Thursday, August 29, 2013

Guest Post: Diane Leyne

 


I'm originally from a small town in Nova Scotia but grew up in Toronto where I still live. In addition to reading (all types of books) and writing, my loves include photography and travel (over 20 countries and counting). And I'd love to hear from my fans!



Call of the Wolf Series: Claimed by Wolves


Samantha Anderson is carrying out her grandmother's last wish and visiting the Northwest to learn about her family's heritage.

She's surprised by her immediate attraction to the five McAllister brothers: sexy big brother and pack alpha Gabe, hot carpenter twins Bart and Nick, and young and sweet fitness trainer twins Eddie and Andy. She's even more surprised when they all decide to pursue her.

What she doesn't know is that the wolf-dog shape-shifting brothers have recognized her as their mate and are determined win her over so she'll agree to a formal mating ceremony which will tie her to them forever.

The only holdout is Gabe, who worries about mating with a human and wants to learn more about her before revealing their secret. To do this, he decides to spy on her in wolf-dog form. That's when he finds out that Samantha has a secret of her own.


Five Wolves and a Girl

Claimed by Wolves is my very first Paranormal romance and it didn't take me long to figure out why people like to write them because you can create your own world and your own rules.  Life they way you'd like it to be (if only in your dreams). 

I have written a number of erotic romances and I generally write MFM (or MMF) with the occasional MF and MFMM for variety.  Obviously in real life, a couple whether it is MF, MM or FF is the norm.  In erotic romance, a triad is often standard.  It may be rare in real life, but just within the realm of possible.  MFMM and beyond just do not happen to 99.999% of us, and if they did, there would be jealousy and time sharing fights.  And one very tired, albeit hopefully well satisfied, woman!

But in paranormal, you can go to MFMM and beyond and treat the relationships as the norm.  There's no shock or judgement unless I want to have that as a plot point.  I make up the rules, and I get to decide what is normal.  For example, in my fictional town of Harmony, Washington, wolf-dog shape-shifters are not exactly "out" to most of the population.  Instead, they blend in and are just normal productive citizens holding down jobs including political office and owning businesses just as the local gym and custom furniture store.  Their most unusual trait which the other citizens politely ignore:  brothers share a mate.

In Claimed by Wolves, Samantha is desired by not one or even two men, but the five shape-shifting McAllister brothers led by Alpha Gabe who also happens to be the Mayor of Harmony.  And because I make up the rules, I can have all five not only happy to share her but needing to share her.  In my made-up world, shape-shifting wolves mate for life, so not only does the heroine get to be the object of affection of multiple, non-jealous men, but once mated, they will be devoted to her for life with no possibility of their straying.  Ever.  And once mated, she gains the stamina to keep up with them in the bedroom.  Now that's a great fantasy.   

Another challenge to this type of novel, which appeals to me as a writer is the challenge of writing so many main characters.  How do I ensure that all the men have enough non-sexual interactions with the heroine to justify them all falling in love and how creative can I be to make sure they all get enough horizontal time with her as well.  On the plus side, with five men in the mix, there are a lot of possible combinations in the bedroom!

It's also not easy ensuring that the heroes are differentiated.   They are not clones.  They have to be individuals and that can be even harder than the sex scenes.  There's limited conversation during sex, but out of bed... the reader has to fall for the guys and understand why they fell for the heroine.  And because she has to deal with multiple men, the heroine has to be a strong woman.  Which brings me to the subject of humour. 

I've always tried to put a little humour in all my books because I think that humour is an important part of life, and if I'm trying to make a story about shape-shifters and five men and a woman seem normal (and in the town of Harmony it is), then they have to have a sense of humour about the whole thing.

For Claimed by Wolves, I wrote my first extended humorous scene, and it was actually this scene that I envisioned first before I had written a single word and before I had the rest of the plot straight in my head.   I knew I wanted a strong heroine who wouldn't put up with any crap and a bull headed Alpha dog who needed to learn a lesson.  The result:   the scene I like to call: "Gabe goes to the vet". 

Thanks and happy reading.

Diane Leyne




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