The HEA Cafe

Hi all, and welcome to the exciting world of radio!  When I set out to write my first romance, I decided to stick with the old advice, “Write what you know.”  The most interesting setting I could think of was a radio station.  I worked at one for seven years, and my husband has been a disc jockey for (gulp!) over twenty years, so I was in familiar territory.  The result was LOVE ON THE AIR, which became my first sale to Avalon Books.

One disclaimer:  Neither my husband nor I have ever worked for a major-market radio station on the scale of, say, Los Angeles or New York.  By the time a disc jockey gets there, they may actually live in a world where they make a ton of money, work (or pre-record) their four-hour air shifts and go home, and have plenty of minions at their elbow to press the buttons and make their coffee.  I say, what fun is that?!

In the world I know, of medium-to-small-market radio stations, SO many more story ideas present themselves!  And that’s because most of the preconceptions we have about radio stations don’t hold true.  Maybe they do in those big major markets, but I wouldn’t guarantee it.  So I’ll start off by laying some of the common misconceptions to rest:

MISCONCEPTION #1:  Disc jockeys make big bucks.  Not usually, unless they break into one of the aforementioned big markets.  So, a lot of disc jockeys spend their careers moving to various parts of the country in search of better opportunities.  It’s also a very unstable business, in that radio stations are bought and sold, and formats change – today’s rock station could turn into tomorrow’s easy listening station, and management may feel that the guy who’s playing Metallica now won’t sound right back-announcing Neil Diamond.

MISCONCEPTION #2:  Disc jockeys choose the songs they play.  Oh, no.  The days of Alan Freed, boldly introducing the new music called rock ‘n’ roll by playing whatever he saw fit, are long over.  Radio stations use consultants to tell them which songs are likely to do well, and when to stop playing them if they don’t do well or have run their course.  The day’s songs are printed out each day on a computer-generated log, broken down by the hour and listed in order.  There may be a noon hour request show or evening requests and dedications, but even here, the jock must stay within the station’s music library.  And if there’s something lying around in there from 1963 that doesn’t sound right with the station’s format today, a jock who got caught playing it would get yelled at.  At the very least.

MISCONCEPTION #3:  If a band slips a tape to a DJ, it might get played on the air and lead to fame and fortune.  This would be rarer than hen’s teeth!  (See above.)  Plus, that jock would be in more trouble than one who played “Sunshine and Lollipops” on a death metal station.

MISCONCEPTION #4:  Disc jockeys do their air shifts and go home.  Even at a medium-market radio station, on-air staffers usually wear more than one hat.  The midday person might double as the music director – hey, someone has to follow that consultant’s instructions and enter those songs into the computer for tomorrow’s log.  Then there are those commercials to record.  And oh, those live appearances!

So, radio probably isn’t quite the way you’ve imagined it to be … but it IS an exciting world, easy to populate with great characters and conflicts.  Tomorrow we’ll talk about those fascinating folks who are probably the first people you think of when you picture a radio station:  the disc jockeys.

Any questions so far?  If there’s anything about radio you’ve always wondered about — “Is it true that…” — post your questions here and I’ll give them a shot!

Sierra Donovan
LOVE ON THE AIR, Avalon Books
http://www.sierradonovan.com

Ever think a radio station would be a great setting for a story?

Well, it IS … and I’ll tell you why.  It may not be for all the same reasons you think!

Starting Monday, September 17, it’s ON (AND OFF) THE AIR: AN INSIDE LOOK AT RADIO, by Sierra Donovan.

Join me as I slip a few of the inside secrets of working at a medium-to-small-market radio station.  I know … ’cause I’ve been there!

During a recent lunch with a group of writer friends, I mentioned I was having problems finishing my latest WIP. I’ve tried not to think of it as writer’s block, as I think such terms can quickly turn into a kind of self-fulfilling prophecy, but I was most definitely jammed.

See, I’d gotten about a third of the way through the story - I had my outline, my character sheets, my vision board (all very brief and basic, because I’m at heart a pantser) - and things were going a-okay, thank you very much. Until my hero went and did something that was most definitely not on my outline plan. Okay, usually I love when this happens, but on this particular occasion, with this particular story, it threw me for a loop. Which is where I remained for far too long, stalled and not sure where to go with the “book from hell”. My hero, bless his alpha-to-hide-the-gooey-centre heart, insisted I keep his unexpected reaction to something the heroine told him and he wouldn’t back down. I’d threatened to walk away from his story, to spend my time with another slightly less arrogant male who would be only too happy I was pounding away at the keyboard to get his story told. But nothing would budge my broad-shouldered veterinarian. He wanted his own way.

Which is why I found myself bemoaning my fate to my writer girlfriends. “Do you know how the story ends?” one asked. “Well, yes.” I replied. “Then write the ending,” came the reply, “and then work backwards.”  This was not exactly pleasurable fodder to my ears. ”I’m a sequential writer,” I cried. “I can’t possibly do that, it’s just not my way.” Even the thought made my stomach roil. “Try it,” came the canny reply.

Back home I sat staring at the screen, just in case a revelation came from above and I suddenly knew how to fix the story, but nothing happened. I fought and I struggled against my friend’s advice until, hesitantly, reluctantly, I wrote the final scene. It felt bad. It felt wrong. I even had a sense of my characters shaking their heads demanding to know just what the heck I was playing at. They weren’t ready for their HEA. Too bad. They were having it. I continued to ignore their screams of protest and worked backward (in outline) to that stalled scene. Guess what?  It worked. My fingers are flying over the keyboard again, my head is full of excitement and anticipation. I know where I’m going.

Writing out of sequence still feels weird, it still feels wrong somehow, and I can’t say I’ll adopt it as my normal modus operandi. Yet as an emergency measure it worked amazingly well.  The whole experience made me realise how easy it is to get stuck in a rigid way of thinking, so that we simply can’t see the wood for the trees. Just Try It has become my new mantra.

Tricia

My Website
 

Hello, everyone! My name is Cynthia Eden, and this is my very first post here at the HEA Cafe. Before I launch into my post topic, I thought I’d tell a bit about myself. I write tales of paranormal romantic suspense and steamy romance. I live in the Deep South, and I sure do love a good scary movie (or a bad one!).

Now, on to my topic: Paranormals. I write paranormal romantic suspense stories for Kensington Brava, and I feel so lucky to have the opportunity to write these tales…because I LOVE paranormals. I love the “What if” element of paranormals–it opens up so many doors, and so very many plot ideas.

I love using old, stand-by paranormal characters (think vampires, werewolves) and breathing new life into them by twisting their mythologies, and I love creating brand new characters and creating my own rules for them.

Some people keep saying that the paranormal market is going to bottom out soon, that the paranormals won’t be in high demand. Well, I know that I have always loved reading them (and was pretty devastated when the old Silhouette Shadows line closed up years ago), and I know that I always will read them–so I’m one part of the reading market that will fight to keep that high demand. Yes, I do think that often reading preferences tend to cycle for some people, but I also firmly believe that paranormals, well, they are here to stay (and I like to think Bram Stoker agrees with me on this one).

So, what about you? Are there any other paranormal lovers out there? And just what is it about the paranormal tales that appeals to you?

Hi!  I’m Tess Harrison, and I write sensual romantic suspense for Cobblestone Press.  Today is my first day in the HEA Café.  I’m really excited to be here.  So excited, in fact, I tried to decide for several days what in the world I would blog about for my first post.  I tossed several topics around, but nothing seemed to really stick until yesterday.  I ordered a few books (part of a birthday present) and was inspired.

The order process wasn’t as inspiring as the process I went through to finally, and kind of painfully, narrow down my book selection to three books.  And well, since books are the reason we’re all here, I knew I had the right topic.

My adventure first began when I saw a referral to a book on craft, How to Write Killer Fiction.  I instinctively knew I had to have this book.  I couldn’t wait to purchase it.  It’s been awhile since I bought a book on the writing craft.  However, I didn’t purchase it right away.  I decided to hold back for a little while.  Several weeks passed and I still wanted the book.  By then, I told myself to hold out for my birthday and then treat myself.  Who could argue with that, right?  This is when the adventure started to take off.

While I waited for the big day to arrive, I started to see more and more reviews for other books.  Books that intrigued me with their mysterious, dark and twisted plots.  So I did what any self respecting lover of books would do, I went out to Amazon and started researching them.  This prompted me to find more books that drew me in.   With each new click of the mouse, I added more books to my Amazon cart.

When my birthday finally arrived, I went to purchase my book on craft and found a cart of fifteen books.  I knew I couldn’t purchase all fifteen books at once.  My husband would kill me.  So I had to start weeding through the selection.  I sat and stared at the screen asking the books to make the decision for me, because I wanted (and still do) them all.   The books really were no help, because each one appealed to me on a different level.  Finally, I moved the first book out my cart and into my ‘save for later’ wish list.  In that instant, the pain began.

Slowly, I whittled my cart down.  A week and half later, I purchased my first three books.  And that craft book was not in the first round.  My mood has shifted since I came upon that first book.  Even though I still want the craft book, when it came down to the wire and time to place my order, I wanted research books and pleasure books more.

Books are so much fun.  Each book I looked at promised me something new.  Something exciting and different.  That’s why I love reading and writing.  It gives me the chance to live in a different era, in a different world, a new adventure… I could go on but I think you know what I mean.  It’s for these very reasons it was also so painful to have to say no to those other books.

The books that made the first purchase round was a book on private investigating, a book about how to stop a stalker and a dark, twisted paranormal.  I can’t wait.  Funny how my mindset shifted pretty drastically.  The first books I added a few weeks ago were the craft book I mentioned, a book on serial rapists and a book about the criminal mind.  Of course, I still want them all and will eventually purchase each of the books left in my wish list.

So, what about you?  Have you ordered any books recently?  How do you decide which books to purchase first?

Tess Harrison
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