Is this a list that no one wants to be on or what?<\/p>\n
The first author to inspire me was one who surely inspired more future romance authors than any other.\u00a0 The late, great, Kathleen E. Woodiwiss <\/a>who unfortunately passed away\u00a0in 2007 is considered by many to have created the historical romance genre.\u00a0 Her book, \"The Flame and\u00a0The Flower\" came out when I was only 10. Even\u00a0I wasn't\u00a0that precocious.\u00a0 It was a few years later, when I was 16 or 17, that I first read\u00a0TF&TF.\u00a0 I found it\u00a0in my library's paperback collection but soon bought my own copy. I went on to read all of the author's\u00a0work,\u00a0over and over.<\/p>\n TF&TF is a book that stays with me, even today.\u00a0 Now the politically correct police try to denigrate it as a bodice ripper.\u00a0\u00a0I always saw it as a tale of female power.\u00a0 For most of the book Brand danced to Heather's tune and by the end his fire was tamed by her tenderness.\u00a0 That's the lesson I took from Ms. Woodiwiss and recall in all of my books.<\/p>\n Another author who inspires me is fortunately still with us. Johanna Lindsey<\/a>. I'm reading one of hers\u00a0on my ereader right now.\u00a0 She wrote her first book in 1977 and has published over 40 novels. I've read most of them.\u00a0 I've enjoyed many of her works, but the ones that inspire me the most are\u00a02 of the early books in her Mallory Series - \"Gentle Rogue\" and \"The Magic of You.\" GR is James and Georgie's tale and TMOY is Warren and Amy's.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n <\/p>\n From GR, I decided that James Mallory is the\u00a0perfect romance hero. His rogueish ways fall quickly\u00a0for the right woman, and we see his care for others in the way he values his family and his crew. Then there's his impish sensuality and sharp sense of humor.\u00a0 All of my heroes have a wee bit of James in their makeup.\u00a0From TMOY I love both Amy and Warren.\u00a0 In Amy, I see a lady who knows what she wants and isn't afraid to\u00a0plot devious ways to get it. I remember her spunk and strategy\u00a0whenever I create a new heroine. Warren's a devout bachelor whose animosity for the fairer sex is belied by his devotion to little sister Georgie. He tries hard not to get involved with Amy, and in that effort we see the soft inner core hiding within\u00a0his hard crusty personality. From him I take the effectiveness of dueling personas that most of my heroes have in one way or the other.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Another author I adore is Susan S. Kyle, a\/k\/a Diana Palmer<\/a>. Ms. Kyle's first book as Diana Palmer was published in 1979. She has a new series called \"The Morcai Battalion\" <\/a>and has tweeted a promise to put out the first chapters of\u00a0the books free on the series' website. \u00a0I devour\u00a0her Harlequin romances. I've never read a bad \"Diana Palmer.\" If you're into SciFi Romance, you should run to the website and pick up this series. I've not read much of that sub-genre, but I'll definitely pick up these. Like I said, I've never read one of her books that I didn't love.<\/p>\n Ms. Kyle's\u00a0stories remind me - a lot like Ms. Woodiwisses' - that male power and control\u00a0can always be altered by the strongest tender force in the universe - love.\u00a0 She can write\u00a0a strong story and tell it in such a short time that you finish longing for more. I put a little of her heroes' command of all they survey in my leading men. I only hope that I put some\u00a0of Ms. Kyle's command of the imagination in all of my tales.<\/p>\n Then there's Julie Pottinger<\/a>, best known to legions of fans as Jula Quinn<\/a>.\u00a0 She's most famous\u00a0for her Bridgertons' Series. I love all of those but one of my favorites is \"Splendid.\"\u00a0\u00a0The heroine of \"Splendid\" is an American who snares a Duke who really didn't want to be snared. \u00a0I believe it was my first Quinn read, but I've read every word she's written now.\u00a0 Her\u00a0books are all about the characters.\u00a0 The conflict\u00a0arises from who they are - their history, their prospects and their mindset. I've read some recent criticism of this from folks writing about her new one, but Ms. Pottinger always pulls it off.\u00a0 There was once a little TV show\u00a0that did all right without any major conflict other than issues that arose from the characters interactions in their daily lives.\u00a0It was called \"Seinfeld.\"\u00a0<\/p>\n From Ms. Pottinger, I learned that stories are best when they center on the characters.\u00a0 If readers care about the hero and heroine, they'll care about their problems.\u00a0 If readers don't care about the leads, no conflict in the world would save the story. I try to create\u00a0strong characters too. \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0Another Julie I learned a lot from\u00a0is Julie Garwood<\/a>.\u00a0 I especially love her medieval books.\u00a0 I bought\u00a0 \"The Secret\" in\u00a0paperback twice because I wore out the first copy from all the re-reads.\u00a0 Her gift for humor and the quiet brilliance of the cast of characters make all of her books come to life.\u00a0\u00a0 2 Susans I love are\u00a0- Susan Elizabeth Phillips<\/a> and Susan Johnson<\/a>.\u00a0 Phillips' \"Chicago Stars\" football series is one of my all time favorites although I'm not a sports\u00a0person.\u00a0 Johnson's books will steam up the room right from page 1.<\/p>\n To write romance well, you have to read it and love it and I do and have for many years.\u00a0Every writer's voice is unique but each of those unique voices carries the blessing of inspiration that compels\u00a0some of their readers\u00a0to sit down at a keyboard and type \"Chapter 1.\"\u00a0<\/p>\n I wanted to take some time on this blog to say THANK YOU to all the writers who have inspired me in the past and continue to inspire me today.\u00a0 In so many ways, your work makes my work possible and your\u00a0artistry\u00a0makes my world a\u00a0better place.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Is this a list that no one wants to be on or what? The first author to inspire me was one who surely inspired more future romance authors than any other.\u00a0 The late, great, Kathleen E. Woodiwiss who unfortunately passed away\u00a0in 2007 is considered by many to have created the historical romance genre.\u00a0 Her book, ...continue reading \"A Quack Of Gratitude To Authors Who Inspire The Strange Duck Lady\"<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quackingalone.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1663"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quackingalone.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quackingalone.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quackingalone.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quackingalone.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1663"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/quackingalone.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1663\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1700,"href":"https:\/\/quackingalone.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1663\/revisions\/1700"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quackingalone.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1663"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quackingalone.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1663"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quackingalone.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1663"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}