The HEA Cafe

I teach conflict. I teach a fair amount of writing subjects, having made my living from writing in one form or another for almost thirty years (in addition to writing science fiction romance for Bantam, I’m a former news reporter and a retired private investigator–some day I’ll figure out what I want to be when I grow up). My novels are known–according to reviewers–for characterization and conflict (and world building, too, but that doesn’t have the “c” alliteration so I’m leaving that out for now). So if I teach conflict and if I’m known for being a writer who writes good conflict, why am I blogging about learning about conflict?

Because with all that I knew about writing conflict, I learned more about it from a Donald Maass seminar. Almost a year ago.

I’m not a slow learner. Quite the opposite. I generally can’t wait to try whatever new technique I find via an online class, a how-to tome or an in-person seminar. I’d read Maass’ Writing the Breakout Novel a good six months before attending his seminar (which was hosted by my local Florida RWA chapter, Southwest Florida Romance Writers). Having read the book, I went more to see “The Donald” in action. I’d heard he was a good speaker (he is). But I really didn’t think he could teach me anything new on conflict.

As I said, I’d read his book. I found it interesting and I’d highlighted a few points that intrigued me but overall, it didn’t knock my writerly socks off. It wasn’t anything I honestly hadn’t heard or read before. It was just presented in his style. The same was true of his seminar. I found it reassuring that such a famous agent had come to the same conclusions I had about structuring conflict. But there weren’t any Aha! moments.

So color me awfully surprised when the past month, slogging my way past yet another howling deadline, “The Donald’s” advice suddenly came home to roost.

* What does your character most want?

* What is the moment the protagonist abandons what s/he most wants? What inspires those feelings and how thoroughly can you burn those bridges?

* What is the one thing your protagonist would never say, never do? Find three places in your story where s/he says or does that thing.

* Who else could solve the central problem? Remove them.

* Can bad things happen sooner? Who gets crushed? Who is ruined? Who goes postal?

* Take the protagonist through failure and beyond.

* Who can betray the protagonist?

* Make it worse, make it worse, make it worse.

These are all culled from some twenty-plus pages of notes I took that January, amused and entertained by his presentation but not really feeling the pull of his words. Maybe the book I was working at at that time didn’t need them. Maybe I had too much fun the night before with my author buddy, Stacey Klemstein (watch for her faboo YA Paranormal debut from Hyperion/Harper Collins in 2010!) and her husband, visiting from Chicago. Maybe the words just needed time to ferment.

Whatever the reason, I pulled out that battered legal pad at the halfway point in Hope’s Folly (Bantam, February 2009) and they hit me like the proverbial ton of bricks. Me, who teaches conflict, who thinks she has a handle on how to torture characters and enthrall readers.

The moral of this blog is 1) don’t think you know it all, 2) don’t throw out those old notes from a seminar/writing class and 3) continue to attend writing seminars and take craft of writing classes. RWAOnline offers oodles. You can do them on your schedule in your pink pjs and bunny slippers, if you so desire. Your talent for writing is a growing, shifting thing. It needs to be fed often. It needs to be exercised often. It’s like a capricious (and likely not housebroken) pet that inhabits your brain. Without proper attention, it will just curl up on the couch and snore loudly. It won’t return your affection. It won’t defend you from that home/brain invasion posse known as “Writer’s Block” when it comes bursting through your door.

It took eight months for Maass’ words to prove their usefulness. But they did. I’m happier for it, my characters are happier (well, not yet but they will be) for it and when my editor gets the manuscript in a few weeks, I hope she’ll be happier for it.

Take time out of your writing to insert some learning, especially in craft areas you think you already have down pat. Shake your writerly brain up a bit with the challenge of a new technique, a new twist.

And don’t throw out those notes!

Namaste, ~Linnea

Linnea Sinclair
RITA award winning Science Fiction Romance
Bantam 2007-2008: Games of Command, The Down Home Zombie Blues, Shades of Dark
2009: Hope’s Folly
http://www.linneasinclair.com/

Every year Romance Writers of America holds an annual conference. This years was in SF CA. I had not attended for 9–count em–NINE years.

I had forgotten how much fun RWA is!

I got to meet with two of my editors, my agents, AND FRIENDS!!

And this year, my dh accompanied me and had his first taste of RWA. My husband loves to attend meetings where I speak and he was able to watch me give the keynote address at the luncheon at the Faith, Hope & Love Inspirational Chapter mini conference. And he also attended the workshop I gave to the general conference about the ever-expanding Christian romance market.

In September I’m also attending my first American Christian Fiction Writers conference in Minneapolis, MN. I will be participating in their HUGE booksigning at the Barnes & Noble at Mall of America. 107 authors will be signing books Sept 20 Sat 1-3 p.m.

If you live near there, drop by and say HI!!

At RWA, I finally got to meet some of my RWAonline friends. But not nearly enough.

Anybody else attend RWA? Going to ACFW?

The only bad thing about attending conferences is that it puts me behind on my deadlines and how does a house get messier while I’m away???

Where are the house elves when you need them?

Ta!

Lyn

I’m not a reality show fan.  I’ll watch Survivor, but that’s about it.  However, this summer my husband is working a good bit of overtime and I’ve was looking for a little light entertainment.  I’ve been a dancer most of my life, so I thought I’d take a chance on a show called ‘So You Think You Can Dance’.  I confess – I got hooked.  But what does this have to do with writing?

Plenty.

My favorite couple on the show was Joshua and Katie.  Week after week, they came out and danced from the heart, holding nothing back.  Their talent and love of the art was breathtaking.  Katie almost didn’t make the top twenty dancers, however.  When it came down to the last girl’s spot, it was between her and her best friend, Natalie.  The judges asked both girls to come onto the stage for the announcement.  Before the judges told who they’d picked, though, one judge asked both girls that if they didn’t make it would they try again the next year.  Katie said no.  Turns out she’d barely missed the top twenty the previous year and the emotional toll, at that time, seemed to be too much.  Her answer displeased the one judge so much he asked for a recount.  The judges sent the girls out and debated once again who should be picked.  Katie squeaked by on one vote but the decision could have easily gone the other way.

Katie’s self-doubt almost cost her a spot on the show and could have even ended her career if she’d given up dance after once again losing a top twenty slot.  Time and time again, I’ve seen the same thing happen to writers.  They get a bad critique or review.  Rejection letter after rejection letter arrives in the mail.  Your family starts to question whether the sacrifice is worth it.  YOU start to question whether the effort is worth it.  Why ripe your heart out and lay it on the page if no one else cares?

Because you must.  I believe we wouldn’t be given the desire, a desire strong enough to make us sacrifice sleep, television, free time, to write if we didn’t have the talent buried within to succeed.  We just have to dig deep enough to find it.  How do we do that?  We write.  Over and over again until we get it right.  The great critique, the acceptance level, the glowing review.  The feeling inside when you read the words you’ve written and thought “I can’t believe I wrote something that good.”

Don’t give up.  Don’t become your own worst enemy.  Believe in yourself and keep writing.  I believe Katie’s going to become a star.  You can too.

Ever since Mom and Dad made me watch Nadia Comaneci score her perfect 10s in Montreal in ’76, I’ve been hooked on the Olympics Games, and as Opening Day approaches, I find myself planning my life around the events.  This means finding a way to get a TV into the campground next week so I don’t miss anything. 

In the back of my mind is a little voice that keeps reminding me of the negative aspects to the Games.  The judging that hasn’t always been on the up-and-up, the athletes who find new and untested ways to chemically enhance their abilities, and of course the stories surrounding the host city and country itself.

And yet the Pollyanna in me keeps trying to muffle that voice because this is the part of me that wants to see the athletes do their thing.  This is the part of me that wants to believe each and every one of those athletes made it to the Games on sheer determination, dedication and God-given talent.  This is the part of me that wants to get teary every time the gold medal winner (whomever he or she may be) gets to stand on that podium and have his national anthem played.  What a feeling that must be!

If you’ve never seen the movie “The Cutting Edge” with DB Sweeney and Moira Kelly, I recommend you rent it.  It’s about a washed up hockey player and a prima donna figure skater who end up as pairs partners in the Olympics and of course fall in love along the way.  But the road to the Games (and each other’s hearts) is not an easy one.  You’ll laugh out loud at what a b*tch she is to him, and you’ll physically cringe when you see what she goes through to get one particular move perfected. 

It’s all about dedication, and dedication is what brings us together here at RWA.   We all want to write, and we all want to write well.   Can we all be Nadia Comaneci, Catriona Le May Doan or Michael Phelps? 

No, of course not.  Some of us (ahem) aren’t that flexible, coordinated or aquatically inclined, but that doesn’t mean we give up.  It simply means we find our own sport, our own genre, and we keep going.  Just like the athletes who train hour after hour, day after day, so must we.  Even when we feel like crap and we just don’t want to do it. . .we do it.  

Because we want to be on that podium one day and we want that gold medal (or RITA as the case may be)    

But just like the Olympic athletes, we’re not going to get anywhere by simply wanting it.  We need to go after it with both hands.  The Olympic Games are the perfect time to find new inspiration, new determination and new respect for all those who continue to push themselves every day in whatever field they are in.

So chalk up people – the uneven bars are waiting!!

Image via Wikipedia

I’ve said before in this blog how much I enjoy the research for my books.  But there’s research, and then there’s research.

Some time ago I donated one of my books to the local Bar Association as a door prize (my husband’s an attorney).  The winner was a judge who’s also a life-long sailor, and he invited me to go out on his boat some time.  It was a much appreciated invitation, because I am an armchair sailor and there’s nothing like the real deal to make writing come alive.

We were finally able to arrange it, and this week I got to go out into the the Atlantic on the 32 ft. sloop Liberty with Captain Vic and his wife, First Mate Ellen.  And I’m not using those titles in jest–Captain Vic does have his captain’s license, as well as being a long time member of the Coast Guard Auxiliary, and it was clear from their interaction that his wife Ellen was used to crewing at his side.

I was well prepared with enough sunscreen to shield a vampire, my guaranteed-not-to-fly-off hat and my notepad. Oh, and ginger candy just in case.

But everything was perfect. We had to cut our outing a bit short because of the typical Florida afternoon thunderstorms. We wouldn’t have minded the rain, but the lightning’s another story.

I was given a tour of the boat, an explanation of the lines and rigging, a crash course on how to use the radio for emergency calls, and  we were underway.

Modern sailboats come equipped with small motors, which made it easier to get in and out of the marina, but once we were out on the water the wind took over and off we went, out of the inlet and over the bar that’s protected St. Augustine from raiders for centuries, but also kept it from becoming a shipping center. We sailed out into the Atlantic and I got to haul on lines, take the helm and learn a little about reading the compass and navigating out of the inlet and past the city.

We saw a number of Homeland Security boats out on the water, and it looked like they were doing exercises.  We also had a dolphin following us for a time when we were near the city walls.  I don’t know if she worked for Homeland Security or not.

The weather was perfect in the morning–light, steady wind, small chop, and nothing ahead but nautical miles of ocean. I also learned there was a sulfur spring off of Crescent Beach that I would have loved to visit, but we didn’t have time on this trip due to the afternoon storms.

When we brought the Liberty about and came back in to the city I saw the Castillo de San Marcos from the waterside, just as pirates, privateers, rum-runners and other nautical riff-raff have seen it for hundreds of years.

It was an absolutely splendid day, and I hope to do it again soon!  Reading books for research is all well and good, but being able to take a day to go sailing and call it work…well, that’s why I love my job!