The Hook - Vital Plot Element or Unnecessary Complication?

Okay, you'll all be pleased to know that I'm done with the crows (until I hear from the eds I guess but NTAI!). My poor climber has been left to languish at a crucial moment so I should probably get back to him and give him his HEA. However, my sticking point is my plot. I have a fake engagement hook in the middle of it and though it stems from actions the characters themselves take, I'm wondering if it's a tad unbelievable. It's purpose is mainly to force the h&h together and maybe to deepen his conflict a bit but I'm still doubtful about it. Do they really need something to force them together? Can't they just be together because they're having a hot affair? I'm at 44k already and the black moment isn't coming for a wee while yet, so maybe my fake engagement is just an unnecessary complication...

The other thing I'm having doubts about is my timeline. Maybe it's just me, but does anyone else think that two weeks is an awfully short time to fall in love? Or is it just the nature of the genre and two weeks is fine and I'm being overly picky?
I don't know. Until I get over these stumbling blocks, I'm not sure I can finish the WIP. Might just wait until I hear back about whether the story is a goer or not.

Anyway, in the meantime, I have gone back to rewriting my Feel the Heat entry. It's so much better now I've got the conflict sorted! Since the editorial assistant asked me about it, I think I might submit that one next should the other one not succeed.

Ah conflict, how do I hate thee? Let me count the ways....

Hard Slog

Well, coming into the home straight with my re-write of my climber story, but it feels at the moment like wading through treacle. Not quite sure why. I'm really having to force myself to keep going with this one. Initially I was quite excited about it but the last third of the book has been a struggle. Maybe it's because although I know where the conflict is going, the action feels slow and - yes, go on, say it - boring. Or maybe it's just having to wrestle with my submission doubt and wishing I would hear back about it so I can get some clear direction about how to proceed. No chance of that in the near future!

It doesn't help having a bright and shiny new idea that's calling to me. It feels wrong to leave the climber story unfinished while I immerse myself in the excitement of a new story. Then again, a change is as good as a rest huh? Hmmm, might just go and do a quick synopsis... ;-)

Presents Writing Competition

Great news re the new competition at I Heart Presents. Another fabulous opportunity for people to bypass the usual wait and get their stuff in front of an editor.

Seeing as how I was a runner up in the previous comp and given what I've learned since, thought I'd post a few bits of advice for those keen to enter.

• The key to the romance is the conflict, especially internal conflict. To work out your internal conflict, put the h&h in a room with no one else, no car chases or kidnaps, and ask yourself why can't they be together right now? It must be something inside the characters, their thoughts, feelings, and experiences that make them think they cannot be together. And their reasons must be strong. It can't just because the heroine doesn't like rich men or the fact that he's arrogant. Why doesn't she like rich men? Why doesn't she like arrogance?
  
• Your readers will live through your heroine so make her someone that everyone can imagine being. Someone that everyone can relate to. Stay away from stereotypes and extremes of behaviour.
• Stick to the guidelines (ie don't add paranormal elements to what is obviously not a paranormal line).
  
• Read as many Modern/Modern Heat as you can get your hands on.
• Remember the KISS principle: Keep It Simple Stupid. Which means don't overcomplicate your plot with intricate suspense elements, lots of secondary characters, or subplots. Keep the focus on the h&h and their conflict.
• These are short romances so the hero must appear - ideally - in the first page or two, and he must be alpha. The guidelines for the MH hero have changed a bit - he's more alpha than he used to be so keep that in mind.

No doubt lots of published authors will be posting advice too so keep an eye on the blogs of your favourites to pick up some great tips. I Heart Presents will have lots of sage advice for your entries as well.

I posted some of the editorial feedback I received from my competition entry last year on my blog so do feel free to look through the blog archives if you want to see what they told me about mine. And why it wasn't successful! I think the entry is still up on the I Heart Presents site in the archives somewhere (they didn't put it up until this year - January I think), so it may be useful to read it and then look at the feedback they posted afterward (this is not a subtle attempt to get people to read my writing by the way, more a look at what they liked and what they didn't).

If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask. I'm not published but like I said, I've learned a great deal since last year's competition so I may be able to help. The final caveat though is that all of this is my own opinion - the one that really counts is the editors.

Good luck everyone!

Submission Doubt

I've put up my scarecrow again because I've got submission doubt and need something to scare away the crows.
These are particularly ornery ones I have to say. It wasn't so bad the first time around because I was just so pleased to have had a full request. And true, the first lot of revisions were pretty intense but then, woohoo, I'd made it to the full-with-revisions stage and that was a great achievement.

But now I'm starting over and I'm wondering if I can do it again. Published authors must get this when it's time to submit that second book and you have to prove that the first one was more than a fluke. Obviously I'm not at that stage yet but the full-with-revisions is a pretty high benchmark to have to repeat. What if I can't? What if they don't like the story? I think it's better than my rejected manuscript - I've learned so much since then - but what if I've missed something vital?

Well, as Michelle S told me, the only thing I can control is the writing. I have to trust that it's a good story and hope that they'll want to see the rest of it. So I shall, which is why I'm continuing with writing the rest of it. And if it isn't then ONE of my stories will get there. I'm damn well going to make certain of it.

I'd just like to say a big thanks at this point to all the lovely people who visit my sorry blog, and to all the other lovely people on the eHarlequin and Mills and Boon forums who have wished me luck. You guys are the best. Determination gets you a long way in this business but it certainly helps having other people being determined with you. So, thanks.

Anyway, I have had confirmation that my partial was received so it's on with the waiting. And the NTAI. :-)

PS. Did you know that the guidelines for Mills and Boon have been updated? Here they are here.

Sent

I've done it. Sent in my new sub last night. Was going to ship it around a few more people to read but, well, simply couldn't face fiddling with it any more and thought I'd just send it and forget it (sorry guys!).

Haven't heard whether Anna received it or not. I hope she lets me know since the last time I did this, she didn't actually get it! Oh well, will follow up on Friday if I don't hear.

So now it's time to NTAI and rewrite the rest of the manuscript!

Active vs Reactive

I've been thinking lately about Michelle's advice re my characters being reactive as opposed to active. At least that's what they were in my original synopsis. I never really thought about this before - of course they were active, they were walking and talking and making decisions, right?
But that is not being active. They didn't take charge of the story. They sat there and waited for stuff to happen to them.

I found this happened with chapter 1 of my re-write. I was feeling unhappy with what I'd done and I couldn't figure out what the problem was. And then the light dawned: my hero was looking at the heroine waiting for her to come to him. The heroine was looking at the hero, too bound up in her conflict to actually take that step. The consequence was lots of staring but not much doing. No action at all. What needed to happen was one of them needed to act.

Had to be the hero - my mountain climber wouldn't stand around staring, he'd get out there and get what he wanted. So this my hero did. He got out and took charge of the scene, making the heroine have to act intstead of her just sitting there waiting for something to happen. And it's a much, much better scene now. It has movement. It's more pacey. And sets off a whole chain of choices and actions that bring both characters slap bang up against their internal conflict. Phew!

Anyway, this kind of thing is new to me so I'm going to have to keep thinking about it as the book progresses. I have to say, being conscious of having your story flow from the choices your characters make, certainly makes things more dynamic. Which for me - a very waffly writer - is a very good thing. And it makes me more certain than ever that they were right to reject my earlier manuscript. The first half was so slow compared to the second half! Nothing a complete re-write wouldn't fix however. ;-)

Okay, I'd be interested to hear what anyone else thinks of this. Any insights?

The Fine Art of Synopsis Writing

Right, forget flowery phrases. Sentences that scream 'look at me!'. Paragraphs that read well but don't actually tell you anything about the story. Throw them out of the window. Why? Because all your synopsis needs is the setting, the internal/external conflict, the evidence of growing attraction, the black moment and the resolution.

Yes, I have been thinking more about Michelle's advice, especially when it comes to writing the synopsis. The first one I did was full of the flowery phrases. It said nothing about how the characters grow and what they learn. It was full of 'he realises' and 'she realises' but nothing about why they realise that. So I wrote another one, and this was full of the 'why's, the internal conflict, what the heroine liked about the hero, what he liked about her, what they learned from each other, why they fell in love, why they couldn't be together and why, in the end, they were. But this one missed the turning points in the story, how it actually unfolded. Wrong again.

So this time I've done a third. And this time - I hope - I've done it right. This time I've actually included the 'hows'. Like instead of just saying ' he shows her that a little risk isn't a bad thing'. I've said how he does this by taking her bungy jumping and rock climbing. And when he comes to realise he needs the heroine in his life, instead of saying 'he suddenly realises....' I've given him some bad news about his father that the heroine is able to help him through, thus showing him what it's like to have support when he needs it.

Okay, it's not perfect, and until I get the okay from the editors, it may not be right, but it's SO much better than my previous effort. And this is a typical two page deal. Michelle said I should be able to write a synopsis in one page and let me tell you, it was difficult exercise. But I managed it! I would actually recommend everyone give this a go. It certainly boils your story down to the most basic nuts and bolts, and it's a great way to see if there are any plot/conflict holes. In much the same way as writing a synopsis centered just on the conflict can be useful too.

Anyway, that's my two cents worth today. This may be self evident to others but it was certainly a big step forward to me. As a pantser extraordinaire, doing a synopsis before I actually start writing is a huge acheivement. Who'd have thought it would help? :-) And it's given me a great start for writing the rest of the story - two chapters down and one to go before spit, polish and send. :-)