Why Romance?

I was asked the other day (by another writer) why I bother to write Romance.

Bother?

I usually ignore dismissive attitudes. Life is short and precious, and I don't like to waste any of it on ugly feelings.

This time, however, it was a direct question and merited a response.

Life can be very, very hard. To prove it, spend about ten minutes on local or national news broadcasts. The world can be full of pain, hatred, cruelty, and prejudice. As a teacher, I see the up close and personal results of some of these and I can't always make it better. That's hard.

Personally, I need something else in my fiction. We all have different ways of coping, and reading & writing help me cope with the ugliness that exists. I read a lot of genres (always have), but I've settled on writing Romance.

For me, Romance is about a lot of things.

• Happiness
• Self-awareness and self-belief
• Striving for positive change
• Trust
• Love
• Family
• Honesty
• Learning how to cope with setbacks
• Risk-taking

And a whole lot more. But, most of all (for me), Romance is about Hope.

Hope can change a day around, change an attitude, change a future, and, yes, it can change the world. Hope is sometimes all a person has.

Romance offers that Hope. It reminds us that, with some hard work, we can achieve a Happy Ending.

So, no, I won't apologize for bothering to write Romance, or for reading it.

I won't apologize for enjoying reading and writing all kinds of other genres either. Every book I read (and every story I write) offers something different. Each one changes me a little bit, hopefully for the better.

I hope all writers and readers love the best parts of their genres the way I love the Hope that Romance brings to me.

How about you? What's the best part of your favourite genre? 

Description Woes

As some of you've heard before, I don't include a lot of description in my stories.

I'm not an especially visual person. I'm not able to see a movie in my brain of the action in my story. I'm not able to visualize faces of the characters.

I can see snippets of the setting, although sometimes its more of a map that a 3D visual. I get some scattered images of the places as well. Not many, though.

This is probably connected to the fact, that in real life, I have an incredibly difficult time recognizing people if I haven't seen them in a while. I always tell my students that they'll have to approach me in the future with their names because after a year or two, I won't have a chance of recognizing them, unless I recognize the voice. I will remember them, just not recognize them.

I know that when I say the word cat to a room full of people, some will see a cat in their head, others will hear the meow, some will see the word spelled out in front of them, a few will smell the kitty litter or the cat, another couple will have their hearts warm up because of the love they feel for their pet (or shrivel in fear if they've been attacked), and still more will feel the fur against their arm.

Our brains are fascinating and unique.

So, while I wish I could do the whole visual thing, I've learned to live with it.

It's probably why I skim over descriptive passages in writing (both mine and that of others). I can imagine that once I publish, some of the negative reviews will focus on that. Readers who crave description will give my stories a pass.

But, I can't bring myself to care what style and/or colour of shirt my heroine is wearing or what the room looks like. If it's not somehow relevant to the plot, I don't notice it.

For me, the story is about the emotion. That, I can describe pretty well.

What about you? Are you a visual person? Do you include a lot of description in your writing?

Simmering Time

I've just finished up revising a draft of a story that I think has the potential I want. It's not there yet, but it's SO much closer than it was.

It was fun going through this draft with notes from some crit buddies with specific goals in mind.

It was also fun coming across some lines/sections that made me smile. It's great when you come across something you'd forgotten about and you're able to think -- hey, that's pretty good stuff you've got there!

Now, I'll let this simmer for a bit while I do the same for another story.

How about you? Do you need that simmering time, or are you able to look at a story right away after you've done one round of revising/editing?

Rachael Thomas & The Dreaded Synopsis

Please welcome Rachael Thomas back to the blog today!
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Synopsis. It’s a word which can strike fear into just about every writer’s heart. How do you put everything from your story into between two and five pages? You don’t.

Wikipedia’s definition is a brief summary of the major parts of a subject or written work or story. It goes on to say ‘condensation of a work’.

What to include in a synopsis

The purpose of a synopsis is to show how your story is to go from the beginning to the end and the emotional journey or arc of your characters. It needs to show the voice or style of your book and be in the third person.

The first thing you need to do is introduce your characters and their main conflict. Then you need to show all the plot points they will encounter, their emotional journey and how they will reach their happy ever after.

Think of it in parts. I usually use five.

1. Introduce your hero.

2. Introduce your heroine.

3. Set out the story opening.

4. Show the emotional journey the characters are to go on and the main plot points which occur during that journey.

5. Set out the black moment and how this leads to the happy ever after.

What not to put in a synopsis

The synopsis is not a place to info dump the entire back story. Any important elements about a character’s past should be included in their introduction. Neither do you need every plot twist and turn or to introduce of every minor character. The synopsis is not the place to raise questions like will they ever reach their happy ever after? Keep your cliff-hangers for the story itself.

How long should a synopsis be?

The answer to this is a long as it needs to be. Check your submission details for this information, but once you have your synopsis you can either enlarge it or cut it back to suit a particular submission.

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Connect with Rachael Thomas on the web:

Website         Blog        Facebook                Twitter              Goodreads

New Year at the Boss’s Bidding

Moretti's by midnight 

Jilted bride Tilly Rogers hopes her luck is changing when she's offered a prestigious catering contract for billionaire businessman Xavier Moretti's New Year's Eve party. But then she ends up snowbound alone with her boss…and at his bidding! 

It's the end of the year and the end of Tilly's contract, which leaves Xavier free to seduce her at his will. Hardly shy of a challenge, this notorious playboy makes it his resolution to have virgin Tilly crumbling by his experienced touch. 

Before the snow settles, Xavier is determined to have Tilly under a brand-new set of tantalizing terms!

Read an Excerpt

Read Reader Reviews

Amazon Kindle      Amazon Paperback      B&N      Harlequin US

Enter this Goodreads Giveaway to win signed copies of New Year at the Boss’s Bidding.

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Thanks, Rachael!

What about you? Do you love or hate the synopsis? Any more tips to add?

Editing Tips

Thanks to Ninja Captain Alex J. Cavanaugh, I met a new Twitter Buddy the other day ... Nicole Singer.

That day, Alex posted several of Nicole's links. Some of them were round ups of helpful links, and there was one about editing tips entitled My Favourite Editing Exercises. I'm always looking for Editing tips so I clicked over.

Great tips! The one I put to use immediately was Nicole's suggestion to write
Goal:
Conflict:
Stakes:
at the top of each chapter to let you see at a glance what the chapter is all about.

I never print anything out, so I wondered how to do this effectively. I use Scrivener and I realized I've never used the small Synopsis box in the top right hand corner of the screen for much. The box is there for every single scene, so in each one I plunked in the above with a small alteration...

Goal:
Conflict:
     Heroine:
     Hero:
Stakes:

I used this as I was doing a revising round of my latest story and it really helped me eliminate some extraneous stuff that was bogging down the story. With Scrivener, that synopsis screen is always visible, even as you're scrolling through the screen, so I wasn't able to ignore it!

I'm thinking for the next story I write, I'll use it as a plan for the scene before I write. Who knows? It might even turn me into a plotter! (Don't hold your breath!)

Thanks again, Nicole for the tips, and Alex for the intro!!

How about you? Do you do anything similar with your chapters? What's one of your favourite editing tips?

Ringing in the New Year

A new year. Some new hopes.

Let's all try to:

• bring a little peace to our corners of the world

• find a way to help someone in need

• believe in ourselves and our talents

• be brave

• be kind

• find joy in the small moments

• love with all our hearts

Wishing you and yours all the best for 2016 - let's make it fabulous!!

Magic of the Season

'Tis the season!

I hope the 

Magic of the Season

helps you to 

brighten your days, 

& warm your nights.

I hope you connect with

friends and family,

eat lots of goodies,

& find time to relax & recharge!

Merry Christmas

and/or

Happy Holidays

and/or

Best Wishes

to all!