Meet the Fockers er...Characters!

No, I know you think that's Joaquin Phoenix. But it's not, not anymore. Meet the hero of BLACK BOX WARNING, Detective Seargent Daniel Benson. At six foot three, he's not quite as tall as his big brother, Dr. Christian Benson, but he has a pistol, and he's not afraid to use it.









And, no that's not our wonderful friend, Leigh and her brand new bundle of joy, Bodhi. Well, okay maybe it is. But it's also my prototype for Dr. Sky Novak, our heroine.

Please note, I've actually started writing this thing! Page meter up!

Here's a snip of dialogue from their first meet.

He spoke first. "Brrr chill."
Before she could stop it, her laugh broke free.
Two vertical lines creased the space between his thick sable brows. "What?"
To quell her laughter, Sky concentrated on the dim scar that traveled the length of the man's nasal filtrum before coursing into his off-center upper lip. The effect of that slight asymmetry, those full, battle-scarred lips set against otherwise perfect, intensely masculine angles was undeniably sensuous. The word devastating came to mind. He should be a poster boy for cleft-lip repairs. Her shoulders stopped vibrating, but she didn't trust herself to speak, not quite yet.
"It's fuckin' freezing."
"Now that's more what I'd expect from an outlaw like you." Oh shit. That was inappropriate. But judging by the way every feature on his face worked its way into a rebel-without-a-cause grin, he hadn't exactly taken offense at the remark.
"Well all right then. No more Mr. Nice Guy. Doesn't fit anyway. Can I buy you a coffee?"
"Thanks, but no..."
"Not into outlaws?"
"Uh..." Sky rattled the doorknob helplessly.
"One cup. C'mon, flirt and run's a crime...Don't make me arrest you."
Now this was just plain awkward. She couldn't figure anyway out but honesty. "You're right. I was flirting...and I never flirt...and I absolutely should not have flirted with you just now. It's my bad. I apologize."
"I refuse to accept. What's it gonna be, coffee or cuffs?"

What qualities do you think make a hero and heroine memorable? Anybody else use real people for their physical prototypes? If so, care to share?

Fun and Games: Imitation is the Sincerest Form of Flattery

THIS JUST IN: COURTNEY MILAN'S THE MAKING OF JENNY KEEBLER FINALS IN THE GREAT EXPECTATIONS CONTEST! CONGRATULATIONS-WORLD DOMINATION IS A HEARTBEAT AWAY!

I was cruising JULIA QUINN'S website the other day and found something really neat under her Bonus Features. JQ has put together a mix of songs that inspired her or played a role in her books. What a nifty idea. I checked out her list and felt I knew her a little bit from the songs.

I also noticed what a great job of branding she's done. Her book covers and website are all tied together with the same fun tone and color palate. So even though it may seem silly to brand ourselves before we publish, I thought, hey, why not get some practice?

So I put together my own soundtrack for STRANDED HEARTS (If you're wondering what the heck STRANDED HEARTS is it's the new title I'm using for TWIST OF FATE). I had great fun putting the I-Mix together. If you want to try, just download I Tunes to your computer, create a playlist, and choose Publish . They'll email you a link a few hours later. And if you do decide to play, be sure to post a link to your mix in the comments section.

What fun things have you seen on other author's websites? Any great branding ideas you're dying to try?

Cliché Or Not Cliché?

Is Romance cliché?


In a recent wonderful post by Tessa Dare about love and fairy tales, she made a claim that her own work was full of clichéd phrases. I'm here to dispute that. Oh, yes, the occasional cliché can be found in her work. But it is infrequent and deliberately placed.

Hence the inspiration for this blog. Romance writers are not just about clichéd phrases. Witness the opening sentence of Kathleen Woodiwiss's "clichéd" book, The Flame and the Flower:

Somewhere in the world, time no doubt whistled by on taut and widespread wings, but here in the English countryside it plodded slowly, painfully, as if it trod the rutted road that stretched across the moors on blistered feet. Clichéd phrase or fresh writing? I call it fresh.

Here's one of my favorite fresh phrases from one of Tessa Dare's works :

His hand darted out, and he caught the fluttering scrap of white effortlessly, as though it were a dove trained to fly to his hand.

From Courtney Milan:

He drove into her like hard rain falling on a river.

From my own work:

The sound of his name tumbled from her lips like a coin into a well, a golden weight laden with wishes that plummeted straight to his core.

As romance writers I believe we must work even harder than "literary" folks to write fresh. After all, everyone expects us to fall short.

Here are some examples of clichés I'm sorry to say were in my manuscript and had to be cut:

Her mouth formed a perfect "O".

If this was a dream, she didn't want to wake up.

But I still keep a rare cliché when it suits me. Check out the first page of Twist of Fate and you'll be hearing about the hero's "sun-bronzed chest", which replaced "muscled chest", which was just too too cliché for me. Okay, maybe it's the same difference. But Christian's sun-bronzed chest stays until an editor (cross your legs) makes me cut it.

I notice Kathleen Woodiwiss does give her heroine blue eyes the color of sapphires, but it's such a beautiful book, I'm okay with that.

Here's your challenge: Tell us a fresh phrase from your own work, or your cp's work, or an admired author's work, or all of the above. Show us how wonderful romance can be when it's done well. Then fess up. Tell us a cliché you cut from your own work if you dare. :-)

JUDGE AND JURY

It's that time of year again. No, I'm not referring to the last minute holiday crush at the mall. I'm speaking of what many of us would like to get from Santa this year -a golden-hearted Golden Heart judge to bring us Christmas come July. But here's the thing. WE are judging the Golden Heart. And this is a responsibility that has already cost me sleep.

Yesterday, my entries arrived for judging. With light head and pounding heart I ripped into my Fed-Ex box. What treasures awaited me? Five Historicals. None recognizable. Whew! At least I didn't receive a friend's entry and have to decide whether to throw a friend back into the sea of unpredictable judges or try to set my own biases aside and judge her manuscript myself. I faced the simple task of judging the manuscripts of unknown writers. Piece of cake, right? After reading and rereading the judging guidelines, I sat down with a glass of chardonnay and my first manuscript.

And let me tell you, it was fabulous! But...after reading the entire entry, I was bewildered as to how to score it. I'm going to go ahead and discuss these issues without giving any information that could possibly identify the story. Also, I've already entered my score so our discussion won't change that. But I think it's a good topic and I'm interested in other's input.

First entry: The writing is wonderful and fresh and more than that, it sucks me right into the story. The characters have wonderful depth. The dialogue sparkles. A smooth, beautiful, exciting read. But there are a few problems.

The first problem is that the font appears to be less than 12 point and it is TNR. The chapters begin one on top of the other - not even with extra spaces much less on a new page. Now the judging guidelines tell me what to do about this. Ignore it. Okay, I can do that.

Next problem. Point of view slips more than a few times. Hmm. This is pretty minor. I don't necessarily feel I HAVE to subtract for this.

Next problem. The opening is very exciting and sets the tone for a great read. Unfortunately, there is simply no reason that I can discern why the hero takes the action he does in the opening. Hmm.

I toss and turn most of the night deciding on my score.

This morning, I see patients in the office and make hospital rounds. Shop. Come home. Sit down with a cup of Java and my next entry. I immediately worry that it's not fair to drink coffee while reading one entry and wine while reading another. Won't this affect my mindset? Beads of sweat are now popping out on my brow like Christmas cookies from neighborhood ovens. I can't switch to Chardonnay, however, I am on call.

Now this next manuscript is perfectly formatted. Okay, I'm not supposed to care. But I'd be lying if I didn't admit I appreciate the author using Courier and starting chapters on a new page. I mean, these are long entries, and we are to read ALL the pages before scoring. The writing is wonderful, smooth and fresh. Now I am beginning to think my own entry won't have a shot because my pile of reads is so good. Yes, I know I'm in another category, but apparently, everyone else is a better writer than I am! I chew my nails and get back to work, shunting aside my own feelings of inadequacy.

From start to finish this story seems perfect...from format to flow, all motivations in place, ends on a hook, all show and no tell. Lush. But....I am bored the entire read because the character's just don't draw me in and the story line itself is totally predictable. Oh, damn.

So which of these two entries got a higher score? Or did they both get the same score? I'll never tell. And I remind myself and you all that we are not to score entries against one another, but rather against some other subjective standard.

But I will say that this judging thing is HARD. It's hard because I want to get it right. I know what it takes to write and rewrite the entry, to print it and proof it and package it and mail it and to hope hope hope your judge will be fair (and okay, maybe a smidge generous). And it's hard because this is not just another contest. This is the Golden Heart.

Wishing you all Happy Holidays and fabulous reading as we struggle to do the right thing.

THE CRITIQUE RELATIONSHIP

BREAKING NEWS: Speaking of the critique relationship, my fabulous CP, COURTNEY MILAN JUST WON THE HISTORICAL CATEGORY IN THE GOLDEN PEN! Congrats, Courtney! You rock!

Somehow, I wound up as the chairperson of critique groups for my local RWA chapter. And that has inspired me to blog about critique partners and groups. I believe that finding a good critique partner or group is essential to your writing health.

Although I've been blessed with the best critique partners in the universe, I've traveled a crooked path to find them. And even my two best friends and CPs and I have had our ups and downs. But that's inevitable when you communicate daily and are charged with the task of telling each other what you don't like about each other's stories.

The important thing to remember (in my humble opinion) is that there is no such thing as the perfect critique partner or group. If you're waiting for that, you'll be on your own a long time.

Here's my take on what is and is not important in a critique relationship:

Not Important:

1. Proximity- Dude, ever hear of the internet? Face time is great and provides a neat social outlet with your CPs, but in terms of efficiency and turn around time nothing--and I mean nothing--beats the internet. It's not uncommon for me to email my scene out at 2am and get it back critted at 2:20 am. Okay, maybe we are all insomniacs, but it works for us.

2. Writing in the same sub-genre. While both of my two primary critique partners write romance, they both currently write historical romance whereas I am writing contemporary. I haven't found this to be a problem at all. And I don't think it is an issue on their side either. On the other hand, I do think it is important that we all READ a variety of subgenres and also read outside the genre of romance.

3. Publication Status. It is inevitable that in a group of writers, people will reach different milestones at different times. In our group we are delighted to report that one of us (yes, you already know it's Tessa Dare) has just moved ahead with a 3 book deal with a New York house. This is GOOD THING. And we all get the benefit of learning and observing from this process. Maybe in your group there will be some of you who have agents and some who don't, some who've published and some who haven't. Neither of those issues really determines whether or not you are good critique matches.

Important:

1. Compatibility in the areas of productivity, turnaround time, and personality. If one person writes five times the amount of pages as the others, and requires rapid fire turn around, while another likes to critique five pages a week, you're headed for trouble. In our group, we prioritize each other's work. We let each other know when they can expect feedback, and then we deliver. If we don't need something right away, we let each other know that too. In general, we turn pages around quickly, despite the fact that we all have busy schedules. This is because we are all serious about our writing and about our relationship as critique partners and friends.

2. Style. Your critique styles have to mesh. In our group, we tend to have a Paula, Randy, and Simon assemblage, although there have been notable exceptions to this pattern. But the bottom line is that everyone is honest, and everyone respects each other's work and opinion.

3. Level of detail desired in critiques. Some people are looking for more of a proofreader than a critique partner. If one of you only wants feedback on typos and grammar and the other loves to tear apart story structure and big motivational issues, you're not a good fit. Ideally, from my point of view, a good critique partner serves both of these functions.

4. Degree of input sought. I've heard it said when you get feedback, just say "thanks" and be done with it. Never argue the point or defend your work. If this is a style everyone is comfortable with, it will work smoothly. In our group, however, we tend to discuss feedback in depth and yes (on occasion) argue and defend our positions. But this (usually) works well for us, because it allows us to come up with new and deeper understandings of our characters and plots.

5. Seek additional feedback. When the same people read the same pages, revision after revision, they may develop blind spots. It's extremely helpful to have "virgin" readers look at your work on occasion.

6. Be true to your own vision. Don't be afraid to disregard the group consensus if it doesn't fit your voice or your vision for the story. This is your book. And it's your voice that needs to come through. Do be understanding and don't take offense if you offer your best advice and it is not followed. You're writing your book, not theirs.

7. Don’t forget to say thank you to your critique partners. What they're doing for you is generous and caring. Appreciate them.

THANK YOU TO ALL OF YOU WHO HAVE HELPED ME ALONG THE WAY, AND MOST ESPECIALLY TO COURTNEY AND TESSA!

Your turn! Any pearls of wisdom on the critique relationship?

A Writer Goes to the Movies

BREAKING NEWS: TWIST OF FATE TAKES FIRST IN THE GOLDEN GATEWAY SINGLE TITLE CATEGORY - Manuscript Requested -
WAHOO!

Wow! What a great weekend I had. Courtney Milan and I traveled to Los Angeles to celebrate our good friend Tessa Dare's first sale. We also got to see her win the Orange Rose! Please note, Ms. Dare's divine historical, GODDESS OF THE HUNT, also took first in the Golden Gateway Historical Category!

Moving on to my actual topic...My daughter also lives in LA and happens to be the program coordinator for film at the Skirball Museum, one of the sponsors of the AFI film festival. So she snagged passes to the festival's closing gala, the North American premier of LOVE IN THE TIME OF CHOLERA. Now I'm just a hick, and not used to Hollywood, so it was quite a thrill for me to sit in a small theater and have the director, Mike Newell, bring each of the stars up in front for an introduction: Javier Bardem, Giovanna Mezzogiorno, and Benjammin Bratt among others. Benjamin Bratt is unbelievably handsome in person, but I digress.

LOVE IN THE TIME OF CHOLERA is a story of undying love and devotion (siigh), and Ben Bratt is sitting right there in the theater watching as we do, so you can imagine how much I wanted to love this movie. I really really wanted to love it. But alas, although I found much to admire--the cinematography, the music, Benjamin Bratt without a shirt--I just couldn't love it. In times past, I would have walked away feeling let down without knowing why. But last night, I knew just exactly why the film didn't work for me.

Emotion. Motivation. Character development and growth. It just wasn't there. The film opens with a scene of a young man making eye contact with a young woman. Then poof...we are now told he is desperately in love with her, and later she accepts his proposal of marriage, but her father finds the match unsuitable and whisks her away.

In order for the rest of the story to work, we must BELIEVE in this first blush of love. But I couldn't. Because the director or screen writer or whoever is in charge of STORY didn't show me who these characters were, what motivated them to feel and behave as they did. In short, I didn't care about the characters because I didn't know anything about them, and I certainly didn't feel their love. Now I realize that movies are short, but they must engage the viewer's emotions, just as we as writers must engage the reader's emotions. This drove the point home to me that I must take the time to understand my characters and to reveal them in the pages I write or no one will care.

I'll mention DR ZHIVAGO as one movie that made me truly believe in undying love. The director shows us the heroic side of the main and secondary characters, their weakness, their hopes, the way they engage one another and the world and makes me CARE what happens to them.

Can you name a movie (a love story) that made you care? What was it about the story that made you feel the love?

It's official: I've lost my mind

BREAKING NEWS: Tessa Dare's Goddess of the Hunt wins the coveted Orange Rose
Congratulations Tessa! And ummm...I told you so...

Well, did ya notice the new icon? Did ya? That's right. Last year, I was unable to participate in the insanity of NANO on account of I had revisions. Revisions are punishable by death on NANO. This year, it seems I've FINISHED MY REVISIONS. Hold the applause-oh what the heck, go ahead and applaud! So I'm plotting my new TOP SECRET MEDICAL THRILLER, and I thought: Wouldn't NANO be a great way to get the first 50,000 words written? Yep, of course it would. So I signed up. And I went to my profile page and under "Writing buddies" it says, "Zero." Huh? I have lots of writing buddies. Is anybody with me on this?