The Spell of Summer update at 26,800 words in.

I LOVE this story!!! When I got the idea for The Spell of Summer, I loved it then, but it all seemed to change when I started writing it and the vision altered and it wasn't what I thought it would be. That infuriated me a bit, but in the end I went with it, and I'm now in a place where I'm in love with what's happening. It's soooo very different from writing my paranormal stories and I feel I'm growing as a writer through this, solely because stretching yourself is necessary for learning and growing.

I've mentioned before that it reads a bit like women's fiction - it does, but it also reads a bit like a contemporary romance and it does have a paranormal flair to it, although nowhere near as much as my other books. This story is not only about a woman's journey - it's a journey for all the characters. I tried to keep it just about the hero and heroine - honest I did! I failed. It's just not me. I have to write about all the people - they are all so interesting, they all feed the hero and heroine's stories, and their stories will also unfold over the next few books...

Oooo ... did I just say that? Yes, I did! I envision, currently, four books in the Once Times Thrice series - all of them standalones, but with characters that overlap. And I am so over trying to 'categorise' this book and series now (even though I'll need to when to comes to publishing it) - it just is what it is.

Here is the latest visual teaser, as I am now 33% in - I am one third of the way to completing this book :D

(Click image to enlarge.)

Lastly, if you have not yet read my Witching Pen series, please grab it right now. For the first time ever, the entire series is available in a boxed set for ONLY $0.99 / £0.77 until the 17th February, and this offer is exclusive to Amazon. Here are the links:  AMAZON US   AMAZON UK

Have an awesome Friday and weekend!

Dianna xxx

The progression of The Spell of Summer (10,000 words in).

I'm going to postpone my question from Elizabeth for a week and instead, I'm going to tell you a bit about The Spell of Summer and how it's progressing.

I'm slowly starting to fall in love with Meredith (Merri) and Jamie.

I had quite a strong idea for this book when I started writing it. As is almost always the case, one sentence leads to another and suddenly, things that you didn't quite expect to happen are happening (namely, the characters rebel and want to do things their own way).

I can now safely say that (for the purposes of categorisation) this book will fall into Contemporary Romantic Fiction. The "thread" of magic is there, but way more subtle than I originally thought it would be, to the point that I can't really call this book a paranormal romance.

This might also end up being a 100,000 word book. I've estimated at 80,000 so far, but there's a lot of background to cover in the beginning of the book so we can understand events better as they unfold. I don't actually like writing "background". It's always a challenge to write it and not make it boring, especially when it includes some flashbacks, which this does. It has to not be confusing and it has to not be boring. I think I might succeed, but it's also one of those things you'll never know for sure until the novel is complete and you read it in its entirety, so we shall see. I might be in for some brutal editing, although I hope not.

So, yes, there are flashbacks in this book. We mostly flash back to when Meredith was sixteen years old - just sixteen, actually - we flash back to the events of the day after her sixteenth birthday, and in case you missed the teaser, they go something like this:

You can also view the image here: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=670024649702791&set=a.321274827911110.72074.144058758966052&type=1&theater

There will be a teaser posted up on my Facebook page (which I'll also get round to adding to my site) at every 10% mark that I hit. I'm on 12% at the moment. Fun and games :) The light-hearted novel that I'd intended to write is turning out to be not so light-hearted after all, but hopefully, it will be heartful.

You can keep track of the novel's progress here: http://www.diannahardy.com/the-spell-of-summer.html

Dianna x

Favourite Genre/Sub-Genre to Write

As some of you may know I often struggle to find a topic for my Monday posts. It is somewhat irritating and I don't wish to ramble on about nothing just for the sake of posting something. So, Dianna and I have decided that we will choose each others topics each week in the form or questions - unless we have something we wish to talk about - but we also want to invite all of you to ask us questions, which we will answer the following week in our blog post. So, please do feel free to use the comment section below (and on any post) to pick our brains. :-)

So, my topic for today is on which genres I prefer to write. Main genre would be romance.

I have yet to have an idea which has not involved romance. It's not purposely done, but at the heart of it I am a romantic and no matter what I read or watch I find that I am drawn to any sprinkle of romance that appears. I have always enjoyed the little moments between the hero and heroine. I love the details, the glances, the small touches, I find I crave those moments in any story. So, I guess it would make sense why I enjoy writing romances. I like being able to help two people find one another. Sure some of my characters have rockier roads and bigger challenges than others, but I enjoy going on their journey with them. I want happy endings. I want hope and passion and fulfilment.

Sub-genres . . . Erotic romance would be the main sub-genre that mingles in, because sex is a part of life and of any relationship. It's the conclusion of chemistry, caring, and opening up to someone; trusting them.

Although we can all understand love (to some degree) it's very different for all of us. We each feel it differently and can do on many occasions, but it can be confusing. So can sex, but it is something that we can all understand biologically. We can all relate to sex. We have all had sex.

I actually prefer Erotic Romance to Romance, because although romance is lovely, and sweet it is very innocent. I am of course talking in the sense of the Romance genre when both books and films close the door on sexual side of the relationship. You just know those characters are going to be ripping each others clothes off at some point, but to push that side of the relationship out kinda makes the genre seem like a fairytale. Not that there is anything wrong with fairy-tales (I'm a huge fan of fairy-tales) and not that there is anything wrong with closing the door and keeping a story sweet. Sometimes a story is sweet, or has to be because there is a bigger plot going on. (I have written a sweet romance, so I'm really not against them, I promise.) But we have hormones; we lust, we crave intimacy and that physical, deep connection. I just personally feel that erotic romance makes the relationship a little more real.

Otherwise the Paranormal Genre would be the sub-genre I tend to lean toward the most. I grew up loving fairy-tales, and stories to do with the supernatural. I found the Greek Mythology fascinating due to the idea of these gods and goddess, Hades and the underworld, and creatures like Medusa, Scylla and Charybdis etc.

I believe that every creature that has every been placed under "supernatural" or a being of "myth and legend" did actually exist at some point in time. Perhaps that makes me sound crazy, but I really don't care. Everything starts with a grain of truth, and the idea that magic is truly alive and real just makes the world and existence that extra bit interesting.

The paranormal genre is a playground of endless possibilities. So many creatures to choose from. So many ways to view each of those creatures. So much you can create with them. They will never get old.

The above three tend to be the genres I stick to the most. Contemporary is a fourth component as every story I have written so far - even if it contains a supernatural being - has always been modern; it's always been set around this year and time zone.

But I don't plan to stick or even limit myself to these particular genres. I enjoy reading period stories, steam-punk, fantasy, and futuristic and would like to at least write one story in each of those particular genres at some point in my life time.

So, my question to you (readers and fellow writers) which genres (and sub-genres) do you enjoy reading and/or writing?