Beauty: Around Us And In Our Books

Definition of beauty: http://education.yahoo.com/reference/dictionary/entry/beauty

1. The quality that gives pleasure to the mind or senses and is associated with such properties as harmony of form or color, excellence of artistry, truthfulness, and originality.
2. One that is beautiful, especially a beautiful woman.
3. A quality or feature that is most effective, gratifying, or telling.

Beauty surrounds us in all forms; landscape, paintings, people. What may seem beautiful to one person may not have the same effect on someone else. 

As the saying goes, "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder". 

Beauty on the outside doesn't mean or guarantee a beautiful person or thing on the inside. 

Beauty fades; personality or  elements may not retain outward appearance, but inner beauty can remain. This includes people, places, things. 

What's more important? Outward beauty or beauty inside? I'd choose inner beauty.

In romance books, covers portray pleasing, sexy images of heroines/women. But do books always describe characters as beautiful? 

In "Gone to the Dogs", Katie talks about needing to lose weight; those extra pounds that always creep up when you're not looking. Mike's attracted to her; he likes her looks and spunky attitude. Would he call her beautiful? Maybe. Would others agree? Maybe not.


I didn't "write" Katie to be a beauty queen. I wanted her to be attractive, normal, and a tad low on self-esteem. Aren't we all like that? Can't we relate to Katie as if she were a friend, someone just like us?


In "Anything You Can Do" (ebook and coming in print this month!), Allison sparks Jeff's interest. Again, he's attracted to her good looks, but her challenge keeps him intrigued. Is she beautiful? Maybe to him, but not as a beauty queen. 

Again, I didn't "write" Allison to be anything but "the girl next door". An average, hard-working woman who entices and interests Jeff without being a size two model or celebrity. (Cover is for new print version)

When you read, do you envision the heroine as a beautiful woman? Does a Hollywood image of what beauty looks like plant itself in your head? 

Sex appeal comes in many features; eyes, lips, smile, etc. But overall beauty does not necessarily need be the image portrayed in a romance book. The more appealing, day-to-day heroine, attractive but flawed like the rest of us, captures our attention. 

Beauty is skin-deep...it's what's inside our heroines that keeps a romance book desirable and read.

Can you describe beauty? As a reader, do you want beautiful heroines? As a writer, are your heroines beautiful?

http://www.mariannestephens.net
http://www.aprilash.net
http://www.romancebooksrus.com

Photo: Flickr: Kevin H. photostream 

What does beauty mean to you?

Beauty means many things to many people: a soft, pink morning sky tinged by the rising sun, a rugged man holding his tiny daughter in his arms as he looks down at her with love in his expression…a perfect flower whose fragrance entrances.

One definition of beauty is “the combination of qualities that make something pleasing and impressive to look at, listen to, touch, smell, or taste.”

Another definition of beauty is “an advantage, attraction, benefit, asset…”

But is it? We all love to look at beauty by whatever definition, but not all beauty is good. There’s a wild beauty in a deadly hurricane, and in a rattlesnake poised to strike. There’s treacherous beauty in a physically perfect human whose soul is more villainous than heroic, and sometimes fatally attractive beauty in a poisonous flower. “Gorgeous to look at, deadly to touch” can apply in many cases.

I see the greatest beauty, though, in a man whose love for his woman or his child shines through, or in a mother’s love for her newborn baby. Beauty also shows itself to me in a fragrant orchid or brilliant amaryllis, a beloved pet or an interesting plant or animal.

What represents beauty to you? Tell me, and I’ll pick a winner from those who comment. The prize is a download of my bestselling-ever contemporary erotic romance, A MUTUAL FAVOR, where I hope you’ll discover real beauty comes from love.

The Eye of the Beholder

Isn't it both amazing and wonderful that each person sees things differently than another? Most of us would think these things are lovely:




However, many of us may find these creatures revolting, while others see nothing but beauty:




The same is true for all facets of life from movies, to TV to fiction.

It's true! I may love a book that you hate, and vice versa. I remind myself of this when I see snarky or negative reviews (not just of my work, but of other author's work as well).

As an author, when negative reviews hit, I shrug off the sting. I'm a rat lover (I've had them as pets in the past and they're truly amazing). I'm not spider phobic and I really don't fear snakes either. But I know those who don't feel the same way.

And as a reader, when I read a story that just doesn't resonate with me, I simply close it and move on. I seldom bash a book, even to friends, when I don't enjoy it (I admit to one exception -- when the author killed off the protagonist's romantic interest at the end of a book in a series I was reading ... I not only complained bitterly to all who would listen, but I've never picked up a book by that author again).

So, no matter what you're doing, it's always good to remember that one man's sunset is another man's corn snake.

Find Marianne Arkins at her website and blog.

Early Spring Beauty

I glance out my window and purple lilac blossoms wave into view as the gentle spring breezes make the boughs dance and weave on my bushes. Stepping out onto my deck, I see the last of the daffodils, and the bright yellow dandelions. The catnip is up, as is the lemon balm, mums, and the yarrow. My lavender is coming back to life with fragrant stalks. My horse is shedding enough winter hair to make an entirely new horse, and everywhere I look it's green.

The beautiful colors of spring came quite early this year. Usually it's May, not April, when my lilacs bloom, and the daffodils are early in April, not March. In fact, for a tulip festival not far from where I live, they've been piling mulch on their tulip beads; you have six weeks from when they first appear to first blooms and the festival isn't until May.

I find the beauty relaxing, a reminder that after the rain or the winter come the flowers we so long to see. It's a spiritual reminder that not everything is dark, drab, and dreary all the time, and even though we might struggle through winter (not this year), it's worth it when the flowers come out.

Personally, it's a reminder to find some beauty in our lives. It doesn't matter how stressed out we get, looking at a cat snoozing in the sun, or the lilacs outside puts smiles on our faces and we see the beauty all around us.

What beauty do you see? And as I snip a lilac branch to take to my mother today, what beauty do you share?

No April Fools

This month our theme is beauty. The old saying, of course, is it’s in the eye of the beholder. Still there are many things no one can deny the beauty of: a flower, a sunset, a grand vista, a butterfly, the sound of laughter. This time of year, nature provides us a grand show of beauty. Trees buds unfurling the leaves changing bare branches to a profusion of blossoms and leaves, early flowers popping open their blooms in vibrant colors, and hillsides  covering themselves in a coat of grasses and wildflowers. When thinking of beauty, first to come to mind is what the eyes see, not so much as what the mind perceives in the beholder. My husband tells me I’m beautiful. I look into the mirror. I know I’m not, but to his eyes, mind, and heart, I am. To me his words are. Our words, the pictures we paint on the mind with them, the emotions which generate them or that they create produce beauty. I love you the ultimate in words of beautiful emotion. A thank you given for something done without thought of the act having any significance value. A compliment, giving recognition of a job well done, an expression of compassion or sympathy, or a few words of encouragement when things are going bad, simply beautiful words we so many times forget to say.

Take the time to see and hear the beauty that surrounds us. No matter how bad things get in other ways, beauty is there for us to see and warm our hearts, beauty in the eyes of the beholder or mind. No April fool.

http://www.larriane.com

Hook, Line and Sinker....

In our digital world, the concept of perusing bookshelves has taken on a whole new dimension. While brick and mortar bookshops still exist, they are closing at a rate faster than real estate agents can post their For Lease signs. These days the majority of readers surf the web and online bookstores for new releases and old favorites, a place where they can 'take a look inside' at the teasers and sample chapters authors have posted, and have email reminders sent with new releases and promotions.

Yet, however much the physical act of perusing bookshelves has changed, the process readers employ in deciding on which books they'll spend their hard earned money has intrinsically stayed the same. With the exception of Amazon's free reads program that is all the rage now, for the most part, books are still picked up, flipped through and examined before being purchased.

So what lures a reader in? What is it that entices them to pick up your book and scan it? In the world of publishing, there are varying answers, in varying order...a provocative cover, endorsements from other well-known authors, glowing reviews, marketing, social networking, price... But I would be my next royalty check, editors abound who would all agree it's the hook. That more than anything else, it's those first few beginning paragraphs/pages and intriguing back cover blurb that seal the deal.

Since "Beginnings" is our topic for the month of March, I thought it apropos to talk about how one crafts the beginning of a story. Of course, it all starts with an idea. Some inspiring thought, dream or experience that takes root in our fertile imagination and grows from there. But that's not the beginning I'm talking about. I mean, once the idea for a story has formed, and you're sitting with your hands poised over your keyboard, how do you get from staring at a blinking cursor on a blank page to those first all important words?

I have to chuckle, because the first thought that popped into my mind as I asked the question was the phrase, lather, rinse and repeat. I don't mean I suds it up before I sit down to write, but I will invariably write, read, delete and then repeat the process until the words in front of me not only sound right, but feel right. Most authors I know, write from their gut. Their stories, like mine, aren't formulaic. They have a life of their own, as do their characters, and when you live a character's life through your words, you have to feel the truth of it...viscerally. To sane people, that sounds more than a little crazy. But to writers (and artists of any kind) it makes perfect sense.

How many of us get to the end of our stories, type the coveted words The End, and then go back and reread the opening few paragraphs of Chapter One and tweak them? I know I do.

But what's the best way to write a good hook? Should you begin with dialogue, plunging your reader straight into the mix? What about prologues full of description and back story? Are you a fan of starting your hook in that way? I think there are as many right answers as there are different authors. It all has to do with style and voice. I myself have done it with dialogue, and I've also done it with full bodied description, pages before I got into any real dialogue...both equally successful and both putting the reader right into the story. So, what's your style? How do you hook your readers into wanting to hear your voice tell your story?

I'd love to know...

Marianne Morea

2012

2012

What does it mean: 2012 . . . the numerical value? Everything vibrates to something. Does 2012 lead to the end of the world predicted by the Mayans?

Or ~ is there a hidden reason as to why the calendar stopped when it did? Not that I place preference on what mankind has to say about such matters. We are all flawed some way or another. It is the nature of “the beast”.

Like - why does it have to be an end? Why can’t it be a beginning? What do the numbers say, as they set the tone of the year.

2012

2 the number of Cooperation. Whatever we do this year will be worked in the joint effort of others. The requisite is two. The problem posed with this number is knowing when to give and when not to. And this is not only of your time, but also of yourself. If you give too much, you will become dry, emptied to the point of nothingness, what I call the ‘Why bother?’ syndrome. Withdrawing is an eventuality.

But – if you give just right: a little bit here and little bit there, you are uplifted. Confidence flows.

Trust is required here, trusting in what you feel. Every venture starts out trust. So does every partnership, be they co-workers, friends, family, or romantic. Trust. It goes a long way.

0 comes after the 2, intensifying the quality, and the depth, of these relationships. Double Whammy, but remember - it all depends on which side the fence you’ve decided to rest your head: positive, or negative. Taken in context, working with others to achieve your goals is a good thing and has benefits you both can reap from.

Survive by knowing when to compromise (cooperate) and when not too. Give and take is amplified so things are going to be harder, but the rewards will be great. For those who believe (trust) in the future, eventually it materializes! It’s a given. Faith really does move mountains!

1 the number of Creativity. This is what happens when we work with others for the common good. The creative juices flow, a fountain of opportunities bubbling to the forefront. 1 correlates with Aries in that it is the first sign of the Zodiac. Any where Aries resides is a new beginning, a brand new start- one that must be undertaken with courage, faith in the dream enough to make it a reality.

The only problem is impatience which leads to missed steps, or should I say skipped steps, as that’s what it is, passing over the mundane because I want to get to the fun. Connect the dots means not missing a brick in our foundation. When presented in the whole, they create a new picture: Dimension. Depth. Feeling. Truth. This is who I am. I can do it!

It can be anything that’s important; anything that’s bothering you . . . you know? A nagging doubt? Curse it! This is Earth after all! Never limit. Murphy’s Law exists for a reason. They are tests. LOL! Patience, therefore, is an asset.

2 back to Cooperation/ Care Giving. Let’s see . . . we start out cooperating in order to release our creativity. Things will be intense but will work out if we so desire. An opportunity for dreams to come true via belief is here. Trusting them will make the juices flow.

Now we’re back to square one but with a difference. Before the vision wasn’t real. Now it is. The people we’ll be working with at this point will be the ones who will help us succeed. This is a good cooperation BUT it must still abide by the rule of knowing when to give and when not to; who to give to and who not to. Trust your first impression, what some call instinct. It’s more accurate than we realize.

Now let’s take the separates and make them one. They are the energies at work. 2+0=2+1=3+2=5. 5 the number of Freedom. If we learn to trust, we can set ourselves free! 5 has a kinship with Leo, the Teenager of the Zodiac. “You think I can’t,” the kid yells at his/her parents. “Well, watch me. I will!”

Leo is the King of Creativity. Walt Disney was a Leo and look what he did! Dreams come true to those who believe because they never give up. This year, a 5 year, means we have an opportunity to take some risks and win.

But it’s all based on your faith in your dream.

These dreams represent what’s important to you. They make up the fabric of your life.

The odds are set in our favor this year so why not go after that star and set yourself free? You’ll find the things that were holding you back melt to the wayside each step you take. A new beginning . . .

So . . . what do you want to set yourself free of this year? Where will your new beginnings take you?

Hmmmm. Maybe that Mayan calendar stopped because it was the end of one era and the beginning of another? The opportunity is there. A 5 is a year in which wishes can come true if we but chase them.

Do I believe the world is going to end this December?

No.

And I don’t worry about it either.

I’m going to be chasing some stars.