By April Ryder
(Guest Blogger)
One of the most common
questions we are asked as authors is: How did you come up with…?
And most of the time we have no real idea. Every day we’re
absorbing things, experiences, snatches of conversation, something on
the TV, finding inner meaning in songs and enjoying hot scenes in
romance books, etc. After we get a good night’s sleep (hur hur) all
of that mixed up mess is then spat out in the form of seeds of ideas
for books or characters or what have you.
So my answer is usually
the above and ideas usually come out while I’m in the shower, which
is why I sit down in the shower every morning and see what my brain
has come up with. With Skid Marks and the Selby Slammers I knew that
BBW was popular and so were— least somewhat recently—sports
romances. I disadvantaged myself though by making the sport Roller
Derby but I didn’t care. Roller Derby kicks arse! I’m also not
good at writing to market, which is good and bad. Good because I
write what I feel like, bad because it probably won’t earn me much
money :(
I’m not a derby chick
but I’ve seen quite a few matches and it’s quite amazing! Women
of all ages, shapes and sizes coming together to get that jammer
through the pack can be quite inspiring to someone in the crowd. I
think it was watching them that helped me come up with Skid Marks. As
for the main character Hayley, she’s a bit more on the young and
stupid side of the scale. Not that she’s too stupid to live, she’s
just quite naive, especially in the beginning. When the book starts
she’s had just one long term boyfriend and she thought she was
happy. It just goes to show that not everyone in the relationship is
happy at the same time. There’s another person there thinking,
feeling and experiencing and we tend to forget they might not match
up.
Hayley is super fun to
write though. She’s very talkative and her mind doesn’t shut up.
As a result I’ve had to throw in quite a few of my own life
experiences, some mannerisms and thought processes to help make her
life a non-stop roller coaster. She might be a bit over the top at
times but we’ve all had those moments ourselves. I’m not saying
Hayley is a clone of me, we just have a few things in common.
Something else that is
hot in steamy romance right now—and may it forever be—is BBW. Big
Beautiful Women. Since I am one and ‘they’ say to write what you
know, I decided to go with it. I try to keep Hayley’s size vague
except for when I don’t but that is from the character’s point of
view. Keeping it vague allows for any woman who might consider
themselves a little curvier than average can relate to Hayley. It
does also help if you like pancakes :P
So there you have it.
Ideas for romance stories come from anywhere and everywhere and some
are even a reflection of real life!
I hope you enjoy
reading about Hayley and how she gets the unfortunate nickname of
Skid Marks.
Blurb:
A Fun BBW Roller Derby Romance
After being dumped by
her live-in boyfriend for a blonde stick insect and a job in
Wellington, Hayley is tricked into trying out for the local roller
derby team—the Selby Slammers.
At the tryouts, hilarity ensues when she leaves her mark on not only
the rink, but some of the hunky men from the inline hockey team who
practice on the next rink over.
Meanwhile, Hayley
attempts to pick up what's left of her (love) life but is thwarted at
every turn by three men: 1) the surprise return of her ex, 2) Jake,
the hunky hockey player, and 3) continually running into Rick the
'Dick' who may or may not have a crazy underwear fetish!
All three seem to be
conspiring against her, taking turns causing unexpected problems in
her new and very hectic (love) life.
“Adam, I'm gonna
kill you. Right after I've finished eating these pancakes—ooh
maple-flavoured syrup and berry compote. But after that I'll kill
you! And then, I'll find a time machine and kick my own butt, cause
damn, am I stupid or what? Nobody answer that!”
— Hayley
Excerpt
I opened the door,
grabbed my towel and was in the process of wrapping it around me when
I realised I wasn’t alone. Unfortunately, it wasn’t Jake who
stood guiltily by my clothes with my panties clenched tightly in
hand.
“You’re not Jake.”
“No,” he said. The
guilty look on his face disappeared, quickly replaced with the angry
one I was used to. “Sorry to disappoint you.”
We glared at each
other. He was better at it though, seeing as he was clothed and
seemed to have more practice.
“Wh-what are you
doing?” I asked, hoping for some sane, logical response as to why
the man who liked to yell at me had my panties. “This
is the women’s changing room.”
“I know.”
I blinked. After the
swear-filled tirade he had given me earlier, that’s all he had to
say? I snapped. I know, completely out of character for me, but he
deserved it.
I marched up to him,
placed my fisted hands on my hips and got all up in his face, just
like he had with me in the rink. “That giant tent in your hand?
That’s mine.”
I couldn’t believe
what he did next. He dropped them. On the floor. Right in a puddle of
water.
“Oh my god,” I
breathed as we both stared at my sodden plus-sized panties.
“Sorry,” he said
and bent to retrieve them.
“Well, so you should
be,” I admonished.
When he didn’t get
back up, I knew something was wrong. I looked down at the top of his
head and frowned. This had gone beyond the Outer Limits.
“What’s wrong?” I
asked.
“You should put a
towel on,” he murmured, speaking to the ground and not up at me.
“A towel?” I asked,
confused. That’s when I remembered I was naked under my
towel—except my towel was missing. I slapped one hand over my still
tingling lady bits and an arm across my breasts, smacking him in the
side of the head in the process.
He grunted and tilted
slightly before righting himself while still crouched on the floor.
For a man who just had
his hands on my panties, he sure was going to great extremes to avert
his eyes. Why would a man do that? Why would he only be interested in
panties and not the woman who wore them?
“God you don’t wear
them, do you?” I asked without thinking.
“No!”
That answer was too
quick.
“I was just—never
mind.”
On the one hand, I was
curious about what he actually wanted them for but on the other, I
was still naked and he wasn't. Not that I wanted him to join me in
being naked!
“Oh god,” I groaned
again.
I spied my towel on the
floor behind me and retrieved it. I made sure it was wrapped around
me extra tight before I made him leave.
He of course, tried to
apologise again before shutting the door. “I’m sorry. It’s not
what you—“
“Just get out. We’re
even okay. We’re so totally even that you might owe me!” I froze,
suddenly aware that I had possibly suggested that I wanted to see the
other half of him—the half I hadn’t yet seen—naked. “Get
out!”
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About April Ryder
Rock star, catwalk
model, ventriloquist--April Ryder is none of these things. She is,
however, a BBW housewife looking to spice up her life with her
hardworking and supportive BBM (is that even a thing?) husband. April
enjoys living on the beach and plans to further explore her sexy,
sensual side writing romance.
