The Dynamic Trio - Blog

Reality television—it’s a fact of life these days, reality shows filling lots of programming slots and they’re a topic of much discussion amongst fans. In truth, it’s difficult to switch on the television and not hit one of the many reality shows gracing our screens.

So what is a reality show? Wikipedia defines reality shows as a television show that’s unscripted, shows dramatic or humorous events and features the man on the street instead of professional actors.

When I first considered writing this article, I thought reality shows were a modern invention. Not so. According to my research, reality television shows have been around since the late 1940s. Shows such as Candid Camera, You Asked For It and the Miss America Pageant were around in the late 40s and early 50s.

During the 2000s the popularity of reality shows exploded. Millions of us tune in to watch American Idol, Survivor, The Amazing Race and Fear Factor to name a few of the shows currently screening.

Reality shows fall into several categories:

1. Documentary

People are filmed while completing their daily activities. Sometimes plots are constructed or planned with the participants taking part in prescribed activities. Sometimes the environment is a specific one for example the 1900 House with the participants stuck in a time warp or Temptation Island where couples are on an island.

Other examples of this type of reality show include celebrities ones such as The Osbournes or The Simple Life. The Truman Show starring Jim Carey is also an example of a documentary reality show, albeit in the form of a movie where the star was filmed secretly for 24 hours a day as part of the movie plot. A great film, BTW.

2. Elimination

The participants take part with the aim of winning a prize. One by one they’re eliminated and the last person takes the prize. American Idol, Dancing With the Stars, The Biggest Loser and America’s Got Talent all fall into this category.

3. Makeover

An expert or group of experts take ordinary people and “improve” or make them over. Examples are Queer Eye For The Straight Guy, Extreme Makeover, and What Not to Wear.

4. Renovation

Several shows concentrate on renovating homes and work spaces. Extreme Makeover: Home Edition is a show that fits into this category.

Some reality show participants have found fame after their appearances such as Idol stars. Others have become media celebrities or gone on to host television shows. Love them or hate them the current popularity of reality shows means they’re here to stay. Boundaries are pushed, making some shows contentious and controversial. Some shows are unabashedly sexual. A fairly new show The Moment of Truth where contestants are asked questions about their lives and things they have done certainly pushes past my comfort zone. It makes me wonder about the reality shows of the future. How far will we push under the guise of entertainment?

I thought about reality shows and the future not long ago and came up with two futuristic stories. Sex Idol features Antonio and Sasha, reunited lovers who compete for first prize in the inaugural Sex Idol contest. Fallen Idol features Bob and Rafi, old friends who compete for the first prize and find love along the way. Both of these stories feature elimination type reality shows. You can read excerpts for both stories at my website.

What do you think about reality shows? Like them or hate them? Do you have any favorites? (I’ll admit to an American Idol addiction)

More writerly today but I’ll sprinkle pretty pictures throughout so as not to bore you all.

We’ll start off with this one, shall we? As I just finished up my partial for No Reservations I thought I’d put up my vision of Charles Dixon. Mmmm, Dr. Troy…

Okay so anyway - I was talking with a friend about books earlier today and we discussed a series people often bring up as “great” erotica and I was saying how much I just never got into them. I can overlook lots of stuff if the author can give me great characters and show me their connection to each other. But this particular author in these books I felt never connected with her characters.

For me - what makes a book one I really love, one that moves me or makes me pick it up over and over are the characters. Show me people who are three dimensional and I will get past my other readerly pet peeves. But if I don’t care about them, the other flaws will leap out at me.

As an author - I want to feel my characters. I want to connect with them and know them in some sense. I hope that translates onto the page. Sometimes I feel the hero more than the heroine, or the villain even. But when I’m struggling, I think it shows and I start worrying about it until that moment when I finally get it, when I finally know them and I can go back and adjust, fill in, give them life. In the books I refer to above, it feels very kitchen sink-ish - like the author had a check list of things she thought others believed to be “hot” and had people doing them to each other but I never wanted inside, never wanted to know them and never felt introduced to them either.

Anyway, it could just be me, but it’s characters like Roarke and Eve that bring me back to the In Death books, especially Naked in Death, time and again.

When my husband and I traveled through India we went with a group. Much like the characters in my new release Wanderlust, we traveled in a truck, both camping and staying in hotels during our circuit of India. At the beginning of the trip we decided we’d play a game that’s all about murder. Here’s how it works:

Everyone receives a slip of paper, one of which bears the word “murderer”. Once the murderer is picked he or she quietly tells one member of the group they are murdered and how they must die. That particular person must pretend to die in the chosen manner and then he or she is out of the game. The murderer chooses his next victim and waits for them to die before choosing another. The object of the game is for the person acting as the murderer to kill off everyone before someone in the group discovers his “or” her identity.

One person acts as the judge. All players can take one guess at the murderer’s identity. If they make an incorrect guess, they are out of the game.

Here’s a little real life drama from when we played the murder game during our trip to India. My husband was in charge of lighting campfires each night, and the murderer suggested he died very realistically with fire. He scared me half to death. I was so angry and upset I refused to play the game any longer. I also didn’t talk to my husband for a few hours. Mr. Munro won the prize for the best death, and we still have his small plastic Oscar trophy. It’s bright orange – for those who’d like to picture it.

In Wanderlust, the passengers play the murder game. Anna, the tour leader isn’t very amused with her passengers when they pretend to die. And when her passengers start dying for real, she’s not impressed with the game at all!

Here’s an excerpt from Wanderlust showing the first death in the murder game.

Wanderlust by Shelley Munro

A loud, terrified scream rent the air. The fine hairs at the back of my neck rose. And when the feminine scream sounded a second time, I grabbed my T-shirt and dragged it back over my head. I only paused to step into my jeans before sprinting from my cabin.

A group of my passengers milled together outside the cabins at the far end of the hotel grounds. Alarm seared through my gut, lending my feet wings. I covered the distance between my cabin and passengers in seconds flat, despite the gravel footpath beneath my bare feet.

“What’s wrong?” I squeezed out the words between adrenaline-fueled pants.

“Oh look. It’s An-An-Anna!” my sister warbled. “She’s dead. She’s dead, dead, dead!” Elizabeth was rotten drunk. She stood between Jack Donovan and Carmichael Jones and wobbled from side to side.

“You’re drunk.” My eyes narrowed to slits. “You’re all drunk.”

“Not too drunk to notice you’ve got your T-shirt inside out,” Jack said.

“And you’re not wearing a bra. Shouldn’t do that when it’s so cold in the mornings,” Elizabeth chided. She spoiled it by hiccupping loudly. The three of them laughed hysterically.

“Antonia’s been murdered,” AJ said.

It was then I noticed Antonia, another of my passengers lying on the ground. Unmoving. Fear and anger knotted inside me. Why weren’t they doing anything? I pushed past my passengers, elbowing Elizabeth and company aside when they didn’t move fast enough. “What’s wrong with her? Are you sure she’s dead? Have you called for a doctor?” Lord, Antonia wasn’t moving. She didn’t even appear to be breathing. Sheer black fright froze me for an instant before instinct kicked in and my first aid training came to the fore. I sank down on my knees and felt for a pulse. A strong, healthy pulse beat beneath my fingers. Confused, I glanced up to find every one of my passengers smirking at me. I looked back at Antonia. Her eyes were open now and she closed one green eye in a wink.

“Gotcha,” she said with a great deal of satisfaction. “We decided we’d award a prize for the best death. I think I might have a good chance of winning.”

Shock yielded swiftly to fury. I leapt to my feet, clenching my teeth together and glared at them all. “I thought there’d been an accident. I thought Antonia was really dead.” I hurled my words at them like stones, but it didn’t seem to puncture their alcohol-induced hilarity. They’d obviously spent most of the night drinking and partying, although some of them were worse for wear than others. A vein throbbed at my temple, and I felt my face grow hot. Damn, didn’t they see how irresponsible they’d been?

“We’ve started playing the murder game,” Sebastian said from behind me.

“You!” I whirled to face him, allowing every bit of my anger to show in my face. I literally shook with it. “You should know better.”

His brows rose a fraction while his face remained expressionless, but I just knew what he was thinking, what they were all thinking. They thought I was overreacting. Fine. They could think what they liked.

“The truck will leave at eight on the dot. Make sure you’re ready with all the packs and sleep gear stowed in the back locker.” My voice was harsh, my words letting them all know I meant business. Yep, bitch number one. Aware of the chill in the air and Sebastian giving my chest the once-over, I wrapped my arms across my breasts and stamped back to my cabin.

Buy your copy here.

Hi all,

We’re going to do a little blog tour today because I want to share some pictures with you of my recent trip overseas. Take a look at the cool pics below from Dublin. Then visit www.tjmichaels.com where you’ll see some cool pics from England and then directed to www.ladiesoftheclub.blogspot.com to see some other neat pics.

Have fun!

TJ

Now, this is a really neat building. The architecture is awesome and you just don’t see this kind of building everyday. The picture underneath is a close up shot so you can see the handpainted people on the building.

This is the second pic… Is this a cool closeup or what?

Just to give you an idea of how freaking HUGE this gate is, this is me and my son standing in front of it…and he’s 6 feet tall!! Hey,. NO LAUGHING at my leggings. They match my shirt and sweater, dang it ;D

And this pic is from the front of the national museum. For a birds-eye view of the Hill of Tara, you have to visit www.tjmichaels.com…Heh heh ;D

I’m blogging over at The Danger Zone today about gorillas in Rwanda.

I’ve done something to my right arm. It’s painful when using the computer, so I’m off to rest and recover. It’s a sunny day today, so I’m thinking I’ll be lazy and sit in the sun for a while. I hope all mothers out there had a wonderful day.

Happy Mother’s Day to all you mom’s out there. And if you’re a single dad (which means you have to be mom, too), Happy Mother’s Day to you, too.

I’m so happy to be home from traveling, I don’t know what to say. I could pass on seeing another airplane for many years to come. God, those flights from overseas were long. But me and the kids made it safe and sound.

Yesterday was my birthday! I turned the big 40 and my kids surprised me with cake and ice cream (which they KNOW I’m not supposed to eat ;D) and we enjoyed some peace and quiet. I’m relaxing today before getting back to life tomorrow - back to the office for work.

Also working on edits for Hatsept Heat. My editor is so cool - she makes awesome suggestions and comments but doesns’t get all bent out of shape if I want to go with my own ideas. Thankfully, she’s also a grammar goddess ’cause I have a problem with those damned danglies (dangling modifiers) !

Visit my website at www.tjmichaels.com for pictures of our trip to the EU and the UK. You’ll find them on The Scoop page by the end of this week. In the meantime, there are pics (finally!) of our booksigning last month.

Later,

TJ

I have a new interview up at Sensual. You can read it here.

And in writing news I’m delighted to announce I’ve sold a book to Samhain Publishing. Tea For Two is a hot contemporary set in London and is the story of a Hayley, a woman who reads tea leaves and finds love along the way. I’m really excited about joining the Samhain family. Actually, color me very excited!!

I’ve been reading a lot of m/m lately. I’m not sure why, but I’ve felt in the mood to read this genre. My favorite out of all my recent reads would have to be Josh Lanyon’s Adrien English series. Adrien owns a bookstore specializing in mysteries and has a habit of stumbling over dead bodies. His lover is a cop called Jake who is firmly in the closet and has no intention of coming out - ever. The books are not erotic and there aren’t many love scenes. They concentrate mainly on the solving the mystery and the relationship between the two. I’ve fallen in love with Adrien. Actually, I like Jake too. This is a seriously good series, and quite frankly, Josh needs to write faster because I’ve just about read all his books now. I highly recommend Josh’s books.

Check out the Danger Zone authors, a new group of authors I’ve joined who write adventure and action stories. The Danger Zone officically opens on 11 May.

Sorry I’ve been so absent of late. I’m in the writing cave finishing up my polish on No Reservations - mine and Megan’s next joint project. I should finish with it today in fact and then it’s on to Fallen, or what was Fallen but is not notFallen and we’re in the process of finding a new title.

notFallen is set in the same world as Undercover but isn’t a sequel. It’s a push/pull sort of story with major opposites so the scenes should be hella fun to write.

No Reservations takes up six months after Taking Care of Business and features the same two couples. Only this time Leah and Kate go to Las Vegas only to be followed by Brandon and Dix. Megan and I have been plotting the story and I think this one is going to be as fun as TCOB to write.

Anyway, I’ve got to get back to it. Plus, hello ANTS! They got in through a side wall, I’m not sure how, but I have to deal with them now. I cleaned up this morning (they love to invade when it’s not quite raining outside, gah!) And then back to Dix and Kate, currently in bed. heh.

Oh and I made my Sven target this weekend! This was the hardest challenge of the three for me but I did it so yay!

I’m hiding out in the writing cave today, determined to complete the last read through of my current work in progress, another Middlemarch book.

I’ve received a release date for Cat and Mouse, Middlemarch Mates, book five. Cat and Mouse will be out on 1 October from Ellora’s Cave. As soon as I get my new manuscript off to my editor, I’ll update my website with the blurb and an excerpt.

15 May is the opening date for a new group I’ve joined called Danger Zone Authors. We all write action adventure stories and are very excited about our new venture. I’ll post more details soon.

And finally, 3 May was the anniversary of the very first spam email. The message was sent in 1978 by a marketer for the DEC computer company to 400 people on the West Coast of the US. There was no ill intent meant by the email. How things have changed!

Meanwhile, it’s back to the cave…