Booklist
In our writing TBR pile:
Writing for Emotional Impact (Status: Reading)
Creating Characters (Status: TBR)
Creating Characters: How to Build Story People (Status: TBR)
Author Offerings
Three women haunted by horrors from their pasts. Four men who want to show them there's Nothing to Fear by Lacey Savage
Dragon Slayer now available at Noble Romance Publishing
About Us
Award winning author Lacey Savage (AKA Hunter Raines) pens erotic tales of true love and mythical destiny, peopled with strong alpha heroes and feisty heroines.
Fiona Jayde is an author of kickass, action packed romances and when not plotting murder and mayhem enjoys steamy romance novels, sexy spy thrillers, murky mysteries and movies where things blow up.
We love to talk about writing! Here, we share the "nuggets" we've culled from our huge collections of writing books, and chat about what makes us want to roll our eyes or raise our eyebrows.
Interested in guest blogging on Tips and WIPs? Contact us!
I had a small epiphany last weekend.
I was speaking with one of my oldest friends and picking her brain about recording studios. My current MS has to do with music – and I know next to nothing about the logistics of professional music recording. My friend is in the business and being a writer herself (she writes lyrics), we speak the same language… sort off.
Now – my MS had stalled. It had been stalled for a while. But when speaking with my friend – about the music studio, about my hero and his personality and how he hates the “mechanization” of music, I suddenly realized my hero breathed. He freaking breathed – and all I had to do was see things from the angle of his environment.
I have all these buzz words on paper -but I don’t think they’d matter all this much because in light of researching the background, I stumbled onto the thing that motivates him: music, raw music. Or as my friend had put it – the spontaneity of live performance. (She’s brilliant, what can I say.)
Of course this led me to add about twenty titles to my Netflix que – my other favored method of doing research. But I figured out that it really does matter to have someone in the know to bounce ideas off.
So what is your favored method of doing research? How do you go about it and what tips can you share with us?
With the new year, it seems to be a good time to set goals and then attempt to adhere to them.
I found that a lot of people whom I asked about New Year Resolutions said how they don’t make resolutions anymore… So instead of resolutions (seriously – how long CAN one keep from eating chocholate) I figure “goal” is a better word.
Here are my professional Goals for 2010. Maybe by writing them out and blasting them to the world will make me adhere to them:)
1. Read More. I got a ton of writing books and online workshops that I really should get through. Maybe I should append this goal and say no more buying writing books until I’ve gone through the ones I have already:)
2. Write More Steadily. I spent 2009 writing like a maniac April through August and then getting burned out and not writing anything for a couple of months. (Cold Victory was 4k a day! Yikes!) So I’m lowering my daily word count to 1.5K a day with the expectation that I’ll move from story to story smoother and won’t have large gaps of time in between.
3. Write longer. Have I mentioned I have the Generation Y attention span? I want things NOW. This spills into my work as well – I tend to write short because I end up fizzling on a story.
My goal for 2010 is to be able to steadily write longer and longer stories, building up to a “full print length” of 90k.
4. Plot standing up. I need to figure out how to plot while walking. (Kinda a writing goal, no?) Any recommendations for plotting/walking music??
What are your goals for 2010??
I admit it… I picked up Thanks, But This Isn’t For Us: A (Sort Of) Compassionate Guide to Why Your Writing is Being Rejected, by Jessica Page Morrell, based on its awesome title and its clever cover. In case you can’t see it in the image, the cover looks like the first page of a manuscript, complete with coffee ring stain and corrected formatting errors.
The author is a freelance editor who specializes in helping authors polish their fiction and memoirs to perfection. She’s read every possible mistake an author can write, and in penning this book, she’s hoping she can help other writers avoid the most obvious of mistakes (and make her job easier, no doubt).
Although there was nothing earth-shattering here for a published author, it’s a wonderful reference guide for new writers. Here are some of my favorite quotes, so you can see what I mean:
Scenes expose your characters at their most vulnerable and often portray life-changing moments. (pg. 208)
Sometimes you might not fully understand what a scene’s “job” is in the story until you actually write it. Then you can edit and trim anything that confuses the reader and add elements to highlight that scene’s particular role in enhancing the whole story. (pg. 209)
The writer’s main responsibilities are to write a thick, juicy steak of a story, and make readers care, that is, bring us to tears or outrage or heart-thumping worry. (pg. 229)
If you’re writing fiction, be patient with the process. As in real life, it takes time to get to know a person and understand his emotional core. (pg.248)
Research is the most overlooked facet of writing a successful manuscript. Solid research creates genuine description and a credible story situation. (pg. 294)
What do you think of those quotes? Did any of them resonate with you?
It’s my father’s birthday today, and in between cooking a fabulous birthday meal, I finished reading BY CUNNING AND CRAFT, by Peter Selgin.
I never read anything without a highlighter by my side, so I thought I’d post a few of the items that struck me, in the hopes that they’ll help you, too. I wholeheartedly recommend getting the book, by the way. It’s a quick read, filled with a lot of insightful tips. What I liked the most was the fact that the author is known for his short stories, and so he focused on that aspect of the craft. I love writing short, but so often books on writing are about the novel, because let’s face it, the novel is still considered the end-all-and-be-all of literary works.
Ask yourself, What does the character want? and then How far is she willing to go to get it? If the answer to the latter question is, Not very far, then at least you know why you’re having trouble writing active scenes: A character who doesn’t want anything, or doesn’t want it badly enough, is not going to act. Give her the necessary motivation, situate her such that she doesn’t simply want the thing in question, but needs it to survive physically or emotionally, and your character will do things to show us, vividly, who she is. (pg.33)
Unless it really tells us something about the character, don’t record banal gestures. “She took a breath and exhaled,” tells me nothing about a character other than her respiratory system is functioning. Because they serve no purpose, such stage directions are intrusive. (pg.108)
Research just enough to feel competent at discussing your subject. You don’t need to be a brain surgeon to discuss brain surgery, only to sound like a brain surgeon. (pg.120)
We fiction writers don’t always know what we’re doing. Until we’re done we never have the whole picture, only parts of it. (pg.182)
Often our working titles supply us with our stories’ themes or make it clear that we don’t yet know what they are. (Which is why you should title your stories provisionally, even in the earliest stages of writing, since the effort will help you locate the story’s center.) (pg.188)
What do you think of these quotes? Did anything resonate with you? Anything you don’t agree with? Drop me a line in the comments, and let’s discuss!
I’m going to veer away from writing advice in this post, but I hope both published and aspiring authors will find something useful to take away from what’s to come.
Why Do Sales Matter, Anyway?
Image by: violet.blue
Maybe you read that heading and thought I was being facetious. I’m not.
A number of very good author friends received their royalty statements from various publishers over the past couple of days. Emotions have been running high, and emails have been flying. A few of my friends — published, successful, talented authors — have threatened to quit writing.
Why?
Because, frankly, their sales have stunk.
Now, let me make it clear that my friends all accept the fact that they’re not in this business to get rich. None of them believe they’re going to write the next Harry Potter and magically become wealthier than the Queen of England. It’s not going to happen. And that’s okay.
But sales matter for other reasons.
1. They provide validation.
As authors, we write when other people watch TV. When our families are out skiing, or having a picnic, or splashing around in the pool. We skip out on girls’ night out, on after-work gatherings, and holiday parties. And at some point, we ask ourselves, “Is it worth it?”
Opening an envelope with a royalty check provides some of that much-needed validation. It lets us know that yes, someone’s reading our stories. Someone other than our parents and our editors (bless them) stayed up late to devour a book we wrote. That’s a mighty good feeling.
2. They let us know we’re on the right track
I write in a variety of genres. (The reasons why are fodder for another post.) But some genres suit my storytelling abilities better than others. And for the most part, readers know this. A quick glance at my sales statement lets me know which books readers sought out this quarter. Of course, there are other elements at play — like the popularity of a genre, for example — but for the most part, authors do best when they’re true to their voice.
Can you imagine Janet Evanovich writing dark horror? I wonder what her royalty statements would look like if she tried.
3. They keep us going
I don’t mean just psychologically, here. Publishing is a business. If an author’s sales are good, that author’s likely to continue writing for her publisher. If sales aren’t quite that hot… well, doubt starts to set in. “Will I ever sell again?” “Will anyone want to buy what I wrote?” “Should I get a job flipping burgers, knowing it would pay better than writing?” (It does, too, in most cases.)
As any author can tell you, we’re a neurotic bunch. We seek external validation, partly because writing is such a solitary endeavor, and partly because, well, we’re needy creative types. Fan mail, a good review, a kind word from a critique partner — those are the things we treasure. But all those feel-good keepsakes go up in smoke the moment we open a royalty statement and realize the book we poured our heart and soul into, the one that had us up writing until 4:00 AM for six months, sold just enough to buy a Starbucks triple mocha latte. At that point we start to wonder, like my friends did…
Is it worth it?
Should I quit?
Most of the time, the answer is a resounding no. We write for many reasons, and the need to tell a damn good story doesn’t vanish because our last damn good story didn’t sell well. We might even be able to put the sales numbers out of our heads and return to our keyboards to tackle the next book demanding to be told.
And we’ll be happy. Until the next royalty check lands in our mailbox, and we start fretting all over again.
Whoever told you being a published author was easy… lied.
I’ve had a couple of really great craft conversations this past week and I learned a few great tips I just had to share. I love anything that I can apply immediately to tighten my writing or enrich my characters.
- Filter words such as “felt, saw, heard, wondered” are the dreaded telling vs showing. So if I say “He heard the sound of a simi-automatic” – it has much less impact then “The sound of a simi-automatic ripped through the night”. (Why was this the first example I thought of?? Good thing I have a yoga class tonight). Since we’re in the hero’s POV, we know he is hearing the semi-automatic anyway, and without the filter words, we’re that much closer to the action.
- Black moment in a romance should be about the fear of the HH not getting together. It seems like a fairly simply concept, but I honestly had no idea. I’ve read a ton of writing books and what I knew about the black moment applied to the character specifically. It does make sense that in a Romance, where the relationship is the central plot, the black moment is about them being torn apart. More, the more emotionally “wrenching” the black moment, the more the reader will be satisfied with the book.
- A cute turn of phrase will jar the reader out of the story, unless the character consistently uses this as her internal or external dialogue. I thought this was really interesting. I tend to have my characters cuss a lot, but if I had my heroine do some inventive cussing in the middle of the book without setting up that she is inventive when pissed, it would be as if someone took over her mouth. (Likewise, if I my heroine said something along the lines of “heavens to Betsy!”. Or “Jeezo Peete!” (That one I heard from Beth Kery who is probably cracking up now)
- An elemental theme. I thought this was really cool – pick an element and then use in descriptions. So if your element is water, use water terms – tidal, wave, flowing, etc. Its very “literary” and lyrical and cool:)
Anyone got more great tips they want to share? A huge thank you to my editors (who will remain anonymous) for great tips!!
The other day, Lacey was asking me about my process of completing a project, so I thought I’d post this here with the hopes that it may help those who suffer from “third chapter blues”.
To give a bit of background: I was one of those people who never could complete a story. I would rewrite the first three chapters until I choked my characters with my plot and then dropped the whole thing.
One of my pet peeves is a story where the Hero and Heroine knew each other in the past, yet neither of them realizes their connection until halfway into the story.
Of course there’s always circumstances which can make this situation believable – darkness, amnesia, change of visual identity, mistaken identity, state of mind, etc, etc. Anything is possible. Maybe they were both in complete darkness, young and foolish and drunk. But if its an experience they carry with them, wouldn’t they recognize each other in the beginning of a story?
Ever get that dreaded question – “where do you get your ideas”? For which the answer is an even more dreaded – “everywhere”?
The concept of brainstorming is unique to everyone. While some do really well talking out their ideas, I tend to turn into a mumbling idiot trying to articulate mine. I think it’s the whole verbal vs nonverbal brain thing.
And here’s my biggest darkest secret: I get ideas by knitting. Seriously.
I’m sure there’s a very smart sounding explanation for this, but I tend to get the best ideas when I am doing something that allows my brain to “float”. This usually involves silence, one of my cats to supervise and knitting needles.
The cats are optional. And amidst the murmurs of “I don’t know how to knit”, let me assure you, I don’t really either. And that’s not really the point.
The “mindless” pattern of the stitches makes me focus on the task while my brain/muse/inspiration – whatever you want to call it – goes through scenes and possibilities, little bits of dialogue or some other gems. Usually I can focus with a “what are we thinking about” type of question, and rarely has something come out of these sessions that I couldn’t use.
Alternatively, I tend to get good ideas while plucking my eyebrows. Or driving with the music off 
My best way to brainstorm is by tricking my mind into doing something that doesn’t crowd my creative process. I can’t brainstorm by listening to music or painting or watching TV or doing anything that isn’t a repetitive soothing pattern. (I’m not sure how driving fits into a repetitive soothing pattern, but I don’t question it)
These are the methods that work for me specifically – some people can’t write without a soundtrack to put them in the mood for a scene, and that works brilliantly for them. I think the best favor an author can do for his or her muse is to identify the times/places/activities where ideas have happened and get into that mindset when channeling the next story concept.
P.S There is a book dealing with just this subject: Fiction Writer’s Brainstormer. It has a lot of checklists and puzzles and a very focused way of brainstorming which don’t always work for me, but overall, this is a pretty good book to have if you’re interested in various idea-generating techniques.
What are your brainstorming practices??
My writing process has changed over the years. I started out as a serious plotter. I filled out the character worksheets, developed a detailed plot, broke down each scene in great detail… and it worked. For a while. Then life threw a few curveballs my way, and — whether because of the turmoil or despite it — my process changed. I became an organic writer, AKA: a pantser (someone who writes by the seat of her pants).
The pantser process has its benefits, but it also has a ton of potential pitfalls. While my characters often lead me in myriad wonderful directions I never anticipated, not knowing who these story people are until I start writing about them can lead to…
… well, to journal sex.
Recent Comments