Crash Course

In the past four years I’ve read countless articles on writing. I’ve attended conferences and panels at both the Romantic Times Convention and the RWA National Conference. I’ve bought enough craft books to sink a small rowboat (Make a Scene, Creating Character Emotions, GMC by Deb Dixon, Writing a Romance Novel for Dummies, Revision & Self-Editing, to name just a few.) I’ve interviewed NYT bestselling authors, spoken personally to industry professionals, and blogged myself stupid.

After all of this information overload it’s a wonder that I can still craft a sentence, let alone write a paragraph or a chapter. There are so many rules and suggestions floating around in my noggin, it’s amazing that I’m still sitting at my desk and not stuck in a fetal ball.

Let me give you a sneak peek to what’s in this writer’s mind. I’m putting it all in one paragraph so you can *feel* the insanity. Make sure you’ve had your coffee, because this is going to be a wild ride.

HIGH CONCEPT, HIGH CONCEPT, HIGH CONCEPT. If you can’t break your story down into a single sentence, you don’t know your story. RESEARCH. Do too little and you’ll regret it. Do too much and you’ll be starting your book sometime during the next ice age. PLOTTER VS PANTSER (or, as some like to call it, ORGANIC WRITER). Should you outline? Storyboard? Start typing and hope for the best? Well, whatever you do, always start with an INCITING INCIDENT, and end each chapter with a CLIFF-HANGER. DO NOT drop back-story into chapter one, for God’s sake! If you do that you’re either a newbie who knows NOTHING or Sherrilyn Kenyon – and you, my friend, are no Sherrilyn Kenyon. HERO. Is he a bad boy? A rake? An alpha? (Are there any other types right now?) HEROINE. Is she quiet? Strong? Is she kick-ass? (Are there any other types right now?) SETTING. Some say this is just another character. Just do your homework and make sure it doesn’t talk. WORLD-BUILDING. Make it fresh. Make it original. Good luck with that. NARRATIVE. Too much can dull your manuscript, unless you’re Christine Feehan. DIALOGUE. Listen to people talk and do your best to emulate that. Go easy on the Scottish brogue. POINT OF VIEW. Stay in one point of view for each scene. Only the best can get away with head-hopping. ACTION VS REACTION. Are your characters just reacting to all the bullcrap that’s happening to them, or are they DOING something about it, which leads to CHARACTER DRIVEN VS PLOT DRIVEN. Do events drive your story, or are your characters moving the story forward through decisions and action? There are times the two combine, and that separates the good books from great books. Again, good luck with that. GMC. What is your character’s goal? What motivates your character? Is there any CONFICT in your novel whatsoever? INTERNAL VS EXTERNAL CONFLICT? Yes, there are two kinds of conflict. Deal with it. VOICE. What is it and where do I find it? Hint: could you ever read a paragraph from one of J.R. Ward’s Brotherhood novels and mistake it for another writer? I think not. DEEP POV. You’re not writing about your character. You ARE your character. Let the reader see what’s happening through the eyes of your hero and heroine. PACING. 2 slow or 2 fast for 2 long = not good. ADHESION. What keeps your hero and heroine together throughout the book? FLAWS & QUIRKS. Just because your heroine is a size two with fair, unblemished skin and long, shiny hair doesn’t mean she’s perfect. That goes for the hero, too. Give him a quirk or flaw to go with his washboard abs. SEXUAL TENSION. Doesn’t matter if Satan himself is tracking your hero and heroine by chapter two, they’d better want to hump each other by chapter three. EMOTION. Visceral emotions. Live them, love them, include them in your book. AVOID CLICHES. I’m trying to think of a cliché to put here, but I’ve trained myself so well I can’t come up with one. SEX SCENES. Remember, this isn’t your mother’s romance novel. (Even though those historical bodice rippers were OFF THE HOOK. Ever read one? And they say our books are hot. Whaaaat?) SUSPENSE. Romantic suspense isn’t the only genre that needs it. BACKGROUND. Little like back-story. Don’t bore the reader with the details, but tell us how your hero was tortured and why the heroine is afraid of bald men on rollerblades. SECONDARY CHARACTERS. Better make sure they add something to the story. Otherwise readers will be skipping some of your scenes like they do with the Lessers. (I didn’t just say that.) (Yes I did.) BLACK MOMENT. The climax. The time when the hero and heroine realize they are going to DIE. They are going to LOSE. There is NO future for them. (Until the next chapter, of course.) RESOLUTION. Time to wrap up everything that happened up to this point. Hopefully you took some notes while you were writing. HAPPILY EVER AFTER. I luv you! I luv you, too! I can’t quit you! You’re my destined mate, my one and only, my future and my life, my soul mate. THE END.

There it is – the condensed version of rules and suggestions that run through my mind every time I sit down to write. Maybe that’s why most of us wear headphones and rock to our favorite music while we write. If we thought about all the rules, plot points and must-haves when writing, we’d never get anywhere close to the HEA.

Frustrated Writer

Have you ever typed 'frustrated writer' in Google and then clicked on images? I shouldn't have felt such a rush of understanding when I gazed at all the pictures that sprung up, but the images made me feel better all the same. Been there. Done that. Living it.

A few days ago I fried my laptop. I shut it, thinking it was on sleep mode, and left it sitting on my leather couch. Yeah, can you say NIGHTMARE? Long story short, I was able to retrieve my files from the hard drive by buying some swank piece of hardware from Office Max. Thank you sweet baby Jesus. Anyway, I'm about to tackle those edits that I nearly lost, and you'd think I'd be on cloud nine. Hmm, not so much.

So I decided to blog about my lack of motivation and what I plan on doing to get it back. If there's something my friends know about me, they know I'll bring my A-game at some point. I'm stubborn and driven...on most days.

So I busted out The Art of War For Writers, an awesome book by James Scott Bell, a writer I had the pleasure of meeting at the Romantic Times Convention this year. Instead of focusing on what I was reading, I thought about a story he told at his workshop. A writer was once posed a question - what would he do if he had only 24 hours to live? His answer: type faster.

Now I know I wasn't the only writer in that room squirming in their seat. In fact, I'd bet money on it. Translation - that so wouldn't have been my answer. And my point for bring up that little story? Writers need to let go of the guilt.

The Art of War For Writers is the book to get you back on your feet. Sure, some writers don't need motivational quotes, but some of us LIVE on motivational quotes. I even have them on my website. This little book takes it a step farther and gives you strategies, tactics and exercises to get those creative juices flowing. Jeez, I'm starting to sound like a bad commercial.

I think we all go through growing pains when we climb that ladder of success. Doesn't matter the job. What matters is what you do about it. Don't let doubts suck you in and get the best of you. Finish what you started.

I didn't go to RWA Nationals this year, but I heard about a speech Nora Roberts gave from a few friends of mine. She said (and I'm quoting this from others), "Embrace the HARD."

Perfect. That sums up everything. Writing isn't easy. Just quit your bitching and get the words on the page. Edit. Put on your big girl panties and get 'er done. Yup, those are some pretty strong words from a frustrated writer, but you know what? I feel better already.

Urban Fantasy and Breaking The Rules

So I'm biting the bullet and going with my daughters to see the new Twilight movie. One is on Team Edward, and the other is all for Team Jacob. I'm a big fan of vamps, but I think I'm leaning toward Team Jacob, even though he looks like a child to me. Yeah. Feeling kinda dirty here, and not in a good cougar way.

So many people have blogged about how crappy the movies/books are, and that Bella whines too much, blah blah blah. Listen, Stephanie Meyer is laughing her ass off all the way to the bank, so I'm not jumping on the 'this sucks' bandwagon. I am, however, going to focus on the drama of a love triangle. Something I've never put into my books until recently.

While I was writing my last book, I had a slight problemo. By the end of the book there were two heroes, and I'm still not sure which one to go with. I can still remember reading the Sookie Stackhouse series by Charlaine Harris and being shocked to my core when Sookie and Bill broke it off and she had sex with Eric. A die-hard romance fan at the time, I hadn't yet read a book where the main romance was questioned. Sure there were 'misunderstandings.' The heroine might think the hero was sleeping with someone else, but it just so happened he was rescuing his sister from the prostitution ring and got caught by the heroine while untangling himself from two naked prostitutes. However, he wasn't there to score. LOL And once the 'misunderstanding' is resolved, you have your HEA. But with the Stackhouse series, Sookie actually WENT there. And that HEA was destroyed (for me, anyway). But like a trooper I read on, and then I was hooked on Eric as the hero. How easily I am led.

So I went on to edit my WIP, and my heroine has now slept with both men in the book. I know, right?? I'm not supposed to do that. My creative side is just going with the story as it unfolds, while my 'you-can't-do-this-in-a-HEA-romance' side cringes. So I guess I'm writing an urban fantasy. At least that's what my crit partner said.

I think authors can get stuck in that 'rule' side, and they write their stories accordingly. Then you have other authors who shout, screw the rules!, and they write best sellers. (Um, not saying this WIP is going to be a best seller, just saying I threw away the rules lol) Take JR Ward, for example. M/M books are hot in the e-book rounds. But she took the M/M subplot in her book to New York, and holy hell are readers gobbling it up. I'm all for Team Blay/Qhuinn. I had never read a M/M book before, but I'm all for reading theirs.

So, back to my problemo. Originally I had decided to pick one hero and stick with him. Then I sat back and asked myself - why? Why can't the heroine be torn between two heroes? Hell, that's a pretty awesome place to be - having two alphas fight over you. Isn't that what all the tweens are drooling over in the Twilight saga? Team Edward VS Team Jacob. Of course, Bella doesn't sleep with them both. This is a YA. Instead of sex, we get angst. Which works when you're dealing with tweens.

So why am I fighting the funk? If I throw away the 'rules' I have endless possibilities. She could go with what's behind door #1 - the first hero. Door #2 - the second hero. Or door #3 - Not a HEA, but an urban fantasy.

Urban fantasy is centered around the female protagonists. UF's are normally told in first person, but not always. I went to a panel comprised of urban fantasy authors at RT, and they all had different elements in their books. Some heroines had only one hero, and each book followed them through another conflict. Another UF author had a few heroes thrown in her books, just like the Stackhouse series. Hell, Jessa Slade has a kick-ass UF series out, and each book has a different H/H.

UF...let me count thy ways...

So, I'm not so freaked out about my problemo. I'm going to go with it and see where the heroes take me...er, the heroine. I meant heroine.

Deep POV

So you think you’re an author? THINK AGAIN.

If you plan to sit down and write about your character, you’re making one hell of a mistake.

I’ll admit that I’ve jotted down what I’ve believed to be a kick-ass scene, sent it to my crit partner, then sat back in my chair after I’ve hit send, all excited and antsy. She’s going to love this shit. My heroine just got shot, she’s hanging on by a thread, and the hero is out of his ever-lovin’ mind with concern. The villain is closing in and their world is about to come crashing down around them. Bwahahahahaha…

Yeah, and then an IM from my crit partner shatters my euphoria when the box pops on my computer screen.

Crit Partner: I’ll call you.

Oh, crap. Oh, crap! As I wait for the phone to ring, knowing damn well she didn’t like it, I try to dissect the scene in my head to figure out where I went wrong. I churn it over in my mind, think about the details and the environment, the plot structure and the motivation. Nope. Pretty sure I rocked that bitch.

The phone rings. I pick it up and the first thing I hear is a sigh, like my crit partner doesn’t want to say just how bad she thought my scene was. Even better, she goes on to explain that the scene was great, the action was there, the story picked up…but she didn’t feel it. I nod my head, even though she can’t see me, and think, WTF? How did she not sympathize with my heroine who’s bleeding all over the wet asphalt in a torrential downpour while the hero holds her gently in his arms, rocking her back and forth? Not to mention the villain is about to pop on the scene and obliterate their pathetic asses. Break out the Kleenex!

Me: “Uh, so you liked scene, you thought the action was good, and the plot thickened. What exactly is the problem?”

Crit Partner: “Lack of deep POV.”

All right, let’s just pause right there. Listen, I’ve been published before. I know my biz. I’m not JR Ward, Christine Feehan or Sherrilyn Kenyon, but I think I can produce a pretty decent paranormal. Reviewers often give me great reviews – one reviewer proclaiming, “I stayed up until 5 AM because I simply couldn’t quit reading this book. That, dear readers, is a sign of a good book if ever I’ve seen one!” and another, “I could go on, but suffice to say this book has it all as far as I'm concerned - fabulous characters, an original plot, humor, and scorching sex. This is an absolute must-read!”

I’ve even received fan mail, for God’s sake. And now, after having published four books someone tells me I’m missing an integral piece of my craft? I struggle with deep POV? Seriously?

So I did what every other author would do. I got out my favorite romance novel, Lover Awakened, and read some of it. Oh yeah, deep POV all over the place. In fact, I find it hard to put the book down, spending over an hour with it in my greedy little palms, even though I’ve read it several times before. Ward immerses you in the character’s emotions, and you come to a point where the words on the page blur and you’re just IN the story and experiencing everything her characters are going through.

Then I do the unthinkable. [WARNING: Don’t try this at home after reading a Ward book.] I open up my manuscript and read through the scene I sent to my crit partner earlier that day (who’s all butt-hurt because she didn’t want to tell me I sucked, btw). I come up on a whole lot of he did this and she did that, and B-O-R-I-N-G. Sure, the heroine is wrapped up all snug-as-a-bug in the hero’s arms as her life blood seeps out, but what the hell is she feeling? Gah! I created a visual scene, went all psycho with blood pooling around them, the downpour of the storm and the shadows of the darkened alley, but I did it all with zero emotion. Does the heroine regret that the hero has to watch her die? Is she scared shitless? Is she growing cold? Does the hero’s hand shake when he smoothes the hair from her face? Does he feel incompetent to save her, or is he trying to show a brave front in hopes of making her passing easier? (Well, of course she doesn’t die, but he doesn’t know that.)

I keep reading, thinking I’m all sneaky with the villain closing in. Bring on the conflict! Hit the main characters with more crap and the emotional impact will blow the reader away!

Um, no. I didn’t really write it that way. What I saw in my head was not on the paper (er, screen) at all. The hero gritted his teeth. The villain smiles that evil little smile only those a-holes with black hearts can pull off. I read it again, figuring I must have missed all the awesomeness I was sure I’d slathered all over the pages.

Nope. Gritted teeth from hero. Smile from villain.

Well, I’ll be damned. Don’t shed a tear or anything as the LOVE OF YOUR LIFE DIES IN YOUR ARMS, and the man responsible for it traipses into the picture and points a gun at you. Yeah dude, grit your teeth and act all beta hero. Jerk.

So, after I got all mad at my pitiable hero (who’d only done what I told him to do, the pathetic jackass), I went back to square one to think about it for a while. I put the scene in the hero’s point of view. [This is very important, so if you’re going to highlight anything, highlight this]: Don’t sit down to write about the hero, BE the hero. Flex those biceps, baby! [End highlight. :)] Suddenly, I AM the hero, and the scene unfolds in my mind as I live it, and I just let the emotions bounce around in my noggin for a while…

My palms are sticky with warm blood, I see the ashen pallor of my woman’s face, and it’s then that the implication of the certain outcome hits me…I’m not just losing someone close to me. I’m losing my heart. My soul. She’s immortal. How can she be dying in my arms –

The motherfucker responsible steps out of the shadows of the alley, drawing my gaze. My eyes sting when my pupils dilate ominously.

I open my eyes to edit, allowing the disturbing emotions free rein to submerse me in the character. Um, I mean I AM the hero.

Now that I’m the hero, I have to write down everything I’m seeing, and all my emotions, while my lover dies in my arms. Cue 80’s love ballad, (I just) Died in Your Arms tonight.
Lesson to be learned from this article: Become your character. (<-- I’d highlight that as well.) :)

One way to tell you’re not in deep POV is passive voice. Here are a few tips on passive voice I received from my editor for my first manuscript. (I still have to weed these words out of my first drafts because I’m a slow learner or something. Someone pass me a Xanex, please.) Keep an eye on the following phrases:

– “he felt” “she felt” “he knew” “she knew” “knowing” “realizing” “found herself wondering” “heard” –

For example: She found herself wondering if he even had a heart.

Better: Did the bastard have a heart, or was he as cold as his reputation suggested?

So, if you plan to sit down and write about your character, you’re making one hell of a mistake.

You ARE your character.