Sunday, December 23, 2012

Happy Holidays!


I love this time of year with all the excitement and anticipation as we get closer to our family celebration. Our children are on their own and our celebrations have grown to include in-laws and grandchildren. It’s a wonderful time with family. While our daughters and grandchildren live close by, our son comes home from Boston, everyone sleeps over and well, it’s wonderful. Here is some music for you to enjoy. From our house to your's, have a happy and healthy holiday and new year!

Merry Christmas


Happy Hannukah


Happy Kwanzaa


Happy Winter Soltice

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

The Next Big Thing Blog Hop


Author Joanna Chambers was kind enough to tag me in the Next Big Thing blog hop. The blog hope requires me to answer ten questions about whatever my next "big thing" is and then I tag five hapless victims other authors to carry on to infinity and beyond.

Basically it's a fun way of finding out a little something about what your favorite authors are up to while being introduced to authors who might be new to you. You don't have to do anything and no one is giving anything away, so no pressure. Just hop around and enjoy what everyone has to say.
  1. What is the working title of your book?
    Mine Forever is the working title. My editor has already told me it needs to be changed. FLASH! The new title is The Guardian's Witch.
  2. Where did the idea come for this book come from?
    I met someone who mentioned they were a caulbearer (born with a veil over their face) and researched the folk lore. Caulbearers as said to be excellent healers, have visions, and bear kings. Putting my caulbearer heroine in the 13th century was a natural.
  3. What is the genre of the book?
    This story is a historical fantasy set on the border of England and Scotland in 1290.
  4. Which actors would you choose to play your character in a movie rendition?
    I think Jennifer Love Hewitt would be good as Lisbeth, my heroine.
  5. What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?
    Newly minted Lord Alex Stelton, finds his life in jeopardy after the king awards him Lady Lisbeth's cursed castle. Someone, or something, wants him dead.  The knight’s trusted friend, Lord Bryce Mitchell, secretly wants it all, the castle and the woman, and he’ll stop at nothing to get them. In order to save the man she loves and prevent being married off to Bryce, Lisbeth must make a crucial decision; dare she rely on her knight to find a way to save them both or does she trust her magic and risk exposure and persecution as a witch? (Sorry, I couldn't do it one sentence)
  6. Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency/publisher?
    Carina Press has scheduled this book for publication July 1, 2013
  7. How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?
    It took me five months to write the first draft.
  8. What other books would you compare your story to within your genre?
    I would compare by story to those by Julie Garwood.
  9. Who or what inspired you to write this book?
    A friend of mine told me she was born with caul, a veil over her face. I did some research and the story leaped out of my research.
  10. What else about your book might pique the reader's interest?
    This is the first of a series of stories about seven brothers each plagued with the curse of a deadly sin. They must overcome their sin for an opportunity to vanquish man who cursed them.
I hope you're looking forward to my new series. My tagged victims are Liz Flaherty and Jessica Lauryn

Sunday, December 9, 2012

10 Ways to Stay Motivated While You Write


Writing is difficult. Don’t let anyone tell you it’s not. My stories start in my head. I hear dialogue, I see scenery, I even hear the exposition. Getting it down on paper and keeping my tushy in the chair is another thing entirely. It can be downright challenging. Here are some ways that may help you to stay motivated.
Take a short time to organize. I’m a ‘plotzer’ – cross between a planner and pantzer I use a basic story outline to know my story’s direction. For me, detailed planning prevents my characters telling me where things are going. I know that sounds strange, but detailed planning for me (and I stress for me), interferes with some of my creativity. So, I use a basic outline and character study (index cards or notes). It’s the character study I find most valuable and where I spend my time. I get close with my characters.  Once I know them well writing flows easier and easier writing keeps me motivated. If I get stumped, I go back to my outline, character study, or do some ‘what if’ scenarios. It recharges me and keeps me writing.
Set Deadlines. Deadlines work for some people. For me, they definitely are part of my day job and I had aggressive ones with my editor. I know the punishment for missing these deadlines but what would really happen if I missed a self-imposed writing deadline? Move the date? Besides, I’m a real softy. Ask my kids. So to quote Nathan Bransford “The trick is setting a deadline with teeth. If you secretly know that the deadline you’re setting for yourself is a soft one, it’s not going to have its hair-raising, stress-inducing maximum effect. So either you have to learn to be scared of yourself and your own punishments or you may need a partner in crime who can help you keep to them.”
Daydream a Little. Picture what it will be like when you book is completed and you ship it off for query to an agent/editor. Dream about the possibilities of a successful novel, keynote at RWA, Pulitzer (when they have a romance category), and movie option. It all depends on completing what you write. Tuck the daydream in a nice cozy place and come back to the present and make it happen.
Journalize. Writers usually keep a journal or pad handy for jotting down story and character ideas. Use your journal to clarify your obstacles, then think of ways around writing problems, like plot difficulties or difficult decisions about how to organization your story. Perhaps solving these difficulties will motivate you to keep on going.
Just start typing. Momentum can be invaluable in making progress. Even 10 minutes of uninterrupted writing can be helpful. Find time during the day to write, at lunch, commuting, waiting in line at the grocer, at soccer game practice, you see what I mean.
Skip ahead. I tell you this technique but admit I do not follow it myself. I am a linear writer. I find it very difficult to write ‘out of order.’ However, just because it doesn’t work for me doesn’t mean it won’t work for you. So, if you’re stuck about writing the next thing, skip it for now and try jumping ahead to the next piece you’re excited about. You can come back to the part you skipped later.
Talk with your critique partner or someone who supports your writing. For me, talking about my work in progress gets me excited. Sometimes that is all I need to stay motivated. I was stuck on a fight scene and spoke to my son (he’s grown) and Rayna Vause (a writer who is also a martial arts expert). Both gave me the support I needed and valuable insight. And while it’s not true of everyone, a lot of people—both writers and readers—are flattered to be asked to talk with a writer about a work in progress.
Move Around. Sometimes you need to move out of your space, physically, to reset your mind. I get up and go downstairs to the kitchen for a glass of water or cup of tea. (Sometimes even chocolate.) I come back to my desk renewed.
Write what You Love. Don’t try to catch a fad. It may be tempting, but most times it doesn’t work. You need to love your novel unconditionally if you’re going to finish it.
Your turn. What about you? What motivates you?    

Sunday, November 18, 2012

Cori and Chris

Our daughter's wedding was three weeks ago. All Cori's planning showed even the tiniest detail on her special day. She was a beautiful bride down to her purple crinoline and spectacular purple shoes. The unique monogram she created for the event was terrific. The food was delicious, the music was charged and lively, and most of our guests arrived. There were two empty tables.
The wedding was the day before Hurricane Sandy struck the northeast. Some of our uests from out-of-state could not fly in and others were concerned about getting home that evening. We are in North Jersey and while we lost our power that Monday and the newlyweds delayed leaving on their honeymoon for a few days until the airport opened we were not devastated as many were in New York City  and the Jersey Shore. We definitely counted our blessings.
Here are some before and after pictures of the Jersey shore.
I hope you and yours are safe.


Sunday, October 7, 2012

The 10 Most Mentioned Songs in Books

'notes of a rock song' photo (c) 2008, Bùi Linh Ngân - license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/
I love music. It can define my mood, my outlook, and help me change it. Music can relax me and pump me up. I’m not surprised that music and musicians are mentioned in books. Sometime the song title or artist name is the easiest way to convey things to the reader.
I’ve been very pressed for time these last few weeks with chairing a major conference (next week) and our daughter’s wedding (the end of the month). When I browsed Publisher’s Weekly though, I had to stop to enjoy the music. Here is the article by Gabe Habash, a New York University professor, on the the ten most mentioned songs in books.  Gabe mentions a website, Small Demons that acts as a book content web, connecting people, places, music, movies, TV/radio, books, food/drink, magazines, events, vehicles, and weapons mentioned in books.
What songs would you (or have you) referenced in your writing? Why did you choose them?
I’ll start. I referenced light jazz in Knight of Runes. When my heroine in the 21st century drives 3 hours from London to her new home, Fayne Manor she listens to light jazz, probably Dave Brubeck’s “Take Five.”  
Here are the top ten from Small Demons.
10. “Bohemian Rhapsody” by Queen

9. “Smells Like Teen Spirit” by Nirvana

8. “Billie Jean” by Michael Jackson


 7. “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” by The Beatles


 6. “Stairway to Heaven” by Led Zeppelin

 5. “Blue Suede Shoes” by Elvis Presley


4. “Dancing Queen” by ABBA

3. “We Are the World”

2. “Heartbreak Hotel” by Elvis Presley

1. “Hey Jude” by The Beatles

My heroine's “Take Five” by Dave Brubeck

Sunday, September 23, 2012

10 Ways to Stay Motivated While You Write


Writing is difficult. Don’t let anyone tell you it’s not. My stories start in my head. I hear dialogue, I see scenery, I even hear the exposition. Getting it down on paper and keeping my tushy in the chair is another thing entirely. It can be downright challenging. Here are some ways that may help you to stay motivated.

1. Take a short time to organize. I’m a ‘plotzer’ – cross between a planner and pantzer I use a basic story outline to know my story’s direction. For me, detailed planning prevents my characters telling me where things are going. I know that sounds strange, but detailed planning for me (and I stress for me), interferes with some of my creativity. So, I use a basic outline and character study (index cards or notes). It’s the character study I find most valuable and where I spend my time. I get close with my characters.  Once I know them well writing flows easier and easier writing keeps me motivated. If I get stumped, I go back to my outline, character study, or do some ‘what if’ scenarios. It recharges me and keeps me writing.

2. Set Deadlines. Deadlines work for some people. For me, they definitely are part of my day job and I had aggressive ones with my editor. I know the punishment for missing these deadlines but what would really happen if I missed a self-imposed writing deadline? Move the date? Besides, I’m a real softy. Ask my kids. So to quote Nathan Bransford “The trick is setting a deadline with teeth. If you secretly know that the deadline you’re setting for yourself is a soft one, it’s not going to have its hair-raising, stress-inducing maximum effect. So either you have to learn to be scared of yourself and your own punishments or you may need a partner in crime who can help you keep to them.”

3. Daydream a Little. Picture what it will be like when you book is completed and you ship it off for query to an agent/editor. Dream about the possibilities of a successful novel, keynote at RWA, Pulitzer (when they have a romance category), and movie option. It all depends on completing what you write. Tuck the daydream in a nice cozy place and come back to the present and make it happen.

4. Journalize. Writers usually keep a journal or pad handy for jotting down story and character ideas. Use your journal to clarify your obstacles, then think of ways around writing problems, like plot difficulties or difficult decisions about how to organization your story. Perhaps solving these difficulties will motivate you to keep on going.

5. Just start typing. Momentum can be invaluable in making progress. Even 10 minutes of uninterrupted writing can be helpful. Find time during the day to write, at lunch, commuting, waiting in line at the grocer, at soccer game practice, you see what I mean.

6. Skip ahead. I tell you this technique but admit I do not follow it myself. I am a linear writer. I find it very difficult to write ‘out of order.’ However, just because it doesn’t work for me doesn’t mean it won’t work for you. So, if you’re stuck about writing the next thing, skip it for now and try jumping ahead to the next piece you’re excited about. You can come back to the part you skipped later.

7. Talk with your critique partner or someone who supports your writing. For me, talking about my work in progress gets me excited. Sometimes that is all I need to stay motivated. I was stuck on a fight scene and spoke to my son (he’s grown) and Rayna Vause (a writer who is also a martial arts expert). Both gave me the support I needed and valuable insight. And while it’s not true of everyone, a lot of people—both writers and readers—are flattered to be asked to talk with a writer about a work in progress.

8. Move Around. Sometimes you need to move out of your space, physically, to reset your mind. I get up and go downstairs to the kitchen for a glass of water or cup of tea. (Sometimes even chocolate.) I come back to my desk renewed.

9. Write what You Love. Don’t try to catch a fad. It may be tempting, but most times it doesn’t work. You need to love your novel unconditionally if you’re going to finish it.

10. Chocolate. Need I say more?

Your turn. What about you? What motivates you?    

Sunday, September 9, 2012

5 Quick Fixes to Make Reader Love Your Villains


I read a great blog by RITA nominee Shannon Donnelly5 Quick Fixes to Make Readers Love Your Villains. Shannon made it sound so simple. When I took a close look at her post I realized all her suggestions demonstrate the hero’s humanity.
  1. What does the character’s mother love about him?
  2. What does this character love?
  3. Why does this character do bad things?
  4. What would make this character a hero?
  5. Give the villain a trait you’d love to have.

I get it! 
I'm working through my edits on my new story, working title Mine Forever, with Denise, my editor. Throughout the story I've portrayed my villain as a totally bad guy- Snidely Whiplash. However, the more I thought about some of Denise's comments and Shannon's post I clearly see if I give him some humanity even a streak of goodness it will create more conflict and a more powerful character.
Bravo to Shannon Donnelly for putting into words what I was struggling to achieve and for giving me one more outstanding tool for my author tool kit. Her workable questions produced answers that moved my villain from cliche to credible.
Who is your favorite villain? What tools do you use to write your villain?

Sunday, September 2, 2012

Say It With Feeling


Savvy Author Lynn Johnson had a great post this week about editing for emotion. Her first paragraph spoke to me. You imagine the scene in your head then write it but somehow the emotion gets lost. Ms Johnson says that’s because we feel our character’s emotion and it’s hard to articulate-put it into words. I get it! She goes on to tell us there are four ways to get that emotion to your reader.
1. Dialogue
The content and word choices we choose should convey the characters emotion. What the character says and doesn’t say, how they react to one another, even when they are silent all lend to the emotional impact of the scene. It’s one of the primary ways we get to know the character.
2. Action
This includes both voluntary and involuntary actions. A tilt of the head, a shaky hand, raking his hand through his hair (my favorite), etc. can add to the drama or even provide comic relief.  
3. Body Language
Body language adds expression to the character’s words. Arms thrown wide or crossed over the chest convey meanings with saying anything. Used with the right words they can support and drive how the emotion you’re trying to convey. People don’t stand or sit still when they talk to each other. Stabbing his finger at the paper, listening to him with her hands on her hips, or throwing his hands in the air, all give an emotional perspective.
A great source is The Emotion Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to Character Expression by Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglist. They also have a website, The Bookshelf Muse with their fantastic lists of character traits for just about every situation.
4. Thoughts and Feelings
These are what we use most, narration, interior monologue, and description of instinctive feelings. These are wonderful tools but they should not be the only ones we use.
Putting It All Together
Using these four tools for emotion creatively make your story. Use these tools together to demonstrate conflict, enhance the drama, and keep your readers engrossed.
What do you do to write with emotion?

Sunday, August 26, 2012

The Seven Deadly Sins of Paranormal Romance


My new story, The Stelton Legacy: Mine Forever (working title, at least the Mine Forever part), is about a family’s quest and the seven deadly sins. I came across a great article, The Seven Deadly Sins in Paranormal Romance, written by friend and author Stephanie Draven.
 Stephanie's list identifies the things not to do in paranormal writing and matches them to THE seven deadly sins. Paranormal or not, the information is virtuous. Taken into consideration, the angels will sing with your results. I know, get off my harp!
 Here is my interpretation of her seven sins.
  1. Sloth: Too much world building at the beginning. Let it reveal slowly
  2. Lust: Too much of a good thing. Description of weird stuff is good but it’s a great story that hangs it all together.
  3. Gluttony: Make dialog sound real but keep it short, we bore easily
  4. Greed: Too much of a good thing. Paranormal based on reality with only a few things maneuvered lend reality and hold the reader’s attention
  5. Wrath: Too much violence
  6. Pride: Make it challenging but don’t make the reader need a glossary
  7. Envy: Heroes and Heroines may be perfect in our dreams but they need a touch of reality and something to strive for.

Her full post is copied in below with her permission. Thanks Stephanie. Stephanie will be reprising her workshop, Love, Monsters & Mythology at the NJRW Conference October 12-13.  
SLOTH: Info Dumps. Nothing turns me off faster than a book that starts off with a long narrative explaining all the world building. Info dumps are lazy. They’re bad form. The details of your world should come to light slowly, layer upon layer, immersing the reader in the experience. For hints on how to do this, paranormal romance writers should study the best written fantasy.
LUST: Fetishism of the Supernatural. There’s a tendency for paranormal romance writers to fetishize the supernatural elements in the same way that science fiction writers sometimes fetishize the buttons and gadgets of their worlds. That your character is a werewolf isn’t all that interesting in and of itself. Not being a furry, I’m not turned on by long descriptions of fangs and silver-grey coats. And while the fact that your hero can identify anything with his superior sense of smell lends flavor to his persona and reality to your world, it’s not actually characterization. Obsessing on the blood sucking, the mysterious brotherhood, and the magical abilities may appeal to other readers who share this fetish–but it isn’t storytelling. There has to be more to hold the book together than a collection of neato cool superpowers. Paranormal has a place, but don’t use it as a crutch.
GLUTTONY: Big Chunks of Boring Dialog Meant to Convey Realism. Writing teachers everywhere tell budding young authors to listen to real dialog and use it as a model for what their characters should say. This only gets you so far. In real life, people wander off on tangents. They pause and hem and haw. In short, they bore the pants off one another. Why would you want to do that to your reader? Paranormal romance characters live extraordinary lives. We don’t have to hear them talk about their car trouble or what kind of ice cream they’re going to eat unless this has some bearing on the plot, or conveys something about their character, or is a delightful little detail sparingly tossed into the mix. Real life conversations can go on for hours. Conversations in fiction need to be tight and lean! Never overindulge.
GREED: Too Many Speculative Elements. The best paranormal romance takes the world as we know it, or the past as we imagine it, and twists one or two crucial elements, following the repercussions from those changes like ripples on a pond. The worst paranormal romance turns itself into a carnival for every strange and unexplained myth, magic, and phenomenon in the cosmos. Elves and vampires, mining together on Epsilon 4 with space aliens who are ruled by the Wicked Witch of the West in a kingdom called Oz…readers need to be able to focus. In a world where everything is possible, what is truly at stake? (A perfect example of how too much of a good thing can ruin a series, is the beautiful television series LOST which started out with an intriguing premise, but eventually piled so many new paranormal elements onto the stack that the whole thing collapsed under its own weight, bleeding viewers and disappointing fans.)
WRATH: Violence Overload. Most paranormal romance follows the trend of urban fantasy to put existential concerns at the forefront. It’s the fate of the whole world, country, city, species, brotherhood, or pack at stake. It’s gotta be bloody, too. A struggle for survival. Just once, I’d like to see a good secret baby vampire romance or a simple mistaken identity story between witches, or a marriage of convenience between werewolves. At the very least, I’d like to see interpersonal conflicts that focus on a developing relationship at the center of the book, rather than the danger and violence.
PRIDE: A Glossy of Terms. Look, if you want to put a glossary of terms at the back of the book for curious readers to look up terms as they arise, go for it. But putting it at the front of your story signals to me that you think you’re just too special to weave your special special language into your special special special book. It says that artful exposition is something paeans must use, but you are too good for it. You will make your readers actually look it up instead of being able to figure it out in context.
ENVY: Mary Sue Characters. We all want to be six foot bombshells who can kick butt in high heels, smite evildoers, and capture the heart of the sexiest angel ever to fall from heaven. But such heroines can’t be all wish fulfillment, quick-witted, never afraid, never at a loss for a words, and always right. It’s held as a given in paranormal romance circles that your hero can be a bastard but your heroine can’t be a bad girl. However, a reader can’t love her if she’s perfect. Put some dents in her armor and let the hero call her on her bullshit once in a while.

Monday, August 20, 2012

5 Step Approach to Self-Editing


My edits arrived from my awesome editor Denise at Carina Press. She prepared me for them in her cover letter. First was the acknowledged improvement from my first manuscript-a reduction in split commas and improvement with point-of-view. (Please be impressed that there is an em dash-validation that I know my split commas.)
A look at the edits in the manuscript could have been daunting but I found them categorize into: character development and information flows. I noticed that some parts of the story were well developed and others were not. I tried to understand why.
I came across an article in Writer’s Digest about the 5 Step Approach to Self-Editing that made me understand the inconsistency. It’s written by James Scott Bell. He likens the process to the geyser, La Bufadora in Mexico. It’s a natural blowhole. The tide rolls in to the underwater cave, the pressure builds, and blasts a geyser to the surface. Some are loud and spectacular and others are quiet and barely visible. The water calms and waits for the next one. He compares that to the creative writing process. 
He said that sometimes we turn off our imaginations during the quiet periods. For me it explained why some of my character development and information flows were spectacular and others barely visible. The power is in the details.
Mr. Bell goes to describe the issues as deriving from left-brain, right-brain activity-creativity vs analysis. He ends his article with four steps for self-editing.
  1. Identify a highly charged moment in your book.
  2. Make a list of possible actions, gestures, or setting descriptions that might further reflect the scene to make it stronger.
  3. List at least 20-25 possibilities, as fast as you can.
  4. Craft a paragraph using the best details for your list then edit the text until is sings.

I hope you read his article and find it as helpful as I did.
How do you approach the doldrums of creativity when that analysis takes over? How do you get re-inspired?   

Sunday, August 12, 2012

Why I Love Research


I was catching up on my reading and came across Jo-Ann Carson’s blog.  I found her post, Three Reasons Why I Love Research, thought provoking. Her reasons included:
  1. finding new and exciting things she wasn't not really looking for
  2. grounds her story and lets her imagination fly
  3. research gives her story depth.

I agree with all of her points. Her first point, ‘finding new and exciting things you’re not looking for’ really resonates with me.
I do most of my research while I'm outlining the story although there are times, more than I can count, when I'm writing that something strikes me and I'm off on a hunt. Last week I found myself researching sword fights on YouTube. Two hours later I had watched fighting scenes in Scaramouch, The Three Musketeers, and my favorite The Princess Bride. That's in addition to training videos by Bob Anderson and William Hobbs. Both are great sword choreographers for the screen.   

Here are some other cool things I’ve found while researching:
  • The town of Avery, England is built around the ancient standing stones and is very accessible.
  • In ancient Egypt, priests plucked every hair from their body, every hair!
  • The city of Londinium (which later became London) was established by the Romans in 43 AD. The capital however was Colchester. London became the capital of England in 100 AD.

Why do you love (or not love) research? What are some of the things you’ve found?

Sunday, July 22, 2012

What's In a Name ... or a Title For That Matter!

Photo by Andrzej Gdula

Choosing names of places and characters has always been a challenge for me. Some I admit will resonate only with my family, a family name became the name of a local manor in my first book and the condo where my parents lived was another manor name. They both sounded so … English.
Character names are a challenge too. My kids, well my daughters, rolled their eyes at my hero’s name in Knight of Runes, Arik. Their brother is Ari. They accuse him of being the prince anyway so they were not surprised. If they look close at the heroine of the story, Rebeka, they may be surprised to see some essences of themselves. (Only the good things I assure you!).
Sometimes I can agonize for days over a name. I research lists of common and not so common names. What I find the most helpful is a deep understanding each character. When I came up with a name for my villain in my new story he stopped me cold with a glare and an acerbic, “Really!” He looked down his nose at me. After thinking about it I had to agree with him. I continued my search and was happy with the result.   
The book title is a totally different story. My working title is Mine Forever. The words are significant to the story but for a medieval fantasy it just doesn’t work. I sent the story under this name into my editor. Carina Press will be publishing it but it needs a title change. This story is part of a five book series, The Stelton Legacy. That part of the title I got. Once again I struggle with the book title. I remembered reading a post of the Futuristic, Fantasy and Paranormal (an online chapter of RWA) blog about book titles, Creating Compelling Titles. Once again I was in the same boat as Anne Marsh. I’m re-reading her post.  It’s a good read. I’ve included it below.
My editor sent me a worksheet to help me and the Carina team develop a more compelling title. Aside from the obvious genre, timeframe, and setting other questions included:
  •       Key hooks, themes, and concepts
  •       Key actions and conflicts with corresponding key words
  •       Keywords
  •       Objects and symbols
  •       Favorite line and/or description
No, I haven’t come up with the new title yet but I’m working on it. I’ll definitely keep you informed. Here is the short story concept. Feel free to suggest a title.
In thirteenth century England, Alex Stelton finds his life in jeopardy after the king awards him Lisbeth’s cursed castle. Someone, or something, wants him dead. The knight’s trusted friend, Bryce Mitchell, secretly wants it all, the castle and the woman. He’ll stop at nothing to get them. Even set up the King’s favorite as a traitor. In order to save the man she loves and prevent being married off to Bryce, Lisbeth must make a crucial decision. Dare she rely on her knight to find a way to save them both or does she trust her magick and risk exposure and persecution as a witch?
Tuesday, April 12, 2011 at the FFnP Blog
Guest blogger Anne Marsh

Titles were originally an afterthought for me—a handful of words that got slapped on my book right before I shipped it off. At best, the title was a convenient shorthand for picking out my current WIP from its fellow computer files. I wrote the Cat book. Next, I wrote the Goblin book. And the Amazon book. When, as an unpublished author, I decided to send a handful of manuscripts off on the RWA contest circuit, I simply had to give the blasted manuscripts better titles, so I sat down and considered the key elements in the book: my Cat book was sexy, with a big, shapeshifting hero. Plus, an erotic hunt figured prominently in the book. I came up with ”Caught by the Cat” and patted myself on the back. As titles went, it was marginally better than “The Cat Book” (which sounded like it should be coffee table fare filled with pictures of the African savannah). And, alliteration had to count for something—right? Since “everyone” knows that New York always changes your title, I figured the title didn’t really matter (besides, I had this fabulous midnight epiphany that I’d call the next books in the series “Claimed by the Cat” and “Charmed by Cat,” although, after that, I’d probably have to end the series as I’d already run out of words that began with the letter “C”).

I was wrong.

I didn’t know squat about titles.

“Caught by the Cat” sold to an editor juding the Orange Rose contest. Soon after I sold, however, my editor gently asked how I would feel about changing the title. She wanted to find something edgier, something that packed an erotic punch. That sounded great to me—right up until she asked me to brainstorm a list of possible new titles. Fortunately, I was able to brainstorm with both my agent and my editor—and we ended up going with one of my editor’s ideas.

Why do titles matter? First and foremost, a title makes the reader look. A good title conveys the flavor of a book in just a few words. My agent said that “The Hunt” jumped out at her and would make her pick the book up from the shelf (score!). It also shrieked “Alpha male!,” which was our goal. Strong. Forceful. Sexy. Just like my hero.

A successful title also connects the books in a series. Repeated words, elements, or themes work well. For example, we could have called a trio of shapeshifter books: The Hunt, The Game, and The Breakpoint. Instead, we decided to play with variations on a hunt: “The Hunt,” “The Pursuit,” “The Capture. Always think ahead: how would you pitch the next book in the series? How will you tie them together.
Things to consider when you’re coming up with a title for you book:
  • The title needs to be short and to the point—it has to fit on the cover of a book and the graphic designer creating your cover doesn’t need the challenge of a five-line, polysyllabic tongue twister.
  • The title should hint at the tone of your book. Is the book dark and sexy? Sweet? Hero-centric or focused on the heroine?
  • The title of the book should also serve as a hook for the series (unless you’re truly planning just one standalone book). You may also want to brainstorm a series name -- especially for FF&P-ers, this is a      fabulous place to introduce your world-building.
  • Keep an open mind and get feedback from as many folks as possible. A truly successful title is marketable and hooks in as many readers as possible… so you want to get impressions from as many people as possible. What do they think of when you say your title? What kind of book would they guess the book is? What adjectives come to mind? If your beta readers are thinking “Oooh! Dark and sexy!” but you’re writing light paranormal—or vice versa—you need to rethink the title.
  • Search (Amazon is a great tool). Has anyone else used that title? It may not be a deal-breaker if someone else has used “your” title (the title I proposed for my forthcoming sexy contemporary, for example, was apparently used by an anthology a few years ago, but my editor wasn’t too concerned as the other book was an anthology).
There are lots of great titles out there, titles that make me go “Wow. Wish I’d thought of that!” The titles for Jacquelyn Frank’s Nightwalkers series, for example, let you know loud and clear that, when you crack those covers, you’re going to read about strong, forceful alphas. Jacob, Gideon, Elijah, Damien—these are forceful, honorable, no-nonsense Biblical names. Kathy Love, on the other hand, writes fabulously funny, sexy paranormal and her titles convey that message clearly– “Truth or Demon”, “What a Demon Wants”, “Fangs for the Memories.” Rebecca Zanetti’s two books—“Fated” and “Claimed”—use strong adjectives describing the relationship between the hero and the heroine in some very sexy terms. And, Karen Kelly’s books (“The Jaguar Prince,” “The Falcon Prince”) are tied together by the fact that her heroes are princes and shapeshifters.  Each title reflects the different stories we’re going to find between the covers and draws us in, hinting and promising at what we’ll find. I’ve picked up more than one book based on the title alone because I love the kind of story line the title hints at (cough—Karen Kelly—cough). The next time you’re naming your book, think about what kind of story you’re promising your reader—and what message you want to convey.
*****
A professional technical writer, Anne discovered that getting laid off was actually A Very Good Thing. While looking for her next writing gig, she picked up her pen (well, okay, she used her writing as an excuse to buy a new Apple laptop) and started writing. She soon discovered that writing was uncomfortably similar to sit-ups: add a few more crunches each day, wake up sore, but, by God, you will fit into that bikini. Or finish the book (she’s still working on the bikini). Now she cranks out software manuals during the daylight hours– and writes about alpha shapeshifters the rest of the time.

Sunday, July 15, 2012

Egypt and Greco-Roman Art, Mystery, Adventure and Romance

Years ago I traveled overseas for business and was gone for two weeks at a time. I traveled alone and kept my suitcase filled with paperback books. It was the perfect way to spend the evening after finishing up my reports and preparing for the next city.

On the long trip from New York to Egypt I consumed a romance mystery novel, The Mummy. It wasn't the classic story, definitely a romance. I wish I could remember the author. I do remember the story taking place in the 1920's. When I got to Cairo I stepped back in time. I walked through the Cairo Museum, a smallish building, that was filled to overflowing with mummies and sarcophagi. I took the obligatory trip to the Sphinx and Pyramids.

On a drive through the desert to Alexandria with my Egyptian colleague I saw sand dunes as large as mountains and in the distance large tanker ships that seemed to float through the desert. They were going through the Suez Canal. Business-wise the trip was a success. Personally, I reread my book as I experienced Egypt. It was more wonderful the second time.

When I returned home I once again scoured my local bookstore (we had them then) for something new. I found Elizabeth Peters. She's become one of my favorite authors. She writes about Amelia Peabody, a Victorian woman deeply in love with her husband, archaeologist Lord Radcliffe Emerson, her son, Ramses, and Egypt. The stories are filled with mystery, adventure, romance and Egypt.

You can find out more about Lady Amelia in a post by Shelley Noble as well as on Amelia Peabody's own website.

There is another author that writes along a similar vein, Tasha Alexander. Her Lady Emily series is also filled with mystery, adventure and romance but instead of Egypt, Lady Emily is enraptured with Greco-Roman antiquities. The series begins with Lady Emily trying to find out more about her late husband. A marriage of convenience, Lady Emily knew little about her archaeologist husband. By the end of several hundred pages Lady Emily solves the mystery and truly falls in love with her husband.

I'm excited that Tasha will be one of the speakers at this year's NJRW Put Your Heart in a Book Conference October 12-13.

I know some of you write about Egypt, Greece and Rome. Tell me about them. Better yet, send me your covers with a link and I'll post them here.

Sunday, July 8, 2012

Speaking to a Stone Wall


At the Romantic Times Convention last April I told my senior editor that I had learned a valuable lesson. When my book, Knight of Runes, was getting ready for release last November I asked her what I should do to promote it. She said write the next book. I thought she was crazy. This is my first book. No one knows who I am. Who will buy it if no one knows about it?
I read up on book promotion and marketing and as a result I did a three week blog tour. I tweeted. I Facebooked. I made swag to send to conferences. I did everything except write the next book. I watched as my colleague debut authors released their second and third book. I still hadn’t put pen to paper.
When I saw Angela in April my new story, a series of five books, was well underway. The beginning of June, Mine Forever , the first of the series was packed up and sent into m editor. It’s not a sure thing so I sit and wait to hear if they want to publish it. In the meantime, my now multi-published colleagues and critique partners encouraged me to start the next story. 
Where is the stone wall? I’m getting to it. 
I work with building my characters before I work through the plot. I admit I laid the ground work for the second story nicely in the first one so I had a head start. But speaking to my hero, Cameron, was like... speaking to a stone wall. He's handsome, outgoing, tall and blond. He's a throw-back to his family's Viking influence but no matter how much I spoke to him, how many questions I asked he didn't reveal very much. I love the strong silent type but wasn't getting the second book written. 
On a whim, I spoke to Lady Barbara, the heroine. She was much more communicative. In a matter of hours I had the goal, motivation and conflict right there in front of me.
My point is sometimes when you can’t get to the route of the issue, problem, action, etc. change your perspective or point of view. For me, the walls came tumbling down!
How to you get around problems? How do you take down those walls?

Sunday, July 1, 2012

72 Quotes About Writing


I took some time to catch up on blogs and email. I had tagged them to read later in the week when I had more time. One email was from Writer's Digest. This post had an article by Zachary Petit. It was a collection of quotes on writing. He said he uses these quotes to keep him motivated. I can see why.
 Here is Mr. Petit's full article. I'm certain you have some favorite quotes. What are they? What keeps you motivated?  





A good writing  quote can give me goosebumps.
For those days when the well is feeling dry and a tad echo-y, I keep a running list of my favorite quotes—things I’ve read, things I’ve edited, things I’ve found in the WD archives, things people have said to me in interviews.
Such tiny, perfect revelations.
A couple of years ago, I posted a portion of this list on my old WD blog. Recently, someone asked if I was still collecting quotes.
Here’s the latest iteration of the list. (I’d love to expand it, too—please share some of your favorites in the Comments section of this blog post.)
Happy Friday, and happy writing.
                                                           *
“The road to hell is paved with works-in-progress.”
—Philip Roth
“The road to hell is paved with adverbs.”
—Stephen King
“Who wants to become a writer? And why? Because it’s the answer to everything. … It’s the streaming reason for living. To note, to pin down, to build up, to create, to be astonished at nothing, to cherish the oddities, to let nothing go down the drain, to make something, to make a great flower out of life, even if it’s a cactus.”
—Enid Bagnold
“To gain your own voice, you have to forget about having it heard.”
—Allen Ginsberg, WD
“Cheat your landlord if you can and must, but do not try to shortchange the Muse. It cannot be done. You can’t fake quality any more than you can fake a good meal.”
—William S. Burroughs
“All readers come to fiction as willing accomplices to your lies. Such is the basic goodwill contract made the moment we pick up a work of fiction.”
—Steve Almond, WD
“Writing a book is a horrible, exhausting struggle, like a long bout of some painful illness. One would never undertake such a thing if one were not driven on by some demon whom one can neither resist nor understand.”
—George Orwell
“It ain’t whatcha write, it’s the way atcha write it.”
—Jack Kerouac, WD
“Not a wasted word. This has been a main point to my literary thinking all my life.”
—Hunter S. Thompson
“When I sit down to write a book, I do not say to myself, ‘I am going to produce a work of art.’ I write it because there is some lie that I want to expose, some fact to which I want to draw attention, and my initial concern is to get a hearing.”
—George Orwell
“I don’t care if a reader hates one of my stories, just as long as he finishes the book.”
—Roald Dahl, WD
“The freelance writer is a man who is paid per piece or per word or perhaps.”
—Robert Benchley
“We are all apprentices in a craft where no one ever becomes a master.”
—Ernest Hemingway
“Every secret of a writer’s soul, every experience of his life, every quality of his mind, is written large in his works.”
—Virginia Woolf
“Making people believe the unbelievable is no trick; it’s work. … Belief and reader absorption come in the details: An overturned tricycle in the gutter of an abandoned neighborhood can stand for everything.”
—Stephen King, WD
“If a nation loses its storytellers, it loses its childhood.”
—Peter Handke
“To defend what you’ve written is a sign that you are alive.”
—William Zinsser, WD
“If I had not existed, someone else would have written me, Hemingway, Dostoyevsky, all of us.”
—William Faulkner
“For your born writer, nothing is so healing as the realization that he has come upon the right word.”
—Catherine Drinker Bowen
“Each writer is born with a repertory company in his head. Shakespeare has perhaps 20 players. … I have 10 or so, and that’s a lot. As you get older, you become more skillful at casting them.”
—Gore Vidal
“We’re past the age of heroes and hero kings. … Most of our lives are basically mundane and dull, and it’s up to the writer to find ways to make them interesting.”
—John Updike, WD
“The greatest part of a writer’s time is spent in reading, in order to write; a man will turn over half a library to make one book.”
—Samuel Johnson
“If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it. Or, if proper usage gets in the way, it may have to go. I can’t allow what we learned in English composition to disrupt the sound and rhythm of the narrative.”
—Elmore Leonard
“Write. Rewrite. When not writing or rewriting, read. I know of no shortcuts.”
—Larry L. King, WD
“Know your literary tradition, savor it, steal from it, but when you sit down to write, forget about worshiping greatness and fetishizing masterpieces.”
—Allegra Goodman
“I’m out there to clean the plate. Once they’ve read what I’ve written on a subject, I want them to think, ‘That’s it!’ I think the highest aspiration people in our trade can have is that once they’ve written a story, nobody will ever try it again.”
—Richard Ben Cramer
“There are no laws for the novel. There never have been, nor can there ever be.”
—Doris Lessing
“Style means the right word. The rest matters little.”
—Jules Renard
“Style is to forget all styles.”
—Jules Renard
“I do not over-intellectualize the production process. I try to keep it simple: Tell the damned story.”
—Tom Clancy, WD
“The writing of a novel is taking life as it already exists, not to report it but to make an object, toward the end that the finished work might contain this life inside it and offer it to the reader. The essence will not be, of course, the same thing as the raw material; it is not even of the same family of things. The novel is something that never was before and will not be again.”
—Eudora Welty, WD
“One thing that helps is to give myself permission to write badly. I tell myself that I’m going to do my five or 10 pages no matter what, and that I can always tear them up the following morning if I want. I’ll have lost nothing—writing and tearing up five pages would leave me no further behind than if I took the day off.”
—Lawrence Block, WD
“Don’t expect the puppets of your mind to become the people of your story. If they are not realities in your own mind, there is no mysterious alchemy in ink and paper that will turn wooden figures into flesh and blood.”
—Leslie Gordon Barnard, WD
“If you tell the reader that Bull Beezley is a brutal-faced, loose-lipped bully, with snake’s blood in his veins, the reader’s reaction may be, ‘Oh, yeah!’ But if you show the reader Bull Beezley raking the bloodied flanks of his weary, sweat-encrusted pony, and flogging the tottering, red-eyed animal with a quirt, or have him booting in the protruding ribs of a starved mongrel and, boy, the reader believes!”
—Fred East, WD
“Plot is people. Human emotions and desires founded on the realities of life, working at cross purposes, getting hotter and fiercer as they strike against each other until finally there’s an explosion—that’s Plot.”
—Leigh Brackett, WD
“The first sentence can’t be written until the final sentence is written.”
—Joyce Carol Oates, WD
“When your story is ready for rewrite, cut it to the bone. Get rid of every ounce of excess fat. This is going to hurt; revising a story down to the bare essentials is always a little like murdering children, but it must be done.”
—Stephen King, WD
“Genius gives birth, talent delivers. What Rembrandt or Van Gogh saw in the night can never be seen again. Born writers of the future are amazed already at what they’re seeing now, what we’ll all see in time for the first time, and then see imitated many times by made writers.”
–Jack Kerouac, WD
“Long patience and application saturated with your heart’s blood—you will either write or you will not—and the only way to find out whether you will or not is to try.”
—Jim Tully, October 1923
“All stories have to at least try to explain some small portion of the meaning of life. You can do that in 20 minutes, and 15 inches. I still remember a piece that the great Barry Bearak did in The Miami Herald some 30 years ago. It was a nothing story, really: Some high school kid was leading a campaign to ban books he found offensive from the school library. Bearak didn’t even have an interview with the kid, who was ducking him. The story was short, mostly about the issue. But Bearak had a fact that he withheld until the kicker. The fact put the whole story, subtly, in complete perspective. The kicker noted the true, wonderful fact that the kid was not in school that day because “his ulcer was acting up.” Meaning of life, 15 inches.”
—Gene Weingarten, WD
“Beware of advice—even this.”
—Carl Sandburg, WD
“I would advise anyone who aspires to a writing career that before developing his talent he would be wise to develop a thick hide.”
—Harper Lee, WD
“I think the deeper you go into questions, the deeper or more interesting the questions get. And I think that’s the job of art.”
—Andre Dubus, WD
“Geniuses can be scintillating and geniuses can be somber, but it’s that inescapable sorrowful depth that shines through—originality.”
—Jack Kerouac, WD
“People say, ‘What advice do you have for people who want to be writers?’ I say, they don’t really need advice, they know they want to be writers, and they’re gonna do it. Those people who know that they really want to do this and are cut out for it, they know it.”
—R.L. Stine, WD
“I don’t need an alarm clock. My ideas wake me.”
—Ray Bradbury, WD
“Just write every day of your life. Read intensely. Then see what happens. Most of my friends who are put on that diet have very pleasant careers.”
—Ray Bradbury, WD
“Let the world burn through you. Throw the prism light, white hot, on paper.”
—Ray Bradbury, WD
“Remember: Plot is no more than footprints left in the snow after your characters have run by on their way to incredible destinations.”
—Ray Bradbury, WD
“I don’t believe in being serious about anything. I think life is too serious to be taken seriously.”
—Ray Bradbury, WD
“It’s none of their business that you have to learn to write. Let them think you were born that way.”
—Ernest Hemingway
“Writers are always selling somebody out.”
—Joan Didion
“Writing is not necessarily something to be ashamed of, but do it in private and wash your hands afterwards.”
—Robert A. Heinlein
“Keep a small can of WD-40 on your desk—away from any open flames—to remind yourself that if you don’t write daily, you will get rusty.”
—George Singleton
“There is only one plot—things are not what they seem.”
—Jim Thompson
“Anyone who is going to be a writer knows enough at 15 to write several novels.”
—May Sarton
“I think all writing is a disease. You can’t stop it.”
—William Carlos Williams
“The most beautiful things are those that madness prompts and reason writes.”
—Andre Gide
“Literature is strewn with the wreckage of men who have minded beyond reason the opinions of others.”
—Virginia Woolf
“If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it.”
—Elmore Leonard
“You do not have to explain every single drop of water contained in a rain barrel. You have to explain one drop—H2O. The reader will get it.”
—George Singleton
“When I say work I only mean writing. Everything else is just odd jobs.”
—Margaret Laurence
“The difference between the almost right word and the right word is … the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning.”
—Mark Twain
“I always start writing with a clean piece of paper and a dirty mind.”
—Patrick Dennis
“Do not hoard what seems good for a later place in the book, or for another book; give it, give it all, give it now.”
—Annie Dillard
“A book is simply the container of an idea—like a bottle; what is inside the book is what matters.”
—Angela Carter
“I almost always urge people to write in the first person. … Writing is an act of ego and you might as well admit it.”
—William Zinsser
“When writing a novel a writer should create living people; people, not characters. A character is a caricature.”
—Ernest Hemingway
“Write while the heat is in you. … The writer who postpones the recording of his thoughts uses an iron which has cooled to burn a hole with.”
—Henry David Thoreau
“You don’t actually have to write anything until you’ve thought it out. This is an enormous relief, and you can sit there searching for the point at which the story becomes a toboggan and starts to slide.”
—Marie de Nervaud, WD
“Whether a character in your novel is full of choler, bile, phlegm, blood or plain old buffalo chips, the fire of life is in there, too, as long as that character lives.”
—James Alexander Thom
          “Writers live twice.”
          —Natalie Goldberg