O is for Outcome

Debra takes a look at the Happily Ever After...

Although I firmly assert that I am a pantster and not a plotter, even when I first start a story, I always have an idea of how the story will end. Obviously, since I write romance, the hero and heroine will overcome their issues and start their life together.

But I'm talking more specific than that. I usually have a vision of what the closing scene will look like. Sometimes I've been known to skip to that part and write it before I write other parts of the story. Which can get a bit confusing, but it does give me something concrete to aim for besides a general HEA.

Even for my latest project, tentatively titled "The Cowboy and the Princess", which I'm writing using my 'just add water' strategy a day at a time in a very linear fashion, I have an idea of how the story will end. Now I just have to get there!

(On a side note, that story - Which if you remember took me by surprise when it popped into my head last week - is going well...I'm up to 3,605 words in 8 days. My best day so far is 637 words. The least I've accomplished is 250. But every little bit adds up, right?

Anyway, I digress. I know, for me, sometimes the things my characters do in between chapter one and 'the end' sometimes surprise me. Sometimes my characters have a mind of their own and wind up doing things I never expected them to. But my endings always turn out pretty much how I envisioned them at the beginning.

How about you? Does the course of your story every change so much while you're writing it that the outcome is different than you intended/expected? Or are your HEAs firmly set?

Until next time,

Happy Reading!

Debra
www.debrastjohnromance.com

O is for Occupations

Paula asks: How important are your characters’ occupations in your stories?

 

With some of my novels, I didn’t really have a choice because the storyline decided it for me. In ‘His Leading Lady’, for example, the hero had to be a theatre director/producer and the heroine an actress. In ‘Dream of Paris’, I needed both to be teachers.

 

In other cases, however, I’ve had to make decisions. When I first wrote ‘Changing the Future’ (many years ago and never published), both the hero and heroine were teachers, and the story was very different to what it eventually became. Once I dug it out of my box of old stories, I decided to move the heroine into a college, and to give her a background of television journalism instead of languages. In the original story, the hero had been a geography teacher, but I wanted to ‘upgrade’ him to a geologist. What kind of geologist? Well, that Icelandic volcano with the unpronounceable name was disrupting air transport at the time, and made me decide to reinvent him as a volcanologist – and I must admit my research for this story taught me more about volcanoes than I’d ever known before. His occupation also led to the fairly dramatic scenes in the latter part of the story. 

 

When I first conceived the idea of 'Her Only Option', set in Egypt, I had more decisions to make. Originally I thought about two passengers on a cruise ship, but that wouldn’t work because after the week’s cruise, they would both go home and the story would no longer take place in Egypt. From there it was a fairly easy progression to a cruise ship tour guide and an archaeologist, and it was the occupations of these two that was to provide an integral and conflicting part of the story.

 

When I first started writing ‘Irish Inheritance’, I knew my heroine was an actress and my hero was an artist. What I didn’t realise immediately was that the Victorian love story they would gradually discover would also involve an actress and an artist. This may sound weird, but as the lovers in the past gradually revealed themselves, I actually had a heart-stopping moment when I realised they were also an actress and an artist!

 

With ‘Irish Intrigue’, I had an actress again (yes, I know, I have a thing about actresses, but she had already appeared in 'Irish Inheritance' as a would-be actress!), but I had to decide what occupation my hero was going to have. I went through various possibilities in my mind. Hotel owner or manager? Farmer? Pub landlord? In the end, I decided (or maybe he decided?) he was a veterinary surgeon - and again that involved a lot of research, including the whole of one Sunday afternoon spent watching YouTube videos of foals being born.

 

In my current WIP, I wanted the hero to be the taxi driver who had featured in ‘Irish Intrigue’ but I needed him to have another job. I invented a whole scenario where he had been a university lecturer, but then decided that wouldn’t work, and now he’s an undercover police detective. As for the heroine, at the moment she is an American forensic scientist who has ditched her job to go to Ireland – but that’s not yet set in stone and could still change!

 

So – how important are your characters’ occupations to the development of your story? Are their occupations an integral part of the story, lending extra dimensions to the plot?

Or would your plot be more or less the same even if you changed their occupations? An interesting exercise might be to think of one of your stories, and think of how much it might (or might not) change if you changed the hero’s and heroine’s occupations!

Organizing My Timeline

Jennifer plays with the timeline

In the stories I write, time plays an important role. There is always some deadline that must be met, a holiday that will be celebrated or a date by which the hero must leave. It adds to the conflict in the story, but it also adds to the headache of the author.

In my latest WIP, my hero is a war photographer who has to deliver a package somewhere by a particular date. As I was writing, I planned for the story to start in the beginning of the summer and end by August 15. Except somewhere along the way, I lost track of the timeline. As a result, I have lots of references to the hero leaving by a certain date, but if you pay attention to where they are in the calendar, my timing doesn’t work.

When I was ready to submit it to my agent, one of the things she asked for was a timeline. So I read through it and created an outline with the dates listed. I thought I fixed it so it worked, but when she sent me back her edits, one of the things she flagged was a problem with my timeline. And although she didn’t mark all the mistakes, she marked enough of them that I could see she was right.

So, since starting at the beginning of the story hadn’t worked for me, I decided to try something new.

I started in the middle.

The only fixed calendar date that I have is the 4^th of the July. The hero, heroine and their friends have a BBQ and watch the fireworks. Now, I know that technically, different towns offer fireworks on different days. But my calendar-challenged brain can’t handle that, so I decided that I’d created the town and therefore, I was deciding that they have fireworks on the actual day of the holiday!

I found the chapters that take place during the 4^th of July and went forward from there. I wrote each chapter on a lined piece of paper, recorded the highlights of each chapter and the timing of those highlights. In the manuscript, I marked any reference to timing so that I could double-check it later. I also tracked “the next day” or “later that afternoon” to make sure they lined up with the timeline. When I got to the end of the story, I went back to the 4^th of July chapter and worked my way backwards to the beginning, doing the same thing for those earlier chapters. Now all I have to do is compare my notes to the marked spots in the manuscript, fix any discrepancies and then retweak the timeline I submitted to my agent.

In theory, I should be okay.

I guess only time will tell. [wink]

Oh my: Lions and tigers and bears. Oh my. Lions and tigers and bears.

Ana muses about a book series that influenced her life:

The Oz books were my favorites when I was seven through twelve years old. I have 40 jumbo hardcover books on a special shelf downstairs. Uncles and aunts always knew what to get me for Christmas--and they must have kept count, for I never got a duplicate.

I was an escapist kid. I loved the Oz series for its magical world the characters, including flying monkeys and Munchkins. The original author, L. Frank Baum, wrote the first fourteen books. The publisher then found other authors to pen subsequent stories. In truth, I never noticed the change in storyteller.

The Oz books led to my love of science fiction, especially Asimov and Heinlein, who didn't shy from sex and romance in his books. He led me to fantasy, which often was strongly sensual. From there I found Bertrice Small, a pioneer of modern steamy historical romance. (Sadly, she passed away a few weeks ago.) Her books were lengthy, and she had a formula that cast a spell upon my imagination.

After a ten year stretch, where I read every used romance novel I could lay my hands on, I read one that irritated me. The ending was rushed, un-set-up, and unsatisfying. I think the big-name author had a deadline to meet, and so did the publisher. I vowed that I could write a romance and set out to do that.

The product of that was my WIP, which was a good first attempt, but not at all ready for prime time. I've kept at it, and know one thing for certain. Writing is the next best thing to reading a super good book.

On second thought, it's better.

Sunday Snippet - Another scene from Margaret's book Rachel's Retribution

They stopped an hour later beside a narrow stream. Liam got out and stretched his legs, she sat with the car door open admiring the landscape. ‘It’s at times like this,’ he said, ‘that I count my blessings.’

Rachel frowned. ‘What do you mean?’ What sort of blessings was he talking about? This wasn’t the Liam she knew, the hard-hitting businessman with a brain as sharp as a razor. That man would never stop to admire a view, he would not even see it. He was accustomed to driving from one meeting to another, flying from one country to another. How could he be counting his blessings here? Unless he was talking about their situation. The fact that they were miles from anywhere and she was completely at his mercy.

‘I’ve tried city life,’ he said, almost more to himself than to her. ‘For a short spell I lived in London. But I couldn’t imagine myself living there permanently. I guess it’s because of where I was brought up. We had a cottage by a lake, I used to go fishing with my father.’

‘And you’re telling me this because?’ prompted Rachel.

‘Because you must be wondering why I like it here.’

‘I have to confess that you surprise me. I really can’t imagine you staying in that cottage on your own. Ever.’

‘There are lots of things about me you don’t know.’

And perhaps it was as well that she didn’t. ‘Have you ever brought your girlfriend here?’

He shook his head and just for a moment his mind drifted.

Rachel guessed he was thinking about her, missing her, looking forward to her return.

‘She wouldn’t like it,’ he said. ‘It’s too lonely. She likes people.’

‘It doesn’t sound to me as though you’re suited.’

His dark brows rose. ‘Then you don’t know me as well as you think you do. There are two sides to every coin. I’m not averse to cities and nightlife, but everything in moderation. How about you? What are your preferences?’

‘I’ve never even thought about it,’ she said. ‘I like where I live. It’s a busy place but not overcrowded.’

‘Do you go out clubbing?’

‘Sometimes.’

‘With Steve?’

She flashed her eyes impatiently. ‘Of course not. I don’t see him outside office hours.’

‘Do you have a boyfriend?’

‘Would I be here with you of I had? How would I have explained it?’

‘So why haven’t you? Got a boyfriend I mean. You’re a very attractive woman, Rachel. Most women in their early thirties are settled down with children.’

‘I am not most women.’ She was annoyed by his attitude. Of course she wanted to be married, she wanted a family, but it hadn’t happened. There had been only one man she loved enough to want to marry - and he was standing right here. No longer her lover but her jailor.

‘You’re still waiting for Mr Right?’

‘I’m not waiting for anyone,’ she flashed. ‘I’m getting on with my life. At least I was until you decided to kidnap me.’

‘That’s a very strong word.’

‘So what else would you call it?’

‘An invitation,’ he said.

‘You invited me here, is that what you’re saying?’ Her eyes challenged him to deny it. He really did think he could get away with what he had done. He didn’t accept that his actions could be seen as criminal.

‘Did I carry you fighting into my helicopter? No! Have you made any attempts to escape since you came here? No!’

‘That’s not fair,’ she cried. ‘How can I run away with a sprained ankle? Which incidentally is hurting like hell. I bet you didn’t think of that when you made your plans this morning?’

‘Actually, yes, I did,’ he said much to her surprise.

He opened his car boot. ‘Voila!’

The cool box!

Damn! She had hoped to catch him out. She had wanted to make him feel guilty. It would never work, not on a man like Liam. 

‘But I have an even better idea.’ Without waiting to explain he lifted her out of the car and carried her a few yards to where a cluster of boulders edged the stream. He sat her down, took the protective cuff off her ankle, allowing her to put her feet into the cold running water.

It was sheer heaven. Bliss. It soothed like nothing else could.

‘It is good?’

He was smiling, pleased with himself, and for just a moment she wanted to kiss him. But only for a miniscule moment. He might have done the right thing now but it was his fault she was in this predicament. ‘It helps,’ she admitted.

‘Then we will stay here a while.’ Liam lowered himself on to one of the adjoining rocks and they sat there looking at the water as it continued its journey.

Rachel wished that he hadn’t sat so close. Her awareness increased by the second and she didn’t see how she could be angry with him and yet feel sexual hunger at the same time. It made no sense.

She closed her eyes and tried to will herself into a different frame of mind, but although she couldn’t see him she could feel him. He was looking at her. Watching her speculatively. Probably wondering what she was thinking. And when she felt his fingertips brush back her hair where the breeze had blown it across her face she could do nothing to stop him. In fact it was Liam himself who suddenly sprang to his feet. ‘Time to move on.’

N is for Nightmare

Margaret talks about writing nightmares

We all suffer from nightmares – to a varying degree. We wake up in the middle of the night sweating, relieved to find it was no more than a bad dream.

As writers our worst nightmare is that we’ll never be able to write again. Our mind has gone blank. The words won’t come. What do we do about it?

One solution is to simply write. Write, write, write. Write anything that comes into your head even if it’s a load of rubbish. The very act of writing releases a trigger that allows the right thoughts and words to come through. It sounds crazy, I know, but it has worked for me on the few occasions I’ve been stuck for an idea. I’ve then crossed out the rubbishy first part and got on with the story.

Or – another nightmare – what if no-one likes your book after you’ve spent all that time writing it? What if every editor you send it to declines to accept it? What do you do then? Sit in a corner and cry? No! You learn by your mistakes, sharpen up your writing and get down to another book. I guess I was fortunate in that I had only one book rejected and it certainly didn’t stop me writing. And it shouldn’t stop you. These are short-term disappointments that should make you all the more determined to achieve success. Otherwise what was the point of writing in the first place?

Do let me know about your failures and achievements.

N is for Ninety-five percent...

Paula looks at the ninety-five percent – and the other five percent.

 

I read recently that out of 100 people who want to run a marathon, only 5% will actually do it. The other 95% will offer all kinds of reasons (or excuses?) why they can’t – not enough time to train because of day job, too many other commitments, injured knee/leg/foot, decided it was too far or that they ran too slowly, weather was too bad to train every day, house needed decorating, mother-in-law had a fall… etc etc etc.

 

The same applies to writers. How many people have you heard saying they would love to write a book? Some may openly admit they could never do it, but others will offer the reasons (or excuses?) why they can’t – not enough time, too many other commitments –even ‘I can’t spell’ or ‘I was never any good at English grammar’ or ‘It would take me far too long to write a whole book.’

 

So, once we exclude the 95% who, for whatever reason, never actually start writing, we’re left with 5% who do start. How many of those actually finish a first draft? Probably 95% of them have a half-written manuscript (or even several) stuffed at the back of a drawer, or, in this day and age, languishing in some never-looked at folder on their computers.

 

What of the 5% who do finish a first draft? How many of them work hard revising/editing/polishing their story? I’m reminded of someone who declared on FB that she had finished her first draft, and would spend the next day editing and formatting it before self-publishing it on the following day. I must admit I winced at thought of only one day editing, but I fear there are many others who don’t have critique partners/groups and/or beta readers, let alone submit their manuscript for professional editing.

 

Others, when finishing the first draft, may react in the opposite way. Instead of rushing to publish it, they receive a few negative critiques, decide the whole thing is a train wreck, and throw it away, never to write anything again. Or they submit it to a publisher and it’s rejected, and they assume no one will want it.

 

Let’s assume another 95% never see their manuscript published, which leaves us with the 5% who receive an acceptance and then work with their editor to improve the story, and with a cover artist, until eventually release day comes, with a fanfare of trumpets - or whatever!

 

Maybe that’s as far as most of us will get. The very talented or very lucky (or very hyped) 5% may reach the dizzy heights of Amazon’s or New York Times' Top Ten, and probably less than 5% of those may get a Hollywood film offer, or actually become zillionaires.

 

Meantime, what of the remaining 95%? We do our best to promote our books, we continue to write, hopefully improving with every book, and gradually build up a small band of faithful readers.

 

Sometimes we can become demoralised by our small sales, or our low rankings on Amazon – but what we always need to remember is that we are part of the 5% who have actually written a book (or several), unlike the 95% who only say they’d love to write a book but never get around to it, or the 95% who start but fall by the wayside. So take pride in being part of the 5%!