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Favorite Things (What Would YOU Bring To The Bunker For Zombiepocalypse?)

Tonight was the kick-off of my birthday week. We had a barbecue and cake at my parent’s house and I got starbucks gift cards….Yeah!!!

My official actual birthday is on March 2nd, and I will be turning the big 2-4. 🙂 Yeah, I’m celebrating. The whole week. Woohoo!!

And I’m going to celebrate by talking about my favorite things. But I’m not Oprah, so no giveaways. Don’t get too excited. But these are things I love, the things, in addition to my family of course, that I would bring in the bunker with me in case we have a zombie attack to wait out.

First thing on the list, this awesome birthday card I got today:

Next? Starbucks. I love Starbucks. I really do. My drink is a grande vanilla latte with whip. Always. I don’t care if it’s one hundred degrees, I want my HOT latte. 🙂

This is mommy’s sippy cup.

And I think it goes without saying, I love books. I love romance ones. Mmmm…and I LOVE LOVE LOVE my last year’s birthday present, my Kindle, which has so many books on it it’s mildly disturbing. Mostly category romance since I’m a category addict.

And of course, my laptop would have to come too, because I’m a lefty and I DO NOT hand write things. NOPE. DO NOT. My hand gets all inky. 🙁 And my handwriting is kinda…eh. When I take notes on revisions I can’t even read it later.

So what about you guys? What are your favorite things? In case of a zombiepocalypse, what would you being into the bunker? (besides Chuck Norris. And that’s just a safety precaution.)

Maisey

Romance With A Twist

And no, I don’t mean anything…particularly twisty. I mean adding something different, something you, to the books that you write!

In a genre with some pretty standard conventions, that can seem like an impossible task. But the Harlequin editors have been talking a lot lately about wanting new writers who can take their popular themes and give them a nice little twist. Because, and this is what my editor said to me, when they sign a new author they want someone who can push the line forward. They don’t want to put out the same old books with new names on the cover.

If you’re aiming for category, or even just a specified genre, you know that there are guidelines that apply. The RWA defines books that fit into the romance genre have the relationship at the center. It’s about two individuals falling in love and struggling to make the relationship work. It also has to have an ’emotionally satisfying, optimistic ending.’ So there you are!

So we know there are guidelines, in the genre as a whole, and in each category, if that’s where you’re aiming vs. single title.

But a twist? That still stays within the guidelines?? I confess, this confused me at first. I confess it still does a little bit. But I’m starting to get a little bit of a grip on what that means.

1. Write with your own voice. Don’t try to be someone else. Don’t worry if you don’t ‘sound’ like someone else. Obviously, your voice needs to fit the line you’re aiming at, but you still need to sound like…you.

2. It’s all been done…but find a new way to do it. There are a lot of common themes in romance. I’ll use Presents themes as an example: Marriage of Convenience, Secret Babies, Mistresses, Blackmail…these are themes that fit in the line because they resonate with the readers.

But there are ways to put a new twist on an old theme. And I’ll attempt to give some kind of specific example (if it sucks it’s because I’m not giving out any of my GOOD ideas…LOL) Ok, Mistress/Blackmail…what if the heroine offers to be the hero’s mistress. Rather than him suggesting it. He finds it morally repulsive on his and her part, but he’s far too in lust with her to turn her down…

See what I’m saying? Common elements with a different execution.

3. Build unique, engaging characters. Which we’ve talked about in character development. Again, there may be some common traits when keeping to category guidelines, but your characters still need to be their own unique people. Which means don’t fall back into conventions (which we know I’ve struggled with as far as heroines go!).

Put your own stamp on your characters too. Maybe your heroine is stronger than the typical Presents heroine, or more quick-witted, or maybe she tends to be wealthy, coming from a more equal financial playing field. Don’t shy away from it just because it’s not typically done. You may be offering them something they aren’t seeing often, and they may want to buy you for the different things you offer! It will make you the writer they HAVE to add, because no one else is coming to the table with what you have. And ultimately, that’s what you want.

Take That, Crows!!

I was feeling a little insecure over the last week, since I sold my second book and a request for a third didn’t land in my inbox right away, I know…greedy much? Well, more insecure. It’s a strange transition going from slush pile submitter, to being on contract…and then being off-contract only two months after getting offered contracts!

I’m still at the stage where I just feel thankful they’ve even bothered to read my writing, and I haven’t fully realized that they actually…like it.

So I was a very happy camper this morning when a request for book #3 landed in my inbox! Another contract likely won’t be extended until book #3 is accepted…if it is. 🙂

But in the meantime, I have a new WIP with a very sexy Greek Entertainment Media Mogul and a curvy, somewhat insecure, career oriented heroine. It’s been fun to write so far, even though about a quarter of the way through I discovered that I  have a bit of a nonflict. The tension just wasn’t there! So, first I pointed fingers at the sexy Greek. Not alpha enough!! I shouted at him. Why wasn’t he more alpha anyway?? I kept intending him to be and then he’d go all mush at the end of a scene. Where was the ruthlessness??? Nowhere I could see.

But then I realized something. It wasn’t him. It was her. I’d created this sweetly vulnerable heroine, who wore her tenderness on her sleeve so obviously even he could see it and I just couldn’t bear for him to be hard with her! So, at Jackie’s suggestion, I’m giving her a bit of a tougher exterior. The vulnerability is still there, but as I’ve said before, in order for me to make an effective alpha, I can’t have him being a bully! This girl has to be able to give as good as she gets. Without it…we have no tension. We have a nonflict.

But, now that it’s been identified, I feel very happy about it. And I’m really happy to have the partial for book #3 in!! TAKE THAT, CROWS!!!

Heroine Love

It’s a rare thing. Really. I mean, I’ve devoted several posts to The Hero, The Alpha, that gorgeous, brooding, powerful enigma that, when handled well, is oh so delicious. But what about the heroine? She’s an important part of the equation. She is, after all, the other half to our leading man. That’s why, today, I’m showing love to the heroine.

A heroine can be a tricky thing, why? Because for the most part, your book will be read by women, and no one is more critical of women than other women. And this woman is snagging the Hero. It’s a tough road our heroine must walk.

Just like with the hero, because there is a general ‘archetype’ (speaking of most M&B romances, of course) that he’s the Alpha Male, the heroine has some ‘archetypes’ of her own. But also, like with the hero, it’s important she be her own person and not based on the heroines that have been written before her.

A great example of this is with Elaine, the heroine of His Virgin Acquisition. She’s assertive, she’s smart, she’s confident, she’s extremely self-contained. Yet when the hero kissed her at one point in the MS, she drew back and ‘gave a cry’.

Why?? Because that’s what heroines do, right? “Oh, have mercy!! You beast you kissed me!” *swoon*. Well…that might work for another heroine in another MS, but it wasn’t right for mine. And my editor called me on it. She said, don’t fall back on cliches you’ve read. And she’s right! Elaine wouldn’t really cry out in distress, she’d give him stony silence, a look that could kill, but she wouldn’t betray any kind of distress, not at that point in the book.

I think the temptation can be to make heroines paragons. They resist advances, they won’t accept his credit card (which, BTW, I totally would. Go ‘head Italian Billionaires of the world…hand me your credit cards. I dare you.) She’s raising her siblings, she’s pure as the driven snow. Nothing wrong with any of those things. Nothing at all! But if those traits are present she still has to have flaws and conflict. She needs to be her own person. She needs to be able to say, ‘heck, yeah, give me your credit card because I have nothing to wear to your fancy charity dinner and I’m not wearing this old thing,’ If it’s something she would say!

This brings me back to book #2 (A Mistake, A Prince And A Pregnancy) where we had the heroine blithely following the hero onto his plane…because…I needed her to. And other heroines had done it, would do. And in those cases, it would have been fine. But Alison, my heroine, wouldn’t have done it. A huge part of her conflict is her reluctance to trust. That’s what made it ring false.

I also think the heroine should have some conflict beyond ‘I’m poor and destitute’ or whatever. She should be able to grow and change too. She should have her own realizations and resolutions and revelations. Like everyone, she should have some things in her that aren’t totally worked out or perfected. This gives her credibility and an identity.

Being aware of who she is, rather than using her as a pawn, is what keeps her from drifting into TSTL (too stupid to live) territory. The TSTL heroine is just sort of bouncing around the book like a ping-pong creating Incidents for the hero to sort out. She comes off as stupid because her actions aren’t just something NOBODY would do, but really, not what she would do either.

So let your heroine be free to be her. Let her be her own woman, woman enough to get the man, and to grow and learn and have her own journey. That makes for a satisfying read.

Show her some love.

Most Sheepish Apologies…

To anyone who has messaged me from this site. I have been checking them, but didn’t realize the messages were going into a sub folder! So, I had messages from months ago I had never seen. And now I feel like a jerk.

So, my sincerest apologies. I think I emailed everyone involved, it’s not like there were MILLIONS of emails, but I feel awful.  I’m aware of the issue now, and will be responding to my messages!

*slinks off*

We Can All Snoopy Dance!!

I just sold book #2 for Harlequin Presents!! Titled A MISTAKE, A PRINCE AND A PREGNANCY!! Due to be released OCT of 2010 in the UK!!

And Perry the Platypus will take us home!! FTW!!! I’m GIDDY!!!

The Insider’s Guide to the Insider’s Guide of Writing For M&B Article

It’s 5am and I’m up, due to one part crying newborn, one part deathly awful sore throat, and one part excitement, as I’ve just read the article that came out in The Guardian, which I interviewed for last week!

So, while I wait for babies to settle and pain meds to kick in (wah! It’s a really BAD sore throat!!) I thought I’d chat about the article a little bit.

(First of all, please know my eyes fell out of my head a little bit when I saw that the other two authors interviewed were Penny Jordan and Sharon Kendrick!)

I did my interview (my first ever!) on the phone at 7am, being disadvantaged time zone wise out here on the left coast of the USA and I was SO nervous! I have a tendency to chatter when nervous/excited/awake, and I imagined I talked the very wonderful journalist’s ear off with each and every question she asked. Thankfully, she condensed me to sound bites, which is something I wish I could do to me in real life. 🙂

This is the part of being a writer I actually didn’t think a lot about! Interviews! The Guardian!! Good gravy!!! So it turns out I thought it was lots of fun! Apart from cringing at a few of my quotes, it really was! Because writing is my passion, writing Presents is my passion and getting to talk about it is a really great thing. Which just compounds my overwhelming feeling of being blessed, because I am fortunate enough to do what I love and get in the newspaper for it. (insert more of these !!!!!)

So go! Read the article! Enjoy! Any questions of your own?? Ask away and I just might answer!

Maisey

Giving the People What They Want

I had a few hits on my website from people google searching Mark Valley according to my ShortStat widget. So…with that in mind, and since I live to please, I’m givin’ the people what they want…

I mean, seriously, this is hero material right here.

The Rewards of Rewriting

Yep. Rewriting has rewards, I promise you that. Without tackling rewriting my first MS, I wouldn’t be contracted with Harlequin right now, I’m certain of that. Without rewriting my first MS, I wouldn’t have grown like I did as a writer. Yeah, it’s scary, but if you’re willing to face it head on, you’ll be amazed at what it will do for you.

As you all know, I had to go through a few rounds of revisions with my first MS, and I got some major revisions on my second as well. Both times I ended up doing a rewrite.

With my first MS, I rewrote the second half. Doing revisions on it, I hadn’t strayed very far from what I originally had. I kept myself locked into the basic scenes that I had, kept myself confined to a similar black moment. When my lovely CP Jilly, suggested I rewrite from midway through on, and my editor confirmed it, I had a mild panic attack. But after thinking on it for a couple of days, and breathing into a paper bag, I just went for it. I decided to go big or go home. Up the sensuality, the glamor, the intensity. I broke out of my box. And of course, I had no idea if it would pay off. None at all.

Until, 4 1/2 months after I hit send, I got The Call.

With my second MS, currently with my ed, I felt I had to rewrite to match the new tone that came in with a different thread I introduced. Again, when the revisions hit, time to hit the inhaler due to panic attack, but given that few days, I was ready to take it on. And, yet again, my editor was much happier with the rewrite.

In my experience, when you’re staring down the barrel of massive, loaded, revisions that include conflict changes, character development, and other massive alterations, a rewrite is definitely worth considering.

Rewriting sounds daunting and scary and all kinds of unpleasant. I know. But the rewards are exponential. When you allow yourself to get outside of your personal writing box, and really stretch yourself, find new ways to tell your story, it makes your MS better, and it makes you a better writer. I know it’s done that for me.

My first though upon getting revisions is always: “But if I knew a better way to do it I would have done it that way in the first place!!!” *waaahhhh* More of less.

But making yourself rethink and find that better way stretches you, which hurts (keep caffeine and aspirin on hand!) but it’s also the thing that makes you grow.

And this…this bears no relevance at all to the post. Heck, it bears to relevance to what I write since he’s a Gladiator and I don’t write Historicals. This…this is just for fun. And if you’re facing the prospect of a rewrite/massive revisions, he’ll make you feel better. 😉