Nov 9, 2011 | Writing |
Writing is such a solitary life that sometimes I go whole weeks without leaving the house. If not for my husband, I'd have no human interaction at all. This week, I'm revising my latest book so that I can turn it in to my editor and move on to the next story. For some reason, it's really hard this time. Not the revisions, which aren't that bad, but the sitting and working.
I want to go shopping. I want to have lunch with friends. I want to read and do some things around the house that need doing. I want to wake up and have the whole day free to myself.
I love what I do, make no mistake. But sometimes it's so lonely that I just want to pick up the phone and call a friend (and I'm not much of a telephone talker, I assure you). I think I'm also a bit irritated about things going on in publishing these days. It's an exciting time to be a writer. There are more opportunities than ever to get your work out there, but there's also a whole lot of gasbaggery going on in regards to the various publishing methods and who thinks they are right, right, right about which method is best.
All the white noise makes it hard to concentrate sometimes.
Perhaps there's so much discourse online because we're all living that solitary life, and that's where we turn for interaction. It's good to have that online connection, but it's also isolating in its own way. I know I should turn it off, and yet at times like this, I think if I turned it off I'd have no interaction at all.
And then there's the fear and uncertainty while working on a book. Is this the worst book ever written? Or is it pretty good? Will this one end my career? Or will I get fan mail telling me how much someone loved it? That's one of the hardest things to deal with, friends. The idea that you don't want to disappoint anyone, but knowing you will. Knowing that someone will hate your work no matter what you do and will take to the internet to say bad things about you, the book, and your poor cat too.
You can't write with the aim to please everyone, and I promise you I don't, but it's difficult sometimes to imagine all the crap you're going to get for that virgin heroine, or the secret baby, or the bodyguard hero. There's a lot of second-guessing in the writerly life, I think. There is for me, though I've never changed something or done something just to make it easier for someone to stomach.
So, I'm back to these revisions while turning my head to stare out the window from time to time and sighing wistfully. (Yes, I know I just spent two weeks in Europe, and maybe that's part of the problem — like going from 100mph to a full stop in the space of a second.) In the meantime, I'm going to think about the upcoming holiday, the fact my in-laws will be visiting, and all the yummy things we're going to eat. And then I get to look forward to a friend's visit where we will discuss books and plots and all things writerly for one nice long weekend.
Yes, writing is a solitary life — but it's also a pretty darn good one. I'm writing this in my pajamas and there is no commute. 😉
Oct 13, 2011 | Contests, Writing |
As the New Voices entrants find out who made the Top Twenty today, there is very likely to be a great deal of disappointment for the majority who did not advance to the next round. I've already seen some comments about quitting, which quite frankly shock me. I've said it on the NV Facebook page more than once: you can't let one contest define your career as a writer.
But if you do, if you wave the white flag and say, “This is not for me, I quit,” then thank you for leaving the field of battle to someone else who will, one day, find victory. Harsh? Maybe, but that's exactly what you're doing. If you quit, you're making it easier for those who remain because you will not be there to compete. More chances for the others if you give up.
You might think it's fine for me to sit here and be all snarky and superior when I'm a published author because, really, what do I know about it? I have an editor, contracts, books in the pipeline, books in stores, and books translated into other languages for people the world over to read. Lucky me, right? Oh yes, lucky me.
But you know why I have those things? Because I ultimately did not quit. Oh, but I did quit for a while — eight years to be exact. That's right, eight years.
One day, many years ago, I decided I wanted to write a romance novel. I loved historicals, so that's what I decided to write. I researched for a year. Wrote for another year. And then I submitted it. I had a little bit of interest — requests for fulls from agents and editors, contest wins — but in the end, the book was rejected. I couldn't get an agent, and I couldn't sell the book.
I was upset, of course. Because everyone (critique group & husband) told me it was a great book (it really wasn't, but I believed it at the time). I was destined to be a writer, so why couldn't I sell this book?! If only they would really read it. If only they would wait until I explained everything and the story got seriously interesting on page 100.
But they didn't, so I started another book. I never submitted that book. I started a third book, which I never finished and never submitted. See, I'd begun to believe it just wasn't worth the effort. If I couldn't sell that first brilliant (snort) book, what chance did I have of selling anything?
So I quit. It hurt too much to keep flinging myself at the gates of publishing. I decided to go back to school, finish that pesky college degree, and then go on and get a Master's degree. I moved to Europe with my husband and got busy traveling and going to school. It was fun! Who needed writing?
I did, because in truth I never quite stopped. I kept writing shorter stories, and of course I wrote a ton of college papers. But I just knew I'd never get published. It wasn't for me. I wasn't good enough to get past those gates.
But then one day I got an idea for a contemporary romance and I started to write. I just wrote the darned thing for fun! And I never did submit it. By then, the bug hit again, and I started to get involved with my work. And this time, I decided I wasn't quitting for anything.
So I did come back, and I did keep trying — and I won a contest and sold a book. If I'd quit for good, I wouldn't be a multi-published, bestselling author today. Don't you think I ask myself what would have happened if I hadn't quit? Would I have sold sooner? Would I be farther along in my career today? I'll never know that, will I?
If you've suffered defeat today, hugs. You have two choices facing you right now.
1) Hang up the keyboard and the pain that comes with it. Live your life and have fun and think about writing every once in a while. Sigh wistfully when you remember that story you never finished. Think fondly of your writing pals and be amazed at how successful some of them have become. But you're happy because the pain is over and you never would have gotten published anyway, right?
2) Don't stop. Get mad, get sad, wail and rage and cry. Eat some chocolate, drink some wine, or run ten miles and collapse. Watch your favorite shows, indulge yourself for a few days, and then perch yourself at the computer and type onward. Finish the story you started, or start another if you can see it's too flawed. Though, really, it's ONE chapter — how flawed can it be? Rip it apart and start again if need be. Just keep writing. Never give up. And one day, you might be a bestselling, multi-published author too. That's the only way to get there. Never give up.
So which choice is it going to be? It's up to you, though I hope you'll go with option 2. 🙂
Sep 28, 2011 | Rants, Writing |
I never criticize other authors because, quite frankly, I know how much work goes into a story, and even if the story didn't work for me, I know it worked for someone else. That's the nature of the beast – not everyone will like what you write, some will actively hate it, and some will think it's the best thing ever written.
But, yesterday, I was goofing off at a point where I didn't quite know what came next in my WIP and a headline on CNN caught my eye: Making New Friends as an Adult. Sounds interesting, right? I thought so, therefore I clicked.
Let's just say that what came next was a head-shaker. If you want an example of how NOT to write your stories, look at this article. The writer starts off talking about cheese sticks, finally meanders to the one lunch date she had with a coworker that was perhaps a tad awkward, and back to cheese sticks.
Cheese sticks! She was trying to use them as a metaphor for something, but honest to God, the miss is a mile wide. For once, I don't mind saying so because a) everyone in the comment trail thought the same things* and b) we write in two entirely different genres so that I'm pretty sure the writer won't pop over here and see me using her work as an example of what not to do.
Remember when starting your stories that you've made a promise to your readers. You should know who your characters are and what their core problems are, and that's what you should write about. Don't spend the entire first chapter in setup before you get to the meat of the problem. This article that was supposed to be about making friends as an adult was more about cheese sticks and their affect on the author's life than about making friends. It would have been okay, maybe, if the reader had thought she was getting a story about cheese sticks — but she thought she was getting a story about how to make friends.
Don't promise your readers a story about a man and woman falling in love and then give take them a meandering side trip through the history of viticulture. If your characters own a winery, fine, use some of that information in weaving the framework for the main story. But for goodness sake, don't spend those valuable first pages on it. The cheese stick writer wasted valuable space talking about cheese sticks instead of her core topic and lost a lot of readers as a result. Don't do that, friends. Start with a bang and keep your story focused on the main problem. Cheese sticks are fine so long as they don't take over and become the main topic. Or, if they are the main topic, don't mislead readers with a story about something else entirely.
I suppose the cheese stick story would have been fine if I hadn't expected a tale about how to make friends, but it was so far off base from what I was expecting that I was irritated with the writer for misleading me. Two-thirds of the article is about the cheese sticks. One-third is about her lunch date and how it didn't go quite the way she was expecting. Big miss.
Do not do that in your writing! Thus ends today's mini writing rant. 🙂
*Comment trails on articles in public forums are usually enough to get my blood pumping in all the wrong ways, but this time, I agreed with the basic sentiment, which was “Huh?”
Sep 20, 2011 | Rants, Television, Writing |
I did not watch the new Two and a Half Men with Ashton Kutcher because once I heard they were going to kill Charlie Harper, I just couldn't bring myself to do it. I don't care for Charlie Sheen, but Charlie Harper was rather loveable in a way. He had a heart of gold beneath all that wildness. He might have been a womanizing jerk, but he was also a good guy when it counted.
I've watched a lot of this show in reruns because it happens to be on at a time of day when the Hubby and I are relaxing together once he comes home from work. I admit it took me a little bit to warm up to the show, but then I began to see the humor in it.
And I liked all the characters for who they were. They were always true to themselves, no matter how screwed up they might be. Alan messing up a relationship with a woman because she told him that Judith said Herb was the best lover she'd ever had. Charlie wanting so desperately to keep random women on the string but cutting them all loose because he truly loved Chelsea. Herb and Alan finding common ground through their relationship with Judith.
I probably haven't seen any of the last season's episodes, so I can't say whether or not the show was growing stale, but I'm really irritated at what the writers did to get rid of Charlie. They weren't true to his character, no matter how funny they tried to make it. Charlie Harper was a good guy. But they forgot they were supposed to be writing for Charlie Harper's exit and instead wrote one for Charlie Sheen. Because Chuck Lorre was pissed at Sheen and wanted to prove he was the guy in control.
Well, yeah, he is the guy in control. But I think he's shot himself in the foot with this one. You have to be true to the character. And he wasn't. I've read the reviews, and apparently the funeral was a big joke. Alan didn't cry? Really? The guy who cried when he got sex for the first time in ages didn't cry when his brother died? And Jake might be nothing more than a teenager who wants to eat all the time, but he actually loved his Uncle Charlie as a kid. Would he really not feel even a shred of remorse? Or how about Charlie's mother?
She was always portrayed as a cold bitch, but would the woman who once stood on Charlie's balcony and told him that she was going home because he'd just said he loved her and he could only screw it up from there really only be concerned about selling his house?
I just can't buy it, and I won't be tuning in. If I'd been in charge, I'd have replaced Charlie Sheen with another actor. I'd have let Charlie Harper go on living and fornicating and doing all the usual stuff he did. I can like Charlie Harper without liking Charlie Sheen (who I believe is not a nice man at all). Soap operas had a knack for replacing characters. At the beginning of an episode, they would announce “Today, the part of Storm Handsome-Moneybags is being played by Joe Fabulous.” And the show would go on.
Maybe Two and a Half Men is done. Maybe it was already growing old and stale and its time was up anyway. But it's definitely up for me. I can't watch it now because I can't forgive the writers (Lorre in particular) for cheating their character and making it personal. It just isn't the same show anymore, no matter how young and handsome Ashton Kutcher is (without the long hair and beard – don't know what's up with that, but it's not flattering).
Maybe replacing Sheen with another actor wouldn't have worked either, but at least Charlie Harper would have still had a chance to get things right in his life before the show ended. The lesson here for writers, I believe, is to think long and hard about what you do to your characters. Make sure it fits their character and is fair to who they are. I've killed off my characters when I was sick to death of them, but that was only for me because I deleted all that stuff and continued on with the story.
You have to be true to your characters! You've set them up to be someone, with flaws and wants and needs, and you can't thwart that at the end or you risk alienating your readers. I suppose it's different for television writers, when an actor becomes the embodiment of the creation, but the viewers still fall in love with the characters and expect justice for them in the end.
I don't like what they did to Charlie Harper, but I had no say in it. Now, for God's sake Chuck Lorre, don't you dare kill off Sheldon or Leonerd or Raj or Howard or Penny! Or Amy or Bernadette!
Aug 4, 2011 | Writing |
Unless you've been living in a cave, you probably know that Mills & Boon is holding the New Voices competition again. It's a great opportunity to get your work in front of eager editors and possibly win a publishing contract. It's also damn scary. Some of you may remember the first Mills & Boon contest — it was called Instant Seduction, and it was held in 2008. It wasn't quite the same format as New Voices. Basically, you submitted your work to the editors directly and they decided the winner and 2 runners up. All three chapters and synopses were then put on the I Heart Presents blog for public consumption.
As I was the lucky winner of that first competition, I can tell you that I was terrified when the moment came to reveal my work to the public. Everyone was nice to me, but I did see much later where a couple of people said nasty things about my first published book (which grew out of that chapter) and how they didn't understand how I won the competition. Probably, these were people who followed the comp and either entered it themselves and got nowhere, or didn't enter for various reasons but felt if they had, they would have won. Some people might have been readers only, though it's perhaps less likely they would follow a writing competition. (Though anything is possible.)
I'm telling you this today not because I'm complaining (I'm really over those comments after writing more than 10 books for Harlequin now), but because I know that many of you are terrified of encountering a nasty person if you enter the contest and have your work available to the public.
Basically, the truth is this: when you stick your work out there for the public to see, not everyone is going to be nice. That's hard to take when you're so full of hopes and dreams, and when you're sticking your work out there for the first time for strangers to pick apart. And they will pick it apart. Someone (maybe more than one) is going to hide behind the anonymity of their computer and say nasty things about your hard work. I can guarantee it.
This is a terrifying prospect, I realize! But you absolutely can't let that stop you from putting your work out there if you really want to take advantage of this opportunity. Never let ONE person stop you. If you win the contest, or even if you don't but you sell something later or somewhere else, I can promise you there will be people who don't like what you write. It can absolutely be soul destroying to have your work torn apart by strangers. It feels like they are saying evil things about you personally.
In some cases, they are. But in many cases, it's simply a reader's response to the work and not directed at you personally. It's still hard to take, believe me. I try not to read the negative reviews, but I have to admit that some of them have crept past my personal filters. If you want to see what I mean, just go read some Amazon reviews sometime. Or Goodreads. If you read mine, you will see where one person thought I must be a man or a computer. One person completely missed where I explained something in the book and went on to gripe about how it was never explained. It was, and he or she is the only one to say it wasn't thus far.
On Goodreads, some kind soul has put me on a To Avoid list. Makes me want to say, “But what did I ever do to you? I'm nice, I swear! People like me!” But, though it stings, that's probably not a personal criticism so much as a preference not to read the kind of stories I write (dark, heavy, intense alpha males). People are not obligated to like you, or even to care about your feelings when they are plunking down their hard earned dollars for your book. They can say what they will, and while I wish they were nicer about it, I have to accept that they don't have to be.
When you put your work on the New Voices site, you'll be hoping for the best and fearing the worst. And while no one is paying money to read what you've written (yet), they will still say whatever they feel like saying. You just have to get beyond it. If you start to read a comment, and it's negative, skim it or stop reading. Or get a friend to read the comments for you. If you're pretty sure you can handle whatever someone is saying, then read away.
But never, ever argue. Even when they are wrong (factually, as opinions aren't wrong), you're the one who'll look bad for arguing. You simply must get used to this now, because as a published author, you're going to have to be professional about reviews. You have to accept whatever people say and you have to do it without disintegrating publicly. The best policy, for me, is NOT to look. Because I am sensitive and I am hurt when someone complains about my book. I try to realize that most of them aren't criticizing me personally, but it can still be hard to take. Therefore, not looking is the best policy for me.
I've told you all this today so you will be brave when it comes to New Voices! Don't let the fear of that one person who hates your work or tells everyone to avoid you stop you from taking this chance. Take it with hope, optimism, and pride — because you were brave enough to put your work out there for others to see. It's a training ground, friends. When you are published, you'll get all kinds of comments. Some are great and make you bounce. Some are bad and hurt your feelings. Some are downright ugly and make you want to break things.
It's like anything in life. Not everything you do is going to succeed. But if you don't at least try, you'll never succeed. That is guaranteed. Best of luck to all you entrants! Be brave, do your best, and never, ever be ashamed of your work.
Jul 16, 2011 | Writing |
There comes a time in every book I'm writing that I realize I've gone the wrong direction. If I'm lucky, it's only a couple of thousand words. If I'm not lucky, it's more than that. But it doesn't matter how many or how few words I have to cut, I hate it. I get this sinking feeling every time I realize it. 🙁
Yesterday, I lost a whole day's work because of that feeling. I was writing a scene that was so hard to write it was like trying to pull words from molasses. It took me a whole day to realize why: I'd gone the wrong direction.
I only lost about 1200 words, which isn't a lot, but my first clue should have been that it took me a whole damn day to write those 1200 words. When it's coming that slow, there's definitely something wrong. But I kept thinking I'd bust through the barrier and the words would flow. They did not, and I finally had to admit defeat.
How do you know when you've taken a wrong turn? First, ask yourself how hard it is to write forward. Are you fighting for every word you put on the page? Are you staring at the screen and wondering what happens next — or, worse, clicking over to Facebook and Twitter and seeing what's happening there? If so, you might have a problem.
Not every difficult patch means you're going the wrong way. I wish I could tell you how to know for sure, but for me it comes down to being unable to envision the story continuing this way and seeing it happen another way. Yesterday, when I saw the black moment if I took another direction, I knew I had to do it because I hadn't the first clue what the black moment was going to be if I kept forcing my book down the path I was going. The surest clue for me was that I could see a way to the end, complete with character growth, if I took the new direction. The old direction had me stumped.
Sometimes, your subconscious throws this stuff at you out of seemingly nowhere. Through eleven books for Harlequin Presents so far, I've learned to listen to that subconscious. That's one of the skills necessary to having a publishing career. You have to write steadily, and you have to know when to cut. Perfectly pretty words with no goals or stakes for the characters aren't doing you any favors. Likewise, words that might have a purpose but seem to rehash things that have already happened also need to be looked at hard. There is certainly some amount of characters thinking about what happened — but if you begin a scene with a recitation of everything that's happened up to that point, you might need to look again.
I find that I can write a whole lot of pretty nothing when I'm spinning my wheels. It's recognizing that it's nothing and cutting it before it does more damage that's the trick. Fortunately, I was able to do that yesterday. And what happened when I cut it and started over? I gained the words back pretty fast, and then some.
Never be afraid to cut when it's not working. Never be afraid to try a new direction. You might surprise yourself when you do. 🙂
Page 6 of 41«« Last...45678...» Next»
