Oct 25, 2012 | Books |
Last night on Twitter, I was joking around with some fellow writers about pushing the envelope. I believe, in a line like Presents that has been around since before I was born, it's rather silly to think you are the FIRST AUTHOR EVER to write something. Really, you probably are not, no matter what you think. It's all been done before.
But that doesn't mean you shouldn't be looking to twist what you know, to throw in a new spin on an old tale. For instance, my book Strangers in the Desert came about when I got the bright idea I wanted a secret baby book — but it was the heroine who didn't know she had a baby. Surely I am not the first author to think of that idea (and I would never say I was!), but it was most definitely a challenge and fun. I've had a lot of reader mail about that book and I'm so glad it worked for so many readers.
But, in the quest to think up new and different ideas, there was some silly stuff thrown out. One of those things was a pole-dancing billionaire hero, courtesy of new Presents author Maya Blake. While I've never seen a pole-dancing billionaire hero in a Presents, I *have* seen a pole-dancing hero before!
I read this book when it first came out in 1998 and loved it. Now the author has the rights back and is selling it for $2.99! The book is Absolute Trouble by Michele Albert. It features a pole-dancing sexy as hell Cajun stripper hero named Julien Langlois and an ex-cop heroine named Dulcie Quinn.
Sounds intriguing, right? Michele Albert pulls that story off too, let me tell you. I was totally in love with Julien from the moment he showed up in his tiny g-string. He pulls off alpha masculine while wearing next to nothing. It's awesome.
I don't know Michele Albert and I'm not hawking her book as a favor. I've just never forgotten it, so when I saw it was on Amazon, I had to tell you about it. The Kindle rank on this story should be way higher than it is, in my opinion.
Michele has four six* books she's republishing for $2.99 (and a host of others still with publishers). My next favorite in the $2.99 books is Her Bodyguard. I'm not as big a fan of the other two, but that's just because the stories are very different from what I usually like. HER BODYGUARD features shoes, and one pair of shoes in particular: a historic pair that belonged to a gangster's girlfriend and holds the key to a secret.
*(Another favorite, now that I see it's six books and not four, is Getting Her Man.)
With all the inexpensive self-published books out there today, it can be hard to make a decision where to spend your money. But I highly recommend ABSOLUTE TROUBLE. And if you like that one, give HER BODYGUARD a try. These books should not be forgotten!
Now tell me what books you recommend, especially the older ones that might be lost in the shuffle….
P.S. The books are also available on B&N….
Oct 11, 2012 | Writing |
Yesterday, I said I thought I needed to cut 30K words. I wasn't quite ready to give up on them yet, you see, and I was still hoping to make them work somehow.
But then I came to the realization the book was moving forward so well when I was writing all new stuff that I realized those 30K words really had to go. Yeah, it's a setback. A blow.
But sometimes you have to do it, friends. If it's not working, no matter how pretty the prose, then it has to go. The story I wrote was perfectly fine — for another line. It's not a Presents as I wrote it. Why? Well, I have an American former military hero and my knowledge of the military got in the way of my knowledge of what a Presents should be. I don't see the two going together at all, so it just didn't work no matter how hard I tried to be true to both.
What is the solution? Obviously, this story is a Presents. So I have to forget what I know about the military and make this guy be what Presents heroes always are. Rich, fabulous, arrogant, etc.
And that requires chucking the entire last half of the book and rewriting it. Of course I'm not happy about it, but this is what you do when you have to get the work done.
I once knew someone who had been working on the same novel, her first, for about six years. She hadn't written anything else, just that one book. And she kept workshopping it to death. Taking it to writing groups, listening to all the crazy advice about passive voice and adverbs and etc (not that all that advice is crazy, but when it's what gets focused on to the exclusion of story, it IS crazy. Not to mention so many writers don't even know what passive voice really is and they get it wrong) and changing the book to satisfy an endless group of people.
I believe she even hired a copy editor. Not a developmental editor, but a copy editor to help her polish that prose. Because she was so focused on the idea her words needed fixing that she couldn't understand the words might be perfectly fine — but they might be the WRONG words. The wrong story.
Sometimes, you have to cut the words and move on. You can save them in another file (I always do) and mine them if you need to. But I think once you get going on that new draft, you won't want the old words. You'll find new ways to say things–not to mention your characters will be in new situations, perhaps even different people now.
It's not a failure when you realize you have to start over. It's a hard lesson, no doubt about it, and it's frustrating as hell. But you can't keep going over the same set of words, the same story, for years and try to make it work. Wouldn't it just be easier to start over?
A few blog posts ago, I gave y'all an excerpt of my single title contemporary military romance. That book is with an editor now, and I hope to get it done and available in the next 2 to 3 months. But want to know a dirty little secret about that book?
I started it eight years ago. I wrote it one way. It was terrible. I rewrote it. And then I rewrote it again. And I mean chucking it all and starting over. Four years ago, I sold to Harlequin, and I put it away. I'd rewritten it three times by then. Last year, I pulled it out again and started working on it. Not a rewrite, because it was much closer now, but a real revision. Deadlines got in my way, but I finally finished that revision and got the book to an editor. Not a copy editor, because I recognize the book may still need more changes.
By the time you're able to read this book, it will have been rewritten several times and revised a couple times more. That's me being stubborn and believing in the story, sure, but it's also me being a professional. You must be willing to kill your darlings. When the story isn't working, don't keep trying to patch it up and move on. Start again. It may be as simple as reworking a character's conflict — or as complicated as chucking it all and starting over.
Not every story needs to be completely rewritten. But if you've been staring at the same words for weeks and having trouble moving forward, you may just need a fresh start. Don't be afraid. Go for it!
Oct 10, 2012 | Writing
Today, it's all about revisions here in Chez Harris. I'm working on rewriting (and I do mean rewriting) the latest Presents. There are various reasons for it, but let's just say the first version missed the mark by a wide margin. It happens, y'all. If you're still trying to get published, you may believe that once you get that foot in the door, it's all magical and wonderful from there on out.
It is, in a way, but the work is still difficult and there are no guarantees.
In this book, for instance, I think I've come to the realization that I have to cut 30,000 words. Yes, you read that right. I have to cut that and rewrite it all. How did this happen to a seasoned author?
First and foremost, this book is a continuity, which means the story was handed to me by the editors. I've done two continuities before and had no trouble at all. But this time, I just couldn't get a handle on who these people were. I kept forcing the story forward, thinking it would all work out in the end. It didn't.
There were reasons for the difficulties, not all entirely my own fault, but it happened and now I'm stuck in the muck and suffering the consequences. It's disheartening, sure. But all writing is rewriting. There is no such thing as a perfect story the first time through. Or at least not for 99.9% of us.
The worst part of this right now is I want to be working on other things. I have a new Presents in the works and I need to get to work on Book 2 of my Special Ops series.
But first I have to suck it up and finish this revision. Sometimes, in the immortal words of Kenny Rogers, you got to know when to hold 'em and know when to fold 'em. Don't get stuck on the idea that you must keep all those beautiful words. You can cut them, and you can replace them. It hurts, but the book will be better in the end.
It's the only thing that keeps me from curling up in a ball and blubbering hysterically…..
Oct 6, 2012 | Celebrations, Inspiration, Writing
Today, I thought it would be fun to share my original Call story post with you! I wrote this post for I Heart Presents, but I think it's appropriate to share it here with you now. Four years ago, on October 6th 2008, I got the Call. It was a thrilling day!
I can hardly believe it's been four years since that magical day. My 10th Presents comes out in just a few weeks, though I've written nearly double that number now. I've hit the USA Today bestseller list, had a couple of number one bestsellers at Borders (when they were still doing the list, sigh) and Mills & Boon, and met so many wonderful readers from around the world who write and tell me they like my books.
It's awesome to be able to share my stories with you! Soon, I hope to share even more stories with you. I'm working hard on those special projects, and hope to have good news for you soon. In the meantime, I hope the writers will enjoy the Call story — and I hope the readers know just how grateful I am to them for continuing to show me their love!
All y'all rock!
My Call Story by Lynn Raye Harris
When I last wrote a post, I’d just turned in my second round of revisions and I was waiting for my editor, Sally Williamson, to let me know how I did. Naturally, I was apprehensive! I was hopeful this time, but nowhere near certain I’d gotten it right enough for the Magical Phone Call.
I sent Sally my revisions on a Wednesday. On Friday, she responded that she loved what I’d done but she had some tweaks for me. I got excited as I read her email because I could tell these were easy things to do: take something out, add something in, expand something else. Nothing was major, and nothing was a total rewrite. Yay!
But the bad news (for me, not for Sally!) was that she was on her way out the door for a two-week holiday. I was seriously excited – but two weeks? Oh man, the wait. I finished the tweaks that weekend and sent the story back. But I still had two weeks to go.
Two excruciating weeks! Thankfully, I had distractions. My in-laws were visiting and we had a construction project going on. I had some contest entries to judge, and an anniversary to celebrate. I also scheduled lunch with a friend, and there was a costume party squeezed into those two weeks as well. So I was busy, but it was always there in the back of my mind. Would Sally have good news for me when she got back, or would I be rewriting again?
Sunday, Oct 5, I was thinking pretty hard about how I would pick myself up and dust myself off and start another book if Sally gave me bad news (maybe she was tired of these characters and figured I’d never get it right). I still had her for six months, so I was going to write another book! I’d already written a loose synopsis and character backgrounds, so I was ready to go.
Several of my writing friends told me to stop being silly and quit worrying so much. My husband said of course they were going to buy my book, there was no way I’d slid backward over something as easy as tweaks, and to stop obsessing (he’s practical like that). But that’s what writers do, right? We obsess.
I knew Sally was back in the office on Monday, so I figured if I didn’t hear something by Wednesday, I’d send her an email. I’d waited two weeks; surely I could wait a couple more days. Her “To Do” list had to be pretty full since she’d been away. I reminded myself I wasn’t her first priority and she would get to me when she had a chance.
Monday morning, my husband got up bright and early to get ready for work. I always get up at some point before he leaves and prepare for my day at the computer. That morning, I was a little behind the curve. I was sitting up in bed, still in my pajamas, and my husband had just kissed me goodbye. He was walking out the bedroom door when the phone rang.
Our phone is in the kitchen, which is next to the bedroom, and he was closer. But I’d jumped out of bed and was headed that way. My husband picked up the phone and looked at the Caller ID. It was Privacy Director, the service that filters calls it deems to be from telemarketers to a menu where I get to choose whether or not to answer. I don’t know why, but it always does this when Harlequin calls (sorry, Sally; if I knew how to turn it off I would). My husband was puzzled over the Privacy Director so early in the morning, but I just said, “Give it to me.”
I knew who it was (call it a feeling or a coincidence, but I was positive it was Sally), and I hoped like crazy I knew why she was calling. I answered and heard Sally’s lovely accent as she stated her name. Of course I accepted the call! By this time, my husband had followed me back into the bedroom and sat beside me on the bed. Sally asked me how I was, I think I asked her about her vacation, and then she said some combination of those Magic Words that I can’t remember precisely because my heart was beating so fast: “We want to buy your book.”
I squeezed my husband’s arm. I don’t remember much else, except to say how happy I was. (And I think I was bouncing on the bed, btw.) Sally said a few more things, something about calling my new agent with the details, but I definitely heard “two book contract.” My husband was so happy he said, “Thank you, Sally!” into the phone while I was trying to listen.
After I finished talking with Sally, I called my parents and my in-laws, because I’d promised I would, and then I started telling everyone. I can’t remember most of the morning, other than it was a rush of calls and emails. My husband brought home flowers and a card before I had to take him to the airport for a business trip. I spent the evening of my First Sale eating a frozen dinner and drinking a glass of wine alone. But I was too happy to be upset about it.
And that’s how, at 7:27 AM on Monday, October 6, 2008, I finally got the long dreamed about CALL. Four years since I got serious about my writing, and fifteen years since I first tried to write a romance novel, I sold to Harlequin Presents.
Never give up the dream, friends. It could be you next. Thanks for all the good wishes you’ve sent me, and a major thank you to the editorial team for having the contest and choosing me. This has been a wonderful experience, and I look forward to the future as a Presents author. (It gives me a thrill to say that!)
Sep 25, 2012 | Life, Video, Writing |
It's fall, a time of change in many ways. If you live in North America, these are the changes you can expect. The leaves change. The temperature changes. The light changes as the days grow shorter. You may have to turn off your AC and turn on your heat (not here yet, but it's coming). You're dragging out the long sleeves and long pants and putting away the shorts and capris and tank tops. The flip flops are going in the closet and the closed toe shoes are coming out. Coats go to the cleaner if they didn't at the end of winter, scarves come out.
Basically, for me, fall is a time of new beginnings and new promises. I think it goes back to my school days and the excitement (dread) of a new school year.
I don't have to worry about school anymore, but I did have at least one big change that's kinda the equivalent of changing teachers. I got a new editor. I love my old editor, who was with me from the very beginning, but her change is that she got a promotion to a different branch of the company and had to leave all her category authors behind.
So now I have a new editor, who is just as fun to talk to on the phone as the old one, and I'm both apprehensive and excited about what the next phase of my career brings. Fortunately, my new editor didn't blink an eye this morning when I said, “So, for the next book, there's this guy, and he has this thing, and he might come from this place–but I'm not sure–and then there's this girl, and she's from here and she does this, and then this is what happens. Or I think that's what happens, but it could change.”
Thank God. Honestly. They get me over there in the London office, and I am so grateful to have them.
Change is good. Change is necessary for growth. It's scary sometimes, but we can't go through life without change. So learn to embrace those changes and make them work for you!
I leave you now with this awesome video interview with Nora Roberts. She is an inspiring woman, is she not? I love the part where she says writing isn't easy. It's not meant to be easy. I'm always glad for that reminder, because it's easy to feel down about yourself when you're struggling through a story.
Enjoy!
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