Friday, May 25, 2012

Safari Moon

Current Project: untitled
Status: one chapter
Safari Moon


Top attributes of a romance novel that I feel are important and how I used them in Safari Moon.

Romance novels are character driven. To me the characterization of the novel is the single most important element. The next most important is the conflict. There must be internal as well as external conflict.

I spend a great deal of time developing my characters. The characters must have a life before the story. They have birthdays and anniversaries; favorite hobbies and nicknames. Several years ago I attended an inservice/workshop at the school where I worked. It taught how different mind styles affected a character's personality.

When the characters in Safari Moon were created, my intention was to set their mind styles in conflict. A minor thing but a very real beginning to their journey to find love. Nyssa is concrete sequential which means she is organized and has to know the what, when, where, how, and why of every task. To her all she does and plans is clear and precise. Solo, on the other hand, is concrete random. Solo will come up with answers before he even hears the question. He will jump back and forth between fact and theory. This ability often leaves Solo unable to explain his thinking.

These are some of the internal conflicts, which leave the characters breathless but dying to figure out the other person's point of view.

External conflicts are usually more obvious and revolve around the physical actions of the characters. They are on the surface not hidden in the mind. These conflicts can change from scene to scene but the major or elemental conflict is a common theme carried throughout the novel.

Romantic conflict is a third conflict one can find in a romance novel. They struggle to come to terms with their emotions. And raw emotions can get in the way of love scenes. When, where, why, and how they occur. Of course all three conflicts tend to merge and separate as the novel is created.

Turning points are also essential to a good romance. Every scene must have some kind of turning point. The first kiss, the moment the protagonists meet, any decision they make which will effect the outcome of the story. In the first chapter, when Solo decides to call Nyssa and ask for her help concerning his 'willing, eager and able women is an example. Their needs to be at least three major turning points as well as a black moment when it appears all will be lost.

Theme, motivation, tone and tension are other elements which I incorporate in the novel. I try to put each of these into each scene. And to keep the reader turning the pages when I write a scene, I plot to a twist. So the last sentence in the scene compels the reader to continue.

Oh, and did I forget point of view. Point of view is incredibly important to creating tension in a story. Each scene should be in only one of the protagonist's point of view.






Thursday, May 24, 2012

CELEBRATING THE END…

Current Project: LEGACY SERIES
Status: Book #5 to beta reader & cover finished!
Posted by: Genene Valleau, writing as Genie Gabriel




I got to "The End" of edits of the fifth book of my LEGACY series on Sunday and sent it to a beta reader. 

As Chris mentioned in her post last Friday about how many times a writer should edit, there's no "rule" for me either. I edit until it feels right--or deadlines force me to let go of the manuscript. :)

I'll probably make a few tweaks when the manuscript comes back from the beta reader. Then it will go to my publisher, who will have more tweaks, then the copy and line edits.   

So The End isn't really The End. LOL!  

Besides, I have several more books of my LEGACY series to edit and write before the big THE END. :)

It felt good to reach that milestone in producing LEGACY book #5. And I realized it's important for me to pause before going back to the "to do" list and celebrate these kind of milestones. That may be something as simple as basking in the feeling of accomplishment and taking a few days to catch up on other things before diving into edits of the next book. But celebrating is good. (In celebration, I also finished the cover for this book. :)

How do you celebrate your accomplishments--whether small or something major?

Monday, May 21, 2012

Weekly Progress Check-In

Welcome!  This is the Mid-Willamette Valley RWA chapter's weekly progress check-in.

Did you meet your writing goals last week?  What do you plan to accomplish this week?

(The best prize is achieving your writing goals, but as an extra incentive, we will award gift cards from Powell's bookstore to the chapter member and the non-member who check in for the most weeks in 2012.)

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Adventures in Self-Publishing: POD

Hi, all.  Was gonna write a long, involved explanation of POD (print on demand), and how I came to choose CreateSpace to print the paperback versions of my ebooks, but, alas, this guy has not visited me:


So I am way behind on my writing.

The lesson:  trying to be your own author, editor, designer and publisher is like, totally, time-consuming.

Short summary of the CreateSpace thing:  it's easy (just pick a book size, download their book template and format your text to match, save as pdf, upload, proof), it's fairly quick (they take a couple of days to review your submitted text before approving it), and it's cheap (I'll be able to sell paperback versions of my Pajaro Bay novels for $7.99, the same price as a typical New York-published mass-market paperback).  What's not to like?

Eventually I'd like to offer a hardcover large-print edition of the books as well. For that I'll try Lulu. They offer hardcovers, which CreateSpace does not, and my understanding is that they are a better choice for worldwide distribution, while CS seems more U.S.-based.

There's also LightningSource, a subsidiary of Ingram (the giant book distributor). They are definitely not user friendly, but do appear to have the best distribution options available.

So that's all on the POD subject for today.  Happy writing, everyone!

Barb
Barbara Cool Lee
http://www.BarbaraCoolLee.com

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

What's It All About?

In my last post I promised to tell you about THE LAZARUS GAMBIT—the story, that is. I don't know about you, but one of the hardest things I've ever had to do was to create a short description of what the book is about. I mean, how hard could it be? I wrote the darn thing! You'd think that would make it easy, right? Ha!

I think part of my problem stems from being too close to it. I simply find it difficult to boil the story down to its essence. Well, that, and I'm, you know...wordy. I have a tendency to want to throw in everything, including the kitchen sink.

Here's a version of the brief description I provided for my blog post at The Ruby-Slippered Sisterhood:

THE LAZARUS GAMBIT is a Steampunk Romance set in New Amsterdam, an alternate version of Manhattan, and features ley lines and aether, a secret society of aether users, a clockwork dragon, a mysterious death, a heroine who’s aetheric abilities are on the fritz, and a pragmatic cop who doesn’t believe in magic.


That description lists the main elements, but doesn't really give you a feel for what the story's about. Here's a longer, back-of-the-book type of blurb:

Tess Faraday wants her life back as a Fixer for the Aetherium, a secret society dedicated to protecting the world from the misuse of aetheric magic. Most of all, she wants revenge on Garrett Norwood, the man who seduced and betrayed her by stealing the Lazarus Precept, one of the Aetherium's most closely guarded secrets. When Tess discovers a mummified corpse at the center of an aetheric disturbance, she's convinced Norwood is involved. And if that weren't enough, she finds something else she can't explain--a cop who's unaware that he's surrounded by an unusual aetheric aura...

Chief Inspector Jack Kilgaard is a pragmatic, down-to-earth copper who's dedicated his life to making New Amsterdam a safe place to raise his younger sister. He wants nothing to do with aether and thinks anyone who believes in aetheric magic is delusional. Though he can't deny his growing attraction for a certain crazy aether-chaser...

Norwood's playing a dangerous game with New Amsterdam's aether, and the corpse is only the beginning. Tess is on her own in a strange city without Aetherium backing, her aetheric powers are on the fritz, and if she's to stop Norwood from destroying them all, she'll need the help of a man who refuses to believe in his own aetheric abilities...


So, what do you think? Is there enough description? Too much? Does it intrigue you? Exhausted minds want to know!

Monday, May 14, 2012

Weekly Progress Check-In

Welcome!  This is the Mid-Willamette Valley RWA chapter's weekly progress check-in.

Did you meet your writing goals last week?  What do you plan to accomplish this week?

(The best prize is achieving your writing goals, but as an extra incentive, we will award gift cards from Powell's bookstore to the chapter member and the non-member who check in for the most weeks in 2012.)

Friday, May 11, 2012

How Many Times Do I Need to Edit?

Current Project: Rebel Heart
Status: Editing one more time



I think I have become paranoid. Rebel Heart is one of my favorite books. (that I have written) And now that it is about to be rereleased, I can't stop going over it, changing it, making over the heroine and the hero. I was such a different person when I first wrote the book. Historical romance had a little bit different tone. I'm hoping I have updated this book to 2012. 

For those of you who were at the last MWV meeting you will understand completely when I thank Genene once again for my new cover. 

Thank you Genene!

So I've told myself this is the last edit, the last run through. I have approximately 100 pages left. I have actually made very few changes, thank goodness. 

Happy writing and editing to all.

Oh and happy promoting because that is the next stage of the game for Rebel Heart and me.


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You never know what you'll find with the fun and witty writers from the Mid-Willamette Valley RWA. Though we all write in different subgenres, we love to talk writing and books. So sit back, settle in, and join in the lively discussion!