Tip O'Day #458 - There's Still Room

Guest blogger Donna Levin on “The Last Endangered Species.”

The novel 1984 is one of my favorite books, and I’ll leave you to wonder what that says about moi. In 1984, George Orwell predicted many horrors that have come to pass: government spying, “enhanced interrogation,” and strangling political correctness. The prediction that hasn’t come true – yet – is factory-produced fiction (Winston Smith’s lover, Julia, repairs “the novel-writing machines”). But when I saw how the auto-correct capability on my iPhone changed cyxt to Hi there, I realized that this final abomination cannot be far away.

My anxiety seemed even more justified last week when I read about the HemingwayApp: a program that will scan your prose for adverbs and the use of passive voice. Not that we shouldn’t be able to do this for ourselves, but we used to make our own clothes, too.

Throughout the ages, many jobs have disappeared. There are no more elevator operators. There are still blacksmiths, but according to WikiAnswers, “they are few and far between.” And your average town crier has been out of work a long time.

I don’t know anything about computer programming, but I know what they can already do, and any kid in junior college familiar with javascript could install a MadLibs-type program for a Regency romance outline:

HEROINE has __ eyes __ hair __ is ___ tall and is: spoiled and willful/beautiful but unappreciated by her family/was rich but just lost her fortune and now must become a governess….
HERO has __eyes__hair and will obviously be six feet or taller with broad shoulders. He: is mysterious and aloof/is ardent and affectionate/has a bad reputation …
He also has a secret: he’s already married/has murdered someone, but justifiably/is closely related to a famous criminal/has insanity in his family…
HEROINE and HERO meet: on the moors/at a ball/in a creepy castle/at her father’s house when he appears looking for a place to stay in the middle of a violent storm…
They fall in love. Total, pure, eternal loooove. But:
They face an obstacle: parents objects/financial difficulties/hero goes away (to war, to care for elderly relative, charged with a crime (he didn’t commit)…
Then: Good fortune intervenes to bring them together: the parents see the light/the person in the way dies from illness or in a fire (or is murdered, but by villain)/a previously unheard-of relative dies and leaves a large inheritance…

Sentence structure in English has only so many possibilities, and with all due respect I’ll bet computers can compete with Georgette Heyer or Barbara Courtland in that arena.

It’s a long, long leap from writing formula fiction to the genre we think of as literary. (A genre that can be just as awful as it can be inspiring. Ever try to read Marilynne Robinson’s Gilead?) But last week on The Daily Show a scientist was predicting that our entire brains could be uploaded onto CDs. That particular idea doesn’t hold much appeal, but as Walt Whitman wrote, “every inch of common air throbs a tremendous prophecy, of greater marvels yet to be.” And Whitman didn’t even have a laptop.

Novelists have always lived on the edge of unemployment. The computer-produced novel will be to writers what automotive repair has been to the blacksmith. As with blacksmiths, there will always be room for a craftsperson or two.

Donna Levin is the author of the novels Extraordinary Means and California Street, as well as two books on the craft of fiction, Get That Novel Started and Get That Novel Written. Learn more at her website.

Tip O'Day #456 - The Voice Behind the Book

Guest blogger Kellie Kamryn on the challenges of narrating an audio book.

When I first began my writing career, I was fortunate to be asked to guest on this Wredheaded Writer blog, and I’m very pleased to be back. Thank you, Dixon!

Since that time, I’ve written and published twelve romances ranging from very erotic to sensuous and sweet, plus a story featured in a holiday anthology. I’m also a narrator of audio books for Romance Divine and The Killion Group, as well as for freelance clients.

Narrating is a lot of work. I absolutely adore my jobs, but as all authors know, writing a book isn’t simply typing words into the computer. Figuring out your process, plotting, grammar, following sentence structure rules, and polishing a manuscript all take focus and determination, not to mention being your own sales staff, which is a whole other process.

The same can be said of narrating. A publisher invited me to narrate a book I had written, and since I enjoy a challenge, I accepted. The learning curve was HUGE! Narrating is not just about reading a book. Proper pronunciation, enunciation, inflection, drama, along with use of software and equipment set-up are all part of the job. Over the past two years, I’ve learned the production end of things, and how time consuming that is as well.

I never discourage anyone from learning something new, so if you are serious about voice acting, ask questions of other professionals. Take acting classes, as I did, to learn more about the art of voice acting, vocal hygiene, and warm-ups to keep your voice in shape. Auditioning for other voice acting jobs taught me that I had more to learn about the industry. While I plan to keep on learning, for now I’ve got a full roster of audio books, along with my own writing to keep me busy.

Just as in writing, where not every publisher or agent will like your work, don’t take it personally when someone doesn’t feel your voice is right for their piece. Ask all the questions you want, but at the end of the day, remember that you are responsible for your career.

Following is a blurb for the re-release of erotic romance Pleasure Island, available in audio and eBook:<

Chelsea Hunter didn’t come to the resort looking for sex. Jake Davis intends to change her mind. Will they be able to turn up the heat, or will their visit to Pleasure Island leave them cold?

After finalizing her divorce, Chelsea Hunter came to the resort island of Paradise for some peace and quiet so she could figure out what her next step would be. She hadn’t expected to find herself at an exotic hotel dedicated to pleasures of the flesh. Too bad she doesn’t want sex.

Jake Davis is back in Paradise after visiting a year ago when his own marriage fell apart. This time his fantasy is to guide a woman through her sexual journey. He hadn’t counted on being paired with the only woman in Paradise who prefers privacy over pleasure! Will Jake be able to discover what Chelsea truly needs, or will their journey to Paradise remain unfulfilled?

Comment on this blog post for a chance to win one of Kellie’s backlist in audio or eBook (depending on available format). You can check out her website at www.kelliekamryn.com or her novel Pleasure Island on Kindle here.

Tip O'Day #451 - From Lullaby to Novel

Guest blogger Christine Columbus on writing the perfect C&W story.

Well, I was drunk the day my Mom got outta prison. And I went to pick her up in the rain. But before I could get to the station in my pickup truck, she got runned over by a damned old train.

"You Never Even Called Me by My Name" is a song written and recorded by Steve Goodman and John Prine, and later became a hit for country star David Allan Coe. The song is considered the perfect country song because it has mama, trains, trucks, prison and getting drunk. So when I set out to write The Perfect Country and Western Story, I knew I needed to include those same elements, which of course I did...

Cinderella with a twist - instead of a prince with a glass slipper, we have the heroine Alexandra with Stetson hat, and all she needs is a cowboy. But with three days and over 50,000 faces to search at the Midwest's largest country music concert, will she be able to find the man who stole her heart?

Ben still can’t believe he was foolish enough to let the beautiful thief walk away with his autographed cowboy hat. If the heartbreaker dares to show up at Country Time again this year, he’ll not only be looking to get his hat back, but aiming for a little payback as well. Of course, included in the story will be mama, trains, trucks, prison and getting drunk along with romance.

I grew up in a home where Mom rocked the babies to sleep singing, "...had me a drink about an hour ago and it went straight to my head..." For the longest time I thought she was singing a lullaby. Turns out she was singing an all-time perfect country song, and plotting my future novel.

Dixon says: People often ask writers, "Where do you get your ideas?" This is a good example of how a creative person can turn a song, or a poem, or a newspaper headline into a book. Check out www.ChristineColumbus.net to learn more about Romance writer Christine Columbus (yes, that’s her real name) and her perfect book.

Tip O'Day #434 - A Stumbling Block

Guest blogger Eve Paludan on Ten Ways to Bust Writer's Block...by Writing!

Writer's block is a stumbling block to productivity. Once in a while, it hits almost all writers, even the ones who are passionate about the craft. Since writers are introspective, emotional creatures, external forces, such as financial worries, illness, conflict with another person, or lack of sleep can stall the best writers and cause their motivation to go AWOL. Here are some tried-and-true methods that I use to break through a serious halt in my productivity.

1. Ensure that you always have more than one project in progress. If you get tired of working on one project, switch to another one for a day or so until you find yourself longing for the project that got stalled. Then go back to it with a fresh eye and a renewed passion.

2. If you are itchy, cold, hungry or annoyed, take your laptop to someplace where you don't usually write. Make yourself comfortable and write in that new place, whether it's McDonalds or the kitchen table, until you are tired of it and want to get back to your usual writing location. Sit in a different chair, take your laptop to the couch, go hide under a shady tree, or sit in a recliner chair. Move your office for a little while and write something. Then, when you get antsy again, return to the usual place where you write.

3. If you are stalled in a fiction project, then write a little nonfiction to get your hands moving on the keyboard again. Some examples are guest blogs, twitter tweets about your books or a friend's books, book announcements on Facebook, or book review for someone else's book on Amazon. The idea is to go through the motions of word creation, even if you are in a different head space about your novel manuscript.

4. If a particular scene of your work-in-progress is the cause of halting and scratching your head because you don't yet know how to handle the scene, write a note to yourself in the manuscript, such as insert love scene here and then go onto the next scene where you DO know what you want to write. You can always return to write the hard parts later. Keep your writing productivity in motion!

5. If you usually write without music, put on some music, especially something instrumental, and let it inspire you. I do not suggest turning on the television as it seems to engage all of the senses, instead of just the ears. I think TV is too distracting, but that's just me.

6. If you know where the keys are without looking, type for a few minutes with the lights off or with your eyes closed. Just channel the words and let your automatic writing take over. Wild things can happen on your pages! Peek every so often to make sure that your fingers are on the right keys.

7. If you usually type and hit writer's block, try using pen and paper for an hour or so. My favorite place to write longhand is at the beach or on my front steps. Or if you usually write longhand, try using your computer. The idea is to write something using a different physical process.

8. If you hit a plot wall, then work on writing quick character sketches of the hero's or heroine's physical, emotional and intellectual traits.

9. Write your Amazon catalog description of your book or what you would put on the back of a print book. Without giving away whodunnit or howdunnit, write five to seven sentences that describe the characters, main conflict, and obstacles that your hero or heroine must overcome. Jazz it up with some excerpts of book reviews from readers.

10. Read your characters' dialogue out loud, without any dialogue tags, and expand their conversation by typing it while you talk. Keep it going as long as you can until the scene plot points are resolved or lead into more questions or another chapter.

Oh, and about number 10 – I once had my front door open and was reading dialogue aloud, not realizing my landlord was kneeling in the flower bed out front, listening. I got up to go check on my laundry and he was startled when I found him right outside my front door. Apparently, my characters' dialogue brought him to his knees.

Good luck with these writer's block busting tips. I hope they work for you, too. Feel free to add some of your own tips in the comments below.

You can check out Eve’s novels and stories here and her newest novel is Finding Jessie: A Mystery Romance. You can also connect with Eve on Facebook or Twitter.

A Halloween Blog Post

Guest blogger Mary Ricksen presents a tale from her Gothic childhood.

Many years ago my sister and I used to play this game. We would lie in bed late at night and play when we couldn’t sleep. The old Victorian house my great grandmother lived in would creak and groan. We never knew what was house or what could possibly be ghost. The odd shaped windows and doors that opened into walls added the mystique. You had to keep both feet well away from the edge of the bed. Better safe than sorry.

The idea of the game was to guess the tune. We would tap out the music on the bed while hearing it in your head. I don’t know how we did it, but we always guessed right.

The room we stayed in was all dark corners and deep closets with shadows so dark, you had to feel your way out of the room. I hated it, but every time we visited we ended up in the same room.

Dark, heavy curtains lined the windows. Not a speck of light got in when they closed. Wood pineapples were on each of four posts of the old cherry furniture. We stayed on the third floor. I don’t know why because there were four bedrooms on the second floor and we were always the only ones visiting. The only ones up there. All alone. My cousin used to tease us, saying great Uncle Snidely had died up there and watched his heirs all the time. She told us about him and showed us his picture. We were primed.

No night lights allowed; we were big girls.

One very stormy night at Great Gram’s place we lay there tapping out songs. Thunder boomed and lightning knocked out all the street lights. After one particularly loud boom I realized I had to take a pee. My sister ran to the window to look and I jumped outta bed and ran. The tile floor chilled my feet as I walked on little squares. I quickly did what I had to and ran back down the dark hallway to our room.

My sister was talking and she sounded flustered. “I still can’t understand what you’re trying to have me guess.”

I jumped on my bed closest to the door. “What are you talking about?”

“Very funny, I’ve been trying to guess the song, but you keep tapping out nonsense. I told you I give up and still you kept tapping. What was the song you were trying to have me guess?”

“I just got back from the bathroom. I haven’t been tapping anything.” I chuckled. “Have you been playing our game with a ghost or something?”

Her voice quivered. “Did you say you just came back from the bathroom?”

“Yes.” Now I was getting scared.

“Well, I have been trying to guess the song and you, well I thought it was you, were tapping away like crazy. I had no idea what you wanted me to guess.” She jumped on my bed as a loud peel of thunder ripped the skies.

“Someone was here. Something, oh man, something was playing our game with me.” She shivered against my side.

Just then we heard it, in the silence between lightning strikes. Tapping. Tap, tap, tap…

“AAAAAHHHHHH!!” We screamed in unison. Both of us jumped up and ran outta that room so fast our feet flew, screaming the whole way. “AAAHHHHH!”

My great grandmother appeared at the end of the hall. “Girls, what’s wrong?”

“Ghosts,” we wailed. She calmed us down and urged us into her huge bed. Between breaths we told Gram what happened.

“Oh, that wasn’t Uncle Snidely. We have no one in the family by that name.” She laughed and we laughed.

We got under the covers with her and snuggled. Warm and secure we felt foolish, until she closed her eyes and sighed.

“The only person it could be is Uncle Frankie. He loved music.”

Vermont-born Mary Ricksen now lives in Florida and writes time-travel romance novels. Her next novel will be released in November, and her first novel, Tripping Through Time, is available at both Amazon and B&N. Her website is www.maryricksen.com/ where you’ll find a link to her blog.

On a dark and scary Halloween night, Mary suggests you hang out with other writers, who are generally warm, supportive and willing to share their knowledge.

Tip O'Day #384 - A Paranormal Review

Review by Kathy Bobo of Kat’s Tale - Undying Love Vampire Series By Teresa Mummert

Katie, or rather Kat as she prefers to be called, is the main character of Kat’s Tale – Undying Live Vampire Series by Teresa Mummert. Thinking of vampires conjures up long held myths such as being able to kill them with wooden stakes through the heart, driving them away with garlic and crucifixes, and their insatiable craving for human blood. In the past, vampires were always the personification of evil, but no longer. These forces of nature now enjoy the same constitutional rights of mortals, have their own blood banks, have careers and have romantic relationships.

Kat’s Tale opens with Kat’s dark night of the soul on the edge of a hotel roof. She is about to commit suicide over the murder of her brother. “I stood on the ledge of my hotel’s roof. I kicked my sandals off and watched them flutter to the ground below. They disappeared into the darkness of the night. I hoped I would be as lucky.” Of course, Kat changes her mind at the last minute, and that’s a good thing as the entire novel eventually proves.

Kat’s Tale has two romantic interests, Gavin (her boyfriend) and Caleb. Both Gavin and Caleb are great characters; Kat finds herself torn between protective yet party-loving Gavin and the mysterious Caleb. Caleb brings out feelings of sympathy, fright, compassion and love. From the beginning the reader is teased into wanting to know who in the heck is Caleb and what is he about?

The main character seems to have been living in some sort of bubble, never having heard about vampires. Caleb saves her butt on more than one occasion from what can only be described as the Vampire Mafia. She quickly learns not all people are what they appear and every person dead is not gone, including her brother, Marcus. Kat learns all debts are due at the door, and payments are to be made in full: “A debt of two vampires for the two he killed.”

Author Teresa Mummert‘s Kat’s Tale ends in classic cliff hanger style that leaves the reader wanting more of every woman’s ideal man, Caleb.

Dixon says: Kathy Bobo is obviously a fan of the paranormal, especially vampires. I believe her love of the genre got in the way of offering constructive criticism; other than one sentence about the protagonist living in a bubble, there was no mention of the slightest imperfection. A whitewash like this doesn’t help the author improve her craft, and might lead potential buyers to suspect the review is written by a relative or close friend of the author.

A quick perusal of the review makes it seem that all the clichés from Twilight and True Blood were scrambled together. A more interesting approach might have been to look at how the clichés are stood on their head and made fresh in a way that helps this story rise above the “typical” vampire romance.

Kathy Bobo has a clear and lively voice, and I think she’s capable of much better. Hopefully she will learn that it’s okay to be critical of stories she enjoys, and create more balanced reviews.

So what do you think? Was I too rough on Kathy, or did I give her sound advice that will help her writing career?

Tip O'Day #377 - Literature & Romance

Guest blogger A.L. Jones on "Literature versus Romance."

What's the difference between literature and romance? Literature isn't about sex! At least, that's what most people would say. The truth is, most literary greats include a sex scene or two, if not more than that. A whole scene of Joyce's Ulysses is devoted to masturbation, and famous authors such as Toni Morrison, Ernest Hemmingway, and many others include sex in their work. So what is it that makes romance trashy and literature great?

Well, sex scenes in literature have a purpose: to reveal something about the characters that couldn't have been shown otherwise. Isn't there a purpose to sex in romance as well? Sure, it's supposed to get you all hot and bothered, but there has to be more than that to compel the reader to continue. Romances generally uses sex as a way to show the deepening relationship between two characters; not just to demonstrate their physical compatibility, but also to reveal how their love develops.

In literature, the characters are not always falling in love, but the gist is essentially the same. Sex is an important window into the character's mind. As a creative writing major who enjoys reading romance as much as I do literature, I get a lot of criticism from my peers. However, a good romance novel has all the same elements of a good literary novel: it's well written, has compelling characters, and reveals a piece of the human condition. Experiencing passion and falling in love is just as large a part of life as growing up and discovering yourself.

That makes romance, in my opinion, no less important than literature.

A.L. Jones is the author of Sire's Call.

Tip O'Day #345 - Catniss & Rose & Lisbeth

Guest blogger Kitti Bernetti looks to Hollywood for a bit of advice.

I’m not a huge reader of ‘how to’ books. I’ve met too many writers who are writing the breakout novel but never seem to finish it because they spend so much time reading ‘how to.’ That said, I am a fan of Michael Hague and Chris Vogler, story consultants for Hollywood - and let’s face it, Tinseltown knows how to craft a story that sells.

What Michael Hague and Chris Vogler say makes perfect sense for those of us who want to write popular fiction. They believe that successful stories often feature both an outer journey and an inner journey for the hero/heroine. The outer journey is an adventure to achieve a visible quest; there has to be a visible finish line. The inner journey Michael Hague sees as moving from being defined by others to being defined by oneself.

I often find myself watching films or reading books (and Messrs Hague and Vogler can help with both) and seeing whether their advice applies. Recently I saw ‘The Hunger Games,’ just out here in the UK. Those reading this in the States will probably have seen it some time ago. It’s an enjoyable yarn and well worth the price of admission. Playing my new game of seeing whether the story consultants’ advice applies, I see that one of the reasons the book and the film are so successful is that they do indeed pass the Hague/Vogler test.

Let’s examine this in more detail. For anyone who hasn’t seen the film, heroine Catniss Everdene (hey, it’s science fiction folks so they have to have weird names) is definitely on a quest. Catniss lives in a dystopian world in the future where she is chosen to fight for her life against other contestants in a survival game. This fight to the death is played out across wild terrain and televised for the delectation of others. So Catniss definitely has an outer goal: to win the game and save her life. She also has an inner goal. Propelled to fame she is bound to be defined by others. However, being a resourceful and feisty heroine, she sets out to define herself. One scene where she is required to demonstrate her archery skills illustrates this perfectly. The rich sponsors she must impress are too busy eating, drinking and chatting to pay much attention. So, with her expert archery, she shoots her arrow into their midst, deftly spearing an apple. She forces them to notice the girl from the backwoods.

Hague and Vogler are clear on the importance of character in a book. Any fiction writer should also be convinced of this. Whether you are writing romance such as in another hugely successful film, ‘Titanic’, or crime as in ‘The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo,’ character is nine tenths of success. It is easy to see why we root for Rose, the Titanic character played by Kate Winslet. She’s young, beautiful and about to be forced into marriage with a hateful man to fulfill the wishes of her family. But, in ‘Girl with the Dragon Tattoo,’ why should we root for the cold, dysfunctional Lisbeth? Here we can look at Hague/Vogler’s recipe for coming up with a compelling central character. Their thesis is that the viewer or reader has to identify with the hero/heroine – becoming that character. One of the ways to do this is to make the character sympathetic. Steig Larsson makes us sympathetic to Lisbeth because she is such a loner. What’s more, there are very good reasons for that, which are unpeeled like the layers of an onion as the story develops. Her mother is in an institution due to the cruelty of her father and Lisbeth is at the mercy of a thoroughly unpleasant state-appointed guardian. By putting her in jeopardy, the author ensures we care about her.

The same applies to Catniss Everdene. The moment she is in danger, we care. This is partly because in the very early scenes in the film, we see Catniss shielding and nurturing her younger sister. We know she’s the sort of person we would want on our side. Lisbeth is a different heroine altogether. She doesn’t fit in, has no family and apparently no softness to her. She wears gothic black clothes, is a tech geek, and refuses to be bullied. However, we still find her fascinating. This is because Hague/Vogler tell us you can make a character someone we root for is because they are an expert. If they are good at their job, we have a sneaking respect for them. Lisbeth is an IT expert, she knows things. Similarly Catniss is a pretty mean shot with a bow and arrow. Like a young goddess Diana the huntress, she feeds herself and her family – if we were hungry we’d want her on our side.

Aside from being a sci-fi adventure, ‘The Hunger Games’ is primarily a romance. All romances need a hero and Catniss’s love interest is Peeta Mellark. Although a less prominent character, Peeta displays another characteristic which Hague/Vogler cite as being a winning one – he is likeable. As Hague/Vogler point out, Tom Hanks has built a career on such characters.

So, to conclude:
• Goals - Give your central characters an external and an internal goal to sustain them throughout your story
• Characterisation – make your central characters people we can root for – put them in jeopardy. Make them people we would want to be on our side, make them experts. They may only be experts in chopping wood or using a bow and arrow, but make them the best at what they do and they will be intriguing. Or make them likeable, people we’d be happy to be stuck in a lift with and you have a hero people will root for.

These are just a few ways you can create characters and a story which pull the reader in and which sustain your plot to provide a satisfying read. Next time you see a Hollywood blockbuster, it’s fun to see how often they conform to these simple guidelines.

Kitti Bernetti has published dozens of short stories and novellas in a variety of genres of erotica including sci-fi, historical, crime and contemporary. Her latest, ‘The Thousand and One Nights’ is in the unique Secret Library range from Xcite. This range has discreet velvet covers hiding tales of feisty heroines, alpha males and strong romance. They are also available as e-books. She also publishes romance novellas and short stories under a different pen name. She can be reached through her website.

Tip O'Day #344 - Getting Past Rejection

Guest blogger Ann Harrison on being a ‘pantser’ and overcoming rejection.

Ever since I could remember I’ve loved books. I would read anything I could get my hands on and it’s only now that my taste has really settled on certain genres. I love a good romance. Who doesn’t love a happy ending and all the angst in between? I greedily absorb as much young adult (YA) as I can, and I can’t pass up a good suspense and murder mystery.

'I wish I had started writing years ago,' is a cry you probably hear from many a writer. I think I was always too busy reading to sort out the voices in my head. Four years ago, it all got too much and I had no choice. My first seven books spewed forth at a rate of speed that literally scared me half to death. I started with YA because that came to the surface first. You might gather from this that I am a pantser (writing by the ‘seat of my pants’ instead of planning every twist of the story). I can’t do it any other way and am in awe of those that do plot every part of their manuscript.

YA books one through three (and notes for the fourth) in a series were very quickly written. After having book one rejected, (six times), I thought I wasn’t cut out for YA and tried my hand at romance. Three books were written in as many months and sat while I entered competitions and took the judges’ comments to heart.

What scared me most was the almost impenetrable wall you hit when you start submitting your work. It is nearly impossible to get traditionally published in the current market. Many print publishers will only take on repeat authors they already have a connection with. This is the time that many good authors will give up and throw it all away. I almost did after another three rejections.

It wasn’t until I met freelance editor Annie Seaton, who pointed out the flaws in my stories (in a way that I understood) that I took heart. I polished them until I was happy to submit them. It was the turning point for me; within 48 hours I had three contracts on my desk. I feel I chose wisely and carried on writing. Three weeks later I signed my second contract with Breathless Press.

Taming the Outback will be out in August and Mistress for Magnus will be released in September. With my success I felt brave enough to resubmit Book One of my YA series. Witchling has now been signed with Lycaon Press and I know that all of the hard work has paid off.

Check out Ann at her website or on Facebook and Twitter.