New Story Love

So I'm in the middle of editing my next sub but since it's pretty much written, I thought I'd spare a few thoughts for the sub after that - never hurts to think ahead and it's great for the NTAI, right?
Now, I have two stories I am planning to rewrite. One is my Feel the Heat entry made new and shiny, and the other is my sadly rejected 'nearly there' ms. Both, I feel, could be made to work, but y'know, comes a time when writing a new story is a good idea. Even just to remind myself that I can!

So yesterday and today, I have been brainstorming something new. It's been one that I've had for a while now and yeah, okay, I admit that I've got a synopsis for it and I may have even written one chapter, but from yesterday it's technically brand new. Why? Because for the first time before beginning something, I actually sat down and worked out what the conflicts were, who my characters were before I started writing. This is a big step for me. I'm usually so impatient to get started that I jump right in. But not this time. And quite frankly it was bloody hard. The crit group luckily came to my aid, but boy, working out this stuff first is nasty.

Firstly I needed to figure out the conflict. I already had an idea for my hero so I started with my initial idea of who he was, except this time, I tried to think of the conflict before anything else. What is he afraid of? What does he want out of life? What does he do now that won't work for him when he meets the heroine? What is it about him that will prevent him from being with her as soon as he meets her? And then, once I'd decided on him and his motivations, I had to figure out a perfect heroine for him. The easiest way was to make her conflict the opposite of his. Great first step, but then how does her conflict tie into his? And if he's so wrong for her, what about him makes him so right?
It was like putting together an extremely complicated jigsaw puzzle. Sometimes the pieces fit and sometimes, no matter how much you turn them, they just won't. It's frustrating. You'll try every single piece but nothing works, and then suddenly, completely by chance, you'll pick one up and it just slots into place. And you'll wonder 'how on earth did I miss that?' Of course, I haven't got to really know my characters yet and I won't until I start writing, but - to use the jigsaw analogy again - I've got the edge pieces in place. The border is all done, it's now up to me to fill in the rest of the picture.

I'm hoping to avoid all the mistakes I've made in the past so I'm going to put the basic conflict at the top of the ms. With any luck this will stop me trying to make it more complicated and also so I remember what's driving every scene. Should give me some ideas about how to make sure it gets worse for the characters with every scene too. Did I say how much I love torturing them? Oh yes, I do!

Anyway, this story I'm trying for something a little different. My hero is aristocratic and more Modern in his success than Modern Heat (think rich, rich, rich!). He's also French, and apparently Frenchmen don't sell as well as Greeks. Thought I'd give it a go anyway, and hey, at least I know by now not to make the whole story rest on his being French or even being hugely successful. The heart is the conflict and the rest is just window dressing that can be changed if needed.

So anyone else starting something new? How do you tackle it?

For the Love of Editing

I love editing. There, I've said. I love editing and I don't care who knows it. I love fiddling around with scenes and layering in little bits here and there, or even cutting out a scene that didn't work and rewriting it. In fact, in many ways, getting that first draft down for me is the hardest part. Once it's down, at least the bare bones are there and I can fiddle.

Maybe this goes back to being the kid who spent more time drawing little borders around her school work than actually doing the work. Or happily playing around with designing pamphlets when I used to work in the library (as opposed to actually writing the content). Yep, there was something satisfying in fiddling with stuff.

Anyway, I've finally finished the rewrite of a story I wrote during Nano the year before last and am now having fun with editing it. I loved the story - especially the idea and I loved the hero. But sadly when I wrote it, I was still getting the hang of conflict and so the characters...well....they didn't have any. However, I've learned a lot in the past six months and now I think I have the story to where I want it to be. As in there is actual conflict in there!
Of course because of having actual conflict, I had to change large parts of the story completely. I think in all there were three chapters I kept, plus a few minor plot points and then the rest I rewrote entirely from scratch. This will be my next sub so I hope it works. Of course, the only person who can say for certain that it does work is the editor and as I'm still waiting on news of my partial, I won't be getting any feedback for this story any time soon. Ah well, in the meantime I'll have fun with my editing and then perhaps think about which story I'll concentrate on next. After all, the best thing to do while waiting is more writing right?

So, how do you find editing? Do you spend your time drawing pretty borders around your work or do you hate that bit? ;-)

Being Too Self Aware About Self Awareness

I have done a post about this before, I realise, but I think it's worth posting about again since I know a little bit more about it than I did before. And also I have finally finished the major rewrite of my next potential sub and self awareness was a particular bugbear in that one, as it has been in all my mss to be honest.

You see, when I was a little baby writer, I used to get really annoyed with characters that seemed wholly blind to their problems. So my characters would always know what their problems were. Most of the time, they knew and still acted like idiots (my heroes here) because they were so tortured and well, just generally angsty. This was before I knew about conflict, about action, about pace, about anything really! I know a lot more about that stuff now so it came as a bit of a surprise to me that, as a big grown-up writer, I was still making my characters too self aware.

So, what is all this self awareness stuff? It's being aware of your feelings and the reasons for them basically. For example, my hero wants to succeed in his business. It's his goal. If pushed, he might admit that his drive to succeed is based on leaving behind a troubled youth. But what he wouldn't admit to is that his drive to succeed is based on a fear that he's really no good because his father walked out on him when he was young. He wouldn't admit to it because he doesn't actually know that at the beginning of the book. Unless you're me of course, who did actually make him know that in the first chapter! The problem with this is that if they know their fears right at the beginning there wouldn't be any sense of discovery about the character. Plus the fact that if they know their problems right at the beginning, why don't they do something about them right then and there? And you also lose any emotional impact because there is no slow revelation or sudden insight by the character about their behaviour.

Anyway, the upshot of this is that I have to learn to pull back on the awareness. I found myself getting into trouble with this rewrite because of that and it meant because I had made my hero too self aware too early, I had to give him another problem so he would still grow and change. Which meant I complicated the conflict. Remember the KISS principle? Keep It Simple Stupid.

Now, all this might sound as though I'm making my characters do stuff instead of being guided by them. That may be true but I don't think I'm doing it this time. If I think about it, my character is an alpha male who wants to prove himself. Admitting he's scared of not being good enough would be something he would never admit to. So making him aware of this fear too early on IS making him do something he doesn't want to do.

All this stuff about self awareness is making me appreciate the layers of the onion metaphor that Kate Walker talks about. I knew what she meant, but I never really saw it in my own work until now.

So, what does everyone else think about this? Are your characters too self aware like mine? Or are they appropriately dense? :-)

Niceness for Valentine's Day

Here on the right we have a lovely Russian icon type picture of Saint Valentine. Why? Because obviously it's that day that all romance writers like - Valentine's Day! Now, the reasons a day celebrating love is associated with an old Roman saint are a little unclear (at least according to that well known and totally truthful source, Wikipedia), I am nevertheless happy that due to this ancient tradition, I am now the owner of some absolutely divine chocolates. There is a French chocolatier up the road, who uses Valrhona chocolate to make some of the best chocolate in Auckland (nay, New Zealand itself!) and guess who gave them to me?
No, not my secret fancy man. It's the dear Dr Jax, who looked very surprised when I wished him happy Valentine's this morning. He's on call today you see and I thought he'd forgotten. Well, he had. But he had not forgotten the day before when he'd bought my little pressie. Yes, I am spoiled. I even got two Valentine's cards from my lovely girls (and no, they will not be sharing my chocolate). And what's more, I am going to celebrate by totally torturing my hero with the fact that he is falling in love and he so does not want to. Mwwwwahahahah.

Now, I don't use celebrities to cast my characters cause I find the real person gets in the way of the fictional one, but I do like a bit of eye candy now and then. So here on the left, as a little Valentine's Day present to myself (and to those of you who like him too!) is Josh Holloway from Lost, doing his bit for Davidoff. I'm writing a bad boy at the moment and you can't get a more charming bad boy alpha than Sawyer. Mmmm.... Nicer than a Russian icon in my opinion...


So what about you guys? Was your Valentine's romantic?

What Would An Alpha Male Do?

So Dr Jax had a significant birthday this week and I took the liberty of booking us a room at Auckland's Hilton hotel for the night. I'll just say this now - it was for his birthday but, obsessive writer that I am, it was also research since the characters of my current WIP also visit said hotel. It was a gorgeous room with views across the harbour (when not blocked by the vast cruise ships that moor alongside the hotel), perfect for my characters - though I think I'll make the room a LOT bigger. A suite maybe. And yes, I took pictures of both the room and the view to help with scene setting. Like I said, research.

We had dinner at the very swanky restaurant and - here's another example of just how obsessive I am when it comes to writing - had an unfortunately hilarious moment when the waiter spilled a glass of Moet all over me. And I mean, ALL over me. The poor man was showering me with napkins (after showering me with champagne) and fussing round while I dried my hair with a fourth napkin, all the while thinking, 'I wonder if I could work this into a book?'. The whole restaurant was gawking at me but all I could think about was writing! And then, when I told Dr Jax that I was thinking about how I could use this in a scene, he asked 'so what would an alpha male do in this situation?'. And instantly I was thinking constructing a new story...

So, thank you clumsy waiter at White restaurant. Your waiting skills leave a lot to be desired but at least you've given me an opening scene for a new book. Heroine gets expensive champagne spilled on her in a swanky, upmarket hotel restaurant. She's utterly soaked, horribly embarassed, and along comes the hero and....??

What do you reckon? What would an alpha male do?

What To Think About When You're Not Thinking About It

Okay, so the NTAI ain't going so well. Ridiculous since it's only been five weeks since I submitted the thing but there you go. So, what does one do when one is trying to Not Think About It?
I usually write. I write like the dickens. There is something about totally losing yourself in a new story and when I do, I forget all about my sub and everything else (including the little things like feeding the kids and making sure they haven't killed each other).

This is not a problem but I have been thinking about whether I should branch out and try something else. Try writing for a different category. That way I can have more subs out there (and true, more to NTAI!). There are downsides to this, mainly if you do get something accepted, the eds will want to establish you in one line rather than have your name associated with a couple and perhaps getting readers confused. Also, the requirements for the different lines are quite different and it's as well to concentrate on mastering one line first.

However, my problem is that I write really fast. If everything is worked out beforehand, I can write a first draft in two weeks. This is a good thing because while waiting, I can churn out a couple of mss to have at the ready in case of rejection. However, if I've done that and it turns out I have six month wait before hearing back, maybe I should be using the time to try writing and querying something else?

I'm still undecided. Modern Heat is where I want to be first and foremost, and my main focus is on that. But it would be nice to be waiting on more than one sub...

Whaddya reckon?

We Shall Fight

We shall fight on the beaches,
We shall fight on the landing grounds,
We shall fight in the fields and in the streets,
We shall fight in the hills;
We shall never surrender.

Thanks Winston. So why am I fighting? Well, my last post was grade A whine material. Now, I was going to apologise for that but I figure part of waiting - for me at least - involves a minor vent and/or whine every now and then, and that was my whine for January. I'll be allowed one for Febuary but I'll give myself a bit of time to build up to it. ;-)

Anyway, the fighting speech is mainly due to a lovely comment Natalie Anderson left on my blog in response to said whine. In fact all of you who read my monotonous musings left great comments, for which I think you very much, but it was Natalie's that really got to me. 'You're a fighter' she said. Thanks for the reminder, Natalie! Because you're right. I am a fighter. I don't like letting things alone or letting things go. I hate stuff getting the better of me. Especially stuff I'm good at! And if there's one thing I have learned over the Year of the R (2009) is that I can write.

So, forwith the Battle Plan:

1. Strategically attack and conquer Laurie Schnebly Campbell's Plotting for Motivation course this month.
2. Decimate current WIP by finishing the rewrite and then beat into submission the partial.
3. Cunningly deploy my forces to surround the current crop of new story ideas, winnow the wheat from the chaff, sort out the men from the boys, and decide which WIP shall be the new WIP.
4. Sack and burn the city of TAI, sowing the conquered ground with salt so that NOTHING shall grow. Build new city called NTAI of which I shall be the supreme ruler.
5. Eat more Kohu Road dark chocolate icecream.
6. Storm Kohu Road icecream company, secure ALL their stocks of dark chocolate icecream and enforce martial law whereby they will have to make dark chocolate icecream for me alone.
7. Send out spies for a reconnaissance mission to the London offices of Mills and Boon.
8. Lay out honey traps using Kohu Road dark chocolate icecream.
9. Wait for the editors to fall for said honey traps and the watch the contracts to roll in.
10. Become supreme ruler of the world.

Okay, so there's a bit of a jump between numbers 9 and 10 but it's doable, right?

:-)