New Hero Love

New story love is a special kind of love. So too is new hero love. And I adore my new hero. Or should I say, I adore my new-old hero, cause he's not really new, having made his first appearance in my Feel The Heat entry last year. However, he IS kind of new in that he actually has some internal conflict. Plus I've also given him a sympathetic in with the heroine, because in his first incarnation, apart from his astoninishingly good looks, he didn't have anything that she could admire about him. Or even like. And let's face it, if your h&h are going to be antagonistic, there has to be something there that each finds admirable about the other otherwise your love story isn't going to be very believable.

It's all about the sympathy factor. Is your character sympathetic? This is doubly important (I think) when you've got a rude hero. And my hero is one of those lazy, arrogant, sarcastic types because, sad to say, I really like those kind of heroes. Mostly because their downfall into love is so delicious...
Anyway, I think this touches on one of the seven sins that I Heart Presents listed about the comp entries - a hero who gets irrationally cross and treats everyone like dirt. This isn't alpha. This is just being an a*hole. So how to stop your sarcastic hero from coming across as a guy you'd just want to kick? Give him motivation. Why is he being so rude? Is he sick? Tired? Worried about something else? Angry? And if he's angry, why is he angry?
For dear Alex, his reason for being an ass is that he's worried about his father and having to deal with a bunch of protestors who are bothering him with what he thinks of as inconsequential problems is the last thing he wants to think about. Especially as one of the protestors is very, very attractive.
True, this isn't an excuse for his rudeness but at least there is a reason behind it. And the reason is the 'in' with the heroine because when Kate discovers it, she is immediately sympathetic. Family is important to her and she finds his concern for his father attractive.

I should confess also that the other reason I love sarcastic heroes is because they do make the dialogue fun to write. Especially when you pair them with an equally quick heroine. Oooh, yum, yum. I love my dialogue - can you tell?
So what's your favourite type of hero then? Do you like yours with lashings of sarcasm? Or are you more into the strong, silent type?

All Dressed Up

Okay, well, the partial is done. Its got its party dress on, hair has been styled, the makeup done. Now all it's waiting for is to be asked out. Don't want it to be a wallflower...

In other romantic news, the darling Dr Jax took me for a suprise wedding anniversary weekend to Waiheke Island, one of the islands in Auckland's gulf harbour. A kid free weekend and it was bliss!
Not to mention giving me a few ideas for my next wip. Yes, a writer's imagination is always working.

This wip is the infamous Kate and Alex story and I finally, finally think I've got the conflict and plot exactly as they should be (at least I think so). Waiheke is home to lots of hippy-type people as well as very rich-type people. So I can see the Modern Heat potential. Lots of beautiful vineyards, lots of five star resorts, lots of tie-dye and dream catchers. The perfect place for the child of hippy parents to take on a rich and unscrupulous property developer...

Now I've got a handle on the old action/reaction and the KISS principle with regard to conflict, I think I could make this one work. Now what I really need to concentrate on is NOT adding additional strands to my conflict but that's a whole other story...

Wherefore Art Thou Tension?

I have just realised why I've been unhappy with the last third of my wip and why the black moment feels like it comes out of the blue - there is no tension. My characters are having a lovely time now they've fallen into bed but where is the 'OMG it's all going to end in tears I just know it!' feeling? Where is the dark cloud that is rapidly lowering on the horizon? Gone, that's what.
Michelle Styles' comment on my last post about kitchens was incredibly prescient as it turns out because yes, I have lost the tension. With every scene the tension should wind tighter not release like a tightrope snapping under a heavy weight!

The good thing is that I know why my tension has snapped. It's because I've lost focus of the essential conflict - again! I got sidetracked by the reasons they were falling for each other and though that's important, it's not as important as the all reasons they shouldn't! And not just the 'I must not fall in love' but the 'why I must not fall in love'.
Not to mention the fact that I haven't dug as deeply into my conflict as I need to. My hero has been bringing up his much younger sister for the last ten years and though she's now at university, he is still finding it difficult to let her go. Why? What's he afraid of? And what does this mean for my heroine? And speaking of her, she is still trying to escape her over-protective parents. Why? What's she really afraid of and what does this mean for the hero?

So, have hauled the sorry mess back into line again by putting their essential conflict back into their scenes together. Building up that tension so that when the black moment arrives, it'll be so dark that they will be absolutely unable to see their way out of it.

I just hope to God I can! :-)

Everyone's Always in the Kitchen At Parties

Okay, so not just parties. In the process of editing and I've discovered that in every one of my mss there is always a scene where one or the other of the characters is in the kitchen making coffee. I have no idea why. No, actually, I do: it's the old 'let's have a conversation about our conflict' kind of stuff and so they have to be doing something while they're having this conversation. But for some reason these scenes are always in the kitchen and during the course of it one of the characters is making a hot drink. But why? Why the kitchen? Why coffee and not tea? Why a hot drink? Why not make food instead?

It's probably a custom thing. Whenever my h & h eventually get to go to one another's houses, offering a hot drink is the socially done thing. And since I don't drink tea, it's usually coffee. Plus, coffee gives the character something to do, grinding beans etc (especially the hero - coffee is a more manly type of drink, especially when he gets to fiddle with a gleaming, stainless steel espresso machine. Ha ha.) . But still, it's weird. This wip for example, the heroine is staying with the hero and so what does he do as soon as she arrives? Heads straight to the kitchen and goes to make coffee! Why doesn't he whip her up a souffle or something?

I really should break out and do something more radical with my dialogue scenes. At our last conference, I went to a workshop about setting scenes and about how lots of people seemed to set their dialogue in kitchens. It was suggested to try another location for interest's sake. Such as a wind tunnel. Or a mountain side. Or a boat. The problem I have with that is that kitchens/restaurants etc are the places where people normally have conversations like this. Especially deep and meaningful ones. And if you're writing Modern Heat most of the time your characters won't be in wind tunnels or mountain sides, and if they are, they're probably doing much more important stuff than talking about their conflict!

Seriously though, I should be a bit different with my scene setting. What about everyone else? What's the most unusual location you've set a scene in?

Finished

Big woots all round - I finished my story! Yep, now have 48k of...dross probably. :-) Got bogged down in the last third and I'm hoping it's not going to be as bad as I think. Dr Jax says I'm over-thinking the conflict. He's probably right. But won't know until I see what I've written.

One thing's for sure, already stuff has changed from the synopsis. Not the big things but some of the small plot points. Just goes to show how things can change once you've completed a manuscript. I guess that's why everyone says to sub the partial only once you've finished writing the whole thing. Not that I've ever done that! Maybe that's why I haven't had anything accepted yet! :-)

Anyway, the most certain thing about it is that I am going to have to do a lot of editing. If the initial draft is 48k it means that the polished ms will almost certainly be longer. Especially since I only kind of sketched the ending. Lots of work. Maybe I'll be so busy with editing it that I won't stress about the synopsis currently living in London. And considering the number of entries for the Presents competition, I suspect it will be living there for some time to come.

In the meantime, I have joined the Romance Writers of Australia in the hope of entering this baby into the Emerald Award. I know, I kind of went off contests but they sure give you something to do while you wait. Am even considering this one for the RWNZ Clendon award too.

Right, that's the end of my insights for the day. Having one's four year old daughter wake up in the middle of the night twice is not conduicive to thinking about writing sadly. What's everyone else up to?

New Publishing Opportunity

Harlequin have asked me to pass on a new publishing opportunity - they are going digital!

Carina Press will be launched in the summer of 2010 and they are looking for new authors in all sorts of genres. Submissions are open right now and you can get the details here:

Carina Press

Could be good you reckon?

Oh and if you want to hear some great editorial advice, check out Maisey's blog. She's discussing stuff she got her revision letters and that kind of comment, well, it's gold dust.

The Dangers of Self Awareness

It's been a bit of a full on weekend. Firstly it was my daughter's fourth birthday, secondly I am in the middle of Nano-ing, and thirdly I twisted my ankle right at the crucial moment of getting my daughter to come to see her birthday cake! Collapsing on the couch in a moment of extreme agony, the rest of my family thought I was having a wee nap and laughed. It was only when I went green that they suspected it wasn't just tiredness that had me stretched full length on the couch.

Anyway, trying to do the first two with the third has been a bit of a mission. Especially since all I wanted to do was sit at my desk and write my ms - apparently not a good thing with a twisted ankle that should be kept elevated.

However, I have been making respectable progress. I will be finishing it this week which will be great. The only problem with writing a novel in about a week and a half is that no doubt I'll need to spend a month editing the thing! I'm almost afraid to read what I've written - it'll be dreck I'm sure of it.

And it hasn't been all all plain sailing with the writing either. I have a big problem in that I tend to make my h&h too self aware too early. In fact I didn't even realise this was, in fact, what I was doing until Dr Jax rolled his eyes and pointed it out to me. The issue with making them self aware - ie being in love - is that if you do it too early, you run into the problem where it's not the conflict keeping them apart so much as the being in love and not wanting to be. So the focus changes from the conflict - eg, my heroine not wanting to be protected - to her not wanting to be in love. Same with the hero. He fell in love too early and so his angst stems from not wanting to be in love rather than wanting to hold on to someone who doesn't want to be held.

Tricky eh? It's my own fault really. I love angst which is why I make them self aware - the anguish of loving someone but not wanting to! O the pain! But if you have two people loving each other and yet not wanting to be in love, how does this resolve the conflict? All there is angst with nothing really progressing. Which is why I felt I was writing the same thing over and over, having my heroine constantly go over the reasons why she doesn't want to fall in love and yet nothing really happening with her real conflict.

But then, how do I include the angst and tension? You're supposed to have it right? Which is when Dr Jax pointed out that the conflict provides the tension not the 'I'm so in love and yet I can't be' kind of thing. Another Aha moment for me. So I've pulled back on the awareness, let the conflict provide the tension, and my characters will not be falling in love until right near the end. That'll teach 'em.

Caveat

I'm feeling a bit bad here. I'm really liking that people who read this blog get something from it to help in their writing, but please know that this is only my journey. And I am still travelling on it, nowhere near my destination yet. Which means that some of this stuff on here may be wrong. So please take my little lightbulb moments with a grain of salt. And let me know if I've made a mistake somewhere!

Re the whole conflict thing, when I said that conflict doesn't need to be bad, I did mean that. But only because I always thought it had to be some terrible tragedy. So it was kind of interesting to figure out that it didn't need to be. That I didn't have to pile on dead fiances/wives/family/kids. However, that doesn't mean that tragedy can't be good conflict because obviously it can. It can be very, very strong. Now, the hero I talked about in the last post, whom I gave a dead fiance to, the only reason that was him living in the past was because there wasn't anything about the heroine that tapped into my hero's conflict. Perhaps if my heroine had sworn never to play second fiddle to anyone again, that would have been better. Or if she'd decided that her next relationship would mean marriage or nothing.
Even this current WIP, my hero has had tragedy in his life. He lost his parents in an accident and so had to look after his much younger sister, but his conflict isn't to do with grief about his parents (though obviously it's in there). It's to do with responsbility and trying to do what's best for people, even though they may not agree. So his conflict becomes a culmination of his experience - looking after his sister, taking over his father's company, etc, etc, rather than a single moment of loss. And it's conflict because my heroine does NOT want someone looking after her.

But again, that's not to say that those moments of loss aren't hugely terrible and don't make good conflict. It's just you can't take them in isolation from the rest of a person's life. My last sub was an excellent example of doing just that - my heroine lost her father in an accident (yes, I have a terrible tendency to kill off my character's parents!) and that defined her character completely. It was like she'd had no life since her father died, which is not the case in real life because people move on after a tragedy (just ignore the fact that some people don't!). They don't forget, obviously, and it marks them, but it was like my heroine was stuck in some kind of time warp. And it didn't help that I'd exaggerated her living safe ways. Not good for an aspirational heroine who was supposed to be a lawyer!

So, anyway, that's my thoughts on this irritating conflict business. Really, talking about...say shoes for example is far less annoying. Or favourite books. And speaking of which, I bought Natalie Anderson's Hot Boss, Boardroom Mistress on ebook a couple of days ago and if you're looking for a sizzling reunion story then baby, you've found it!

Oh and for those of you worried about having too much sex without emotion in their stories (Jackie raises hand) here's is a great post by Sam Hunter, a Blaze author, about sexual motivation. Certainly made me think.

Conflict: Past vs Present

So, here I am in waiting no-man's-land. I am forging ahead with my wip regardless though. Even if they don't want it, it's great practise and I have to say, I'm quite enjoying writing it. I even like my heroine for a change! :-)

Anyway, I wanted to talk about a comment Janet left on my blog about conflict and how it happens in the present. I think I mentioned in the last post but I thought I'd expand a bit here. I never really got this to be honest, I mean, come on, of course conflict happens in the present. And in the past too right?

Well yes. And no. The conflict that we deal with in our stories may have been seeded in the past, but it happens only in the present. For example, the hero of my current wip has been looking after his sister for the past 12 years (this is the seed of his conflict). He's the protective sort and has been doing this quite happily with no problems. He's not conflicted about his need to protect at all.
Until he meets my heroine. Why? Because she does NOT want to be protected. So here he is, calmly going about his protective business which, he assumes, the heroine will naturally see eye to eye with since no one else has called him on this behaviour before (apart fom his sister but that's different 'cause she's his sister right?). But lo and behold, the heroine says 'I don't need protecting buddy so back off.' So instantly we have conflict. And it's happening in the present. Yes, the basis for it is the fact that he's been looking after his sister for years, but it's never been a problem for him until now.
Same with my heroine. She's escaping over-protective parents and wants to do things for herself. Not a problem, no conflict - until she meets my protective hero. And then it's conflict all the way baby!

Now, you could compare this to an earlier incarnation of this story where I (overdosing on internal conflict!) gave my hero a dead fiance. This was fine but when he met the heroine, there wasn't anything other than a dead fiance to hold him back from a relationship with her. There was nothing about the heroine in particular that made him feel conflicted - other than the fact that she was a woman and he was wary of loving again! :-) Thus, when they met, there wasn't much in the way of conflict happening - all his conflict was in the past. Does that make sense?

Anyway, that's my understanding of it and no doubt there's heaps more still learn about this angle. Anyone got any other thoughts? Might as well think about that rather than thinking about our subs/competition entries huh? ;-

Synopsis Sent

After two weeks of fiddling and rewriting, synopsis version 6 is on its way. Thanks to the wonderful Michelle Styles, I now have a story with potential, rather than severe flaws. Of course the editors at Mills and Boon may not agree but even if they don't, I have learned SO much about conflict and action/reaction in the course of the past two weeks that the next sub will be even better. And I like my story a whole lot more than the last one which is a good sign I hope.

So what have I learned?

1. The conflict and thus the story plays out in the action and reaction of the characters.
2. The conflict happens in the present.
3. Internal conflict need not be based on tragedy.
4. Internal conflict can be simple.
5. That action is not talking. Talking is talking.
6. That rewriting one's synopsis completely six times can be a good thing.
7. That one can have too many dinners in one's synopsis.
8. That chocolate is a vital ingredient to synopsis writing.
9. That banging one's head on the table after version 4 hurts.
10. That you still feel sick when you press send no matter how many times you have subbed.

Right, so now all I need to do is write the thing! And thanks to Janette, I have a title: The Art of Attraction. Not a millionaire or a defiant mistress in sight.

Now, on with the NTAI.

Another Minor Epiphany

Yes, I know, two in one week is ridiculous but after Friday's lightbulb moment, I kind of had another. I wanted to use the whole action/reaction/consequence thing on my other WIPs but first I had to really concentrate on the essential conflict of the h&h. And it was as I was doing this that I had another realisation (cue drum roll, please):

Conflict doesn't necessarily need to be based on bad things happening in the past!

Cool eh? Now, you guys may already know this and be thinking, 'yeah, duh!' but up till this point I have been giving my characters all manner of dead families/fiancees/babies or whatever tragedy is popular right now, purely so they would not want a relationship. The thing I suddenly got was that the point is not that the h&h don't want a relationship at all, they just don't want a relationship with a particular person! Why don't they? Because that person threatens everything they believe up till that point in time. And it's only when they come into contact with that person, that there is conflict. Conflict, as Michelle is always telling me, happens in the present not the past.

Clear as mud? For example, I've finally figured out the essential conflict of my Kate and Alex story: for Alex, home is where the heart is. For Kate heart is where the home is. Neither of them have any problem with this UNTIL they meet. And as soon as they meet, there is conflict because each challenges the other. In order to resolve this, Alex must learn that having roots isn't a bad thing and Kate must learn that home isn't necessarily embodied in one place.
Now, I had Alex having lost a fiancee etc, but really, in order for him to believe that home is where the heart is, I don't need any of that. Maybe just the fact that he moved around a lot as a kid is enough. And maybe he was quite happy with this state of affairs. But it's only when he comes into contact with Kate that he feels threatened about it. And voila, instant conflict.

So all in all I feel rather pleased with myself about this. Especially as I have now got real and believable conflicts for all my WIPs. Now all I have to do is plan the stories using action/reaction/consequence, completely rewrite all of them, and Robert's your father's brother. ;-)

Oh yeah, and I signed up for NaNo too. Need to write my next sub, rather imaginatively titled Cat and Sean. Anyone else?

A Minor Epiphany

After a week of banging my head against a brick wall with this new synopsis I have finally - with the help of the perspicacious Dr Jax and the wonderful Michelle Styles - figured out my problem. I simply could NOT get my characters to act without exaggerating my conflicts. And I had to exaggerate the conflicts in order to give them motivation to act. I was STILL getting them to act in the way I wanted them to.

The reason is that they were still passive. They were not taking action. And the reason for that is I have been thinking about my stories in terms of scenes. I think, okay, need a love scene, put one in here. What about a 'save the cat' moment here. And black moment here. And when I think about the scenes I want, I try and move my characters towards the scenes, which is NOT letting them act.

It's like a play. The play opens with the characters on stage. They do the scene, the scene ends, the stage goes dark. Then the next scene opens. How have the characters got there? Where are they going? The scene ends, the stage goes dark. What happens next? We don't know and neither do I!

I have been treating my stories like this play, opening with a scene, then jumping to the next scene etc, etc. Episodic in other words. Great for a play, not so great for a story.

So I've cut it right back. Concentrating on the most essential conflict - my hero wants to control and so has to learn to let people go, my heroine needs freedom but has to learn it's okay to lean on someone. So what happens when a guy like this meets a woman like this? Forget flirtation scenes, think about action. The external conflict puts him in the situation of having to look after her so what does he do? He's all about control so says she has to come with him. Her reaction? She's all about freedom so get lost buster. What is the consequence? Does he force her to go? And if so, what action does she take in response? And right there is where the conflict is driving the story through the actions of the characters. No need for exaggeration because their reactions are based on their essential conflict. Who knows when they'll need a love scene - I'm not sure - but it will be because one of them makes a decision and the consequence of that is making love.

Dunno if this makes sense to everyone or if everyone is goin 'well, duh, I already knew that!'. But this is certainly why I have been having so many problems with conflict. I have already got a plan for the new story based entirely on action, reaction and consequence. Hopefully it'll make a good synopsis but if not, it's certainly been a HUGE learning curve to take!

The Rebound Submission

Yes, that's exactly what my rejected sub was. I had the rejection on the revised full and then, so desperate to submit again was I, that I quickly fiddled with a new story and sent it away without thinking it through properly. Or rather, I over-thought it. I was trying so hard to get it right that in the end I got nothing right, even the stuff I normally do well.

So it's back to the drawing board. Somehow I've now managed to overboard with internal conflict and have to bring it back to the middle ground. Hard? You betcha. But I have been slowly learning even more. Especially about the dangers of too much sex in Modern Heat! Is that even possible? Oh yeah! I tried to do a one night stand story but even as I was writing it, I found myself inventing ways to get my heroine to go through with it. And that should have been my first indication that all was not right in the world of my characters. Again I was trying to make my heroine do something she actually wouldn't by adding all this stuff to make her to do it! Argh! In the end it wasn't convincing and to add insult to injury, the driving force behind the one night stand was only sexual tension. There was not enough conflict! Apparently the sex arises from the emotional conflict, NOT the other way round!

So many things to keep in mind. But this time I am going to make sure I get it right. I am not going to panic-sub. I am going to spend time really thinking through my new synopsis. And hey, I'm already doing better with that on the sex front - so busy working out the emotional conflict between my h&h, that I forgot to put in a love scene!

Romance Writing is Not for Sissies

Okay, as someone told me on the RWNZ email loop today, congratulations on my rejection because it means I'm a writer. And she's right. I can no longer pretend that it's a little something I do in my spare time, that it's a sideline to my real life, that it's my hobby, that it doesn't matter. Because it does matter. I was gutted yesterday, really and truly gutted. I told myself I may as well give up. But you know what? Even as I was telling myself that, I was thinking about the story I'm currently writing and how I needed to adjust the internal conflict a bit more now!

A rejection stinks. It's not easy and it won't get any easier. There will, no doubt, be more rejections to come. You can't control the rejections but, to paraphrase Michelle Styles' wise words, what you can control is your response to them. Yesterday I wallowed completely and utterly, allowed myself to think about giving up, allowed myself to feel I was hopeless and I'd never do it. But now I am done with wallowing. Time for my professional response which is: keep writing. Work on that next submission. Make it the best. Take the hurt and turn it into determination.

I want to say though that part of dealing with rejection is also sharing the pain of it with others who understand and you all who have read this blog do understand. And the support and faith you have given me is amazing. I am so lucky to be part of this community. So huge thanks for all the comments and encouragement from yesterday - it really got me through the worst of it.

And, since I am a writer, I have advice for other writers who want to do this, who are lurking and thinking of submitting: to paraphrase my old boss, romance writing is not for sissies. It's a hard road and a long one. You may take a step forward, only to fall back again. But if you love writing, if you can't NOT write, then don't let the fear of rejection hold you back. Yes, you will get rejected. Yes, it will hurt. But you will not be published if you don't submit, if you don't keep writing, if you give up.

Right, since I am very good at NOT taking my own advice when it comes to my writing, I need to sit down and take a good look at my next submission!

Oh and Aideen? No, you didn't see the words 'give up' on my blog. They weren't there. You must have mistaken them for "NOT giving up" :-)

Missed Again

Well guys, I heard from Anna and no, they didn't want it. As you can imagine, I'm very disappointed. All her comments were right on the money but it's the usual story - you submit something and only after it's gone do you learn more and realise what you should have done.

So, having gone from nearly there to missing entirely, I feel a bit like I've taken the wrong road somewhere and ended up in a dead end. Do I actually know what I'm doing? Maybe I don't. I certainly don't feel qualified at giving advice to people - not that I ever really did I have to say.

Oh well, I guess the only way to go on from this is to keep going even though part of me just wants to give up.

A Riddle Inside A Mystery Wrapped In An Enigma

No, I'm not talking about Russia (thanks Winston Churchill), I'm talking about the wretchedness that is internal conflict. As you know (or should know by now!) internal conflict is where Modern Heat/Modern is at and you'd think, after a year of learning about this, I would have finally figured it out.

Nup.

Witness my Kate'n'Alex story. I was writing happily away (the aftermath of a love scene, hot), my conflict sorted, getting into his introspection about how he cannot possibly want a relationship and then I come up, slap bang against the dreaded 'why'. Okay, says I, he doesn't want a relationship because he doesn't like being tied down. Why? Because his family moved around a lot and he learned never to commit to anything or anyone because he knew he'd have to leave again. Yes, but that's what he did as a kid - why does he continue this behaviour as an adult? Um...because he just wants to??

Grrrr. See what I mean? It's all very well having angsty childhood stuff happening, but there has to be a reason for the character to keep acting that way as an adult. Which brings me to finally understanding why a parent cannot be the reason for someone's internal conflict (yes, I'm slow). A parent can add to it, deepen it, but as an adult, would the character really continue to act the way they had as a child? Especially an alpha male?

So, for Alex, I have to have some reason why he continues to believe the lessons he learned in his childhood. Did he ever try thinking differently? What happened when he did?
I have another hero too who I thought had his conflict sorted. But no. He had a difficult childhood and had issues with responsibility, but again, the difficult childhood seems to be the excuse to for him to continue acting the same way as an adult. Again, I have to ask myself, did he ever try to rise above it? Did he succeed or fail? Why did he fail and how did he feel about his failure?

Argh! Seems you can never stop learning in this business...

In the meantime, after a depressed weekend where my writing and everything about it sucked, I succumbed and bought some NTAI shoes. Wedges as you can see since I cannot wear heels without seriously damaging my feet.
Yes, they were ridiculously expensive. Yes, they are totally impractical. Yes, they made me stop thinking about my sub for, oh, about five minutes. :-)

So, anyone else got a handle on internal conflict? What about shoes?

Attraction

Following Heidi's inspirational video (lord the Modern Heat authors know what they're doing if this is their inspiration!) , I thought I might put one up of my own. I keep seeing this on TV and every time I see it I think, 'yes, that's what the attraction between the h&h has to be like!'.

Except of course, the end of this video isn't the way I'd personally end this particular scene, if you know what I mean. ;-)

Oh and Kelly and Heidi's new books? Three words: Fab. U. Lous. Heroes to die for. Yummmo.

Ten Fun Ways to NOT Win the Harlequin Presents Writing Competition

If you have your heart set on NOT winning the Harlequin Presents contest, here are some (slightly tongue-in-cheek) ways to achieve this.

1. Have no internal conflict.
That doesn't mean car chases and villains. Internal conflict is what keeps your h&h from their HEA if they met in bar one night. And it can't be just because he's a Montague and she's a Capulet - that's external conflict people. If you have to introduce a scheming mother-in-law to keep them apart then your conflict isn't strong enough.

2. Have your hero be the shy, easy-going type.
Sorry guys, he may be sweet but that ain't alpha. And alpha is what goes in Presents/Modern.

3. Have as many sub-characters as possible.
You love the heroine's best friend, her wise-cracking husband and their three adorable children. But devoting a whole chapter to them isn't a good idea.

4. Include vampires and werewolves.
I know, you really liked Twilight, but paranormal isn't where Modern/Modern Heat is at, even if you think it should be. Remember the guidelines.

5. Force your characters to act the way you want them to for the purposes of the plot.
I've been there and it ain't pretty. You may want your hero to eat some bad cheese so that he gets sick and the heroine has to look after him, but you do have to ask yourself: does he even like cheese? And if not, why not? These are character driven which means you let the characters act they way they want. So go on, let them have their head!

6. Have things happen to your characters rather than have your characters make decisions and act on them.
A fire might make your hero rescue the heroine after their black moment but what would have happened if there hadn't been a fire? Would he have made up with her anyway? What decision would he have made if you hadn't cruelly sent him into the fire? Again, character driven.

7. Have your hero enter the story in chapter 2.
If that's the case, then shouldn't that be chapter 1? Don't make us wait! He's the reason we're reading it - at least he's the reason I'm reading it.

8. Make your characters act in seemingly random ways.
Such as your heroine suddenly kissing the hero whereas up till now, she hates his guts. Where is her motivation? Why would she do that?

9. Have either or both of your h&h be drug addicted alcoholics.
This may provide heaps of conflict but not much in the way of sympathy. Your h&h must be sympathetic and though drug addiction and alcoholism are real issues, they're probably a little too real for category romance.

10. And most important, you definitely won't win if you don't enter. :-)

Good luck!

Why I Like Ebooks

Because I am extremely, extremely impatient and downloading an ebook is instant. No getting into the car and driving to the bookshop, no feeling annoyed because they don't have the book you want, no getting back into the car and driving to another bookshop, no waiting in a queue at the fourth bookshop where you finally found the book and need to buy it, and no having to haul said book around in your bag for days afterwards because you can't put it down (thank you Wolf Hall).

Okay, the down sides are irritating formatting and licensing which means that if you want to put it on another PC, it's difficult to transfer, reading on a PC screen (which I have got used to), and not being able to read it in the bath. It's that last one which is the biggie for me because I particularly like reading in the bath. If they ever invent an ebook reader than doesn't mind water, I'm an instant buyer.

And the other reason I like ebooks is that I can get my Modern Heat fix a month early! Woohoo! Now, I like all the Modern Heat authors, they rock, but two of my particular favourites are available for download right now - Heidi Rice and Kelly Hunter have two books out this month on the Mills and Boon site and I am happy, happy, happy. I'm going to be a shameless fan girl here and say that I love Heidi's deliciously strong heroes like I love chocolate, and I love Kelly's way with dialogue like I love chocolate martinis. Yummo. Oh, and I've been hanging out for these two stories for ages...

So I'm planning a happy evening downloading and curling up in front of my laptop. What else is everyone doing this evening (or day, depending on your time zone)?

The Joy of the One Page Synopsis - Part Two

Righto, now I shall reveal all my secrets... :-)

Seriously, I am not setting myself up as an expert in this so please take my advice with a fairly hefty grain of salt. The final judge will always be the editor. However, I have learned a few things in the past year and doing it this way does make a lot of logical sense to me. Whether you feel the same though is up to you! :-)

Okay, so I've rewritten my Kate and Alex synopsis the way I would do it now, given what I've learned.

You start with the internal conflicts:
The sole survivor of a car accident that left the rest of her family dead, environmentalist Kate Weaver is used to taking care of herself. But the loss of her family has left her with a desperate need to protect herself from emotional harm: falling in love is far too emotionally risky for Kate.

Millionaire property developer Alex Woolf lost his parents young and a series of violent foster homes ensured a lesson he never forgot: only the strong survive, never admit weakness. Love is definitely a weakness and one he will never fall prey to.

Then you have the story opening:
Kate and Alex meet at a protest that Kate has organised against a development by Alex's company in an Auckland mangrove swamp. Sparks fly and the chemistry between them is red hot. When Alex suggests a weekend together, Kate cannot resist: she doesn't want love but surely a little sex is okay?

Then there is the growing attraction (why do they fall for each other?):
Their weekend together is unexpected. The sex is sensational but there's more to it than that. Alex, used to control and not showing weakness, is drawn to Kate's uninhibited passion and her blunt honesty, while Kate is attracted to his intellect, the way he makes her laugh and by the vulnerability she senses, something he is trying to hide.

Then you have the emotional turning points of the story, such as the moment when each falls in love, why they fall in love, and the black moment. These points should be active - the characters make decisions and choices based on their internal conflicts.
After the weekend, they agree to keep seeing each other. Alex tells her not to expect any more than a fling but Kate is happy with that, it's what she wants as well. But an incident at a party forces her to revaluate this: Alex defends her from an over-amorous suitor and it's the first time anyone has taken care of her. It tips her liking for him into love.
Defending Kate felt natural and right to Alex but he doesn't know why he did it. He's only ever looked out for himself, not anyone else, so why does he feel the need to protect now? Deep down he knows the reason but he shies away from it: he must stay strong and admitting feelings for Kate is a weakness.
And then Kate finds out that their weekend has consequences: she's pregnant. Kate wants the baby desperately, wants to have a family again. Since Alex defended her once, maybe he'll have a change of heart when he hears about the baby?
When Kate tells him about the pregnancy, Alex is appalled – a child is the one thing that demands unconditional love, a weakness. And yet latent protective feelings stir in him. His own childhood left him scarred; he would never wish that on a child of his own. So he decides on a compromise: he'll provide for the child in every way, but he will maintain a physical and emotional distance.
But Kate will not settle for half measures. She wants a family and that means Alex in her life and in their child's. She demands to know why he can't provide this so he tells her about his childhood and why he cannot give her anything more. Kate asks him whether her loving him makes any difference and Alex, desperate to protect himself, to be strong, angrily tells her that no, it doesn't. She will have to be satisfied with what he gives her.

Then the resolution (how do they resolve their conflict and why?):
Kate is heartbroken but the need to provide for their baby gives her the will to fight. She involves Alex in the pregnancy every step of the way, setting him an example that being strong has nothing to do with denying love. Alex sees how determined Kate is to be there for their baby and he realises that it's love that makes her strong. It's not a weakness to be fought. The example she sets allows him to finally admit that he loves her, that he wants the family he never had just as much as she does. Together they will make it work.

Easy eh?

Okay, okay, so not easy. And this is by no means a perfect synopsis. Kate's emotional journey is truncated - why does she fall for Alex, out of all the men in all the world? What does she learn from him and how does she learn it? I'm sure you can spot other things too.
But the focus of the synopsis is solely on the basic internal conflict. And that's the main difference to the previous one - I've actually given Kate and Alex some internal conflict (the loss of their childhoods/parents). Also, there is no external conflict in here apart from the opening set up and the bit with the amorous suitor. Introducing this has Alex having his hero moment but should this come from an outside source? Still, it has him making the decision to defend Kate and her reaction to that defence.
There is no secondary characters included, and there is no 'voice'. The voice is for the partial - nothing but cold, unadorned facts in the synopsis. What I've done is shown the editor how their romance will play out and how it will eventually be resolved, via the main emotional turning points - initial attraction, why they fall for each other, Alex's hero moment (Kate falling in love), pregnancy and reaction, black moment, resolution. It'll be up to the editor to decide whether this makes enough sense and whether the story is strong enough for her to want to see the rest of it.
The formatting is a little off (thanks Blogger) but this synop, in Word, is one page with a blank line between each paragraph.

And if you're wondering, this synopsis isn't actually the way I've written this story. Not sure of the ethics of posting an unpublished synopsis that I'm hoping to submit (one day!) so this is one I based on my original story, which was eventually rejected. :-) Anyway I hope it gives you a bit of an idea on how to proceed. Feel free to ask questions or anything, or even let me know if there's a better way to do it! Like I said, I'm no expert...