The HEA Cafe

This past weekend, I visited a bookstore and asked the bookseller about their romance section and whether the store would be implementing the face-out program that another bookstore is allegedly planning on rolling out.

The bookseller responded in a cordial, pleasant manner, which is something I find all the time at most bookstores although I’ve heard horror stories from other authors. I’m not sure why my experiences are always positive, but they have been. However, I do admit that some experiences are more positive than others. But I digress. Once the bookseller and I had finished discussing the pros and cons of facing books out, I asked her if she read romance. An expression of “oh boy, here it comes” swept over the seller’s face as she semi-rolled her eyes at me and responded that she used to read romance more than ten years, but that she didn’t any longer.

So I grinned and said, “You know, romance has changed a lot since you read it last. The heroines aren’t wimps who let the hero do all the work. Women are portrayed as strong people and in a lot of cases they’re kick-ass heroines.”

I could tell she still wasn’t convinced because she sort of shrugged and indicated she preferred fantasy and sci-fi. I immediately remembered the line from one of my favorite movies, “Give me a word, and I can show you how the root of that word comes from the Greek language.” (My Big Fat Greek Wedding is one of my fav romantic comedies on DVD). It’s like that with romance writers. We cover EVERY genre, and there has to be someone she’ll enjoy reading. So I said, “oh you must love Linnea Sinclair since you like sci-fi.”

From that point forward, the bookseller was like candy in a child’s hand because she looked at me with a “Who?” expression. So I immediately flooded her with the names of authors I knew who wrote fantasy and sci-fi, and in between breaths I mentioned eBooks. She didn’t want anything to do with that, and I knew to hedge my bets. I just had to convert her to the wonders of sci-fi and fantasy romance and once we had her hooked, we could reel her in with the format type later. Seduction is a gradual process, not a wham bam, thank you ma’am act.

I proceeded to write down the names of sci-fi and fantasy romance writers I knew of and gave them to her. I also took down her email and promised to send her some information on a local sci-fi /fantasy conference coming to Richmond soon. When I left, the bookseller knew my name and even though she might not read my subgenre of romance, I’m betting she’ll remember me because I showed her that readers can find romance in whatever their favorite genre is.

IMHO, the key to breaking down barriers is to apply romance to something the other person likes or believes in. Will it always work? Nope, but it’s worth a shot because a) you might actually convert someone to the romance cause and b) at the very least you’ve made a positive impression on the bookseller and hopefully that will roll over to your benefit when your next book hits the shelves.

Monica

Monica Burns - http://www.monicaburns.com
Dangerous — Behind the mask lies love, a dangerous, deadly emotion
Come Enjoy a Paranormal with that Ahh…Sensation

I don’t know if any of you are guilty of this or not, but when I start tinkering with something, it’s hard to stop. Even when I dress my four-year-old daughter, I’m always adding a little headband or maybe a ribbon or adding a sweater. And yesterday, before sending galleys back to my publisher, I had to call Chessie, my critique partner, and quiz her about a single word. Do I scratch it out? Do I leave it in?

The kicker is, I don’t think our books will ever be as perfect as we want them to be. There will always be something to adjust, tweak, change or think about way too hard. To the point where I almost drove right past the UPS store last night and kept my galleys for one more day. After all, they’re not due until tomorrow. I could have overnighted them today. Taken one more look, thought more about that one word.

So how do you tame your “perfectionist” streak when it comes to your writing? Or do you? Does the same drive that makes us crazy also improve our work? Or do we just need to stop overthinking, stop the car and let our books go?

It’s my day to blog and you know what that means don’t you? I’m going to talk about staying motivated. Turns out that staying motivated is almost as hard as writing. There are so many reasons not to be motivated. Just from my own life: a very sick cat requiring extensive testing and now force feeding (he’s getting better thank you but it was rough going), the day job, the kids, worrying, lack of time, lack of energy, lack of inspiration, feedback (bad and good will stop me–oy, don’t ask), fear, and just plain laziness.

So how does a person overcome so many obstacles and actually get something done? I’ve tried reward systems, but they don’t work with me. I guess that’s because I wasn’t raised that way. No cookies when I was good. No money for good grades. I can’t even coerce myself with the promise of an iPod Touch. I’ve made my own deadlines and missed them consistently. On the other hand, every outside imposed deadline I got from mu publisher I made.

This points out to me that I can do it, and it has something to do with Newton’s third law (also called the law of inertia):

If no net force acts on a particle, then it is possible to select a set of reference frames, called inertial reference frames, observed from which the particle moves without any change in velocity.

Got that?

In other words, “An object will stay at rest or continue at a constant velocity unless acted upon by an external unbalanced force”.

That’s me. I am that particular object in need of external unbalanced forces to get me moving.

So, let’s inventory the unbalanced forces . . . I have imagination, stubbornness, and determination and when I remember to use them (instead of just whinging about how hard it all is), I can count on them to push me through that part of the book where all is lost, because without that momentum I’m bound to agree with my characters.

A wise friend once convinced me that I had to finish my book or my characterse would never get their HEA. And I did it. (For the record, that appealed to my sense of responsibility which is what works with a publisher deadline as well.)

How about you? How do you keep yourself going?

As we all know, story telling has certain rules.  The first – and arguably the most critical – rule is to convince the reader to suspend disbelief and buy into the plot.  But I have to admit that there are certain plots that I simply can’t buy into.  Plots that evoke an instant doubt, that make me skeptical of the story, no matter how skillful the writer’s prose.

Perhaps the worst, for me personally, is the mistaken identity plot.  I often see this in contests I’m judging.  Typically, the hero arrives on scene without announcing his identity, and the heroine reacts in some drastic, way-out-of-bounds way.  Either she has raw, wild sex with him, or she hates him on sight and gets into a huge argument with him, or she does something equally as destructive — only to discover the next day that he’s her new boss, or the man she needs to convince to save the ranch/give her a job/rescue her failing company. 

This plot device drives me nuts.  I’m not sure why.  Maybe I’ve just seen it too often.  Or maybe I just can’t see this happening in real life.  It’s just too unbelievable that the heroine doesn’t ask who he is.

So what about you?  Are there any plots or plot devices that you don’t care for?  Please share!

I’m talking about editing and revising a manuscript. When do you know when to call a halt?

Now, I’m one of those weird writers who love the process of editing and revision. I love the opportunity to work with editors who really know their stuff and challenge me to push myself. There’s the chance to strengthen, polish and polish some more. Wonderful. But when to stop? 

Repetitive phrases, frequently used words (mine seem to change with each manuscript, so they sneak in and I’m often not aware until an editor points them out), too many adjectives, adverbs, etc. You name it and I imagine we’ve all been there. My particular nemesis is the dear old ellipsis. I reckon I’m in the running for Ellipsis Queen of Publishing, or at least a main contender.

So, I go through the manuscript with a fine toothcomb…and I go through it again…then again…and maybe again…and just once more for luck (see what I mean about the ellipsis) and finally hold my breath and shoot it away for the final time. Then I start to think maybe I could have changed that word, amended that sentence, and it all starts over again.

All part of being a writer, of course … and that’s one thing I wouldn’t change. Ever.