Copy Cat?

Okay, so I had this really great idea I was going to pitch to my editor. Not just for one book, but for a whole series of books.

Since I spent (a lot of) time recently working on edits for my bullrider book, which is the third in a series of sorts, it reminded me how much I love the setting and world I'd created for those three books. I thought it would be fun to create a bunch of spin-off stories featuring characters who have had a mention in the other three books, but really weren't featured at all in any major way.

I even had the premise. The Corral (Which is the bar in my stories and features prominently in all of them.) would be putting together a calendar to raise money for an Adoption Fund started by one of the main characters in the series. In actuality, there would be no calendar, but each short story would feature one of the men from this calendar. I was going to title the series "The Men of The Corral" and each book would be titled with just the hero's name and say "Mr. January". This would give me a short story release every month for a year. (The stories wouldn't be long...just ten to twenty pages or so, so the project seemed doable.) How cool would that be?

I started making notes about ideas for some of the characters. I even went as far as to make up a proposal with my ideas. I was waiting until I submited my Halloween story to my editor. Once that was underway, I thought I'd hit her up with this to see if Wild Rose had any interest.

Turns out it's probably a good thing I waited. Because I happened to come across (from some blog or another) a book called "Jumping Mr. January". I looked it up, and as I delved further, came to find that a series just like the one I was thinking of proposing...literally with the same premise of a charity calendar...and books featuring the calendar model for each month...was already being published this year by another publisher.

I was one, disappointed, because I'd been looking forward to seeing if TWRP was interested and seeing if I was up for the challenge of creating twelve stories for one year, and two, amazed, because I honestly had thought my idea was a unique and different one.

Oh well...

So now I'm trying to decide what to work on next. I submitted a query for my Halloween story on Monday and sent off the requested mss later that afternoon, so for now, that project is out of my hands. I did start another story called "One Great Night" that I could revisit. Or, I might go really crazy and work on the time travel story I had an idea for. I'll have to pull out the notes for that one and see if it strikes my fancy.

I'll let you know what I decide!

Until next time,

Happy Reading!

Debra
www.debrastjohnromance.com

100K Words in 100 Days

At the beginning of the year, I signed up for Sally Quilford’s 100K words in 100 days Challenge, starting January 1st, and ending April 10th. Even without a calculator, I can work out that means averaging 1,000 words a day. That’s less than NaNoWriMo, where the aim is 50K in 30 days. I managed that in November 2011, although I then had to spend about six months revising and editing the story (it will be released next month, all being well).

 

For the NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), I found I had to turn off my ‘inner editor’, and allow myself to write sentences, phrases and words I wasn’t happy with, in order to reach the target. I succeeded, all the time telling myself I could go back and revise later. However, it wasn’t an experience I wanted to repeat, so I didn’t sign up again in 2012.

 

So why have I signed up for the 100K in 100 days?

One of the main reasons was that it included any kind of creative writing, not just novels, but short stories, poems, articles, and blog posts. I’d already guessed that my usual ‘output’ per day on my current WIP was about 500 words, and I wasn’t sure I could increase that without writing a whole load of stuff that would probably need deleting, or at least, complete rewriting later.

 

Instead, I decided to ‘up’ my words per day by giving more attention to my blog. I had neglected it in the latter part of last year, apart from Six Sentence Sunday. After learning that this blog hop is ending at the end of this month, I realised I’d have to find some way to inject new life into my blog. As a result, I’ve re-established my links with two Facebook ‘blogging’ groups, The Writers’ Post and GBE2: Blogging On, both of which post a blog ‘prompt’ once a week. I’m making a determined effort to write something on the suggested topics, and so far I’ve managed ‘I’m Grateful For …’, ‘Past Lives’, ‘Fame’, ‘Masterpiece’, and ‘Music’.

 

The other challenge I gave myself was one in Sally’s list of prompts – to click on ‘Random Article’ in Wikipedia, and write something on whatever article came up. Sally suggested we could keep clicking to find an article we liked, but I decided I could probably spend all day doing that! Instead, I use the very first article that comes up, whatever it is (yes, I like making things harder for myself!) – and I also try to find some way to link it to writing. So far I’ve had articles on Biotechnology and Applied Biochemistry, Eagle County Colorado, and HMS Eastbourne! If you want to see what I managed to write about these, check out my Thursday posts on my blog! This week’s ‘random article’ is Lick Prairie Precinct, Illinois – and at the moment, I haven’t a clue what I’m going to write about but I’ll let it roll around my head until this evening.

 

Using these blog prompts has been an interesting exercise, sometimes taking me out of my comfort zone, which is no bad thing.

 

I haven’t managed 1,000 words each day, but I have written something every day. My highest total was 1653, my lowest 424, but over 21 days, I’ve written 21,796 words (someone has designed a spreadsheet so we can keep track of our daily and cumulative totals), so I’ve actually averaged just over 1,000 a day. Without the challenge, I probably wouldn’t have achieved anything like that total, and at the same time I’ve breathed new life into my blog.

 

And now that I’ve written 610 words for this blog, it’s time to return to my WIP, to add some more to that!

Judging A Book

How do you judge whether or not to read a book? By its cover? By its author? By the back-cover blurb?

I think new readers—those who haven’t read either a particular genre or a particular author before—make their first judgment by the cover. That’s why cover design is so important and so stressful to authors. We fill out the artist’s form, answering questions about the book, the characters and our own preferences. We agonize over whether the artist’s vision matches our own. We know that the cover is one of the first things a potential reader is going to notice.

My dad wanted to try reading a vampire book. He’s a True Blood fan, so he went to the bookstore, found one and started to read it. Yes, I glossed over his process on purpose, because frankly, I don’ think he had one. After a few chapters, he decided he didn’t like the book and stopped reading. When he showed it to me, I immediately understood why. The cover was a cartoonish drawing of a 19^th century woman with her dress half open in the front, boobs showing, fangs dripping blood. I don’t remember what the title was, but it must have said “vampire” because that’s why my dad grabbed it. Had I been with him, I could have told him it wasn’t his style book. But I wasn’t and he learned his lesson.

Repeat readers—those who have read a particular genre or author—often pick their books by the authors they’ve read before. I keep a list of my favorite authors’ books, and sometimes even keep track of release dates so that I can be sure to read their latest books.

But what about the roamers? The readers who walk the aisles of a bookstore, or sift through book sites online looking for the perfect book. What about the readers who ask friends for recommendations? They’re the ones who read the back cover blurb. Those 50 or so words can be the most important words the author writes, because it has to whet the reader’s appetite, create character impressions and give just enough hint of a conflict to make the reader buy the book.

I know a lot of authors who struggle with this. I do too, although I happen to like writing blurbs. My background is in PR and some of the most fun things to do was to create marketing hooks for our products. The back cover blurb is like a mini-commercial and they can be a lot of fun to write—I, for one, love to channel my inner “deep-voiced, slightly cheesy spokesperson!"

So, how do you judge a book?

Repetition is the boon of good advice

I’ve read--you've read--many times that memorable characters have both an inner and an outer goal.  Laurie Hultzer, in her power-packed little e-book, “How To Evaluate Stories,” says a solid story is framed around what the main character wants—and what he or she actually needs.

A character’s Want is a clear, simple, ego-driven, and obtainable goal that directly benefits this main character. It is concrete and specific. A character’s Need is a deep inner ache, yearning or longing that the character is unaware of, denies, suppresses, or ignores. 

The action of a story is based on the conflict between the main character’s Want and Need. The tougher the choice the heroine has to make—the greater the risk she takes—the more satisfying (and probably more marketable) the story.

The resolution of a romance can vary. For example:

1. The main character gets what she wanted, only to find that it is not satisfying. Reese Witherspoon’s character in Legally Blonde wants her boyfriend back. She follows him to college, takes his courses, interns at his firm, bests him at ‘lawyer-ing.’ When he sees her as desirable again, she realizes he is not what she wants anymore. In the comedy House Bunny, the heroine is kicked out of the Playboy mansion on her birthday. She lands at a sorority house for misfits and teaches them how to succeed socially. In the process, she learns to value herself, so when “Hef” finally invites her back, she doesn’t want to go back.  She doesn’t want her original Want anymore.

2. The main character gets what he or she wants, only to have it destroy him. In Dangerous Liasons, John Malkovich’s character wins the bet with Glenn Close and seduces Michelle Phillip’s character. By doing this, though, he destroys the only woman who has ever truly loved him, and ends up dying, too.

3. The main character can abandon his or her original Want and embrace a deeper Need. Like a childless woman who finally adopts, falls in love with her adopted baby, and then gets pregnant, a character can discover a better Want—or end up getting the Want after all. When Vivian Ward in Pretty Woman refuses to become Edward Lewis’ mistress, she abandons her original Want for financial security.  She gains the self-esteem she’s needed all along, and then in a true HEA, gets the whole enchilada of man, love and security.

The advice repetition in Laurie’s book prompted me yesterday to verify that I had clearly defined (in my head) my new heroine’s Want and her Need. I want to make sure I open with a solid presentation of my heroine's want even as I plant the seeds of her need. 

I have already outlined the basic plot twists and individual chapters. Today I will review each scene and target its POV character, that character's goal in the scene, and how the scene ends. I want each scene to make it harder for the heroine to achieve her want. I need to track how the hero and the villain get in her way (for different reasons). That way I will make sure my plot follows the escalating tug-of-war between her want and need. She will be a #3 type character--not be able to get her Want. She will get more. 

Black Knights Inc.

If you're looking for a hot, wild, and sexy read...have I got a series for you.

A while ago we had a new member join my local RWA chapter. When she introduced herself, she told us her first novel was coming out in August of 2012. Hers is one of those fairy tale stories: She wrote a book, submitted it, and wound up with a three book deal! To say I was a tad jealous was an understatement...but she was super sweet, so I couldn't hate her too much!

She passed around postcards for her upcoming series, to be released August, September, and October of 2012. Based on the covers alone, I decided those books were a must for my TBR pile. But, we all know how that goes. The pile gets so big, things tend to get buried.

In August the first book, Hell On Wheels, debuted. I had every intention of grabbing a copy to read, but life, as usual, got busy and I didn't. Her second book, In Rides Trouble, debuted on both the USA Today and New York Times bestseller lists. Okay, now I was green with envy, but also more positive than ever that I wanted to read those books. Still, life got busy, the TBR pile got bigger, and I never got around to ordering the books.

Then, one night at a chapter meeting, the lovely Julie Ann Walker shows up to share the good news of her bestselling book, and brings FREE copies of them. So I got two books I'd been dying to read, autographed by the author, for zero dollars. Talk about a win win.

And then life got in my way again. I set the books in my pile (It literally is a pile.) and there they sat. Over Christmas break I placed an Amazon order, and needed another book to make my $25 and over order to get free shipping. I figured I might as well complete the set, so I bought Rev It Up, the third novel in the series.

To make a long story short...I know, I know...too late. I started reading Hell on Wheels the Saturday before I went back to work after Christmas vacation. It was late, so I got through the prologue and one chapter before I couldn't keep my eyes open. The next day, I sat and finished Hell on Wheels and read all of In Rides Trouble. I literally could not put them down. I didn't go to church, I didn't write my blog for the day, I didn't check e-mail, I barely talked to my hubby. I just read and read and read, because these books were so damn good. Then I picked up the third one Rev it Up, which took a bit longer to read, only because, dang it all to hell, I had to go back to work and could only read at night. But I polished if off in less than a week. I just couldn't help myself. I couldn't get enough of her sexy, alpha heroes and heart-stopping action and suspense. I'm also a sucker for a series where characters overlap and we get to follow some of them into and beyond their happily every after.

And, joy of joy...there's a fourth book in the series coming out, Thrill Ride. Trouble is, I don't know how in the world I'm going to wait three more long, long, long months before it comes out in April. And I'm hoping there will be more to the series, because by my calculations, Ozzie, Bill, and Angel need their stories told...and so perhaps do Christian and Mac...maybe even ex-CIA Agent Zoelner. A girl can dream, right? Because I just can't get enough of those hot, wild, and sexy Black Knights.

Until next time,

Happy Reading!

Debra
www.debrastjohnromance.com

Les Miserables

The movie ‘Les Miserables’ was released here last Friday, and I’d already booked for the very first showing in the afternoon. By Friday morning, I was so excited I couldn’t concentrate on anything, as it my favourite show of all time!

 

I’d already had a taster. I saw the original trailer (online), some interviews with the cast, and a TV programme about the making of the movie. In the past two weeks there have been several different trailers on TV and I’d read reviews, both professional and amateur.

 

I’ve seen the show about ten times on the stage, both in London and Manchester, and was ‘hooked’ by the sheer power and emotion of it the very first time I saw it. I wasn’t sure how the stage show would transfer to the big screen but, from the moment the movie started, I was totally enthralled. It surpassed all my wildest expectations! The real settings, whether they were the docks at Toulon or the Parisian streets or the sewers (yuck!) added to the drama in a way that the stage couldn’t do. The battle on the barricade was more dramatic than the stage version, and the close-up shots of the characters’ faces gave a deeper insight into their emotions.

 

Don’t get me wrong, I love the stage version and would go to see it again, but the movie paints a much bigger picture, and the visual effects are stunning. All the power and emotion is there, even stronger than on stage.

 

It occurs to me that in our writing we are trying to do the same as the movie does - and here I am talking about the movie and not Victor Hugo's novel.

 

We want our readers to experience the setting, not as an onlooker, but by seeing it through the character’s eyes. Recently, I wrote a chapter where the hero and heroine were exploring a room that had been abandoned for over a century. One of my CPs said she felt she was right there with them as they explored. Wonderful music to a writer’s ears! If we can involve the reader in the setting, we’ve hooked them!

 

We also want the reader to experience the character’s emotions, whether those are anger, love, despair, fear, or whatever else. In the movie, we saw all this in the actors’ faces or in their voices. With writing, we can get inside their minds. Only then can the reader feel with them, rather than be told how they are feeling. (I’m making a determined effort not to use the word ‘felt’ in my current WIP, because this is telling the reader, not showing the feelings).

 

One of the main strengths of ‘Les Miserables’ (in my opinion) is the enormous diversity of characters. What’s interesting is that the ‘good ones’ all learn more about themselves as the story develops, whereas the ‘baddies’ remain stuck in their own obsessions (as with Javert) or their sleaziness (the Thenardiers). Maybe we can learn from that. Our main characters need to develop and discover more about themselves and the villains need to get their just desserts!

 

Of course, there is conflict too - the external conflict between Valjean and Javert, Fantine’s struggle against injustice and poverty as she seeks to support her child, and of course the students’ revolt. The internal struggles of the characters are equally as powerful, especially Valjean’s struggle with himself, Eponine’s acceptance of her unrequited love, and Marius torn between his newfound love and supporting his friends. In my opinion, the internal struggles of the characters in our books can prove even stronger than the external conflicts they may have to face.

 

Last but not least, ‘Les Miserables’ stirs our emotions. ‘Can You Hear The People Sing?’ always sets the hairs on my neck on end, ‘One More Day’ blows me apart, ‘On My Own’ fills me with sympathy (and empathy too), and ‘Empty Chairs and Empty Tables’ makes me cry. And of course there’s the anguish of ‘I Dreamed a Dream’. Do our stories give the reader the full gamut of reactions and emotions like this?

Catharsis

Last week, I wrote about using a physically painful experience to be able to write effectively about pain. I haven’t done that yet, but I seem to be having many “writing as life” moments. Yesterday, in my personal blog (http://jenniferwilck.com/blog/2013/01/14/free-pass/), I wrote about how I wish I could push aside all restrictions, such as manners, responsibilities, and the like, and speak and act freely, without concern for the consequences. Paula read my post and commented that I should create a character who does that. It was a great idea!

Her idea made me think. I don’t usually write from personal experience. It’s a question I’m asked many times by readers about my books. I’ve definitely incorporated a particular real-life snippet in each book, but more than that I haven’t done.

However, upon further examination, I might be headed in that direction soon. My antagonists, the real bad guys, be they male or female, are all based in part on a specific person I know. And in my head, for cathartic reasons, I’ve worked out a scene where a heroine gets her revenge on him, as I wish I could do. I’ve got the entire scene worked out—setting, characters, event, etc. I know dialogue, facial expression and even who comes to her rescue. If I could tell a complete story in one scene, I’d be set.

I even know, or think I know, which story I can put it in. It’s the second book in the series I’m writing. My problem right now is that the heroine in that story does not speak freely. She’s very controlled, plans for every situation and comes across as someone who is completely, 100% capable. For the scene to work, I’d have to make significant changes to her backstory. I’d have to make how she comes across a façade, which would definitely make her interesting and three dimensional. If I do it right, I can show  how she progresses from being perfect on the outside because that’s what’s expected of her (in contrast to her sister, who’s a mess, and the heroine of the first book) to eventually doing exactly what she wants, without regard for the consequences. The scene where she gets her revenge on the bad guy could be the perfect denouement to that character arc.

Now I just have to get up the guts to do that, because, while I’m not this outwardly perfect heroine like I’ve created, I do definitely care about the consequences!