out-of-orbit

Trope: Birds of a Feather Description: We’re all familiar with the Opposites Attract romance trope. Birds of a Feather is pretty much the opposite of Opposites Attract. (Oh ho ho, see what I did there.) Here, both characters in a relationship have similar personality traits and share common goals and interests. Birds of a Feather […]

Trope: Act of True Love Description: So our characters are madly, hopelessly in love, but the universe is often cruel and refuses to let them be happy together for more than five minutes. (Fucking universe, man.) One of the pair—or sometimes even both!—is so very much in love, they will make a great personal sacrifice […]

Before we get to this installment of Trope-tastic Tuesdays, a quick announcement: the newsletter subscriber bonus is going to be changing in a few weeks, so if you haven’t already signed up and received your free copy of Sweet Escape, don’t miss your chance! You can use the form that’s over there on the sidebar, […]

(Parts of this were originally posted on February 21, 2013) Trope: (Green-Skinned) Space Babe Description: The attractive alien with mostly human features so having sex with him or her isn’t too squicky. While the fictional aliens of yore were mostly green, blue has been more common in recent years, though they can come in every […]

Trope: Raven Hair, Ivory Skin Description: Though beauty ideals tend to go in cycles when it comes to what’s popular at any given moment, Raven Hair, Ivory Skin is one of those tropes that’s often used as a shortcut for “this character is physically attractive”. Due to said cycles, these characters can take on all […]

Trope: Insecure Love Interest Description: Even if one character in a couple thinks their love interest is great, the love interest may not feel that way themselves. This could be one of the obstacles in the way of the pair getting together, or even continue after they’ve officially embarked on a romantic relationship with each […]

(Parts of this were originally posted on January 17, 2013) Trope: Ice Queen (and its sub-trope, the Defrosting Ice Queen) Description: The Ice Queen is aloof and, well, frigid. She may not want to get emotionally close to anyone, or it may just be men she disdains. There are a few different ways her icy […]

Yup, you can keep your minds in the gutter, because this post is about exactly what you think it’s about: which characters dominate your sex scenes? As I was chugging along on A Flame Among the Stars, I started thinking about how in most romances, one half of the couple is usually more forward or […]

As my old series Trope-tastic Thursdays indicated, tropes are not a bad thing. We all use them, whether we’re aware of them or not. I’m sure I’m not alone when I say there are some tropes I like better than others, and some themes or character types keep popping up. I’m on Chapter 3 of […]

I’m never one to pass up jumping on a good bandwagon. Writing/blogging buddies Krystal and Michelle recently made great posts about going back to their old writing projects and critiquing their opening lines. They were a ton of fun to read, and I also never shy away from self-deprecating humor, so I figured I’d have […]

Hey, a post that’s actually about writing! Or something close to it, anyway. Though I haven’t actually written anything lately, I did just finish the first round of edits on Seductive Suspect. When doing my own proofing/editing before submitting a manuscript, I have my list of words I check for to make sure I haven’t […]

It’s August, and I promised exciting Out of Orbit-related things! For the entire month, my featured interview will be up at The Romance Reviews. In addition to some excerpts and fun behind-the-scenes details, there’s also a giveaway for a $10 Amazon gift card! So pop on over and leave a comment to enter!