Booklist
In our writing TBR pile:
How to write a Damn Good Thriller (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!
Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category
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’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?
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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!!
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