Blog Posts - Lesa Fuchs-Carter

The Joy of \t!

4/9/2013

I have used Open Office pretty much since moving to Colorado in 2005. I love the ease of use, the simplicity, the similarity to Word and to be honest the fact that its free. So when Smashwords recommended me giving up my OO I was totally O.O (haha!). I talked to my husband and decided I would try uploading one with OO still.

It took a tiny bit of interpretation from Mark Coker's Style Guide to get the idea of what he was saying. (But I think with the crazy repetition and language it would have taken me the same time if I did have Word!) No offense to Mark but he made that WAY more complicated then it needed to be!

One of the SW style requirements is no "tabs," but as a fiction writer I really like indented paragraphs. They provided a work around setting first line to indent, simple enough except that I couldn't find the coding for "finding tab" It was certainly not the "^d ex^?" whatever he had listed that Word uses. So, with A Night With Them Both, I simply went through and found all of my tabs manually exchanging them for the indent. With A Voyeur's Gift - nearly 3 times in length - and the fact that I have nearly 50 more titles to upload - and will have 50+ in the near future I hope! I had to find a way to "find tab" in my find and replace box.

So I Googled it and sure enough quickly found my shortcut. All I had to do was select expressions and type in \t. I wanted to sing - and so I came here. SING! haha.

The point is that being a tiny bit tech savvy will help an author in so many ways, and no matter how many times you think you "know the program fully" you will discover something new.

Not to say "neener neener, pumpkin weener" to Mark Coker, but Open Office shows beautifully on Smash Words and its 10 times easier then you are making it sou

Converting Files

4/3/2013

So yesterday I posted my book up to Smashwords.

I posted my first book up last year in January, but was frustrated with how it looked (didn't quite understand the conversion process then.) and when Paypal's whole censorship thing went about and then two month's later with Mark Coker's continual efforts to remove said censorship, I ended up just leaving it down.

Now over a year later I have finally uploaded another book to SW, hoping to expand my audience to other sources like Kobo, and Apple. So as I go about converting my files today for SW, I thought I'd give you a fun little jam to party to. Hope you enjoy! Happy Hump Day!

Reviews Make My Day!

4/1/2013

The book that I uploaded Friday, Penance: Bound and Gagged, has received its first 5 star review. So obviously it made me very happy, but will this have long term affects on my sales?

Well it certainly won't hurt. I read a blog declaring "any review is a good review," and while I believe this to be true and it may help to influence them clicking that "sale" button I don't think its really helping bring new people to my books. At least not dramatically.

Perhaps my reviews are still too few to truly influence people looking for them by review, but they still make me happy. When they are reviewed off the sale's sites they tend to get a few new looks for about 48 hours.

But despite the fact that they seem to be limited in their helping, they are still thrilling and encourage me in my writing. They make me want to write and cover and explore new situations. Its also very encouraging that my reviews tend toward more stars. In fact, I have only one rated at 2 stars. It makes me pleased to be a writer.

When Inspiration Hits

3/27/2013

Last night at about 11:00 I had a moment of inspiration. One of those moments when a story you've been working on but going "hmmmmm" about finally breaks and the clouds part. When the stars align and suddenly everything about it flows.

I was up until 2:30 this morning writing, and, as a mother of a toddler, up again at 8:30. Six hours should be doable - easy right? Well I'm also sick. Head cold, sore throat, cough, my sleep was not as good as I'd hoped, my morning I've spent in a fog. But I wouldn't give up last nights clarity for this mornings discomfort.

Sometimes moments like these come at horribly inconvenient time. Late at night, during a business meeting, when you're on the phone. So what do you do when you can't drop everything and write?

There are many different tactics out there, entering them in a note pad, texting them to a friend, saying them aloud. I have done these and I have rolled over and slept trusting in my ability to remember in the morning. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. What do you do when that moment of inspiration hits?

Also, remember that you have until Friday to win one of two $5 gift cards from Amazon simply by commenting on the blog

Rape Scenes (Girls Controversy)

3/25/2013

*To try your hand at $10 in gift cards comment on the blog right before this one! Offer ends this Friday!*

As an erotic author sex is my livelihood. As a woman who particularly likes "dark" sex, rape, and some BDSM, these topics have come from my fingertips and onto my pages many times.

Most of my rape scenes are "mock-rape." Consensual, desired, fantasies played out - like those in Deep, Deeper, and Too Deep. I have explored fantasies like this in my personal life, both alone and with my partner. The level of intimacy is unmatched.

As an author the decision to stretch a character with acting out darker sexual fantasies is a challenge and in some cases the only foreseeable way for a character to act. I have been reading a lot about Adam - since unfortunately we decided to cut cable all together to increase productivity and from what I gather Adam is the socially awkward equivalent to Christian Grey. Obsessed with darker sex and the desire to be in power. But where as Ana wanted to try it, wanted to explore BDSM further, even with her doubts, Natalia feels awkward and turned off by this.

Controversy arises from all sex and particularly darker themes such as humiliation, kink, control, and rough. I must say I agree with The Young Turks general consensus, Natalia could have been clearer if she wanted it to stop, Adam should also have been more aware of his partner.

The fact is that sometimes authors and screenwriters need to take that step - be damned the controversy - for the sake of their characters, for the sake of the story and the heart of the matter.

I have included a short excerpt from my short story Too Deep. In this scene Ally is discussing her fantasy rapes with her father after he accidentally discovered them.

“He's an abuser!”

“No. He's a man who grants me everything my heart desires. Even the stuff no one else could.”

“By hitting you?”

I swallowed. How could I make him see? “Its not the hitting. Its not intentional pain.” I bit my lip, suddenly very aware that I was about to tell my father everything. “Daddy, its the struggle for power. The struggle to show we're strong enough to handle the loss of control.”

My dad literally paled. His face ashen. “What?”

“I am a controlled person. I've gone through this life knowing exactly what I wanted to do and what I could do. I have obtained every goal I set out with. With Micah I don't have that control. He is his own person, equally strong and with equally strong goals and morals. He respects people, works hard to please others, but above all he's trustworthy. I could never have this relationship with anyone else because I could never trust and love them as much as I do Micah.

“I know the risks involved with our relationship, as he does. It took him weeks of thinking about this before he entered into it. And how many countless hours and years before that wishing for the fight for power and for the excitement of someone that could give you themselves so perfectly, understand the carnality of the power over one another. And even if he hadn't had those countless hours, he would have still spent [time] in a jail cell slapped in the face with the repercussions of this lifestyle we want so badly.” ~Too Deep: A Third Rape Fantasy

Contest and New Release!

3/22/2013

After fifteen months my very first published erotic piece, the first in a three part series, has its conclusion.

This series will forever be one of my favorite series, and not just because it was my first erotica. Isaac and Brit are tied to my heart very closely. Isaac is one of the strongest males I have ever written, erotica or no. They have challenged me from the beginning, directing their own story.

They were originally inspired by a couple books. If you are the first to guess who were the original inspirations - one character and one situation/idea, comment and I'll give a $5 gift card to the correct person(s)! 5 bucks to the person who guesses the character and 5 bucks to the person who guesses the idea/situation . . . and yes one person can get them both! If no one has answered correctly by next Friday (the 29th of March) I will give $5 to one random commentor. Be sure to leave me your email address!

They have blossomed very much into their own persons. I loved writing them.

Hell it turned me on before I put finger to key.

I chose this music video (Turn Me On by David Guetta and Nicki Minaj) for the sexy song of the week for many reasons too - one, I feel like my characters are all continually being worked to be made real, and partly because its a sexy beautiful and PUMPING song. I didn't realize that Nicki had such a beautiful song voice - I had only ever recognized her rapping.

Life Happens

3/14/2013

Sometimes no matter how much you plan and set up your writing, life still gets in the way. My regular schedule has been interrupted by emergency babysitting (a friend's regular sitter had to fly across country) and a huge project I found out about recently.

The good thing about being a self-published writer is that I set my own hours. and deadlines. I can adjust them as I need. True, it may have repercussions on my sales, and slow them down a bit, but if its necessary for my sanity...

So I apologize for the last two weeks. I do want to let you know that Forever Binding: An Erotic Fantasy is planned for release tomorrow...unless life happens yet again.

KISSES!

Oh So Sexy

2/22/2013

The sexy song of the week has NOTHING to do with the new release I have - except that they are both sexy hahaha, but I am very busy babysitting today so this was the first song I thought of to share.

The sexy new release is Penance: Confessions, Vol. 4 of the Penance Through Submission series. If you've been rollin through my blog before you'll know the basics - cheating wife, offered the choice of penance or divorce.

This piece leans toward the story more then the graphic sex of the others. Oh don't worry, there is definite sex, (hehe) but there are also a lot of moments where we see how the relationship between Mere and Charlie has grown and matured.

Anyways! Happy

Smashword Statistics

2/20/2013

My apologies for the slowness of my posts - we just found out that my husband's parents are moving a few states away within the next few months, so as often happens when uprooting all the stuff that's been collected for years is getting thinned and prepared for sale and that falls on this author's shoulders.

I was sent a very interesting article about some Smashword statistics that Mark Coker released and I thought it would be a good thing to pass along to my readers.

The statistics are perhaps the first real ebook sales statistics I've seen released and its great for coming up with your price.

Anyways - I'll leave you with that short and sweet little plug and get back to the ever growing list

Too Deep (A New Release!)

2/15/2013

After months of having Too Deep on my "coming soon" list, I'm happy to announce it is actually here!

The original piece I wasn't happy with, and when my editor got hold of it she wasn't either. The flow was off, and I think it was because I was rushing Micah and Allyson too much, crowding in too many plot twists and not giving them time to grow.

This was an intense piece to write, a lot of deep emotion that had nothing to do with horniness. :D If you read Deeper than the story left off with Allyson's father threatening to arrest Micah. Too Deep deals a lot with this and takes Micah and Lyssie's relationship in new directions. When I finished it originally I was so discouraged. The story was "done" but I didn't want it to be, it was so fast and full it didn't work.

They are such strong characters they need more time to play with each other! So I rewrote it and I hope that you all enjoy it now as much as I do.

PS. Yes this song's melancholy feel fits in beautifully with this story. I chose it because there are a lot of similarities, the sense of waiting and aching for someone.