The Perfect Environment

I’m a scatterbrain. I have piles of books all over my house. Empty mugs in the weirdest places. Mounds of ironing. Pens. Notebooks. Highlighters.  Random items in randomer places. But my desk is immaculate. To me, anyway.

For the last few weeks I’ve been on a bit of a hiatus. Returning to work after three years has thrown me for an emotional loop and I’m trying once again to find the balance. Today I tried to get back into the swing of things, write a few blog posts and open up my WIP. But first my desk needed a serious sorting out.

In my writing absence, my desk became a dumping ground for ‘I’ll sort out later’ stuff. Correspondence, books, receipts, Lush wrappers…it was a mess. When I’m writing, I need everything just so. No more than one mug at a time, scribble notebook and pen handy, official WIP notebook to the side and a lip balm. Don’t ask, the lip balm helps me focus between writing stints. Plus it’s a chocolate one. Yum.

To anyone apart from me, the before and after shots of my desk don’t look all that different. It is still cluttered, still a few notebooks lying around and open books at points of reference I need to remember. But it’s organised clutter. It’s my clutter.

So I want to know what your writing environment is like. Can you do it anywhere or do you need complete and utter isolation – no music, no people, no nothing? Or does everything have to be absolutely perfect? Whatever it is, I want to know about it. Writers are an incredible species. We all have the same drive but completely different habits.

Pxx  

Show Don't Tell

As writers, we’ve undoubtedly heard “show don’t tell” countless times. Right? So, just how do we show? By describing the scene to the reader, rather than informing them what is there.

Involve the reader’s senses. Informing readers ‘the food is tasty’ or ‘the young rabbit was scared’ is flat writing. Describing the tasty food or the scared rabbit is showing:

1. The ripe, sun-warmed cherry tomatoes exploded in my mouth making my jaws pucker.

2. I found a trembling, injured bunny beneath the dewy morning glories.

This involves the reader and they become part of the scene.

Show things in the scene that aren’t written in the words. I didn’t have to tell you the rabbit was young and scared. I showed you the rabbit was young [bunny] and scared [trembling].

As another example (and for fun creativity) I asked my fellow wenches to join me in re-creating the following flat scene by showing. Please join us in the comments section by putting your own spin on the facts—without changing them.

I climbed the tree and looked over the fence into Neal’s back yard. My suspicions were correct. Molly was there. She was in the pool, swimming naked. Neal was smiling. As my heart broke, they laughed. It was cold outside, but neither seemed affected by the mountain air. Actually, things were getting downright steamy. Just when I thought my night couldn’t get any worse, my spying antics were exposed when my cell phone rang loudly. I was mortified.

Ed and the Passive Voice

Let me introduce you to a friend who knows passive voice intimately. His name is Ed. Okay, he isn’t really a person, and undoubtedly isn’t a ‘he’, but Ed is my friend—our friend.

I’ll get back to Ed in a minute. First, I want to show you what passive voice is. The following paragraph is riddled with it:

The missing child case had been solved by Jack Long, the Police Chief. Two-year-old Savannah Smith was discovered after several hours of probing beneath the debris covered waters of Copsey Lake. He had located her. She had been sleeping in the back seat of her mother’s car.

Did you feel alienated or distracted while reading that?

The next paragraph gets the same information across, but in active voice:

After several hours of probing beneath the debris covered waters of Copsey Lake, Police Chief Jack Long solved the missing child case. He discovered two-year-old Savannah Smith sleeping in the back seat of her mother’s car.

Whew! This sounds much better, doesn’t it? Now I’ll refer back to Ed.

Verbs ending in “-ed” (Ed) help identify passive voice. Locate verbs ending in “-ed” (solved, discovered, located.) If these verbs are preceded by a form of the verb “to be” (are, was, am, been has been, have been, had been, will be, will have been, being) you are likely using passive voice. There are some exceptions to the “-ed” idea, but they are easy to detect.

Example:

“The case was solved by Jack.” –passive

“Jack solved the case.” – active

When we write a sentence where the subject is receiving the action, rather than being or doing, we are using passive voice.

Review You!

A dozen links to get your book reviewed, oh, and the last one links you to one-hundred other review sites. No matter what your genre, there will be a place that fits your book perfectly.

http://nightowlreviews.com/nor/

http://goteroticromance.blogspot.com/

http://www.Amazon.com

http://booklistonline.com/

http://allreaders.com/

http://www.theromancereader.com/

http://dearauthor.com/wordpress/for-authors/

http://paranormalromance.org/BookReviews.htm

http://whippedcream2.blogspot.com/2010/04/heart-of-maze-by-rain-chapman.html?zx=13ad76d1ab8a3a3a

http://joyfullyreviewed.com/reviews/Feb10/heartofthemaze.rc.html

http://www.shvoong.com/

http://www.onlinecollege.org/2009/09/15/100-best-blogs-for-book-reviews/

Once you become a published author, you have to figure out how to get people reading and buying your book. Sending your book out for reviews is a fantastic way to generate a buzz about your book. If you have writer type friends who are of the published variety, chances are they have a blog of some sort. Exchange a review with them. An I’ll-show-you-mine-if-you-show-me-yours sort of deal, only with this one you can keep your shirt on. This will expose both of your respective books to new readers and everybody is a winner.

On a side note, as you click through these links you may come across a book review. My book review to be specific. **smiles winningly** Feel free to read it before you explore the site to find where to send your book for review. Also, many of the ones on this page deal with the romance genre; however, the final link will offer every other genre a chance to be read.

So be brave, you’re a published author. Get out there and pound the information highway for ways to bring your book to the world.

Rain

I Dreamed A Dream

I’m often been curious how ideas are born. I remember reading an interview with Stephen King when I was about eleven or so and began my ever-long obsession with the man’s writing. He said something that I thought couldn’t possibly be true. His ideas come from dreams.

For a writer like King, I thought this was a pretty flaky way to go about writing stories. What if you didn’t have a very good dream? What if you had an amazing dream but then woke up before you could find out how it ended? What if you stopped dreaming altogether?

I didn’t think it was possible to write what you dream. Until I started. As of present, there is very little I haven’t written that wasn’t, in part at least, shown to me in a dream. Sometimes it is just a conversation. Other times it is whole scenes. Rarely, but most wonderfully, it is the full concept, completely laid out for me. But I know everyone is not like this. Not everyone has their ideas handed to them by the Sand Man.

As a writer, I consider myself a creative person. It came in handy as a child when it was time to worm my way out of something, or explain why I was four hours late. Of course, I usually embellished way too much and hindered myself rather than helped. But I can’t imagine being so creative that I could sit down one day and just imagine up an entire world. To make up characters and plot lines and intriguing scenarios.

When I dream and I think a story can be made of it, I usually have a massive head start on what’s going on and who is who. Sure, I add characters and situations but to start entirely from scratch? With zero help? Um, scary!

So congrats to the writers who do this – I admire you all, seriously.

But I’m curious, so please, please tell me – where do YOUR ideas come from?


Pxx

Rainy Days and Mondays - The Journey

Each writer has their own way of approaching writing. Some write the entire manuscript before returning to the beginning just to start  it all over again. Some edit as they go. I tend to be in the second group of writers.

Every day, as I sit down to add to whichever project I am working on, I start by rereading what is already there to put myself back in the moment I left off in. This is where I tend to find things that require changing. All of the extra commas come out, the tense changes, odd phrasing or head hopping. This isn’t to say I am able to catch all of the strange little foibles that fill my writing. That is where a great writing buddy comes in.

My fellow Wenches keep my writing in line and push me to finish when I falter. My husband (who is not a reader at all) gets treated to excerpts which require a male point of view and as an added bonus, reading these bits out loud usually helps me to find the places that stumble in my writing. I highly recommend reading your work aloud, even if it is only to the family pet or an empty room. You’ll find and rectify the things your mind autocorrects as you read in your head.

 I guess what I’m trying to tell you in my roundabout way is that the writing may be a solitary journey, but the rewrites do not have to be and should not be done alone. When you are the only one reading and reviewing your work, the view can tend to become myopic. So, whether you are part of the first group, who creates the full manuscript before doing any rereading, or the second group, find yourself some people you can trust to tell you the truth. As nice as it is to hear that each word from your pen is solid gold, it is far more helpful to have someone point out where the work stumbles.

If there is no one in your life to tell you when you are abusing your right to use commas, you can do as I did and join a writers group. For myself, there was nothing available to me locally so I turned to the internet. A group called FanStory.com became my home away from home. It is also the place I met my fellow Wenches. The feedback and the lessons I learned there are what brought my writing to the level where it could become published. This doesn’t mean I write flawlessly the first time, every time, far from it. But a writers group is a wonderful place to test your wings and explore new writing genres.

Try to toughen your skin and be open to helpful advice. It’s easy to become offended by someone who is telling you that your perfect brain child suffers from some bad habits. Take a deep breath and don’t respond right away. Give the advice a chance to settle and see if it is something that really will improve your work. You may not always agree, but more often than not, the new set of eyes see a lot more clearly than your love blinded ones.

Just remember, you may take the first steps alone in the caverns of your imagination, but you will find tremendous joy when you retrace those step and shine light on them with someone you trust. Someone who will lovingly help you polish the images you have created to perfection.

Rain :)

Wednesday Wonderings: What Makes A Leading Man

As a writer of romance, there are a few must-have factors: a girl, a boy and falling in love. For my books at least. It can be a mix of any two people that the writer feels inclined to have do the dance of love.

I love to read romance novels, to experience over and over again the first blossom of love with characters I have grown to care about. (Actually, I am in the middle of one such blossom and eager to devour more *cough* Rain, write more *cough*). 

In my movie choices I’m not such a softie. I prefer explosions and gore and chainsaw-wielding maniacs. There is something that I can’t connect with in romance movies they way I can with books. Maybe it’s because I’m a writer first and everything else second. To be a good writer, we have to be a great readers. And so if books were food, I’d be clinically obese.

To get to my point, what is the one thing that holds any romance novel together? The deciding factor that will make or break your opinion of the book? To me (and probably a lot of other women) it’s the leading man.

So What Makes A Leading Man?

When it comes to men, everyone is different. But let’s not get confused between love and lust. For lust, the tastes aren’t so different. Give a girl something pretty to look at and we’re happy. But to make us fall in love...that takes some work, and some serious writing skill. Because at the end of the day, that is what we are asking our readers to do – fall in love. There aren’t many romance picture books, to give you a glossy image of the hunk gracing the pages. There aren’t movie clips to see how they move or sound bites to hear them whisper sweet nothings to the heroine.

For me simple things can make the romance turn sour. Saying the leading man has a hairy chest, or too in touch with his feminine side, or seriously arrogant, can be a turn off. So how can writers keep everyone happy?

In short...they can’t. Because we don’t come from a cookie cutter mould with pre-fixed settings on who pushes the right buttons. What we can do is try our best to make the romance as real as possible and our hunks as dreamy as dreamy can be.

Pxx

Rainy Days and Mondays - Beware the Repeat

When writing your story, take careful note of how often you start sentences with the same word. If your main character’s name is Simon, it is not necessary to start each sentence about him with his name. At the same time, you don’t want to start each sentence with ‘he’ or ‘his’ either. It is possible to convey to the reader who the paragraph is about without starting with these words - although you do want to have the characters name towards the beginning of the paragraph.

Example

Simon turned and rose from his crouched position. His lips formed the word danger to his companions, but no sound passed them. He motion for them to follow through the rising mist. His senses opened. He strained to hear or see any sign of the beast they tracked. He had glimpsed its form through the trees earlier and now feared it was heading for the nearby village. Simon’s heart ached as he thought of his beloved sister Emily. He thought of the terrible damage done to her, body and soul, by the foul animal she mistakenly called husband. Simon’s need for vengeance raged through him. He would put an end to its mockery of life. It would be dead before it could continue its blood-fuelled rampage.

Simon turned and rose from his crouched position. The word danger formed on his lips, but no sound reached his companions. He motion for them to follow through the rising mist. Senses open and straining to hear or see any sign of the beast they tracked. Earlier, he glimpsed its form through the trees and now feared it was heading for the nearby village. His heart ached as he thought of his beloved sister Emily. Thoughts of the terrible damage done to her, body and soul, by the foul animal she mistakenly called husband. Need for vengeance raged through him. There would be an end to its mockery of life. It would be dead before it could continue its blood-fuelled rampage.

Okay, the first paragraph has 126 words, the second 121. So it doesn’t take much in the way of extra or fewer words to eliminate all of the he, he, he, his, his, Simon, Simon’s. For me, the flow of this paragraph is much easier to follow with the varying sentence starters.

You should also be aware of this with paragraph starts. Look through your story or novel. See if there are paragraphs within close proximity to each other that start with the same word. Especially if it is an unusual word like ‘incidental’, sometimes, it can leave the reader feeling as though they have lost their place and returned to the previous paragraph. It’s important to keep the flow of reading going, and having a reader stop to check their place interrupts this.

One more thing about repeats, when describing something, like a storm or a race, it is easy to use the object you are describing frequently. More so if it is something unique. This makes it even more important to be aware of the words you choose. And don’t forget to make certain all of your characters don’t grin with delight or their eyes don’t all twinkle mischievously. Use your thesaurus. It will open up a whole new world of verbal delights for you.

Rain :)

Sunday PicNic ~ Unforgettable Characters

Have you ever read a book and after a week or two, found it difficult to remember much about it? Sigh…

As writers, we don’t want to pour our passion into a manuscript of forgettable pages. We want our readers to drink in our story, savor its flavor, and remember it. How do we do that? By asking questions.

Think of a favorite book you’ve read; a novel that stands out in your mind. Is it a favorite because it’s written with a unique flair? Do you cherish it for its exquisite scenery, crafty dialogue, shocking twist or ending? No—more than likely, you love the book because you love the people who dwell inside it. 

Characters make a book memorable.

As a teenager, I reluctantly began reading William Golding’s Lord of the Flies for a school assignment. Soon after being introduced to Ralph and Piggy, I unsuspectingly became invested in this symbolic classic.

The British choirboys became real to me. I became sympathetic to Ralph, the protagonist. He tried to establish order and focused on the rescue of his fellow plane crash survivors; displaying humanness while others became frenzied, animalistic jungle hunters. I was also sensitive to the welfare of Piggy, an intellectual orphan boy, teased for his pudgy frame and thick glasses. He was an outsider to the others, yet became a confidant and sidekick to Ralph’s leadership role. They both shared their inner selves with each other, and developed a true friendship. They developed a relationship with me too. I shook in fear and cried with them; and now, decades later, I remember them.

As writers, we need to ask questions. We must explore the characters we create. What makes them different? What makes them vulnerable? What faults do they have? Are they happy, grumpy, smart, or overweight? Do they have particular goals? Do they walk with a limp? Did they have happy childhoods? Are they wealthy? These are questions, among hundreds of others, we should ask our characters. We need to learn their distinctive physical traits, establish their inward and outward personas, and share their qualities (good and bad) with our readers. The more we reveal about our characters and why they do the things they do, the easier it is for readers to connect with them, and the more memorable they will become. If we fall in love with our characters, chances are, our readers will too.

~Nic

Rainy Days and Mondays - Where you from?

Dialect: a regional variety of language distinguished by features of vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation from other regional varieties and constituting together with them a single language.

Great, so how do you get a dialect across in your writing? The best way I’ve found is by using the KISS theory. Keep It Simple Stupid. There is no need to start rattling off Scottish or Spanish phrases to prove your character is from another country. In fact, since it’s a braw, bricht, moonlicht th nicht, why don’t we explore this a bit more?

Did you just stumble a bit there? Probably, I know I did even as I wrote it. (Scottish translation courtesy Pamela Wench – it’s a cold, bright, moonlit night tonight) A few key words will let the reader know this person is from somewhere else without making them struggle to find meaning in the words. Stumbling your way through an accent so thick you would have trouble understanding it even if it were read aloud to you, can turn your readers off – fast. Personally, I read fiction for the pleasure of becoming lost in a world of someone else’s creation, not for language lessons.

Example

“Wipe that silly smirk off your face, I will not be found like this!” Her voice came out in a strangled hiss. She tried to make her way to the far side of the stream, to the concealment the bushes there offered.

Iain found himself chuckling, “Och, tis a fine temper ye have. I knew yer passions would run deep.”

A mischievous grin hovered near the corner of her mouth, one brow cocked. “Not as deeply as yours. Now help me out before the whole of the world knows what we have been doing.”

Pleasure at her unabashed response filled him and turned his chuckle into a laugh. He boosted her up onto the steep edge, taking the time to give her bottom a gentle caress. “Dinnae wander too far. I still have questions only ye can answer. Ye ken?”

The man is from Scotland, the woman from England. His every word does not ooze Scotland, but enough do for the imagination to seize on them and fill in the rest. I’ve chosen to leave out the accent for her so I don’t overwhelm readers with two distinct dialects. For her I try to convey her nationality by how she phrases things. So, there are various ways to express different accents and varying degrees of them as well.

Use the internet. There are so many sources out there for writers. Just Google, ‘How to write with a (fill in the blank) accent’ and search through what comes up. Tap any friends you have who have lived, or been to the place you want to capture. Getting a dialect right can add another layer of reading pleasure, putting the reader in a whole different environment and giving them the chance to travel vicariously to new locales.

Whether your characters are from Brooklyn, the Deep South, Rome or England, let a bit of their local color shine through in how they speak. Just a touch will do.

Rain :)

Sumshine Saturday~*~Through the Wringer

Impatient for the washer to finish, I lifted the lid.  I watched the clothes slowly come to a stop, and wished my life would come out of a spin cycle, if only for a day.

Does creative energy dissipate when life whips insanity into the mix? No, I can't say it does. Not for this writer anyway.

Writing about the day, be it a happy or hectic, puts things in perspective.  Stress seems to release its clutch on my insides and flows from my mind, spilling its agony, craziness or pure ecstasy onto my paper. Usually, while scribbling the events of the day in my journal, an idea sparks… then flames.

 Burning to create whatever my mind just conjured, I flip open my laptop and begin to type, forgetting about the spin cycle of life. That is what is so great about the life of a writer. Stress is a means to a wonderful novel, blog or short story.

When you feel like pulling your hair out (or someone elses) try starting a story instead. You'll feel better and create something to share. 

Wednesday Wonderings - Outlining - Friend or Foe?

As I’ve said before, all writers do things different. Some like to plan each chapter with excruciating detail, some write blind. Some do intricate character developments, others get to know them as they go. Sometimes, writers just write and don’t give a thought to anything but the words flowing out of them.

But, there is one topic that seems to raise more than a few heads in the writing world.

Outlining – friend or foe?

I did NaNoWriMo last year (2010) and for the first time, I did proper, real, honest-to-goodness outlining. I hardly ever do that. In the run up to November, I started to freak myself out a bit. What if I hit a wall? What if I couldn’t think where to go next? What if my character turned out to be a douche and therefore wasn’t leading man material?

So I planned. And planned, and planned, and planned. And it was like pulling teeth writing that book.

Usually I’m laid back when it comes to preparing. A fresh idea will develop in my mind. It will normally come from part of a dream, or just a random thought that floated into my scary mind one afternoon. More often than not, I’m working on something else when the idea arrives. This gives the idea time to grow and evolve in my mind before I do anything serious with it.

Okay. Other project is finished. Now it’s time for Shiny New Idea. I write a brief (and by brief, I mean like one or two pages tops of an A5 notebook – sometimes just a paragraph) outline of the story. For example, for my second book, Sex, Lies & Vegas, this is what I wrote:

Start with Vegas as back drop – group of girls unwinding, having dinner. One meets guy, bumps into him at a club later – leads to hotel nookie. Both go separate ways – meet in NYC. Vegas guy is best friend of girl’s fiancé.

And that was it. Seriously. That was the backbone for my book. Oh, all this happens within the first 70 pages and it’s only the beginning for what happened with the characters. But it was all I needed. Think of it as the foundation for a house. Or as I like to think of it, the skeleton for the body of my book.

Once I have the bare outline, I tend to daydream a lot, and this is where I do most of my planning. I think about exciting scenes and scribble notes on them when they are more fully formed.

For character development I sit down and write about them. What they like, what their interests are and what impact they have on the story. If they are being slippery customers and I can’t get a handle on them, I write a scene from their point of view. Trust me, nothing helps more than this.

So that’s it for my planning skills.

How about you? I love hearing about how other writers operate. Let me know!

Rainy Days and Mondays - Speech Tags

He Said, She Said...

Have you ever read something, maybe even something you’ve written, that is loaded with speech tags? I know I have. As useful as they can be in say, a group situation, they can really detract from what your characters are trying to communicate. Following a question mark with ‘she asked’, or an exclamation point with ‘he bellowed’, is redundant. The punctuation already lets the reader know the tone in these cases.

It is more effective if you can give your characters something to do, something that separates them from others. A woman can fiddle with her skirt. A man can twirl his moustache. Show your readers who is speaking, don’t tell them. Your writing will be stronger for it. This gives you a chance to let people know so many different things, things only you know about your characters. Do they have habits or foibles that are specific to them? Guzzling coffee, nail biting, hair twirling, finger tapping, or pencil chewing any of these things can be an indicator for who is speaking. What do they do when they are upset? Happy? Annoyed? Hurt? Physical descriptions can be accentuated and cemented into people’s minds.

With Tags

Back story: In a corner booth at the back of a seedy bar, Mary seeks the help of a man named Jim. They attended high school together years before. Jim has always held a special tenderness for Mary, but he is hurt and angry over her assumption that he is involved with illegal activities. She tells him who she suspects of robbing her, a group of men she believes he hangs out with.

“So, will you help me recover my grandmother’s ring, Jim?” Mary asked.

Jim replied sarcastically. “And you would be suitably grateful for my help, I’m sure.”

“You don’t have to be such a jerk about it, you could just say no.” She said and stood up to leave.

“I’m sorry, please don’t go.” He begged. “Look, I’ll help you if I can, but what makes you think I know any of those guys?”

Without Tags

Mary twisted her napkin again, trying to judge his reaction to her story through lowered lashes. “So, will you help me recover my grandmother’s ring, Jim?”

His mouth curled up on one side. Something flashed through his eyes before their soft blue turned icy. “And you would be suitably grateful for my help, I’m sure.”

“You don’t have to be such a jerk about it, you could just say no.” Throwing down the napkin, she slid out of the booth. Jim reached out as if to stop her, then let his arm fall back to the table.

“I’m sorry, please don’t go.” Furrowed lines appeared across his forehead, he leaned towards her, his hand outstretched. “Look, I’ll help you if I can, but what makes you think I know any of those guys?”

I hope the above example gives you a better idea of what can be done to enhance your story if you take some time to give some personality to your characters. Did you notice anything else while reading? In addition to giving more information on how Jim and Mary are behaving and reacting, all those extra words slow the scene down. The extra words can create greater emotional impact, but too many of them during a fast paced scene can detract from the action. Use your judgement on how much information to convey.

Next time you’re talking with someone, take note of what they do as they speak. As a rule, human beings are not stationary when vocalizing. They are not two dimensional. So it stands to reason that to create believable characters for your story, they need to move as well.

Happy writing J

Rain

Picture supplied by Dreamstime

Wednesday Wonderings - What Came First?

Pt. 2 of 2 of The Dreaded Synopsis Posts

There is an age old question among writers – what came first, the synopsis or the book?

What I love about the writing world, is no two writers are the same. Everyone is unique and has a different way they like to do things. The oddest difference I’ve encountered so far are the writers who like to write the synopsis first, and those who like to write it last.

I myself can’t even comprehend writing the synopsis first. I’m a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants author. I rarely plan in great detail and find I work better going in blind and letting my characters surprise me.

But like I said, no two writers are the same.

There are of course writers who have to plot every detail, lest they get lost along the way or are swallowed whole by the storyline. For them, I can imagine writing the synopsis first.

If I did it first, I think I’d get the worst dose of writer’s block known to mankind.

Pros and Cons can be tallied for each side, and am sure both would give very persuasive arguments which is better and why.

So you tell me – what came first, the synopsis or the book?

Rainy Days and Mondays - Lost and Found

The other day I was searching for a blank piece of paper to jot some notes on, I had several phone calls to make and wanted lots of room to doodle on. Unable to locate any in the usual places, I started probing the back of my closet without much hope. Distractions of all sorts lay in wait for me there. The ballerina slippers I wore for my wedding, an envelope of random pictures that have yet to make it into an album, a box of jewellery I made years ago, and a spiral notebook.

After indulging in a brief side-trip down memory lane, I snatched up the notebook and flopped on my bed to see if it was full or not. It ended up being another jaunt into the past - it was my first notebook as a writer. Page one: poem – The Rules According to Mom and Dad – a fun poke at the crazy things your parents said to you growing up that you hated, that you now find yourself saying to your own children. Page two: short story – My Rapid Weight Loss Experiment – although this was a funny story, I found my shoulders hunching with embarrassment over the horrendous amount of SPAG (SPelling And Grammar) errors. Thank goodness I’m no longer writing long hand, and double blessings for the person who invented spell check!

Anyhow, at this point I figured I’d wasted enough time and curled the edge of my notebook back to let the pages flip until I could find the dreaded blank white page. Once located, I grabbed my phone and took care of business. It wasn’t until later on in the day I returned to the front of the notebook. Not really sure what prompted me to do so, perhaps a need to compare my original writing to what I do now. In any case, what I found there captured my imagination. A story, or rather the start of one. One I’d forgotten I’d even written. Fifteen-hundred words later, I was wondering why on Earth had I ever walked away from this very interesting beginning.

The characters, raw and unfinished as they are, call to me to tell their story. I can actually feel the potential for an entire book!

However, I must control the impulse - for now. I have a hot, historical romance on the burner and I must pay full attention to it before it slips away from me. I’m thinking this new one can simmer on the back burner until NANOWRIMO 2011. After all, it didn’t lose its appeal after all that time in the back of my closet ... or maybe ... nah ... I don’t know. Their voices are awfully loud.

So tell me, how many of you have fits and starts of stories tucked away in some forgotten file on your computer? Have lost notebooks hiding in your closets? Under your bed? Tossed into a junk drawer? If so, have you ever gone back to read them? Were you surprised by how much you really enjoyed or really disliked reading something you wrote? Do you revisit the worlds of your creation again?

Tell me your story.

Rain

Picture supplied by Dreamstime

Sunday PicNic ~ My Roman Holiday

Just as actors Audrey Hepburn (Princess Ann) and Gregory Peck (Joe Bradley) did in the 1953 movie Roman Holiday, I’m jetting to Italy. Though I’m far from being a princess, I’m certain to fall in love just the same—not with a tall, handsome American (I did that over a quarter of a century ago) but with the beauty of Italy.

I have three reasons to be molto eccitata (very excited) about this trip.

1. It’s Italy, baby! Throwing coins in the Trevi Fountain, walking the Spanish Steps, giving a ‘thumbs down’ in the Colesseum, holding up the Tower of Pisa, gondola-ing through the Grand Canal, finding a fig leaf for the statue of David, chasing pigeons in Piazza Navona, and seeing the hand of God in the Sistine Chapel—that’s a lot to be excited about.

Italy is full of ancient ruins, museums, and stories. I can’t wait to take a stroll through the historical path of millenniums. My mind, heart, and camera will fill with Italy’s fabulous beauty.

2. A mother daughter trip! Any trip is more fun when you’re traveling with someone you love. Our mother-daughter trips to California, Niagara Falls, picturesque Savannah, and even the quick jaunts to the Blue Ridge Mountains, have blessed us with fun, laughter, and irreplaceable memories. I know Italy will do the same.

Street-corner gelato cafés by day and cool Chianti evenings will no doubt bestow us with a pound or two, but we’ll still look hot wearing the fake designer bags and nine-dollar Dolce & Gabbana sunglasses purchased from street vendors.

3. A novel in the making! Shortly after planning this trip, my mind flooded with story ideas. I frenetically jotted down an outline for a new novel, (and I never create outlines) and soon had a romance-in-the-making. With an amendable plot, I proceed to Italia to participate in my characters’ adventures. Okay, if you’re not a writer, you probably think that sounds insane, but the author-heads out there understand.

With all that said, I still have to pack my bags. Other than the adorable chic red raincoat I purchased the other day, I don’t have a clue what I’m taking. I’m not too worried about details though. As long as I have my journal, my daughter, and comfortable shoes, I’ll be fine. I’ll come back with a treasure of memories to last a lifetime, photos to share, and a story to write.

Ciao!

SumShine Saturday~I mean, really...

"Why would someone sit, hour after hour tapping on a keyboard?"

  "How could someone possibly forget to eat?"

  "You just poured pasta in the sink--without a strainer.  Where is your mind?"

 And my favorite: "I mean really, who does that?"

 These are just a few questions my family directs my way.  (Except for the pasta, I switch that up with cereal in the fridge or milk in the cabinet.) Of course, they ask with a smile and a shake of the head. They are supportive of my writing, though they do not understand for a minute why anyone would spend hours writing only to rewrite it again … and again.  My drive is relentless and my family can see I am happiest when I write, so I guess they are supportive because they love me. Besides, it gives them time to boil more pasta.

Many nights, I kiss my kids and hubby goodnight with the intention of editing "just one chapter" before I go to bed.  With a cast-off Pooh Bear blanket about my shoulder, I begin--then I end up telling myself, I can't simply stop in the middle of an idea, I must rewrite that sentence or the famous just one more chapter.  In what seems a couple of  hours, the lilac patterns on my living room curtains brighten. Only then do I realize I stayed up all night. On mornings like that, my daughter asks, "I mean really, who does that?"

When I actually do go to bed, there are times I wake in the middle of the night, ideas formulating for dialogue, conflict or a twist in plot.  My husband caught me scribbling once and asked me what I was doing at three in the morning. I told him I had a great idea and had to write it down. He grinned, gave me a kiss and said he just got an idea too.  I wonder if he knows I incorporated his hot idea in my novel.

I mean really, who does that?

~*Summer Wench

photo by graur razvan ionut

Wednesday Wonderings - The Synopsis

For the next few Wednesday Wonderings, I wanted to talk about The Dreaded Synopsis. Here goes!

Pt. 1 of 2

There comes a point in every writer’s life where they have to ask themselves what they are doing. Is writing just a hobby, something to be done sporadically and without reason? Maybe it’s a life-long dream to be a published author. Or maybe you’re one of the millions of writers who can’t not write – it’s a part of who you are, like hair colour and height.

If you’re one of the latter, the time will come when you start taking yourself, and your writing, seriously. Walking through bookshops gets you excited. The covers, the beautiful covers, could one day be neighbours to your cover.

Okay, you’re going for it. To hell with the odds. You know you’re talented. You believe you have a shot at leaping off the desk of a much sought-after literary agent and are on the way to big leagues.

But wait. Rewind a bit first.  

There’s something you’re forgetting.

An all-important, absolutely crucial thing to be done first.

The Synopsis.

To some writers, the synopsis comes so easily they laugh at the thought of it being any different. To others, myself included, it is on the same level of agonizing pain as having bamboo shoved under your fingernails.

Write 90+ thousand words? Think up characters and plot lines and go through months of editing? Psshh – no worries. Write a one-page condensed version of your book? Um…Momma?

When I did my research for writing a winning synopsis, all I found were contradictions. Single space. Double space if more than one page. Never write more than one page. Write a thirty page synopsis and condense to ten. Write the synopsis first. Write the synopsis last. Don’t write it with an angle. Say how it ends. Don’t say how it ends. Make it interesting. Don’t write with a voice. The contradictions are endless.

And there really aren’t any words of wisdom I can impart here.

A good synopsis is a bit like falling in love with the right partner. When you know, you know.

When I wrote the synopsis for my second book, I did a fair few drafts. After each one I left it alone and didn’t look at it for at least a day. I didn’t stress about the length, just made sure I didn’t exceed two pages. It’s amazing how much can be culled with a good batch of editing.

Nothing was really working until I got bored and wrote a tongue-in-cheek synopsis. And that was it. I knew that was the one for me. It suited my book, it wasn’t written in my voice, but it was a distinctive voice. It hit all the key plot points and highlighted the strengths of the work, and mine as a writer.

There is no hard and fast rule of synopsis writing except keep on plugging. Show it to someone who has read your book. Do your research, and listen to your gut. 

Rainy Days and Mondays - To head hop or not to head hop? That is the question.

Are you a head hopper? I’ve been known to head hop on occasion. I admit it. However, before my manic head hopping ways could make it out into the world, my editor caught me and put paid to my head hopping days.

Wait. You don’t know what head hopping is? Well, it’s when you are trucking along in your novel from one point of view, and from one paragraph to the next, BAM, you’re in someone else’s head. Editors will tell you this is verboden - an absolute no-no. Let me show you what they never want you to do.

Love scene: (If you’re not legal, skip to the regular text now!)

Laura let her fingers slide through John’s silky hair and trace their way down his spine, revelling in his responding shiver. She arched her back as his lips nibbled and caressed their way down her throat, her cleavage, past her navel, pausing in their play to elicit a gasp of longing from her. Each and every thought left her until only sensation remained.

He couldn’t get enough of the taste of her. The slightly salty tang combined with her own unique essence tested his control. John wanted all of her, now. Her texture so soft and inviting under his tongue, responding to the slightest increase in pressure convulsed him with desire. His journey down her body continued until he reached her molten core.

Well now, what was I telling you about? Ah yes, head hopping. In the example above we go from Laura’s POV (point of view) in the first paragraph, directly into John’s POV in the second. There are no page breaks, or ***, or even a chapter break in between. This is head hopping. And though it can be used to great effect during emotionally charged scenes, it can also jar a reader right out of the moment, ruining whatever tension may have been built to that point.

So, how come you’ll find head hopping being done by authors like Nora Roberts? Maybe it’s because once you reach a certain level of fame you can break the rules. Hm. Perhaps it’s because her editor doesn’t know this rule. Doubtful. I think, just maybe, it’s because she is good enough to head hop without leaving her readers floundering.

Ah, to have that level of talent. To showcase an emotionally packed scene from both characters point of view - and have it make sense! How awesome would that be? Now that we all know I drool at the thought of being a professional head hopper, what do all of you think?

Should there be one rule for everyone? No Head Hopping Allowed, Period. What about for those writers out there who have the talent and the know how to break the rule? Tell me what you think.

Rain

Picture supplied by Dreamstime