In The Mood For Romance (2)

I'll take the date, but the camel hair is itching me!

:-)

Ah, a brand new week...a brand new room.  And nothing new to report at all.  I'm just working on my next book.  Putter putter.

 Donna

Ooh, I'll put up with the camel hair for a date thank you, Liz.

A friend recently introduced me to a new way with dates - stuffed with a slice of camembert. Sounds odd, I know, but really is delish. 

I hope everyone is well... Now have to go and explore and see if I can discover how to add this to my favourites again. 

Hello-All,

In-the-new-room-we-are-discussing-dried

fruits.I-got-a-package-of-figs-in-the-produce

department.I've-been-eating-them-slowly.

I'm-not-into-dates.I-recall-them-being-one

of-the-items-used-in-the-inedible-type

of-fruit-cakes,along-with-candied-citroen.

I'm-renovating-my-wardrobe,as-a-princess

should.I'm-cleaning-out-my-bedroom-closet!

..On-the-'Today'-show-they-are-having

a-fashion-show.'Citrus'-items-are-the-thing.

Anchor-the-loud-color-with-a-grey,white-or

other-neutral.A-yellow-jacket-with-white-pants

a-green-dress-with-taupe-jacket,a-yellow

top-with-black-pants-and-beige-jacket.The

trench-jacket-which-is-orange-or-pomegranate

with-the-dark-denim-pants.The-spring

coat-with-green-and-white-broad-strips-with

a-navy-dress-underneath.A-green-jacket

a-white-blouse,and-the-belt-that-is-green,

navy,and-white-striped-over-a-navy-skirt.

I-don't-know-which-tierra-I-should-wear

with-these-items.

Aurelene

Okay, so Michelle has got me on a technicality. I can't resist sharing recipes. Or knitting patterns. At least I cook a lot of the recipes. So yes, please, Michelle, do share the Sticky Date Pudding recipe!

Jennie

What I was telling my stepmom the other day (she just married my dad last year) was that after 18 years of marriage, I want a marriage redo -- with a second shower, LOL. Not a new husband, just a whole new set of everything you get at a shower. New towels, sheets, toaster. It seems all that stuff gets icky at the same time. And convincing my husband that all of it needs to go is a chore, LOL. We're going to be moving into another house either the end of this year or early next year (we're building so it all depends on when it's ready) and I wish I could just leave EVERYTHING behind and take all new ;-).

Just like when we first got married!

Oh. good grief!  having got here first, I lost the thread, but now I've put it on my favourites.

 Honestly the camel hair cloak is great.  it's one of the heavy. winter weight ones, with gold thread trim.  But those really fine. flyaway ones you see the sheikhs wearing on the news are also camel hair and are really beautiful.  We actually got the hold kit and kaboodle around the house somewhere.  And I have a thaub (an overgarment worn by the women -- see my next sheikh story in 100 Arabian Nights out in June!) with gold embroidery which is gorgeous -- but no longer fits, alas!  I'll take a photograph and put it on the blog when I'm talking about Violet's story next month.

Liz

I've just stumbled across this thread quite by accident!

 http://community.eharlequin.com/forums/book-buzz/bride-all-seasons-miniseries#comment-47796

 Liz

Oh, the bane that is synopses.

I don't really consider a synopsis in either pov at all, tbh.  My synop is usually a blurby opening as an intro, and an omniscient pov for the rest.  Your synopsis is going to hit the high points of your story...so a basic overview of what's happening and the conflicts.  When you're describing WHAT happens, (the one part where you get to TELL and not SHOW with impunity) you don't need hero/heroine POV.

The basic rule of thumb is 1-2 pages single spaced...my editor now asks me for a one page, not very easy let me tell you! 

Is there still a place on the learn to write channel with synopsis examples?  Hosties?

Good luck...Romance is a lovely lovely line and the editorial staff is great to work with.

Donna

Thanks guys,

Wow! One page synopsis. Mine is around ten double-spaced pages and I'm still trying to cut it down! How do you know what to keep and what to delete? Do you work to a word count for the synopsis? My synopsis is just over fifteen hundred words! I know, way too long.

Thanks again for your help,

Hugs~

Monique

Monique, I believe a good short synopsis is never about "he thinks" or "she says".

If you want practical help, go to a DVD store and look at the back blurb of the movie "Armageddon". It's been years now since it inspired me, but I think it reads something like, "When an asteroid is hurtling toward Earth, a ragtag team of oil drillers have 18 days to save the planet".

Short, to the point, exciting - and the basis for a fantastic story synopsis. So apply this to your story! For example, for my books, I cut the theme to one sentence - such as for my Intimate Moments book Can You Forget?: "Everyone wears masks, whether physical or emotional". In other words, don't tell them blah blah blah about his mother or his past. Cut to the story bone and build muscle and skin from there until the story stands on its own, filled with life!

For my January HR release A Mother In A Million, my theme was "You don't have to give birth to be a mother". For my July 07 HR release, Her Outback Knight, it was "What makes a family?". Keep it simple as possible, find the core theme and work from there.

Does this help? Hope so!

Melissa

I'd far rather pitch an idea as core emotional conflicts, setting and character traits than pull together a synopsis, to be honest, but I've learned to do them (I hope reasonably well, at least). There's a book by Elizabeth Sinclair titled 'The Dreaded Synopsis' which I found helpful.

Anyone else navel gazing (I hope that universally means 'thinking deeply about anything) while working on their writing? I guess it's not directly writing related, but I have this plan I hope will work for getting myself a bit better sorted out about a few things. See what you think?

Jennie 

I've been holding onto this news for so long I thought I'd burst, but since the award ceremony has now been held I can tell you that last night Romantic Times awarded me a Career Achievement Award for Love and Laughter. 

Champagne corks are popping -- party on!

Liz 

Yay, Liz! Party indeed. This is wonderful news and very well deserved. Congrats!

Jennie 

>> Career Achievement Award for Love and Laughter. <<

 It is so nice to see a favorite author win an award. Congrats!

Dear Liz, I am delighted you won the Love and Laughter Achievement award. It is so wonderfully apt - your books always make me laugh (and sigh). And you so hugely deserve the accolades. Party hard!

 Natasha - am hoping things only get bigger and better for you. My only regret is because your book was marketed as a Presents I never picked it up.  ( I rarely read outside of the Romance line) I hope they reprint it! (Am keeping my fingers crossed that it takes out the Rita)

Congrats to all the NRCA finalists as well as Liz and Trish and Natasha for their RT accolades! 

This is such a great line.

Donna

Thanks for all the lovely words, ladies.  And I'm so delighted that Natasha even brought us the Presents RT award.  That is sooo cool!  Congrats to Trish Wylie, too.

Love, Liz

I almost forgot to congratulate our own Linda Goodnight on her Love Inspired RT award, too.   Boy, you can't keep Harlequin Romance authors down, can you!

Liz

Hi everyone!  I'm back to the message boards after a really busy patch.  Congratulations to everyone who's been nominated/shortlisted/awarded!  Now I'd better settle in and catch up on all the gossip...

Fiona

Sadly, not at the moment, Melissa.  But you are welcome to use this thread to ask any questions you like.  We do like to help!

Liz

First of all I'll come out and say right now that I'm no authority on the hero's journey and Vogler, but I get the sneaky feeling that maybe Fiona is?  Or Jennie?  I know I've been on someone's blog where they've talked about it.

I heart presents is sponsored by Harlequin, not the authors.  So the Romance blog that we have (www.harlequinromanceauthors.blogspot.com) is not craft oriented.  It's a lot of work keeping up with what we DO post on that, so I don't see the format changing.  That being said, I think if there are 5 things that newbies do wrong they are probably very universal.

There are probably lots of great tidbits coming your way but I can tell you what I did wrong in the beginning.  My top ones are likely....

1) contrived plot devices

2) not enough inner conflict

3) not enough emotion

4) weak hero

I probably had more but these are BIG ones.  Contrived plot devices and the conflict go hand in hand in my opinion.  If you have enough inner conflict to carry the story, then you don't need contrived situations.  The conflict should come FROM the characters, not happen TO the characters.  And hand in hand with THAT is knowing your characters so that they are deep deep deep, because then you have lots of conflict points to draw from.

Emotion:  My first editor would ask if I'd cry while writing it and if I didn't I knew I had to go back and dig deeper.  I bleed on the page.  It's hard to let yourself go that much because essentially you make yourself vulnerable, and i'm not saying you have to cry, but you have to be willing to take that leap with your characters.

And finally, weak heroes.  Not that they were spineless, mind you.  But I KNOW Hired was the one that sold in part because I had a hero that acted, rather than REACTED.  I also learned how to change his physical cues so they were stronger.  Honestly since that book I've maybe had a plot point where the editor has wanted the hero to do something different, but I've never had to change anything really about who he is...in fact in TSH I had to go the other way and make an adjustment in the ending to show his growth!

So that's my advice....

And how are you getting on?  What's your due date?

Donna

Hi Melissa,

If you Google "Melinda Rose Goodin", you'll find a website called "Crossing the Threshold", which should give you what you're looking for. I've seen her analysis of two romance novels using the hero's journey, but that was some time ago. Hope it's still there!

As for the common mistakes - Donna's top three were also my top three! For the fourth, though, I'd say mine was secondary characters and subplots taking away the focus from the main romance.

Have to dash, late for the day job. Will pop back later.

Claire