You can’t hide your lyin’ eyes.

So say the Eagles in their hit song, though there are some top-notch poker players who would heartily disagree.

Last weekend I attended a great writing workshop that got me thinking about lovers, liars, and poker players. What do they have in common?

All three are fascinating subjects for studying body language.

When talking to someone, studies show only about seven percent of what we communicate is through the actual words used. 38% is through the voice — tone, inflection, volume, etc. (which helps explain why emoticons have become so prevalent in texts and e-mails). That means 55% — over half — of what is communicated is non-verbal. Silent.

Chatting with the friend sitting next to me, we realized our guys are better at reading people than we are – both are men of few words, while we talk and tell stories for a living. It makes sense that these guys understand the silent language. Mothers (and evolved fathers) tend to be good at reading body language too, since they rely on non-verbal cues to take care of their babies (as well as toddlers who say “ca-ca” when what they want is a cracker, not a diaper change).

Test what you already know about reading body language:

1. Someone is trying to convince you of something (“This is the investment opportunity of a lifetime!”) using gestures wherein their hands are mainly palm-down. Should you trust them?

2. It’s easier to tell if someone is lying to you over the phone than in a face-to-face conversation.

3. Upon seeing a man to whom she is very attracted, a woman’s pupils will contract.

4. Gestures such as touching his forehead or clasping his fingers and rubbing his thumb along his opposite hand indicate he is comfortable, open, and honest.

5. Arms folded over the chest always means the person is feeling defensive, hostile, or cold.

I’ll post the answers later. If you’ve been watching Lie To Me on Fox (it’s on tonight!) you probably got them all correct.

Much of what was conveyed in the workshop was a refresher since of course I people watch -– I think it’s one of the required habits before you can consider yourself a writer. New to me was the concept of honest feet. You can consciously school your expression to be neutral or convey something false; you probably think about what to do with your hands, too. But do you think about what to do with your feet?

A foot pointed away from your conversational partner often means you’re uncomfortable, ready to bolt at any second. If you’re in a group and amenable to a newcomer walking up to join said group, one foot is probably pointing to the newcomer. Open. If you don’t want them to approach, your feet are pointed straight at your current partner. Closed.

An exception might be “happy feet.” If you’re happy and excited, there’s a good chance one foot has the toes lifted high, often pointing at an angle away from your body.

A couple who are sitting with opposite legs crossed so they’re mirroring each other are in accord. If you see this in a hotel lobby bar and her shoe is also dangling from her toes, exposing her heel, there’s an excellent chance he’ll get her room key.

Back to the quiz. The answers are all “no.” How did you do?

When I was in college I found myself drawn to disturbing classes. Aside from my normal minor in history where I took regular classes, my major was in Sociology with a course work focus on deviant behavior. Here I took classes like Juvenile Delinquency, Criminology, and Violent Crimes. (this was one of my actual text books) I loved it! All of it, even the horrific autopsy photos of a child who’d been murdered and when we had the undercover FBI agent come and tell us all about the motorcycle gangs. It was all deeply disturbing, but oh-so-fascinating. So you would think it would be natural that when it came to my writing that it would be dark and gritty. Well, if you’ve read me, then you could say, yeah, not so much. (Though I assure you the new series has its share of serious danger and creepy villains.)

And even more than that, you’d think that I’d be a huge romantic suspense fan. Well, up until recently, I didn’t read that either. It started with JD Robb – I’ve blogged about my new obsession with those books. And now I’m totally hooked. I recently read an Allison Brennan trilogy that I devoured, they were all so different and unique, yet her voice and style are constant so you know exactly what you’re getting with one of her books. I loved them. Now I’m reading a Karen Rose book and I have a shelf more of other authors to try. And I even have an historical romantic suspense idea I’ve developed, but that will have to be for another day. Suffice it to say I’m a big fan of the genre. What can I say, I’m always late to the party.

So how about you? Have you tried a new subgenre lately that you love? And do you have any favorite romantic suspenses to recommend?

Like most people, I get a little starstruck around people I’ve seen on TV or in the movies. Once I saw Stephen King at a Red Sox game, and he said (to the best of my recollection, anyway), “Yankees suck.” (I was wearing a Yankees cap). It was thrilling! I muttered something vaguely derogatory about the Red Sox, as I was raised to do, but I was thinking, “Holy cow! Stephen King! He really is strange-looking!”

My husband was friends in high school with Kevin O’Connor, the host of This Old House. Kevin is McIrish’s closest claim to celebrity. When McIrish forced me to watch his buddy on TV, I said, “Hey, I think I went to college with him!” McIrish was dubious and somewhat irritated that I tried to steal his celebrity friend, but it turns out I was right…Kevin and I are both alumni of Holy Cross. 

When I was 16, my mother took my sister and me to see Zorba on Broadway. My mother was a huge fan of Anthony Quinn, and somehow she got us backstage. Mr. Quinn hugged and kissed my mother, who was forty at the time and ridiculously beautiful, and then pinched me on the chin. I almost swooned. That man had charisma, let me tell you.

Another time when we were newlyweds, McIrish stood at an intersection with Christopher Walken, one of my favorite actors. When he told me of this wondrous day, I asked if he’d told the actor that I was his biggest fan. “No,” McIrish said. “Why not?” I demanded. “Because this is New York,” he answered. “We don’t do that here.”

Sometimes, I imagine being seated next to someone really, really famous on an airplane. Someone who is hunted by the paparazzi, stalked by fans, recognized all over the earth. Brad Pitt, let’s say. I have it all planned, this chance encounter (not that the man flies coach, but this is my fantasy, so let me run with it). I’ll sit next to Brad, and, as I always do, take out the picture of my kids that I always look at during take-off. I’ll invite Brad to admire my gorgeous kids and then, pretending to have no idea who he is, ask him if he has kids, too. I’ll admire his children’s photos, ask about their names and ages, and for the entire flight, I’ll pretend not to know who he is. I think that’s probably the nicest thing I could do for someone that famous.

Have you ever run into a famous person? What did you do or say? Which celebrity would you most like to run into, and what would you say if you did?

Okay, so it’s Valentine’s day. A perfect time to post something about love or chocolates or romance. But because that’s expected, I’m going to take this time to talk about something different.

I’m curious….what’s on your bookshelf? What books are keepers for you? Ones that you’ve chosen to keep rather than selling or giving to friends?

It’s always interesting to see what a person’s has on their bookshelf. Since I’m asking you to spill, I’ll tell you some of the books that are on mine–All of the Twilight series of books, all of Suzanne Enoch’s contemporary Rick & Sam books, and most of LaVyrle Spencer’s books (my two favs are Bittersweet and Separate Beds). On a slightly different note I also have the young adult White Mountain fantasy series of books.

Okay, now it’s your turn….

Valentine’s Day is almost here. Are you ready? Have your dinner reservations? Or maybe you’re staying home. Have the menu all planned? I was watching Rachel Ray the other day, and she said that anyone can make a reservation, but to really show love, you have to cook for someone.

I’m not sure if that would really show my love, but I do think there’s more to love than a dinner out once a year, a box of candy, and flowers (not that I mind any of those things, honey!—a card would be nice, too).

But even if my husband gets me nothing, I would be okay with that because he’s shown me love in so many real ways. What is real love? Here are a few of my ideas.

Real love is loving someone when they’re not perfect, when they mess up really badly, or when they just don’t get it.

Real love is loving someone even during those times when they are not loveable.

Real love is loving someone through the hard times—when there’s the death of a loved one, a natural disaster, or financial adversity.

Real love is loving someone more on the third or thirtieth wedding anniversary than you did on the third day of marriage.

I hope everyone has a great Valentine’s Day this year. I hope everyone experiences real love.

Fears and fobias are around us everywhere we go. Some people, like myself are afraid of heights. Then there is water, bridges (which seems to combine both), clowns, spiders and the list can go on. We all have our quirks, and our fears are no different. Little things that creep us out here and there. But then there are those things that seem to really strike fear into our hearts.

Take blow-outs for example. Back when I had a day-job, I used to commute 45 minutes both ways to and from work. So I was on the interstate a lot. And in addition to road rage, I acquired a certain paralyzing fear about having a blow-out. I remember I would sit in my car and hold stiffly to the steering wheel trying to remember what it was I’d learned in driver’s ed about how to steer and what to do with my feet. I thought about it every time I drove, and it got to where I was afraid for that commute. Afraid I’d have a blow-out and I’d steer the wrong way and into traffic and be in a horrible accident. While the thought still comes into my mind every now and then when I’m driving, I did eventually find ways to keep the all-consuming thoughts out of my head.

Dolls. Oh man, I can’t even go down that aisle in the toy store. They truly give me the willies. Even as a little girl, and I’ve always been the maternal type, but I NEVER liked dolls. I remember once my parents had given me this porcelain clown doll (yeah, I know as if the doll part wasn’t bad enough, a clown!) that actually played music. Seriously, it was like a horror movie. In any case, it really creeped me out so I would hide it in my closet (never under my bed, I’d seen Poltergeist!) And then miraculously I’d come home and find it like sitting on my dresser or on my bed and I could swear the eyes would follow me. ICK! Willies. In any case, I finally broke down and told my mom I hated it and that I just wanted her to get rid of it and she admitted that she was the one who’d been moving it around. She said she thought that it would end up in my closet after I’d cleaned my room or something and wanted to put it out for me.

If you grow up in central Texas you get very acquainted with tornados. Perhaps not as much as our friends to the north in the plains states, still Texas gets hits fairly regularly. I remember being in 3rd grade and watching one work its way past our school and it hit the gymnasium and tore it all to hell. Maybe that’s where this deep-seeded fear comes from. But if there is a thunderstorm, not even a tornado watch, just a bad storm, I get sick in my stomach. It’s like a bone-chilling fear that cuts me to the core. I remember at my parents house, my bedroom was on the 2nd floor and it’s an older house, built in the 60′s I think and when we would get storms it would sound like the entire top floor was going to blow right off the rest of the house. I would be awake, nervous and watching the weather obsessively. It’s still a fear of mine, but I think it helps now that I’m married because I can wake him up to sit with me.

My newest fear is a doozie. I am crazy scared of putting my cats in the washer and/or dryer. I mean it freaks me out. Like I can be in the middle of doing something and then I get this sick feeling that oh-my-god-what-if-I-put the-cat-in-the-dryer and I have to jump up and run to the laundry room or I have to find both cats. Now I’m careful when I’m doing laundry and I double-check while I’m in there, yet still I am so afraid of doing this.

So what about you, do you have any irrational fears?

Have you ever wondered why you are attracted to your mate?  I have maybe because I’m a romance writer and my books deal with the business of falling in love or maybe just because I’m curious about why everything happens but whatever the reason, I love exploring the science behind falling in love.

I’ve long been a fan of Desmond Morris and his books The Naked Ape and Intimate Behaviour.  I think that the science behind the mating game and breaking it down to a science if fascinating.  Its so interesting to me to see how whether you agree with the fact that we are programmed at the basic DNA level to find a certain mate attractive or not, there is still truth to it.

Last Sunday the Discovery Channel had a special on called The Science of Sex Appeal.  Here’s a link.  The show covers the entire world and every step of falling into love with someone from the physical side of things.  From the first eye contact to the actually love making.  There was an in-depth study that started with faces.  You probably don’t know why you love your mate’s eyes or face but most people in the study stated that something in the facial features first drew them to their mate.  And the scientists in Scotland who were conducting this particular study found that faces that were symmetrical and followed  the golden ratio if the ratio between the eyes and the nose was the same as the ratio between the face and the smaller areas.

They had a program that could calculate this on faces and it proved that the faces in history that were generally held to be the most beautiful all followed the golden ration.

While finding the science of beauty may not seem important they did talk about how the brain recognizes this and tries to find mates for us based on it.  Not because beauty is important but because health is.

There was also a study that found that we gravitate toward people we feel are as attractive as we are.  Seldom do we go after a mate who’s more beautiful then we believe ourselves to me.

So what do you think?  Is there a science to attraction?  Or do we simply know what we want and go after it?

Happy reading!

Katherine

A couple of years ago a trend started among romance writing. Branding. 

It seemed to start around the time Carly Phillips was first on Kelly Ripa’s bookclub. All of sudden it seemed like everyone had some clever tag line that described their work. In theory, it made sense. All kinds of other products have easily identifiable brands. When you want ketchup, you go for Heinz 57. You want facial tissue, you grab a box of Kleenex. You want chocolate cookie sandwiches with a creamy centers, Oreos. 

Though I liked the idea of having a single sentence that summed up what kind of experience readers could expect from my books, I could never come up with what that sentence would be. After all, I write for Harlequin/Silhouette. There are like two thousand Harlequin/Silhouette writers or something crazy. Would Heinz 57 really stand out if there were 2000 other brands of ketchup on the shelves? 

Besides, I just couldn’t think of what to say about my books. ‘Cause … ya know … they’re just romance novels. I don’t mean just romance in a derogative way. But they’re not super sexy or sexy scary or have werewolves or fairies or anything to distinguish them. They’re just romances. 

A friend of mine, Marian Pearson Stevens recently put her website and incorporated the phrase “Classic Romance.” I immediately thought, “Gosh, I wish I’d thought of that.”  After all, I started reading romance with the Harlequin, Sillhouette and Loveswepts of the eighties. Like what I aim for, they were just good romances. Sexy men, spunky women. Lots of conflict, lots of sparky, nice heartwarming sigh at the end. That’s what I always aim for. Classic romances.  Like I said, wish I’d thought of it.

Maybe Marian’s tag line got me thinking and knocked something loose. Because the other day while waiting in line at the grocery, I thought of it. A great tag line. Certainly unique. So here it is … You ready?

Emily McKay romance novels … Men You’ll Want to Do!

P.S. Today my new book, Tempted Into the Tycoon’s Trap, goes on sale! It’s a Romantic Times Top Pick, which I’m very excited about. You should check it out. See if Jack is, you know, someone you’d want to do. 

We’ve had a really harsh winter so far. This past weekend is the first time since early December that the temperature has been above freezing. We’ve had probably twice as much snow as we usually get all winter – and yet it’s only February.

When the winters are this harsh, I worry about people who are homeless – and even those who have places to stay, but can barely afford to heat their homes. A lot of these people are in their current situations because of their own failures – but hey, who doesn’t have a shortcoming or two? And since I’m not a member of any church congregation, I donate a good bit of cash to these poor souls.

But what about the animals? When the weather is this harsh, they’ve got to be suffering. It’s hard to find food (defrosted food, that is) and shelter. A place to get out of the cold.

I am a total wuss, even with wild animals. I shudder when I watch the poor squirrels zipping around in the snow, looking for food; and my toes curl at the sight of a flock of birds in my lilac bushes, all puffed up to try to keep warm (their poor toes!) I received a call last week from an area pet shelter. They’re a rescue organization, and not a euthanasia group. They asked for a donation. Normally, I send my extra cash to human shelters, but this one touched something in me. Having my own two big mutts as well as two cats, I know how they hurry back inside after a quick trip to the yard. I just can’t imagine how it is for those poor critters that have no place to go.

So, yes, I’ll be sending a donation to the kind folks at the Metro Area Animal Adoption Association when I write my usual checks to the Capuchin Soup Kitchen and the Salvation Army’s Bed and Bread Club.

What about you? Are you as much of a softie when it comes to animals as I am?

It is a great honor to be a guest here today. Thank you to all the Jaunty Quills for inviting me, and especially Cindy Kirk, my favorite writer and all around awesome critique partner. 

I wanted to share with you today one of the most profound writing lessons I’ve ever learned. A SCENE IS NEVER ABOUT WHAT THE SCENE IS ABOUT.

In other words, the subtext of a scene (what lies under the action) is the true story and what your readers will remember after they put your book down.

But what is subtext?

I first started thinking about subtext several years ago. It began when I was critiquing a friend’s manuscript because she had received an extensive revision letter from an acquiring editor with the hopes of landing a contract. My friend asked me to take a look at her final manuscript. Although an incredibly hardworking woman, this particular writer was one of the most negative people I had ever met.

As I started reading her manuscript—a supposedly light-hearted romantic comedy—something felt “off” about the story. I had no idea what. The writing was stellar. The plotting was air-tight, the premise perfect for the targeted line. So, what was wrong? Why did I keep putting down the manuscript with a sense of nausea in my stomach? About halfway through the story it hit me at last. Her negativity was coming through the pages. Not in the story, itself, but in the subtext. As I read page after page I kept getting a sense that the heroine would never find happiness no matter how the writer wrote the ending. That manuscript never sold. That author is still unpublished and, sadly, still one of the most negative women I know. The subtext in her writing proved that fact.

They say we should write what we know. I say, WE WRITE WHO WE ARE.

But how do we create subtext instead of letting it seep into our manuscripts unnoticed?

Word Choice. Want to create anger, joy, depression, attraction? Try creating those emotions by consciously choosing verbs and nouns that evoke those moods: the more specific, the more concrete, the more intentional the better. Want to take it one step further? Pick verbs and nouns that also sound like the emotion you’ve chosen. Use hard consonants for hard emotions; soft consonants for soft emotions. Pick long, sensual sounding words to create sexual tension.

The Four Elements. Air, earth, water, fire. Is your heroine a grounded person? Use earth-related verbs, nouns and adjectives when you’re in her POV or in the hero’s POV when he’s thinking about or describing her. Is she ethereal? Try focusing on water words.

Body Language. Often, what a character doesn’t say is as equally important as what she does say. She might utter, “I love you” but her body language (lack of eye contact, shifted stance, crossed arms) says the opposite. How about taking this one step further? Our heroine says, “I love you” but her immediate step back followed by an internal thought that reveals her lack of trust toward the hero instantly negates her declaration.

Setting. For me, setting is yet another character in my stories. In my second Love Inspired Harlequin Romance, HANNAH’S BEAU, I described the exterior of a notorious brothel like a woman refusing to accept her age. The madam of this brothel is exactly that, a woman refusing to accept her age. I never say this outright, but it is implied when I describe her home in a way that makes the reader subconsciously think of the owner who has been 29 years old for two decades. Want to create a dark mood? Use rain, clouds, or a moonless night. Happy mood? Sunshine, soft breeze, perfect temperature in the room, music in the background of the scene. How about trepidation? Use fierce winds, cold temperatures, a candle snuffed out by a burst of air.

Bottom line: Be intentional with your subtext and you’ll have a stronger story as a result.

Renee Ryan writes for the Steeple Hill line Love Inspired Historical. Her fabulous editor is Melissa Endlich of Steeple Hill. Her first book in the Charity House series, The Marshall Takes a Bride is a current February 2