Monday, February 13, 2012

Love and Torture

At Amazon

This week my friend Polly Iyer, who writes romantic suspense, is my guest. She's the author of Murder Déjà Vu, InSightand Hookedwith another soon to be released.
This is Valentine’s Day, so I’m going to write about love. And torture. You may not think those two things go hand-in-hand, but in my books, they do. My critique partners knew that when they started one of my stories, my characters would suffer unimaginable hardships. I couldn’t help it. I had to put them through hell before they found love at the end of the book. And I mean hell.
Psychologist Abby is blinded by her schizophrenic ex-husband before she meets Luke, the cop who lost his hearing on the job. Wealthy architect Reece spent fifteen years in prison for a crime he didn’t commit before meeting the ex-wife of the unscrupulous DA who wants to send him back to prison by any means he can. Tawny, the ex-call girl with a PhD in art history, is blackmailed into going back into the life by a hot sex-crime investigator. Former child psychic turned entertainer Diana is the target of a man who went to prison because of clues she unearthed as a child. Oh, and he’s psychic. Not only do these characters have to overcome their personal baggage, they have to dig themselves out of the holes others have created for them. Namely, me. Is it manipulation on my part? Sure. But they find love at the end—justification, in my mind, for their torture. See? I’m really not a bad person.
At Amazon
Since this is Valentine’s Day, I want to share another kind of love: personal love. Not my family. That goes without saying. No, my self-indulgent love of writing. My greatest joy at this point in my life is sitting in my home office and banging out twisted stories where my characters extricate themselves from one threatening situation after another. It took a long time before I was comfortable telling people I was a writer, and now I’m proclaiming it in black and white. I still have to force myself to think it, write it, and say it, fearful readers will find out I’m a fraud.
I know this is a “love” day, but along with the love of writing comes other things I don’t love, so forgive my digression. I don’t love the PR involved in getting my name out there. The blatant self-promotion makes me uncomfortable. I know it’s part of the package, but I don’t have to like it, nor do I do it well. There’s a fine line separating the right amount of promotion with overkill, and we’ve all seen that. It’s a turn-off, and a writer has to be careful not to cross the line. I like Facebook—it’s fun, and I’ve met some great people. I tweet, but I haven’t caught on to it yet to make much of a difference. It’s time-consuming, and I’d rather write. I don’t have a blog. Maybe I should, but I can’t imagine I have anything to say others haven’t said better. I’ve probably made my point with this blog post. I rest my case.
Happy Valentine’s Day, everyone. Love someone tonight, even if it’s on a page of your book.
Polly Iyer was born on the coast of Massachusetts and now resides in the beautiful Piedmont region of South Carolina in an empty nest house with her husband and a drooling mutt named Max. She’s been an artist, importer, designer, and store owner, but writing is her passion. She’s a member of Mystery Writers of America, Romance Writers of America, and Sisters in Crime. Her stand-alone novels can be found on Amazon and Barnes and Noble. You can learn more about her at: http://PollyIyer.com
Murder Déjà Vu is free on Amazon Feb 14-16. Yes, that’s today. After wealthy architect Reece Daughtry spent fifteen years in prison for a murder he didn’t commit, someone’s framing him again. This time he won’t be railroaded. He goes underground to find the killer, or die trying.

11 comments:

Marni said...

Polly, I'm on my way to ordering right now and can't wait to read about your twists and turns. Happy V Day to you and Ellis! Marnisubtatro

Polly Iyer said...

Thanks for stopping by, Marni. Remember, Tuesday through Thursday is freebie day for Murder Deja Vu. Enjoy.

Lynda Fitzgerald said...

Well said, Polly! I love your writing, and I can tell any reader that you are indeed a writer, and a damn good one.

Keep on writing!

Adriana said...

Polly, if you had a blog, I would subscribe! I just bought InSight, and cannot believe the twists and turns. Your portray disability so sensitively and with so much heart! Love it. :D Happy Valentine's Day! I'm so glad you've proclaimed yourself to be a writer. You ARE, and a super one at that!

Polly Iyer said...

Thanks to Lynda and Adriana. You've made my day. Don't forget the free download of Murder Deja Vu today through Thursday. It's a very different book from InSight, Adriana, but there are still twists and turns. MDV is now #26 in the Kindle store. Yay!

Maggie Toussaint said...

When you pick up a Polly Iyer book, you guarantee yourself a deep, satisfying read. Sure her characters are tortured, but they find redemption within the covers of the book, yielding a very satisfying ending.

Happy Valentine's Day, Polly & Ellis!

Maggie
Murder in the Buff coming in March

Gloria Alden said...

I totally understand about being uncomfortable with the PR of promoting yourself. I hate that, too. It took me a long time to say, yes, I'm a writer, especially before I got published. I also agree it can be overdone, too.

E. B. Davis said...

Oh-no! I commented on the kiss blog rather than the Polly blog. Stupid me. Polly, go to the blog from 2/10 and read my comment there. Time for me to get off line! Sorry.

Polly Iyer said...

@Elaine: No fear, Elaine. I have both emailed to me. Thanks for downloading the book.

@Gloria: I'm glad I'm not the only one who feels that way. It's what we have to do, but I cringe when I do it.

@Maggie. Thanks, Maggie. You always make my books better. I'm grateful.

Vicki Lane said...

Happy Valentine's Day, Polly and Ellis!

Polly -- your 'torturing' your characters reminds me of a comment I read somewhere to the effect that the commenter hated it when authors introduced a cat or a dog and put them in danger just as a plot device. But isn't that what we do with our human characters?

Write away! The more our characters have to go through, the more they learn and develop!

Polly Iyer said...

Vicki, in my book InSight, I do put Abby's seeing eye dog in danger, and I'm proud to say I thought it was a great plot device. So I guess I know no boundaries. I'm twisted through and through.