy. Burned twice by sweet-talking men wearing Wranglers and boots, the last thing Kenzie plans to do is give a third one the chance to break her heart.

As the name of the book implies, Tate is The Christmas Cowboy. He loves everything about the holiday season from sweet treats to decking the halls. His enthusiasm for the holidays made it so much fun for me to incorporate several holiday tidbits into the story.

In The Christmas Cowboy, Tate is injured at a rodeo. While I was writing that particular scene, I wanted to make sure I had my facts straight so I reached out to the Justin Sportsmedicine Team ™. They have mobile medical centers they take to more than 125 PRCA rodeos annually. When they responded to my many questions, I was so impressed with them I wanted to do something nice in return.

That’s when I got the idea of donating part of my book sale proceeds to the Justin Cowboy Crisis Fund. The non-profit organization assists professional rodeo athletes who have sustained serious injurious and could be out of work for an extended period. I think it’s a very worthwhile cause and giving back to them is just my way of saying thanks for their help in answering my questions.

All my books are included in the promotion although the idea for the donation generated with The Christmas Cowboy.

Here’s an excerpt from the book. In this scene, Tate arrives unexpectedly at Kenzie’s apartment:

“What are you hiding?” she asked, her eyes warm and inviting when he stepped inside and nudged the door shut behind him with his boot.

“I couldn’t help but notice you’re missing a very important component of proper Christmas décor,” Tate said, sounding all knowing and official.

“What could I possibly be missing?” Kenzie asked, looking behind her and sweeping her arm toward the living room that did look particularly festive, thanks in part to Tate. “I’ve got a poinsettia, a beautiful Christmas tree, garlands, pine boughs, sugary treats, and a blazing fire. Did you bring me some chestnuts to roast? If you did, I’ve got no clue what to do with them, so you’re out of luck.”

Laughing, Tate raised his arm and held a bunch of mistletoe over their heads. “It seems to me this is the most important decoration of all.”

“Possibly,” Kenzie said, reaching out and looping her arms around Tate’s neck, pulling his head down to hers. Teasing and gentle at first, their kiss soon gained momentum until he dropped the mistletoe on the table near the door and she pressed as close against him as his thick coat would allow.

***

Where to Find The Books

Start the Rodeo Romance Series with The Christmas Cowboy.

Kindle | Paperback | Barnes & Noble | Smashwords | Apple | Audible

Justin Cowboy Crisis Fund®

Now through Dec. 24, I’ll donate 10 percent of the net proceeds from all my book sales to the Justin Cowboy Crisis Fund. The JCCF is a non-profit organization that assists rodeo athletes who’ve sustained catastrophic injuries and are unable to work for an extended period.

You’re Invited to PARTY!

You’re invited to join in the online Cowboys & Christmas Facebook Party Thursday, Nov. 13 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. (PST). Drop in anytime during those four hours to enter to win great prizes, chat with guest authors, and more! Here’s the link to the party: http://tinyurl.com/cowboychristmasparty

The third book in the Hardman Holidays sweet Victorian romance series releases that day! The Christmas Calamity takes readers back to Hardman just in time for the holiday season. Preorders are available now for just $1.99 on Kindle. You can reserve your copy here: http://amzn.com/B00OGOO994

In addition, the first book in the Hardman Holidays series, The Christmas Bargain, will be available free that day, as well!

Enter to Win Prizes!

To enter the drawing for an Amazon gift card, autographed books, chocolates, original western artwork, and more fun goodies, fill out this form.

http://tinyurl.com/cowboychristmasprizes

About Shanna Hatfield

A hopeless romantic with a bit of sarcasm thrown in for good measure, Shanna Hatfield is a bestselling author of sweet romantic fiction written with a healthy dose of humor. In addition to blogging and eating too much chocolate, she is completely smitten with her husband, lovingly known as Captain Cavedweller.

Shanna creates character-driven romances with realistic heroes and heroines. Her historical westerns have been described as “reminiscent of the era captured by Bonanza and The Virginian” while her contemporary works have been called “laugh-out-loud funny, and a little heart-pumping sexy without being explicit in any way.”

She is a member of Western Writers of America, Women Writing the West, and Romance Writers of America.

Find Shanna’s books at:

Amazon | Amazon UK | Barnes & Noble | Smashwords | Apple

Shanna loves to hear from readers! Follow her online:

ShannaHatfield | Facebook | Pinterest | Goodreads | You Tube | Twitter

Today’s book review is for Azuri Fae by India Drummond, and it’s the second book in the Caledonia Fae Series. If you are interested, you can read my review of Blood Faerie, the first book in the series.

Although both of these books follow the adventures of a female fae and a human druid, they are both stand alone stories and don’t end on a cliffhanger. If you read them, you are not committing to the entire series, which consists of six novels.

I’ll start with the pros: It’s a solid story, kept me interested, and I like how it does not force me to have to read all six books. This novel continues to establish the relationship between the fae and human. However, it’s a completely different adventure than the last novel, and it ended solidly. I also love the covers in the series.

Now for the cons: We get to see a glimpse of the magical fea realm, but there is not much imagery in the writing. I didn’t really get to picture a beautiful and magical place, as the author left a lot of that out of the story. This is a personal opinion, but I also don’t like how sex is a big thing for the plot–and not for romance or building a relationship. The plot is more focused on the action, and the romance is more of a background thing and is very weak. As with a lot of books when it comes to fae, they are not monogamous beings, and they don’t really do romance. However, sex is important to the plot of this story. Although I’m thankful the author did not describe any of the scenes and give me major visuals, I still did not enjoy reading about the strong sexual situations involving a crowd. I’ll just say that I can’t relate, it’s not what I’m into, and not what I want to read about. I want a magical realm I can deeply visualize, and I want the main characters to be deeper.

I give this novel three stars. I enjoyed the story and think the author does a great job when it comes to writing action and adventure, but I won’t be continuing the series.

Here’s the eReader review I mentioned in my recent post titled Why Kindle Paperwhites are the Perfect Gifts for Children–Better than iPads. Hope you enjoy.

Today’s review is for Blood Faerie, written by India Drummond. It’s the first book in the Caledonia Fae Series, which consists of six novels. Each book in the series is a story within itself, so if you read this one, you are not committing to the entire series.

The main characters in this series are a female fae exiled from her homeland and a human police detective. The setting of the story is Perth, Scotland, where a series of grizzly murders take place, and the two of them search for the killer.

I give this read four stars. It is well written, and it kept me turning the pages on my Kindle. In fact, I liked it enough to buy and read the second one in the series. I enjoyed the characters, and the plot was solid. This one is not really a romance, as its main focus is to stop the killings and the mystery surrounding them.

We don’t get to see much of the magical realm. However, the author did a great job in letting us glimpse the magic within the fae themselves, and it’s very much a part of the story.

As for a clean rating, I can’t give it one, and it won’t be added to my list of clean reads–especially after reading the second one. I can say that this novel does not contain any sex scenes. However, it does have a scene where the female fae completely strips down, and the man lusts after her. There’s also some explicit cursing.

Although I’m a panster writer and the thought of an outline scares me, I do believe in planning out my alternate realities before I start on a new fantasy series. I learned from my first novel not to be lazy about it, as I finished my first draft without planning out all the details. Then my beta reader told me it was more romance than fantasy. Of course, she was right. It was my first time writing a novel, and although it had a complicated plot, I had not put a lot of thought into how the world/magic worked.

I grumbled about her complaint, but I sat down with a pen and paper. I then asked myself the following questions: How does the magic work? How does this reality get its power/electricity?

Those two questions led to a massive amount of detail being added into my rough draft, and it was a slow and tedious process going back through and editing my first novel. However, those details are what makes my writing unique and enjoyable. The one thing I keep hearing from my readers when I meet them or read reviews is how they love the world I created. Some have said they wish they could live there.

People continuously ask me how I thought of such a place, and I know my books would be nothing without all those details I added in. People want to get a complete visualization when they read books with alternate realities. They need to be able to put themselves into the new world, and to do that, they need the details.

Now that I’m planning a new series, I again find myself putting a lot of thought into how the magic will work and where the power will come from. I have to completely answer those two questions before I can get an idea of how the world looks, the clothes the people wear–everything.

The great thing about fantasy is that there are no rules. I can make it all up–as long as it flows and doesn’t contradict itself. How do I get ideas? Some ideas just naturally come into my head, but I also look at art on Pinterest. I keep a private board with pictures I find that pull emotions from me, and those emotions can easily be turned into a story.

I have to completely visualize the surroundings, the characters, and their clothing. Even if I don’t plan to describe everything, I still need to have those things clear in my mind when I sit down to write. If it’s vague in my mind, it will be vague in my writing, and I don’t want vague writing. I want to take my readers on a magical adventure. I want them to see what I see and feel what I feel. To do that, I must have it clearly in my head. Writing is so much more than putting the plot out on paper. You have to make your readers fall in love with the characters, and you have to get them to relate to your characters. You need to pull emotions from your readers–take them on a roller coaster ride. To do that, you can’t be lazy. Plan it! Describe it! And that is how you create an alternate reality.