Hey folks! I hope you're well and keeping warm. We're under snow here at the moment and have been for three days, but it looks to be cleared by the time we need to travel for Christmas. Fingers crossed that's the case!

I'm busy working on my serial story for eharlequin and hit the half way point yesterday. More news on that soon. While I'm busy with that, I thought I'd post an article about my recent publication, INESCAPABLE. This article is about the inspiration for the book, and was originally written for the Total-E-Bound newsletter.

INESCAPABLE INSPIRATION

When an author is interviewed you can almost guarantee that one of the questions will be “Where do you get your inspiration?” Mostly, for me, it’s hard to say, exactly. Ideas can be stimulated by anything from current affairs to life experience, from music to a snippet of an overhead conversation. Frequently, ideas pop out of absolutely nowhere—the subconscious is always busy on our behalf. Once I've got a concept on the go I can then ask myself “What if?” to grow the idea into a fully formed plot.

My recent Total-E-Bound novel, INESCAPABLE, has a bit of a different history, however. It is the one book that was directly inspired by a film, and that’s because the film didn’t go where I thought it might have. That film is NARROW MARGIN, starring Anne Archer and Gene Hackman.

In the film, the protagonist goes on a blind date and witnesses her date being killed by the mob. She escapes, then a police officer rescues her and they flee, with the bad guys on their tail. The majority of the film is set on the run and on an express train with the hero and heroine in close proximity. Great film, absolutely loved the story! Their bond wasn’t explored as much as I would have liked, though. It was there, but I kept longing for more and it didn't happen. Yeah, yeah, I know. It was an action movie, a suspense, not a relationship story or a romantic suspense, but I still hankered for more of the bond. I think I might even have sulked about it!

The story stayed in my mind for a long while afterwards and I began to think about writing something that went in a completely different direction. My own witness protection story began to evolve.

The angle that particularly appealed to me about the film was that she was on her way to a blind date and ends up in a crime scene. Subsequently she is with a different man, a man who becomes her guardian. But I wondered…what if…what if the original date wasn’t killed, and he was in witness protection with her? That might be intense…and what if her blind date knew a lot about her—her intimate desires, her sexual fantasies—because they’d been having a tell-all online affair? She would then be in witness protection with her virtual lover, and a totally alpha witness protection officer—both of whom she is attracted to. Oh yes, I was up and running! Not only that, but as soon as the story blossomed into a ménage à trois story, I absolutely had to write it. INESCAPABLE is the result.

I set the story in Wales, in a part of the country I love, Conwy. The trio are isolated in a country hotel that is closed up for the winter. This story is a romantic suspense and it’s all about the three-way relationship–the conflict, the desire, the passion and emotion that grows between the characters. Inevitably, the bad guy isn’t far behind, and he wants those witnesses out of the picture…

I had enormous fun writing this story and if you pick it up, I hope you enjoy it.

You can read an excerpt here.
http://www.saskiawalker.co.uk/inescapable.html
You can download the book here.
http://www.total-e-bound.com/product.asp?strParents=&CAT_ID=&P_ID=611

hugs

saskia

Happy Solstice for today/tomorrow! More light from here on in. Hurrah!

Quick announcement from me today, folks. This is shaping up to be one hectic week!

BRAZEN BEHAVIOUR is a Victorian set erotic romance novella. It was originally published as part of an anthology, BRITS IN TIME. It's published today as a single short novella over at Total-E-Bound. Here's the summary:

Miss Eleanor Argyle has modern aspirations for a Victorian lady. The daughter of an intrepid traveller, she's confident and rebellious. After her father's death, she refuses to be chaperoned by anyone — least of all a man she'd much rather bed. She's wanted Mr Gregory Munroe for years, but she is determined not to sacrifice her independence to get him.

Gregory Munroe is both aroused and infuriated by his charge. She's stubborn, and he can sense that she's about to try to outrun him. He thwarts her, trapping her aboard a northbound train. Eleanor is secretly thrilled, and when she subsequently decides to invite him to a brazen night of passion, he barely stops to think about her motives. Can Eleanor have him, whilst also giving him the slip?

A fiery mix of passion and rebellion inspires a chase that runs the length of Britain — but neither Eleanor nor Gregory expects to find the knowledge that waits at its end.

Go here for an excerpt
http://www.saskiawalker.co.uk/brazenbehaviour.html
Go here to purchase
http://www.total-e-bound.com/product.asp?strParents=&CAT_ID=&P_ID=649

If you pick up my little Victorian train story (this one was a great excuse to hang out and do research at the National Railway Museum ;-) I hope you enjoy it! :)

Have a great Monday, folks!

hugs
Saskia

NB: if you want to follow the links and they do not work, you can read the post and follow links from my blogspot: http://saskiawalker.blogspot.com/

THE RIGHT MEN FOR THE JOB has been reviewed by Night Owl and received 4/5 and some lovely comments from Kyraninse. Thank you Kyraninse!

This is a hot, steamy short that gives a good taste of just how good Saskia Walker can be. The entire story is tight, fast-paced, and yet definitely doesn't leave any loose ends hanging.

From the moment Astrid walks into Deacon and Vico's life, the stage is set -- within a few short pages the romance is going full throttle, Astrid's past is made clear, and Deacon and Vico enter a whole new phase within their friendship. The sensitive handling of Deacon and Vico's relationship was beautiful to behold and I really enjoyed how it was definitely a focal point, yet it never took away from Astrid's budding relationship with the two of them.

I just hope that I can see more of Walker's work in the future in the form of longer novels.

Review page
Go here to read an excerpt!

And in other news, a new anthology is out that includes a short story from me!

If the spirit and magic of the winter season wasn't enough to keep you warm as the weather turns cold, you can count on the erotica in this spicy anthology to do the trick! So let it snow, and curl up with your favorite eXcessica authors and this sexy, seasonal anthology, bringing you the best of all things winter!

Stories included from: Sommer Marsden, Kiki Howell, Mallory Path, Phillip Sweeny, Paul McDermott, J.M. Snyder, Alessia Brio and Will Belegon, Giselle Renarde, Rachelle Le Monnier, Saskia Walker and Selena Kitt.

All funds from the collection go towards running costs at the eXcessica author's colloborative. You can buy it here. Or at Kindle.

UPDATED: Oooh, it's also on Ficitonwise. I should mention that my contribution is a new one and it's called GRIDLOCKED. It's a ménage à trois story set in London, and it goes like this (thinks...) f/f/m. :)

More from me soon, right now I'm surrounded by tax paperwork, (wah!) but I should be done with it very soon.

Over the last few days I’ve been working on an outline for my serial story. If you read a lot of author blogs you’ll often find authors bemoaning the synopsis writing. Anything where we have to condense our opus/imagined opus into a few action-packed and (hopefully) winning lines can be daunting, understandably so! Yes, there was gnashing of teeth.

I got the serial story oultine done but it was with some trepidation that I sent it off -- and great delight that I had it approved! Yay!! So, it’s all systems go on that front, and the story is now tentatively titled YIELD TO ME. I have one other project I want to finish first and then I envisage doing the bulk of the serial story work next week. I have started it though, in fact I’ve been writing the dialogue…First.

When I took a moment to think about it I realised I’d been moving towards this kind of writing technique over the last couple of years. When I start a novel, for example, I’ll often write a couple of key turning points first, in order to get to know my characters quickly. These scenes are ones where conflict is high and emotions rise to the surface, so it’s like diving in at the deep end, having to decide what makes my characters tick, and quickly. I then go back and start at the beginning. These conflict scenes are often jam-packed full of dialogue too. I’m still learning about writing dialogue, but I know I’ve learnt an enormous amount. The key thing is I now know how important dialogue is! ;) It wasn't always that way, I've learnt slowly over the years and I'm getting there. One of the highlights of 2007 for me was seeing this comment in an RT review of my novella in the KINK anthology: “Walker shows a talent for dialogue that is impressive.” Yes, it made me happy. That’s because dialogue engages the reader and moves the story along quickly, bringing it to life. I want to master it.

When I first attempted to write novels one of my first ports of call was Harlequin Blaze. I submitted a partial and had the full requested. I was eventually rejected, but I had a great response from the editor and lots of good advice. The editors wanted to keep the line North American, my voice was too British, and they suggested I look at either Temptation or Spice. Spice had only just been announced and was very much in the concept stage at that point. It’s funny to think that I'm now lucky enough to be able to follow that editor's suggested path and that I'm writing for Spice. I still have to pinch myself...

However, back to Blaze… While I was trying to write for that line I eagerly read books and articles by the Blaze authors. Julie Leto has some great writing advice on her site. Please do go read these gems if you’re an aspiring author. In this one, Julie talks about having to write in short periods of time when there was a lot of other pressing business. A baby on the way, a full-time job, a big family, and… a request for a book! She spent each lunch break writing, and she layered in the story, writing the dialogue first. I can remember reading this article and was amazed to think that she could do that! At that time I was new to writing longer stories, very much learning as I went. The rambling sort of writing I did back then was important to me finding my way, but it was primarily an exploration -- and it was also a luxury.

When you’re writing for a specific line or length, you need to have a much better grasp on where your plot is going and what sort of relationship your characters are going to have. It’s when you have those things in place that you can use layering as a writing technique.

Thinking back to when I read Julie's article and my reaction made me realise I’ve come a long way, because I am able to adopt this practice now. It wasn’t something I consciously set out to do. It’s come as a natural progression for me, as was learning how to write a short story, then a novella, then a novel. I'm still learning how to write more productively and engagingly. Julie’s words of wisdom were definitely bedded in the infrastructure! Do check out her work.

Currently I’m working across several projects and December is looking busy with lots of things I want to finish up. We're planning to proper break around Christmas, so it's a short month in work terms. Gotta get busy!

hugs
Saskia

Quick heads up - there are great bargains to be had at Fictionwise at the mo. If you were looking to read any of my titles, they are all at either 45% off or 45 % rebate. It's a great sale. I've been stocking up on books I've had my eye on!

http://www.fictionwise.com/ebooks/a29070/Saskia-Walker/?

hugs
saskia

Note: if the links don't work for you please go here to read this post:http://saskiawalker.blogspot.com/

BRAZEN BEHAVIOUR - a short historical novella - is now available as an audio book! This novella was previously published as part of the BRITS IN TIME anthology by Total-E-Bound.

It's my first ever audio book! I've had a couple of my short erotica stories read aloud on podcast by editor and sex educator Violet Blue, (you can find them here and here) but this is my first audio novella. Here's the summary:

Miss Eleanor Argyle has modern aspirations for a Victorian lady. The daughter of an intrepid traveller, she's confident and rebellious. After her father's death, she refuses to be chaperoned by anyone — least of all a man she'd much rather bed. She's wanted Mr Gregory Munroe for years, but she is determined not to sacrifice her independence to get him.

Gregory Munroe is both aroused and infuriated by his charge. She's stubborn, and he can sense that she's about to try to outrun him. He thwarts her, trapping her aboard a northbound train. Eleanor is secretly thrilled, and when she subsequently decides to invite him to a brazen night of passion, he barely stops to think about her motives. Can Eleanor have him, whilst also giving him the slip?

A fiery mix of passion and rebellion inspires a chase that runs the length of Britain — but neither Eleanor nor Gregory expects to find the knowledge that waits at its end.

Go here if you would like to read an excerpt.

Go here if you would like to hear a sample and download the file.

PS: If audio isn't your thing but the story appeals, it will be available as a single novella in December!

hugs
Saskia

To celebrate having several new publications at Total-E-Bound (including my first audio book, coming *very* soon!) I'm giving away a TEB book voucher to one random member of my newsletter group. The prize is ebooks to the value of £15 (around 25 USD) To be in with a chance to win, go here to join my newsletter group:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/saskiawalker_news/

The newsletter only goes out ocassionally, so this isn't a traffic heavy loop.

The next newsletter will go out on 30 November, so you've got until then to enter. :)