I am an optimist. No, really, I am. "But you run your subs down ALL the time!'' I hear my CPs shout. It's true, I do that. But that's just a cunning front. Because deep inside, I am an honest to God, genuine, over-the-top optimist. And not in a 'I think my sub isn't too bad and perhaps I might get a request for more this time' way. In a 'OMG, what if the editor loves this SO MUCH she calls me before she's even finished the first page and offers me a million dollar contract right there and then???' way.
It's giant pain in the butt. Every single time I send out a sub or enter a contest, this little piping voice is going "Hey hey hey! What if...???" And no matter how I try to ignore it, some part of me is nodding and thinking, 'yeah...wouldn't that be awesome?' So when I actually get the 'This submission is so bad, my dog could write it better than you'* letter it is GUTTING. Because although I tell myself it's fine, deep down I'm envisaging movie rights and Angelina Jolie in the title role. It sucks and so I have to stomp on this little voice because all the things its telling me are Never. Going. To. Happen.
However, the problem with this is that then you start sounding negative about everything due to the fact that you're constantly talking yourself down. And you don't really want to be doing that either. So what can you do about it? How to deal with the disappointment?
Well, I have taken the liberty of compiling a little list (warning, use at your own risk):
1. Knock your head repeatedly against a wall until a) the voice shuts up or b) you knock yourself unconscious.
2. Compromise. If it will stop telling you the editors are SO going to ring you at 3am to tell you how much they love it and are going to publish it RIGHT NOW, then you'll stop trying to tell it that in fact the editors will be sending YOU a request letter requesting that you never submit to them again.
3. Let it have its fun. Listen to its siren songs. Then go off and have as martinis as you need to forget you ever listened to it in the first place.
4. Stick your fingers in your ears, sing 'lalalala' loudly until you can't hear it anymore.
5. Book yourself into a nice little hospital for a nice little 'rest'.
6. Give into it. Believe everything it says. Then write rejection letters to publishers rejecting their rejections.
7. Pack it up in a box labelled 'Satan', push it to the back of your mind, and get lost in writing your next book.
Okay, so is this sounding as mad as I think it does? Or does anyone else out there have OTT Optimists that need settling down too?
*Not an actual quote from an actual rejection in case you were wondering.
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Monday, October 17, 2011
The Dog Ate My Blog Post
Because school holidays have ruined my career as a wanna-be romance novelist, not to mention keeping this blog up to date, I'm taking the easy way out post-wise and directing your attention to the Sisters' site where I have a post about emotion up there. It's one I was going to do for here but since I forgot it was my turn to do a post and considering that dogs can't really eat blog posts (I don't have a dog anyway), I had no excuse but to sacrifice it to my Sisters. It's on emotion in conflict and also has a totally gratuitous picture of Magnum PI.
If that doesn't float your boat and music is more your bag, then go here where, for your veiwing pleasure the lovely Maisey Yates covers an Adele song. She can write, she can sing...Is there anything this woman can't do?? :-)
If that doesn't float your boat and music is more your bag, then go here where, for your veiwing pleasure the lovely Maisey Yates covers an Adele song. She can write, she can sing...Is there anything this woman can't do?? :-)
Monday, October 10, 2011
A Budgie Called Doris - The Perils of Backstory
I am consistently amazed by how little backstory you need in a first chapter. I know! Who'd have thunk it? But it's true. The reader does not need to know as much you think they do.
The reason I'm concerned with backstory is that I've been wrestling with the beginning of this chess ms and as I was reading over the last few iterations, I realised something. I've fallen into the old backstory trap too. As in detailing EVERYTHING that has led up to the moment my hero and heroine meet. Oh, I tried to kind of feed it in all subtle-like but there were still paragraphs of explanation. Paragraphs, people! And fundamentally none of those paragraphs needed to be there.
As a friend of mine shared with me last week, a bit of advice she had from somone else - you need to start the story when the water boils. You do not need to start with the heroine choosing the pot. Deciding whether to use hot or cold water. Finding the right top for the pot. Turning on the element. Putting it on the stove. Setting the timer....etc, etc. Get the idea?
It's very tempting to put everything in that first chapter. Because you know all about your characters and they're so interesting, you want the reader to be interested too. Plus you think it's vital that the reader knows the set-up otherwise how will they understand what's going on? Actually, readers (and I say this completely as a reader) are very forgiving with setup. If the story grips them immediately, they're not going to worry about why the bad guy is chasing the hero. Or why the heroine's company is going down the tubes. They'll trust you to explain it eventually. All they need to know is that the bad is chasing the hero and that the heroine's company is going down. What they want to know is what does the hero/heroine do about it? At least, that's what I want to know.
Say, for example, you have a hero whose major conflict is that he had a budgie called Doris who died in a tragic birdbath accident because he left her cage open once when he was a boy. He never got over it and now he refuses to love anything for fear of losing them and also has a terrible fear of water. Now, say your opening chapter starts with his goal of wanting to buy the heroine's bird sanctuary. But she doesn't want to sell for reasons of her own. Now, you could start this with the hero talking to a colleague about how he's tried to buy up all the bird sanctuaries in the area but hasn't managed to land this one. Or you could start it with the hero musing moodily out the window about how this tricky heroine has manage to elude him yet again. Or you could start it with him looking in the mirror and reflecting on how handsome everyone tells him he is but he doesn't think so but he kind of likes the way the light shines on the artfully messy spikes of his blue-black hair ( do NOT do this one btw).
Or you could start it with the hero having to row a boat over a lake to get to the heroine's house so he can talk to her in person.
Hint: three of these starts are detailing putting the pot on to boil. One of them is the pot boiling.
In the fourth, in one fell swoop, you have the hero trying to overcome a fear (conflict) to get the sanctuary (goal) because he's a perfectionist and he has all the sanctuaries in the area and this is the last one on his list (motivation). You don't need to go into the reasons why this is. All the reader needs to know is the above. Of course they'll be thinking 'why is he rowing?' 'Why can't he just call her?' 'Why does this matter to him?' But that's all stuff that will become clear in the story as you go on.
Anyway, that's probably a very bad example, but I reckon a good excercise to do is to take out ALL the backstory in your first chapter, then read it as if you don't know these characters or their story. Then put back only what you need in order to make sense of it. Nothing else. The rest you can feed in as and when you need it later.
Easy eh?
*Jackie rubs hands as another writing problem is easily solved* * contemplates rejections*
*gives up and tries macrame instead*
The reason I'm concerned with backstory is that I've been wrestling with the beginning of this chess ms and as I was reading over the last few iterations, I realised something. I've fallen into the old backstory trap too. As in detailing EVERYTHING that has led up to the moment my hero and heroine meet. Oh, I tried to kind of feed it in all subtle-like but there were still paragraphs of explanation. Paragraphs, people! And fundamentally none of those paragraphs needed to be there.
As a friend of mine shared with me last week, a bit of advice she had from somone else - you need to start the story when the water boils. You do not need to start with the heroine choosing the pot. Deciding whether to use hot or cold water. Finding the right top for the pot. Turning on the element. Putting it on the stove. Setting the timer....etc, etc. Get the idea?
It's very tempting to put everything in that first chapter. Because you know all about your characters and they're so interesting, you want the reader to be interested too. Plus you think it's vital that the reader knows the set-up otherwise how will they understand what's going on? Actually, readers (and I say this completely as a reader) are very forgiving with setup. If the story grips them immediately, they're not going to worry about why the bad guy is chasing the hero. Or why the heroine's company is going down the tubes. They'll trust you to explain it eventually. All they need to know is that the bad is chasing the hero and that the heroine's company is going down. What they want to know is what does the hero/heroine do about it? At least, that's what I want to know.
Say, for example, you have a hero whose major conflict is that he had a budgie called Doris who died in a tragic birdbath accident because he left her cage open once when he was a boy. He never got over it and now he refuses to love anything for fear of losing them and also has a terrible fear of water. Now, say your opening chapter starts with his goal of wanting to buy the heroine's bird sanctuary. But she doesn't want to sell for reasons of her own. Now, you could start this with the hero talking to a colleague about how he's tried to buy up all the bird sanctuaries in the area but hasn't managed to land this one. Or you could start it with the hero musing moodily out the window about how this tricky heroine has manage to elude him yet again. Or you could start it with him looking in the mirror and reflecting on how handsome everyone tells him he is but he doesn't think so but he kind of likes the way the light shines on the artfully messy spikes of his blue-black hair ( do NOT do this one btw).
Or you could start it with the hero having to row a boat over a lake to get to the heroine's house so he can talk to her in person.
Hint: three of these starts are detailing putting the pot on to boil. One of them is the pot boiling.
In the fourth, in one fell swoop, you have the hero trying to overcome a fear (conflict) to get the sanctuary (goal) because he's a perfectionist and he has all the sanctuaries in the area and this is the last one on his list (motivation). You don't need to go into the reasons why this is. All the reader needs to know is the above. Of course they'll be thinking 'why is he rowing?' 'Why can't he just call her?' 'Why does this matter to him?' But that's all stuff that will become clear in the story as you go on.
Anyway, that's probably a very bad example, but I reckon a good excercise to do is to take out ALL the backstory in your first chapter, then read it as if you don't know these characters or their story. Then put back only what you need in order to make sense of it. Nothing else. The rest you can feed in as and when you need it later.
Easy eh?
*Jackie rubs hands as another writing problem is easily solved* * contemplates rejections*
*gives up and tries macrame instead*
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
That Ole Emotional Connection Type Thing Again
When I was a baby author, I really liked my characters to fight ALL THE TIME. Why? Because I liked the angst and conflict and the torment and the anguish. It was awesome, plus I got to write hot, angsty love scenes which is always a bonus. Unfortunately there was also a problem with this approach. Like, where is the freaking romance here???
Angry, fighty scenes are all yummy and angsty and delicious but if there's too many of them, you start to wonder why these two people are together if they hate each other so much and/or you just know their HEA is going to last all of five seconds. That, people, is not a romance. That is a soap opera.
Now, I'm not dissing soap operas here but if you want to write a good romance, you can't have fights and angst all the time. You have to have some moments where the characters love being together. When they make that all important emotional connection that tells the reader that these two are made for each other and when they sort out their issues, they will be together forever. And not in a 'eat every meal in total silence cos they can't think of anything to say to each other' kind of way, but a 'still having lots of nookie way into their 80s' kind of way. :-)
Anyway, the reason I've been thinking about this is because I've hauled out my chess ms with the idea of submitting in a contest and am wrestling with the beginning of it. I've rewritten the first three chapters of this wretched thing 50 million times already and it still isn't right. Why? Because it's a one night stand story and I just have NOT been able to nail down the emotional connection. When you find yourself writing paragraphs of justification and reasons for the heroine to sleep with the hero, you know something isn't going right. In fact, I figured that if couldn't write down her motivation in one sentence then I needed to stop writing until I could!
Now, I reckon emotional ONS stories are very difficult to get right. It's easy to get them to have the sex but to get two complete strangers to connect on an emotional level? Nup. Because what has to happen, in order to get that emotional connection going, is that both your characters have to drop - at least momentarily - their armour and be who they truly are with each other. You know that Michael Hauge thing about essence and identity? That essentially characters hide who they truly are behind a mask? What I mean is that in order for them to connect, each of them has to drop that mask. But because a ONS happens usually at the beginning of the book, it's actually very difficult for them to do that because as far they're concerned, they don't wear a mask. Their identity IS their true self (and I'm not talking dropping it all the way, I'm talking glimpses here. Flashes that intrigue and fascinate the other character enough that their emotions are engaged). Grrrr!
The other thing you have to get right in order to get that emotional connection is motivation. There is debate about whether guys need less motivation - it probably depends on the hero - but like it or not, the heroine has to have it (I know, I know, double standards). And it has to stem from something emotional, something to do with her conflict, because otherwise it'll end up being 'woohoo, sex!' which isn't bad if you're writing for Blaze. But it is if you're writing for some of the other categories (and hey, I know, I've got the Rs to prove it).
The reason this particular story has been difficult is partly because of the type of people my hero and heroine are, and partly because earlier, I didn't actually know them well enough. I knew their identities, but not the people they were inside. And without knowing that, I couldn't get them to connect on a deeper level. It was a bit like I'd taken two random strangers, put them in a room together and told them that they were hot for each other and could they make love now please. So not happening in other words.
It didn't help that my hero is not wanting sex at this particular time in his life and he's also EXTREMELY guarded so getting him to drop his mask for a bit (not to mention his trousers) was very, very difficult. Weird, I know. I eventually had to change the setup so he met the heroine at a moment in his life where those guards were perhaps lower than they would be normally. And then, because he wasn't into casual sex at that particular moment, I had to figure out what it was about the heroine in particular that affected him because mere sexual attraction was not enough for him (yes, he's a pain in the butt). But in order to know those things, I had to know him.
All in all, it was a very tricky business and no wonder I had difficulties at the start. Because what I was trying to do was make two people who would walk through boiling lava rather than admit to an emotional connection, have a bloody emotional connection!
But then isn't that what makes writing fun? Making our characters worst nightmares come true in the nicest possible way. :-)
So, what's the hardest thing you've ever made your characters do? And when I mean, 'you made' I mean that they did it themselves because of course you would never, ever, make your characters do anything... :-)
Angry, fighty scenes are all yummy and angsty and delicious but if there's too many of them, you start to wonder why these two people are together if they hate each other so much and/or you just know their HEA is going to last all of five seconds. That, people, is not a romance. That is a soap opera.
Now, I'm not dissing soap operas here but if you want to write a good romance, you can't have fights and angst all the time. You have to have some moments where the characters love being together. When they make that all important emotional connection that tells the reader that these two are made for each other and when they sort out their issues, they will be together forever. And not in a 'eat every meal in total silence cos they can't think of anything to say to each other' kind of way, but a 'still having lots of nookie way into their 80s' kind of way. :-)
Anyway, the reason I've been thinking about this is because I've hauled out my chess ms with the idea of submitting in a contest and am wrestling with the beginning of it. I've rewritten the first three chapters of this wretched thing 50 million times already and it still isn't right. Why? Because it's a one night stand story and I just have NOT been able to nail down the emotional connection. When you find yourself writing paragraphs of justification and reasons for the heroine to sleep with the hero, you know something isn't going right. In fact, I figured that if couldn't write down her motivation in one sentence then I needed to stop writing until I could!
Now, I reckon emotional ONS stories are very difficult to get right. It's easy to get them to have the sex but to get two complete strangers to connect on an emotional level? Nup. Because what has to happen, in order to get that emotional connection going, is that both your characters have to drop - at least momentarily - their armour and be who they truly are with each other. You know that Michael Hauge thing about essence and identity? That essentially characters hide who they truly are behind a mask? What I mean is that in order for them to connect, each of them has to drop that mask. But because a ONS happens usually at the beginning of the book, it's actually very difficult for them to do that because as far they're concerned, they don't wear a mask. Their identity IS their true self (and I'm not talking dropping it all the way, I'm talking glimpses here. Flashes that intrigue and fascinate the other character enough that their emotions are engaged). Grrrr!
The other thing you have to get right in order to get that emotional connection is motivation. There is debate about whether guys need less motivation - it probably depends on the hero - but like it or not, the heroine has to have it (I know, I know, double standards). And it has to stem from something emotional, something to do with her conflict, because otherwise it'll end up being 'woohoo, sex!' which isn't bad if you're writing for Blaze. But it is if you're writing for some of the other categories (and hey, I know, I've got the Rs to prove it).
The reason this particular story has been difficult is partly because of the type of people my hero and heroine are, and partly because earlier, I didn't actually know them well enough. I knew their identities, but not the people they were inside. And without knowing that, I couldn't get them to connect on a deeper level. It was a bit like I'd taken two random strangers, put them in a room together and told them that they were hot for each other and could they make love now please. So not happening in other words.
It didn't help that my hero is not wanting sex at this particular time in his life and he's also EXTREMELY guarded so getting him to drop his mask for a bit (not to mention his trousers) was very, very difficult. Weird, I know. I eventually had to change the setup so he met the heroine at a moment in his life where those guards were perhaps lower than they would be normally. And then, because he wasn't into casual sex at that particular moment, I had to figure out what it was about the heroine in particular that affected him because mere sexual attraction was not enough for him (yes, he's a pain in the butt). But in order to know those things, I had to know him.
All in all, it was a very tricky business and no wonder I had difficulties at the start. Because what I was trying to do was make two people who would walk through boiling lava rather than admit to an emotional connection, have a bloody emotional connection!
But then isn't that what makes writing fun? Making our characters worst nightmares come true in the nicest possible way. :-)
So, what's the hardest thing you've ever made your characters do? And when I mean, 'you made' I mean that they did it themselves because of course you would never, ever, make your characters do anything... :-)
Thursday, September 29, 2011
The 'I Hate My Story' Syndrome
I've got a general theme this week - first my stupid process and now I'm hating my stupid story. First draft blues in other words. I should know by now that at a certain point in the first draft - usually about 3/4s of the way through - I start to doubt everything. And I mean EVERYTHING. The characters, the conflict, the plot. Everything sucks. Sucks in a 'I can't stand this stupid thing, what's the point even writing it?' way.
I don't know why this happens but without fail it happens to every single story.
And I'm at that point now with the WIP. It feels like there's vital bits of conflict still to put in and I'm at 35k already. Vital bits of backstory. Conversations the hero and heroine still haven't had. I'm worried that the character arcs won't be clear enough. Have I put in enough 'romance'. Are the motivations clear. Does my plot actually work....
Basically it just sucks. Inevitably, once I've finished, I read back over it and I realise it's actually not as bad as all that but having to go through this particular doubting process is SUCH a drag. It's at times like this where I wish I was a first-time right kind of writer. Where your first draft, with a once over lightly edit, is pretty much the finished product. But I'm not, I'm a 'spew all your words down first, then edit the crap out of it later' kind of writer. And right now I'm thinking that there's way too much crap to edit out.
Maybe it's just the mood I'm in. Maybe my story really actually does suck bigtime. Maybe I need to bin the whole thing and start again.
So does anyone else have this syndrome? What do you do to keep yourself writing? Any hot tips???
I don't know why this happens but without fail it happens to every single story.
And I'm at that point now with the WIP. It feels like there's vital bits of conflict still to put in and I'm at 35k already. Vital bits of backstory. Conversations the hero and heroine still haven't had. I'm worried that the character arcs won't be clear enough. Have I put in enough 'romance'. Are the motivations clear. Does my plot actually work....
Basically it just sucks. Inevitably, once I've finished, I read back over it and I realise it's actually not as bad as all that but having to go through this particular doubting process is SUCH a drag. It's at times like this where I wish I was a first-time right kind of writer. Where your first draft, with a once over lightly edit, is pretty much the finished product. But I'm not, I'm a 'spew all your words down first, then edit the crap out of it later' kind of writer. And right now I'm thinking that there's way too much crap to edit out.
Maybe it's just the mood I'm in. Maybe my story really actually does suck bigtime. Maybe I need to bin the whole thing and start again.
So does anyone else have this syndrome? What do you do to keep yourself writing? Any hot tips???
Monday, September 26, 2011
Stupid Process
Yeah, well, sometimes my process is stupid. Why? Well, I've been doing again what I swore never to do - moving my characters to suit my plot. Gah! It's so insidious. You have a great idea for a scene perhaps mid-way through the book and because you love the idea of this scene so much, you start moving your characters towards it instead of letting it evolve naturally. At least that's what I've been doing. You'd think I know by now that when suddenly all the scenes get very hard to write and I feel like I'm wading through wet cement, it's a sign I'm pushing my characters not the other way round. But no, it's like 'Why is this scene so hard to write? Why aren't they doing what they're told? Why can't I get that lovely, flowy thing going? Argh!' *chucks keyboard across the room*
Sigh.
This is what happens when a die-hard pantser has to plot. Or when an impatient writer is desperate to write the 'good bits'.
I think for a lot of the past year, I've been trying to get back to the way I used to write. Which was having no idea for plot etc, just writing as it comes, finding out what was going to happen when my characters did. Which was fine. Until it came to revising something and then I realised that actually, craft wasn't there just to confuse me and make me feel annoyed. It was there because if you want to work with an editor and possibly get published, you kind of have to know the nuts and bolts of how to put a story together. Certainly you have to if you want to stay published. The problem with learning craft is that it can get in the way of how you write. You're so worried about conflict/character arc/structure etc, etc, that it can act as a barrier and totally kill your spark.
The mss I wrote last year were a case in point. It's like weaving a tapestry that you used to do totally by instinct and now you actually have to look at what you're doing. Make sure you've got enough blue threads, not too many reds, put in a bit of green, but watch out for too much yellow. Oh and not forgetting that you need a little bit of purple because ahead there's a design you want to do that has LOTs of purple in it so you have to put it in now. And because you're worrying so much about all the different threads, before you know it, your lovely weaving is just a paint by numbers job, not a fabulous, organic, creative bit of art.
Anyway, the point of this is that I need to get to a point where I can incorporate the craft I've learned, with my instinct. And that means not pushing your characters forward because you want to write a really good argument/love scene/black moment. Or because you need to get them to this point so you can have this particular scene (you would not believe the problems I had trying to incorporate a strip chess scene in my Chessman ms. It was SO hard. In the end I took it out because I realised my characters were trying to tell me something - they didn't want to play bloody strip chess!). For me I need to be with them in the moment, not think about what more I have to do for their characters arcs or how I'm going to work out their conflict etc etc. If I know my characters well enough, it'll work out. I have to trust my instinct more. Oh and probably stopping being so damn impatient would help too!
So, anyone else learned anything interesting about their process?
Sigh.
This is what happens when a die-hard pantser has to plot. Or when an impatient writer is desperate to write the 'good bits'.
I think for a lot of the past year, I've been trying to get back to the way I used to write. Which was having no idea for plot etc, just writing as it comes, finding out what was going to happen when my characters did. Which was fine. Until it came to revising something and then I realised that actually, craft wasn't there just to confuse me and make me feel annoyed. It was there because if you want to work with an editor and possibly get published, you kind of have to know the nuts and bolts of how to put a story together. Certainly you have to if you want to stay published. The problem with learning craft is that it can get in the way of how you write. You're so worried about conflict/character arc/structure etc, etc, that it can act as a barrier and totally kill your spark.
The mss I wrote last year were a case in point. It's like weaving a tapestry that you used to do totally by instinct and now you actually have to look at what you're doing. Make sure you've got enough blue threads, not too many reds, put in a bit of green, but watch out for too much yellow. Oh and not forgetting that you need a little bit of purple because ahead there's a design you want to do that has LOTs of purple in it so you have to put it in now. And because you're worrying so much about all the different threads, before you know it, your lovely weaving is just a paint by numbers job, not a fabulous, organic, creative bit of art.
Anyway, the point of this is that I need to get to a point where I can incorporate the craft I've learned, with my instinct. And that means not pushing your characters forward because you want to write a really good argument/love scene/black moment. Or because you need to get them to this point so you can have this particular scene (you would not believe the problems I had trying to incorporate a strip chess scene in my Chessman ms. It was SO hard. In the end I took it out because I realised my characters were trying to tell me something - they didn't want to play bloody strip chess!). For me I need to be with them in the moment, not think about what more I have to do for their characters arcs or how I'm going to work out their conflict etc etc. If I know my characters well enough, it'll work out. I have to trust my instinct more. Oh and probably stopping being so damn impatient would help too!
So, anyone else learned anything interesting about their process?
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
FOMO
Okay, confession time. I have been avoiding New Voices. Yep, totally and completely avoiding it. Why? Weeeeelllll, long story and one I'm not going to share on this blog but it was part of why last year was the Annus Horribilis of my writing career (can I call it a career when I'm not actually being paid for it??). Anyway, the problem with avoiding something this big is that...well....you actually can't avoid it. Especially when you have a bad case of FOMO. Not heard of FOMO? It's Fear Of Missing Out. :-)
So, I've got this FOMO thing going on and there are so many great writers out there who have entered and I am feeling so bad for not going and reading the entries...
I think I probably need to man up and at least go have a look. I'll never be able to read all the entries but I should go and read those of the people I know (sorry guys, I am a BAD friend).
As for entering myself... Well, last year people really liked my chapter and I was beyond thrilled at the feedback. But the sad fact of the matter was that it didn't get anywhere. And I have an inkling as to why after several people let me know - in the nicest possible way - what the problem with it was.
No conflict.
Oh, I had conflict. I had bags of it. But did I put it in that first chapter? No I did not. Neither did I give either character any discernable, obvious goal. They had nothing to fight for, nothing to make what they were doing matter either for them or the reader. And without a goal there is no momentum. The characters are just standing around talking. Sigh. I guess, if nothing else, I can be proud of the fact that even with that dreadful faux pas, everyone STILL really liked it. :-)
It's not a mistake I'll make again. I still don't know whether I'm entering this year or not. I have a chapter I'm working on that is NOTHING like my last year's chapter . But one thing it WILL have is conflict.
So here's my avoidant New Voices advice to you for what it's worth:
Make sure your conflict is there in the first chapter. Give your characters a goal, something to fight for. Make it matter. Make it simple and make it obvious.
Easy, right?
So, I've got this FOMO thing going on and there are so many great writers out there who have entered and I am feeling so bad for not going and reading the entries...
I think I probably need to man up and at least go have a look. I'll never be able to read all the entries but I should go and read those of the people I know (sorry guys, I am a BAD friend).
As for entering myself... Well, last year people really liked my chapter and I was beyond thrilled at the feedback. But the sad fact of the matter was that it didn't get anywhere. And I have an inkling as to why after several people let me know - in the nicest possible way - what the problem with it was.
No conflict.
Oh, I had conflict. I had bags of it. But did I put it in that first chapter? No I did not. Neither did I give either character any discernable, obvious goal. They had nothing to fight for, nothing to make what they were doing matter either for them or the reader. And without a goal there is no momentum. The characters are just standing around talking. Sigh. I guess, if nothing else, I can be proud of the fact that even with that dreadful faux pas, everyone STILL really liked it. :-)
It's not a mistake I'll make again. I still don't know whether I'm entering this year or not. I have a chapter I'm working on that is NOTHING like my last year's chapter . But one thing it WILL have is conflict.
So here's my avoidant New Voices advice to you for what it's worth:
Make sure your conflict is there in the first chapter. Give your characters a goal, something to fight for. Make it matter. Make it simple and make it obvious.
Easy, right?
Friday, September 16, 2011
The Rules
I've got some Rules to follow over at the Sassy's site if you're interested. All about how to include alien motherships in Presents. (not really).
Monday, September 12, 2011
Synopsis Love
I know, you wondering how that's even possible. Because there is NO FREAKING WAY to love writing a synopsis. And actually, it's not that I love writing synopses (I don't, I hate 'em) or that I'm any good at writing them (Nup, not that either) it's just the past two synopses I've written have been the easiest ever. They weren't even two pages!
So what's my secret? Well, I kind of don't want to say in case it proves that I am wrong, wrong, wrong. And also there really isn't a secret (except some good advice from Maisey Yates). It's a case of learning to let go the details of the story and focus on what is really important - the development of the romance and the character arc. I know, it's hard to figure out what are 'details' and what aren't. If you include this bit, then that means you have to include that and before you know it, you've got one page just on the first chapter! (my hint is if you think it's a detail, it probably is. So leave it out!).
In fact, in many ways, for me it's easier to write a synopsis for a story I haven't written yet. Because that way, there are no details to bog me down, plus it's great for figuring out whether your conflict works or not. Nothing like getting halfway through a synopsis and realising that your characters don't have enough conflict. Or that what you thought was the conflict, isn't what they thought.
But anyway, why were these ones so easy to write? Because I did totally leave out any extraneous details apart from the external conflict that brings them together. The rest is just how broadly the romance develops - their first impressions of each other. How that makes it worse for them. How they find connection. How that connection makes it worse. What they do about that. Why that doesn't work. And then the change they have to make in order to be together (the resolution of the conflict). The turning points of the story, etc, etc.
Now this could all be entirely wrong of course and in fact my synopses are crap! But at this point, taking an hour or two to write one instead of the usual three days, with another two for hair pulling and complaining, is AOK with me.
And just to show you I'm not all about how wonderful my synopses are (not), I am also going to include this little linky thing here (Sonny Bill Williams and his ripped shirt). I am not a rugby fan but since the Rugby World Cup is happening in my neck of the woods (American visitors, please visit this link hehe), I thought it pertinent to gift to the world a small incident that actually made me watch part of a game. I think the person behind the camera must have been a woman...:-)
So what's my secret? Well, I kind of don't want to say in case it proves that I am wrong, wrong, wrong. And also there really isn't a secret (except some good advice from Maisey Yates). It's a case of learning to let go the details of the story and focus on what is really important - the development of the romance and the character arc. I know, it's hard to figure out what are 'details' and what aren't. If you include this bit, then that means you have to include that and before you know it, you've got one page just on the first chapter! (my hint is if you think it's a detail, it probably is. So leave it out!).
In fact, in many ways, for me it's easier to write a synopsis for a story I haven't written yet. Because that way, there are no details to bog me down, plus it's great for figuring out whether your conflict works or not. Nothing like getting halfway through a synopsis and realising that your characters don't have enough conflict. Or that what you thought was the conflict, isn't what they thought.
But anyway, why were these ones so easy to write? Because I did totally leave out any extraneous details apart from the external conflict that brings them together. The rest is just how broadly the romance develops - their first impressions of each other. How that makes it worse for them. How they find connection. How that connection makes it worse. What they do about that. Why that doesn't work. And then the change they have to make in order to be together (the resolution of the conflict). The turning points of the story, etc, etc.
Now this could all be entirely wrong of course and in fact my synopses are crap! But at this point, taking an hour or two to write one instead of the usual three days, with another two for hair pulling and complaining, is AOK with me.
And just to show you I'm not all about how wonderful my synopses are (not), I am also going to include this little linky thing here (Sonny Bill Williams and his ripped shirt). I am not a rugby fan but since the Rugby World Cup is happening in my neck of the woods (American visitors, please visit this link hehe), I thought it pertinent to gift to the world a small incident that actually made me watch part of a game. I think the person behind the camera must have been a woman...:-)
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Distracting Myself From Pressing Send
It's subbing eve. Soon I will have two stories out there. Soon I'll be back on that big 'ole rollercoaster, viewing my inbox with trepidation, nay with horror. But what's a girl to do?
I had two really great pieces of advice when I confessed my subbing fear at the Auckland chapter group meeting last week. The first from the lovely Nalini Singh (namedrop, namedrop) who suggested getting out all the lovely things people have told me about my writing from contests etc and re-reading them. The second was from the also very lovely Yvonne Lindsay (more namedropping) who asked me whether I thought people deserved to read my stories. And my gut feeling was....hell yes!
Anyway, to distract myself from subbing fear, I am reading a book called One Day by David Nicholls. Not only is it a romance it is also awesome. At least so far - I haven't finished it yet. It charts the relationship of two people over the space of twenty years by concentrating on one day every year. So far the two protagonists are best friends (they start off as lovers) and as friends-to-lovers is my favourite trope in the whole wide world, I am loving it!
In fact, it's the story I wanted to write back when I was still a baby writer. In fact, I did kind of write it. Before I decided to concentrate on publication, the last story I wrote was a friends to lovers story over the space of twenty years. Coincidence? I think not!
However sadly the twist of writing one day every year didn't occur to me. And I suck at literary writing. And although I loved writing it and still adore the characters, there was SO much wrong with it it's not funny. For a start it's over 300k long. Then there's the fact that the heroine had no conflict. The hero did though I didn't explore it. There's also infidelity (hero/heroine), mountain climbing, a threesome (hero), drug taking (hero), lots of cussing, almost rape (heroine), overdoses (heroine plus others), ectopic pregnancy (heroine) and death by pulmonary embolism.
It was awesome.
Perhaps I should get it out, polish it up and send that out too. :-)
I had two really great pieces of advice when I confessed my subbing fear at the Auckland chapter group meeting last week. The first from the lovely Nalini Singh (namedrop, namedrop) who suggested getting out all the lovely things people have told me about my writing from contests etc and re-reading them. The second was from the also very lovely Yvonne Lindsay (more namedropping) who asked me whether I thought people deserved to read my stories. And my gut feeling was....hell yes!
Anyway, to distract myself from subbing fear, I am reading a book called One Day by David Nicholls. Not only is it a romance it is also awesome. At least so far - I haven't finished it yet. It charts the relationship of two people over the space of twenty years by concentrating on one day every year. So far the two protagonists are best friends (they start off as lovers) and as friends-to-lovers is my favourite trope in the whole wide world, I am loving it!
In fact, it's the story I wanted to write back when I was still a baby writer. In fact, I did kind of write it. Before I decided to concentrate on publication, the last story I wrote was a friends to lovers story over the space of twenty years. Coincidence? I think not!
However sadly the twist of writing one day every year didn't occur to me. And I suck at literary writing. And although I loved writing it and still adore the characters, there was SO much wrong with it it's not funny. For a start it's over 300k long. Then there's the fact that the heroine had no conflict. The hero did though I didn't explore it. There's also infidelity (hero/heroine), mountain climbing, a threesome (hero), drug taking (hero), lots of cussing, almost rape (heroine), overdoses (heroine plus others), ectopic pregnancy (heroine) and death by pulmonary embolism.
It was awesome.
Perhaps I should get it out, polish it up and send that out too. :-)
Thursday, September 1, 2011
When You're Afraid of Your Own Story
Alrighty, I have now finished the partial requested by Mills and Boon, and also the full I need to send to to Carina. All I need to do is a final polish on both and then a synopses each. Easy.
Well, okay apart from actually writing the synopses.
And the HUGE subbing fear that is currently lurking around in my brain.
Yep, easy all right.
I think this might be a good time to remind myself of the speech Jane Porter gave at the close of the Romance Writers of Australia conference. She was incredibly inspirational and what she said really struck home to me at the time. She spoke about how long it too her to get published and the ups and downs of the industry. Then she then went on to describe a little incident with her son about how he was learning how to play baseball and how his coach was talking to him as he prepared to hit the ball, how the coach was telling him he owned the ball, this one was his, this one had his name written all over it, he could do it. The kid struck out about three times but the coach was constantly telling him how he could do it. How he could hit this one out of the park. And on the third time he did it.
She mentioned this in the context of how wonderful it is to have support when you're doing something hard, but I got something out of it that was a little different. Because it gelled with something else that someone had told me earlier on in the conference - that we are the experts in our stories. No one else knows our stories like we do. No one else knows our characters like we do.
And I thought to myself that yep, I'm that kid. I'm standing there with a bat in my hand. And that ball? That ball is my story and I've been afraid of it. Afraid I'll get it wrong somehow, that my characters will be wrong, that my conflict will be wrong, that my plot will be wrong. And for the past year, I've been kind of taking punts at the balls that keep being thrown at me, but I'm so afraid of them, I don't even try swinging. Because deep down, I'm not sure I can hit them.
I am not owning my stories. They are owning me.
Well, at the end of her speech, Jane spoke about not giving in to despair. That your journey is your own, it's not anyone else's. That all you've got is you - but that's the biggest strength there is.
And I thought 'yeah, she's bloody right'. I need to stop giving in to despair. Stop being afraid of my own stupid stories. Stop letting them own me. Because I am the expert here, not them. I write them, they don't write me. I own them. They're mine. And the more I own them, the greater the chance will be that I'll hit one of them out of the ballpark.
It may not be the ones I've just written. But one day, one of those stories will, literally, have my name written all over it.
So there, inspirational speech/pep talk/coach for the week. Just remind me of it when the time comes to hit send! :-)
Well, okay apart from actually writing the synopses.
And the HUGE subbing fear that is currently lurking around in my brain.
Yep, easy all right.
I think this might be a good time to remind myself of the speech Jane Porter gave at the close of the Romance Writers of Australia conference. She was incredibly inspirational and what she said really struck home to me at the time. She spoke about how long it too her to get published and the ups and downs of the industry. Then she then went on to describe a little incident with her son about how he was learning how to play baseball and how his coach was talking to him as he prepared to hit the ball, how the coach was telling him he owned the ball, this one was his, this one had his name written all over it, he could do it. The kid struck out about three times but the coach was constantly telling him how he could do it. How he could hit this one out of the park. And on the third time he did it.
She mentioned this in the context of how wonderful it is to have support when you're doing something hard, but I got something out of it that was a little different. Because it gelled with something else that someone had told me earlier on in the conference - that we are the experts in our stories. No one else knows our stories like we do. No one else knows our characters like we do.
And I thought to myself that yep, I'm that kid. I'm standing there with a bat in my hand. And that ball? That ball is my story and I've been afraid of it. Afraid I'll get it wrong somehow, that my characters will be wrong, that my conflict will be wrong, that my plot will be wrong. And for the past year, I've been kind of taking punts at the balls that keep being thrown at me, but I'm so afraid of them, I don't even try swinging. Because deep down, I'm not sure I can hit them.
I am not owning my stories. They are owning me.
Well, at the end of her speech, Jane spoke about not giving in to despair. That your journey is your own, it's not anyone else's. That all you've got is you - but that's the biggest strength there is.
And I thought 'yeah, she's bloody right'. I need to stop giving in to despair. Stop being afraid of my own stupid stories. Stop letting them own me. Because I am the expert here, not them. I write them, they don't write me. I own them. They're mine. And the more I own them, the greater the chance will be that I'll hit one of them out of the ballpark.
It may not be the ones I've just written. But one day, one of those stories will, literally, have my name written all over it.
So there, inspirational speech/pep talk/coach for the week. Just remind me of it when the time comes to hit send! :-)
Thursday, August 25, 2011
RWNZ Conference - The Musical
Okay, so no, I'm not going to sing (you lucky people!) But after the conference I certainly feel like it. The passing of Sandra Hyatt cast a pall - how could it not? - but I'm sure she won't mind if I pass on some of the good things that came out of the conference. And there were some extremely good things.
1. My pitch to Lucy Gilmour. I'd won the First Impressions Contest #2 and my prize was the pitch. And since she'd already read and judged the first 1k of my story, we didn't really talk about it much. In fact we ended up about me and my writing (poor Lucy)! Anyway, she was lovely and so encouraging that I felt like getting down on my knees and paying homage. :-) Rather OTT I know but she laid to rest a great many fears I had. The end result anyway is that they're extremely excited about my Modern partial and are impatient to see it. Only hope I don't break it the way I broke the Hammer Pants ms.
2. My pitch to Angela James. Who loved it and asked if I had the ms with me. She was just joking of course but she was really keen which makes me really keen too. Now I just have to finish rewriting the end so I can send it to her.
3. Dinner where I got to sit beside the fabulous Natalie Anderson (Hoo took rather a shine to her as you can see), who wore her Adidas tracksuit (theme was the Rugby World Cup) complete with sparkly heels, and who had the best hair. She was wonderful company and made me swear that I would enter my next five - yes, you heard right - manuscripts into NZ's Clendon Award. I promised one. ;-) Anyway, go buy her new book because she's a fab author and lovely lady. Yes, buy it I tell you!
4. Molly O'Keefe. Who liked my hair. And gave one of the best ever workshops on conflict. It was so inspiring she even had a few lightbulbs herself and had to go off to jot them down. :-) Seriously, she was wonderful. A few highlights were having at least three facets to your character's life in your plot, and at least three scenes scenes for every facet. The first establishes it, the second raises the stakes, the third resolves it. She also gave a great run down on hooks and how to tweak them for that all important 'unpredictability factor'. Basically the way to do that is to think about why people love to read, say, a 'secret baby' story. Think about what people expect to have happen, then think about how you can tweak it so that it's different to what people expect.
5. Bob Mayer gave an awesome talk on how to write a great synopsis and also marketing of your book. The possibilities given social media are pretty endless and repetition seems to be key. The main points really are that only you can sell your book. No one else is going to do it for you.
6. Wearing my contest rosettes. In NZ, if you final or place in a contest, you get to wear rosettes
and after a few conferences of a sadly bare chest, it was finally my turn. I had two! I had to be careful of their placement. ;-)
7. Collecting my certificates for my contest placings from Lucy Gilmour on the stage. Yeah, I know, but hey, I'm celebrating my successes here, no matter how small.
8. Spending time with the lovely Amanda Wilson and Cody Young.
9. Meeting more fellow writers who are also riding the roller-coaster with me.
10. Going home and finally being able to sleep without a million things scrambling around in my brain!
Anyway, I haven't really done justice to some of these things and that's mainly because when I got home and read through my notes, I realised they were hopeless. It's been a long time since my university days and clearly I suck at note-taking.
I haven't finished up my spiel about the Aussie conference either but since Jane Porter gave the most inspiring closing speech ever, I might save that for a seperate blog post. And besides, I'm pretty damn tired - two conferences back to back, especially when circumstances are tragic, are pretty full on.
Hope everyone else has been doing okay. Thanks also for your lovely comments re my last post on Sandra. It's going to take a while to sink in, let alone get past (not that you ever really do).
1. My pitch to Lucy Gilmour. I'd won the First Impressions Contest #2 and my prize was the pitch. And since she'd already read and judged the first 1k of my story, we didn't really talk about it much. In fact we ended up about me and my writing (poor Lucy)! Anyway, she was lovely and so encouraging that I felt like getting down on my knees and paying homage. :-) Rather OTT I know but she laid to rest a great many fears I had. The end result anyway is that they're extremely excited about my Modern partial and are impatient to see it. Only hope I don't break it the way I broke the Hammer Pants ms.
2. My pitch to Angela James. Who loved it and asked if I had the ms with me. She was just joking of course but she was really keen which makes me really keen too. Now I just have to finish rewriting the end so I can send it to her.
3. Dinner where I got to sit beside the fabulous Natalie Anderson (Hoo took rather a shine to her as you can see), who wore her Adidas tracksuit (theme was the Rugby World Cup) complete with sparkly heels, and who had the best hair. She was wonderful company and made me swear that I would enter my next five - yes, you heard right - manuscripts into NZ's Clendon Award. I promised one. ;-) Anyway, go buy her new book because she's a fab author and lovely lady. Yes, buy it I tell you!
4. Molly O'Keefe. Who liked my hair. And gave one of the best ever workshops on conflict. It was so inspiring she even had a few lightbulbs herself and had to go off to jot them down. :-) Seriously, she was wonderful. A few highlights were having at least three facets to your character's life in your plot, and at least three scenes scenes for every facet. The first establishes it, the second raises the stakes, the third resolves it. She also gave a great run down on hooks and how to tweak them for that all important 'unpredictability factor'. Basically the way to do that is to think about why people love to read, say, a 'secret baby' story. Think about what people expect to have happen, then think about how you can tweak it so that it's different to what people expect.
5. Bob Mayer gave an awesome talk on how to write a great synopsis and also marketing of your book. The possibilities given social media are pretty endless and repetition seems to be key. The main points really are that only you can sell your book. No one else is going to do it for you.
6. Wearing my contest rosettes. In NZ, if you final or place in a contest, you get to wear rosettes
and after a few conferences of a sadly bare chest, it was finally my turn. I had two! I had to be careful of their placement. ;-)
7. Collecting my certificates for my contest placings from Lucy Gilmour on the stage. Yeah, I know, but hey, I'm celebrating my successes here, no matter how small.
8. Spending time with the lovely Amanda Wilson and Cody Young.
9. Meeting more fellow writers who are also riding the roller-coaster with me.
10. Going home and finally being able to sleep without a million things scrambling around in my brain!
Anyway, I haven't really done justice to some of these things and that's mainly because when I got home and read through my notes, I realised they were hopeless. It's been a long time since my university days and clearly I suck at note-taking.
I haven't finished up my spiel about the Aussie conference either but since Jane Porter gave the most inspiring closing speech ever, I might save that for a seperate blog post. And besides, I'm pretty damn tired - two conferences back to back, especially when circumstances are tragic, are pretty full on.
Hope everyone else has been doing okay. Thanks also for your lovely comments re my last post on Sandra. It's going to take a while to sink in, let alone get past (not that you ever really do).
Monday, August 22, 2011
Sad News - Sandra Hyatt
I'm going to continue to my round-up of the RWAus Conference and then pass on some good stuff from the RWNZ conference too but I just wanted to mark the passing of Desire author, Sandra Hyatt.
I didn't know Sandra well but often had great chats to her at our Auckland chapter group meetings. In fact, I did a blog post not two weeks ago about our last meeting, where she talked about essence and identity - a subject that gave me a number of lightbulb moments about my WIP. Afterwards I had a chat to her about Desire and whether or not I should send something there, and she was so lovely and encouraging. Then she confessed that she was almost going to tell me that I was close [to selling] but that she wouldn't because she'd always hated it when people had said it to her. :-) I still remember laughing about that.
But what I've also been thinking about today is how she told us a little bit about the story she was working on. It sounded so different and fresh, and it's just so sad that this story will remain untold, as will all the other stories she had yet to write.
When something sudden like this happens you do kind of evaluate life and where you're heading. You think about your dreams. About what you want to achieve. About what's holding you back.
And I think the main thing that's come out of this for me built on what Jane Porter said at the closing of the RWAus conference a couple of weeks back...
Your stories are yours. No one else can write them for you. No one else can write them like you can. You own them. And if you don't get them down, they will remain untold.
Don't let them remain untold.
Deepest sympathies go out to Sandra's family and friends, and to the rest of the RWNZ
I didn't know Sandra well but often had great chats to her at our Auckland chapter group meetings. In fact, I did a blog post not two weeks ago about our last meeting, where she talked about essence and identity - a subject that gave me a number of lightbulb moments about my WIP. Afterwards I had a chat to her about Desire and whether or not I should send something there, and she was so lovely and encouraging. Then she confessed that she was almost going to tell me that I was close [to selling] but that she wouldn't because she'd always hated it when people had said it to her. :-) I still remember laughing about that.
But what I've also been thinking about today is how she told us a little bit about the story she was working on. It sounded so different and fresh, and it's just so sad that this story will remain untold, as will all the other stories she had yet to write.
When something sudden like this happens you do kind of evaluate life and where you're heading. You think about your dreams. About what you want to achieve. About what's holding you back.
And I think the main thing that's come out of this for me built on what Jane Porter said at the closing of the RWAus conference a couple of weeks back...
Your stories are yours. No one else can write them for you. No one else can write them like you can. You own them. And if you don't get them down, they will remain untold.
Don't let them remain untold.
Deepest sympathies go out to Sandra's family and friends, and to the rest of the RWNZ
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
The Awesomeness that was the Romance Writers of Australia Conference - Part 1
Alrighty... *rolls up sleeves*
So this post is going to be about the best part of the conference (for me at any rate) - the people.
What came across quite clearly at the conference - from a number of different speakers - was what a wonderful bunch of people romance writers are. And I can quite categorically state that this is absolutely true. They are the BEST bunch ever and I couldn't have asked for better company. I want to have the weekend all over again just so I can spend more time with them all.
Anyway, here is a list of conference highlights in no particular order:
1. Seeing one of my CPs, the fabulous Rachel Johns, get her First Sale ribbon. It was especially funny to see her gas-bagging so much she almost forgot she had to go up on stage to get it!
2. Having the gorgeous Becca Heath's company at dinner with Mum and I.
3. Finally meeting the awesome Robyn Thomas AKA Chelsea Finch, one of my Sassy Sisters, face to face instead of via email.
4. Drinking the Moet that my Mum brought duty free in our hotel room with Bec and Rach before the awards dinner.
5. Not falling over on the way up to the stage to collect my High Five award.
6. My one minute of fame when I collected my High Five award.
7. Losing mobile service so I couldn't text my Mum (who was up in the hotel room) just before the High Five award was announced. Then getting it back again just in time for Mum to dash downstairs to the ballroom to see me collect the award!
8. Did I mention collecting my High Five award? ;-)
9. Having the wonderful Helen Lacey (Special Edition) recommend my blog to another author at our table.
10. Having my photo taken with the lovely Presents author Megan Crane (Caitlin Crews). I got quite shy and couldn't think of a word to say other than smile manically!
11. Saying hi to Jane Porter cos Maisey told me to. Cue another performance of me smiling manically cos I was too shy to say anything!
12. Tearing up at Jane's closing speech.
13. Hearing someone ask, at a panel discussion on heroines, whether any of the authors and editors present would do a crack-head heroine. Answer was: All in the execution. Cue a number of manuscripts being sent in that have crack-head heroines.
14. Having photos taken in the vintage photo booth with Robyn.
15.The plane not crashing either on the way to Melbourne or on the way back.
16. Having my amazing mother come with me, share her Moet, meet my writing buddies, see me collect my award, hold my hand on the plane, and just generally be the best roomie a girl could hope for. Love ya, Mum!
But of course, with every wonderful time, there are a few regrets:
1. That there wasn't a free night to go out to dinner with all my fabulous mates.
2. That I didn't ask Jane P or Megan if Hoo could get his photo taken with them.
3. That my other Sassies weren't there to
join Robyn and I.
4. That the my fabulous mates don't live just down the road so I can go and talk to them whenever I want.
5. That the NZ conference wasn't quite so close!
Will do another post of the actual sessions I went to and some of the insights gained, but really, it was mostly about the people and I want to do it all over again!
So this post is going to be about the best part of the conference (for me at any rate) - the people.
What came across quite clearly at the conference - from a number of different speakers - was what a wonderful bunch of people romance writers are. And I can quite categorically state that this is absolutely true. They are the BEST bunch ever and I couldn't have asked for better company. I want to have the weekend all over again just so I can spend more time with them all.
Anyway, here is a list of conference highlights in no particular order:
1. Seeing one of my CPs, the fabulous Rachel Johns, get her First Sale ribbon. It was especially funny to see her gas-bagging so much she almost forgot she had to go up on stage to get it!
2. Having the gorgeous Becca Heath's company at dinner with Mum and I.
3. Finally meeting the awesome Robyn Thomas AKA Chelsea Finch, one of my Sassy Sisters, face to face instead of via email.
4. Drinking the Moet that my Mum brought duty free in our hotel room with Bec and Rach before the awards dinner.
5. Not falling over on the way up to the stage to collect my High Five award.
6. My one minute of fame when I collected my High Five award.
7. Losing mobile service so I couldn't text my Mum (who was up in the hotel room) just before the High Five award was announced. Then getting it back again just in time for Mum to dash downstairs to the ballroom to see me collect the award!
8. Did I mention collecting my High Five award? ;-)
9. Having the wonderful Helen Lacey (Special Edition) recommend my blog to another author at our table.
10. Having my photo taken with the lovely Presents author Megan Crane (Caitlin Crews). I got quite shy and couldn't think of a word to say other than smile manically!
11. Saying hi to Jane Porter cos Maisey told me to. Cue another performance of me smiling manically cos I was too shy to say anything!
12. Tearing up at Jane's closing speech.
13. Hearing someone ask, at a panel discussion on heroines, whether any of the authors and editors present would do a crack-head heroine. Answer was: All in the execution. Cue a number of manuscripts being sent in that have crack-head heroines.
14. Having photos taken in the vintage photo booth with Robyn.
15.The plane not crashing either on the way to Melbourne or on the way back.
16. Having my amazing mother come with me, share her Moet, meet my writing buddies, see me collect my award, hold my hand on the plane, and just generally be the best roomie a girl could hope for. Love ya, Mum!
But of course, with every wonderful time, there are a few regrets:
1. That there wasn't a free night to go out to dinner with all my fabulous mates.
2. That I didn't ask Jane P or Megan if Hoo could get his photo taken with them.
3. That my other Sassies weren't there to
join Robyn and I.
4. That the my fabulous mates don't live just down the road so I can go and talk to them whenever I want.
5. That the NZ conference wasn't quite so close!
Will do another post of the actual sessions I went to and some of the insights gained, but really, it was mostly about the people and I want to do it all over again!
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Essence and Identity
Okay, this is last blog post before Melbourne and the RWAus conference. Really looking forward to it - especially spending actual face-time with some of my awesome online buddies. Plus I get the extra special treat of meeting one of my Sisters! *waves at Robyn just in case she sees this*
But before all that, I need to start contemplating the essence of my hero in the story I am going to pitch Lucy Gilmour. Why? Well, at our most recent chapter group meeting, the very wonderful Sandra Hyatt gave us a talk about the Micheal Hague workshop she did and part of it really resonated with me.
Our characters wear two faces - the face they show to the world, and the face they keep to themselves. The face they show to the world is their identity, the face they keep to themselves is their essence (the people they truly are). Now in the story, the characters should conflict at the level of identity, but they should connect at the level of essence.
I thought that was a very simple way of making sure there is conflict in a story, but also some real romance. Because it's the moments where the two characters connect that show the reader that these two are meant for each other. Of course what it means is that I need to figure out who my characters actually are, as opposed to the face they show to the real world. Tricky. I know the faces they show to the world but working backwards to find their essence is another thing.
Anyone have some handy tips??
BTW, a big shout-out to my chapter-mate Louise George who has recently sold to Medicals!! Awesome, Louise!! Her first book is out in March!
But before all that, I need to start contemplating the essence of my hero in the story I am going to pitch Lucy Gilmour. Why? Well, at our most recent chapter group meeting, the very wonderful Sandra Hyatt gave us a talk about the Micheal Hague workshop she did and part of it really resonated with me.
Our characters wear two faces - the face they show to the world, and the face they keep to themselves. The face they show to the world is their identity, the face they keep to themselves is their essence (the people they truly are). Now in the story, the characters should conflict at the level of identity, but they should connect at the level of essence.
I thought that was a very simple way of making sure there is conflict in a story, but also some real romance. Because it's the moments where the two characters connect that show the reader that these two are meant for each other. Of course what it means is that I need to figure out who my characters actually are, as opposed to the face they show to the real world. Tricky. I know the faces they show to the world but working backwards to find their essence is another thing.
Anyone have some handy tips??
BTW, a big shout-out to my chapter-mate Louise George who has recently sold to Medicals!! Awesome, Louise!! Her first book is out in March!
Thursday, August 4, 2011
Another Ride on the Rollercoaster
Yep, the publication rollercoaster has pulled up outside my station and apparently there's a seat there with my name on it. What the hell am I talking about?
Found out yesterday I won the First Impressions Contest #2, a pre-RWNZ conference contest. Was pretty damn pleased, as you can probably guess. The past month has been vile so I was dreading to hear the final placings. The last contest I lucked out, coming fifth, and didn't receive a request which made me sad. To be fair, although the chapter was strong - I STILL think it was - the scenario/conflict it was very, very Presents and probably not different enough to warrant asking for more. My opinion entirely of course.
This other contest though, I didn't want to know where I'd come, certain it was last. But no. As well as coming first, I have also been asked for a partial and synopsis. Plus I get to talk through the idea with Lucy Gilmour at the conference. So big yays for me!! Especially as they really liked a small twist I'd put in with the heroine. She's a little bit different. I wondered if it was too much but no, apparently not. Now I just hope I can pull it off.
But with a big win comes also big fear. Did this last year with the High Five win and TOTALLY ballsed up my partial.
However, my writing is so much better than it was at that point last year. I have learned a hell of a lot and one thing is for sure, I will not be making the same mistakes again. Of course I may make different ones but I guess that's another story...
Anyway, bubbles all round for everyone!
Found out yesterday I won the First Impressions Contest #2, a pre-RWNZ conference contest. Was pretty damn pleased, as you can probably guess. The past month has been vile so I was dreading to hear the final placings. The last contest I lucked out, coming fifth, and didn't receive a request which made me sad. To be fair, although the chapter was strong - I STILL think it was - the scenario/conflict it was very, very Presents and probably not different enough to warrant asking for more. My opinion entirely of course.
This other contest though, I didn't want to know where I'd come, certain it was last. But no. As well as coming first, I have also been asked for a partial and synopsis. Plus I get to talk through the idea with Lucy Gilmour at the conference. So big yays for me!! Especially as they really liked a small twist I'd put in with the heroine. She's a little bit different. I wondered if it was too much but no, apparently not. Now I just hope I can pull it off.
But with a big win comes also big fear. Did this last year with the High Five win and TOTALLY ballsed up my partial.
However, my writing is so much better than it was at that point last year. I have learned a hell of a lot and one thing is for sure, I will not be making the same mistakes again. Of course I may make different ones but I guess that's another story...
Anyway, bubbles all round for everyone!
Monday, August 1, 2011
Climbing Mt Ngauruhoe
Holidays over. Phew. And a new month, which is even better, cos July has been, quite frankly, a stinker.Yep, you guessed it, moany post alert! I haven't had one for a while so I figure I'm due one.
Keeping going with this writing stuff hasn't got any easier I'm afraid. I've stoppped thinking of climbing Everest. I'm now thinking in terms of Ngauruhoe. This is a mountain in NZ - for all you LOTR fans out there, it's Mt Doom. Which is a very appropriate title.
Why the change? Well, with Everest if you have the right equipment and skill level, and the weather is on your side, you can get to the top. I admit that in my forays up Everest my skill wasn't great, nor my equipment the best. But then you don't know these things until you fall off. The other thing I needed was the weather but somehow or other, the right combination of skill, equipment and weather has never lined up favourably for me. However, the thing about Everest is that I mostly enjoyed climbing it.
But I'm not these days which is why it feels like I'm climbing Ngauruhoe instead. This is a mountain comprised totally of shale. Climbing it is like climbing a massive sand dune. One step up, two steps back. There's no joy in climbing it (at least, when I actually did climb it years ago, I hated every moment of it), because all you do is trudge and keep trudging. What you need to get to the top is dogged determination and the belief you can do it.
And that's what I'm struggling to find. Dogged determination and self belief. One step forward is always accompanied by two steps back. It's dispiriting.Which makes it hard to keep going. What's the point when no matter how hard you climb, you don't get any higher?
So, what do you all do when you're feeling this way? Got any tips for me? God knows I could use 'em! :-)
Monday, July 25, 2011
The Unbearable Lightness of an Old MS
This week has been a nightmare. School holidays, massive colds for both children, a broken leg that's taking ages to get better, and a husband who also has a cold... Argh. Where's my holiday??
As per usual I want to write and am frustrated by not being able to. Also frustrating are the doubt crows circling my desk. Some days I honestly don't know why I bother to push on. The successes are so few and far between that it seems like a masochist's game to keep at it.
Anyway, in the interests of keeping up some kind of momentum, and after a bracing round of thumping by the CPs (no, not actual thumping but the online equivalent) I have hauled out an old ms to give it a good going over before sending it out to another publisher. The one I thought I'd work on is one that Harlequin really liked and one I completely and utterly stuffed up the revisions for. :-( Hindsight is a bloody awful thing. I haven't looked at this particular ms for a couple of years because it was the 'one that could have been' and that's kind of painful. It's one that I did all kinds of things right but because it all happened completely by accident and not intent, I didn't know what those things were enough to be able to repeat them. In essence, the ms was rejected because my heroine didn't have enough conflict. They thought she was 'lovely' and the hero 'perfect' but conflict for her? Uh huh.
Getting it out and reading it again was bittersweet. Bitter because of all the 'what ifs'. What if I had known what I was doing? What if I'd managed to rewrite it better? What if I'd really understood what the problem was? And sweet because, you know, it's STILL a pretty good story. At least, even two years later and having learned all that I learned, I think it works.
But the problem? Oy! I saw it immediately in the first chapter where I had written 'she just wanted to be accepted for who she was'. Now that right there is the heroine's character arc. And it should be what she realises at the mid-point of the story or even towards the end, not what she understands in the first chapter! Can anyone say too self aware??? And that, in a nutshell, is why she didn't have any conflict. Because where else can she go from there? What more can she learn about herself? If she knew she just wanted to be accepted for who she was, then why didn't she go and do something about it? Why did I make her pretend to be someone else? Characters are supposed to think they're fine at the beginning of the book and part of their journey is figuring out they're not as fine as they think they are. At least, that's what I've been taught about character arc.
Sigh.
I guess the good thing about this is that the rewriting is not nearly as bad as I thought it would be. I just have to make her less self aware. I have to make her think she's fine as she is. She doesn't need acceptance, pshaw, what a silly thing to think, etc, etc. Oh yes and need to beef up her actual conflict (because she actually did have some, it just wasn't very clear). And then...then I guess I will have to think about subbing it. Somewhere.
Anyone else hauled out an old piece of writing? Was it as bad as you thought? (c'mon, we ALL think that right?) Or were you pleasantly surprised?
As per usual I want to write and am frustrated by not being able to. Also frustrating are the doubt crows circling my desk. Some days I honestly don't know why I bother to push on. The successes are so few and far between that it seems like a masochist's game to keep at it.
Anyway, in the interests of keeping up some kind of momentum, and after a bracing round of thumping by the CPs (no, not actual thumping but the online equivalent) I have hauled out an old ms to give it a good going over before sending it out to another publisher. The one I thought I'd work on is one that Harlequin really liked and one I completely and utterly stuffed up the revisions for. :-( Hindsight is a bloody awful thing. I haven't looked at this particular ms for a couple of years because it was the 'one that could have been' and that's kind of painful. It's one that I did all kinds of things right but because it all happened completely by accident and not intent, I didn't know what those things were enough to be able to repeat them. In essence, the ms was rejected because my heroine didn't have enough conflict. They thought she was 'lovely' and the hero 'perfect' but conflict for her? Uh huh.
Getting it out and reading it again was bittersweet. Bitter because of all the 'what ifs'. What if I had known what I was doing? What if I'd managed to rewrite it better? What if I'd really understood what the problem was? And sweet because, you know, it's STILL a pretty good story. At least, even two years later and having learned all that I learned, I think it works.
But the problem? Oy! I saw it immediately in the first chapter where I had written 'she just wanted to be accepted for who she was'. Now that right there is the heroine's character arc. And it should be what she realises at the mid-point of the story or even towards the end, not what she understands in the first chapter! Can anyone say too self aware??? And that, in a nutshell, is why she didn't have any conflict. Because where else can she go from there? What more can she learn about herself? If she knew she just wanted to be accepted for who she was, then why didn't she go and do something about it? Why did I make her pretend to be someone else? Characters are supposed to think they're fine at the beginning of the book and part of their journey is figuring out they're not as fine as they think they are. At least, that's what I've been taught about character arc.
Sigh.
I guess the good thing about this is that the rewriting is not nearly as bad as I thought it would be. I just have to make her less self aware. I have to make her think she's fine as she is. She doesn't need acceptance, pshaw, what a silly thing to think, etc, etc. Oh yes and need to beef up her actual conflict (because she actually did have some, it just wasn't very clear). And then...then I guess I will have to think about subbing it. Somewhere.
Anyone else hauled out an old piece of writing? Was it as bad as you thought? (c'mon, we ALL think that right?) Or were you pleasantly surprised?
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Ask Dr Jax
This is a very late post. I plead a wedding, a 40th birthday party and a cold all in the space of nearly two weeks. Oh and not forgetting school holidays. Yay. Not.
Anyway, time for the good doctor.
Question: How correct is it to say that one painful event can shape a person's life?
Answer: Like I said in a previous post, it's not really events that shape people so much as the relationships people have with one another. It's true that people do attach importance to certain events but most of the time, it's not really the event in particular that's the problem, though the event can certainly be a catalyst. Generally speaking, if, for example, a man is cheated on by his wife, that won't put him off all women forever even though it is certainly a painful event. But if, say, he had a difficult relationship with his mother - perhaps she cheated on his father - then that could influence how he views women in general. In isolation, events are just events. It's when you look at them in conjunction with the relationships people have in their lives that they take on meaning.
Thank you the good doctor!
And I shall leave you with the golden rule that Dr Jax keeps telling me about having characters that are too self aware.
If you think they're too self aware, then they probably are. :-)
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Problems and Other Miscellaneous Announcements
Quick post to blow my own trumpet about a little pre-conference RWNZ contest which I finalled in! Yay! Entries go off to Lucy Gilmour at M&B for a final placing and when she arrives in NZ in August, I get to have a 10 minute face to face pitch session with her. I'm really thrilled about it but nervous - the ms has a heroine who is a bit different and not sure I'll be able to pull it off. Oh well, can only try eh?
Also Dr Jax is proving hard to pin down to answer my questions. I think he's avoiding me. Mostly due to the fact that I have spent the past two weeks moaning to him about my chess WIP. He definitely does NOT want to hear anything more about my writing, I'm sure of it. He can pretty much tell that if I start hanging around him when he gets home from work, doing things like half-heartedly sweeping the floor or moving crumbs from one side of the bench to the other, then I want to talk about my WIP. I never come out and say it you see, I want him to ask me how it's going. And I do that mostly because I'm a one note record and I know how boring I'm being but I just can't HELP IT! When I have a problem with my WIP, g0ing away and thinking about something else never works. I HAVE solve it first. It's like an itch that HAS to be scratched and I can't concentrate on anything else until I've scratched it. It's kind of tiresome. Part of what makes it tiresome is the fact that I have to talk out my WIP problems. Often he doesn't even need to say anything, I solve it just by telling him what the problem is. But that can make it difficult when he's not around to talk to (and no, talking to the air does not help).
So - what do you guys do when you have WIP problems? Talk it out? Walk it out? Shower endlessly??
PS And speaking of the Chess wip - I have finished it!!! And now it will go in a drawer where it will NEVER be seen again - at least not until I've got up the courage to edit the stupid thing.
Also Dr Jax is proving hard to pin down to answer my questions. I think he's avoiding me. Mostly due to the fact that I have spent the past two weeks moaning to him about my chess WIP. He definitely does NOT want to hear anything more about my writing, I'm sure of it. He can pretty much tell that if I start hanging around him when he gets home from work, doing things like half-heartedly sweeping the floor or moving crumbs from one side of the bench to the other, then I want to talk about my WIP. I never come out and say it you see, I want him to ask me how it's going. And I do that mostly because I'm a one note record and I know how boring I'm being but I just can't HELP IT! When I have a problem with my WIP, g0ing away and thinking about something else never works. I HAVE solve it first. It's like an itch that HAS to be scratched and I can't concentrate on anything else until I've scratched it. It's kind of tiresome. Part of what makes it tiresome is the fact that I have to talk out my WIP problems. Often he doesn't even need to say anything, I solve it just by telling him what the problem is. But that can make it difficult when he's not around to talk to (and no, talking to the air does not help).
So - what do you guys do when you have WIP problems? Talk it out? Walk it out? Shower endlessly??
PS And speaking of the Chess wip - I have finished it!!! And now it will go in a drawer where it will NEVER be seen again - at least not until I've got up the courage to edit the stupid thing.
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Being Different
Okay so I'm going to say straight up that I have no idea what constitutes 'different'. Actually, no, I do have some idea, but whether my idea squares with an editors idea is something that hasn't been determined yet...
Um, no, that's not quite right either. So far my idea of different has NOT squared yet. In fact, I have been tarred with the cliche brush. Purely my own fault. Note to self: Do not have the hero make the heroine come to work for him unless it's part of his character and NOT just because I wanted them in proximity to each other...
Ahem. So anyway, different. I think a really good example of this is Maisey's latest release. Yes, this is a small plug for my lovely CP (BUYBUYBUYBUY), but it's also because it's got a different hero who has a very contentious (for romance readers) conflict.
For a start, in the The Highest Price To Pay the hero is black. The first Presents/Modern black hero. AND, what's more, he's black on the cover of the UK edition. Considering they hardly ever feature blonde heroes on the covers, having a very obviously black hero on the cover is a fantastic move. Now, he also has a conflict that is very different too. Different in that it's a thorny one, I think, for romance readers. I won't give it away by telling you what it is but it's one that I think is difficult to pull off and yet, IMHO, Maisey manages it.
The story itself is still very Presents - hero is alpha, the settings are glamorous, the heroine is strong and glam too. All the elements that make Presents what it is are there, but with just that little bit of difference.
Being different in category romance - hell, in all romance! - is really hard to pull off in my opinion. But not impossible. The trick is, I think, to not go overboard. Don't make your Presents hero a secret alien in disguise. They may never have had an alien/werewolf/vampire hero in Presents but that doesn't mean they're going to start doing it now! Be different in ways that are a little bit outside the box but not so much that you crush the box entirely. And it MUST be in character. Otherwise it's not going to work.
Anyone read a romance lately that you found different? What was it about it that was different?
BTW, I realise I am late with my Ask Dr Jax post so if you have any conflict questions, let me know!
Um, no, that's not quite right either. So far my idea of different has NOT squared yet. In fact, I have been tarred with the cliche brush. Purely my own fault. Note to self: Do not have the hero make the heroine come to work for him unless it's part of his character and NOT just because I wanted them in proximity to each other...
Ahem. So anyway, different. I think a really good example of this is Maisey's latest release. Yes, this is a small plug for my lovely CP (BUYBUYBUYBUY), but it's also because it's got a different hero who has a very contentious (for romance readers) conflict.
For a start, in the The Highest Price To Pay the hero is black. The first Presents/Modern black hero. AND, what's more, he's black on the cover of the UK edition. Considering they hardly ever feature blonde heroes on the covers, having a very obviously black hero on the cover is a fantastic move. Now, he also has a conflict that is very different too. Different in that it's a thorny one, I think, for romance readers. I won't give it away by telling you what it is but it's one that I think is difficult to pull off and yet, IMHO, Maisey manages it.
The story itself is still very Presents - hero is alpha, the settings are glamorous, the heroine is strong and glam too. All the elements that make Presents what it is are there, but with just that little bit of difference.
Being different in category romance - hell, in all romance! - is really hard to pull off in my opinion. But not impossible. The trick is, I think, to not go overboard. Don't make your Presents hero a secret alien in disguise. They may never have had an alien/werewolf/vampire hero in Presents but that doesn't mean they're going to start doing it now! Be different in ways that are a little bit outside the box but not so much that you crush the box entirely. And it MUST be in character. Otherwise it's not going to work.
Anyone read a romance lately that you found different? What was it about it that was different?
BTW, I realise I am late with my Ask Dr Jax post so if you have any conflict questions, let me know!
Monday, June 27, 2011
Every Good Alpha Deserves A Hobby
A week? Argh, naughty Jackie! My only excuse is that I've been hard at work this week getting in more contest entries. Yep, anything and everything, that's my motto. Gotta be in it to win it etc, etc...
Anyway, it's one of these entries that got me thinking about heroes. Heroes and hobbies to be exact. Hobbies?? Yeah, hobbies. I know, I know, brings to mind stamps and miniature railways and birdwatching (not that there is anything wrong with any of these!) and possibly anoraks. All of which don't seem to be particularly hero orientated. But bear with me.
First let me tell you that there is nothing cuter than a man in the grip of a small enthusiasm. Dear Dr Jax for example. He often has little fancies. Last month it was fish. He investigated EVERYTHING. Tanks, correct water PH, oxygen thingies, the proper food, lights, the works. You would think he was getting some terribly expensive tropical fish but no, it was fresh water guppies. But the kids got to choose a tank ornament each, and now we have a little aquarium in our lounge. Since then he hasn't looked at the fish and soon it'll be something else, but while he was interested there was something so utterly endearing about it that it got me thinking about my heroes and their 'things' (no, not that thing). :-)
A hero with a hobby is a very human hero. A relateable hero. You might have the world's biggest alphole but if he has a passion for teaspoon collecting then somehow, that makes him more sympathetic (or not as the case may be. I guess it depends if you like teaspoons). It also provides a very nice way for the heroine to relate to him. Perhaps she buys him a rare teaspoon for his collection? What a way to show you care! And it can also be a lovely point of similarity - maybe she collects plates?
The plot opportunities for little hobbies can be good too. Perhaps the teaspoon collecting is part of his conflict? He MUST have the best collection in the world because he has to be the best at everything because when he was a kid his father always made him feel second rate. Or perhaps he loves fishing because it makes him feel closer to his dead mother. Or he likes making jewellery because he's actually secretly creative and doing finance deals doesn't satisfy that part of him.
Hobbies can be great ways to set up character as well. What is it about teaspoon collecting that he likes so much? Perhaps he's very neat and has them all ordered and displayed beautifully and then the heroine comes in and messes them all up. Or maybe he's into music and is very techy, and has to have the BEST stereo equipment (come on, everyone knows at least one guy like this, right?), and then the heroine makes a perfectly innocent comment about his stereo which then gets her a rave for HOURS. And she's enchanted by his boyishness. ;-)
Obviously, in giving your hero a hobby, you do have to make it part of his character. I wouldn't give a CEO a stamp collecting hobby just because it was different. The stamp collecting would have to be part of the type of guy he is. Why stamps? Did he collect them as a child? Why does he still collect them as an adult? Etc, etc.
So what's the most interesting hobby for a hero that you've read? I read a Susan Napier years ago where the hero grew roses. It was awesome!
Anyway, it's one of these entries that got me thinking about heroes. Heroes and hobbies to be exact. Hobbies?? Yeah, hobbies. I know, I know, brings to mind stamps and miniature railways and birdwatching (not that there is anything wrong with any of these!) and possibly anoraks. All of which don't seem to be particularly hero orientated. But bear with me.
First let me tell you that there is nothing cuter than a man in the grip of a small enthusiasm. Dear Dr Jax for example. He often has little fancies. Last month it was fish. He investigated EVERYTHING. Tanks, correct water PH, oxygen thingies, the proper food, lights, the works. You would think he was getting some terribly expensive tropical fish but no, it was fresh water guppies. But the kids got to choose a tank ornament each, and now we have a little aquarium in our lounge. Since then he hasn't looked at the fish and soon it'll be something else, but while he was interested there was something so utterly endearing about it that it got me thinking about my heroes and their 'things' (no, not that thing). :-)
A hero with a hobby is a very human hero. A relateable hero. You might have the world's biggest alphole but if he has a passion for teaspoon collecting then somehow, that makes him more sympathetic (or not as the case may be. I guess it depends if you like teaspoons). It also provides a very nice way for the heroine to relate to him. Perhaps she buys him a rare teaspoon for his collection? What a way to show you care! And it can also be a lovely point of similarity - maybe she collects plates?
The plot opportunities for little hobbies can be good too. Perhaps the teaspoon collecting is part of his conflict? He MUST have the best collection in the world because he has to be the best at everything because when he was a kid his father always made him feel second rate. Or perhaps he loves fishing because it makes him feel closer to his dead mother. Or he likes making jewellery because he's actually secretly creative and doing finance deals doesn't satisfy that part of him.
Hobbies can be great ways to set up character as well. What is it about teaspoon collecting that he likes so much? Perhaps he's very neat and has them all ordered and displayed beautifully and then the heroine comes in and messes them all up. Or maybe he's into music and is very techy, and has to have the BEST stereo equipment (come on, everyone knows at least one guy like this, right?), and then the heroine makes a perfectly innocent comment about his stereo which then gets her a rave for HOURS. And she's enchanted by his boyishness. ;-)
Obviously, in giving your hero a hobby, you do have to make it part of his character. I wouldn't give a CEO a stamp collecting hobby just because it was different. The stamp collecting would have to be part of the type of guy he is. Why stamps? Did he collect them as a child? Why does he still collect them as an adult? Etc, etc.
So what's the most interesting hobby for a hero that you've read? I read a Susan Napier years ago where the hero grew roses. It was awesome!
Monday, June 20, 2011
No Holding Back!
Okay, it's official. Jackie is no longer holding back.
I know, I know, I was supposed to do this months ago. But I only really managed it in one chapter and that was my contest chapter. The rest of my mss, I've been dicking around with but not getting anywhere, questioning every action my characters took, every reaction. I told myself I wasn't going to worry about the little editorial voices in my head but you know what? No prizes for guessing.... Yeah, I've been listening to them.
The CPs have had to give me a slap round the head (Robyn and Maisey do an excellent good cop/bad cop routine) and since then, I've made a momentous decision. Ish.
I can write sassy and flirty, and I do it well. But sassy and flirty do not a story make. You need conflict and character and that's where I am having problems. Because I'm holding myself back. I'm trying to keep the light and flirty, but also have the intensity and angst that I love as well and it's not working for me. I keep injecting inappropriate tension and angst everywhere because that's what I REALLY want to write.
So, I'm giving up the light and flirty. I'm going all out on the angst. The intensity. The strong alphas. But I'm keeping my heroines stroppy. I'm doing Presents/Modern conflict and hero with a Riva heroine. I have no idea whether it'll work or not but already the Chessman - which Maisey had already told me was Presents - is benefitting. My hero (who was more Presents than Riva anyway, as I think Janet commented once) is no longer going to do stuff just to make him more sympathetic. If it's not in his character, then he ain't doing it. Like flirting. He doesn't flirt. He doesn't seduce. He has no light and flirty button. Neither does my heroine. She's hot-headed and stroppy and straight up. So Jackie must stop trying to make her light and flirty too.
And the next time I find myself questioning every action, every reaction, I need to ask myself this question - am I holding back? And if so, why?
Anyone else guilty of holding back??
I know, I know, I was supposed to do this months ago. But I only really managed it in one chapter and that was my contest chapter. The rest of my mss, I've been dicking around with but not getting anywhere, questioning every action my characters took, every reaction. I told myself I wasn't going to worry about the little editorial voices in my head but you know what? No prizes for guessing.... Yeah, I've been listening to them.
The CPs have had to give me a slap round the head (Robyn and Maisey do an excellent good cop/bad cop routine) and since then, I've made a momentous decision. Ish.
I can write sassy and flirty, and I do it well. But sassy and flirty do not a story make. You need conflict and character and that's where I am having problems. Because I'm holding myself back. I'm trying to keep the light and flirty, but also have the intensity and angst that I love as well and it's not working for me. I keep injecting inappropriate tension and angst everywhere because that's what I REALLY want to write.
So, I'm giving up the light and flirty. I'm going all out on the angst. The intensity. The strong alphas. But I'm keeping my heroines stroppy. I'm doing Presents/Modern conflict and hero with a Riva heroine. I have no idea whether it'll work or not but already the Chessman - which Maisey had already told me was Presents - is benefitting. My hero (who was more Presents than Riva anyway, as I think Janet commented once) is no longer going to do stuff just to make him more sympathetic. If it's not in his character, then he ain't doing it. Like flirting. He doesn't flirt. He doesn't seduce. He has no light and flirty button. Neither does my heroine. She's hot-headed and stroppy and straight up. So Jackie must stop trying to make her light and flirty too.
And the next time I find myself questioning every action, every reaction, I need to ask myself this question - am I holding back? And if so, why?
Anyone else guilty of holding back??
Monday, June 13, 2011
Seven Random Facts
The beauteous Rach (newcarinauthorbookoutinDecemberbuyitbuyitBUYIT!!!) has nominated me for a blog award that means I have to reveal seven random facts about myself. Okay, so here goes:
1. I am a romance writer. Yes, shocking and you totally didn't know it right? Unpublished still but not unhopeful.
2. I have hereditary deafness and as I'm getting sick of being the old lady in the corner cupping her ear and saying 'eh?', have decided I need hearing aids. I don't want them. The thought makes me feel 81 not 41 but I think they'll help. AND they have bluetooth which means I can listen to my iPod without needing earbuds and use my mobile handsfree. From there I shall slowly replace body parts until I'm cyborg enough to assimilate the rest of the world. Mwwwaaahahaha!
3. Many, many moons ago when I was young and dumb, I had an argument with Dr Jax and hit him on the arm. Not hard I may add, but it was enough to break my arm. Yep, drama queen, that's me.
4. I may have mentioned this before but it's worth repeating. I got engaged in Prague, on the banks of the river, with a guy playing 'Autumn Leaves' on the saxophone just a couple of park benches away. It was magical. Dr Jax then rang my father to get his permission to marry me. My father was slightly bewildered. :-)
5. My 23rd birthday was celebrated in St Petersburg during the White Nights. Much vodka was consumed.
6. I have never eaten tripe and have no plans to ever do so.
7. When my best friend and I began writing romances at the age of fifteen, our heroes HAD to have titles and the stories HAD to be set in ancestral mansions. I blame watching too much Brideshead Revisited.
And now I have to nominate ten people but since everyone has already been nominated, I'm going to do something different and get anyone who wants to, to put a random fact about yourself in the comments instead!
1. I am a romance writer. Yes, shocking and you totally didn't know it right? Unpublished still but not unhopeful.
2. I have hereditary deafness and as I'm getting sick of being the old lady in the corner cupping her ear and saying 'eh?', have decided I need hearing aids. I don't want them. The thought makes me feel 81 not 41 but I think they'll help. AND they have bluetooth which means I can listen to my iPod without needing earbuds and use my mobile handsfree. From there I shall slowly replace body parts until I'm cyborg enough to assimilate the rest of the world. Mwwwaaahahaha!
3. Many, many moons ago when I was young and dumb, I had an argument with Dr Jax and hit him on the arm. Not hard I may add, but it was enough to break my arm. Yep, drama queen, that's me.
4. I may have mentioned this before but it's worth repeating. I got engaged in Prague, on the banks of the river, with a guy playing 'Autumn Leaves' on the saxophone just a couple of park benches away. It was magical. Dr Jax then rang my father to get his permission to marry me. My father was slightly bewildered. :-)
5. My 23rd birthday was celebrated in St Petersburg during the White Nights. Much vodka was consumed.
6. I have never eaten tripe and have no plans to ever do so.
7. When my best friend and I began writing romances at the age of fifteen, our heroes HAD to have titles and the stories HAD to be set in ancestral mansions. I blame watching too much Brideshead Revisited.
And now I have to nominate ten people but since everyone has already been nominated, I'm going to do something different and get anyone who wants to, to put a random fact about yourself in the comments instead!
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Ask Dr Jax - Dr Jax Responds Part 3
Okay people, last Dr Jax post (until next month).
When two people meet, if they are the opposite end of the spectrum to each other, can they ever find a common ground? The situation I am thinking of is the following: If the woman has had major responsibilities in her life, but is now free and just wants to have no-strings attached fun, whereas the man, having lived a hedonistic lifestyle, now has major responsibilities, can there ever be a happy ending?
Dr Jax: Yes, definitely. They would have huge amounts of common ground. The woman knows what it's like to be responsible and the man knows what it's like to be hedonistic. But they've essentially met at the wrong time in their lives. What they need to do to get their happy ending is to synchronize what they want out of life. They are like pendulums swinging to extremes and both out of sync. But if the attraction is strong enough they will stop swinging so wildly and will slowly synchronize, finding a happy equilibrium.
They may also have other interests where they could connect. For example, liking the same authors, the same food, holidaying in the same place, etc, etc.
And this one is from me, because this is a HUGE problem for me. How do we know if our characters are being too self aware?
Dr Jax: A good rule of thumb is if you think they are too self aware, they probably are. :-) Other red flags (though not bad in themselves, they can be indications if taken as a whole that things aren't right): Your character frequently thinks about how events in their past have made them behave. Your character is never surprised by their own actions. Your character doesn't grow. These are the things that from a psychological viewpoint dont't reflect how real people behave. People don't think about events in their past as influencing their current behaviour. People are often surprised by their own actions. And people do change in response to things that happen in their lives.
So how self aware are people about their behaviour generally?Dr Jax: Dimly at best. Solid research shows that our consciousness runs one to two seconds behind our actions. So we act, then become aware of acting, then we make up justifications for doing so.
Thanks once again for your questions everyone. Will do this again next month!
Friday, June 3, 2011
Ask Dr Jax - Dr Jax Responds Part 2
The good doctor responds to more questions...
Dr. Jax, do you think we're aware of the events in our past which have shaped us? Or is it more common to simply assume you're all right, and that you're more or less 'normal'?
Dr Jax: Yes, most people think they're okay. However, the things that shape us the most are the relationships we have with other people rather than events. And the most important relationships are the ones we have in the first two years of life - these echo throughout our lives. Yet we have no episodic memory of those years - or if we do, then we usually remember them wrong because episodic memory is unreliable. Of course, we are often aware of events in childhood and we may attach importance to those events but in reality single events shape us much less than relationships do.
Jackie's note: Here is where psychiatry and writing fiction diverges a little - as writers of course, we have to attach some importance to events as these are easily read signposts to the reader of our character's conflict. However, I think given how important relationships are to people, it's a good idea to examine an event that has happened in a character's life and make sure to assess how that event related/changed the relationships the character had with others, not just how the event changed the character themselves. As an example, the character with the abusive father - obviously the first time his father hit him will be a big event that will have an impact (no pun intended!) on him, but it's good to think about how that event affected his relationship not just with his father, but also with his mother (was she there? Did she see it? How did she react to it?) and brothers/sisters etc.
I have a question about my hero. He's a workaholic who can't acknowledge that he's capable of feeling love and believes that he doesn't want or need a permanent relationship--believes he's better off on his own. (loss in his childhood, father had stiff uper lip attitude and wouldn't talk about the loss so hero learnt to supress his emotions). The problem is that, going on this, this character doesn't sound much fun (very work- focussed and buttoned up) But I don't want him to be like that. I want him to be outgoing and full of charm. Is this inconsistent with the above? Would a man who's closed off emotionally (and scared to love) have culitvated an outgoing, charming image? What would his unconscious psycholigical motive be?
Dr Jax: Sounds like you want your hero to be two different types of people! However, you can make his behaviour more consistent. If his father was a stiff upper lip type of guy, then you need to decide whether your hero becomes like his father, or consciously tries to do the opposite. Perhaps he has developed a charming, debonair exterior as part of a decision not to let anything matter too much to him. Emotions are painful so he won't let himself feel too deeply, he just wants to have fun, float along the surface of life etc, etc. Unconsciously this is to protect himself from feeling because feeling equals pain, but consciously he perhaps would be telling himself it's because he doesn't want to be all buttoned up and stiff like his father.
Jackie's note: My chess hero has problem with emotion too. But I've chosen the opposite to charming and debonair. I've made him very serious and logical. No, he's not charming and flirty because he views being charming and flirty as pointless and he doesn't need it to get girls anyway. Consciously he is contemptuous of people who are emotional because it's logic that's important, emotion clouds thinking (he's like Dr Spock without the ears!). Unconsciously he is trying to protect himself from feeling because he is afraid of what happens when he lets himself feel - bad things happen when he gets angry. No, he's not the life of the party but that's part of his character arc - what happens when you give him a heroine who won't let him get away with being all serious and logical, forcing him out of his comfort zone?
So, I have a question. An overriding theme present in every one of my books is self-esteem (and I wonder what that says about me!?!). And all of my characters seem to define themselves through their work (or lost job, in some cases). I wonder how big of a role work plays in other people's lives. Is it common for people's self-esteem to be wrapped up in their job?
Dr Jax: Yes, very common, especially if this is the only part of your life that is going well. If other aspects of your life suck (such as love/social life) then work becomes extremely important to you because it helps you feel better about yourself. It gives you validation from the outside world etc.
So big heaps of thanks to the good Dr J!! Hope that was helpful to people. If there are more questions, I can do one more post so let me know. The doc is happy to answer any more - especially as he loves talking and hates the writing up so this is the perfect balance for him. :-)
If not, I'll run an Ask Dr Jax post next month.
Thanks all for your fabulous questions!
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Ask Dr Jax - Dr Jax Responds Part 1
Got some great questions for Dr Jax - thanks everyone! I'll post some answers today and then some more tomorrow. If any of the responses prompt more questions, feel free to ask. I'll run this until the end of the week.
Have also decided to make the first Monday of each month a regular Ask Dr Jax Q&A. So if you haven't got a question this time, there's always next month.
Righto, before I launch into the answers, here is the usual disclaimer. Dr Jax is a psychiatrist, not a writer or editor, and any advice he gives is based on what would happen to real people in real life situations that may not be suitable for fiction.
Alrighty.... (Dr Jax's answers have been paraphrased)
Question 1: "I'm thinking oppression could break someone...or strengthen them to fight/rise up....does their personality type of other background play a part?
Dr Jax: Yes, background and personality do play a part. If their early experiences have taught them resiliency - ie good attachments to people, even if it was just one person who cared about them - then they would be more likely to deal resiliently to life's tragedies (fight in other words).
Question 2: Firstly, is it credible for a teenage boy to have a goal to be a volunteer doctor in third world countries, due to an unconscious need to prove his self worth following the deaths of his mother and brother in an accident? Secondly, is it credible for that boy, now a man, to leave Africa and his work as a volunteer doctor (and his unconscious quest for self worth) in order to return to the UK to be a father to a child he never knew he had? Or would he stay in Africa? Note: I've paraphrased this.
Dr Jax: Firstly, yes, it's credible for a teenage boy to have this goal - more plausible if he was the oldest brother (I met many people like this in med school!). To answer the second question, you need to consider what kind of person he is. As a kid was he serious? Or did he like to have fun? Was he curious? Or was he a cautious kind of person? What was he like at school? What were his favourite subjects at med school? etc, etc.
Then you need to look at that in conjunction with his past. How does he view fatherhood? Is being a good father important to him? Or does he put the needs of others before his own needs?
Also, consider how working in an under resourced third world country would have changed him. Because it would definitely change him.
Question 3: How do you start helping someone get over a phobia? Spiders for example.
Dr Jax: There are two ways of dealing with phobias. Flooding - which is sticking the person in a room full of tarantulas and keeping them in there until they're no longer scared. This works but is obviously very traumatic and not as effective as the second option. Systematic Desensitisation is the other way. This involves firstly learning deep breathing exercises and relaxation techniques (no mention of spiders at all). Then the 2nd step might be thinking about spiders as you practise your deep breathing. Third step might be talking about spiders- still deep breathing etc. Fourth might be looking at pictures of spiders while deep breathing, etc, etc. This goes on until you are able to look at real spiders and not feel scared. This process might cover a considerable period of time.
People's background and/or personality doesn't make any difference to the treatment.
Question 4: When figuring out conflict, we often use a character's early experiences with people to determine how they view life when the story opens. What I'd like to know is when they have these early experiences, how do people normally react? For example, if a character had an abusive father, would he become abusive himself or would he be more likely to abhor violence?
Dr Jax: People generally react in two ways to early experiences. They either identify with the treatment or they do the opposite. In this instance, your character may subconsciously decide that violence is okay and go on to be an abuser himself. Or he could decide that violence is never the answer and eschew it entirely. Note - when people do the opposite, they almost always do it in an angry way or in a way that makes a statement. For example, your character may tell his father angrily that violence is not the answer or deliberately not fight back as a way of making his point.
Okay, I'll post up Part 2 tomorrow. I have paraphrased people's questions and also Dr Jax's answers (let me know if I've got any of your questions wrong!). Feel free to post if you have any other questions, or use the contact tab just below my blog header!
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