What I Read Other Than Romance

For a while I read romance. Exclusively. Probably beginning in high school, other than required reading for English literature classes, I didn't go far without a Harlequin American Romance in my hand. I eventually branched out into historicals and single titles, but for me, romance was queen.

In time I expanded my horizons further. A group of friends started a social book club, and we read a plethora of types of books: historical fiction, women's fiction, chick lit, best-sellers...but no real romance.

As I've gotten older, I still enjoy my romance, but my main fare these days is Young Adult Fiction. Ironic, isn't it? As a teenager I read adult romance and as an adult I'm reading fiction for teenagers.

The thing is, there's so much good writing out there for young adults these days. Perhaps not good in a 'classic' literature sense, but good as in a 'I can't put the book down' kind of way.

For me, it all started with Harry Potter. I was hooked on those books from the moment I picked the first one up. I've found that I have a taste for the paranormal in teen books. I fell totally in love with the Twilight series. (I think I've read them all seven or eight times by now.) I've always loved romantic vampire stories, so this was right up my alley. Recently I read the available books in the House of Night series. (Again, more vampires.) A friend just gave me the first in The Immortals series. (Not quite vampires, but close enough.) This summer I read all of the Alex Rider (He's a teen-aged James Bond) adventures. Another favorite series is The 39 Clues.



Even in adult books I like series more than stand alone. Perhaps it's once I've found something I like, I want more and more of it. I really like the Sookie Stackhouse books. (More vampires, plus HBOs True Blood is my guilty pleasure!) The Chocoholic Mysteries are a fun read. And I really enjoyed Lois Greiman's Chrissy McMullen books. When I need some hard core adventure, I turn to Dirk Pitt or Kurt Austin novels from Clive Cussler.



Most of these are "keepers" and go on the shelves of my personal library, to perhaps be read again and again.

My girlfriends and I share book suggestions, so I'm never without something waiting in the pile to be read. I've also discovered that it's hard to read other romance when I'm writing a romance myself. Things tend to get all tangled in my mind. Still, I have quite a large collection of romance in my library.



So, how about you? What's on your list these days besides romance?

Until next time,

Happy Reading!

Debra
www.debrastjohnromance.com

Do as I say, not as I do

My writing routine is NOT one to emulate. I write seasonally, specifically in the post-Christmas, pre-gardening season. Fortunately that's a fairly long stretch in Minnesota.

From May through December, I write to deadline. Heroines with Hearts posts, Voices of the Heart posts, weekly CSA newsletters, bi-monthly gardening columns. Short things, 500 to 1000 words. And critiques for my critique partner and loop partners.

This winter, when the garden is sleeping, I'll write two hours each weekday, either in the early morning or leisurely evening, and four to six hours on Saturday and Sunday.

I can't wait.

My Favourite Hero

I’ll start by telling you some types of hero which would never be among my favourites: vampires, werewolves, shapeshifters, aliens, ghosts, angels, demons, or other magically-empowered beings.  Okay, I know they’re very ‘fashionable’ right now but – confession time – I’ve never read any fantasy-type story.  Not even Lord of the Rings or any of the Harry Potter books.

I loved Hugh Jackman in ‘Australia’, in ‘Kate and Leopold’ and as Curly in Oklahoma. 

But Wolverine?  No thanks!

Even as a child, I preferred stories about ‘real’ people, and not ‘fairy’ stories.  I have absolutely no interest in ‘fantasy’ in the strictest sense of the word.  Most of the paranormal beings are, to me anyway, the stuff of nightmares, not of romance. 

I don’t like ‘bad boys’ either.  Never liked Heathcliffe, for example, or the ‘Byronic’ type of anti-hero. Maybe Mr Rochester in ‘Jane Eyre’ is also an anti-hero – keeps his wife locked up, pretends to be engaged to one of his lady friends to make Jane jealous, and then attempts to marry Jane bigamously?  What a jerk!  But we see him only through Jane’s eyes so can empathise (and sympathise) with her. 

What about Mr Darcy then?  Supposedly women’s favourite fictional icon, whereas really he was a dominant patriarchal male.  Forget Colin Firth clambering from lake in wet shirt (on second thoughts, though, maybe I will keep that image in my mind!).  But Darcy was moody, overbearing, repressed and patronising.  In the 1940’s Laurence Olivier played a very ‘buttoned-up’ Mr Darcy and no-one swooned over him.  My guess is that those who drool over Darcy have never actually read the book, but are simply drooling over the devastatingly sexy Mr Firth!  And that gives me the chance to put up a picture of him, not the famous lake scene, but the smouldering look as he watched Elizabeth playing the piano – whoa, definitely a ‘stop the DVD, rewind and replay’ moment!

However, I digress. I’m supposed to be writing about my favourite hero, and not Colin Firth.  But – hold on a minute, maybe I can still talk about Mr Firth.  In ‘Bridget Jones’ Diary’ he plays the modern equivalent of Mr. Darcy (great casting there!).  He’s reserved and awkward but ‘nice’, while Hugh Grant plays Daniel Cleaver, the modern equivalent of George Wickham, a shallow but sexy charmer.

Which was my favourite hero?  Without getting into the whole alpha/beta discussion again, I have to say it’s the reserved but nice one, of course, who proves to have more far strength of character than the sexy charmer, and more sex appeal too!   

When he kisses Bridget at the end, she tells him, ‘Nice boys don’t kiss like that.’  His reply is. ‘Oh yes, they f….g do.’ 

Now THAT’s my kind of hero!   

Loops

RWA. EPIC. Publisher loops. Writer loops. There are a ton of them out there, especially if you add in groups on social media. I belong to several and have found them to have both benefits and detriments.

They are great ways to network. You meet people who are in similar circumstances as you and face similar situations. You also have the benefit of reaching people with more experience and who can offer advice. I’ve found great assistance offered on the various RWA loops—from advice about how to write, or how to submit manuscripts, to suggestions about what to bring to my first book signing. I even received 1000 “Signed by Author” stickers in the mail from an extremely generous loop member who just wanted to help me out!

Loops are terrific for promoting your work—they’re a built-in audience who understand the give and take desired by writers, kind of an “I’ll read your blog if you’ll read mine.” They usually have large numbers of members who have similar interests as you, as well as their own readers who may want to broaden their horizons by reading your work too.

They can also be great for encouragement. I can’t tell you how many messages of congratulations for a book release, upcoming signing, great review, etc. I’ve seen on the loops.

Facebook also has its own version of loops—groups of people with similar interests. The biggest difference with Facebook groups that I’ve seen is that you have more information about individual members of the group based on the accessibility of their profile. That, and some groups allow you to post excerpts from your work in addition to links for all group members to see.

While I’ve found loops and groups extremely helpful and beneficial, there are some downsides. One is that they are extremely time consuming. While they are great places to post a question, reading every single blog post, interesting article or review can take up huge amounts of time. They give me a tremendous amount of guilt, because since I post my blogs on the loops, I feel obligated to read others’ posts as well. And comment, if I can. But doing so takes hours, literally, and while I’d love to do that every day, there’s just not enough time.

They also generate a ton of email, especially if you receive individual emails of every post. Just seeing the number of emails I receive, or the number of posts that I haven’t yet read in a Facebook group makes me sweat and stresses me out (ridiculous, I know, but...).

Many groups have specific rules that must be followed in order to remain a member. The rules are meant to make things easier for everyone, although I’ll be first to admit that I sometimes find them intimidating. The stricter the rules, the less likely I am to post, although I still read everything that I find of interest to me at a given time.

As a rule, I tend to filter what I read based on the subject of the message. I skip over the topics that aren’t as pertinent to me at the time, and read at least the first in the string of any topic that is pertinent to me. If I’ve done a lot of promo posts, I’ll try to make sure to alert other bloggers that I’ve read their posts or commented on it so that I don’t seem one sided or only a member who’s in it for myself.  But it all depends on time.

While loops are great time savers when looking for information or promoting something—it’s one message sent out to hundreds of recipients—they’re also great time eaters, and it’s important to strike a balance between posting on loops and writing!

The Good, The Bad & Ugly (Cute) of Authorship!

 Flash-Fiction Vs Short Story Vs Novella Vs Novel – Which is Your Corner?

Have you ever thought that: shall I go for a short hook or long punch?  

I can’t say as it ever crossed my mind when I started writing what shall I write: long or short novels? 

Hell no, I crashed headlong into an epic WWII romance. The novel itself was wholly inspired by image of US bomber in an old magazine, which if I remember correctly went by the title of Pictorial Review. The bomber was badly damaged, two engine propellers not working, and the aircraft clearly coming in to land at a bit of a tilt. The write-up claimed a miraculous landing, though members of the crew were badly injured and dead among their number. In the foreground was a young woman near the perimeter fence, on horseback and watching the plight of the stricken aircraft. That image inspired me and I wrote my first romance, though I had penned scripts for pantomimes and school plays!

I can’t think why I never sent this particular novel to a publisher. I guess I thought I was too young for a publisher to take me seriously at 25 yrs of age. Funnily enough I dragged out its hand-written tattered remnants a couple of weeks back in order to whip a snippet from it for a themed Challenge. Wow! It drew forth such a good response I think I’ll revise it and see if “it” can get a bite from a publisher sometime. If interested in reading a snippet from my first ever novel, it’s here under the heading Romantic Friday Writers Challenge No. 11.  here.

Found this pic but it's not the original one. 

Oops. I digress. Anyhoo, getting back to the long and short of it: I love writing big blousy novels with sumptuous settings and lavishly dressed heroes and heroines. It can be either a contemporary or historical romance, sometimes a romantic thriller. But, quite recently I was asked to co-host a group blog with a difference, and this blog involves writing Flash-Fiction or that of posting a snippet from a novel to fit a themed challenge. So, I experimented with Flash-Fiction, which entails conveying a cameo/story within 400 words. From this participation I realised it was teaching me to cut to the bone and make every word count: Romantic Friday Writers 

I then embarked on a novella, because again it forces one to cut the waffle, tighten the girth, and smooth down a complete story within 16,000/30,000 words. I did it purely as an experiment, the historical novella now on Kindle at Amazon. Why?  Because I saw no point in submitting a novella to a publisher, and it’s a good way of testing the novella market. The returns on a novella are minimal at best, so why give third-party interest a score on few pennies more than I?  As it happens, it’s doing well without publisher backup. 

But, getting back to the long and short: I recently gained success with a novel that is 60,000 words approx and due out of Whiskey Creek Press July 2012. It’s a glitzy glamorous novel with horsy backdrop.

To top that, I’ve had a request from a British publisher for a full on my 97,000 + word historical novel. To say I’m thrilled and scared all in one go is an understatement. I just love big landscape novels, delicious swashbuckling heroes and charming if difficult young misses and mistresses and all set against authentic backdrop and alongside real-life people from era depicted.      

Novella

details and book trailer http://francinehowarth.blogspot.com

BTW: sorry about the waffle in this post! ;)

My Writing Space

In our house the den is the room in which our computer resides. We have a lovely armoire to house the computer, with doors that close to hide everything when we have company. For me, I consider this to be 'home base' for my writing. I have the covers of my books tacked up, awards framed, Post-Its galore with links, tips, advice, and quotes, pictures that provide inspiration, and files for each of the projects I'm working on.

From here I check blogs and loops, e-mail fellow writers and editors, and basically keep up with the writing world.

I, however, don't do much actual writing in this space. Especially in the summer. Being a teacher in 'real life', I get most of my writing done in the summer. And most days in the summer it's simply too nice to sit inside in this room (decorated with family pictures both past and present) at my computer for long hours.



So, several years ago (after my first book was published) I invested in a lap top. Best thing I ever did for my writing career. Now my writing space can be where ever I want it to be. One spot is out back by our pond. The comforting sound of bubbling water makes a nice backdrop. I also like to sit at our patio table. Surrounded by bushes, it's a private retreat, making me virtually invisible to those who pass by. My hands-down favorite spot to write in the summer is my front porch. Here I move from Adirondack chair to rocker, depending on the need to be plugged in at any given time. The porch is covered, so it's also the ideal place to write if there's a little rain coming down.



As I write, I tend to migrate from place to place. Write in the back for a while, move to the table, and then in the afternoon when the sun hits full force in the backyard, I move to the front porch. If my computer runs out of juice, I've been known to trail an extension cord across the yard.





The lap top is used solely for writing. I don't have an Internet link on the desk top, so I don't get distracted (or procrastinate)

with e-mails or blogs. Having a portable computer has made me a much more productive writer, as I don't feel like I'm stuck in one spot. In fact, if I'm stuck on a story line or scene, I'll move my physical location, which often gives me a new perspective and gets the words flowing again.



In winter, I probably use the house computer more often when I write, but there are days you'll find me camped out on the couch or curled in a recliner, clicking away on my lap top.

As for today, I'm thinking it's a front porch day.

So how about you? What is your writing space like?

Until next time,

Happy Reading (and Writing!),

Debra
www.debrastjohnromance.com

Writing Point of view (POV)

In her book Mastering Point of View, Sherri Szeman defines point of view as “how a novel is written.” She gives multiple options for traditional POV: first, second, unlimited, outer limited, inner limited and combo.

No matter the genre, commercial romance has specific requirements of POV—generally either first person or a version of inner limited, which is also called third person.

Sherri writes, “The author picks one character and pretends (s)he is in that character’s head, limiting the information presented to the inner life of that chosen character. The author reveals all the thoughts, feelings and motivations of that character, but writs about him in the grammatical third person, using he, she, it or they to refer to his character…

“The author stays out of the head of all other characters in the novel. He doesn’t present any of their thoughts, feelings or unspoken motivations unless they are revealed in dialogue to, or in the presence of, the character from whose perspective he is telling the story.”

The POV rule in Romance has been to limit POV changes through the story. But romance writers can be rebellious and independent. We like to test the rules. I feel the rule of POV should be: as long as the reader can follow who’s talking and walking (and thinking and acting), POV changes are okay.

That said, it’s a good idea to limit the number of POV changes in any one chapter to no more than three. And the changes in POV perspective must drive the plot. A scene written from the villain or killer’s perspective can greatly heighten tension.

I tend to write like I’m watching a film. Maybe it’s because I’ve watched so many. Maybe it’s because my #1 writing craft book is “Screenplay” by Syd Field.
Movie scenes offer multiple points of view. There’s also B-footage, those shots of the full moon night sky, or an overhead of traffic on the LA freeway system. But those don’t fit into a modern romance novel.

We need to know that Jane is getting into the shower and, as warm water cascades down her body, she’s thinking about how stupid she was to run away after Jake kissed her last night. It was his last night home before heading off to Afghanistan, and he’d asked her to marry him. She’d not given him an answer, and now it was too late. He was gone and she wouldn’t be able to tell him why she couldn’t say yes, despite how much she wanted to. He didn’t know about Sam. And she didn’t know how to tell him.

Now, we could write the next scene in Jake's POV, describing the anger he feels toward Jane as the 747 jets across the ocean. How she's rejected him. How he wanted to know she would be waiting for him. He'd heard she'd been preoccupied with some guy named Sam. She'd probably been sleeping with him, and that's why she bolted when he'd kissed her. Damn it! If he hadn't tried to undo her bra, maybe she would have been honest with him. Or maybe not. Maybe she really was the town slut, and he was better off forgetting about her.

Then, what if Sam is a three-year old mixed race baby that Jane's been trying to adopt. Sam can't have a POV, realistically. And what if Jake has always insisted that he wanted kids of his own. HIS own. ...

Pretty clear cut points of view. As long as each section is in either Jane's or Jake's POV, the reader gets both sides of the story and can be immersed in the drama.

No head-hopping. No confusion.
Just pure satisfaction.

Should be easy, right?
But is it?