If you ask any romance reader what they love most about their genre, most will say it’s the happily ever after (or HEA, as it’s lovingly referred to). It’s the defining characteristic of what makes a romance a romance. It’s the number one requirement for romances novels entered in Romance Writer of America writing contests: “the resolution of the romance must be emotionally satisfying and optimistic.” Continue reading The Merits of Happily-Ever-After
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A Case for Romance
What do you do when the genre you write is commonly referred to as trash? Not just by non-readers, but by the key audience demographic as well? The romance genre, dominated by a female readership whose novels most often involve sex, would have to be referred to as trash in a culture still affronted and embarrassed by any mention of feminine sexuality, right? Continue reading A Case for Romance
Moana, The Disney Princess I Wish I Could’ve Been… And Maybe Still Am
You know, that new Disney Movie, MOANA? It made my day, week, month, LIFE (!!!), and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it.
Isn’t she bad-ass? I mean, really, how bad do I want to be this girl?
Continue reading Moana, The Disney Princess I Wish I Could’ve Been… And Maybe Still Am
The Courage To Write What You Believe
(First posted on DIY MFA.) When shit goes down in our lives, how do we keep writing? At best, we lose our ability to focus on our work. Sometimes it makes us question our work—question whether what we have to say will be relevant. Or at worst, become afraid to write what we write. Continue reading The Courage To Write What You Believe
Little Thoughts On Writing Big Conflict
(First posted on RWChat.com.) A novel isn’t a page turner without conflict. Conflict is what keeps us on the edge of seats worried about what will happen next. But managing conflict as a writer–planning it, producing it, keeping it–is an exercise in stamina. Beginning a novel with enough conflict to last until the end isn’t easy. Add in the struggle to keep the conflict ball in the air chapter after chapter, it takes a lot of practice.
Conflict stems from two main sources:
- External conflict--the plot, the events, the other people in the story– the things that come at the heroine from outside and keep her from reaching her goal.
- Internal conflict–the internal struggle of the character, the flaws, the past wounds, the emotional barriers–those are the things that thwart the hero from within himself.
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Balancing external and internal conflict is like walking a tight rope. There has to be enough external conflict to keep the over arching plot moving without stalling. But there has to be enough internal struggle to keep the reader emotionally engaged in the stakes till the end.
We love our characters and the temptation to make things easier for them, to help them fall in love sooner, reach that happily ever-after faster, is possibly the worst enemy of our story. If it’s too easy for them, who wants to read that? There’s no reason to keep turning pages. But if we torture them and employ my favorite technique from James Scott Bell, “What’s the worst that can happen?”, then we come up with the kind of books we can never get enough of–even after the HEA.
Deadlines Are Not Your Worst Enemy
(First published on DIY MFA.) Deadlines are terrifying. They’re funny little things almost made to be broken, but without them we’d get nothing done. (Even this article, I’m turning in two days late, but if there wasn’t a deadline, would I write it at all? Probably not.) Continue reading Deadlines Are Not Your Worst Enemy
NaNoWriMo Made Me A Professional Writer
(First posted on #RWChat.) It may sound like a bit of an exaggeration, but I don’t think it is. Writing 50,000 words in the month of November for the last three years, with the help and support of the NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) community has made me the writer I am, and it’s not just because my 2014 NaNo book became my debut published novel this summer.
My NaNoWriMo stickers on the back of my old laptop from the three years I won.
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The discipline to commit and write a novel in 30 days is a daunting but very professional task. The respect it shows one’s work with a specific goal and a hard fast deadline along with the accountability of the whole NaNo community is the mark of a budding professional writer.
The number one thing NaNoWriMo did for me was teach me to turn off my overcritical, often debilitating inner editor. I have a tendency to over analyze everything, often making it hard to achieve a goal because perfection gives me writer’s block. But the NaNo philosophy of Don’t-Edit-Just-Write helped me learn to write for the pure enjoyment and pleasure of it.
In the midst of achieving deadlines this year, I’ve been losing sight of that – the joy of writing. I can’t wait until November 1st. NaNoWriMo is fast becoming my yearly commitment to myself to remember I LOVE TO WRITE!
Writer’s Workshop
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Since I can’t afford a trip to France…
(First appeared on Lois Winston’s blog.) Going to France costs so much money. I didn’t realize how lucky I was to go there and study there during graduate school. And now I’m a writer, what better way to travel back, without buying the plane ticket, than to write a novel set in France?
I want to be transported on the pages of a book. To go to the south of France, to smell the pastries in the patisserie, to feel the breeze off the Mediterranean, to watch the seas of the Côte d’Azur sparkle in the sun, and listen to the French language spoken wherever I go.
But even when traveling in person, it’s not always as perfect as one hopes. My first view of the Mediterranean as a student was on an overcast rainy day, and I was decidedly disenchanted. Without the sun, the water was as gray as any river and the rain reminded me so much of home, I wanted to cry. How could this be France? It was miserable, and no one should ever be miserable in France, right?
That wasn’t the only trouble. I left home thinking my French was stellar. I’d studied for years and spent weeks brushing up, but I never counted on how difficult it would be to understand native speakers. I could barely converse with the locals.
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Travelling alone, managing the European transit system without anyone’s help—it scared me. I never knew how much I depended on having loved ones and friends nearby until I was in a strange country with everyone I knew across an ocean.
The good news though, I had plenty of time to learn and experience. It wasn’t a vacation where I had to go home in three days. I had weeks. The sky eventually cleared and when the sun came out… the sea was so blue, it was blinding, and the sun so bright I could feel it warming me from the inside out. I learned to navigate the town, found my favorite places, and studied how to converse with the local people.
It became as idyllic as I imagined, even though, just like any good story with a well-earned happy ending, it wasn’t easy at first. But the good stuff was all the sweeter when it happened. It made me a braver, stronger person and showed me I was more independent than I ever thought I could be.
Writing Racing To You was as cathartic as I’d hoped. I will go back to France someday. But I learned what I miss isn’t just the place, but the amazing things the journey taught me about myself.
Feedback – You Can Run From It But You Can’t Hide!
(First posted on #RWChat.) Submitting your work for feedback is like putting your heart in someone’s teeth. If you’re lucky, they’ll hold it gently in their hands. If you’re not so lucky, they’ll bite down and make it bleed. But if you’re REALLY lucky, they’ll take the time and effort to help your work be the best it can be, even if it means tough love. And there’s a reason why they call it tough – it ain’t easy to take.
But before we chat tonight about receiving feedback, I’d like a word about GIVING it. I admit, I didn’t know how to give it at first. I was one of THOSE people who coated others’ work with so many comments, it looked like a sea of red by the time I was done. I was brutal. And I definitely owe some people formal apologies for the feelings I hurt. I was new, and I didn’t understand what good feedback meant.
Here’s my understanding now of what good feedback means, or at least the kind I like to get:
Good feedback does not mean taking the person’s work and nitpicking it until you’re trying to make it your own. That’s not feedback, it’s rewriting, and it’s rude. (See the guilty sign on my back…)
Good feedback also does not mean sugar coating – telling someone glowingly how wonderful their work is without any critique. That is shallow and superficial and unhelpful. (I’ve done that too, out of laziness.)
Stay away from alcohol and smoking- Nicotine lessens on line viagra the genital blood vessels that come from the heart. The thyroid gland is found in the market, then you should think about buying herbal pills instead. lowest price tadalafil A doctor or healthcare system could easily monitor the brain health of several hundred patients, identify who is experiencing dysfunctions and would cialis generic uk benefit from specific interventions, track progress over time, and refine his or her own clinical practice based on data. It is one of the best herbal supplements to cure weakness due to over masturbation. commander cialis Good feedback, great feedback, falls in the middle. It means taking the time and care to highlight in detail the strengths of a writer’s work. Because let’s face it, most of us don’t know what our strengths are, and it’s important that we know what we do well.
It also means giving the attention to make constructive, deliberate critiques. To look carefully at a writer’s work and find the potential that has yet to be realized. Great feedback is given with respect and wanting to bring the work to a higher level. It’s given with a belief in the other writer’s ability and the integrity of their story. It’s investing the time and effort to uplift the work, not degrade it.
Great feedback is a giant compliment of YOUR WORK IS WORTH MY TIME. Accept it with grace, consideration, and discernment. Having the dedication to take every piece of it seriously is a hallmark of a great writer.
Given compassionately and well, great feedback is the foundation of building the great relationships we have going in this wonderful community of ours.