Wow. All I can say is wow.
May we all experience somehing like this someday.
--Gabi
Books I'm reading now:
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
Friday, November 6, 2009
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Exceptions
I read The Guide to Literary Agents Editor’s Blog by Chuck Sambuchino today. It was an older post (September 27,2009) on word count. I am neither confused on word count, nor am I looking for a new agent (Love the one I have, thank you very much). But I often like to read the thoughts of publishing professionals on various topics just to learn or get exposed to a different perspective. Mr. Sambuchino said two things that absolutely resonated with me.
The first: “The most important thing here is to realize that there are always exceptions to these rules. And man, people love to point out exceptions - and they always will.”
He of course is talking about writing rules. I love rules--grammar rules, rules of etiquette, rules of writing, rules of behavior, etc. Rules make life easy in a way--you don’t have to think for yourself; you can just do what is expected of you. Do I follow all rules? Not always. I like to think for myself, judge for myself if a rule is fitting or moral or right, but I understand the need for rules and I also understand the need to know the rules. Writing rules exist not because the author isn’t creative enough to produce something without them, but because when a reader picks up a book, the reader has expectations. If a writer refuses to meet those expectations, the writer will be unsuccessful. Breaking those rules comes with a risk, and if a writer breaks those rules, he/she had better know why he/she did so. To break a writing rule, you must understand it first.
Are there exceptions? Of course, but you can’t bank on being an exception. It always surprises me, for example, when I meet an author who doesn’t think that knowing grammar is an essential skill for writing a book. You do. Or when a writer believes that they can include anything in a story (or not change elements, or refuse to listen to critique--not critics, mind you, but critique from editors or agents or trusted readers--and no, I am not arguing in favor of critique groups) because it is their vision and their vision is art and therefore perfect.
The exception gets talked about BECAUSE he/she is an exception. If I tell my students that smoking is bad for them, one will invariably pop up with “Well, my grandfather smoked every day, and he lived to be 95.” Right. He is the exception. We talk about shark attacks and plane crashes because they are the exception. We don’t talk about the millions (yes, millions) who travel each year on an airplane without incident, or the millions (yes, millions) who swim in the ocean and emerge without a nibbled toe. But people will point out the exception and then expect that they too are the exception.
Which leads me to the second quote: “And since most writers haven't earned oodles, they need to stick to the rules and make sure they work gets read. The other thing that will make you an exception is if your writing is absolutely brilliant. But let's face it. Most of our work does not classify as ‘absolutely brilliant’ or we'd all have 16 novels at this point.”
As much I would like to believe I am an extraordinary writer, we have yet to see if my sales record will support that claim. Do I write well? Absolutely. Do I tell a good story? Definitely. Am I brilliant? Of course…in spots. Sometimes my writing blows me away, and then if I look at it again, I see areas I can improve in. Will I be the next big star? God, I hope so, but looking at facts realistically, I write a good book that people can enjoy (yes, I have been told as much). I love the books I write, and I hope to sell enough to establish a career, but to paraphrase Mr. Sambuchino, if most of my work classified as ‘absolutely brilliant’, I’d have 16 novels at this point.
Am I special? You bet your life. There aren’t many who have had a book published, and I number among them. Sometimes that has to be enough.
Next time I’ll talk about Theme and its role in the romance novel. I love the topic of Theme.
--Gabi
The website for the blog is:
http://www.guidetoliteraryagents.com/blog/Word+Count+For+Novels+And+Childrens+Books+The+Definitive+Post.aspx
Books I’m reading now:
An Affair before Christmas by Eloisa James
A Lady of Persuasion by Tessa Dare
How to Engage an Earl by Kathryn Caskie
Sin and Scandal in England by Melody Thomas
The first: “The most important thing here is to realize that there are always exceptions to these rules. And man, people love to point out exceptions - and they always will.”
He of course is talking about writing rules. I love rules--grammar rules, rules of etiquette, rules of writing, rules of behavior, etc. Rules make life easy in a way--you don’t have to think for yourself; you can just do what is expected of you. Do I follow all rules? Not always. I like to think for myself, judge for myself if a rule is fitting or moral or right, but I understand the need for rules and I also understand the need to know the rules. Writing rules exist not because the author isn’t creative enough to produce something without them, but because when a reader picks up a book, the reader has expectations. If a writer refuses to meet those expectations, the writer will be unsuccessful. Breaking those rules comes with a risk, and if a writer breaks those rules, he/she had better know why he/she did so. To break a writing rule, you must understand it first.
Are there exceptions? Of course, but you can’t bank on being an exception. It always surprises me, for example, when I meet an author who doesn’t think that knowing grammar is an essential skill for writing a book. You do. Or when a writer believes that they can include anything in a story (or not change elements, or refuse to listen to critique--not critics, mind you, but critique from editors or agents or trusted readers--and no, I am not arguing in favor of critique groups) because it is their vision and their vision is art and therefore perfect.
The exception gets talked about BECAUSE he/she is an exception. If I tell my students that smoking is bad for them, one will invariably pop up with “Well, my grandfather smoked every day, and he lived to be 95.” Right. He is the exception. We talk about shark attacks and plane crashes because they are the exception. We don’t talk about the millions (yes, millions) who travel each year on an airplane without incident, or the millions (yes, millions) who swim in the ocean and emerge without a nibbled toe. But people will point out the exception and then expect that they too are the exception.
Which leads me to the second quote: “And since most writers haven't earned oodles, they need to stick to the rules and make sure they work gets read. The other thing that will make you an exception is if your writing is absolutely brilliant. But let's face it. Most of our work does not classify as ‘absolutely brilliant’ or we'd all have 16 novels at this point.”
As much I would like to believe I am an extraordinary writer, we have yet to see if my sales record will support that claim. Do I write well? Absolutely. Do I tell a good story? Definitely. Am I brilliant? Of course…in spots. Sometimes my writing blows me away, and then if I look at it again, I see areas I can improve in. Will I be the next big star? God, I hope so, but looking at facts realistically, I write a good book that people can enjoy (yes, I have been told as much). I love the books I write, and I hope to sell enough to establish a career, but to paraphrase Mr. Sambuchino, if most of my work classified as ‘absolutely brilliant’, I’d have 16 novels at this point.
Am I special? You bet your life. There aren’t many who have had a book published, and I number among them. Sometimes that has to be enough.
Next time I’ll talk about Theme and its role in the romance novel. I love the topic of Theme.
--Gabi
The website for the blog is:
http://www.guidetoliteraryagents.com/blog/Word+Count+For+Novels+And+Childrens+Books+The+Definitive+Post.aspx
Books I’m reading now:
An Affair before Christmas by Eloisa James
A Lady of Persuasion by Tessa Dare
How to Engage an Earl by Kathryn Caskie
Sin and Scandal in England by Melody Thomas
Saturday, October 17, 2009
How to Write a Romance Novel-POV
I’ve finished the second read-through of SPELLBOUND, the second book in the Time of Transition series, and now I’m waiting for the input of my agent and other beta readers before sending it to my editor. I am also eagerly awaiting the cover of my first book, THE WISH LIST. I can’t wait to see what the art department at Tor has come up with.
In the meantime, I’m continuing the series on How to Write a Romance Novel. This post: Point of View. Point of view simply means how the story is told, through whose eyes do we view the novel. Point of view is important because it decides how the reader will experience the story. And many readers have strong opinions on their favorite way to read a story. From now on I’m abbreviating Point of View as POV.
A writer has the choice of several points of view. First person is told from the “I” viewpoint. One character tells his or her story without the ability to know the emotions or feelings of any other character besides themselves. Writing in first person POV can be a challenge, because the author has to convey the emotions and all actions of the non-POV characters through the eyes and experiences of the one main character. First person is common in mystery and urban fantasy. Many fans don’t like first person POV in straight romance, but first person done well will work in any story. (For those of you who love first person POV or write in first person, don’t try to argue with me. I’m just relaying what I’ve heard, not giving my opinion.)
Books aren’t written in second person unless you’re writing a “choose-your-own-adventure” book. Second person is “you.” Try and see. “You are walking down a street. You see a handsome stranger leaning in a doorway. You smile at him.” I will offer an opinion here. A book written in second person would be annoying.
Third person is the most common choice for fiction., but even here you have choices. You can use omniscient, where the reader is privy to every character’s thoughts. Omniscient is rarely used today. Limited third is most common, where the reader experiences the novel through the eyes of just a few characters. In a romance, limited third is often limited to the hero and heroine.
So that’s the technical explanation of POV. But, wait, there’s more. Many authors don’t handle POV well. The problem occurs when the author tries to give information that the POV character couldn’t possibly have or wouldn’t ever think. I can’t tell you the number of times I have read something like, “She tossed her long, silky, blond hair over her shoulder. Her long, slim legs were curved just the way a man liked, and her cute figure did the same,” while in the heroine’s POV. The heroine wouldn’t think of herself in these terms unless she is arrogant and conceited. And the heroine very well might be, in which case, go right ahead, but be aware of the POV pitfalls.
POV is the main tool you use to pull the reader into the character’s brain. We need to experience their thoughts, their feelings, their reactions. Once you achieve placing the reader in the character’s mind, you switch to deep POV. You don’t want to use terms like “she felt” or “she thought”. Their thought is the reader’s thought at this point; you don’t have to introduce it. Also at this point you shouldn’t refer to the character by name unless it is grammatically necessary. A character wouldn’t refer to themselves by his own name. Switching out of deep POV happens by accident or when other characters enter the scene or at scene breaks or, or, or (yes, I wrote “or” three times), but once it is established it is easy to reenter that state.
In the course of writing you will also hear the term “head-hopping.” Head hopping is jumping from one character’s POV into another’s at a rapid pace. Most readers don’t know enough about POV to realize when it happens, but they might feel some dissatisfaction with a scene or a book because of it. They won’t feel as drawn to the characters; this is because they haven’t had a chance to live in the character’s head for long enough to identify with him or her. Staying in one character’s POV gives the reader the chance to know and understand the hero or heroine. Purists (authors who believe in the strict adherence to the POV rule) will tell you to stay in one character’s head for an entire scene or longer. Non-purists will switch when they wish. You have to decide for yourself how you will write. I tend to write from one POV for a scene or chapter, but I will change when I need to. I have enjoyed books by Purists and non-purists, but I do tend to notice the rapid POV change, and I have also gotten annoyed unless it is masterfully done.
One last thing about limited third: to help build the page-turning capacity of your book, think about putting the scene into the POV of the character who has the most to lose.
All writing rules are meant to be broken. One of the newest trends is to write the heroine in first person and other characters in third. So, study the books you enjoy and examine the author’s use of POV. Then choose your POV and keep writing.
--Gabi
Books I’m reading now:
Knight of Desire by Margaret Mallery
Never Trust a Scoundrel by Gaye Callen
How I Write: Secrets of a Bestselling Author by Janet Evanovich and Ina Yalof
In the meantime, I’m continuing the series on How to Write a Romance Novel. This post: Point of View. Point of view simply means how the story is told, through whose eyes do we view the novel. Point of view is important because it decides how the reader will experience the story. And many readers have strong opinions on their favorite way to read a story. From now on I’m abbreviating Point of View as POV.
A writer has the choice of several points of view. First person is told from the “I” viewpoint. One character tells his or her story without the ability to know the emotions or feelings of any other character besides themselves. Writing in first person POV can be a challenge, because the author has to convey the emotions and all actions of the non-POV characters through the eyes and experiences of the one main character. First person is common in mystery and urban fantasy. Many fans don’t like first person POV in straight romance, but first person done well will work in any story. (For those of you who love first person POV or write in first person, don’t try to argue with me. I’m just relaying what I’ve heard, not giving my opinion.)
Books aren’t written in second person unless you’re writing a “choose-your-own-adventure” book. Second person is “you.” Try and see. “You are walking down a street. You see a handsome stranger leaning in a doorway. You smile at him.” I will offer an opinion here. A book written in second person would be annoying.
Third person is the most common choice for fiction., but even here you have choices. You can use omniscient, where the reader is privy to every character’s thoughts. Omniscient is rarely used today. Limited third is most common, where the reader experiences the novel through the eyes of just a few characters. In a romance, limited third is often limited to the hero and heroine.
So that’s the technical explanation of POV. But, wait, there’s more. Many authors don’t handle POV well. The problem occurs when the author tries to give information that the POV character couldn’t possibly have or wouldn’t ever think. I can’t tell you the number of times I have read something like, “She tossed her long, silky, blond hair over her shoulder. Her long, slim legs were curved just the way a man liked, and her cute figure did the same,” while in the heroine’s POV. The heroine wouldn’t think of herself in these terms unless she is arrogant and conceited. And the heroine very well might be, in which case, go right ahead, but be aware of the POV pitfalls.
POV is the main tool you use to pull the reader into the character’s brain. We need to experience their thoughts, their feelings, their reactions. Once you achieve placing the reader in the character’s mind, you switch to deep POV. You don’t want to use terms like “she felt” or “she thought”. Their thought is the reader’s thought at this point; you don’t have to introduce it. Also at this point you shouldn’t refer to the character by name unless it is grammatically necessary. A character wouldn’t refer to themselves by his own name. Switching out of deep POV happens by accident or when other characters enter the scene or at scene breaks or, or, or (yes, I wrote “or” three times), but once it is established it is easy to reenter that state.
In the course of writing you will also hear the term “head-hopping.” Head hopping is jumping from one character’s POV into another’s at a rapid pace. Most readers don’t know enough about POV to realize when it happens, but they might feel some dissatisfaction with a scene or a book because of it. They won’t feel as drawn to the characters; this is because they haven’t had a chance to live in the character’s head for long enough to identify with him or her. Staying in one character’s POV gives the reader the chance to know and understand the hero or heroine. Purists (authors who believe in the strict adherence to the POV rule) will tell you to stay in one character’s head for an entire scene or longer. Non-purists will switch when they wish. You have to decide for yourself how you will write. I tend to write from one POV for a scene or chapter, but I will change when I need to. I have enjoyed books by Purists and non-purists, but I do tend to notice the rapid POV change, and I have also gotten annoyed unless it is masterfully done.
One last thing about limited third: to help build the page-turning capacity of your book, think about putting the scene into the POV of the character who has the most to lose.
All writing rules are meant to be broken. One of the newest trends is to write the heroine in first person and other characters in third. So, study the books you enjoy and examine the author’s use of POV. Then choose your POV and keep writing.
--Gabi
Books I’m reading now:
Knight of Desire by Margaret Mallery
Never Trust a Scoundrel by Gaye Callen
How I Write: Secrets of a Bestselling Author by Janet Evanovich and Ina Yalof
Thursday, October 1, 2009
How to Write a Romance Novel--Plot (and Conflict)
Sorry I’m late. The good news is that I finished both the copy edits for THE WISH LIST, my May release, and the second book in my series, SPELLBOUND, and got it out to my beta readers. The bad news is that this blog was one of the things I have to set aside for a few days. But I’m back now, and trying to catch up.
Plot is up next. Picture if you will (Rod Serling, just kidding) a five or six year-old, hmmm, let’s make her a little girl (only because I didn’t have any boys, and I’ll have an easier time imagining it). Ask this little girl about a movie she saw, let’s say FINDING NEMO, and she’ll happily recount the film: “There’s a mom and dad fish and a barracuda eats the mom and all the babies, but there’s one left and he has a bad flipper, and his dad won’t let him do anything, so he swims to a boat, when a diver comes and scoops him into a bag. The dad chases the boat and…”
You get the picture. That’s what plot is--what happens. Nothing more, nothing less. I’m one of those readers who prefers plot over characterization, and I know I’m in the minority among romance readers. Don’t get me wrong; a book needs characters and their problems, but I like plot--what happens next. The number one reason I put down a book is because the characters have so much baggage, I can’t believe they can get to a happy end without a porter, a luggage cart, and an account with UPS. (But I will defend your right to read such novels--hey, you have your own taste.)
Now the controversial part. I think conflict belongs under plot, not characterization. In all honesty no one element can be truly separated out from the others. Characterization is a part of plot, and conflict is a part of characterization. But conflict drives the plot. Conflict and the way your characters react and respond to the conflict tells the story--the plot. It sets the story in motion.
There are two types of conflict: internal and external. Internal conflict is the struggle within one’s self. Any decision a person makes can constitute an internal conflict. Recovering from pain, changing one’s image, maintaining one’s temper, and resisting an urge are all possible internal conflicts. As the name implies, an internal conflict takes places within one character, and no other character will share the conflict unless the original character chooses to share the conflict. External conflict is any struggle with forces outside oneself. War, weather, fights, competing in a beauty pageant can all lead to possible external conflicts.
There are four kinds of conflict: Character vs. Character; Character vs. Circumstance; Character vs. Society; and Character vs. Himself. The first is a physical conflict; it requires a test of strength against other men, forces of nature, or even animals. The second is also known as the classical struggle, a fight against fate, the gods, or the circumstances of life, like aging (Don’t get me started--my knees will never be young again). The third is a struggle against the ideas or customs of other people. And the last is psychological--the character struggles with himself, with his own soul, ideas of right and wrong, physical limitation, choices, etc. (Sound familiar? Look above at internal conflict.)
Here I am going out on another limb: I believe every book should have both types of conflict. Internal conflict alone leaves me cold. External conflict alone doesn’t leave much room for character growth or change. (See, I told you all these elements are interconnected.)
Conflict is a highly complex idea. I will revisit it later in this series, but until then, I hope I gave you something new to think about.
--Gabi
Books I’m reading now:
Goddess of the Hunt by Tessa Dare
A Hint of Wicked by Jennifer Haymore
Suddenly One Summer by Barbara Freethy
Plot is up next. Picture if you will (Rod Serling, just kidding) a five or six year-old, hmmm, let’s make her a little girl (only because I didn’t have any boys, and I’ll have an easier time imagining it). Ask this little girl about a movie she saw, let’s say FINDING NEMO, and she’ll happily recount the film: “There’s a mom and dad fish and a barracuda eats the mom and all the babies, but there’s one left and he has a bad flipper, and his dad won’t let him do anything, so he swims to a boat, when a diver comes and scoops him into a bag. The dad chases the boat and…”
You get the picture. That’s what plot is--what happens. Nothing more, nothing less. I’m one of those readers who prefers plot over characterization, and I know I’m in the minority among romance readers. Don’t get me wrong; a book needs characters and their problems, but I like plot--what happens next. The number one reason I put down a book is because the characters have so much baggage, I can’t believe they can get to a happy end without a porter, a luggage cart, and an account with UPS. (But I will defend your right to read such novels--hey, you have your own taste.)
Now the controversial part. I think conflict belongs under plot, not characterization. In all honesty no one element can be truly separated out from the others. Characterization is a part of plot, and conflict is a part of characterization. But conflict drives the plot. Conflict and the way your characters react and respond to the conflict tells the story--the plot. It sets the story in motion.
There are two types of conflict: internal and external. Internal conflict is the struggle within one’s self. Any decision a person makes can constitute an internal conflict. Recovering from pain, changing one’s image, maintaining one’s temper, and resisting an urge are all possible internal conflicts. As the name implies, an internal conflict takes places within one character, and no other character will share the conflict unless the original character chooses to share the conflict. External conflict is any struggle with forces outside oneself. War, weather, fights, competing in a beauty pageant can all lead to possible external conflicts.
There are four kinds of conflict: Character vs. Character; Character vs. Circumstance; Character vs. Society; and Character vs. Himself. The first is a physical conflict; it requires a test of strength against other men, forces of nature, or even animals. The second is also known as the classical struggle, a fight against fate, the gods, or the circumstances of life, like aging (Don’t get me started--my knees will never be young again). The third is a struggle against the ideas or customs of other people. And the last is psychological--the character struggles with himself, with his own soul, ideas of right and wrong, physical limitation, choices, etc. (Sound familiar? Look above at internal conflict.)
Here I am going out on another limb: I believe every book should have both types of conflict. Internal conflict alone leaves me cold. External conflict alone doesn’t leave much room for character growth or change. (See, I told you all these elements are interconnected.)
Conflict is a highly complex idea. I will revisit it later in this series, but until then, I hope I gave you something new to think about.
--Gabi
Books I’m reading now:
Goddess of the Hunt by Tessa Dare
A Hint of Wicked by Jennifer Haymore
Suddenly One Summer by Barbara Freethy
Sunday, September 20, 2009
How to Write a Romance Novel-Characters
Good God, where does one start? Characters are the lifeblood of a novel. You must have them or a novel cannot exist. Think about it. Even if you’re writing about the wind, the wind itself becomes a character. You cannot write a novel without them or at least him (or her). Otherwise you’re not telling a story but just trying to prove that you’re clever. I’d call that pretentious. And obnoxious.
The reader wants to relate to the story you’re trying to tell, and the way the reader accomplishes that is through the characters. Gosh, but where to go from here? OK, a quick generalization: you must make your main characters--that is your hero and heroine in a romance--likable. Or at least have the hope of becoming likable by the end. Because the main character, especially the heroine (let’s face it, most of our novels are read by women), is the vessel through which the reader experiences the novel. If the reader cannot identify with or recognize themselves in or understand or just plain admire your main characters, what reason do they have to finish your novel?
Unfortunately likability is hard to define. Personally I like egg-head characters, the absent-minded professor types. I even wrote one, only to have a reviewer give me a bad review because she hates that kind of person. As is her right. We have our own personal tastes, our own criteria for choosing friends and lovers. Good thing too. Otherwise there would be very few happily married couples out there.
But likability itself isn’t necessarily the factor that makes a novel successful. Take Scarlett O’Hara. Yes, she has traits we can admire, but I wouldn’t want her as friend. And yet GWTW is great because of Scarlett. And if you another example of where likability plays a contrary role in characterization, read THE MURDER OF ROGER ACKROYD by Agatha Christie. I won’t say anything else about the novel except that she was both reviled and praised for this novel, and she changed the mystery genre forever with this book.
Character is the person doing the actions; characterization is the traits given to that person. You must focus on the characterization to make rounded, well-formed characters. Just by nature of the beast, a fictional character cannot have as many facets as real person (such a feat, I propose, is an impossibility), but your characters should have enough sides to bring him/her to life in a novel, to let your reader believe they could be reading about a real person. They must be three dimensional, not static; they should grow during the course of the novel (ask yourself, “What have they learned?”); they should have faults. Ack, don’t make your characters perfect. Perfection is not only unbelievable, but it can also come off as arrogant, and often boring. Really. If your characters are perfect, they don’t make mistakes. And then where’s your conflict? (That’s next week, folks).
You can, of course, chart out each of your characters: what is their eye color, hair color, height, etc (always useful if you need to refer to them through out the book, and you will, and don’t wish to have your heroine change from having blue eyes in one scene to having green in the next). You can ascribe an entire history to them: where they attended school, what traumas affected their childhoods, what their favorite Christmas present was; etc.; stuff that may never appear in your book, but might help you understand your character better. You can find character interviews all over the Internet. Whatever helps you to create characters that come alive is what you need to use.
And we can’t forget the other characters in your book, namely the villain and the secondary characters. You should take as much time making your villain realistic as your main characters. Or almost. Personally I like the over-the-top villain: the Voldemorts, the Darth Vaders, the Wicked Witches of the West. But even these characters were given some sort of backstory to make their evil understandable. Heck, the Wicked Witch was given her own book(1) and Darth was given three whole movies(2). And if you’re anything like I am, your secondary characters take on a life of their own. I literally had to kick one of my characters off an island because she was taking over the book. I love secondary characters. Think of them as the character actors. So often they steal the scene from the leads. Like Spike in NOTTING HILL or Alfred in the Dark Knight.
One last little thing: it’s fun to give your characters a quirk to set them apart, be that a fear, a habit, some odd little hobby that makes your readers smile or at least remember your characters. Everybody knows and remembers that Indiana Jones is afraid of snakes, that Ron Weasley hates spiders. In my upcoming story, THE WISH LIST (May 2010), my heroine eats chocolate chipless cookies--that’s right, chocolate chip cookies without chocolate chips.
There is so much more to characters than what I possibly can write in a blog. So go explore on your own. Find out what you want your characters to do and learn. Give them personality and faults. And don’t forget to let them fall in love. You are writing a romance, after all.
--Gabi
Books I’m reading now:
Desperate Duchesses by Eloisa James
The Highwayman by Michele Hauf
What Happens in London by Julia Quinn
1 In the original book, the Witch is chasing Dorothy because she murdered her sister and now she wants the silver slippers, not a very original reason, but a reason nonetheless ; the book WICKED followed decades after the original and gave a whole new history to the Wicked Witch. I’ll let you decide if Maguire succeeded.
2 The supposed “first three” episodes of STAR WARS are all backstory. I won’t give my over opinion here, but we as writers know what too much backstory does to a novel. And I love STAR WARS (the original three).
The reader wants to relate to the story you’re trying to tell, and the way the reader accomplishes that is through the characters. Gosh, but where to go from here? OK, a quick generalization: you must make your main characters--that is your hero and heroine in a romance--likable. Or at least have the hope of becoming likable by the end. Because the main character, especially the heroine (let’s face it, most of our novels are read by women), is the vessel through which the reader experiences the novel. If the reader cannot identify with or recognize themselves in or understand or just plain admire your main characters, what reason do they have to finish your novel?
Unfortunately likability is hard to define. Personally I like egg-head characters, the absent-minded professor types. I even wrote one, only to have a reviewer give me a bad review because she hates that kind of person. As is her right. We have our own personal tastes, our own criteria for choosing friends and lovers. Good thing too. Otherwise there would be very few happily married couples out there.
But likability itself isn’t necessarily the factor that makes a novel successful. Take Scarlett O’Hara. Yes, she has traits we can admire, but I wouldn’t want her as friend. And yet GWTW is great because of Scarlett. And if you another example of where likability plays a contrary role in characterization, read THE MURDER OF ROGER ACKROYD by Agatha Christie. I won’t say anything else about the novel except that she was both reviled and praised for this novel, and she changed the mystery genre forever with this book.
Character is the person doing the actions; characterization is the traits given to that person. You must focus on the characterization to make rounded, well-formed characters. Just by nature of the beast, a fictional character cannot have as many facets as real person (such a feat, I propose, is an impossibility), but your characters should have enough sides to bring him/her to life in a novel, to let your reader believe they could be reading about a real person. They must be three dimensional, not static; they should grow during the course of the novel (ask yourself, “What have they learned?”); they should have faults. Ack, don’t make your characters perfect. Perfection is not only unbelievable, but it can also come off as arrogant, and often boring. Really. If your characters are perfect, they don’t make mistakes. And then where’s your conflict? (That’s next week, folks).
You can, of course, chart out each of your characters: what is their eye color, hair color, height, etc (always useful if you need to refer to them through out the book, and you will, and don’t wish to have your heroine change from having blue eyes in one scene to having green in the next). You can ascribe an entire history to them: where they attended school, what traumas affected their childhoods, what their favorite Christmas present was; etc.; stuff that may never appear in your book, but might help you understand your character better. You can find character interviews all over the Internet. Whatever helps you to create characters that come alive is what you need to use.
And we can’t forget the other characters in your book, namely the villain and the secondary characters. You should take as much time making your villain realistic as your main characters. Or almost. Personally I like the over-the-top villain: the Voldemorts, the Darth Vaders, the Wicked Witches of the West. But even these characters were given some sort of backstory to make their evil understandable. Heck, the Wicked Witch was given her own book(1) and Darth was given three whole movies(2). And if you’re anything like I am, your secondary characters take on a life of their own. I literally had to kick one of my characters off an island because she was taking over the book. I love secondary characters. Think of them as the character actors. So often they steal the scene from the leads. Like Spike in NOTTING HILL or Alfred in the Dark Knight.
One last little thing: it’s fun to give your characters a quirk to set them apart, be that a fear, a habit, some odd little hobby that makes your readers smile or at least remember your characters. Everybody knows and remembers that Indiana Jones is afraid of snakes, that Ron Weasley hates spiders. In my upcoming story, THE WISH LIST (May 2010), my heroine eats chocolate chipless cookies--that’s right, chocolate chip cookies without chocolate chips.
There is so much more to characters than what I possibly can write in a blog. So go explore on your own. Find out what you want your characters to do and learn. Give them personality and faults. And don’t forget to let them fall in love. You are writing a romance, after all.
--Gabi
Books I’m reading now:
Desperate Duchesses by Eloisa James
The Highwayman by Michele Hauf
What Happens in London by Julia Quinn
1 In the original book, the Witch is chasing Dorothy because she murdered her sister and now she wants the silver slippers, not a very original reason, but a reason nonetheless ; the book WICKED followed decades after the original and gave a whole new history to the Wicked Witch. I’ll let you decide if Maguire succeeded.
2 The supposed “first three” episodes of STAR WARS are all backstory. I won’t give my over opinion here, but we as writers know what too much backstory does to a novel. And I love STAR WARS (the original three).
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Stuff they didn't tell you
So I’m interrupting the flow for a moment. Yes, this blog is still about how to write a romance, but instead of continuing with the logical progression of topics, I’m breaking things up. I’ll get back to the elements of a novel next week with characters, who they are, what their make-up is, etc. Today I want to speak about one of the unspoken aspects of writing a romance novel: fear.
Fear accompanies the writer on so many levels. What if I’m not good enough? What if no one likes my story? What if I can’t write another novel? What if I can’t sell my novel? What if I can’t sell another novel? What if I get bad reviews? What if the judges slash my entry? What if my co-workers find out that I write Romance? What if I can’t finish? What if ...
What if my mother/children read/s it?
OK, the last one is a valid fear, but one not so serious.
Writing isn’t about the fear. It’s about the courage. The courage to put yourself on the paper. The courage to submit. The courage to bounce back even when faced with rejection. Or failure. Or low sales. Or editors leaving houses. To face detractors, the ones who laugh at your choice of genre, the ones who hate your book. The courage to keep on writing despite all the things that can and do and might go wrong.
Did no one tell you that writing takes guts?
I’ll see you back here next week for the continuation of How to Write a Romance Novel--Characters, when I’m no longer in the revision swamp.
--Gabi
Books I’m reading now:
Havemercy by Jaida Jones and Danielle Bennett
Nickled and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich
Fear accompanies the writer on so many levels. What if I’m not good enough? What if no one likes my story? What if I can’t write another novel? What if I can’t sell my novel? What if I can’t sell another novel? What if I get bad reviews? What if the judges slash my entry? What if my co-workers find out that I write Romance? What if I can’t finish? What if ...
What if my mother/children read/s it?
OK, the last one is a valid fear, but one not so serious.
Writing isn’t about the fear. It’s about the courage. The courage to put yourself on the paper. The courage to submit. The courage to bounce back even when faced with rejection. Or failure. Or low sales. Or editors leaving houses. To face detractors, the ones who laugh at your choice of genre, the ones who hate your book. The courage to keep on writing despite all the things that can and do and might go wrong.
Did no one tell you that writing takes guts?
I’ll see you back here next week for the continuation of How to Write a Romance Novel--Characters, when I’m no longer in the revision swamp.
--Gabi
Books I’m reading now:
Havemercy by Jaida Jones and Danielle Bennett
Nickled and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich
Sunday, September 6, 2009
How To Write a Romance Novel--Setting
This is where the series becomes nerdy. OK, I like literature and the analysis thereof. I earned two degrees in it. But I believe Romance is worthy of and stands up to literary analysis. So bear with me while I write about stuff you may have learned in high school (or probably dozed through as your teacher presented it).
Last week I talked about the Hook, a crucial element in writing any novel. You want to draw the reader in. And then what? A hook does not a novel make. So today I’m looking at what constitutes a novel, what elements make up a novel. Every novel has five elements: setting, characters and characterization, plot, style and presentation, and theme. All five of these elements combine to create a rich event that carries the reader through to a new world, new ideas, and, at least for my authorial purposes, entertainment. Take out any one of these elements, and a book flounders. You can’t have a book without setting, characters, plot (although I’m sure literary fiction has tried this one—oops, that’s snarky), and theme (This is the one that Romance is accused of overlooking. Boy, does that ever irritate me.)
Each element deserves its own blog entry, so we’ll start with setting. Setting is more than where and when a story takes place. It is also special weather conditions, social conditions, and mood and atmosphere. But setting is important to a Romance novel because often setting establishes which subgenre of Romance the book falls into.
The three major breakdowns in Romance are contemporary, historical, and paranormal; but within each of those categories are further subdivisions. Within contemporary, for example, you have romantic comedy, romantic suspense, action-adventure, family saga, chick lit, etc. Within historical there’s medieval, Regency, Victorian, Georgian, Tudor, Edwardian, ancient, etc. Within paranormal possibilities include urban fantasy, contemporary, historical, futuristic, fantasy, science fiction, and so on. Setting helps establish all these subgenres.
Where the story takes place is the first thing someone thinks of when asked for setting. Place clearly helps set up the novel. The reader needs to know where the story is set. She needs a base from which to embark, a place that can help her begin to visualize the world of the book. It makes a difference if the book starts off in modern San Diego, an estate in Regency England, or standing on a grassy purple plain watching the setting of the six suns in the pale green sky of Planet Jellicorp. Your setting establishes reader expectation.
Time plays the same role. Reader expectation is different for books set in the present, past, or future. But don’t forget time of day or time of year. A book’s feel is different if the opening is at night or in the morning. Your description will vary between winter and summer. We’ll talk more about description in the future, but for now know that it is necessary for the reader to know where the book is taking place.
Weather conditions are an aspect of setting that shouldn’t come up too often, but when it does, it will make an impact. Think about the cyclone in WIZARD OF OZ or the rainstorm in THE SOUND OF MUSIC. In both instances, these weather anomalies must happen to further the plot. By the way, this includes natural phenomenon, like the tidal wave in POSEIDON ADVENTURE.
Social conditions are an integral part of the story as well. Especially in contemporaries, social conditions may not play a major role, but picture a Regency without the rules of society. Or any European set historical without the rules of class. And in many futuristics, social setting is crucial to the story. The new YA best selling series, THE HUNGER GAMES, requires its social conditions as part of its story. And where would 1984 be without the social conditions?
Mood and atmosphere are the final aspects of setting. Is your story Gothic? Is it light and happy? Does the atmosphere speak of danger or laughter? If your novel starts out light and humorous, it shouldn’t end with dead puppies. On the other hand, your story shouldn’t be so intense that it leaves the reader exhausted. Mood and atmosphere can vary in a novel. Real life does. In the Harry Potter series, Rowling moves from humor to tragedy in a seamless manner. And it’s all a part of setting.
Setting is interesting in that it sinks into the background once it is established. When setting comes into the foreground, it should appear for a reason: to announce a place change—from London to a country house, from the space ship to the planet, etc; an important description—in my book, THE WISH LIST, I describe a painting because it will play a role later in the story; weather will change the direction of the plot; etc. Setting pops in and out of the story then sinks into the background. As a savvy reader, you should notice when setting comes forward because it can be a clue to something important. Setting can be so important that the novel couldn’t take place with those characters, with that plot without that particular setting.
So if you’re working on a novel, you know where your story is taking place. Now consider what your setting says about your novel, and be aware of its role in your novel.
Next time, we’ll look at characters.
--Gabi
Books I’m reading now:
On a Wicked Dawn by Stephanie Laurens
Duchess in Love by Eloisa James
Last week I talked about the Hook, a crucial element in writing any novel. You want to draw the reader in. And then what? A hook does not a novel make. So today I’m looking at what constitutes a novel, what elements make up a novel. Every novel has five elements: setting, characters and characterization, plot, style and presentation, and theme. All five of these elements combine to create a rich event that carries the reader through to a new world, new ideas, and, at least for my authorial purposes, entertainment. Take out any one of these elements, and a book flounders. You can’t have a book without setting, characters, plot (although I’m sure literary fiction has tried this one—oops, that’s snarky), and theme (This is the one that Romance is accused of overlooking. Boy, does that ever irritate me.)
Each element deserves its own blog entry, so we’ll start with setting. Setting is more than where and when a story takes place. It is also special weather conditions, social conditions, and mood and atmosphere. But setting is important to a Romance novel because often setting establishes which subgenre of Romance the book falls into.
The three major breakdowns in Romance are contemporary, historical, and paranormal; but within each of those categories are further subdivisions. Within contemporary, for example, you have romantic comedy, romantic suspense, action-adventure, family saga, chick lit, etc. Within historical there’s medieval, Regency, Victorian, Georgian, Tudor, Edwardian, ancient, etc. Within paranormal possibilities include urban fantasy, contemporary, historical, futuristic, fantasy, science fiction, and so on. Setting helps establish all these subgenres.
Where the story takes place is the first thing someone thinks of when asked for setting. Place clearly helps set up the novel. The reader needs to know where the story is set. She needs a base from which to embark, a place that can help her begin to visualize the world of the book. It makes a difference if the book starts off in modern San Diego, an estate in Regency England, or standing on a grassy purple plain watching the setting of the six suns in the pale green sky of Planet Jellicorp. Your setting establishes reader expectation.
Time plays the same role. Reader expectation is different for books set in the present, past, or future. But don’t forget time of day or time of year. A book’s feel is different if the opening is at night or in the morning. Your description will vary between winter and summer. We’ll talk more about description in the future, but for now know that it is necessary for the reader to know where the book is taking place.
Weather conditions are an aspect of setting that shouldn’t come up too often, but when it does, it will make an impact. Think about the cyclone in WIZARD OF OZ or the rainstorm in THE SOUND OF MUSIC. In both instances, these weather anomalies must happen to further the plot. By the way, this includes natural phenomenon, like the tidal wave in POSEIDON ADVENTURE.
Social conditions are an integral part of the story as well. Especially in contemporaries, social conditions may not play a major role, but picture a Regency without the rules of society. Or any European set historical without the rules of class. And in many futuristics, social setting is crucial to the story. The new YA best selling series, THE HUNGER GAMES, requires its social conditions as part of its story. And where would 1984 be without the social conditions?
Mood and atmosphere are the final aspects of setting. Is your story Gothic? Is it light and happy? Does the atmosphere speak of danger or laughter? If your novel starts out light and humorous, it shouldn’t end with dead puppies. On the other hand, your story shouldn’t be so intense that it leaves the reader exhausted. Mood and atmosphere can vary in a novel. Real life does. In the Harry Potter series, Rowling moves from humor to tragedy in a seamless manner. And it’s all a part of setting.
Setting is interesting in that it sinks into the background once it is established. When setting comes into the foreground, it should appear for a reason: to announce a place change—from London to a country house, from the space ship to the planet, etc; an important description—in my book, THE WISH LIST, I describe a painting because it will play a role later in the story; weather will change the direction of the plot; etc. Setting pops in and out of the story then sinks into the background. As a savvy reader, you should notice when setting comes forward because it can be a clue to something important. Setting can be so important that the novel couldn’t take place with those characters, with that plot without that particular setting.
So if you’re working on a novel, you know where your story is taking place. Now consider what your setting says about your novel, and be aware of its role in your novel.
Next time, we’ll look at characters.
--Gabi
Books I’m reading now:
On a Wicked Dawn by Stephanie Laurens
Duchess in Love by Eloisa James
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