Feb 9, 2012 | Books, Contests, Rants, Writing, Reviews |
Thanks everyone for your comments! Using the Random Number Generator, I came up with #6, which is Amber! Amber, you can send your 5 pages to me at Lynn AT LynnRayeHarris DOT com.
Okay, maybe there's one: Thou shalt not bore thy reader.
Aside from that, all rules are rather like Captain Barbosa's view of the pirate code: they're guidelines. Guidelines exist for good reason. They are meant to keep you from making the kind of mistakes that others have made before you. They are a set of guide posts to help you along the way.
But they aren't set in stone. They can be flouted if you feel the need. (But make sure you know why you need to flout them.)
Why did this post come about? Because yesterday, under the hashtag #pubtips, someone on Twitter said that you must not ever change point of view during a scene because you wouldn't *ever* sell your book if you did. That's a pretty intense statement.
And it's simply not true. Many authors jumped in to say how they'd sold 10, 20, 30 books to their publishers without following that particular “rule.” Now, on the other hand, I think I know what the person who said it meant. She was judging contest entries and POV was all over the place. It was jarring for her.
That is a problem. If you are jarring the reader with your guideline flouting, then maybe you need to take another look at the guideline and try to see why it is one. People don't make these things up just to give you a hard time. They do exist for a reason.
And maybe you should learn how to control POV with one per scene until you've got that down so pat that you can then make deliberate choices on when to exercise the option of switching to another character's head. Merely a suggestion.
Me, I'm pretty much a purist. I believe, for me, that POV is best done one character and one scene at a time. It's just the way I roll. I think it makes for a more cohesive story, and for a better bonding experience with the viewpoint character. It's hard for me to care about someone whose head I leave after a paragraph.
However, even I, the purist, have been known to make a mid-scene switch. I can't remember which book I first did it in, but it might be my 3rd or 4th. The scene started in one POV. It needed to continue in the other. Usually, I have no problem with a scene break in the middle and then continuing right on. But this time, the scene break was jarring. This time, the scene was so highly charged that the only way to keep the tension up and make the switch was to simply make the switch.
I have, to this day, not gotten ONE piece of mail or one review that claims I did it all wrong, or tells me I'm an idiot who doesn't know how to write. Not one. Remember that. (And if I get one after this, I'll know one of you is messing with me.) 😉
Unfortunately, when we are still unpublished, we are searching, searching, searching for what might be holding us back from obtaining the brass ring. It's really, really hard to take a good look at your work and realize that maybe the problem is your story. So we search for reasons why we were rejected without realizing the story isn't quite right. Having a story rejected doesn't make you a bad writer. Not at all!
When I go back and look at some of the things I did before I was published, I see it now. I see what was wrong that I couldn't see then. Yes, I was a POV purist and yes, my book was written in Courier New 12 point font with exactly 25 lines per page, and yes I kept the backstory to a minimum and didn't dump it into the first chapter.
But that isn't always enough! I wrote some technically perfect things. But they are lacking in life and spark. They lack what I've learned since, which is that good story is far more than technical perfection. You must know who your characters are and what they want. You must know why not getting what they want is a very bad thing. And you must know why you won't give them what they want but will make it all work out anyway.
Do not write with rules in mind. Write with the story in mind. Write with the goal of creating something compelling and uniquely yours. Yes, in my line there are a zillion marriages of convenience. Yours won't be like any of the others because yours will be in your voice. Right? You won't imitate, and you won't slavishly follow a set of rules someone gave you.
There is no secret handshake, friends. There is only hard work and growing your craft. You can write your story in Arial or Times New Roman. (It should really still be double spaced when you submit it, but it doesn't have to be when you're writing if that's what you prefer.) You can let Word figure out where to break the page (I do turn off Widows and Orphans, however). You should still put a header up there with your title, name, and the page numbers. Just in case someone prints it out and gets things out of order somehow.
You can change POV in a scene, even multiple times (though I'd be careful — do not jar). You can make your heroine a CEO and your hero a construction worker (though probably not in Presents, I gotta tell you). You can do just about anything so long as you do NOT bore the reader. You don't have to start your story with dialogue. You don't even have to have both characters on the first page together. But there are certain conventions in a category romance, and you really should know what they are if that's what you want to write.
A hero and heroine who don't meet for 3 chapters just isn't going to work in a category romance. Though I'll bet there's a published author out there who did it so well that she sold the book and never looked back. It's entirely possible. I still don't recommend you do it, however. 🙂
Now go forth and write compelling stories with characters readers will care about. If you need to switch POV, switch it. If you need to drop some backstory in, do it. But know WHY you do these things and make sure you couldn't do them better by doing them another way. Just don't ever say that you absolutely must do something a certain way or you won't publish. I can promise you no editor is going to read your story, be super excited by your characters and premise, and then get to a POV change and drop the book in disgust. “Too bad, we would have loved to publish this if only she hadn't made that switch.” Not gonna happen.
In my March book, Strangers in the Desert, the hero and heroine aren't in the same room together until page six. There might even be POV changes somewhere in the book, though I can't remember. And talk about taking the usual theme and twisting it? There's a secret baby — but it's the heroine who doesn't know the baby is hers. You can do anything so long as you motivate it well and tell it compellingly. (This book is an RT Book Reviews Top Pick for March, so something worked!)
Now tell me, what rules have you been told are absolute? I'm going to award a prize to one lucky aspiring author. I will read and critique your first scene, no more than five pages. Simply leave a comment on this post. I don't ordinarily read uncontracted work, for various reasons, but I really believe in helping people so I'm going to break that rule today. I'll choose a winner sometime this weekend, and you'll have 24 hours to submit your pages. Must be a romance, though can be any subgenre. My expertise is category and contemporary, so remember that. 🙂
Let's talk!
Feb 6, 2012 | RT Convention, Readers
Hey, y'all! If you're going to the RT Book Lovers Convention in Chicago in April, or even if you're not but you happen to live close by, be sure to come to Milwaukee (only 1.5 hours away!) on April 10th and attend Barbara Vey's Reader Appreciation Luncheon. There, you'll get to have lunch with 38 authors. There will be prizes. And books. And fun!
You can even buy a ticket to sit with me specifically. 🙂
Click here for more info. Hope to see you there!
Feb 1, 2012 | Writing |
I suffer from them quite a lot, it seems. Writing is like always having PMS in some ways. There are highs, lows, and oh em gees that make you want to hide your head until it all goes away. I believe this is normal, and yet I despise it.
It's really easy to look at someone else's career and think they have it perfect, but the truth is they probably don't. They probably suffer from the same doubts, fears, and insecurities that you do. I think if you aren't worried about your next book, worried that you are making it the best you can make it, then you probably aren't digging deeply enough. Maybe I'm wrong, but that's the way I feel about it. If something doesn't hurt while you're writing, then I'm inclined to think something's wrong.
Unless, of course, you are writing humor. Maybe humor doesn't hurt, but deep emotion certainly does. Or should, at least in some way. If you aren't touched by what you're writing, how do you expect anyone else to be?
So maybe I'm feeling the blues because I've turned a book in and I'm waiting for the inevitable revisions. Believe me, it needs them. If my editor didn't give me any, I'd really be worried!
Or maybe it's all the gloom and doom in publishing today. Every day, there's some new article about the death of the bookstore and the predatory nature of a certain online retailer.
I'm sure it's any number of things, but the truth is I'm just at one of those low points in the cycle where I think maybe the gig is up and my editor is going to figure out that I don't know what I'm doing. And that my agent is going to quietly stop answering my emails and start avoiding me at conferences.
Oh, I also believe at these times that I couldn't write a good story to save my life. This is not the time to look at reviews, I tell you. Because someone definitely agrees with that assessment (though thankfully there are plenty who don't!). Every idea I look at in my file seems trite. That single title manuscript I'm supposed to be revising? Lame, lame, lame.
Times like this, I just want to say, “I quit.” But I won't. It's like that old Lynn Anderson song: I Never Promised You a Rose Garden. There is no rose garden in publishing.
So what can we do to get past the writer blues? Here's my imperfect list. Feel free to add suggestions in comments!
1. Realize that this too shall pass. All moods are temporary.
2. You really aren't as important as you think you are — which means there is no giant conspiracy of people out there talking about how awful you are either. 🙂
3. Do not read reviews. Yours or others. If you can be disciplined about not reading yours, but you still go see how Suzy Author's praises are sung to the high heavens, that's going to make you feel bad too. Don't do it, at least until this mood passes.
4. Disengage from negative people. There will always be those who make you feel worse simply by their own complaining and whining — whether it's about writing or life, it's still going to get you down.
5. Go back through your praise file. You do have one, right? That file where someone told you how wonderful your story was (and if you are unpublished, this could be your CP's comments or a contest judge's), the good reviews you did read and keep (RT Book Reviews, for instance), and your editor's praise about something you wrote (if you don't have an editor yet, see aforementioned CP and judge comments).
6. Go for a walk or a run or something that gets the endorphins flowing.
7. Read a good book (unless that depresses you too). I love reading a good book because it always makes me say, “Oooh, I want to do that!” Good books never depress me; they motivate me. Though don't read Suzy Author's book if you went and read her fab review and you're feeling bad about it. Read something else. Save Suzy Author for later when you feel better. 🙂
8. Indulge in a hot shower or a nice hot bath. Or go get a pedicure. Something to pamper you as the person, not you as the author.
9. Find something good about your work and celebrate it. Champagne (or sparkling juice, etc) is always appropriate. Finished that awful chapter? Celebrate. Wrote 1K today? Celebrate. Realized that scene doesn't work and you have to cut it? Celebrate, because you recognized something important about your writing.
10. Remember that everything is in cycles. Next time, Suzy could be the one reading this list because she's feeling the blues. A career trajectory is not straight to the top like a rocket blasting off. It's more like one of those barnstorming planes, with high climbs, dizzying dives, loop-ti-loops, and a lot of screaming.
So that's my list. And you know what, I already feel better by writing it. How about you? What are your suggestions for staving off the writer blues?
Jan 22, 2012 | Books, Writing |
As I come to the end of another book, I've been thinking about epilogues. They aren't always necessary, and can even sometimes be a bit annoying, but as I looked back at my books, I realized that I do them more often than not. I'd rather have the reader get that final taste of the characters being happy than to end on a whopping dramatic note and then nothing else further. Tastes for epilogues definitely vary, however, and there are probably a couple I could have done without. Examining the epilogues I have, I'm going to try to remember why I did them. (These aren't spoilers, because I think we all know that every couple of every book will end up together, no matter how hopeless it seems during the course of the story. These are romances, after all!)
Book 1: SPANISH MAGNATE, RED-HOT REVENGE – Epilogue. It wasn't necessary, but since it was my first book I think I thought I needed it. It doesn't add anything to the story.
Book 2: CAVELLI'S LOST HEIR – Epilogue. This one had a purpose, which was the show the heroine settling into her new life and being happy. There was also a thread about her mother that I tied up here.
Book 3: THE PRINCE'S ROYAL CONCUBINE – Epilogue. Once more, this one had a purpose. Since Cristiano and Antonella were on opposite sides of conflicting nations, and their relationship affected their countries, I wanted to show them a couple of years later and show how relations between the nations had changed.
Book 4 (a novella) – KEPT FOR THE SHEIKH'S PLEASURE – Epilogue. It's a year later and I needed to show how Genie was doing in her new life. Not only that, but Zafir had some things to get used to about her job, so that's in there too.
Book 5: THE DEVIL'S HEART – Epilogue. It was necessary to tie up a thread from the book. Also, I believe it takes place two years later.
Book 6: BEHIND THE PALACE WALLS – No epilogue. The story was complete without it, though I did move ahead in story time by about a year in the last scene, so I technically had an epilogue-type wrap up without the epilogue.
Book 7: THE MAN WITH THE MONEY – Epilogue. There were a couple of threads from the story that needed tying up. No time jump. It takes place right after the last chapter.
Book 8: STRANGERS IN THE DESERT – Epilogue. It's needed in this book to answer a major question that the story raises.
Book 9: CAPTIVE BUT FORBIDDEN – No epilogue. It's all tied up without it, though I do give a quick summary of the next couple of years in the last paragraph.
Book 10: MARRIAGE BEHIND THE FACADE – No epilogue. The story is all tied up without it and there's nothing left to resolve or explain.
There are other books which I've written that haven't come out yet, but I'm not going to talk about those. Clearly, I have a predisposition to write epilogues. I think I just like knowing that the characters are going to be all right, and I figure my readers like to know that too. If the relationship has been particularly rocky or in question throughout the book, I think an epilogue showing how the characters have adjusted is appropriate.
Not everyone agrees with me. Some writers like to end on that high dramatic note and then that's it. Some readers don't seem to mind at all. But I do. As a reader, I really want to know it's all going to be okay. I want to see them together and happy, and know it's going to work. Just because this is a romance with a happy ending doesn't mean I believe the happy ending will last if I'm not comfortable with how the characters are as a couple throughout the story.
Once more, that's a personal preference. So now I want to know what you prefer. Epilogue or no epilogue? Do you have any favorites in books you've read? Any that were totally superfluous (like my first book)? Any you hated?
Dec 28, 2011 | Books, Contests |
Winners! Thank you so much for all the comments! I'm glad everyone was excited about the possibility of winning one of these books. I decided to giveaway six copies and I used the Random Number Generator to choose the winners. This is who won:
Danielle
Gina Brock
Summer
Pearl
Stacie D
Shelley Bagby
But that's not all! Because I truly appreciate each and every one of my readers, everyone who commented on this giveaway (ending with Beth G) gets a choice of one of my backlist books! I will gift you Nook or Kindle copies if you are in the US (if you wish) or I will send paperbacks. If you are choosing a Nook or Kindle book, then you may choose any book currently available in that format (not Strangers, however, as it is not out yet). In paperback, you may choose from The Prince's Royal Concubine, Cavelli's Lost Heir, Chosen by the Sheikh (with Kim Lawrence), or The Man with the Money.
Congratulations to everyone and thank you for reading my books! 🙂 To claim your copy, send me an email using the Contact page on this site (you can find my address there, or you can use the form. Totally up to you!) I'll need your mailing address or your Kindle or Nook email. Tell me which book you want. For the people who won an author copy, you will be getting paperbacks, so please send your address. And that's it! Here's to a happy 2012!
I got lovely, beautiful author copies today! Aren't they pretty? Strangers in the Desert isn't due out until March, so this is way early. Which is awesome for YOU! 
Because I'm going to give a copy or two (or maybe more) away here on the blog! I really love this story. It's about a gorgeous sheikh and the wife he thought was dead. What's not to love about that?!
The Desert King’s Lost Wife…
Isabella, the wife Sheikh Adan thought was dead, has just walked back into his life – on the eve of his wedding to another woman…
Now Adan is to be crowned King, Isabella must be his Queen – sharing his desert throne and the royal bed… But gone is the dutiful, pure girl he once knew – in her place is a defiant, sultry woman who makes Adan’s blood run hot… A woman who has no memory of being his wife…
Sound intriguing? How about an excerpt?
Isabella looked up in confusion. “Who are you?”
A shadow passed over his face before it hardened again. “Do you really expect me to believe you do not know?”
Anger and despair slashed through her in waves. It made no sense. And yet he hated her. This man hated her, and she had no idea why. Somehow, she found the strength to act, wrenching herself free from his grip.
Isabella hugged her arms around her torso as if to shield herself. She couldn’t bear to feel the anger and sadness ripping through her a moment longer. Couldn’t bear the currents of heat arcing across her nerve endings. The swirling confusion. The crushing desperation.
Grant had disappeared, but she knew it was so he could fetch one of the bouncers. He’d be back at any moment, and this man would be thrown out on his arrogant behind. She was going to enjoy that.
“Of course I don’t know you,” she snapped.
“On the contrary,” he growled, his dark eyes flashing hot, “you know me very well.”
Her heart pounded at the certainty in his voice. He was insane. Gorgeous, but insane. “I can’t imagine why you would think so.”
“Because,” he replied, his voice laced with barely contained rage, “you are my wife.”
Want one? Leave a comment to be entered! Happy New Year, y'all!
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