How much of you is in your characters?

I keep thinking about this question as I'm trying to get a good grip on the heroine in my current WIP.

In real life, and by that I mean, the life in which I have a double Masters in Engineering, have a day job I'm good at, and have always passed classes with better than average grades, I'm a confident, self-assured person, in contrast to the insecure, whiny mess that I'm as a writer. :-) and as a mother....
Growing up in a conservative culture in India( even though my dad was the most open minded, awesomesauce dad among our friends and families), I've been called arrogant, outspoken, and many more things by some small minded family members. I was the first in both my dad's and mom's family to come to USA alone (in contrast to being married and arriving as someone's wife or just migrating with your whole family), and I had done it at 20 and with a full scholarship to a university.

The point of this self-indulgent, biographical rambling is that I have opinions, and I realized at a very young age that usually these opinions, more often than not, were on the opposing side of the general consensus that family and sometimes, my friends came to. But I've never cared, though I taught myself that it was ok to have a different opinion.

And this is mostly reflected in the heroines I write. They might not have it all together like I do (cue hysterical laughing here :-)), but they are confident women who won't take crap from anyone. Even if they might not do it in a stick-my-face-in-yours kind of way. The heroine in my last wip, Olivia, who will remain my favorite for a long time to come, did just that.

Not so with my latest heroine, Lexi. 

I wouldn't call her a pushover as my hero has just done, but she's close to being one. Especially when it comes to her two friends who are all she has in the world.

I think (think being the operative word here) it works as to why she's like that, what has prevented her to stop taking crap from these said friends, and the growth she has to undergo after she realizes what she has become is of course, aided by our hero. But I'm having the hardest time writing her.

I keep wanting to make her more ballsy, and have flashes of her being just that, here and there, which makes for a very inconsistent character.

So I started to wonder: How can I be a good writer if I couldn't write more than one type of heroine? Will every heroine I write be a sum total of the same character traits in new packaging? Not everyone in the world is confrontational, or gutsy. And, personally, gutsy heroines who are nothing but gutsy drive me up the wall.

Does this happen to you? Do you find that you bestow your characters with traits that might be your own? How much of you is in your characters?

From idea to first draft

I've been thinking about this a lot this year....and feel like this is one of the hardest, if not the hardest, parts of my process of writing a novel.
Ideas, as all of us writers know, abound around us. Of course translating those ideas into a cohesive novel is another thing.
Yet for me, it's the conversion of that little spark into something meaty, something that deserves to be told is the hardest part. Over the course of the six and a half fulls, about ten partials, and countless first chapters, believe you me, they are really countless, I have learnt that the pre-work process, the process of fermenting of the idea is as important as the first draft itself. I'm always eager to start the shiny new idea, the great cute meet, the awesome first liner that just begs to be written.
Yet if I start writing too soon, without thinking through, I have found the hard way that I run out of steam about 3000 words in.
It's a better investment of my time thinking a bit, scribbling notes wherever I'm on whatever I can find at that moment about characters, their GMCs, their fears, their life lessons, and what it is that the antagonist or in our case, the hero or the heroine force the other main character to learn..
And by this point, the shine of the idea wears off a little, but the substance, the real grit of it begins to appear, and it is all I can do to get what I have in my mind on to the page...

What about you? Which part of the writing process is the hardest or the easiest for you, and why?

Creating multi-dimensional characters

I've been dipping back into one of my favorite writing craft books - Story by Robert McKee, to explore once again the elements of building character. If a character isn't developed fully, they are flat and uninteresting. But by following carefully Mr McKee's advice, a character can become three-dimensional and truely fascinating.
Mr McKee's excellent book is geared toward screen-writing, but the principles espoused in it, are also of huge relevance to writers of fiction, and every time I dip back in, I find my interest sparked, and my knowledge enhanced.
Firstly, he talks about the difference between Characterization and True Character. Characterization is what we observe of the character. Their age, physical appearance, job, traits, style of speech, personality, attitudes, and the world in which they live.
True Character is deeper, it is what lies beneath the mask of Characterization. What is this character really like, and how can we portray it on the page?
Mr McKee says:
'True Character can only be expressed through choice in dilemma. How the person chooses to act under pressure is who he is-the greater the pressure, the truer and deeper the choice to character.'
Even when Characterization and True Character are fully explored, the character is not multi-dimensional. In order to create a fully rounded character, more elements must be present. Mr McKee defines it thus:
Dimension means contradiction: either within deep character (guilt-ridden ambition) or between characterization and deep character (a charming thief). These contradictions must be consistent. It doesn't add dimension to portray a guy as nice throughout a film, then in one scene have him kick a cat.
Okay, I'm beginning to get it. Now, to investigate further, I'm going to think about a character that I find fascinating in a TV show, to see if they are truly multi-dimensional. I've decided to use the character of Kalinda in The Good Wife.
Characterization: Young, good looking and street smart, intelligent, works for law firm, bi-sexual.
True character: Caring, thorough in discovering information.
Dimension: A friend to Alicia Florrick, yet secretive. Gentle, yet tough. Loyal to her job, yet prepared to compromise her principles and jump ship. Seductive but manipulative.
So immediately I've noticed four contradictions in the way that Kalinda is. She isn't designed as the protagonist in The Good Wife, but instead as a secondary character. But  her multi-dimensional character builds fascination into her every appearance.
Mr McKee explains that every character in a story has a job to do. The protagonist is the central character, and every other character within the story is there to highlight an aspect of the layers of dimension within the protagonist. Observing this formula with the character of Kalinda, we see through her reactions to situations and people throughout the series. Each person she interacts with reveals another aspect of her character. Makes the contradictions within her personality clear.
If a story contains too many characters who are multi-dimensional, then the reader doesn't know who should hold their interest. So by necessity, 'bit-players' should be less complex, and should be in the story to reveal more to the reader about the central character/characters. Or perhaps just be there to act as a foil for the central characters, one that they can open up to in conversation or over the telephone.
'Story' is a great resource for writers!

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

My Editing Checklist

As some of you will be out there polishing your New Voices entries (have just pressed send myself, gulp.) I thought I'd share my editing checklist. This is what I use to spruce up my writing and hopefully make it presentable. It can be a bit of a faff but I think it's worth it. Please add your own suggestions. What do you do to polish your writing?

1. Check for clichés and express using your own words.

2. Check for overused or ‘telling not showing’ words using the ‘Find’ function in Word – some of my guilty culprits are: was, felt, just, that, actually, began to, started, he/she felt, though, observed.

3. Reduce adverbs by simmering them gently on the hob…okay, sorry, couldn’t resist that one!

4. Cut pairs of adjectives, less is more!

5. Check for repetitions, choose the best and lose the rest!

6. Look out for unnecessary exclamation marks! (er, see above ;-)

7. Don’t show AND tell; we’re not at school anymore.

8. Cut unnecessary repetition of tense – I’d, she’d…

9. Look for repeated words and use thesaurus or imagination as required.

10. Make characters take note of surroundings, create a sense of place.

11. Use all the senses, layer in smells, sounds, colour, texture etc

12. Listen to it out loud, if your computer has a text to speech function use it, it’s amazing what it helps you pick out (the eye always sees what it expects to), if not try reading it aloud yourself, does the dialogue sound natural?

13. If anything bores you cut it. Face it, if you’re bored then your reader probably will be too.

14. Let someone you trust read it to look for typos etc

15. If you get to the stage where you’re thoroughly sick of it it’s probably time to submit the wretched thing :-)

Beat That Negative Voice!

So, you did it.  You submitted your New Voices entry.  Now all you have to do is sit back and wait for the email announcing you're in the top twenty, right? 

Right.

Or at least that's how it should be.  Unfortunately, your inner critic often gets louder at times like these.  It'll quite unhelpfully compare your entry to one you just read and enjoyed.  It'll prevent you from finishing your chapter.  It'll convince you that submitting is just too hard.  In short, it sucks.  It's also what's standing between you and your dreams.

The good news is that you can conquer it and here's how:

1. Recognise it.

Whether it's doubt (telling you that you can't or shouldn't do something), excuses (that are so easy to accept but in the long run prevent you from achieving your goals), pressure (telling you it's too hard and to stop now) or fear (that speaks of your inadequacies to prevent you moving forward), you need to be aware of the thought when it happens.  Often this enough to pull it up short.

2. Replace it

Replace it with a positive thought.  At first this may feel idiotic depending on how long your negative inner voice has had free reign but find comfort in the fact that you're not alone.  Olympians use these same techniques and they had to start from scratch too.  If that inner voice is telling you that your writing isn't good enough for New Voices, replace it with the thought that it is.  Of course it is!  Your voice and writing style is unique to you and the judges are looking for new and unique.  If you don't enter, they can't discover you, and that would be a shame.

3. Reject it

If you find your inner critic is on some sort of playback loop you can interrupt it by saying "Stop!" in your mind.  Sounds ridiculous, yes?  Ah, but the mind is a funny thing and this sort of technique is enough to shock it in a similar way to if someone shouted the word in your face. Pinching yourself is another option, but it's a bit more of a shock to the system.  Your mind will associate the thought with a negative response and do exactly as you say: stop.  The more often you break the pattern, the less the loop occurs. 

4. Reconstruct it

When you find yourself thinking negatively about your entry, use the word "but" and point out the positive aspects.  For example, "My punctuation is lousy - but my characters are unique and engaging."  We all want our entries to be perfect but "to err is human" and we often place too much importance on the little things that editors can be quoted saying won't rule you out.  You won't be disqualified for forgetting comma, so don't sweat the small stuff. It's much nicer to focus on the things that are great about your entry because they're what will be responsible for getting you into the top 20.  And if you don't know what they are, how will you repeat themin round two?

So, now you're all set to banish the crows of doubt.  Remember, thoughts have tremendous power.  They've been linked to the recovery or exacerbation of illnesses.  Athletes the world over use these techniques. You don't get to the Olympics by believing you suck.  You don't win the Olympics by believing you suck.  The exact same thing can be said for your writing.

Source: Body and Soul

Revenge is sweet

Following on from Suzanne Minx's post last week on Writing vs Real Life, I'd like to add my own reason why I love to write: Revenge is sweet, but being happy is the sweetest revenge of all.

I'm pretty sure this happens for every writer and I'm not unique, but I love when I've had a hard day at the day job, and I'm feeling stressed out about some issue, then I sit at the laptop and start to write ... and next thing I know, I'm sucked into the story.

When I'm writing I forget all the bad stuff that happens outside my novel, and get so into the head space of my characters that nothing else matters. After a while, I even find I'm smiling (unless it's a tear jerker scene, in which case I'm smiling through tears).

The boss, the deadlines, the stresses of the day, don't mean a thing beside that incredible feeling when the words are flowing, and you're in tune with your characters and your story. You know what I mean, don't you?

I'm a big fan of The Secret, and one of the principles taught by Rhonda Byrne in The Secret is that you need to get yourself into a happy state of being before you can change your life and get what you want. And just as I write this blog post, an email pops into my inbox:

A Secret Scrolls message from Rhonda Byrne
Creator of The Secret and The Power 

When you find your purpose, it is like your heart has been set alight with passion. You know it absolutely, without any doubt.

So to everyone out there in my Real Life, this is my revenge: my heart has been "set alight with passion", and there's absolutely nothing you can do to stop it!

(Though it'd still be nice to get the ultimate in revenge by selling so many books that I can give up the day job stresses and enjoy the stresses of being fabulously successful instead.)

The Writer's Productivity Trap

There seems to be a lot of pressure out there to pump out manuscripts and send them off to submissionland. If we’re not writing 150 bestsellers a year then we think we’re not writing fast enough. If Mary Sue down the street has submitted ten times in the last month and we haven't, then there’s something wrong with us. So, we take courses on how to write faster, better and in our sleep. We read books on how to write a book in a year, a month and 3.3 seconds.

Actually, some of those courses and books are quite good. But my point is that if you’re feeling anxious about the number of words you did or didn’t write yesterday you're not alone, you've fallen into the Writer’s Productivity Trap.

The problem with WPT is that it can result in an inability to write at all. Something that had once been your passion is suddenly so pressure packed that you’d much rather clean the toilet, iron your bedsheets or even paint your neighbour’s house. It’s human nature to avoid scary things, so don’t take this as the ultimate sign that you’re just not supposed to be a writer.

Donald Maass divides writers into two categories: storytellers and status seekers. What’s really interesting is that while you may start off a storyteller it can be easy, under the pressure of the industry, to start adopting status seeker traits.

So what is a storyteller and what is a status seeker? Donald Maass identifies that a storyteller's focus is on their story and making that story the best it can be by developing their craft. While they may be bewildered by some rejections they also recognize that something is missing from their writing and resolve to do something about it.

Status seekers, on the other hand, tend to live by the motto “get it in the mail, keep it in the mail”. They want to know how they can make their manuscripts acceptable and tend to be obsessed with promotion e.g. “Why throw money at authors who are already best-sellers? How am I supposed to grow if my publisher doesn’t spend some bucks pushing me?”

In contrast, Maass identifies that a status seeker will rush to send him “the first fifty pages and an outline a few months after the workshop” whilst a storyteller won’t show him their novels again for up to a year or more and certainly after several new drafts.

There will undoubtedly be status seekers in the industry with the sole intention of achieving the same sort of “glory” that JK Rowling did but there’s very little chance of that because they’ll be missing the key ingredient that inspires that sort of success and that is passion.

It makes sense that a storyteller, when exposed to the likes of social media and the productivity (whether real or imagined) of others could start to adopt the traits of status seekers. Suddenly there is enormous pressure to submit that partial in the shortest time possible, to always have something submitted, to churn out manuscripts. And it can happen in gradual way so that you don’t even know you’ve gone over the dark side.

But as Donald Maass identifies, he’d much rather you be a storyteller. He’d much rather you send him the novel after a year than in five minutes. He’d much rather you have a storyteller’s passion and desire to write the best story possible than to churn out manuscripts as though you’ve been bitten by a radioactive spider (poor Mary Sue). Your editor isn’t going to forget your existence in less than three seconds.

We’re not in this to write the most books in history. We’re in it to write a story that no one will ever forget.

The speed you write at is perfect for the next international bestseller.

You can find The Fire in Fiction by Donald Maass at:

Amazon

Amazon UK

The Book Depository

Short Story Writing

Disclaimer: I'm not an expert. There are a frightening number of others who have sold many, many more short stories than I could ever dream of. But, I have sold some. And I've done a lot of research. So I'm going to see if I can convince any of you to have a go.

The link between Minxes of Romance and short stories isn't as tenuous as it might seem. I'm not the only Minx to have been published in this form and (stating the obvious here) some short stories can also be romances.


I write short stories for lots of reasons:

• Quick turnaround - you can write a short story in an afternoon and a sale can quickly follow. The fastest acceptance I've ever had was just two days from date of submission.
• Fast payments - some magazines can pay within days of an acceptance.
• They're lots of fun to write and they're the ideal outlet for all those ideas that keep me awake at night.

 And, because they're quick to write:

• It's possible to write and submit lots of them in a way that would be hard to do with longer work. And, of course, if you have lots 'out there' the chances of a sale are greatly increased. It also means that if an R arrives, it's not the end of the world because there's always more work under consideration.
• They give a sense of satisfaction for completing a project - and that doesn't happen as often with longer work.
• Because less time and emotional energy is invested, it's easy to try lots of different styles and genres.

And there are other positives, too:

• Magazines will pay.
• Details of published short stories are great for the writing cv and for including in query letters to agents and publishers.
• The buzz of seeing your name in print is hard to beat.
• Womag writers are a friendly bunch and eager to help each other and I'd defy anyone not to make friends within this community.

But there is a downside (you knew there would be, didn't you?).

• The markets for short stories in women's magazines is shrinking daily.
• Competition is fierce and the number of short story writers is scary. Amanda Brittany has compiled a list on her blog - if you're feeling brave have a look here. 
• Because of the first two points, you have to be prepared for rejections. Lots of them. On the upside, the experience will desensitise you to the dreaded R - I've had so many they barely sting these days.

So what's the best way to break into this satisfying market? Preparation is all if you want to avoid all the wasted attempts I made. Before you start writing, there are things you should do to make sure you're targetting your work correctly.

• First stop should be Womagwriter's blog as she's done most of the research for you (how I wish she'd been around when I first started writing). On this blog you'll find details of magazines currently accepting fiction, word counts and where to send your work. Really, if you're planning to write short stories, the best advice I can give you is to follow this blog. The information you'll find is invaluable and everyone reads it - established writers, fiction editors as well as beginners.
• When you've identified the magazine you want to write for, read lots of issues all the way through. Womagwriter has done a lot of the hard work for you, but nothing beats first hand knowledge and you'll need to learn who the readers are - who you would be writing for.
• You'll then need to analyse the stories. Who are the main characters? What jobs do they do? What kind of situations do they find themselves in? This will give you and idea of who your own characters should be.
• Join a critique group. There's nothing like contact with other writers to encourage and provide support. I'm a member of an online private group and we post every two weeks. This has concentrated my mind like nothing else and my output has increased considerably. I don't manage to post every time, but I do try to write at least one new short story every month and that's a lot more than I used to manage.

And now you're ready to begin writing your story...

Not writing? A post about writers' block (but not as you know it)

Don't worry, this isn't going to be one of those hardline posts declaring there are no excuses for not writing, that if you aren't writing then clearly you don't want it enough. You know the kind of thing "Well, I completed edits to my best selling novel whilst giving birth and navigating my way through the Sahara..."

Okay that's a little extreme but in reality not too far removed from some posts I've read. For mere mortals though there are going to be times when not inconsequential matters like ill health or family demands impact your writing. And unless you're happy to traumatise your kids by shutting them in a cupboard all day, well it's something you need to try and work round.

There are other barriers to our writing though and if we are utterly honest with ourselves sometimes we do make excuses. I'm not here to slap your wrist for that, if I did I'd be a complete hypocrite, but I am interested in WHY. Why do we delay finishing that manuscript or submitting our work? I think fear, in one form or another is to blame - fear that if we do submit and are rejected again we won't be able to cope with it.

Last night I was angsting about something non-writery and finally irritated myself so much I finally mumbled "Oh get over yourself and just get on with it."

I don't think it's a coincidence that some of the most successful writers I've met have an incredibly thick skin when it comes to rejections. They didn't waste time sitting angsting (and have little patience with mine!), they just got on it with it - kept writing and subbing, subbing, often with multiple submissions out there. And now they are reaping the rewards of their perseverance and resilient mental attitude.

So, although I don't profess to have the answers I do have a suggestion:

(1) Get over it.

(2) Get on with it.

and because I'm not a completely heartless cow:

(3) Good luck!

Evolution

We all know writing is rewriting. At least I know it now. Time was I used to unleash first drafts onto poor, unsuspecting editors - and then I was surprised when my work didn't sell.

By chance I discovered, while writing short stories, that any work I rewrote had a greater chance of making it into print. It can occasionally take up to ten drafts to do the trick and get my story into a reasonable kind of order. In some of these drafts I'll only change a word or two, in others, complete chunks will be rewritten.

Applying this principle to longer works, I reasoned that rewriting might well make my manuscripts more saleable. But where to stop?

One of my current longer WIPs has been rewritten to death over many years. I just can't let the story go. But, in the reworking, it has evolved into something completely different - different heroine and hero, different setting, different secondary characters, different conflicts and storyline.

Nothing remains of the original idea or the early drafts. Nothing at all.

So, am I really rewriting the same book? Or am I now writing a different one? And how many books have I written in between?

I'm still unable to comment on most blogs, but thank you all for your messages on my previous posts. If you are able to comment here, I'd love to know how many drafts you write before submitting a story.

Words of wisdom from Trish Wylie - Part Three

This is the final part of our Friday series on how to start your romance novel, with Trish Wylie. It's been great fun having Trish here being Minxy-next Friday will be lonely without her!
I know everyone is dying to read what she has to say, so without any further ado, here's the final section.
Take it away, Trish!

8/ Back-Story.


The trick with back-story is to remember it is in the past. While relevant to the characters and containing the key to their emotional conflict, it is the ‘here and now’ the reader is most concerned with and for that reason the writer should focus the story on what is happening as it happens. Think of meeting someone for the first time and having them tell you their entire life story in one sitting and you’ll get an idea of how it would be for the reader to wade through a back-story dump at the beginning of the story. Instead, as it is in real life, the characters will get to know each other better as the journey continues, with hints of the past and the experiences that made them the way they are trickled through conversations, inner point of view (to assist the readers understanding) and their reactions to the things that happen.

9/ Theme.

Every story has a theme. Since more often than not this is used to help the publisher title the book and create appropriate cover art, the easiest way to get an idea of the themes used in a specific line within category romance may be to look at how they are marketed. For example, if there’s a baby or children on the cover or the mention of a father or mother in the title, there’s a good chance the theme is family. Put the word ‘Cinderella’ in the title and the theme may be self-image, self-acceptance or a character discovering the truth in the old adage that looks aren’t everything. Put the word marriage in the title and it’s pretty self-explanatory. Outside of category romance the theme may not be as obvious on the cover or in the title, but since every story ever told has themes based in mythology as far back as when the first stories were told around a campfire, I can guarantee there will be one.

10/ The Hook.

Quite simply the hook is a question that requires a reader to keep reading in order to discover the answer; curiosity driving them forward as it would for any of us in real life. The easiest way to create a hook is to start with something that profoundly changes the character’s world, the question becoming how they deal with it and what they will do next. If an external problem is solved too easily, the PLOT comes to a standstill, so every time something seems resolved, there must be something else to take its place so the story can continue and the characters have something to do. Think of it as a domino effect; the external problem leading to reaction and action which in turn leads to another action and another reaction and so forth until the internal problem comes to the surface in the black/all is lost moment and the characters are able to deal with it.

It may seem like a lot to pack into the beginning of a story, but pick up any book at random from your keeper shelf, read the opening chapters, and you will discover each of these points are there. Having said that, when starting out on a new story, many of us don’t get it right the first time, even when we’re supposed to know what we’re doing. But don’t panic if that happens! Beginnings continue to be a weak point for me, but theoretically, now that I know what I’m looking for I can go back and strengthen it with my trusty check-list at hand. Hopefully you’ll find it helpful too and if you do, my work here is done...

Trish’s long-awaited book, ‘The Inconvenient Laws Of Attraction’, will be out in the UK and Ireland in December 2011.

In the meantime, her third book, ‘Her Unexpected Baby’, is available for the first time in the USA and Canada direct from eHarlequin RIGHT NOW!
You can pick it up here.

You can find out more about Trish and her books at http://www.trishwylie.com/ or follow her between deadlines on Twitter @TrishWylie

Words of wisdom from Trish Wylie - Part Two

Last Friday, Trish started her series about how to start a romance novel. She covered: The inciting incident, introduction to the characters, the external problem and the internal problem.
Today, she's continuing with part two of three - this week examining the areas, foreshadowing, setting and tone.
Take it away, Ms Wylie!

5/ Foreshadowing.


In a Romance novel, just as a hint of the beginning of a new life for the characters is present in the end, there is the promise of a happy outcome to their problems at the beginning of the story. In a sense this is easy because there is already an expectation from the reader that the characters will end up together. The trick is to make them doubt the outcome by throwing obstacles in the characters’ paths (occasions that remind them of the thing they fear most).

6/ Setting.

The world the characters inhabit should be glimpsed in the opening so the reader is grounded in their reality. This includes anything that can be seen, heard or perceived by the characters in the same way we would be aware of our surroundings. Once again this should be brief, the emotional involvement in the story stemming from a connection with the characters rather than the place they inhabit. Think of a stage play and it is the characters and what is happening to them that hold our attention rather than the backdrop; the scenery merely adding a sense of place.

7/ Tone.

The tone must be both clear and consistent from the beginning. Characters will remain ‘in character’ from the moment they appear on the page, with all of their actions and reactions making sense to the reader based on what they are told from the beginning. By setting a clear tone, we establish the ‘rules’ of the story, including the narrative and most importantly, the writer’s VOICE. Quite simply, a writer’s voice is the way they tell the story. Think of a Scorsese, Spielberg or Tarantino movie and they are each instantly recognisable as ‘belonging’ to the respective director. It’s exactly the same for writers, so while there may be no such thing as a ‘new’ story, the way we each tell it is as individual to us as our handwriting or the way we speak. Setting the ‘mood’ is somewhat different. As the characters continue on their journey there will be shades of dark and light, just as there are in real life. So while there may be moments of sadness and deeply felt emotion, there will also be times when there is humour or a tempting glimpse of how happy the characters will be in the end.

Pop back next Friday for the concluding blog post of the series - covering back story, theme and the hook.
Thank you, Trish!
 
Trish’s long-awaited book, ‘The Inconvenient Laws Of Attraction’, will be out in the UK and Ireland in December 2011.
 

In the meantime, her third book, ‘Her Unexpected Baby’, is available for the first time in the USA and Canada direct from eHarlequin RIGHT NOW!
You can get it from here.


You can find out more about Trish and her books at http://www.trishwylie.com/ or follow her between deadlines on Twitter @TrishWylie

Words of wisdom from Trish Wylie - Part One

Over the next three fridays here at the minxes, we are joined by Mills and Boon/Harlequin author, Trish Wylie, who is visiting to impart some wisdom about how to start your romance novel. Her advice is fantastic. Do check in over the next few weeks to make sure you don't miss anything!
Thank you, Trish, for the blog posts.
Now, over to Trish...

For many writers, the best part of the creative process is before they even open a file on their computer. But once the adventure of a new project becomes the challenge of a blinking cursor, many of us can become bogged down with angst. Quite possibly because we know how important beginnings are in the world of writing.


With some experience under my belt (that I plan to put into practice any day soon) and thanks to some extensive research on the subject, I now know there are several common ingredients every story has regardless of where it falls within the vast range of fiction. Once I knew what was supposed to be there, it made me more aware of how those ingredients were present in the books I had enjoyed. It could be argued having them makes a story ‘formulaic’ but the simple fact is, there are certain things we expect to get for our time and money, especially in a century when we can get instant gratification at the push of a button.

So what are we looking for in a strong opening? First up:

1/ The Inciting Incident.

This is the moment when something happens to change things profoundly for the characters. Prior to this they have already lived their lives and formed their personalities in the same way anyone would when they reach the same age. Think of them as people living ordinary lives (though obviously if they live in a paranormal world their definition of ‘ordinary’ may differ from ours) who are launched into a new adventure or series of challenges by something ‘out of the ordinary’. It’s the same turning point any of us can experience in our lives, the decisions we make from that moment on allowing us to take a different path from the one we were on. In a Romance, this is typically the moment when the hero and heroine meet. Keeping in mind the demand for instant gratification and we know this should happen as soon as possible, which leads us neatly into...

2/ Introduction To The Characters.

The main protagonist/s of the story should be identified as soon as possible to the reader and it should be clear which point of view we are in at any given time. We don’t need to know the characters entire life story prior to the inciting incident but we should know the basics. Their names, a description of how they look and - if relevant at that point - their job, all allow us to form an initial first impression. Not only is this typical of real life, the first insight into a character’s point of view allows us to see how the things they do and say may differ from what they thinking and feeling, leaving the reader with a set of questions that will encourage them to continue reading so they may discover the answers (See point 10). It also allows us to see how they change as the story progresses. In order to help them make that change they will have two issues to deal with...

3/ The External Problem.

As a direct result of the inciting incident, the characters will be presented with a scenario that will throw them together on the new path they have taken. How the characters react along the way reveals more of their personality - allowing us to get to know them better without the need for long explanations. Naturally at the beginning – as is the case with many of us when life throws us a curve ball – they may be resistant to change, but this is where fictitious characters differ from people in real life. Instead of avoiding the problem or sticking their head in the sand, they will tackle it head-on in a proactive manner; moving the story forward. At this point, how the external problem is resolved may seem to be what the story is about, but this is the PLOT as opposed to the EMOTIONAL JOURNEY, which brings us to the second issue...

4/ The Internal Problem.

This is below the surface on a psychological and emotional level. Initially invisible to the other characters but hinted to the reader in the beginning, it eventually leads into the ‘black’ or ‘all is lost’ moment when the crux of the problem is revealed to the characters and a happy outcome seems impossible. In all Romance novels this is literally the heart and soul of the story. What the inciting incident does is bring this problem to the forefront of the characters minds, forcing them to confront it and deal with it as the story continues. Typically what will happen is the ‘opposing’ character will in some way represent what the ‘main’ character fears most and they will recognize this on a subliminal level. Perceiving them as a ‘threat’ they will resist with one of our most basic natural instincts; fight or flight. The challenge that drives the story forward will then be how they overcome this fear to gain the reward of their ‘happily ever after’ in the end. Naturally, this isn’t possible without a change of some kind, so what the beginning of the story does is hint at the emotional block holding them apart while at the same time hinting at the ending, which brings us neatly to...

...to be continued...
The next items covered in this ongoing series from Trish are:
Foreshadowing, Setting, Tone, Backstory, Theme and Hook.
 
Trish’s long-awaited book, ‘The Inconvenient Laws Of Attraction’, will be out in the UK and Ireland in December 2011.

In the meantime, her third book, ‘Her Unexpected Baby’, is available for the first time in the USA and Canada direct from eHarlequin RIGHT NOW!


Find it here.  
You can find out more about Trish and her books at http://www.trishwylie.com/ or follow her between deadlines on Twitter @TrishWylie

Making Sacrifices

The Prince & Me is a sweet romantic comedy that I last watched several years ago. I remembered it as a fun, light movie, aimed mostly at the young adult market. A bit of fluff. But when I flicked through the TV channels yesterday to find something innocuous to play in the background with the kids around, it seemed the perfect answer. Until I got so engrossed that they nearly went without supper!

Yes, this movie is entirely predictable. Yes, the idea’s a tad far-stretched. No, it was never going to win any awards. But I was riveted! Because this film ticked the most important box of all: it got me invested in the characters.

I also learned something important while watching this movie yesterday: the resolution of any story (the Happy Ever After) is so much more satisfying if one (or both) of the characters have first had to sacrifice something really significant in the Black Moment.

[Spoiler Alert ahead]

In The Prince & Me, both hero and heroine make a sacrifice. The Black Moment scene is incredibly poignant. There are no raised voices, no slammed doors. It’s a quiet moment between two people who have already acknowledged their love for each other.

But they cannot be together without the heroine giving up everything she has ever dreamed of doing and being. In that moment she has a terrible decision to make: to choose between love or her dreams.

I hadn’t thought of this movie as being an example of award-winning acting, but in this scene Luke Mably is simply superb. With a completely under-stated performance, he conveys so much emotion. The viewer absolutely gets that the Prince is losing the only woman he’ll ever love. Without the heroine at his side, he faces a life of duty without the one person who has brought meaning, joy and love to his life. He will be lost without her. But even so it is a sacrifice he makes willingly, as he only wants her happiness.

Aaaaw.

That tear-jerker moment really made the resolution so much more satisfying.

I’m still far away from the black moment and ending of my WIP, but when I get there I’m definitely going to make a meal out of the sacrifice my heroine will make to ensure the happiness of the hero (or in this case, heroes!)

Unpredictability

It's the latest buzz word at Romance HQ and everyone's talking about it: unpredictability.

Lorraine Minx brought this to our attention last week, and Maisey Yates has also added further sights, but it was really brought home to me just how important it is for aspiring writers to be fresh and innovative when I got a rejection last week from an editor at Romance HQ for exactly that - my conflict was too predictable.

It's a fine line we need to tread between fulfilling the promise of the line we're targeting and yet still bringing something original to the party. I have no deep insights, but I thought I'd share with you a little example that struck me this weekend.

I re-watched 27 Dresses on Saturday. This is the perfect example of a fresh spin on an old story. Katherine Heigl is the modern day Cinderella, who spends her life working to make everyone else happy. She watches all her friends, and her baby sister, get to be the belles of the ball while she sits on the sidelines. It takes the right prince to show her that she's worth putting herself first.

I have yet to meet anyone who doesn't love this movie. It's an old story, and we know exactly how it will end, but it feels fresh and original.

Sadly, this story has already been done (very well!) by India Grey in her Powerful Italian, Penniless Housekeeper, so you're going to have to come up with your own fresh spin!

How fast do you write?

Thanks to my daughter, I've recently become hooked on this test. For a minute of your time, it will reveal your typing speed.

When I put my mind to it, I can reach a fairly consistent and comfortable typing speed of 70 words per minute - which puts me some way off the top score, but also a long way from the bottom. So I'm happy.

This means, in an hour of typing (allowing for a ten minute break - I don't want to risk a repetitive strain injury), I should be able to write 3,500 words. So I should, in theory, be able to manage the first draft of a 50,000 word romance in a little over two working days.

I'm sure I don't need to tell you I can't write a first draft anywhere near this quickly. In fact, my output on the writing front can be pretty dismal: I missed my 35,000 word target in our Minxy April Word Count Challenge. And I failed the 50,000 word requirement of Nano a couple of years back, which is shocking when you think that, going by my theory, if I'd written for 7 hours every day for 30 days I should have produced an impressive 735,000 words. Honestly - I've double checked - 70 words a minute x 50 minutes out of every hour x 7 hours in every day x 30 days in November is equal to 735,000 words.

Of course, I have a day job. But, if I maximised output every writing hour, the Minxy Challenge and Nano should have posed no problem.

So, why can't I write a faster first draft? The best I've ever managed is 1,200 words in 55 minutes - a long way off what should be my personal best.

I know you have to factor in thinking time, but surely I should be able to think faster than I can type? And generally the idea is fully formed by the time I sit down at my keyboard, so those words should surely fly onto the screen. Perhaps if I didn't waste so much time on novelty websites I might be able to get more work done.

Did I tempt you to check up on your typing speed? Let us know how you got on. And, how quickly can you write a first draft?

PS: Last week's spotlighted author, Wendy Marcus, has announced her contest winner as Jennifer Probst. Jennifer please contact Wendy through her blog.

No Magic Bullet: Promoting Your Book

Today we have a guest blogger, Talli Roland, who made a splash with her debut novel on 1st December by taking on Amazon for a day. We've invited her here today to talk about, unsurprisingly, book promotion.

* * *

A big thank you to the Minxes for inviting me back to discuss book promotion! This is a subject that is near and dear to my heart, after I launched a successful web campaign that propelled my debut novel The Hating Game into the top 100 on Amazon UK Kindle for over eighty days.

I wish I could provide three easy steps to guarantee a book’s success. But the fact of the matter is, what works for one book might not work for another; and what one author is comfortable with, another might not be. One thing is for certain, though: promotion takes a lot of time and effort; it must begin well before the book is launched; and it must be done consistently.

These days, every author is aware of the importance of Twitter, Facebook and blogging. But there’s no point to any of it without using the media consistently. Take, for example, my Web Splash, where I was able to get over 500 people signed up on social media to talk about my novel on its launch day. This didn’t happen overnight. It happened over months and months of interacting with people and time spent building relationships, well before my novel was due out.

Every day, I visit and comment on more than fifty blogs, getting to know people on a personal level. Every day, I’m on Twitter and Facebook. It doesn’t need to take masses of energy and you don’t have to sink endless amounts of time into it, but showing interest and talking to writers and readers is critical to get people on board to help spread the word. And more than that – it’s fun!

Once your book is out in the wild, there are a few things you can do to help get it noticed. On Amazon, make use of tags. By adding tags, you can ensure your book turns up in product searches. The more people who tag you in that category, the higher it will appear in the search. If you can, buy your book with a similar best-selling product, so the two are linked and will show up in ‘customers who bought this, also bought…’. Complete your Amazon author profile and make sure all your books are listed. If your book is on Kindle, you should also consider posting about it in the relevant sections of the Kindle Users Forum (UK) or Kindleboards (US) to let Kindle users know it’s out there.

If sales have slowed and you want to get your book noticed again, I’ve found giveaways a great way to do so. Goodreads allows authors to offer up free books, and giveaways there often attract hundreds of potential readers. While you might be limited to the number of copies you can offer, think of all the potential readers who will hear about your book and may go out and buy it, even if they don’t win. And don’t forget to promote your giveaway on Facebook, Twitter and blogs, too. The more opportunities you can create to get people talking about your book, the better.

Unfortunately, there is no magic bullet to book promotion. But by using social media effectively and building relationships, you’ll have a ready-made platform to help spread the word when the time comes.

* * *

Talli Roland has three loves in her life: rom coms, coffee and wine. Born and raised in Canada, Talli now lives in London, where she savors the great cultural life (coffee and wine). Despite training as a journalist, Talli soon found she preferred making up her own stories – complete with happy endings. The Hating Game is her first novel and she is currently working on her second, Watching Willow Watts. Talli blogs here and can be found on Twitter here.

A sense of place – starting with location

There are lots of ways of starting a book and one way of starting a book is with location. I like being immersed in my surroundings in the first couple of paragraphs when in a book and find it very effective.

Here’s a few examples…

The first example is from Kimberley Lang’s What happens in Vegas…
That was an actual mirrored disco ball spinning over a lighted dance floor. Hundreds of sweaty bodies crowded the dance floor, moving to a techno dance mix, and the bass line thumped like a heartbeat. This club-The Zoo- had strobe lights, LED-lit jungle vines hanging from the ceiling and zebra-striped furniture. This place took tacky to a whole new level.


Next, from Kate Hardy’s Good Girl or Gold-Digger?

Someone really had broken into the fairground museum. Several people-and pretty drunk, too, judging by the number of smashed bottles around the gallopers and the vomit sprayed nearby. Yobs who’d thought it would be a laugh to cut off the horses’ tails and spray-paint obscene graffiti along their sides. And they’d used the café as a coconut shy and lobbed stones through the plate glass, wrecking it.

Finally, to show that I really like opening a story this way, here’s a location passage a couple of paragraphs in from the start of my current wip.

Grey clouds blackened, swelling with rain. A low rumble, then the heavens opened, dashing a fierce quiver of angry rain arrows towards the group huddled next to the open grave. In an instant, a flurry of umbrellas soared skywards, painting the monochrome scene with colour.

What's your favorite way of opening a story?

The wonderful Donald Maass

Today I’m dipping in to a fantastic book.
Writing the Breakout Novel, by Donald Maass.
I gave myself a present of this book when I received my last R, basically because digging into yet another box of consolation chocolates (that go straight to my hips, and stay there, unfortunately) seemed wrong. And learning more about writing, and buying myself a shiny, new book on craft was guaranteed to cheer me up!

Here's a review of it by someone else:
“Don Maass describes the business of writing novels in a clear, concise, and brutally honest fashion. If you want to learn to write bigger and better novels, this book should be first on your reading list. It is the best book on writing bestsellers I have ever read.” —Dean Wesley Smith, bestselling author of 60 novels


I’m only half way through it, but there are such gems in this book, that I thought I’d blog about it today.
I wasn’t disappointed. After all Donald is a legend. His agency represents more than one hundred fiction writers and sells more than one hundred novels per year to top publishers in the U.S. and oversees.

Donald investigates the myths of success and blasts them out of the water. And tells all of us writers why a reader gets excited about it. And the most exciting element of this, for me, is that the answer is available to every writer, published or unpublished. Agented, or unagented.

Here it is… today’s words of wisdom to inspire us.

In reality there is one reason, and one reason only, that readers get excited about a novel: great storytelling. That is it. End of story.
Hold on! It cannot be that simple! There must be a trick! Sorry, there is not. There is only craft-that and inspiration, sustained effort, luck and timing. But mostly craft. Sound scary? It should not. It means the most important component of success is in your own hands. You control your fiction career.

More from this great book in the weeks to come!