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NYC Bound!

I’m leaving very early in the AM to catch my flight to New York City! I have never been before, so this is one major big adventure for me.

I probably won’t be able to blog much (hotel wi-fi is $17 a day which means I’ll probably be using my phone for internet…not conducive to blogging!) but I will be on twitter. If you haven’t found me there already I’m maiseyyates and I’ll be doing tweets with the #RWA11 hashtag if you want to follow conference news! AND I will have goodies. Romance Trading Cards, a few books and some candy! So you’ll want to come find me. XD

Also, The Highest Price to pay will be releasing on Mills and Boon UK in my absence! Look for it on July first. Yummy French bad boy hero…scarred heroine. Fashion shows. Really fabulous shoes.

Shall be back in not too long and you KNOW I will have goss. And ideas. And pictures and generally tons to blab about!

Be good!

Maisey

Making the Hard Choices

I just turned The Aussie in to my editor at the beginning of the week. It’s an idea I’ve been playing with for months off and on between revisions and the continuity book. It’s been started, stopped, had the hero recast, and started, and stopped, and started again.

And that’s all without my editor ever seeing it!

I loved writing. Loved loved! My heroine was fun and creative, with some great quirks that made her really fun to write. And my hero was this fab engaging, funny, witty guy. I loved him from the moment I cast him. (many apologies to the hero who go the boot, I will use you later, promise.)

And things went on that way, with the loving and laughing for a long time. I love a funny hero, I love a hero who expresses his Alpha Male through an easy kind of cool confidence. And my Aussie hero had all that!

But something started changing in him. A kind of intensity began to come up beneath the cool, calm exterior. And by the time the black moment hit, and my hero was backed into a corner emotionally, he descended to a level of bastardry that made me so angry I wanted to punch him in the face.

I closed the document.

I walked away for a while. Could he really do that? *angst* It was so cold. *angst ANGST*

It was the worst thing he could do to my heroine given her past.

*eats cookies* *angsts* *eats more cookies* *haz sugar coma*

It was the only way he could put distance between them. Distance he was desperate for so he could protect his heart.

*deep breath*

So I came back to it. I read it. In snatches. My stomach was in knots. And I made what he did just a little bit colder.

Oh! The drama. It actually HURT to write the scene. Not quite shoving pins beneath my fingernails, but not at all pleasant!

This is the second time, recently, this has happened to me with a MS. With the continuity book, I had a basic outline, but not the real depth of the story, so when it was time to reveal something about my heroine, the secret that tumbled out of her mouth even shocked me. And it made me a little bit sick to write it.

Can I do that? I asked myself that a hundred times. Ultimately, there wasn’t another path I could imagine for her. So I wrote it. Quickly. And I had to go back to the scene later to add the depth it needed because I really couldn’t do it in one shot.

When the MS was accepted, that was a point of the MS my editor mentioned as being particularly powerful.

I’m not sure what the verdict is on Aussie Boy yet. But I do know that, not matter what, it was best to follow my gut, even when my gut felt a bit wrenched! Sometimes you have to make hard choices, and truly hurt your characters, and you, to heal them.

To a non-writer I think this might sound a bit strange, but there are times when a character reveals a truth to you that you don’t like, but you know, once you’ve heard that hard truth, that there is no other way to write that character’s story. Even if it hurts.

In the end, I think those books, the ones that make you bleed on the page, the ones that force you to be honest, are the ones that turn out the best. Even if writing them makes you a little bit of a crazy person. 😉

Make the hard choices. Make the HONEST choices. Your MS will be better for it!

Two Paths Converged…

No, not talking about the road less traveled. I’m talking about the hero and heroine in a romance.

In a romance, what we’re writing about is two people who are on separate paths…paths that are destined to intersect. And of course, we want to write about that collision that happens when the paths do cross!

I was thinking about this as I was working on final proof corrections for Hajar’s Hidden Legacy (UK Jan 2012).

It opens with their paths colliding, as the heroine kind of bursts, unwanted, into the hero’s life, and it ends with them walking on the same path, hand in hand.

And I think ultimately, that’s the goal. The take two people who have different pasts, different goals, different beliefs and values even, and bring them together. To build a bond between them that is so strong, that the reader will believe that they are ready, in the end, to leave the separate paths, and merge together, going in a new direction together.

I think a (not THE key, but a key) to that is to make sure both characters change. Don’t have the hero drag the heroine onto his path and frog march her down it into the happily ever after that he knows is good for her!

To me, it’s so satisfying when they can both be better because of each other. When the hero brings out the heroine’s strength, when the heroine can help the hero find his vulnerability. When they can both teach each other love and compromise.

I so much enjoy watching, not just attraction, but friendship blossoming between a h & H. I love it when I can imagine them talking and laughing fifty years after the book ends.

I love picturing them happy, after all the drama is over, walking hand in hand down their shared path.

Shiny Happy People…or not

Perfect people are boring. At least, I think they might be. They don’t exist. Outside of fiction at least, and when they do populate the book you’re trying to read, or the movie you’re trying to watch, it can get tedious very quickly.

We all try to make real people, and that means giving our characters flaws and foibles. Foot in mouth disease, a little clumsy, a quick temper. But what about characters with seriously dark stuff in their past or present? How far is too far…when do you take them where readers can’t follow.

This is highly subjective. So my post is going to be highly subjective. But hopefully, somewhere in there, you can figure out some things that work for you.

I’ve written a few characters with Big Mistakes in their backgrounds. And writing those characters I struggled with how far to take them. The conclusion I came to, more or less, is that it’s no so much about what they did, but why they did it, and how they feel about it now.

So when dealing with dark and damaged characters, characters you want readers to love, and even hurt for over the sins of their pasts, there are a few things to keep in mind.

Motivation: Why did they do it? If the reason is compelling enough, if you make us get it, put us in their shoes, help of feel their desperation, then it’s a rare reader who will condemn them for having it all blow up in their face. If the heroine commits a grave sin to save her child, then of most readers will be able to forgive her.

Side note: I think strong motivation is helpful, but it’s also possible to have a character who spent some time in their life just not being a very good person. But that makes the next step even more important…

The past in the present: How has it changed them? Are they remorseful? And by that I don’t mean are they wallowing in self-pity, but I mean have they admitted they were wrong to themselves? I think, and this is that subjectivity, it looks pretty ugly to have a character who did some Very Bad Things copping an attitude like ‘well what!? I did it. I’m not ashamed.’ Reason being, if it’s something that really hurt someone else, they just look like a total jerk. I want to see that they’ve changed because of it, that there was a consequence.

Let us see the change: The above change we were talking about. I want to see it. If the hero was an alcoholic I don’t want to see him relapse ten pages before the end of the book because if that happens, I’ll question his ability to truly be different for the heroine. I’m all right with seeing him struggle with it, but I want to see that he can master it now. Because I want to believe the change, so show it to me, don’t just tell me it will all me okay!

Make us understand: If the bad behavior is happening in the book (The Christmas Love-Child by Jennie Lucas is one of my favorite examples of this, because she takes us into her very damaged hero, and has us rooting for him!) then make me understand why. If the hero is flat out lying to the heroine, put me in his shoes. Show me WHY he’s doing it. (this doesn’t mean we always have to have it all explained right away, but it’s nice to have insight into characters so you can still root for them too. Rather than having them cast as the villain until the very end of the book!)

Remember that you already love your characters, and I don’t: I think this might be where some of the flawed characters fall down. As writers, we know them inside and out, we love them at conception. But the reader, and the editor, do not. Our characters have to earn their love, and while we, the writer, will love them through all manner of bad behavior without any redeption in sight, the reader will not. They have to see a glimmer of good. They need a reason to care.

This brings us too…

Redemption: The flawed character needs redemption. They need to find a way to forgive themselves, or find a way to ask for redemption. If it’s a heroine living in guilt for long enough to needs to be able to step out of it and demand better than the condemnation she’s been getting from those around her. If it’s a hero who’s been hiding from his past sins he needs to stand up and face them. But the greater the damage, the bigger the triumph must be in the end. It’s what makes reading about a flawed character worth it. That ultimate payoff where we see them move forward with their life and into their happily ever after.

So there are some of my thoughts on flawed and damaged characters. Feel free to add your own!

One Girl’s Thoughts on Unpredictability

I think a few of us have heard this word now, and there’s a lot of speculation going on about WHAT this means.

I first heard it in a phone conversation with my editor. She said that’s the word going around there at Rom HQ. Unpredictability. To take a book that we all know will have a happy ending, and make the journey fresh and unpredictable so that the reader isn’t guessing every event, every word and minute facial expression that your characters will make next.

When my editor said the word to me, it was to say I had managed to accomplish it in my MS (Hajar’s Hidden Legacy, Jan 2012). She said there was a scene in it that truly shocked her, one she hadn’t seen coming at all and how, when the MS took that turn it had her hooked.

She followed that up with this statement, and I think *this* is the big major Ah-HAH!! She said: If you take two strong characters and let them lead the MS, it makes it fresh and unpredictable.

Character is a huge part of what makes a MS unpredictable. They help create a kind of organic sense of the unexpected. I think if you try TOO hard to be unpredictable, things go against character and story structure. But when you take two characters who have their own unique ways of talking and thinking, and put them as proactive leaders of their own story, you can make something fresh without the WTH?!

I’ve used this as an example before, but I’m going to use it again. There was a small moment in His Virgin Acquisition, where Marco pulled Elaine in and kissed her. When they parted she ‘gave a cry’ and then she got all quiet.

My editor: why did she give a cry? Was it because you’d read other heroines doing that in that situation?

Me: … 0_0 maybe.

It wasn’t fitting with her character and it just came across silly and cliche. When I revisited that scene later, I had him kiss her still. But she responded to it with dialogue. Because Elaine was a talker, and I think that’s more natural for her. Not to be silenced by something like that, but to try and make it disappear by talking.

Again, that’s a very small moment, but those moments can all add up to make something that’s either not quite rising above what seems typical, or to create something that seems new and bright. And that’s what you want, a sparkly, shiny MS that brings YOU, and with that, brings an element of surprise.

Even if you’re bringing the unexpected in a grander form (IVF clinic mix-up sees an ordinary girl accidentally bearing the heir to the throne) you still have to bring it all the way through and into the characters.

Ultimately, there are only so many plots. It’s the characters in them, and the execution of those plots that make a reader (an editor) care.

I have another quick example of how unpredictable can come in. Without being spoilery…Last year I was asked if I wanted to write an office romance for 21st Century Bosses. I LOVE writing office romances. So I jumped all over that. My only directive was to have it be an office romance. So it was wide open!

My first thought was boss secretary. (and I am NOT knocking that at all. I love it. I will probably write one one day.) But then I started thinking about the power balance. (That the heroine have power of some kind is important to me) Then I thought of a heroine who worked for the hero…but got to tell him what to do. I made my heroine my hero’s PR person. So she works for him, and yet she advises him. He pays her to tell him what to do in many ways, which means he has to respect and value and her opinion and her ability to do her job.

Right there it brings a different dynamic into the employer/employee romance. Further than that, Lily, my heroine, is all about image. That includes her own. She goes to the gym, she has her nails done. She loves colorful shoes. Those little details make their way into the book, in Lily’s mannerisms and in conversation. Even in having them go to the gym together (off screen).

I didn’t reinvent the wheel with that book. But hopefully I was able to inject something a bit new and unpredictable.

I think we’ll do a Maisey List to sum up:

1. Organic unpredictability comes from character (not a random outside force)

2. Organic unpredictability furthers the conflict. (again, we don’t want to have a zombie attack in the missle of the book because it’s UNEXPECTED!)

3. Use small moments to keep adding little bursts of minty fresh unexpected. (reactions, facial expression, find new ways to say things. Really ponder if your hero would think that, or if he’s only thinking that because you’ve read other heroes thinking it.)

4. Take a chance on unexpected plot elements. Again, in the interest of furthering conflict and staying with character. 😉

5. Take a chance on unique, strong characters. A hero who longs for a wife and children? A heroine who’s successful and strong in her career. A hero who’s trying to escape his culture and economic origins. A heroine who is determined to reclaim her family home, no matter the cost.

6. Unpredictability starts with character. (see above.)

If you have any questions, I’d be happy to get a discussion going in comments!

Hot Rod: The Man, the Myth, the Legend…

Got word from my lovely Stand-In epic ninja editor today that Hot Rod is sold! Now he’s free to rev engines world-wide as he races to the checkered flag for his HEA…

And no. It’s not a racing a book. 😉

But his name is Prince Rodriguez Anguiano (See where Hot Rod came from?)

It was interesting working off of a prompt, with characters that were sort of outlined for me. But I learned something very quickly, well, it’s something I knew, but it really drove the point home: It’s ALL in the execution. I got a very loose, basic description of two characters, and their situation.

The characters I was given were SO different from what I would normally take on. And I ended up loving that! Hot Rod specifically is such a shameless playboy. I don’t usually write a playboy hero, so taking on this man who saw sex as a sport and finding a way to make him work for me, someone who doesn’t care much for that type, was a fun challenge. To try to dig in and really ‘get’ him was so rewarding and in the end, he has become one of my favorite heroes.

My first thought when I got the description of his character was Latin Hugh Grant. A man who had the ability to charm his way out of incorrigible behavior. Even more, I saw Rodriguez as a bad boy who, beneath it all, was a good man.

I really enjoyed taking a look at an alpha hero from a different point of view. A man who had it all, power and charisma, but chose to live a very shallow existence in order to avoid deeply painful emotional truths.

I was really thrilled when my editor said she liked his character, because in some ways it was hard to get right. With him, it was about layers. That he could behave in a shallow manner, and yet not be shallow through and through. That he could be irreverent and fun, but beneath that badly damaged. A man who could charm a room, or tear it apart if he had to protect the woman he loved.

Because a lot of the set up of this book was laid out for me, it really gave me a chance to see how much character matters. I mean, I knew it mattered, but I could have taken the same outline and made Rodriguez a severe, cold character who dealt with his issues by being a loner, and I would have had a completely different book with a whole different tone. I could have taken my heroine and made her shy and demure and that would have changed it further.

Character matters. it’s the characters that make a book different. The characters that make readers care. Characters can come into a book with familiar themes and make it fresh by having their own unique reactions that relate to their background and personality.

Don’t underestimate the power of good characters!

And don’t underestimate the power of Hot Rod. 😉

Also, you might have noticed I have a new little tabby up there in my bar thingy beneath the banner (I am a tech wizard. And yes, those are the real terms.) you can look at my new Romance Trading Cards there and find info about getting some of your own! If you’re at RWA, make sure you come find me and I’ll give you some!

Maisey Goes to the Big Apple (A Guide to RWA Nationals)

*1950s music plays in the background*

Hey there, Maisey! Yes, you! I see you huddling there in the corner, hiding from the Doubt Crow! Get on up! Conference is coming up soon, and it would be keen if you were prepared!

Say, you can’t wear your pajamas to Nationals. There are people there! You need to wear real clothes! The kind that don’t all have elastic waistbands. And that means putting on a pair of hard soled shoes and ditching your Muk Luks!

*Maisey goes to the salon*

And voila! Ready and able to go to conference!

*Maisey reclaims her blog* Okay, that was a decent rundown on conference. But conference is a lot more than fashion. I know there are going to be nine bajillion posts on conference and what to do and what to expect and blah blah. But this is mine, so…nine bajillion and one.

First of all, I was a conference virgin last year, (insert your favorite deflowering joke here. I will take the Italian billionaire, kthxbai) and I went out into the big wide world with wide eyes and two gigantic, conspicuous ribbons on my badge. First Time and First Sale. And oh boy, those ribbons get you attention! First thing I noticed, people are nice!

Well, that’s a lie. My very first experience was me looking around like a lost puppy on the first morning, clutching my four dollar resort coffee in my little claws as I scuttled about the lobby area, totally floored by the names I was seeing all around me.

I sat down on a bench and this woman sat next to me. And popped my coffee straight up in the air. She then gave me the stank eye before wandering back off into the fray. I stared down at my coffee. My one and only friend. It was gone. Dead.

But AFTER THAT I discovered that most people are really nice. And that the resort had a bottomless mug I could get endless coffee refills in.

People were interested in me. They wanted to know what my sale was, how I liked my first conference. And some people (well, two) actually knew who I was! And a lot of my stress was totally for nothing!

So here’s a handy Maisey list to help you get through conference (whether RWA, RWAus, RNA or other).

1. There are no stupid questions. Someone will always help direct you, so don’t be afraid to ask for direction!

2. What you wear isn’t all that important. It’s fun to obsess about, heaven knows *I* do, but honestly, there’s so much going on, and the company is much more important than anything else. Practical advice is: business casual at minimum. 😉

3.There are a lot of amazing things going on. All the time! But don’t let that pressure you. Have fun. This is our chance to talk to other authors, to network with professionals, to just be with people who truly get our own brand of writer crazy.

4. Don’t stalk agents and editors. The poor things are like hunted animals at a conference. Being nice and polite is the order of the day. 😉 No pitching books in the pool.

5. Be nice. To everyone. Like…you know…don’t spill people’s coffee then give them the stank eye. And maybe don’t um…badmouth Harlequin while you’re standing in a line ready to get FREE books from the Harlequin signing. Because you never know…you might be talking to a Harlequin author. (this also happened to me, and I know they had no clue who I was. But oh wow…faux paus.) So just be nice!

So there you have it. My Maisey List!

I hope to see many of you at RWA Nationals this year. And those of you attending other conferences, I hope to hear lots of great stories and see amazing pictures! If you have any questions…feel free to ask in the comments!

The Man Who Changed My Writing

Writing is a constant learning experience. At least it has been for me. Each MS has taught me something new, has added another skill to my arsenal.

One MS in particular really pushed me, really taught me, and in that MS it was one character in particular who changed the way I looked at my writing.

Adham al bin Sudar, hero from The Inherited Bride, changed the life of his heroine, and he changed my writing for the better.

Do I sound crazy yet? Really! It’s true.

Adham taught me to avoid cliche in a real, meaningful way. Because of him, I had to try and look at things differently, to really think about what I had to do to serve his character in the best possible way.

I wrote The Inherited Bride three times. The first time before I was published. My editor read the partial and gave me some revisions that inspired me to rewrite the whole MS. I was feeling confident in that version, and after she signed off on the new partial, I sent in the new full.

It was not good. Mainly because I was doing Adham’s character a disservive. I’d said he was honorable. I’d said his situation, his love for the heroine, was impossible. And yet he cast his honor off too easily, and the impossible situation was solved far too quickly.

This was an example of me going with what had worked for me with the previous two books. I was following that structure because it had worked before. But it wasn’t right for Adham.

To handle his character, a man of such honor who fell for the one woman he should never have looked at with desire in ther first place, was going to require some work.

My editor had a very long phone conversation about him. She said, I don’t even know if you’ll be able to have a love scene in this book. I said, how will they ever be together if I don’t throw in this contrivance? She said, I have no idea.

We couldn’t see their HEA. I didn’t see the HEA until I was nearly through with the book. And in the end, it’s one of the books I’m most proud of.

I created a hard situation, and I had to learn to play by the rules I established. To have my hero stand firm in who he was, and not change just because I thought it was the point in the MS that he should, but to push him, time and again. To break him.

This was the first book I sat and cried over while writing. Because I created a strong hero that I fell in love with, that I wanted to see happy, and I had to destroy him to help him find it.

This book, that character, changed the game for me. Writing him taught me to reach deep, to let my characters lead, to chase the hard stuff instead of running from it.

Another thing I learned from him, if you find yourself avoiding something because it’s too painful, it probably means it’s the real ‘truth’ of the MS. It’s probably the thing you really have to attack head on.

Have you had a ‘game changer’ MS or character? Either one you’ve read or written? Tell me about it!

And remember you can buy The Inherited Bride in stores in North America for just a few more days. And online in print and e in the US, UK, Australia and India!

In Which I Rant a Rant That Has Been Ranted Before

So, it’s come to my attention that we women are too stupid to handle reading fiction. Yeah, I didn’t think that sounded right either. But if you read the recent (oh, heck, recent? What am I saying…the constant, tired, old…) articles going on about romance novels, that’s the impression you’d get.

Because readers of romance must be lacking something, their lives must be sad hollow shells. Reading it will distort their perspective. Poor little dears.

I’m sorry but a great big WHAT THE HECK??

Is anyone worried about men watching action movies? Reading Lord of the Rings because it might make them dissatisifed with the world we live in and long for the shires of and elven woods of Middle Earth? NO. You don’t.

I am tired. Sick to death of defending my genre from those who find it either low-brow or ‘dangerous’ somehow. I am sick to death of defending my career choice and my reading choice.

Because not only are romances seen as low-brow and somehow beneath the true intellectuals, there are those who have called them dangerous. Dangerous to women’s psyches. Dangerous to marriage.

Because somehow they believe that if women read about monogamous, romantic relationships they will grow dissatisfied with being in a monogamous romanctic relationship. Wait…how does that make sense?

What do romances portray? Loving relationships with mutual respect, emotional and sexual satisfaction.

Well, good gravy we can’t have the womenfolk wanting that. Next they’ll want the right to vote!

Women can read fiction without believing they really should be a virgin secretary being seduced by a Greek billionaire. Why? Because…well, we’re smart like that. Just like men seem to be able to watch action movies without being convinced they’re going to engage in a car chase, and then get it on with the super hot chick that’s riding shot gun after the mayhem has died down.

It’s silly to think a man who watches too many Jason Statham movies would suddenly trade his life as a cubicle dweller in for the life of a hired assassin. And yet…it seems to be a school of thought that women who read fiction, romance specifically, will lose their hold on reality and try to trade their man in for Fabio. Or something.

But what’s the real concern here? That a woman might learn to have standards? That she might desire a loving relationship? That she might..oh no! Expect sex to be GOOD with her husband? Or is it really that men don’t want to have to live up to any kind of standard? Do they not want their wives to know that men can treat women well? Is it abusers who don’t want women reading romances and waking up to the fact that there are men who treasure their wives rather than hitting them every day? Or is it that they just don’t want to have to be a hero to their wives because it’s too much work?

My husband, in response to the controversy on twitter yesterday said: Poor inferior men.

Because my husband isn’t threatened by the men in a novel. My husband knows that I don’t want a yacht, or a penthouse or a castle in the highlands. I want his love. He knows that when I read a romance novel I remember what it was like to fall in love with him, that it brings back good feelings. He knows that when I’ve spent the day doing laundry and changing diapers, I’ll probably feel sexy at the end of the day because my mind had a chance to focus on ROMANCE.

Romance doesn’t hurt my marriage. If anything, it’s helped it. I am not so stupid that I suddenly believe an Italian billionaire with a mullet needs to sweep me off my feet so that I can truly be happy.

That isn’t what the books are about. They are about love. And if you thinkg wanting love in your marriage is an unrealistic expectation I feel sorry for you.

Romance novels remind me why love is important. They remind me why I need romance in my life with my own personal hero.

If there are problems in a marriage, then those involved should look at the issues, not cast blame. You can’t point the finger at romance novels for a lack of communication or a lack of love and respect.

And if wanting love and respect is a fantasy, then I’m not joining reality.

I love romance novels. My husband loves that I love them. No dissatisfaction here.

Characters Make the Book

I was thinking about this today. Well, actually I’ve been thinking about it a lot. Because there are only so many stories that can be told, I don’t care what genre you’re talking about. There are just only so many plots.

So what makes a book fresh? The author’s voice, for one. Their phrasing, their executions. But also? Character.

Becuase populating a manuscript with interesting, unique characters is the thing that really makes the book.

In Hajar’s Hidden Legacy (Beast Sheikh, which comes out in the UK in January 2012) I borrowed pretty shamelessly from a classic fairy tale that I’ve mentioned on the blog is a favorite of mine: Beauty and the Beast. I didn’t tell my editor I was using that story as my inspiration, but after she read the MS that was one of the first things she said to me, was that it was quite like Beauty and the Beast.

That story served as my inspiration, but I put new characters in it. And it was those characters that allowed me to write a book based off of a tale as old as time (har har) and have it genuinely surprise my editor.

Because my hero came by his beastliness in a way that has left him scarred physically and emotionally. And he reacts to things in a certain way as a result (this is me, not giving spoilers. Nyah!) And my heroine, who has a spine of solid steel, is able to stand her ground with him.

The framework of the story is one you know, but the people in it make it new.

It’s all about character. That’s one of the most exciting thinsg about being a writer! We’re telling stories about people. And while there are only so many plots, think of how many people there are! All from such different backgrounds, who see the world in their own wholly unique and personal way. Who respond to trauma in different ways, who react differently in touch situations.

My inspiration for characters really does come from everywhere. I watch the show Hoarders sometimes (forces me to clean my house) and I was wondering how it would affect a heroine if she’d been raised in a home with a mother who was a hoarder, who seemed to value things over people. How might that make the heroine see herself and the people around her? How might she respond to a hero who was poor and now that he’s become a billionaire, he is a bit materialistic because he’s gone from nothing, to being able to have everything?

Those two characters could be brought together in any number of ways, and their life experiences would shape and change the plot, make it as different as they are!

Characters make the book. You want your reader rooting for them, identifying with them, feeling their pain and their triumph. Characters make the book because they’re what give the book life.

That’s why character is so important!

Just a little two cents post. 😉

Encouragement

This post has been on my mind recently, but I wasn’t really sure how to write it down, or what to say. So I’m just going to give it my best shot.

I know a number of women in this business who have children with special needs. I can count up, very quickly, five of them. I’m one of them. This needs to be pointed out, because I want everyone dealing with this particular struggle to know that you can have something for you too. That your dreams aren’t over. That you can still write.

Writing got me through a lot of the bumps in the road with both of my boys. My oldest has a pretty severe speech delay that, at five years old, is finally starting to sort itself out. My three year old son is in therapy for Autism, and he’s only just starting to speak.

The day I got The Call, I was enrolling my oldest into a pre-school that would help him with his speech, and I was doing paperwork to get my middle son started on Autism therapy.

That stuff is hard. Coming to the point where you’re admitting there are problems, problems you can’t just fix. Problems that might not go away. In the midst of that, I was so thankful for the support of my husband, my family, and for books that allowed me to go to another place for a while, either as a reader or a writer.

It’s important to know, if you’re facing this particular issue, or something else, that you aren’t alone in it. And that you can still write.

With my middle son, who I call Danger Baby online, I came to this realization during a talk with my mother: No matter what his ‘diagnosis’ is today, he’s the same child he was yesterday. The same child he’s always been. A diagnosis only helps your child get treatment. It doesn’t change who they are.

And the diagnosis doesn’t have to upend your life, it doesn’t get to stop you, or defeat you. (My plug for early intervention, because it does work!)

I know a lot of moms of special needs kids, with all different kind of problems, on all different ends of the spectrum. They are the strongest women out there. Because it can make you strong. It can make you see life differently. See people differently.

I think my new perception on people has only enhanced my writing. It’s only helped me understand love that much more.

Still, I know it’s painful some times. I know that worry, the one where you wonder how your child will grow up, will they have friends? How far will they progress? Those aren’t fun worries.

That’s the other thing I’ve learned from my Danger Baby. One day at a time. Today, I’m fine with where he’s at. I’m proud of the progress he’s made. I love him more than anything. That’s the important stuff.

And that mindset has carried over into other things in my life in a positive way. One day at a time. Not worrying about tomorrow, because tomorrow will worry for itself.

At RWA last year, Nora Roberts said when she was going through her divorce, she could have paid for therapy. But she chose to write, and use it as therapy, and get paid for it.

I love that. And I find writing can be therapy. A place for me to let my emotions bleed out. A chance to take a brain break from some of the tough stuff.

The bottom line of this post: You aren’t alone. And you can do it.

Don’t Let the Beginning End You

(That was a pun. Do I lose clever points for telling you all that?)

All right, here is my promised post on beginnings. I’m going to open with full disclosure: Beginnings are hard.

You have a lot of things to accomplish with the beginning of a manuscript. The biggest thing is getting an editor or reader to want to keep reading! Because, like with milk, if the first taste is bad, you’re just going to dump it down the sink. No need to drink the whole thing, right?

Clearly, you need more than a good beginning, but that’s for another post entirely. A strong beginning is essential.

One of the key questions is: When does the story start? (I’m struggling with this right now, it’s maddening when it doesn’t feel clear!)

My general thought on this is, what is the point of change? Is it the heroine getting ready for work in the morning, then driving to work, then getting ready for her day before the hero bursts into her office? Or is it the hero bursting into her office and offering her a job.

Typically, my strategy is to start in the middle of the action.

The first line in my debut, His Virgin Acquisition is, “I think the numbers speak for themselves. Marriage is definitely the most profitable course of action.”

Because that’s what the book is about, essentially. Marco and Elaine, and their marriage of convenience.

When I’m first starting a book, I have a tendency to write myself in. To give too much information up front, to start a little bit too early. it’s good to go back and try to look for that stuff later. I’ve heard it said that seeing if your book can actually start in chapter two is a good practice. I’ve never had to do that, but I have had to cut out a decent amount of repetitive information. The goal is to keep up the pace, give the reader enough to keep them interested, don’t bog them down.

After you figure out where you’re starting, you have to get The Balance right. You have information to give because you’re setting the book up, but you also have to reveal character so the reader makes a connection straight away.

I find the easiest way to do this is through dialogue. The more information you can give that comes straight from the characters’ mouths, the better, because you avoid that infodump thing, and have the double whammy of giving the reader the information they need, and showing the reader who the characters are as well.

I’m doing to give you an example of exposition vs. dialogue.

“I’m here to offer you a contract.”

Lily was shocked, because she’d gone in for a job interview with Forrestation Inc, and she hadn’t been hired. She couldn’t really fathom what might have caused the change, unless it had to do with Jeff Campbell. Her newest client was Gage’s biggest competition, and she wondered if that was what had spawned his new offer.

So that was a lot of exposition. And it got the information across, but it missed some good opportunities to have character interaction, to show things about the Gage and Lily. This is what actually made it into the book:

“I’m here to offer you a contract.”

That effecitvely shocked her into silence. Which was a rare thing. “You rejected my offer to represent your company, Mr. Forrester.”

“And now I’m extending you an offer.”

She pursed her lips. “Does this have anything to do with the fact that Jeff Campbell is your biggest competitor?”

“I don’t consider him a competitor.”

Same information, conveyed through dialogue. I think it’s more interesting to see the characters interact, then to read about the musing. I also think you learn more about who they are. I’ll admit, I’ve been dinged by reviewers for having too much exposition toward the end of my books. So I’ve been thinking a lot more about dialogue than I normally do. My thought is this: If they can say it, have them say it. Nothing is more interesting than what your characters have to say.

I have never had my editor ask me for less dialogue. 😉

Another tip is revealing your characters by showing who they are, rather than telling. Another handy example!

Gage sat down on the edge of desk, effectively throwing half of her office supplies out of alignment. She hated having things out of place.

This tells the reader that Lily likes order. So the information is there. But that’s all it does. It tells you.

Again, here’s what made it into the book:

He sat down on the edge of her desk and effectively threw half of her office supplies out of alignment. Annoyance coursed through her, along with the desire to reach out and straighten her stapler…’

That helps show the reader a bit more about Lily and, ideally, helps them feel what she feels, which will make them identify with her a bit more. And you need your reader to identify with your characters!

I referenced infodump earlier, and now we’ll talk a bit more about that. Infodump is when you…well, when you dump info on your reader in a great big heap.

Marco didn’t do love. Because he’d seen what love could do to people. When he was ten his father threw him, his mother and his brother out of their home. Ultimately, his mother abandoned him and his brother so she could shack up with a rich man. Marco spent the rest of his childhood looking after his brother. As soon as his brother had turned eighteen he’d started sleeping his way through the phonebook in an attempt to cut loose and have the fun he’d been denied during his childhood. Having sex, but never forming a real bond with any of the women because…

You get the idea. At this point the reader’s head is lolling forward and they’re fighting boredrom. Also, their rolling their eyes so hard they might do permanent damage.

This kind of information can be sprinkled throughout the book, and revealed at just the right times to get the maximum emotional payoff.

Another thing to ditch, in my opinion, lots and lots of florid description of the location. We don’t need the rundown of the whole set. It’s not important to the story, and it doesn’t create that immediacy that makes a reader NEED to read on.

Here’s a Big Important One. If you’re writing category particularly, you have got to get the hero and heroine on the page, together, as quickly as possible. This sort of goes with starting at the point of change, in the action, but I feel the need to underline it several times in bold ink. The book is ABOUT the romance between the hero and heroine. In category, you have 50K words to develop this romance. That’s not a lot. Start building that as soon as possible.

Now for your Maisey List:

1. Dialogue is a great way to impart information, and reveal character.

2. Show don’t tell. Help your readers feel what the character is feeling.

3. Don’t waist time on pretty prose. Create immediacy.

4. Use Backstory like salt. A little bit to add flavor.

5. Get that hero and heroine on the page together.

So there are some of my long-winded thoughts on beginnings. If you have any questions, feel free to ask!