So you want to write for Harlequin Presents – Part 9

Sep 10, 2009 | Writing | 11 comments

Hey, can you believe we've gone through eight of these posts already? Today, I think we're up to the wrap-up. I can't believe I had so much to say about writing for Harlequin Presents, and I have to thank Kimberly for helping me out with the Modern Heat posts. I might even have learned a thing or two — namely that I can't write for Modern Heat! 🙂

So what's left? Not much, I think. Basically, we've talked about why you want to write these books, the hero, the heroine, the emotional conflict, crafting the first chapter, and the global voice. I've covered pace when I've talked about crafting that first chapter because I've told you it needs to move along without being encumbered by backstory.

Someone asked about flashbacks, and my gut feeling is to avoid these like the plague. When you go into flashback you are simply finding another way to tell backstory — and you are stopping the forward motion of your story to do it. Keep moving forward. As an unpublished writer, you simply can't afford to spend valuable time talking about backstory. Keep moving forward, keep the reader engaged. When you have a couple of books under your belt, and a readership who buys your stories whenever they hit the stands, you can try the long flashback in Chapter One. Until then, resist the urge. Feed backstory into your story in bite-size pieces.

Now for my general advice! Read a lot. Read across genres, but read many, many Presents if this is what you want to write. Study them and see if you can figure out why they work. Because the writing competition, though fabulous, is not your only chance to see your story published with Harlequin Presents! I won and sold my story, but other writers got requests too; Tina Duncan sold her story after working through revisions with an editor. She was not even a runner-up — so take heart! If you don't get that call that you won, or that you are a runner up, it's not over for you.

You simply must keep writing. If this story isn't the one, the next one might be. Or the next. Writing, as much as we love it and put our heart and soul into it, is a business. It's a job, and the writer who sits down and works, who doesn't wait for inspiration from the muse (or for the stars to align, the dog to stop barking, or the perfect idea) is the one who will sell and have a career. Deadlines are a great motivator, believe me. If you have to trick yourself into thinking you have one, then do it.

And yes, I know that when you already have the editor who will read your baby and tell you what to fix, it might seem a bit easier to complete the book — but you have to learn to do it sometime, and it's a really good idea to learn it now, before the editor is flipping through her calendar and saying, “So when can you get this to me?” You don't want to make a mistake and tell her it'll take you three months when it'll really take you six. You'll only know this by writing a lot and completing books.

Another thing: the more you write, the better you will get. We all have doubts, we all have fears, and we all think we can't pull it off or that it's all wrong. If you keep writing, you'll bust through those barriers at some point (the ones on this specific book) and reach the end. And the end is what you must reach. Again and again and again. Do you think Nora Roberts writes when the mood strikes or the perfect idea hits? I think she probably writes a whole lot more than I do, and so I picture her in what must surely be her gorgeous custom office, hunched over her keyboard, typing furiously. And it makes me want to write too, makes me keep going long past the point I'd have flitted off to do some online shopping or something (though I still succumb on occasion).

You'll find your own motivator, of course. It's not just Nora that motivates me. I have an entire RWA chapter full of amazingly talented writers who seem to keep producing books, so I can't let them pass me up. Gotta keep working. Whatever it takes, right?

Remember that where you are today as a writer won't always be where you are. You may be a beginner, or you may be on the cusp of selling. This is not an instant, scratch-off business. Your talent is not measured by how long it takes you to reach the point of selling a novel. If you don't sell soon, keep writing. If you do sell soon, keep writing (they'll expect it!). See, it's the same for all of us. Keep writing.

Don't let anyone tell you that you are an untalented hack who'll never make it. You may have room for improvement, and that's fine, but don't let anyone stop you permanently. You may have gotten a rotten comment on a contest entry; wait until you get a bad review — criticism doesn't stop, though instead of a private comment on a private entry, it'll be out there for everyone to see. Shrug off contest comments as bad reviews (though of course you must decide if there is merit to comments because sometimes someone is trying to help you break through a hurdle). Eat chocolate, drink wine, wallow for a day or two. But really, really don't let anyone stop you for long.

Best of luck if you are entering the Mills & Boon contest! If not, then best of luck getting your manuscript ready for submission.

I think that's it! Any questions? 🙂

So you want to write for Harlequin Presents – Part 8

Sep 9, 2009 | Writing, Guest bloggers | 9 comments

Once more, I turn the day over to Kimberly Lang, Modern Heat author!

So you want to write that *other* kind of Presents – a Modern Heat.

Part 2 – Your hero, your heroine, and their baggage.

The most common question I get from folks targeting Modern Heat is “What’s the difference between a Modern hero and a Modern Heat hero?”

Here’s the thing: they’re not *that* different when it comes to Alpha-ness. Alpha is Alpha. Alpha heroes are strong, powerful, and in charge. They make decisions, think on their feet, and problem solve. They’re rich, drop-dead sexy, and great in bed. They know what they want and they expect to get it. That’s an Alpha hero – Modern or Modern Heat.

All Alphas have a sense of entitlement – not necessarily because they’re heirs to the throne or powerful tycoons, but because they lead the pack, by God, and they didn’t fight their way to the top of the food chain to be vegetarians. (So I’m mixing metaphors again. It happens.) The Modern Heat hero can be just as ruthless as his Modern counterpart, but it’s not the default action. If charm or money or something else can get him what he needs, then he’s just as likely to go that route. But don’t underestimate him and don’t try to back him into a corner.

What makes some difference in a Modern Heat hero is the Modern Heat heroine. She’s strong and spunky. She knows what she wants; she has dreams and plans. She may not have the best job – but she might also be top of her field (my current heroine is an heiress in her own right). Her strength and spunkiness will cause her and the hero to clash on many levels – yet they’re going to understand each other at the same time in a way others don’t. Remember yesterday when I told you the guidelines said Modern Heats were full of sass? Meet the sass. She’s going to spar with him verbally, give as good as she gets, and no matter what the situation is, she will always be in it, toe-to-toe with him. It will infuriate the Alpha hero, but he’s going to respect it – however grudgingly.

Beatrice and Benedick from Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing are a Modern Heat couple. But then, so are Jane Austen’s Emma and Mr. Knightly. Again, a lot of this is the tone and attitude put in place by the author.

The last thing I want to talk about for the Modern Heat couple is their baggage. Romancelandia, for the most part, is populated by characters carting around so much emotional baggage you sometimes wonder how they function in society. This makes great stories – they have so much to overcome that the emotional payoff is huge. The problem with that, though, is that it’s very difficult for people dragging around one of those enormous steam trunks of emotional baggage to be sparkly, spunky, and sassy. And remember, Modern Heats are all about tone.

This isn’t to say that the Modern Heat couple doesn’t have baggage – they do; it’s just on wheels and they drag it behind them. It’s still baggage, but it’s manageable and often fits in the overhead bin or under the seat in front of them. Like all emotional baggage, it will have to be dealt with – most likely at the worst possible moment. (Think about it this way – you have your emotional baggage safely stored in the overhead bin and you’re riding smoothly along at cruising altitude. Suddenly, you hit major turbulence, causing the bin to fly open and your baggage lands squarely on your head. It then bursts open, dumping everything into your lap and onto the person next to you. You have to try to pick it all up while still wearing your seatbelt. Then you notice that your underwear landed right in the other person’s lap. And it just gets worse from there…)

Through my mixed metaphors and clashing imagery, I hope I’ve made one thing clear for you (even if I did muddy everything else up): Modern Heat isn’t just a Modern that’s been tweaked a little by softening an Alpha or giving your heroine a temper to match her red hair. You have to approach the story from a different perspective entirely, and let that spunky, sparky, sassy, urban and sophisticated attitude drive your characters and their story.

Questions? Comments?

Kimberly

Kimberly’s current Modern Heat (Magnate’s Mistress…Accidentally Pregnant!) is available here, and The Millionaire’s Misbehaving Mistress is available now at eHarlequin.

****
Thanks, Kimberly, for explaining about Modern Heats! Because though I enjoy reading them, I couldn't begin to tell anyone how to write one. It's just not the way my brain works. So, for tomorrow, I'll do a wrap up. I think it can all be dealt with in one post, but if I get wordy, it'll get broken into two with the final one on Friday. In this last post (or two), I'll try and cover those little things I may have missed before.

So you want to write for Harlequin Presents – Part 7

Sep 8, 2009 | Writing, Guest bloggers | 16 comments

Hey, y'all! Welcome the one and only Kimberly Lang — Modern Heat author, lunch buddy, chapter mate, and friend. Kimberly has very kindly agreed to write a couple of posts about Modern Heat and how they differ from Modern.

So you want to write that *other * kind of Presents – a Modern Heat.

Part 1 – It’s all about the attitude.

It’s great that Lynn asked me to do a couple of posts on writing for Modern Heat – after all, Lynn and I spend a lot of time debating the difference between a Modern and a Modern Heat. (Yes, all are released in the US as Presents, but in order to avoid confusion here, we’ll call them Modern and Modern Heat.)

I’ll start by echoing Lynn’s earlier advice… read the books. Decide if you love them. Only if you love them will you be able to write them. If you read all the Presents released every month, you’ll probably see that two of them are not quite like the others… there’s something different.

That “something different” is what makes a Modern Heat a Modern Heat. If that “something different” sparks your Muse, then maybe Modern Heat is the right place for you.

Everyone asks about the Modern Heat hero – and I’ll go into him in more depth next time – but to me, the tone and the attitude are what set us apart from the Moderns. The editorial guidelines describe it as “a flirty young voice and a whole load of sass!”

Say you meet a set of twins – equally pretty, equally charming, equally intelligent. One is quieter, more intense, and sees the world in dramatic, black and white terms. The other is sunnier, a bit bouncier, and dramatic in the sense she’s the president of the drama club. If you present the same situation to each of the sisters, they will react differently – because their personalities are different.

That’s the key to writing Modern Heat as opposed to a Modern. It’s not a matter of making your hero Alpha-light or giving your heroine a better job. You, as the author, have to approach those same themes and hooks from a different angle – a flirty, sassy angle.

If “Pride and Prejudice” is a Modern, “Emma” is a Modern Heat. Same themes, same hooks, same setting, same author — totally different tone.

Mr. Darcy and Mr. Knightly are both Alpha heroes, but the tone of the book affects how we perceive them and sets the stage for how they will react (and how those actions will be received by the other characters) in a situation.

The tone of a Modern Heat also affects the pacing of the novel as a whole. Modern Heats move. You can’t have that spunky, sparkly tone in a book that doesn’t move along at a fast clip. To pick a whole new image of fireworks (hey, it’s late at night, I’m doing the best I can), Moderns are Roman Candles, shooting up a steady stream of colorful explosions. Modern Heats are sparklers – flashy and hot and fast burning.

I know that’s probably not 100% clear, so I’ll go back to the beginning: read. Pop over to the Mills and Boon website – because it’s easier to tell the Moderns from the Modern Heats – and do a quick read of the first chapters they have there. Alternate between a Modern and a Modern Heat and see if you can identify that change in tone, that different attitude. (Lynn’s book is there in the August offerings and my new one is in the September listings – just a suggestion. 🙂 )

Tone and attitude mark the biggest difference between a Modern and a Modern Heat — and your characters, as we’ll talk about next time, have to match that tone and that attitude.

Questions so far? Comments?

Kimberly

(For a list of the Modern Heat authors and releases, visit www.sensationalromance.blogspot.com. We’re all listed there.)

So you want to write for Harlequin Presents – Part 6

Sep 4, 2009 | Writing | 13 comments

Finally, we are at crafting the first chapter! The lessons I've taught you so far are designed to carry you through the entire book, but crafting that first chapter for the contest is a special challenge. Indeed, crafting a first chapter of ANY story is a special challenge!

Each time I sit down to start my next story, I have to think really hard about where to start. I often have an idea or a scenario in my mind, but finding the right place to launch into that idea can take time. The more I do it, the better I get at it (and so will you, btw!).

The editors have already given you advice over at I Heart Presents, and I'm probably going to repeat much of it. When I sat down to write the opening to Spanish Magnate, Red-Hot Revenge, I knew I had to launch into a problem right away. There's not a lot of time to spend in building up to the opening. In fact, there's none. You simply must launch onto the page with a compelling story problem.

Who is this person and why should I care? That's what you need to convey to the reader. Make her care right away. No heroines waking up to leisurely breakfasts while thinking about their lives. No “As you know, Jane, I'm the oldest of my three sisters” openings where your heroine explains her life thus far to a friend. No openings where anyone is simply thinking about things.

Start with story action. Put your character in hot water immediately and then keep piling it on. Pile it on for the entire chapter, btw. And end that chapter with a compelling hook that makes the reader want to turn the page! You may say that you've seen Angela Author begin with leisurely thinking, or talking to a friend, and perhaps she even ended on a gentle note like her heroine going to bed at the end of the day.

But you are not Angela Author. You are a writer with hopes and dreams of becoming the next Harlequin Presents competition winner!

And to do that, you must keep the editors turning the pages. The action of your story needs to grow out of the issues between the characters and not simply be a comedy of errors that you toss in at every turn, thinking it'll keep the editors reading. They've seen every trick in the book hundreds of times and they won't be fooled.

What they want from you are two compelling characters, a central story problem, and a fast-paced read that leaves them wanting more at the end. (This is my opinion only, not an edict from on high!)

Now for some specific tips:

1. Start with action, not thought. Action that is relevant to the story, not something dramatic you toss in just to get attention. You can be dramatic, but it better relate to the rest of the chapter.
2. Limit the backstory. Think of it like salt, and use it sparingly. No need to know everything just yet! If you've got more than a paragraph of backstory on any one page, it's too much IMO. Try to use as little as possible.
3. Get the characters together quickly.
4. Limit side trips into the decor, the clothes they are wearing, or the cars they drive. Say it and move on. No dwelling.
5. Make sure your dialogue grows out of who these characters are and what they want. Don't use empty chatter to take up valuable space. Empty chatter can have a place if there's an undercurrent and things are being said that the reader intuits through this seemingly meaningless dialogue. This is very tricky, however; if in doubt, leave it out. 🙂

Once you've written that chapter, take a look at every scene and ask yourself what the purpose is. If your characters are exactly the same at the end of the scene as they were at the beginning, it might not be necessary. Every scene needs to build onto the last until you reach that climactic hook. Don't be afraid to rewrite your chapter. Don't be afraid to revise like crazy or toss out things that don't work. My editor always has suggestions for me on how to make that first chapter better.

So write your chapter, make it the best you can, and know that if you win, you will probably still be revising. 🙂 Don't compromise your voice, don't choose the safe word because you think it's what they want to see, and don't try to sound like any other author. Be yourself, let your characters shine, and tell the editors a story.

Questions?

P.S. Be sure to join me on Tuesday when Kimberly Lang talks about writing for Modern Heat! (Monday is a holiday in the US, so no posts then.)