Author Spotlight - Natalie Charles

I know I'm not the only one who remembers Natalie Charles' winning entry in the last New Voices contest, and who's been eagerly awaiting getting my hands on a copy. It's here at last and the Minxes are exceptionally pleased to be able to bring you an inside glimpse into the heart-pumping action and romance of The Seven-Day Target.

1. Tell our readers a little bit about yourself.

I'm a debut author for Harlequin Romantic Suspense and the winner of Mills & Boon's 2011 New Voices competition. When I'm not writing, I'm working as an attorney or a mom or a wife. Like so many women, I wear a lot of hats.

2. What number book is this? First? 100th? 200th?(Nora only!)

One and a half? When I won New Voices, I won the opportunity to have The Seven-Day Target published in the Mills & Boon Introduces anthology, which was released in October 2012 in the UK. When my manuscript was accepted for publication, Harlequin Romantic Suspense offered a contract to publish with the line in 2013. Because Harlequin Romantic Suspense was increasing its word limits for all books beginning in January, 2013, publication with the line meant I had to add 10 to 15k to my manuscript. Rather than adding scenes or chapters, I ended up rewriting the book almost entirely.

So, The Seven-Day Target is the same basic story line as the version I used when entering New Voices—same characters and same conflict—but almost completely re-imagined.

3. Everyone who writes knows it's not easy - what methods do you use to keep at it on days when it would be so much easier to go shoe shopping?

To be quite honest, I've struggled with this lately because I'm expecting a second child in June and the fatigue has been unbelievable. Going to bed early has become an even greater temptation than shoe shopping! But when I'm feeling more myself, it's all about discipline and goal setting. I try to set weekly word count goals, and once I accomplish them, I reward myself by doing something fun, like reading or watching a television show I enjoy.

4. What is your top promo tip for other authors?

At this stage I'm such a newbie that I've yet to figure out what works on a personal level. But I can tell you that what doesn't work for me as a reader is endless tweeting about a book. My eyes glaze over when I see anything on Twitter resembling an advertisement.

I choose my books based on reviews, and not just five star reviews, either. I've never been deterred from a reading a book that interested me based on a bad review. I guess my top promo tip would be to get your books into the hands of readers who will review them honestly.

5. How does writing fit into your day? Or does your day fit in around your writing?

Since I work full time and police a toddler in the evenings, I usually end the day with writing. It sometimes feels like these are the only hours I have to devote to something entirely of my choosing, so in that way, it's a very special time. That said, I wish the rest of my day could fit around my writing, instead. Alas.

6. Any craft books you recommend?

Stephen King's On Writing. I keep it in my nightstand drawer and I return to it when I need a kick in the pants. As readers, we never see the sweat and tears that go into producing a phenomenal book – all we see is the end product. Unfortunately that lack of perspective can trick us into believing that we can't achieve a phenomenal book on our own, or that writing well should come easily. King always reminds me that there's nothing more to writing than hard work, and lots of it.

7. In what way is being a published writer different to how you thought it would be?

I'm not sure why, but the biggest surprise to me was that writing as a published author feels an awful lot like a job. It's much different to sit down and write because you feel moved by the muse than it is to sit down and write because you have a contractual deadline. Then there are things like revisions and line edits, and just when you think you're ready to move on to something else, AA's show up in your inbox. I received AA's for The Seven-Day Target on the same day I had an emergency appendectomy. My editor was lovely and very understanding when I explained the situation, but it's just an example of how total control flies out the window once you're writing for a publisher.

Don't get me wrong – I still find many joyful moments when writing, and those moments are what keep me going. I knew that deadlines and other business realities would come with the territory, but it's eye-opening nonetheless.

8. At what point in your career did you actually start to feel like you were a writer?

I always imagined that when I was a Real Writer, I would carry a stylish messenger bag and frequent urban coffee shops. It just seemed like something a Real Writer would do. I still don't have a stylish messenger bag, though, and it seems like such a luxury to be able to write any place that isn't my couch after nightfall, so I've had to rethink my fantasy.

It didn't happen when I got The Call, or even when I went through the many necessary steps to prepare The Seven-Day Target for publication. I really didn't even feel like a real writer when I held the anthology in my hands for the first time – knowing that my book would be on a shelf on a different continent felt much too abstract. I think I felt like a writer for the first time when I was invited to speak on a panel at a book conference. People were asking me questions about my writing process and looking for advice like I was an actual writer. That was surreal, and while I still feel like I may never achieve my fantasy Real Writer status, I definitely felt in that moment that maybe I was a writer, after all.

9. Writing snacks – what are your favourites?

Oh, chocolate, definitely. I also love to write with a big glass of red wine – not these days, for obvious reasons. If I'm writing earlier in the day, I also love coffee. Do coffee and wine count as snacks?

10. Do you have any tips, tricks or sacrificial rituals you do when you hit a story roadblock?

I'm a person who gets bogged down with details, and the more I focus on how to solve a problem, the more frustrated I can get. One of my best tips is to know when to walk away from a manuscript. Not forever, but for a few hours or a day or two. Take a walk, drive down a boring road, or take a shower. I find that my best ideas come to me during my morning commute, when I'm sitting in traffic and sort of on auto-pilot. I can be listening to a song on the radio and suddenly! I know what I need to do with my manuscript.

It's difficult to take those breaks. It feels lazy. But our creative mind is working its hardest when we daydream, so I'm a firm believer in taking smart, temporary breaks. For me, it's part of the process.

Thank you so much for hosting me today!

Love never dies, but can it kill?

He never meant to speak to her again. Back in Arbor Falls for a funeral, Special Agent Nick Foster has moved on. He has no plans to stay in his tiny hometown--or to reunite with the beautiful Libby Andrews. His onetime fiancée broke his heart, and what's past should stay buried.

Libby doesn't want his help. Her childhood sweetheart can never know the real reason she ended their engagement three years before. But when a serial killer targets her, she must team up with the rugged agent for her own safety. Something in her past has put her in danger, and the passion they've reignited puts their future in deadly jeopardy.

The Seven-Day Target is now available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Book Depository. In the UK it's available as a special release with two other debuts from Amazon UK and Mills & Boon.

The Minxes welcome ... Natalie Charles, winner of New Voices 2011

A big thank you to the lovely and talented Minxes of Romance for inviting me here to talk about my New Voices experience!

I entered New Voices to get past the heartbreak of receiving a form rejection letter in late July in response to a query I sent to Harlequin Intrigue. I am no stranger to rejection, but this one stung -- I loved that story. Nevertheless, I've learned that the only way to handle rejection is to keep moving, kind of like a romance writing shark.

My rebound story, The Seven Day Target, is about an ambitious prosecutor named Libby and her former fiance, Nick. I have always taken an interest in writing about the complexities of broken relationships, and the deeper the connection between two people, the greater the possibilities for exploration. And so, Nick and Libby are childhood sweethearts with a deep connection that somehow became muddled. They are reunited when Libby's life is threatened by a serial killer whom they thought died in prison years ago, and this crisis presents them with an opportunity to grow as individuals and to heal the rift between them.

I know that last year's New Voices winner, Leah Ashton, famously submitted her chapter late in the competition. That impresses me to no end because I am SUCH a planner. I had my chapter ready to go well in advance of the start of the competition, and I entered within the first few days. I wrote my second chapter in the weeks preceding the announcement of the top 20 (which was really the top 21), and I wrote my pivotal moment before the top 4 were announced. It's a big challenge for me to produce a manuscript quickly after being declared the winner. I am not only a romance writing shark, but also a bit of a romance writing turtle…let's say sea turtle, for consistency.

(And yes, that's right: my manuscript is in the process of being written. I never thought I'd advance to the top 20 + 1, let alone the top 4. To be the winner? Crazy talk!)

I will share that the week leading up the announcement was unforgettably awful. A freak storm in New England knocked out all power and Internet two days before I had to upload the pivotal moment. Cell towers were down. I had visions of driving eight hours to find a wi-fi connection in a coffee shop somewhere near the Canadian border. I was incredibly lucky that my husband managed to find enough of a signal on his cell phone to activate a wireless hotspot that allowed me to use the remaining minutes on my (of course barely charged!) laptop to upload my pivotal moment. Up it went, 30 hours early, without the extra revisions I wanted to make. To say that I was in a cold sweat all week is an understatement. Most of my family and friends couldn't even vote for my entry since almost no one had Internet.

Which leads me to my Call story. Because of this storm, we didn't have phone service at home for 10 days. We didn't have Internet, either, so once again we relied on my husband's phone. On November 4, five minutes after the scheduled time for the New Voices winner announcement, Mills and Boon sent an email telling me that they were trying to reach me and asking me to please call. I called immediately, my stomach in knots, and they said congratulations and told me I had won New Voices. Hearing those words was one of the most emotional experiences of my life. I will never forget watching my elbow shake as I held the phone to my ear. I screamed, I cried, I kept thanking them. I went to work minutes after I hung up and I tried to go about my day as usual, but it was surreal. I felt like my life was exactly the same and suddenly very, very different. I was going to be a Mills and Boon author! The many years I've spent working on my writing were well worth that incredible moment.

Now, I am very excited about the challenges ahead as I write and revise a novel (in case you're interested, I will be blogging about the process). I am also extremely hopeful that other New Voices entrants will be receiving their own Call, and I will be watching for those announcements. More than anything, I am grateful that my rebound turned into a kind of happily ever after. And if you've been kind enough to read to this point, I'm grateful for that, too.

xx Natalie

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Please visit Natalie's blog at www.nataliecharles.blogspot.com for an inside look at her New Voices journey, and to follow her progress. We Minxes certainly will be following Natalie's story with eager anticipation. And once again from all of us: Well done, Natalie!

Give me the same thing ... only different

The Minxes would like to congratulate Natalie Charles, winner of New Voices 2011. Even if you don’t normally read romantic suspense, read this one. The story will grab you.

If you’ve followed the New Voices contest (as I have - devotedly!) you’ll have heard the editors’ advice to avoid cliché. This is just a re-statement of what the editors have been saying at conferences for the last few years. 2010’s buzz words were ‘innovate, don’t imitate’ and this year it was ‘unpredictability’. But really these are all just different ways of saying the same thing: avoid cliché.

In the immortal words of Blake Snyder in Save the Cat: “You can be near the cliché, you can dance around it, you can run right up to it, and almost embrace it. But at the last second you must turn away.”

I was extremely fortunate to get feedback on my NV entry (see here) and one of the comments the editors made was that my set-up has been used often before and I need to be careful that it doesn’t slip into cliché.
Clearly the use of cliché isn’t an issue for them, since they praised my very clichéd opening (Once upon a time in a land far, far away, there lived a princess.) but it’s what you do with the cliché that’s important. My next lines show that I’m going to turn the cliché on its head: She wasn’t like any of the princesses in other stories. She didn’t sweep floors, or wash dishes, or sing with the birds.

The day after the editors posted the feedback, I re-read Blake Snyder’s chapter of Save the Cat, entitled ‘Give me the same thing ... only different’, an entire chapter devoted to avoiding cliché, and he sums it up with these words:
“In every aspect of creation - from the idea, to the way characters speak, to the scenes themselves - putting a fresh spin on it (whatever “it” is) is what we do every day. But to know how to avoid the cliché, to know what tradition you are pushing forward, begins with knowing what that tradition is.”

Yes, it really is that easy. Once you’ve studied your genre, when you’ve read enough books that are similar to what you want to write, when you’ve examined the movies in that genre, you’ll start to spot the clichés: secret babies, marriages of convenience, certain type of hero or heroine, certain turns of phrase. That doesn’t mean you can’t use these elements, just that you need to tread carefully when you use them.

“When it feels like a cliché - give it a twist. When you think it’s familiar - it probably is, so you’ve got to find a new way. But at least understand why you’re tempted to use the cliché and the familiar story. .... True originality can’t begin until you know what you’re breaking away from.” - Blake Snyder

New Voices and moving forward

First up, congratulations to the 21 finalists in the New Voices contest. How amazing that the editors have given a chance to an extra writer because there were so many they loved?!

Also, I'd like to congratulate every single person who entered. You not only sat down and wrote something, but you were brave enough to submit your work to public view. That deserves applause.

I'd also just like to remind everyone who entered (and who didn't!) that contests are not the be-all and end-all. Not everyone who finals in a contest goes on to publich that manuscript. Not everyone who gets published gets there via a contest. In fact, your odds are probably even better through the slush pile than through a contest, where there can be only one winner.

So keep writing, and keep submitting.

Now if you're not completed contested-out, here's another you might want to look at:

Author Nicola Marsh is running a pitch contest on her blog until Sunday, with critiques from both herself and the senior editor of Entangled Publishing as a prize.

Talking about Entangled, keep an eye on their blog for updated submission calls each month. This month they're looking for contemporary novellas.

And more submission calls ....

Carina Press is looking for winter-themed sci fi novellas, and Avon Romance is looking for soldier homecoming short stories.

New Romance Imprints!

E-books a go go!

From Random House - In August, a new digital imprint Loveswept launched!
They say: Loveswept is a publishing collaboration between Transworld Publishers and our sister company Ballantine Bantam Dell in the U.S., and it's logo says 'Classic and Original E-book romances from the Random House Publishing Group.
There are a list of authors and releases on Romance At Random
Sue Grimshaw at Romance At Random advised me that the word count for submissions ranges from 30-90K, and they are looking for all sub-genres of romance. Most importantly, Loveswept are not category romance, so there is not a set criteria or guidelines to follow. They are looking for the best books, with emotion, well developed characters and strong plots.
Sounds great, doesn't it? If you think you have written something that fits the bill, query Sue at romanceatrandom@randomhouse.com.

And in other news: Another publisher in the Random House Group, Ebury Press are launching a new digital imprint too called Rouge.

Here's what the press release says:
Ebury haved announced the launch of an exciting new straight-to-digital romance list, Rouge, which will launch on 29th September with eight titles, and four titles per month thereafter, to satisfy the huge reading appetites of romance readers. Ebury have also designed a dedicated and interactive website, http://www.rougeromance.co.uk/, where readers can discuss the books, read extracts and enter competitions.

Editorial Director (Fiction) Gillian Green said 'Given the growth in eBooks and new developments in technology, we felt that the time was right to launch a dedicated romance list. We know that romance readers have been among the first to embrace ebooks and we want to bring them the best romantic fiction out there. Our list is diverse and there's something for every romance reader on it. What all the titles have in common is they are all utterly escapist sexy romances with a guaranteed happy ending from some of the brightest names in romantic fiction. Whilst we're initially looking at eBooks, we have print rights in all the titles on the Rouge list and are looking forward to launching print editions of our most popular titles too.'

The Rouge list will be split into six sub-genres - Regency, Historical, Suspense, Contemporary, Paranormal and Occasions and includes many award-winning, New York Times best-selling authors. All the novels are full length and feature covers specially designed for the UK market. They will all be available for under £5. Ebury has bought UK digital and print rights for all titles in the list.

In other Minx news, two more minxes have entered New Voices -

You can read Sri's entry here:
http://www.romanceisnotdead.com/Entries/316-The-Price-of-Freedom

And Lorraine's here:
http://www.romanceisnotdead.com/Entries/369-Confessions-of-a-Chalet-Girl

Great work, Minxes!

New Voices

Entering this year was not something I was *always* going to do. After last year and the demoralising depletion of rose count I was determined this year I would sit on the sidelines and cheer on others. But as the months wore on, it became clear that this year's competition would coincide with a really difficult time for me personally. So I decided I would enter and use it as a distraction from reality. I had a hero in mind, one that has been nagging at me for a few years now. He's inspired by James Blunt's song "No Bravery". As soon as I heard that song, I knew I needed to create a hero who doesn't feel brave simply because of the job that he does, that's his duty--his life. But he will come to realise that his true bravery is the way he has got right back up after adversity and made new goals for himself and carried on simply living his life. And I guess that's what writing is like. Sometimes it sucks and you never want to pick up your metaphoric pen ever again but then at other times it's the only thing that keeps you sane and you know you'd only be existing, not living, if you never wrote again.

http://www.romanceisnotdead.com/Entries/92-Coming-Home

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Romy sneaking in here:

Thank you so much for entering this year, Catherine. Your hero is divine, and I'm so glad readers are getting a chance to meet him - and I'm really, really grateful that you're there to hold my hand!

I've been feeling pretty okay with entering this year. I wasn't worried about rose counts, and didn't pin my hopes on getting anywhere. I just wanted readers' feedback on my writing, and hoped for a passing comment from an editor or published author.

So why, when the moment came to upload my entry, did I feel sick? My mouse hovered over the "enter" button for an age before I finally steeled myself to do it.

But it's up, the nerves are gone, and now we can sit back and enjoy the rest of the contest. And there are so many really excellent entries this year, that we can keep busy reading, and reading, and reading ...

http://www.romanceisnotdead.com/Entries/89-Once-Upon-A-Time

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Congratulations to SONALI who has won a book from Natasha Tate. Contact us with your details via our 'Contact' link.

Scoop! Mills & Boon New Voices 2011!

The Minxes are delighted to welcome Mills & Boon Editor,

Anna Boatman, to the blog today - to tell us all about this year's Mills & Boon New Voices competition! Take it away, Anna!

Whispers of the social media kind are spreading, the halls of Romance HQ are buzzing and wannabe-writers are flexing their typing fingers…. for New Voices – the romance writing competition with the X Factor – is back! That’s right, on September 13th Mills & Boon are launching their second global search for new talent!

Last year’s competition was a fantastic success. As well as Leah Ashton – our fabulous winner – we’ve since bought two new authors and we’re still working with (and hoping to buy!) several more. The number and standard of entries was fantastic, as well as the excellent, insightful comments and debates that went on. But we’re determined that 2011 will be even bigger and better!

So, how does this year’s competition work?

It’s the same basic structure as last year – read on to find out how you could be Mills & Boon’s next rising star!

Stage One – Grab them at hello! From the 13th September visit http://www.romanceisnotdead.com/ and upload a first chapter to enter. Don’t want to write but love reading romance? Visit the site to read the entries and comment – say what you love about their entry and constructive criticism is welcome too. As well as the competition itself, there’ll be debates about all things romance, plus editorial tips and blogs, Q&As and exciting gossip throughout!
The deadline for first chapters is 10th October – miss it and miss out! Then our expert editors will narrow the entries down to the 20 absolute best (always tricky and requiring copious amounts of chocolate). These 20 will be assigned an author mentor to help with their next challenge…
Stage Two – What happens next? The twenty finalists will submit their second chapter and this time you can help decide who wins! This stage is decided 50% by our panel of judges (including a mystery celebrity judge…!), and 50% by public vote, so come and have your say! After the voting’s over, we’ll have only four romance writers remaining!
Stage Three – The moment that changes everything! The fab four will submit their story’s pivotal moment. This is the final stage and the judges get together to discuss which story and writer show the most promise – it’s going to be a hard one to call!

Finally, on the 4th November, New Voices will announce the winner – and Mills & Boon’s newest author!

Among so many, how can YOU (and Romance Minxes everywhere) make your entries stand out? Here are our exclusive top tips…
- Start with a bang, not a whimper! Engage the reader straight off by beginning with a point of change for your characters.
- It’s all about the characters! We’re looking for entries where we like the characters and understand what they’re struggling with.
- Avoid cliché! Exploring your characters’ unique reactions will avoid your story feeling too familiar and really bring out the sparkle of your individual writing. Let’s not just hear that they are the most attracted they’ve ever been, let’s see in detail how that feels for that character specifically!

And there you have it, Romance Minxes! So writers, get thinking about those first chapters, readers get ready to hit the voting button – because New Voices is nearly with us… We editors can’t wait to read all your entries, or to hear your comments, so for now it’s goodbye until the 13th September. Good luck!

For more detail about entering and the T&Cs, take a look at the holding page currently up at http://www.romanceisnotdead.com/. For the newest news and hottest gossip, join our Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/groups/250729414946433/