Author Archives: Victoria Janssen

About Victoria Janssen

Victoria Janssen [she, her] currently writes cozy space opera for Kalikoi. The novella series A Place of Refuge begins with Finding Refuge: Telepathic warrior Talia Avi, genius engineer Miki Boudreaux, and augmented soldier Faigin Balfour fought the fascist Federated Colonies for ten years, following the charismatic dissenter Jon Churchill. Then Jon disappeared, Talia was thought dead, and Miki and Faigin struggled to take Jon’s place and stay alive. When the FC is unexpectedly upended, Talia is reunited with her friends and they are given sanctuary on the enigmatic planet Refuge. The trio of former guerillas strive to recover from lifetimes of trauma, build new lives on a planet with endless horizons, and forge tender new connections with each other.

Robin Bradford Guest Post – Audiobook & E-book Pricing

Posted on October 8, 2009 by Victoria Janssen

Please welcome my guest, Robin Bradford! # The price of sharing For years, there have been two markets for audiobooks. There was the retail market, which sold audiobooks at around $39.99/title. This was higher and lower, of course, depending on … Continue reading →

Posted in business of writing, guest, romance novels | 1 Comment

Anne Sexton, "The Black Art"

Posted on October 8, 2009 by Victoria Janssen

The Black Art A woman who writes feels too much,those trances and portents!As if cycles and children and islandsweren’t enough; as if mourners and gossipsand vegetables were never enough.She thinks she can warn the stars.A writer is essentially a spy.Dear … Continue reading →

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Living/Writing Balance

Posted on October 7, 2009 by Victoria Janssen

I sing in a choir. I would have more time to sing and practice music if I didn’t spend so much time writing. Or vice versa. And if I didn’t spend so much time reading, I would have more time … Continue reading →

Posted in writing, writing process | 7 Comments

Sisyphus, Writing

Posted on October 6, 2009 by Victoria Janssen

I dug into my journal entries of six years ago for this post. I was working on, at the time, the first novel I ever actually completed. Looking back, I seem to have had much more anxiety over the process … Continue reading →

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Stories in the Head

Posted on October 5, 2009 by Victoria Janssen

I used to make up stories before I went to sleep every night. Usually I didn’t get very far. Sometimes I would barely arrange the scene before drifting off, and would start in approximately the same place on the following … Continue reading →

Posted in writing process | 6 Comments

An Experiment in Second-Person Present

Posted on October 4, 2009 by Victoria Janssen

This is an old essay I unearthed from the depths of my laptop. # Point of view and tense have a dramatic effect on a story’s tone. The following excerpt comes from the first typed draft of my short story … Continue reading →

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Moonlight Mistress excerpt – Dialogue

Posted on October 3, 2009 by Victoria Janssen

Moonlight Mistress is out December 2009 from Harlequin Spice. This scene takes place as Crispin’s regiment is heading to France, in the early days of World War One. # Crispin mentally shook himself and joined a group of the men … Continue reading →

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Nifty Stuff That Ought To Be In Romance Novels

Posted on October 2, 2009 by Victoria Janssen

Nifty Stuff That Ought To Be In Romance Novels Bored with billionaire heroes and heroines who own their own antique shops? Be bored no more! Include these elements in your romance, and watch it catch fire! (Keep extinguisher handy, and … Continue reading →

Posted in research, romance novels, writing process | 15 Comments

Raymond Chandler, on time to write

Posted on October 1, 2009 by Victoria Janssen

Today I’m a guest at fellow Spice author Amanda McIntyre’s House of Muse Blog, for “Coffee Talk.” Please stop by and chat if you have a chance! For a LiveJournal charity auction, I am offering your name as a character … Continue reading →

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Everyone should read the Temeraire books.

Posted on September 30, 2009 by Victoria Janssen

“Patrick O’Brian meets Jane Austen meets Dragons.” Just in case you haven’t read Naomi Novik’s Temeraire series yet, I’m going to tell you why you should. And the chief reason to do so is not “because you don’t have enough … Continue reading →

Posted in historical fiction, reading, recommendations, sf/f | 2 Comments