Well, feeling very jealous about all the conference stuff going on. What with RNA and then RWA, little ole NZ is feeling very far away from everything! Luckily next month there will be the RWAus Conference in Sydney, which I am attending for the first time. Be so cool to see my CPs Rach and Janette in real life instead of just via email. I'll probably get all tongue tied and won't know what to say! Anyway, the week after that we have the RWNZ Conference here in Auckland and that will be way cool too. So I guess I shouldn't feel left out. Anyway, will be blog stalking for gossip from those who attended RNA so I hope some of you guys will be posting updates!
But news on the writing front? Nada. I am instead working on my next sub which is, I have to say, one of my favourite stories. Yes, it's been in a constant state of rewriting ever since I first wrote it for NaNo in 2008, but it finally is starting to look more and more like the story it should have been in the first place. That doesn't mean, of course, that it'll be accepted, but I really hope it will be! I've also started another story and I have to say, I've forsaken my other wips for this one because I LOVE my hero. He's an ex-soldier and woah is he hot. At least I think so. He's alpha (natch), very protective, and - on the surface - laid back. But of course the heroine is going to get under his skin something chronic and then it'll be no more Mr Nice Guy. Hehe.
Now all I have to do is think up a plot!
Anyway - the real point of my post guys - in my blog perambulations recently, I came across a post about pet-names (can't remember where sorry!). It was really interesting seeing what people's favourites were and what were their irritants. Interesting because I've realised that in every one of my stories, my hero has a pet name for the heroine. Now, I'm a fan because they can be very useful, epsecially for the purposes of riling said heroine. They can be first used ironically, if it's that kind of story, or they can be used to expose deeper feeling in quite a subtle way, ie the hero calling her by an endearment can reveal quite a lot about their feelings for each other - especially if this is unspoken in most other ways. Even more interestingly, I've realised that my heroines don't reciprocate. Which I'm going to remedy for my soldier hero - have the perfect name for him. One he won't like at all. Heehee!
So pet names: love 'em? Hate 'em? What don't you like?? For myself, I'm not a fan of baby or babe. I don't know why, it just feels too casual. It's not even about the infantilising aspect of it either, because I read a great story by Trish Wylie where the hero calls the heroine 'little girl' and I found that very sexy!
*the book is One Night with the Rebel Billionaire and it's great!
Showing posts with label new story. Show all posts
Showing posts with label new story. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Just Hanging Around
Nothing new to report here. Just twiddling my thumbs. Actually that's a lie, I started a new story. Bad, bad Jackie. I have two stories at the partial stage and one with a first chapter done so those really need finishing - I shouldn't be starting a new one! But y'know, when the new story bug hits, ya just gotta go with it.
I haven't written a linked story before but I got kind of inspired after Maisey wrote one. In my current wip my hero has a younger sister. She appeared in an earlier iteration of this story so I know her quite well - she's an unusual sort of girl. Anyway, in the wip, her part is reduced to a phone call so I was kind of feeling a bit sorry we don't see more of her, and when Maisey wrote a story concerning a younger sister I thought why not? But I'll have to get rid of some things first - she's 18 in the wip so I'll have to advance time for her (as you do when you are the god of your character's world), and she has a blue mohawk and an eyebrow piercing so I'll have to get rid of those as well. She can keep playing drums for a gothic metal band though and she's definitely keeping her talent with the violin too. This all could mean she's a tad too quirky but hey, will give it a go and see what happens. Interesting to create a story out of a past that's already set and unchangable. And interesting creating a hero for someone whose character can't be altered too much. I usually create both in tandem with each other so this is a new experience. But a good one. Now all I have to do is think of a plot! ;-)
In the meantime I have been award the Honest Scrap Award by the lovely Kerrin. I have to list ten things you may not know about me. So here they are:
1. I did fencing at university. Once. After a long afternoon at the pub.
2. I love poetry, especially ee cummings and TS Eliot.
3. I have a BA in English (no I do NOT plan to be a teacher - not that there is anything wrong with that).
4. I wrote my first romance when I was 13. The heroine was called Patricia and the hero was married to her sister. It was full of the kind of angst and torture that only 13 year old girls can possibly imagine or indeed be interested in.
5. I once entered a singing competition. The other contestants wore evening gowns. I wore Doc Martens and leggings. I did not win.
6. I got engaged in Prague, on the banks of the river. A saxophone was playing 'Autumn Leaves' nearby and afterwards we went to an ice hockey game to celebrate.
7. When I'm not reading romance, I'm reading SF and fantasy, especially anything by Iain M Banks.
8. I hated Titanic and also Twilight (don't shoot me).
9. I loved Star Wars (but only the first trilogy).
10. My plans for world domination are proceeding nicely.
I have to nominate some bloggers for this award but I think it's been around a bit so I'm going to pike out and say that if you haven't done it yet, it's your turn! :-)
I haven't written a linked story before but I got kind of inspired after Maisey wrote one. In my current wip my hero has a younger sister. She appeared in an earlier iteration of this story so I know her quite well - she's an unusual sort of girl. Anyway, in the wip, her part is reduced to a phone call so I was kind of feeling a bit sorry we don't see more of her, and when Maisey wrote a story concerning a younger sister I thought why not? But I'll have to get rid of some things first - she's 18 in the wip so I'll have to advance time for her (as you do when you are the god of your character's world), and she has a blue mohawk and an eyebrow piercing so I'll have to get rid of those as well. She can keep playing drums for a gothic metal band though and she's definitely keeping her talent with the violin too. This all could mean she's a tad too quirky but hey, will give it a go and see what happens. Interesting to create a story out of a past that's already set and unchangable. And interesting creating a hero for someone whose character can't be altered too much. I usually create both in tandem with each other so this is a new experience. But a good one. Now all I have to do is think of a plot! ;-)
In the meantime I have been award the Honest Scrap Award by the lovely Kerrin. I have to list ten things you may not know about me. So here they are:
1. I did fencing at university. Once. After a long afternoon at the pub.
2. I love poetry, especially ee cummings and TS Eliot.
3. I have a BA in English (no I do NOT plan to be a teacher - not that there is anything wrong with that).
4. I wrote my first romance when I was 13. The heroine was called Patricia and the hero was married to her sister. It was full of the kind of angst and torture that only 13 year old girls can possibly imagine or indeed be interested in.
5. I once entered a singing competition. The other contestants wore evening gowns. I wore Doc Martens and leggings. I did not win.
6. I got engaged in Prague, on the banks of the river. A saxophone was playing 'Autumn Leaves' nearby and afterwards we went to an ice hockey game to celebrate.
7. When I'm not reading romance, I'm reading SF and fantasy, especially anything by Iain M Banks.
8. I hated Titanic and also Twilight (don't shoot me).
9. I loved Star Wars (but only the first trilogy).
10. My plans for world domination are proceeding nicely.
I have to nominate some bloggers for this award but I think it's been around a bit so I'm going to pike out and say that if you haven't done it yet, it's your turn! :-)
Thursday, February 25, 2010
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?
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?
Friday, November 27, 2009
New Hero Love
New story love is a special kind of love. So too is new hero love. And I adore my new hero. Or should I say, I adore my new-old hero, cause he's not really new, having made his first appearance in my Feel The Heat entry last year. However, he IS kind of new in that he actually has some internal conflict. Plus I've also given him a sympathetic in with the heroine, because in his first incarnation, apart from his astoninishingly good looks, he didn't have anything that she could admire about him. Or even like. And let's face it, if your h&h are going to be antagonistic, there has to be something there that each finds admirable about the other otherwise your love story isn't going to be very believable.
It's all about the sympathy factor. Is your character sympathetic? This is doubly important (I think) when you've got a rude hero. And my hero is one of those lazy, arrogant, sarcastic types because, sad to say, I really like those kind of heroes. Mostly because their downfall into love is so delicious...
Anyway, I think this touches on one of the seven sins that I Heart Presents listed about the comp entries - a hero who gets irrationally cross and treats everyone like dirt. This isn't alpha. This is just being an a*hole. So how to stop your sarcastic hero from coming across as a guy you'd just want to kick? Give him motivation. Why is he being so rude? Is he sick? Tired? Worried about something else? Angry? And if he's angry, why is he angry?
For dear Alex, his reason for being an ass is that he's worried about his father and having to deal with a bunch of protestors who are bothering him with what he thinks of as inconsequential problems is the last thing he wants to think about. Especially as one of the protestors is very, very attractive.
True, this isn't an excuse for his rudeness but at least there is a reason behind it. And the reason is the 'in' with the heroine because when Kate discovers it, she is immediately sympathetic. Family is important to her and she finds his concern for his father attractive.
I should confess also that the other reason I love sarcastic heroes is because they do make the dialogue fun to write. Especially when you pair them with an equally quick heroine. Oooh, yum, yum. I love my dialogue - can you tell?
So what's your favourite type of hero then? Do you like yours with lashings of sarcasm? Or are you more into the strong, silent type?
It's all about the sympathy factor. Is your character sympathetic? This is doubly important (I think) when you've got a rude hero. And my hero is one of those lazy, arrogant, sarcastic types because, sad to say, I really like those kind of heroes. Mostly because their downfall into love is so delicious...
Anyway, I think this touches on one of the seven sins that I Heart Presents listed about the comp entries - a hero who gets irrationally cross and treats everyone like dirt. This isn't alpha. This is just being an a*hole. So how to stop your sarcastic hero from coming across as a guy you'd just want to kick? Give him motivation. Why is he being so rude? Is he sick? Tired? Worried about something else? Angry? And if he's angry, why is he angry?
For dear Alex, his reason for being an ass is that he's worried about his father and having to deal with a bunch of protestors who are bothering him with what he thinks of as inconsequential problems is the last thing he wants to think about. Especially as one of the protestors is very, very attractive.
True, this isn't an excuse for his rudeness but at least there is a reason behind it. And the reason is the 'in' with the heroine because when Kate discovers it, she is immediately sympathetic. Family is important to her and she finds his concern for his father attractive.
I should confess also that the other reason I love sarcastic heroes is because they do make the dialogue fun to write. Especially when you pair them with an equally quick heroine. Oooh, yum, yum. I love my dialogue - can you tell?
So what's your favourite type of hero then? Do you like yours with lashings of sarcasm? Or are you more into the strong, silent type?
Monday, July 13, 2009
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... ;-)
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... ;-)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)