Category Archives: About my Romance Books

Winter’s Kiss & Heart of Winter – Vampire Romance Novels

Posted on 28th March 2009 by Felicity Heaton

Last week, I finally finally finished the second draft of Winter’s Kiss, the next Vampires Realm series novel. It’s a paranormal romance novel about a vampire of the Validus bloodline and a young newly turned female werewolf, who happens to be a girl he wanted for himself. I had a bit of trouble with the hero and his jumbled motivations, but I think we’re seeing things eye to eye now.

Winter, the hero, has his head on straight at last and it’s all stations go. It wasn’t as difficult as I thought it was going to be and I didn’t actually have to change too much to get the story working how I wanted it. I had put off going through it for a few months because I thought it was going to be really difficult and painstaking, but in the end it was pretty painless!

Of course, it will need a good polish before it’s ready for releasing into the wild. I’m planning on releasing it this autumn along with another novel of mine that has been sitting around waiting for my attention to finally fall on it.

Heart of Winter, which was originally a free serial by the name of Of Blood & Snow, has gone through a second draft as well as the name change. I’m quite pleased with it and nothing substantial needs to change. This is probably because it was edited on the go while I was posting a chapter a week. I’m planning on releasing this one around the same time as Winter’s Kiss.

All this editing and writing Daughters of Lyra 5 has given me a good gap between finishing my first draft of Arcadian and starting the second draft. I’m printing it out right now and I’m finding it almost impossible to resist taking a peek at the odd chapter as I put more paper in or collect the sheets. I only have a little printer, so it only manages to print around 40 pages before I have to get under the desk and give it some more paper, as well as taking away the printed sheets. Poor printer. I hope it doesn’t run out of ink before it’s worked its way through the 350 a4 pages of Arcadian!

Oops… out of paper.

All fixed. Read another little bit. Terrible of me because I’ll spoil the effect of reading it through for the first time since writing it, but relieving too as the parts I have read are better than I had thought they would be.

I’ve spent the past few days preparing myself for this second draft – going through my books on editing, revision, etc, and even reading a new one called “How Not To Write a Novel” which was hilarious and I thank the gods that I haven’t made any of the mistakes in it. At least, I don’t think I have. I think I’m definitely guilty of some of them in my past stories though. Writing is a constant learning process but one that I’m happy to go through.

back to work for me. It’s never ending!

Posted in daughters of lyra, Of Blood and Snow, paranormal romance, science fiction romance, urban fantasy, vampire romance, vampires, Vampires Realm, werewolf romance | Comments Off

update on my latest romance novel

Posted on 10th February 2009 by Felicity Heaton

Arcadian is well under way now and while I had found my flow last week, reaching the 60,000 word mark, I am now in that dreaded middle section and things are going slower. I don’t mind though as I’ve written so many stories now that I’m quite accustomed to this point in writing the story and always continue to push on, regardless of how tempting it is to take a break when it seems like a struggle to write.

A few kind readers have asked what the story is about this time. I’m going to write about that in my next post as I don’t have enough time right now. Rest assured that it’s my usual complex romance with a twisting plot and plenty of paranormal action. Think Prophecy Trilogy or Seventh Circle and you’ll be in the right ballpark for the type of story that I’m writing with Arcadian.

Thankfully, the story is now feeling more like a 120,000 to 140,000 word romance novel that I could trim down and tighten to bring nearer to the 100,000 word mark. A few of the scenes that I had plotted out were shorter than expected. Also, because I only have scenes scribbled down for the first half of the story, I have a lot of plot outline for the later chapters, so I’ll probably find a lot of them aren’t as long as I am imagining.

At least I hope that will be the case.

I’ve already figured out parts in the first few chapters that need changing or tightening, so I’ll probably cut at least 2000 from there.

Of course, I’ll probably add that back in elsewhere!

I’m not used to writing to a limit, especially with a romance novel this in depth and complicated. I don’t want to skimp on things as that will only take away from the readers experience of the story. I would rather it be too long and get rejected by some publishing houses and agents than have readers dissatisfied with it.

I don’t have my little tally thing today, but I’ll update you all again this weekend and include it then. For now, it’s roughly 60,000 words long and still going. We’re roughly at the halfway mark. The heroine and hero are working things out and taking steps towards each other now. We’re heading for a big upheaval.

Can’t wait to write that bit!

For now, I have to settle with some neck biting action!!

Posted in paranormal romance, Prophecy Trilogy, urban fantasy, vampire romance, vampires, Vampires Realm | Comments Off

Ascension and Arcadian

Posted on 31st October 2008 by Felicity Heaton

Many thanks to everyone who kindly read my story codenamed Ascension and gave me feedback on it. Most of you seemed to feel the same about the story as I did – there’s more to it and it deserves to be a novel. Well, because of this feedback, I have decided to turn the short story into a full novel and I’ll be working on writing that next year, along with another story.

The other story is currently codenamed Arcadian. This will be a long paranormal romance that in my mind will be pushing the 100k words mark. Normally my built in length predictor is pretty on the nose. There’s a lot of story in this one, so it may even go over, but it will end up being edited down to 100k if that is the case.

I don’t really want to say much about either story at this point, only that I’ll be working on them in 2009, and that they’re both paranormal romances with a lot of plot. I’ll be writing Arcadian first, and then following that up with Ascension. I have another story or two that I’ll consider writing at the same time as these, but my focus will be on them first and foremost.

As for the future of both these stories, if they turn out as planned then I will submit them to agents and publishers.

Back to work for me. Seventh Circle, the next Vampires Realm novel, is out on November 16th, and I still have a lot of promotion work and stuff to get ready for it.

Happy Halloween everyone!

Posted in Ascension, paranormal romance, vampire romance, vampires, Vampires Realm | Comments Off

sick and busy

Posted on 3rd August 2008 by Felicity Heaton

Well it’s one illness on top of another right now but I’m not going to let it slow me down! I currently have an ear infection (for two weeks now I’ve been practically deaf in one ear. very annoying) and now I have a cold too, which is make me doubly grouchy!

It didn’t stop me from writing last week though. I finally found my flow with Winter’s Kiss, the next Vampires Realm novel after Seventh Circle, and was writing at every available opportunity last week. Those opportunities included grabbing 30 minutes in starbucks each morning before work and snagging the odd 40 minutes after work in starbucks too. It’s costing me a lot in starbucks right now! The up side to this was that I wrote over 31000 words this week, which makes me smile, and means that I now have around 20000 words to write before this story is finished.

Once I’ve finished writing the first draft of Winter’s Kiss, I’ll move on to writing Arcadian, which is my next free serial and needs a proper title.

I’ve recently finished writing a third attempt at a Nocturne Bite. I’m much happier with this one, but I’m still not holding my breath since I don’t think I write the Harlequin style. I also have my second attempt to send off to them but just haven’t had the time to finish writing up my submission and preparing the manuscript to send over to them. I’ll hopefully manage to do that next weekend and send it off. By the time I hear back, I’ll have the third one ready to send in. I think I’m done after that as I just don’t have time to write anymore. I need to focus on the stories I’ll be releasing next year, which will provide me cover while I write my new series.

I have a few stories to write for next year. Winter’s Kiss will be an early 2009 release. I have another mini-series of short stories to write too and potentially another Vampires Realm novel. Of Blood & Snow will be edited and released in 2009.

That’s me for now…

Posted in Of Blood and Snow, vampire romance, vampires, Vampires Realm, werewolf romance | Comments Off

Two new book covers and a writing update…

Posted on 6th July 2008 by Felicity Heaton

I have two new covers to show everyone. One is for the next Vampires Realm novel, Seventh Circle, and the other is for a short vampire romance story, A Promise of Passion, which I wrote for the new Nocturne Bites ebook line from Harlequin. They rejected it but that’s not surprising considering that I don’t really write Harly style. Lots of lovely readers have assured me that the story will be kick ass and it’ll hit number 1 at Fictionwise regardless of what Harly thought of it. I love my readers. You guys rock!

New covers…

It’s always exciting to have new artwork to show off and I love making covers for my stories.

I’ve been really busy recently with writing. I have a new series that I’m currently planning and that’s taking up a lot of time. I’m also editing a number of short stories, but thankfully I’ve made good progress there and I’m almost done with them. I have started a new story, actually two new stories, one of which is definitely being written as it’s the next Vampires Realm story after Seventh Circle. The other story is one which I’m toying with for a free serial read for you guys once Of Blood and Snow is complete. It’s another demon/paranormal/vampire romance as epic as my current free serial.

Here’s some tallys…

Winter’s Kiss
8,962 / 60,000
[14.9%]

Embracing The Wolf
13,599 / 13,599
[100%]

Posted in free stories, Of Blood and Snow, vampire romance, vampires, Vampires Realm, werewolf romance | Comments Off

Of Blood and Snow – vampire romance story

Posted on 17th May 2008 by Felicity Heaton

This week, I finished writing Of Blood and Snow which is currently being posted as a free serial on one of my websites. It was 31 chapters in the end and 98000 words. I’ve only reached chapter 22 in my posting of this story. It’s great to have it finished. I need to edit these final chapters now to get them ready for posting and then I need to decide what to do with the story. I’ve never promised that it would always remain a free story, and I think it’s a story that is very sellable and people would buy it. It’s always a tough decision to make, especially because I’ve enjoyed posting it and getting feedback from readers about it.

This week, I also finished editing the second story in my Sons of Lyra mini-series. Oddly, it ended up being precisely the same length as the first story, Sons of Lyra: Slave Princess, which is available from Fictionwise at a discount of 15% right now – http://www.fictionwise.com/eBooks/eBook67530.htm

I still need to finish writing the 3rd and 4th stories in the series. I’m also toying with writing a Daughters of Lyra series for this generation of sons children. I’ll see how popular these ones get before I make a decision. It will basically be set 20-25 years on from this series. I’m seriously considering it though.

Off to update my website. I’ve got some programming bits and bobs that I want to do to it… fancy stuff.

Posted in daughters of lyra, free stories, Of Blood and Snow, paranormal romance, science fiction romance, sons of lyra, vampire romance, vampires | Comments Off

In progress (Sci-Fi Romance Series, Vampire Romance free read)

Posted on 19th April 2008 by Felicity Heaton

Well, I’ve returned from my birthday trip to Tokyo and it’s about time I updated my blog again. I get so behind with everything these days. It all seems to take longer than you expect!

You may remember from my last post that I was writing a Sci-Fi romance, my first foray into this new territory. It was only supposed to be a short story, and it has remained as one, but it did manage to give birth to/spawn a series. You see, the hero in the story is a Son of Lyra, the royal bloodline that rules the Lyra system and a good quantity of the universe. Well, when I mentioned in the story that Captain Lyra III is the last of the four infamously handsome Sons of Lyra to get married, my muse perked up. He now wants me to write the stories of how the other three stunning and perfect examples of male beauty and strength were caught by their respective wives.

Since I started work again on Tuesday of this week, I’ve finished the first story (Captain Lyra III’s, although I’ve since decided to add more to it), and I’ve started and finished the second story (Captain Lyra II’s) and have began writing the third story (Captain Lyra I). The order in which they would be released isn’t dictated by my writing order of their position within the family heirarchy of brothers. It’s, of course, dictated by their order of marriage. Yes, this means that the first story I wrote will be the last to be released. Typical of me to write backwards!

So, what can you look forward to in the Sons of Lyra series?

First up will by Captain Lyra II’s story, since he started the whole sordid marriage affair! The second will be Heir Prince Lyra I’s story, since I think the poor guy needs to get off-planet, escape the clutches of his demanding parents, and find himself a woman to love rather than be lumbered with an arrange marriage. The third story belongs to the youngest of the brothers, Lyra IV, who is in training to become a captain like his next two eldest brothers. The fourth belongs to the darling and dashing Captain Lyra III… who is suffering a similar fate to his eldest brother as his parents have arranged a marriage for him, even though he’s in love with someone else… it’s his own fault for being too damn chicken to act on his feelings.

All have risque moments and all have that glorious HEA. I’m really enjoying writing these, though it means finishing Of Blood & Snow has been put on the backburner a touch. For those fans of Of Blood & Snow that are reading this–don’t fear! I have a few chapters in my store that I can post before I run out and have to write damn fast to satisfy your voracious hunger for the story!!

I’m really hoping that any readers I have will enjoy these little sci-fi romance snaps. They’re all going to be short, under 15000 mostly, but they’ll make good reads, honest 🙂

Now I have another million things to update so best get on with it!

F x

Posted in free stories, Of Blood and Snow, paranormal romance, science fiction romance, vampire romance, vampires | Comments Off

Sci-Fi Romance Story

Posted on 2nd April 2008 by Felicity Heaton

It’s been a while since I posted, and since I’m going away on holiday shortly, I thought it would be a good time to write about what I’ve been doing. Unfortunately I’ve been so busy with work that I haven’t had much time for writing my romance ebooks, but I’m hoping to work out a schedule that allows me to do all the things that I want to do.

Right now, I’m writing my first Sci-Fi Romance ebook. It’s only a short story, but I think it will be a good one and it might possibly lead to me writing more Science Fiction romance. I’ve always loved sci-fi stories and movies, and it has always been one of the genres I most wanted to explore, so I’m really excited about writing this story. It’s only going to be around ten thousand words and I haven’t decided what to do with it yet. Either it will be a part of an upcoming anthology at Alinar Publishing, or will be a short story for sale on Fictionwise and Alinar.

I’m also editing my mysterious VR Novel, the next Vampires Realm story. I still haven’t decided what to do with it, but I’d like to try submitting it to agents or publishers. I doubt they’d have me, but I want to give it a shot just to test the waters. You never know, I might find a publisher who is looking for a dark vampire romance / paranormal romance / urban fantasy novel and likes my voice and style. I do want to write more of my Vampires Realm series stories but I don’t have the time right now. I might write the next Eternity story soon, which will be a free ebook like the first one.

As well as editing and writing a new story, I’m also working on my free vampire romance serial story, Of Blood and Snow. It’s going down really well and we’re up to chapter 18 on my free stories site – Romance After Dark.

That’s all for now!

Posted in free stories, Of Blood and Snow, paranormal romance, science fiction romance, vampire romance, vampires, Vampires Realm | Comments Off

Why I write… free ebooks versus paid for…

Posted on 8th February 2008 by Felicity Heaton

I’ve just been talking to a fellow author and the lovely lady I run Alinar Publishing with. We were discussing editing etc and then I was talking about my plans for the year in terms of stories. We always have this debate about ebooks and giving them away free versus selling them. I’m at a crossroads at the moment. I love writing stories but don’t feel compelled to sell them. I’m trying to decide what to do with the stories I’m writing now and in the future.

I woke up this morning and stared at the ceiling, and in the quiet of my mind, I realised that I could write a story and never show it to anyone, and I’d be just as happy. Of course, I’m unlikely to do that, but it helped put some things into perspective for me, as did a chat with my husband the other night.

I like writing. No, I love writing. Writing for me is like breathing. It’s a necessity, a thing that keeps me alive and going.

I don’t do it for the money. I know that. I never have done. When your background is in fanfiction, you quickly realise that you write because you need to, you’re compelled to. You don’t do it for the cash, because that’s not what it’s about. It’s about the story and the readers, and that’s all. I write stories that I love and that aren’t shaped to meet certain criteria of the market. I just write what comes to me with no thought to that genres specifics or peoples views on how a story in that genre should work, or even what’s popular.

The trouble is the money can blind you… but it’s not just that. It’s that if you’re selling it and it’s got an ISBN slapped on it and it’s available at Fictionwise then it must mean it’s something of value… because hey, someone has to buy it to read it. It’s psychological. Review sites only want books with an ISBN, readers think ebooks should be free, it all conspires to drive you mad. But honestly, a price tag doesn’t really alter the value of the book. It’s time people realised that.

A story that is worth something is one that touches the reader, that gives them an escape from this world into another, a place where they can be a part of a great battle, or fall in love, or cry for a lost hero. The value of a story isn’t determined by whether its free or not, and if it is free, that doesn’t undermine the value of it. If an author can make a connection with a reader through their words, if they can touch them and bring them happiness for just a few fleeting moments, that’s priceless. It transcends money. When people of old told stories around a fire, they didn’t ask for money at the start. They did it for the connection, the exchange. That’s why I write.

A free story isn’t necessarily bad because the author isn’t charging for it. I write stories that I give away for free out of the kindness of my heart. It isn’t because I hate them and think they’re trash. I love all my stories. I write all of them to the best of my ability. Readers do have a tendency to start to expect free stories, which is bad. Just because it’s online, doesn’t mean it should be free. If something is free, it’s free because of human kindness and a desire to share an experience with someone else. It’s not done because they HAD to do it. It’s not done because the story is worthless.

Everyone knows that I’m posting Of Blood & Snow as a free serial right now. A chapter a week goes up. This is a story that I love and whenever I read it back to write a little more, I get lost in the world and the characters. It’s one of my best stories in my eyes. I value it. I post a chapter for the connection with the reader through reviews and to see that others get something from it too, they feel the love.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that the value of a story can’t be determined by a price. There are many terrible ebooks out there that will cost you $5.99 for the pleasure of reading them and wondering where the editor was, or why the author is writing at all. There are many free stories out there that will provoke the same reaction, but they were free. There are many great ebooks out there that will cost you money, and many great stories you can read for free. Free or for a price. It doesn’t matter in the end. The value of a good story is determined by one thing–it connected with you.

That connection was formed by the characters, the plot, the author, and the writing. It was created by the story. It wasn’t any different because you paid for it, and it shouldn’t be any less valued because you got it for free.

I write to form that connection with my story. I form it and I write the story. I breathe life into the characters. I share their pain, their weakness, their moments of sheer joy, their love. I feel everything they feel. I take part in that journey.

I do this all because I love to, and I share stories with readers so they can feel what I have and know it too.

I’d get more happiness from 1000 people commenting on my story after reading it for free as I would had 1000 people paid for it, because those people are unlikely to ever contact me, and the human connection is why I send these stories out into the world.

If a story is free and you enjoyed it, then value it and what that author has given to you out of the kindness of their heart.

This post wasn’t meant to turn into a “respect freely given stories” speech… but to be a reflection of the feelings behind what compels me to write and share stories with others. If everyone who reads this can understand the sentiment behind it, and what makes me tick, that I’ve achieved what I set out to. If they realise that free stories deserve the same respect, if not more, than paid for stories, then that’s just a bonus.

🙂

Posted in free stories, Of Blood and Snow | Comments Off

forthcoming stories, current postings and plans for the future

Posted on 24th December 2007 by Felicity Heaton

It’s been so long since I’ve properly updated this blog. I’m talking a normal post like this one, not a promo. The reason is that I’ve been quite busy with website stuff, work and things at home. I have a few minutes now and I fully intend to be more chatty on my blogs over the coming year!

I can’t believe that a year has passed already. It’s gone by so quickly, the blink of an eye, and I’ve not done half the stuff I intended to do, but I did get a lot done.

This year has been wonderful for me since it’s given me so much to sing about. I’ve had two number 1 bestsellers, have been high up the bestselling authors list on fictionwise and have had numberous top 10s. It’s been more than I could’ve asked for and it’s really made me see what a supportive readership I have. I really hope that this support reflects your enjoyment of my writing and that you do love my stories as much as I love them myself.

What have I been up to recently? Well, I’ve got a new story out in January. It’s a free novella in my Vampires Realm series and it’s called Reunion. I’ve also been working on writing a story called Of Blood and Snow, another vampire romance but not set in the VR world. It’s available free on my website ( http://www.felicityheaton.com ) and is posted serially. I’m still writing it and it’s surpassing my guestimate of 60’000 words tops as it’s now 73’000 words and still going. I think it will be 100’000 by the time I’m done with it. I’ll have to begin posting double chapters each week!

My plans for the future aren’t private. It’s my hope next year to try and get trade published by one of the big houses or get myself an agent. My first target is to get published by one of the many houses that accepts manuscripts from authors without agents. I’m writing a Vampires Realm novel in an attempt to do this and I’ve been collating notes for it. I’m very excited about this novel and I know that readers will love it whether it comes out with one of the big boys, or with someone else. I think it’s the ideal candidate for attempting to break into publishing with or getting myself an agent.

I’m also going to try to re-edit Prophecy and get that published, but it’s more difficult as it’s a trilogy and it’s harder to get publishers to take a punt on unknown authors if the books follow on from one another.

I have more Vampires Realm novels to write next year too, and would like to find time to write some non-VR stories also.

All in all, it’s going to be a busy year for me, but it’s going to be a fun one too… and also one full of fear, hopes, dreams and hard work. I hope you’ll all stick with me!

F x