JB McDonald wants to know about “kinks” or not….

You guys, you guys, I wrote an entire blog post. And then deleted it and started over, and I just have to wonder sometimes, where is my brain?

So, hi! How’s that for an introduction? *laughs* I want to say thanks, many times over, to Greta not only for letting me guest blog here, but understanding when my day yesterday went completely haywire (RIP, wonderful Mac laptop) and I, uh, got this blog post to her reeeeaaally late. And then even later, because I deleted the first one. (Though she won’t know that until she reads this. Um. Hide me. *grins*)

But as I ended my first blog attempt, I thought, “Wow. That was rambly. EVEN FOR ME. But look, I could have a whole blog about this thing I mentioned at the end!” And so I am. And you know what that thing was?

Kinks.

No, not that kind. *grins* Well, actually yeah, that kind, too! Reading kinks, writing kinks — what are your kinks? What prompts you to pick up a book? I know there are the obvious ones — people who love vampire books will usually pick up a vampire book. *laughs* But what about the less obvious ones? People ask me what sub-genre I like best, and the fact is that my kink doesn’t fall into any sub-genre. I like books about healing. Mental healing, where someone overcomes some pain or past trauma. I don’t even care if it’s important for the couple in getting together, I just want to see them grow as people.

I once heard that characters who change the most are the ones you remember — and I know for me, that’s true. Has anyone here seen Night At The Museum? Either the first or the second. There are these two characters in it — miniatures of a western guy (played by Chris Owen) and a Roman guy (played by… I have no idea), and they’re only in a very small part of both movies. But they start out in the first one hating each other, and by the end are friends. Even though there’s lots of other characters to pay attention to — starting with the main one! — it’s these guys I always remember. They come through the biggest character change. (Also, they’re just hilarious.)

So, this is my kink: characters who overcome something. Usually it’s trauma, rather than comedy, but Night At The Museum illustrates my point pretty well. ;-D It’s also what I write — even in the only light hearted book I have, Treasure Hunting Meg has to overcome fearing yet another guy will think she’s too eccentric, and Santiago has to overcoming thinking she’ll be panicked by the thought of falling for a shape-shifter.

 

 

In most of my books, it gets much heavier. Nat from Second Hope has to overcome her father’s abuse, and a general mistrust of men. In fact, that book’s rife with overcoming — it’s about a horse rehab center, and the rescue that’s brought in has to be nursed back to health, both mentally and physically. (The hero in this story, Cole, is probably one of my favorite heroes for his kindness and patience. And also, he’s hot. *grins*)

 

In the one about to come out, it gets heavier still — one hero, Jay, has to cope with years of self-abuse stemming from being molested as a kid so that he can get his life together and take custody of his daughter.  In The Rough is a m/m that will be out in August. And in the sibling book to In The Rough, By Degrees, it was Tim coming to grips with his parent’s death and his need to control everything to stay safe. (But, as poor Tim learns, you can’t control love! …I’ll stop being corny, now. *grins*)

 

I love stories about emotional healing, and I’ll write — or read — them in any genre (much to my readers dismay. I’m sure the paranormal people wish I’d stick with paranormal, the gay-romance people with gay-romance, and the western lovers with westerns! Alas, I have too many stories to tell. .

Now, sometimes that changes, of course. Sometimes I just want something steamy — but even then, if it has any aspect of overcoming something, I’m in seventh heaven.

So what I’m wondering is — what about other people? Sure, there are things we always go for (vampires, a sexual kink, an entire genre, a talking dog — wait, maybe that’s just me. *grins*), but what makes a story that much better? Is there anything you’ll find yourself genre-hopping for? Because man, if I can find my healing-kink, I’ll genre hop into almost anything. *grins* I can’t be the only one…

And for anyone who would like to enter a book giveaway, I’ll be giving away one of my books — winners choose! — to two commenters!  Just let me know when you comment that you’d like to enter the drawing, and I’ll add you. Contest is open until midnight Saturday, and I’ll post the winners on my blog on Sunday. And if Greta is very nice, maybe she’ll post them here, too. ;-D

Finally, for general information, you can follow me at my blog, jennabreen.livejournal.com, or my website, jbmcdonald.com, which also has lists of my books and what they’re about, if you want to win one. Now — let’s talk kink. ;-D

JB

*** I am so glad JB is understanding. I actually received this just before my lunch hour, however as I was just about to start working on it – I was called into a last minute training meeting. Anyway after JB chooses the two winners for their choice of one of her books, I will post them here as well. So comment away contest ends midnight Saturday night. Good Luck!***