Constructing a Novel

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I’ve been reading Story Engineering by Larry Brooks and found this article about it today. His Six Core Competencies are a useful way to make sure you have all the parts you need to build a solid story.

Having written more than a few novels myself that stalled out midway through and never became fully formed books, I’m curious to see how well I can incorporate his ideas into future projects. I’m a decidedly messy writer though, and I’m not convinced I can reform myself at this point. But we shall see.

How to Write a Romance Novel

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Okay, that’s a pretty huge topic for one little blog post, but let’s see if I can cover the highlights in 300 words or fewer, shall we?

Every once in a while a friend or acquaintance will approach me, wanting to know how they can churn out a romance in a month or so and start raking in the cash. When I finish laughing and wiping the tears from my eyes, I have to break the terrible news to them: writing romance novels is difficult, and it’s not a job for the condescending. Also, it’s not a get-rich-quick scheme.

Sure, in a cynical mindset, you might be able to write a serviceable book and you might, if you’re really lucky, be able to sell it to someone. But can you build a steady stream of sales that way? I very much doubt it. Readers are smart. They look for books with genuine heart, written by authors with a true love of the genre. And you can’t earn anything close to a living writing romance novels unless you build a readership by putting out lots of good books.

So first and foremost, you need to pour your heart and soul into your story. Anything less comes across as hollow and false, forced, condescending…bleh. What does it mean to write with heart? Check out Susan Elizabeth Phillips, or Susan Wiggs, or any number of talented greats in the genre. I was just reading a book yesterday written by the wonderful and talented Barbara Samuel, entitled How to Bake a Perfect Life, and it is a great example of a book the author poured her heart and soul into. You can see it and feel it in the writing. It moves you.

Next, you have to know the genre. Know what’s been done to death, what’s cliche, what’s not. This means reading widely, not only from current releases, but from classics as well.

Another vital task is honing your craft. Think writing romance is easy? It’s anything but. It’s possibly the most difficult genre to do well, because it’s almost entirely character driven, and the characters have to not only be interesting and real but they must behave heroically nearly all the time. How to accomplish that and still do something original? Figure that out and you just might have a romance writing career on your hands. But while you’re figuring it out, you have to pay attention to the craft of writing. Study it and study it some more. Good writers never stop learning. I still read books about the craft of writing nearly every day, and I plan to do so for the rest of my life.

Once you’ve studied the genre, committed to becoming a master of the writing craft, and have settled into your own heart-felt voice, what’s next? Behave like a professional at all times. Remember that editors and agents are people with jobs. They are not the gatekeepers of some mystical land where cash grows on trees and all your dreams will be made real. Vow to never behave desperately. Treat editors and agents like the professionals they are, and remember always that they are people! If you treat them as such, they’ll appreciate it and be far more likely to consider your work than if you, say, color all your interactions with desperation to get your work on their desk.

Finally, learn to sell yourself and your work. This is my least favorite part of the business, but business it is, and we all must be in it if we want to be writers who sell our work. Selling yourself means learning to write a great query letter, learning to pitch your ideas effectively, learning to maintain a website, develop a public presence, and promote your work however you best see fit. But this should come at the very end, after you’ve mastered the rest.

Want more specifics? Post your questions here, and I’ll try my best to answer them.

Oh, and oops, this is 670-something words now.

Instagram Addict

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I was doing so well for a while there, and then my day job intervened, and all of a sudden it’s a ghost town around here. Also, in my not-so-spare time, I’ve become obsessed with Instagram. If you have an iphone, and/or you’re already an Instragram user, you can look me up as Jamie Kain (my married name), or inthecityoftrees (my Instagram user name). Not familiar with Instagram yet? It’s sort of like Twitter meets Facebook meets Photography 101, but simpler than I just made it sound. It’s an app that makes it easy to edit and share photos, and it has a twitter-like stream you can search and follow that is filled with some pretty creative and amazing photos. I was already a photography hobbyist, so now I’m like a photography hobbyist on crack.

I wish there was a way to integrate WordPress and Instagram. I love my blog, but I have far more to say with pictures than I have to say with blogging lately. Any Instagram users out there? If so, let me know and I’ll search you!

Natalie Goldberg on Originality

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“We always worry that we are copying someone else, that we don’t have our own style. Don’t worry. Writing is a communal act. Contrary to popular belief, a writer is not Prometheus alone on a hill full of fire. We are very arrogant to think we alone have a totally original mind. We are carried on the backs of all the writers who came before us. We live in the present with all the history, ideas, and soda pop of this time. It all gets mixed up in our writing.” –Natalie Goldberg

Enough said for a Saturday.

The Upside of Writer’s Block

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I just began reading Dennis Palumbo‘s book, Writing from the Inside Out, and my first reaction to it was, “Why couldn’t I have discovered this four years ago?!”

That was when my creative process first started going awry. I continued to write, but it became more and more difficult for several years, until fear, depression, and utter burnout led me to believe I might have to give up writing altogether. I’d dreamed of being a writer since I was 8, so the idea of giving it up was not so different than the idea of cutting my heart out of my chest and tossing it into the compost bin.

I didn’t give up writing, but I did take a break from it for a while. In the meantime, I tried to write again in fits and starts, read lots of books, and tried to do things that had absolutely nothing to do with writing but that would, I hoped, give me a richer set of life experiences to draw from whenever my creative muse decided to visit me again.

Back to Dennis’s book. In the first chapter, he talks about the gift of writer’s block, a phrase that at first glance sounded about as appealing to me as “the gift of dog shit.” But I kept reading, and he continues on to describe the ways a bout with writer’s block can communicate to us something we need to learn in order to move to the next level as writers.

A big part of my creative burnout, I realize after having several years to contemplate it, came from writing out of fear. Fear of not being a good-enough writer, fear of not earning enough money to survive, fear of not getting my next writing contract, fear of losing my career altogether. Such feelings can serve a positive purpose, but in large doses, fear is utterly destructive to creativity.

There are other lessons I’ve learned from writer’s block as well, but I won’t go into all of them here today. The point is, if you’re finding yourself stuck, unable to move forward in your writing in spite of showing up faithfully day after day to get your work done, consider what might be going on at a deeper level. Are you writing what you want to write? Do you have faith in yourself and your story? Do you sense something is amiss? Are you writing in joy or in some other more negative emotion?

It might be time to take a step back and allow yourself a chance to seek out the lesson your writer’s block has to teach you.

Above All, Be Real

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I found myself reading a novel last night in which the writing was just okay. There were some common writing mistakes–too much narrative and description slowing down the action, some awkward dialogue, some trite characters–and yet the story compelled me to keep reading.

When I asked myself why I wanted to keep reading, the answer was that the author’s voice and the emotion in the story were honest. She was being real. She felt what she was writing, and it came through on the page. She wasn’t talking down to her readers. She clearly respects the genre in which she writes, and she writes an emotionally compelling story.

Sometimes, there’s not much more you can hope for. Being real with one’s readers is no small feat. As a reader, I’ve had far too many moments in which I’ve felt the manipulating hand of the author trying to make me feel a certain way simply because that’s what the author imagines will sell lots of books.

This kind of manipulation is far too common in published fiction, and I think buyers continue to buy it simply because we are so eager to be emotionally moved by a story. But give me the feelings honestly, without pretense, on the page, and I’ll become a loyal reader.

So how do we know as writers when we are doing the job right? We know it’s right when we love our stories and more importantly, our characters; when we feel the emotion in what we are writing; and when we aren’t trying to make a certain thing or series of events happen. Instead, we are simply listening to our characters and letting them run the story.

What a Girl Wants Kindle Edition

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One of my favorite of my backlist books, What a Girl Wants, is now available as a Kindle eBook.

The book’s description:

Say no to sex. So Jane Langston advises women if they want better relationships. Who knew that as a result men across the country would be sleeping single and blaming her? Now Jane needs a little protection. It arrives in the form of gorgeous Luke Nicoletti, and he has her thinking maybe no isn’t the right answer. Instead, she’s taking him up on his offer to prove that sex can improve relationships!

Luke can’t figure out why a woman as sexy as Jane would give such, well, puritan advice. Because when they kiss, they’re combustible! Their affair is so steamy, he can’t seem to keep his mind on the reason he’s there. But as the threats against Jane continue, Luke starts feeling a little more protective of her than his role as her security guy and casual lover warrant. Suddenly he’s showing her how their just-for-now affair is hot enough to last forever.

Order it here!