The final lineup for my Five Sisters Fantasy Heroes.

For Kray's Roderick, I chose Henry Cavill and Dougray Scott:





For Kayt's Rowan, Josh Duhamel:





For Kayla's Lucien, it's a toss-up between Brandon Routh and James Marsden (I also have Tom Wellington in the mix...see a Superman pattern??):








For Kailyynn's Sebastyan, Rodrigo Santoro and Mark Fisher:





For Karyi's Dagibyr, Josh Holloway (with dark hair):



Let's start planning the blockbustin' franchise NOW!

JLH

A Transporter update.

So, since I've finished my story last November I've done very little to update it or push it closer to publication. Mike asked me about it recently, and I felt ashamed to admit to my laziness. Although, I don't think it's laziness. Apathy is more like it. I still look at the story as one of acute rawness. And I have second thoughts about it being too boring.

The story stands at 151,830 words...234 pages. A decent size for a novel, and with enough wiggle room to remove extraneous exposition. I've asked many people if they would read my novel when I was ready for critiques, and I'm wondering if I should just print it out and distribute it for that step. Getting feedback now, instead of trying to push through the damn thing myself, will help me focus on my weak points to make my story no longer seem boring in my head. It will help energize my desire to write and finally finish--truly and completely finish--my first novel. Then, publication.

JLH

Why write Westerns?

Here's an article written by Larry Sweazy about why he writes Westerns.

Why I Write Westerns, by Larry Sweazy.

Why do I write novels? The simple, more guttural answer is that I love cowboys. Something about that image makes my knees weak. On a more poetic front, the Wild West to me was a time of simplicity. The Civil War came to pass, bringing with it change...people were making the switch from rustic living to using more contemporary fixes in their lives. The guns and the horses and the sheriffs and outlaws have me enamored, totally and completely.

That, and I like cowboys.

JLH

Writing dialogue in your character's native tongue--what is appropriate?

I am in the very, very early stages of a five-book fantasy romance series, as you've read. My five ladies scatter across the universe on various journeys in the hopes of discovering their respective mates as chosen for them by the gods. It just so happens that a couple of these men are native to certain countries.

The entire population of the universe in my series speaks one universal language--let's say Esperanto for now--but the people who inhabit the varying planets have all descended from Earth in some way...they all still practice, or at least possess traces of the languages their ancestors spoke way back when.

My books are written in English, obviously, with the strong implication that it's Esperanto they're really speaking. But, at times, there is an interchange of a different language by the heroes with the heroines or other characters in the books.

So, here's my question: do I actually, physically, type out that bit of dialogue in that language? And, if so, does it matter how long the passage really is?

Example 1: Sebastyan

Sebastyan Adonis Ruiz is my hero in Book 4, born to a Spanish merchant and an Italian opera singer. He takes pride in his ability to speak many languages fluently, the few he uses almost exclusively in the series being Spanish, Italian and English (Esperanto). As I know how to write in Spanish, choosing a few phrases, verbs, exclamations and terms of endearments are not difficult to me, and as the Spanish and English alphabets are the same, this is no challenge.

That brings me to Example 2: "Nik"

Nik ("Nik" is his placement name. I have yet to form this character completely), is a Russian descendant, a bold move by me as I do NOT speak any Russian. Looking up phrases and terms of endearment are a simple Google search away, which would be fine if it wasn't for the fact that the Russian alphabet is much unlike the English one. A lot more people would be able to recognize Spanish over Russian.

Now, again, Sebastyan's mutterings of "mi amor" and "nena" are simple and they flow well with the text, even when italicized. I have no idea what to do with the Russian sweet nothings of, "Милая моя", "Ангел мой", or "Ты красивая". Do I use the Russian letters, or do I include the phonetic spellings instead? Or neither, as saying "MIlaya Moyna", "Angel moy" or "Ti krasIvaya" is just as disruptive to a reader as their authentic counterparts?

What should I do? What do you do?

JLH

Casting my characters.

I did something last night so exciting and helpful that I had to share. While struggling through editing of my latest novel, I'm working on bits and pieces of my fantasy series. Over the week I had compiled a list of actors that remind me of the heroes. Last night, I looked up images of them and saved them under each hero's folder for safekeeping...as if I was casting for that story's movie.

For some of these, it was rough, and as I perused many Google Images pages it became quite clear--and I don't know why I didn't think of it before--that I need to consider the character that actor played, and not necessarily that actor himself. The same actor could look so different in a few different movies, so much that he would fit the archetype and appearance of different heroes.

Here are a few choices I have:

For Kray's "Rok", here's Dougray Scott ("Ever After" is what I like him in. This picture is not from that, but damn hot):


For Kayt's "Rowan", I chose Josh Duhamel (also playing with Timothy Olyphant and Ryan Reynolds):


For Kailyynn's "Sebastyan", here's Alexis Georgoulis ("My Life in Ruins"), and Jake Gyllenhaal ("Prince of Persia"):



For Karyi's "Dagibyr", here's Josh Holloway, but I want him with darker hair and lighter skin. I'm also interested in Colin Farrell and Gerard Butler, in the right movies:




The middle child, Kayla, has a story that has barely been started. I don't know what her hero looks like, so that's going to have to wait. Also, I don't know what the girls themselves look like. Next step is finding some actresses to fit my heroine archetypes.

J

Editing is a bitch.

Is it common for a writer to feel unenthusiastic about the work he or she just completed?

On November 30th of last year I finished my first novel. My self-imposed deadline for editing completion is January 31st. Like, done done. Finished. Ready for peer critiques followed by manuscript submission. I feel like I have postpartum depression.

My husband told me that he has read in many books that a writer often feels anything from disinterest to total dissatisfaction for the novel he or she just wrote. That's why editing sucks so much. Sometimes it's best to put your novel away for six months before you even consider editing.

This makes me feel better, and it explains why I'm turned off to my completed work and am turning my attention to the development of a new fantasy/erotica series. Of course, who wouldn't be excited about erotica?

Although, I have to say that I'm being obstinate. Editing requires reading my novel from start to finish, and running it through a fine-tooth comb. Why wouldn't I want to read through the stuff I wrote? It's something of a bad habit of mine, for when I should be writing I end up sitting down with my favorite passage and reading that over and over...

J

Desire, vision, focus.

Is it silly that I picture my novels on the shelves at Barnes and Noble? No, I didn't think so. It's a good way to visualize my dream and then work towards it. With my pen name, however, I noticed something kinda crappy...

First of all, I wanted my pseudonym initials to be the same as my real ones. Then, I wanted to pick a name that was bold, adventurous, romantic, and easy to remember. So I chose "J. Leigh Hunter". This was a name I picked many years ago. It wasn't a last-minute thing...an impulse buy, more or less. I spent days--months--working on my pen name.

And then I went to B&N and found out that there are two other (prominent) authors with the last name of "Hunter". One of which is Madeline, which is fine, but the other is Jillian. Jillian sounds an awful lot like "J. Leigh".

The bright side is that neither of these authors write Wild West/American Frontier historicals, mainly Regency. So that's not too much of a conflict of interest.

Another thing I noticed is that at B&N, and also at my library, the H authors are way down low on the bottommost shelf. Crap. That sucks the big one.

I'm not sure how marketing works for romance novelists and their publishers, but I can only hope for good reviews, peer ratings, and perhaps out-turned books when they hit the shelves. If customers are not coming in for my book, then maybe I can hook them with a really sexy cover.

J