Inspiration vs perspiration

So You Think You Can Write is over, but the website with the wealth of information is still there and if you haven't had a chance to look at it, I strongly encourage you.

I love Harlequin/Mills&Boons for being so new-writers friendly. This was one of the reasons I've decided to try my hand at writing for them.  All the published/contracted authors I've encountered at RWNZ conferences spoke highly of H/M&B's editors and how they practically learnt craft from them while revising/rewriting their books.
Those, who like me were still trying, were also very enthusiastic. SYTYCW and New Voices (in which I couldn't participate because according to the contest rules I was deemed published) are perfect examples of how supportive these publishers are.

For those of you, aspiring romance/woman's fiction writers who don;'t know yet I also recommend eHarlequin site - with writing advice, free online reads, and many pitching opportunities (check the For - particularlyThe Write Stuff section). great for inspiration.

I haven't had much time to seek inspiration as I have been heavily perspiring, working on my new NaNoWriMo project and rushing to get my SYTYCW assignments sent off before the deadline. I must admit I'm lagging behind with my NaNo- due to some health issues, and also SYTYCW. But I've managed to complete four out of 5 assignment - the opening page, gripping scene, synopsis and query letter, which will make my 5th assignment - actual submission in December much easier.

Anyway, since I'd managed to plot my novel almost completely prior to Nano, I don't have to wait for inspiration, just sit at my laptop and sweat the words out.
My novel is set in rural Northumberland, which is rather quite far away from where I now live. So I'm using this little space-travelling technique:

Eglingham Moor, Northumberland, England
by Kate Kyle

(this place plays an important role in development of attraction between my hero and heroine)


I've never had any of my SYTYCW assignments picked up for critique, whether last or this year, but I've read the editors' feedback with great interest- great stuff to learn from.
I've learnt bits and pieces from blog post and chats, too. My favorite was the article on synopsis and query letter. I'm still not an expert on any of them, by any means, but I'm feeling just a little bit more confident. And I'm sure I'll come back next year, even if I'll managed to get a contract with M&B by then :)

Have you been picked up for critique? Did you enjoy the event? Did you learn anything new?

It's nearly November

I've hardly noticed October - been so busy sorting out my next day job. Actually I've ben so busy that I've put writing on hold completely. But now, since I've got a new job (some call it promotion), went through the mill of a Very Important Assessment, sent my application to yet-another-uni-course in and awaiting results, and the spring is finally in the air it's time to go back to writing.

It's November - NaNoWriMo month again and I'm definetely taking part again this year. I'm also going to do SoYouThinkYouCanWrite2 with Harlequin again as I enjoyed SYTYCW1 last year.
I'm writing another medical romance - since the target length of 50-55,000 is ideal for Nano. I also hope I will be able to submit it at the end of SYTYCW2.

I have been neglecting my blog lately and unfortunately this is likely to continue in November because of Nano, but after that I should have more time for writing.
In the meantime, for those of you who are looking for an interesting writing workshop in November - have a look at a fellow romance writer Lacey Devlin's blog for inspiration.
I'm off to get prepared for NaNo - I've got heaps of stuff to do.

Nano preparation checklist for plotters:
1. Story premise - check
2. Title - check
3. Heroine's goals, motivations and conflict - check
4. Heroine's arc - needs some work
5. Hero's goals,  motivations, and conflict - check
6. Hero's arc - needs some work
7. Plot outline - very patchy, several plot holes - needs fixing
8. Minor characters - haven't been conceived yet.
9. Happily Ever After - check!
10. A week off day job - request not submitted yet!
11. Put a new word counting widget on my blog - not done yet!

I haven't included a supply of chocolate as I have to lose weight I've put on during all that work-related stress in October but will have to find something to fuel my during those long early morning hours.


Who else is doing Nano this year? Are you a plotter or a pantser? How are you preparing?

Tone up those saggy middles

Editing and rewriting your novel part 2.

SoYouThinkYouCanWrite contest by Harlequin is nearly resolved. It seems that the organisers replied to the majority of participants. Although we all expected there would be rejections, the fact that there will be A WINNER came as a bit of surprise. I guess, the winner (and runners-up?) will be announced on Monday on Harlequin blog.

photo by Idea goat FreeDigitalPhotos.net

One of my eHarlequin and blogging friends, Serenity Woods, has already got her reply (you can read her well-balanced and thoughtful, if not serene reflections on her experience here).

I'm still waiting and trying to carry on editing my NaNo and SYTYCW novel, in case I've got a request for a partial (miracles happen :)). I've rewritten my opening chapter and the following two and now I'm entering the shaky ground of the middle.

Roz Morris have recently posted on her her 3 fixes to give a story a good middle, and here are mine.
How to write (and rewrite) a well-paced middle?

1. Think of your character arc. Where is where she/he needs to get by the end of the book? Where is she/he now? What are their motivations? What changes does she/he need to undergo to get there? What challenges do you throw at her/him to give her/him a chance to change? How do you show the change happen?
Repeat for any main character you have. Make sure their stories intertwine.

2. Think in scenes. Which scenes are crucial to your character and the story? Which scenes show the journey? Write these ones first, then the less important but still necessary ones. Link them. In genre fiction links can (or even should) be limited to a couple of sentences (e.g. When she got off the bus, he was already waiting with a bunch of flowers).

3. Plan for your climax. Is there anyway you can foreshadow your climax? Which of the middle scences could be used to hint the reader at what is to come? Make sure that you have shown all the skills, abilities etc your character needs for the final challenge and the climax (miracles happens but not in fiction, so no last minute secret weapons digged out of the pocket, unless you've hinted at the existence of this pocket and your character's tendency to hind things in pockets, and their mastery at using the secret weapon, and... )

4. Keep track of what you're doing and stay focused on the story end. Have a map of your hero journey or a plot line and tick the milestones along the way. Keep record of the number of pages you write every day. Get one of those word count/ writing progress meters widgets (you can get them e.g. from Writertopia)- I love them! - it helps me see the end.


Enjoy it!

So you think you can write?

Have you written a novel? Or at least a first chapter and an outline? Or maybe, like me, you've done NaNo and have a first draft?
Can your novel by any chance be classified as romance?
Wondering what to do with that?

How about sending it to Harlequin - the global leader in series romance and one of the world's leading publishers of books for women?
It's the last challenge of their So You Think You Can Write project which featured a series of very informative and encouraging social media events in the first week of November.

All you need to have your submission considered is to sent a synopsis (5-7 pages) and first chapter (max 22 pages) of your novel (can be unfinished, but you'd better be prepared to have the rest handy in case you get a request for more in January!). Your novel can be targeted at any of Harlequin/Mills&Boon lines.

Here you will find some pointers regarding how to write your chapter and the dreaded synopsis. And if you need more info on Harlequin writing guidelines, have a look here.

Deadline: December 15, 6pm EDT. Results by 31 January 2011 (pretty fast, innit?)
I've just sent my submission - my NaNo medical romance.


Good luck to everyone :)

The importance of happy endings

Photo by graur razvan ionut
at freedigitalphotos.net

Happy ending is one of the ingredients that define a romance novel. Although the story doesn't have to end with the wedding bells, a satisfactory ending incorporates at least an assumption that Heroine and Hero will live happily ever after. You need to give them a good chance to stay together for the forseeable future. This is what your reader expects from your novel.




Kate Walker says (in her fabulous 12 Points Guide to Writing Romance) that
- your first page sells the book you're writing now, but
- the ending will sell your next one.

Enough to say why a satisfactory, believable, resulting naturally from your characters happy ending is vital to a romance novel.


I have a bit of a problem with endings, so I've been worrying that my characters will never make it to the end.
I can't believe I did it!
Not only I won NaNoWriMo (that is wrote 50,000 words) but also finished my novel.

I struggled through week 2 and 3 to the point there were days, when I spent 4- 5 hours in front of the computer and wrote only 500-800 words. That's pathetic, but at least I was moving on.
I have generally very low writing output - maximally 500 words/hour, which is much less than other people can.
But I wanted to get the Nano laurels, so uploaded the novel as soon as I reached 50,000 words, although I was still a few scenes away from the end.

What was really important for me was to finish the novel. It's my very first finished novel (my other novel has been work in progress for the last 5 or 6 years!).
I got my hero and heroine to their Happily-Ever-After yesterday morning. It's my very first happy ending.

Now I need to fix the plotholes, eyes changing colours, people changing names and the like - a.k.a. known as editing and revising process. I also need to write a synopsis.

I want to submit 1 chapter plus synopsis to The Final Challenge of SoYouThinkYouCanWrite at eHarlequin and the deadline is 15/12/10.
I also want to enter The Clendon Award 2011, which is a competition for members of Romance Writers of New Zealand.

Still a lot of work to do. But what a happy ending!


Congratulations to all NaNo Winners!

Living in 3 times zones

or NaNoWriMo and SYTYCW and my week long holidays day 4.

I've just finished Chapter 2 of my NaNo novel targeted at Mills&Boon Medical Romance, but in the meantime I decided to write a scene from the penultimate chapter for SoYouThinkYouCanWrite Challenge 3.
I must admit I'm knackered tonight - it's all that timing. Because of the time difference I really cut it fine with Challenge 2 (I only had 1 hour to patch a query letter together), so I decided to wait until well after midnight to at least read what the next challenge was going to be before I went to bed. But it didn't work - they didn't post it until must later. I must have got it all wrong again.
This is what happens when your body resides in IDLE (International Date Line East), your mind still  in GMT (Greenwich Mean Time) and trying to meet deadlines set in EST (Eastern Standard).

Luckily I had enough time this morning for Challenge 3. It was meant to be about drama, tension, and that x factor, 'which keeps a reader turning the pages until three in the morning', so I decided to go for one of the scenes of 'TheDark Night of the Soul', when Hero and Heroine think that everything is doomed and there won't be any Happily-Ever-After. I kept jumping between the scenes I'd had 'drafted' in my head only on Monday, and 10 minutes before the deadline had a moment of 'enlightement' that it was all wrong, because it wasn't emotional enough. But I just stuck with what I'd written and sent it off.

Now, fingers crossed that I get picked up for critique.

More on plotting your novel

NaNoWriMo starts in 2 days and the Web is teeming with advice on all aspects of writing a novel in a month, plotting included.

Dani Greer at The Blood-Red Pencil shows how to use a mind map to plot a novel.

In preparation for NaNo Paulo Campos at Yingle Yangle talks about outlining a novel worth reading, why outlining your novel is essential, and how to prepare for the moment when your outline will fail.

More on novel writing strategies at Burrowers, books and balderdash.

At Girlfriends Book Club Novelists Saralee Rosenberg and Ellen Meister discuss the neverending issue of what it takes to write a novel: Inspiration or perspiration?

My writing tends to be plot-driven, but classic romance is usually character-driven (more about it at editorrent), so I'd better read a little about plotting from character (Theresa at editorrent).

Ah, and then I need to think a little about my conflict.

Planning/plotting a novel

NaNoWriMo starts in a week. Time to start planning and plotting my novel.

There are several ways of planning/plotting a novel (e.g. The Snowflake Method, a four-steps one, and many, many others) and there is probably a book for every kind of writing and planning..Generally speaking, you should do whatever works for you.
For me it's James V. Smith's framework from his "You can write a novel" book (I own a You Can Write a Novel Kit - complete with Chapter Log, Major/Master and Minor Character charts, Scene Development and revision Tracker)

I am writing a category romance, so I have 50,000 words and 10 chapters to make a good use of.
I have used Daphne Clair and Robyn Donald's (Writing Romantic Fiction) tips to 'translate' James V. Smith's advice into the world of romance.


1. Opening scene, where my Reader is to be thrilled.
Well, apparently I have now only 300 words to get my Reader's attention, so I'd better get the opening scene right.
In romance this is Their First Meeting, that First Sparkle between Her (beautiful, smart AND caring) and Him (Alfa male, no doubts!). Best is to have it happen on the first page, and ever since none of them is allowed to leave the page (= if one of them is not physically present on the page, he/she must be present in the other's character's mind).
As far as I've noticed category romance have POV switching between hero and heroine.
This will be Chapter 1 of my NaNo novel

2. Pivotal setup complication, where the action can fall a little, but never below the point of interesting
This part is simple - I just need to come up with enough conflict (source of tension), internal (emotional) and external (life circumstances), to keep them apart for something like 180 pages. Easy-peasy, isn't it?
well, we shall see ;-)
This will be Chapter 2 and 3

3. Point-of-no-return complication, where the action rises to reach the thrilling level again
In romance this is usually the moment when they fall for each other and despite all these things in point 2 realise they can't help the attraction
In Chapter 4

Points 4, 5, 6 - pivotal complications with the action rises and falls swinging my Reader between Interested, Excited and Thrilled
The consequences of the conflict as laid out in point 2, plus some minor additions, usually of external type; a jealous ex jumping out of a box maybe?
Chapters 5, 6,and 7

7. Worst complications possible, where my Reader should be more than Thrilled
It's all about that conflict, really.
Chapter 8

8. Worse than even the worst complications possible - the climactic scene, where I should have my Reader blown away by the titanic, epic, final struggle of my hero/heroine facing their worst adversary; heroic conflict is resolved in the characters' favour, important lessons are learnt and no coincidence or divine intervention is allowed
Simply speaking: they both realise they can't live without each other, this is The Love Of Their Lives, so they have to do something about all them things laid out in point 2, plus the minor additions and get together
Chapter 9 and beginning of Chapter 10 (as I'm planning A Dark Night of the soul moment, when they realise there is no happy ending for them)

9. The End, where they live happily ever after and my Reader can wipe his/her forehead and sigh with relief
They get together; may sail off into the sunset, clutching their wedding invitations but no actual wedding is necessary on the scene.
The end of Chapter 10

NaNoWriMo

This year it's serious.
No more I'll_see_how_it_goes, I_may_join_in_later, or even I_think_I_could_do_it.
I'm doing it!

I've just joined in NaNoWriMo - National Novel Writing Month. It starts on 1ts.November, ends on 30th; and I'm expected to write a 50,000 words novel. Thirty days and nights of literary abandon!

I don't have a title for my novel yet, but this is going to be a Mills&Boon medical romance (it's usually 50,-55,000 words so ideal for NaNoWriMo). I'm thinking of setting it somewhere between neurology/neuroscience and psychology. more details to follow.
I'm going to start planning the novel, draw the characters and think out the conflict later on this month (I'm taking a few days off for that).
Oh, yes - I am a Planner.

A NaNoWriMo widget will keep track of my word count.