I mentioned last week I’d gotten a rejection on a full request.  It was a great rejection (only other writers realize there is such a thing) with lots of praise and lots of great advice as well as an offer to read my next stuff.   Very promising, as rejections go.

Something she said really resonated with me, though.  She said that my story (this is my last MS) felt more like an urban fantasy than a paranormal romance but that she felt like it should have been a paranormal romance.  My first instinct was to say, of course it was a paranormal romance and not UF.  But then I stopped to think that maybe there was no “of course” about it.  Basically, she was saying she didn’t get the romance in my romance.

It’s no secret I’m a plotter.  I know exactly what’s supposed to happen in my story.  I need to.  I’m not good at filling in the holes later.  But I started to wonder if maybe my plotting was getting in the way of my characters’ emotional developments.    Maybe I’m spending so much time on external conflicts, I lose track of the internal emotional conflicts.

This is a fairly common problem for plotters, I’ve heard, one I think I’ve attempted to rectify this time around, with my new MS.

But as I thought longer, I now believe maybe that isn’t my only problem.  I suspect there’s another more nefarious factor at play.

If I’m not close enough—really in my story and in my characters—I feel hokey writing emotional stuff.  And I think it happens to me more often than I’d like.

I could feel it as I got further and further into my current MS.  As I went along, I started to feel more and more like my characters were getting increasingly formal instead of less formal with each other.  They weren’t loosening up the way they should be, the way they need to, in order to make their romance believable.  And I think it’s because I can feel the “other eyes” on my story.

You know, the “other eyes”—the people who are going to read my story “some day.”

Sort of like when you were making out with your boyfriend in high school and you worried the whole time that your parents were going to walk in.  A constant interruption, even if it’s only a perceived one.

I spend so much time finding a fresh word or deleting adverbs or “thats” or whatever, basically editing, when I should be focusing on their feelings.  On getting in touch with how they’re reacting emotionally, on what is pulling them together or tearing them apart.

So this past week, I’ve been reading through again and really trying to get in there.  Really trying to find out what it is that they see in each other.  And what they think is ultimately not compatible.

It’s been a rough week.

Any advice, wenches, to get in touch with your characters’ emotional development?  Anything that I can do to blind my “other eyes”?

I’ve been spending a lot of time at home this summer, mostly because bundling a tiny baby and a toddler up to go anywhere is just more work than it’s worth.  And considering that it’s been over 90 for most of the summer—a temperature and air quality I won’t subject my newborn to—I’ve been spending a lot of time inside.

To pass the time, my oldest and I have had to be creative with what we do or we’d probably be at each other’s throats.  Something we’ve started?  Daily dance parties.  Helps to relieve the boredom and helps work off some of the toddler energy, not to mention the mommy frazzles.  And my little man has some serious white boy moves.  (Think old men at weddings).

I turn the Pop Music station on TV and we dance around like we’re extras on Fame.  Good thing Candid Camera is nowhere to be found.   I hope.

What I’ve noticed about our music selection is that they’ve released a lot of singles this year.  There was one today by Nikki and Rich (never heard of ‘em) called “The Next Best Thing.”  It was a decent song.  My son and I could shake our tail feathers so it did the trick.

I figure this rash of singles probably has to do with the economy.   Record labels either promoting new authors or generating buzz for a new album.  If that’s the case, these songs need to showcase the best of what they’ve got, leave the listener wanting more and willing to pay for more.

I tried to think of other times in history when businesses tried to generate buzz and my mind went to the 19^th century novel.  Dickens, particularly.  Dickens wrote many of his stories in serialization.  I think that’s why they’re almost impossible to read in one sitting.  They’re so god-awful long.   Seriously though, if I made more money the more I wrote, well, I’d write as long as I could too.

But Dickens is also a master of the cliffhanger.  He had to write every chapter like his next chapter depended on it.  Because it did.  If he couldn’t keep people reading, well, he couldn’t keep collecting that paycheck.

And it worked.  People kept buying, they kept turning his pages.  And isn’t that what we want to do too?   Keep people turning those pages, keep people buying our books?  (Or in most of our cases, get someone to buy our books?)

So I suggest we take a lesson from the singles and from Mr. Dickens.  Write every page, every chapter, as if our next page/chapter depends on it.  Hold nothing back.  Because we want to push that limit, leave them breathless waiting for more.

Who do you know that’s a master of the cliffhanger?  Any suggestions for keeping suspense going throughout the story, to keep the reader wanting more?  Anyone else notice all these singles?  Anyone else make it through Bleak House?  I swear, I thought that book would kill me.  (Though I did end up enjoying it.  No, really.)

It’s summer and those of us with skin pigmentation (read: not me) have been working on their tans.  If you live somewhere that isn’t 1934848457 degrees (read: not here), you might be spending your summer months outside.  If not, maybe you’re one of the folks who spends some time at the tanning booth (again, read: not me).

One things for sure:  I don’t care how these fellows got their tan lines.  I’m just happy they went to the trouble.

What do you think?

Happy hot summer days!

Oh, and here’s one for Q.  Just in case he stops by.

I’ve spent a bit of time up in the middle of the night this week and with all this new “free time” you’d think I’d get somewhere on my WIP.  It’s hard, though, to make significant progress when typing with one hand.   So, when I get fed up with the hunt and peck method, I’ve been reading Anna  Campbell’s latest effort, My Reckless Surrender.

I could sing the praises of this book–its well-drawn characters, the marvelous intrigue, Campbell’s masterful storytelling–but I’d like to focus on its sheer sexiness.  Campbell’s writing is chock full of sexual tension.  Not that there isn’t sex in the book– there is.  And though its well written, it’s all the other things around the sex that are making the book so sexy for me.   The characters are incredibly in tune with each other and the hero is sweetly chivalrous.   It’s all very romantic and sigh-inducing.

So of course, I start asking myself if I manage this effect in my own stuff.  My answer?  I have no idea but I’m sure as hell going to try.

What do you think builds sexiness?   Romance?  Explicitness?   Hyper awareness or some kind of sweetness between them?  What books do it well and why do you think so?

I’ll try to get here as much as I can but play amongst yourselves.  Hal’s going to wrangle the comments today.  And be nice to the monkey.  Little bastard ran off with my new kiddo’s eye patch.

I entered another contest.

I’m not sure if I should have.  My mom actually talked me into it.  She’s here, distracting me in the last week before my kid comes.  I was explaining how the last contest I entered was only the first chapter.  I was wondering how my second chapter would go over with readers, especially because the second scene in my second chapter (got that?) ends a little disturbingly—with my heroine (a mistress) being raped by her benefactor.

My mom said I should enter a contest that would get that scene in front of readers because an agent/editor is going to read that if they request a partial.  So, if it’s going to fall flat, it’d be nice to have some indication of that sooner than later.

Mind you, both my CPs have really liked the scene which alleviates a lot of stress.  But it’d be nice to have some additional feedback from folks unfamiliar with my writing and the opportunity to get in front of an agent/editor.

I realized this might be an odd reason to enter a contest.  But in my mind, I think it’s good to go into a contest having a realistic expectation.  Maybe it’s that just for some general feedback.  Maybe a contestant enters, interested in getting in front of a dream agent/editor.  Or maybe the entrant is trying to get a final or a win to put on their query letter.

I know there’s a love/hate relationship out there about contests.  So I thought we could chat about why you would (or wouldn’t) want to enter a contest.  Have you had good experiences?  If so, please share.  If not, why do you think they weren’t positive?  Why do you enter or not enter contests?  Are there any things that would make you enter?

Sorry for the short, lame-ish blog.  I’m a little off my game right now.  (Less than 5 days and counting!!)

I’ve had some difficulty focusing these past couple months.  I blame it on pregnant brain. But it could just be that I’m not sleeping for crap.  Whatever the cause, my WIP is suffering.

Things have gotten worse as my nesting instinct has kicked in this past couple weeks.  I sit down in front of those pages and I immediately want to go organize something.  I’ve rearranged my cabinets.  I’ve cleaned out two closets, donated three or four bags of clothes to Goodwill.  I’ve packed my “go to the hospital” bag three times, written an extensive note about my son’s daily habits (for his caretakers when my husband and I aren’t with him), and I’m grocery shopping like a maniac to make sure the house is constantly supplied with food for the onslaught of visitors I’m sure we’ll receive after the little guy is born.

Needless to say, there’s little room in all this manic activity for thoughts about my hero and heroine’s relationship struggles.

It’s Writer’s ADD.

Let’s be honest, though.  The majority of us don’t have the resources to just sit around all day, thinking about our stories and writing.  We generally start on this journey with jobs, children at home, or both.  Add the plethora of responsibilities that go along with LIVING (housework, financial issues, elderly relatives’ care, etc) and writing can easily move to the bottom of our priority list, whether due to lack of time or lack of focus.

Right now I’m chalking my ADD up to something that will fix itself when I manage to remove the person growing in my uterus.  But when this “illness” strikes on a regular day/week/month, I can usually battle it by forcing myself to stare at my MS.  Most of the time, if I’m stuck or distracted, if I just carve the time out of my day (like I should for working out) I can get myself to write something.  Maybe it’s junk, maybe I’ll delete it later.  But it’s something.  And sometimes it’ll jar something better loose.

How do you fight off Writer’s ADD?  What are your biggest distractions and how do you combat them?  Anyone else have any suggestions for remembering stuff?  Seems I write myself notes and then forget those.  Not helpful.

I got a surprise yesterday.  If no one else was following the news, Sandra Bullock came out with two bombshells:  she’s filed for divorce and, surprise, she adopted a baby in January.

In our world of internet access and pervasive media, I was shocked she’d managed to keep her baby under wraps for so long.  And impressed.

As an aside, I feel horrible for Bullock.  Not only because I always feel bad for victims of adultery (because to me, cheating’s a coward’s way) but because she seems like such a nice lady, even if I don’t always love her movies.  She can laugh at herself.  She seems to have a quirky sense of humor.  She’s the type of girl I’d probably find myself befriending if I met her in my life.  Smart and goofy and devoted to those she loves.

When she escaped from the limelight after her husband’s hijinx were unearthed, I cheered for her.  Every time some headline about how she was keeping a low profile emerged, I’d quietly send her a mental high five.  Seriously, paparazzi.  Back off.

But a secret baby?  I never ever expected that.

Which got me thinking about secret babies in romances.  Any predictable plot twist, actually.  In this case, it seems clear that Bullock went into hiding not only to stay off the front page for herself, but because she didn’t want to exploit her child.  If her hiding hadn’t been justifiable before, it became righteous yesterday.

I’ve wondered if secret baby plots don’t do the same justification.  I mean, in most secret baby books, the heroine has kept the child from the hero because she believes he would be a negative influence in the baby’s life.  Or in her own.  When the baby is revealed, it’s generally in a way that makes the otherwise cruel action of separating a man from his child justifiable.  The secret baby usually magnifies the conflict between them, their inner struggles.

Another predictable plot twist—the forced marriage.  I can’t even count how many historicals I’ve read where the hero and heroine get caught in a compromising position and end up having to wed.  Usually this external plot twist magnifies the internal conflicts and characterization.

This felt like a real revelation to me.  The success of these stories seems to be their ability to ratchet up the conflict but in a way that still keeps sympathy for both characters.

What other predictable plots do you see a lot of?  What things have you learned from these standard romance devices that we might be able to take and make fresh?  Were you surprised by Sandra Bullock’s secret baby?

So, I watched last season’s finale of Glee the other day.  I preface this by saying I don’t watch TV.  At all.  But someone posted a Glee song on Facebook and I listened and I thought, hey, not too bad.  So, I got curious and I skimmed through the season finale on Fox’s website.

I think I’d forgotten that I used to enjoy TV dramas.

All that angst.  The pregnant girl in the love triangle.  The suspended teacher leaving his wife.  The other soon-to-be married teacher in love with the suspended teacher.  All that underdog righteousness.

But, while all this makes for great television alone, I feel like some of the beauty of Glee is the insane mix of characters in the club.   It was like a cross-section of every high school I’ve ever visited, all in one show.  But somehow, it fit.

More than fit, it was brilliant.  Like real life, each character has their blessings and each has their cross to bear.  They’re all painted so well, with all their trials and tribulations, their positives and negatives, I didn’t feel like it was some sort of equal opportunity experiment.  They felt real, in all their imperfections.

The lead singer, for example.  I only watched this one episode, but her nuances came through clearly.  Phenomenal talent, talent that the rest of the club can easily see.  And they respect her for it, acknowledge her superior skills.  But she’s a bit arrogant.  A complete brown nose, tries to be little Miss Perfect.  So she remains an outcast, never really accepted.  Yet, I got the feeling she wanted to belong, wanted the rest of them to like her, but she didn’t know how really.

And the brief hints of her feelings towards the male lead (who was in love with the pregnant girl)?  Fantastic.

It all got me thinking about how the imperfections in our characters can be just as important as their strengths.

So what kind of imperfections do you saddle your characters with?  Do you choose their imperfections purposefully or do they arise as you write?  Do you juxtapose imperfections between main characters?  With a characters strengths?

Most of the time I love being a chick.

I love that I can match my clothing without assistance.  I love that I can have an hour conversation on the phone and at the end say it was a great talk but not know what we talked about.  I love that I can cry at cheesy movies/commercials/books and no one thinks I’m weak, least of all me.  And I really love that I can communicate my emotions without giving myself a brain aneurism.

Not that there aren’t some men out there who can perform the above tasks, but well, they aren’t the norm.

This being in touch with my girly side is great when I’m writing female characters.  I can write emotions that make sense for a girl.  I know how the average girl thinks.  They think like I think.

But writing men?  I get all hung up.

I spent the past weekend picking my husband’s brain about what makes men tick.  When I say “picking” I mean, “prying it out of him with nagging and needling.”

It went thus:

Me:  I’m having a hard time understanding how my hero should act.

Him:  Aren’t you writing him?  Just change it.  (My DH is a “if a problem arises, just fix it” kind of fellow.  You know.  A GUY.)

Me:  It’s not that I CAN’T change him; it’s that I don’t know HOW to change him.

Him:  Huh?

Me:  Like this.  A guy doesn’t use as many words as most girls use.  He says what he has to say, with as little words as possible.

Him:  Right.  (Point proven.  One for my team.)

Me:  And a guy generally doesn’t feel comfy with his emotions.  Or he doesn’t think about them as much as a girl does.

Him:  He doesn’t?

Me:  I don’t know.  Does he?

Him:  What?

Me:  *eye roll* Do guys think about their emotions as much as girls do?

Him:  I’m not a girl.  I don’t know.

Me:  *patient sigh* Husband.  Humor me.

Him:  Hmm…  Well, I probably don’t think about my emotions as much as you do.

Me:  So what do you think about?

Him:  *exasperated* Marnee.  I don’t know.  Stuff.

This from the most communicative man I’ve ever been in a relationship with.

The above conversation didn’t help me much to understand the inner workings of my hero’s mind.  So I tried to apply what I know of men in an observational capacity.  No overtalking.  Check.  Not as skilled at communicating as a woman, at least as a general.  Check.  A fix-it mentality about everything from broken toasters to complex life issues.  Check.

That’s probably a pretty good start.  But then I have to worry about getting said “male characterization” across for a generally female audience.  Because in a romance, we don’t want the average beer-swilling, thinking-about-sex guy.  We want the Prince Charmings.  Believable Prince Charmings.

What we have is the complexity of writing the male character to appeal to the female fantasy.  No easy task indeed.

So, what suggestions have you guys got?  What differences do you find between your male and female characters?   How have you found success writing the “other”?  What female authors write believable men?

*********************

Disclaimer:  No boy belittlement intended.

I started my new story a few weeks ago after fighting off the muse as long as I could.  I’m nervous about it though and not just because there’s not a hint of paranormal about it.  That definitely isn’t helping, of course.  How will I solve problems between characters if they can’t even use magic or ESP?

No, I’m worried because my heroine, in a straight Regency, comes to realize that she likes being sexually liberated.  She was a courtesan for years, even begins the story as a courtesan, and when she’s able to get out of that profession, she realizes she’s not able to play at being proper now.  She’s worked hard to make herself financial stable.  She doesn’t feel like playing a role for society.  In fact, she ends up seducing the hero, who’s much more concerned about how society views him than she is.

So, ultimately, my heroine is the rogue and my hero is the prim maiden (without the virginity thing).

And in true romance fashion, my maiden softens my rogue and my rogue brings out the recklessness in my maiden.  Their genders are just reversed.

But honestly, I’m nervous of how it’s going to play out.  I’m messing with conventions that are pretty firmly entrenched and, like all times when messing with convention, it has the possibility to backfire in my face.  Crafting my characters has been interesting, challenging.  A lot of fun.  But will it work out?  Dunno yet.

Have you ever messed with a major romance convention?  Did it work out or not so much?  What authors do a good job of turning convention on their ears?  And how do you even feel about the fact that there are conventions at all?