Romance Spinners

Thoughts of a professional writer

2011-11-10T11:40:00.000+11:00

I took the first two weeks of November off from my Day Job to be a professional writer. I've never done anything like this before.

Yeah, I've had great swathes of time on my hands before, and dabbled a bit at my writing career, in between doing all sorts of other stuff, but I never approached it then as I am now.

For the past two weeks, I told everyone and especially myself that I was a professional writer.

And then I approached it as a professional would.

Every morning I'd get up, have breakfast, see Their Ladyships off to school, then I would sit down, fire up the laptop and get to work. I made goals, I set targets, I had a deadline imposed on me by someone else and I made myself accountable to them.

And you know what? I got some serious work done. With the exception of the Sabbath and one day I told a friend I'd help her with something, I've been pulling in about 4K words a day. That's serious mojo. I also had time left over to devote to editing other projects and sending out a few things to publishers.

And all done before Their Ladyships got home from school.

First few days was easy. Last few days was hard, as I found myself wanting to rebel against the structure I'd imposed. But yesterday, I gathered my courage, sat down, and did my wordage. Today, same thing.

Next week I go back to work, "full-time school" hours. I go back to squeezing in writing when I can, between the Day Job, the Extracurriculars and the Family. I'm going to miss being a professional writer. I don't know if I'm going to like the fly-by-night moonlighting style of being a writer, even though most of my published mates work that way.

Treating writing as a professional day job was eye-opening.

I've not done the like before, but after a week and a half of serious BIC, I'm thinking that yeah, maybe I can do this sort of thing on a more permanent basis.

I've just got to figure out how to get me some more of that.

Getting to know you...

2011-05-28T16:21:00.002+10:00

Dear Computer,

I hope we become good friends. You are only new but I thought you should know, I get traumatised by new technology.

Love from me.

Zara Penney

The Benefit of Imaginary Friends

2011-04-29T13:56:00.002+10:00

The other day I was thinking about Mr Peach and Mrs Outway. Mr Peach is my butler and Mrs Outway is my housekeeper. I've got a whole swathe of household staff, from Peach & Outway through kitchen maids, laundry maids, footmen, and scullions. (His Grace's valet is Jack and my lady's maid is Jessica.)

And not a single one of them is real.

Staid, boring mundane types might consider that a sign of a few screws loose, but what it really is is the opposite--it's a sign of mental stability.

The presence of "imaginary friends" or fictitious people is a human's way of creating the idea of another human being outside of oneself thay will fulfill a social need in a person. Many children invent an "imaginary friend" of some kind to serve a very real psychological need. Sometimes it can be as simple as a play companion, but in certain circumstances, the child may create a defender or protector to give them the sense that they may not be as powerless as they feel. This is often the case for children who have been abused or neglected somehow.

For me, I've invented a whole household of staff because I hate housework. Loathe the stuff, really. Can't stand it.

But it has to get done. Since my heart cringes at the thought, I have delegated the tasks to the household. Mr Peach makes sure the staff do what they have to do. Kim (from Southeast Asia) is in charge of the kitchen. Jack & Jessica make sure clothes and other bedchamber stuff is neat and tidy and Mrs Outway makes sure things run smoothly overall. The footmen are there for odd little tasks and the gardeners (of which there are two) keep the yards squared away. The laundry maids can be a handful, especially with their use of magic when it comes to washing clothes, but Mr Peach is more than sufficient to deal with them.

And so when I'm busy washing dishes or hanging out clothes, I deceive myself by withdrawing into my imagination and assume that it's not really me doing the work, but someone else.

And thus the housework gets done.

Memory Shirts

2011-04-02T14:05:00.006+11:00

I have a box of T-shirts from my younger days. This is my box of Memory Shirts.

For years it lay hidden in the back of my shed until it was time to move house. I kept the box instead of donating it, as I did with so many other items of clothing.

I didn't open it again until a few days ago.

As it is autumn in the Southern Hemisphere now, the nights aren't as warm. I offered my daughters some T-shirts in which to sleep and went digging in the box for Memory Shirts.

The first I pulled out was a gray Les Miserables shirt I acquired in New York in 1990. I was on tour there that summer with the Granite Youth Symphony, and one of the many activities was to go see a real live Broadway Show--Les Mis.

It was wonderful! I bought this T-shirt in commemoration. (I also acquired a T-shirt that says Carnegie Hall. I'll let you guess that memory.)

I think often and fondly upon my GYS days. Even dreamed about it last night. I still keep in contact with many of the friends I made there. Good memories.

For the other daughter, the next T-shirt I pulled out simply said "Star Trek".

This T-shirt I acquired in a box of auction goodies at a Star Trek convention. The auction had gone on too long, and they'd run out of time. So what they did was say, "We've got a whole box of stuff left over. What will I have for this box."

I conspired with a friend of mine, Karen J, to go in together to buy this box. We managed to outbid this one guy to the tune of US$290.

Oh, what a jackpot! There was a leather varsity-style jacket that Karen claimed, a Star Trek umbrella, figurines, books and, of course, the ubiquitous T-shirts that peppered the fandom.

I loved being a part of the Star Trek Fandom and not because of Star Trek being awesome (because it is). I loved it because the fen were a wonderfully-accepting bunch of people who were not afraid to be who they truly were.

Karen died about ten years ago from cancer, but every time I see this T-shirt, I still think of her.

Most people might have just given old T-shirts to their kids for nightwear without a further thought.

Me, I gave my daughters something to sleep in and a darn good story to go with it.

I know I write better than I navigate.

2010-11-13T15:38:00.002+11:00

That's because my navigatory skills are non-existent.

So you see? It wasn't a boast,

although

I got the nicest compliment in the Penguin comp telling my I have an Austen voice...

I do so love writing those Regencies. NEver knew I had it in me until I started.

If you want to find out about omens

2010-11-12T10:08:00.002+11:00

Look in my blog.
Why don't you check all the blogs, they're in the link.

But I am in a competition at Penguin. I received a lovely compliment. My little Regency of 1600 words had the nicest compliment. You don't have to vote. But I did receive a few compliments from people who I don't know. I didn't bother to ask people to vote for me because they are monitoring the competition quite heavily. Anyone who doesn't more or less go to read anything but one - vote and then run are being treated as suspect...

And besides, I want to know what is being felt by people reading the stories... not what my mother thinks.

But somebody said I have an Austen voice. That little compliment was worth all the tea in China. And to the person who wrote it, your little comment was like a piece of gold. Jane Austen is my hero and I'm not the only one.

The brief for the short story was very tight. It had to be for the Christmas Season. It had to be between 1300 to 1600 words. And it also had a couple of options for the basic plot. Into that I had to squeeze my little short story, give birth to characters and create the situation. The Regency desperately wanted to bust the barrier of 1600 words.

And what I discovered from a lot more than a few entries, people just don't know what a short story is. Seems they might have lost the art of it. One of the most ideal examples of what constitutes a short story is the O Henry Return of the Magi about the hair and the comb.

From comments left by people voting, on entries, the lack of knowledge of the concept of the short story is quite obvious. And some of the entries even have Chapter One or Part One or something. That isn't a short story. It's Chapter One of a novella or a novel.

Writing as an Adventure - or - Be In It To Win It

2010-11-10T10:49:00.002+11:00

Somebody once said to me- "Oh I always meant to write when I retire."

Given the age of retirement is 65 here (recently I think, moved to 67 or something like that) that's a long time to wait to start writing. And while there are many people who don't get published until they might be that age, their motivation to write will have been with them all their lives and they should have spent many long nights writing before or after working all day in the office.

In other words a writer is born that way.

So I nod politely when people say this type of thing because they think because I can do it, anyone can. Either I look stupid, or... ah... I look stupid, full stop.

Writing is an adventure. It is painful. It is fun. It hurts. It can be triumphant. There are good times. There are bad. There are.

Advice to beginners, middlers and patient always have written hopefuls is just don't think - do. Don't plan. Just do. Don't sit down and try to plot the whole story like you were planning an overseas trip. Don't use precision and don't procrastinate. Just sit and do.

Some tips would be to carry a notebook with you at all times. You never remember good ideas. Good ideas are spontaneous little devils and like to play catch me while you can. Cheat them. Just tell them "later" and sneak it into your notebook while they're not looking.

Lucky you if you are technologically savvy. One of my writing group I am totally envious of. She puts them into her cell phone.

Another tip. Have a plot board. One of those cork jobs you can move around, throw in frustration or whatever. But pin things on it relating to a broad aim. I just tear up sheets of A4 and I can rearrange the chapters, ideas, etc. at will. This includes basic facts such as names, relationships etc.

Personally I don't do that, but some people like to answer quizzes about their characters, their aims, well... whatever it takes to motivate you, help you, grab it with both hands - every mickle makes a muckle.

Don't let people discourage you. My mother once said "oh that's just a silly romance" - "absolute rubbish". I also write and illustrate children's books and she was proud of them, but didn't realise that just because she wasn't a romantic soul, doesn't mean I needn't be one. You will probably think what sort of awful parent I have but my father once said to me "what makes you think you are so special as to anticipate you can convince somebody to like this rubbish?" again referring to my romance. Well. Given that he hadn't even read it makes it nonsense. But I don't let them discourage me because my sister once described the sort of books my father like to read then would pass them onto my mother and sister to read. She was most scathing herself. Consequently I learned to keep my own counsel as far as my parents were concerned.

Another tip. Love your characters. People don't like to read a whole book full of some nasty little nark nobody could love. You have to give them somebody to barrack for. I hope you don't hate your baseball, or footy team. Don't know about you, but Greg Norman and the old Tige got a vote of unpopularity from me because of their ego trips, leaving normal moral values hanging on the fence, forgotten.

Biggest, most important tip? Keep writing. Persevere. Thomas the Tank Engine. "I can do it. I know I can do it."

Edit, edit and edit. Make sure that what you publish will never be shamefully hidden away when you are famous. That's a bit like Marilyn Monroe's little nudie calendar done in a moment she needed some cash and haunting her once she hit the big time.

Not every day will shine for you. Good days and bad days happen. But in a way, they are good for you. Good days make you want to dance. Bad days make you (a) try harder and (b)realise what a good day you had yesterday and (c) anti ego.

Okay, enough. I'm off to write. Where are you going?

Oh the romance of it...

2010-07-15T12:58:00.002+10:00

Today seems to be a day of reflection. There is definitely a new story brewing in my um... head?... my fingers?... well, certainly wherever my head is at the moment.

We Rosespinners came up with a new little paranormal do do do do... did we ever say what it was to be? Well let me spill the beans....

Your job, for the next anthology, is to write approximately 11,000 words on a descendant of Phillipe Deveraux, who is presently (at the time you've set your story) in the Devon area of England. He or she has discovered the curse, and has a choice - to submit to it, or throw caution to the wind.

Stories can be set any time from 1100AD onwards, but they must be set around Devon because the land is an integral part of the curse and the family's history.

For Richer, For Poorer.
An anthology of romantic adventures through time.

1609: Nobleman Phillipe Devereaux moves to England from France after the Norman conquest. Keen to show his allegiance to King William, he takes lands in the Wessex area near Devon and sets about erecting garrisons and forts. He subdues the locals with remarkable vigour.

A local woman, Gytha of Wessex, a distant cousin to the defeated King Harold, is in desperate trouble. Her impoverished family face annihilation unless she can form an alliance with Devereaux. She approaches him with an offer of marriage – in return, she can guarantee the locals will obey her (and therefore him) and restore harmony to the land. If he refuses her, the land will rebel and she swears an oath the crops will fail.

Deveraux agrees to marry Gytha. Soon he gets her pregnant, then reneges on the formal marriage deal. In these times marriages are not a legal institution - and priests don't get involved until the 1100s - but they are binding. By remaining unmarried, Gytha's status is unsecured. At any time, Phillipe can marry someone and she could be cast out.

While pregnant with her first child, she creates a tapestry, decorating it with scenes from local life. She sews into the tapestry a curse to the Devereaux family, to last for all eternity.

Translated in today's words, the curse is an appeal to the Norse Goddess Friga (the goddess of marriage) that the richest Devereaux must marry the poorest in the land. If they do not, they will lose everything and the land will run barren.

Closest modern equivalent is 'By the will of Friga, the Deveraux lands of Wessex will turn barren and the rivers run sour, lest the richest marries the poorest.'

Phillipe ignores this curse and refused to marry Gytha. In years to come, they have four sons. Gytha dies soon after delivering the fourth. Phillipe then married a Norman woman but they have no issue. The curse is beginning. The crops begin to fail. An unusually cold winter sets in.

At the age of 18, William, Phillipe's eldest son, mounts a locally-supported revolt and overthrows Phillipe. William honours his mother's curse and marries the poorest woman in the land. Hard work soon restores the Deveraux family name to honour, and prosperity. The land produces abundant crops and the living is good.

William creates a family crest, featuring a golden dragon (common in old-English-Wessex mythology), and the motto, “Pour Plus riche, Pour Plus pauvre” For Richer, For Poorer.

William and his three brothers – Simon, Louis, and Estienne, make copies of the tapestry to pass on to future generations. To serve as a guide and a warning to future generations, showing them how they must keep the land prosperous by following his mother's instructions. If they disregard the curse, they will suffer the consequences.

In generations to come, the family name will change to Devericks and Derricks, and the ancestors will emigrate to parts of Africa, Australia and the Americas, losing their link with the Devon land and the curse.

Those remaining in the Devon area, descended from the four brothers, are the curse's captives.

Mine turned out as a rolicking Regency. As an Austen fan I came up with my own Darcy and fell in love with him.

He is itching to get published. Very itchy.

Cleaning the cobwebs

2010-04-11T17:01:00.002+10:00

Cobwebs are those little motivational things that sometimes go missing. All sorts of reasons can be found, kids, life, work, weather, you, mental interferences, but...

there is you.

YOu have to find the times where you can take priority. Doesn't matter how long they are but they have to be about you. We all need me-time and for me that means probably putting my mind to writing. Some people have the luxury of more time than others, and probably appreciate the me-time less than those with lots of outside influences pressing them.

In the days when I had all those interferences, my time was in the early quiet times of the morning. The only movement in the house apart from me, would be the rise and fall of sleeping chests both big and small. Even the dog would be curled up fast asleep, at my feet.

Nowadays they are all grown up, and I alone have been left an eternal kid in this household. I do have more time and have to make sure I don't waste it. So what do I do?

I am finding the treadmill does create the right positive juices. It works. Really works. Exercise is good for you as a writer. We are so sedentary we writers. Our little botties can stretch to bigness unless we do and that can lead to depression. So get out of your chairs and do a few minutes of Jane Fonda like workouts. Or follow my example. Thirty minutes of mildly fast walking every day.

1,2,3,4 and 1,2,3,4...

My To-Do List

2010-04-03T11:16:00.002+11:00

It seems, no matter how hard I try, my to-do list never gets any shorter. If anything, it's a case of one step forward, and two steps back.

Today I had a really productive workday. I finally got all my tax stuff together, so I can call my accountant to arrange a meeting. I filled out an IRS form for one of my US publishers. I finished a proofreading job, and got my groceries ordered online. I did a load of laundry and made a scrumptious chicken stew for dinner. I had a nice long chat with my mother. A good day!

But I look at my to-do list, and for every one thing I accomplished today, there are two more waiting to be done. And it's only very far down the list that I get to something that bears a resemblance to writing my own stuff. I'm not making excuses for not doing my own writing--honest, I'm not. It gets mightily frustrating to have characters yelling at you inside your head to get a move on, and new ideas foaming over waiting to be used.

Perhaps I need to be a little less "responsible", and let some of the day to day chores wait while I focus creating for a while. I'm afraid though, how quickly my home and my life would dissolve into chaos. Sigh...I guess the only solution is to try and find some kind of balance between the two. And to realize that every day, no matter what gets accomplished, is a good day.

Juicing up on the Treadmill.

2010-03-25T13:17:00.002+11:00

I'm trying to be good. The treadmill is behind me currently littered with dog toys. This is a sure sign that it hasn't been used for a couple of days. But I should be using it because it's good for me. When I am feeling not too hot about my writing it's because I haven't stirred up all the good brain juices that do their considerable best at making me feel better about myself... and as a consequence, like my writing.

Maybe it should be renamed what this machine really is.

A dreadmill?

When in doubt. Google.

2010-03-05T09:51:00.002+11:00

We are so lucky in today's world of writing and writers to have the tool called Google. I used to forget it and run through my library of leather Encyclopaedia Britannica and other publications. But having finished my Securement of Greggie Donald and more recently a Regency for the anthology, I found Google so invaluable.

(Why is invaluable a word that really means valuable but as an in- word it sounds so negative???)

However, I don't rely on Google for everything. I have an extensive reference libary and in my research projects, I must say I do love my books. They sit there in physical support, hard facts and reliable. I can find things I wasn't looking for but are good to know.

But don't forget you have the internet source. It's easy enough to forget you can use that just as it's easy enough to use.

There are language dictionaries and dialect disectors. There are converters and let's face it...

if you are bored editing, then there's time to waste and waffle away the time until you get guilty enough to return to the task at hand. What is that?

AIMING TO TYPE

T H E E N D

Critiquing and the art of being positive.

2010-03-04T08:45:00.002+11:00

When I first joined a critique group, I was like a bull in a china shop. I didn't have any training for such a task and it was a frightening experience. But what really makes a good critique.

I am an author with a history in childhood publishing. It is my creating career in picture books both writing and illustration where I did learn, quite instinctively, to craft a world, a believable and credible entity, and a suitable one for an early childhood learning experience. I was learning without knowing it about GMC (Goal, Motivation, Conflict = Wants, because, but). I learned the story arch in a very tight situation where words cannot be wasted and illustrations cannot be mere reflections of words but actually meaningful for little the enrichment of fresh, growing, curious minds.

In my decision to jump the fence or grow up a little bit, and start writing for adults, I did it alone and innocent. Locked away in my author's tower, where Repunzel would let down her golden hair, I tap, tap, tapped away on the keys releasing characters onto the pages every day. Magical grown up people who would become my obsession and my friends.

So when I typed THE END I ventured forth into the big world and on my clumsy walk I discovered the concept of a critique group and so the story began.

I remember those early days. And what I learned in my trip through critiquing was that it is an art, between diplomacy and honesty - and a genuine desire to be helpful.

The reason I am reflecting on this is a meeting I went to yesterday. It is a network of authors which meets regularly each month to support, discuss, boast, complain, analyse and just be friends in this often rather lonely pursuit of getting published (and staying published). Yesterday at this meeting it was mentioned that a session by a panel of supposed professionals went hell-for-leather after the authors they critiqued. They were harsh, rude and took their roles as literally as possible, destroying already fragile sensibilities and that a lot of resentment had been generated in their wake.

So what makes a good critique? A good critique can only start with a good manuscript. It is not a one-sided endeavor. It is not fair to expect somebody to come up with the goods if the author hasn’t. This means that an author must basically present their best effort, in order to obtain appropriate feedback. It is not only fair but courteous. If the manuscript is not up to scratch then it isn’t a critique that is expected but should be relabeled ‘Help Wanted’ and conducted on this basis.

The critique then will be begin with a thorough reading. Looking for clarity and understanding, and flow. You should look through the m/s with encouragement in your mind. Concentrate on the positives which will expose the negatives automatically. Praise should be part of it. “Love this” can make an author feel buoyant and good. The critique should be on the lookout for ‘show not tell’, and probably also suggestions on rewording the odd sentence or two.

The trust between the critiqued and the critiquer should be very high. And not every manuscript will be identical to the next. And not every critique effort will be a compatible one.
And finally I think the self-confidence of the writer in their craft is probably important as well. This is the ability to sort out what suggestions to take on board, and what you will disregard.

It all, in the end, boils down to mutual respect.

The Vancouver Olympics

2010-02-28T15:18:00.002+11:00

I'm probably the least athletic-minded person on the planet, so it comes as a total surprise to me that I've actually been watching the Olympics this past couple of weeks and enjoying them. Granted, they're being held in my country, and I am fiercely patriotic, but I'm surprised at how excited I get when I'm watching. I actually had tears in my eyes and a lump in my throat watching the Canadian men's team pursuit speed skaters win (my apologies if I got the name of the sport wrong) And don't even get me started on how jazzed I was to read that the Canadian women's hockey team had won gold. I actually wished that I'd caught the game (and not to sound like a bad Canadian, but I never watch hockey--I leave that to my brother.;o) ) So don't be surprised if I sit down and watch the men's game tomorrow. How thrilling--Canada vs US. I better have my tissues ready. Whether Canada wins or loses, I'm going to get weepy.

Adventures in Paradise.

2010-02-24T13:37:00.002+11:00

Where do these characters come from? The ones inside our heads? Who are they? How much of them is in you? Or are they what you want them to be. Is that a statement or a question. As a question it's different to a statement.

It's time for all those visiting to address these thoughts and give your opinion.

Go on and tell us what you think.

How to write a Romance Novel

2010-02-21T14:56:00.000+11:00

I started writing romance in Nigeria when I had more time on my hands. We had a housegirl, a gardener, a swimming pool, a tennis court, a special school for our kids and for a gal that had been working her butt off to keep a husband in university, a kid in preschool so she could work her butt off, and little time to breath. Some people just sat around in this little glass bubble of expatriates. Squandering their time.

But that isn’t me. I don’t sit around doing nothing. My brain constantly buzzes and skims around for activities and thus with my trusty little blue plastic typewriter two layers of carbon paper, the pages mounted on my first romance novel. My guide was a mountain of Mills and Boon which was very popular in Nigeria for both men and women and readily available.

I also had a friend who also loved romance, and perhaps it was she that sparked the awareness of a need for writing and for the genre.

My road to romance writing halted while I took time out to study and to write and illustrate picture books for children. But, in that space of time, I think I really did learn my trade and came back to romance because by nature I am a romantic soul. And of course from the early days of little blue typewriters I was lucky enough to be part of a generation that benefited from the blessings of the computer age. Carbon paper leaves a lot to be desired.

I do love comedy and so comedy and romance sat very comfortably on my shoulders. I can watch Sleepless in Seattle and Pretty Woman ad nauseum. Love Jane Austen to distraction.

I never really thought about writing an historical novel until my brief for The Enchanted Faerie turned up. I discovered, since I have an abiding love of research, historical novels can be fun. The essential to writing historical, indeed any novel is convincing world building. The setting must be very believable. World building in any genre is terribly important because the reader must quickly forget the real world and be suspended. Next step for me is Regency. This genre lends itself so easily to my forte – comedy so watch this space.

So what are the rules of a romance? As far as I can think, they are exactly the same for any other kind of genre.

Convincing world building. . I’ve often wondered what idiot said blue and green should never be seen, only on the faerie queen. That is stupid. I’m sitting looking out the window and there’s that tree I love, and a perfectly blue sky behind it.

Lovable Characters. Second most important thing is to make characters lovable enough to want to pursue them in whatever adventure they are undertaking. Even if they really are awful, make them lovable. One doesn’t want to spend time hating the main character/s. My characters all end up as friends by the time I’ve finished a manuscript.

Consistency. Make sure your characters stay the same. I don’t mean that they can’t suddenly discover God or that they are undergoing life changing experiences, but make sure they react in a way which is believable and the way they really would behave because leopards don’t change their spots.

Be clear and precise. Plant the facts for the reader in a logical way so they don’t have to work hard to remember the plot direction. You do not want them having to double back because they’ve missed something.

Never take the reader for granted. There is absolutely nothing wrong with loving romance novels. They sell more books than anything else. The reader will smell an author who is treating them like idiots from a mile. Don’t write down to the reader as if they are a moron. If you don’t like romance then don’t write romance.

All the normal needs of any novel, plot, arc and ending, goal, motivation and conflict are all important just as they are in any other kind of novel worth its salt. The basic premise of a romance is the conflict. The demands of GMC – goal motivation and conflict. This basically is translated into: He/she wants – because – but. You must have this to make a story move.

Know your target audience. If you have a specialist genre – paranormal, time travel, contemporary, comedy, suspense then of course you will have to know what publishers of that genre require. That means you should know what publisher/s you want to target. Specially important because the readers will be expecting a certain standard and they will be very tough on judging anything that doesn’t convince them in their belief systems. You are suspending belief in a believable manner and unless you fulfil this then forget writing because neither agent, nor editor, nor reader will even be slightly interested.

Probably the best piece of advice I, as a writer, has ever been given is this.

Make every work you do your best. Never just let a manuscript drift because it’s good enough. It will end up in a bottom drawer and you will cry over rejection slips. And also be your own harshest critic. Of course every time you start a new manuscript it will probably be the inheritor of your skills getting better.

Edit, edit, and edit again. Be your own harshest critic. Don’t be precious about a piece you really know shouldn’t be there. The best novel doesn’t waffle on. If you are at a party listening to a drunk waffling on about nothing you soon get bored. So what’s different about a reader?

Make sure you have a good hook system. Hooking is important because it’s grabbing the reader’s attention. First line of the novel is important, but hooking throughout the novel is also important. Between point of view changes, and chapter changes.

Which does remind me to mention the importance of establishing the main characters. I have seen some people introducing so many characters in the beginning of the novel that it’s almost like trying to remember everyone’s name at a convention in the first day.

And there’s the biggy. Show not tell. This has been discussed by aspiring writers and authors constantly. What it means is simply don’t fall into a trap of boring description. Keep the writing vital and fresh. Don’t waffle on. Let’s say the character is lighting a cigarette.

Sam wanted a cigarette so he reached into his pocket and pulled out his cigarettes and red lighter.

Or.

Sam’s craving was strong. An irresistible urge he’d been fighting since he was twenty. Fingers danced impatiently and finally gave in to the urge for a cigarette.

I don’t need to mention the pocket. That’s a given and not really important where what and how he accessed them.

So really, what I am saying is that there aren’t any special rules for a romantic novel. It is simply a genre like all novels and employing all the rules of good story writing. Weave your spell, make it magic and make the reader extremely sorry they reach the end because they love it.

Howe to Konfeuze a Speltcheker.

2010-02-20T13:30:00.002+11:00

I am a long term lover of the development of language which is logical since I love all things written - books are very huggable.

In her excellent blog, Miss Snark's First Victim, (which you will have to Google because for the life of me, I don't know how to create an automatic link) raises her theory that there are extra vowels. I blogged on the subject myself, but for anyone reading this blog (if you aren't then you'll need a note!). Basically my comment on the extra vowels she claims as Y and W and presents her argument with which I heartily agree, I believe the rules of vowels and consonants is too one size fits all.

English is mashed potato. The rules we know today are tampered with, and made as one size fits all. They are wrong, wrong, wrong. First of all I became aware of sounds when I studied Pitman Shorthand. Without realizing it I was learning to use symbols rather than letting the printed word block my linguistic sensibilities.

Basically consonants and vowels are floating entities. Consonants are hard sounds. The ‘l’ in look is a hard sound. The ‘l’ in could is a soft sound. Of course this sound is lost on us today. But once it was a vowel sound. A crude attempt at capturing a sound it was meant to convey.

Firstly may I recommend you go directly to Amazon and order yourself a copy of THE ADVENTURE OF ENGLISH. A BIOGRAPHY OF LANGUAGE by MelvYn Bragg. He talks of English in a section on which he describes as GVS which means Great Vowel Shift. He says that printing largely fixed spelling pre GVS but that took place after the setting of words. Thus a language which is in turbulence with its printed equivalent ends in the two being out of sync.

Quote:

“When properly read aloud, the fourteenth century English of Chaucer sounds strange to modern ears in a way that, on the whole, the late sixteenth century English of Shakespear does not. For example, Chaucer’s way of saying “name” would have rhymed with the modern “calm”, his “fine” with our “seen”; he would have pronounced “meet more or less as we would pronounce “mate,” “do” as “doe” and “cow” as “coo” (as it is prounced in parts of Scotland).
“In the years between Chaucer’s birth and Shakespeare’s death, English went through a process now known as the Great Vowel Shift. People in the Midlands and south of England changed the way they pronounce long vowels… (held in mouth long time) (meet, street) rather than short vowels (met, mat). Unquote.

He goes on to say on this subject that the invention of printing had an impact on language and the written word. Gutenberg in Mainz invented printing (press) in Mainz in 1453. And Caxton started printing English in 1453. The first dated book printed in England in English was Dictes or Sayengis of the Philosophres 1477. Caxton also printed romances, books of conduct and philosophy, history and morality and the first illustrated printed book in English was “The Myrrour of the Worlde 1481. Caxton worried about how to achieve a common standard. Caxton wrote “Certaynly it is harde to playse every man by cause of dyuersite & chaunge of langage. For in these dayes euery man that is in ony reputacyon in his counter, wyll vtter his commynycacyon and maters in suche maners and termes that few men shall vnderstonde theym.”

So really the vowels and consonants are loose translations for modern logics of today. They crude. Logically a consonant should be a hard sound. And a vowel a soft sound. I learned Hebrew and I find that – apart from being a neater language – its written word illustrates the vowel sounds apart from the hard sounds. Almost the way Pitman symbols do. Of course to a native Hebrew speaker they would read words out of familiarity much the same way we English speakers read and are not disturbed by words such as could, would, wrong, write etc. And understand how one mouse turns into two mice, while one house turns into two houses, but that’s another whole chapter isn’t it. Sheesh who’d want to learn English!

But basically, your suspicions on lurking vowels is very very logical and we are all heading up the garden path where the sign says THIS IS HOW YOU MUST GO AND DON’T ARGUE WITH ME. But you know better.

Graphic Novels, Mastiffs and Dribbling.

2010-02-18T13:24:00.002+11:00

Well, might you ask, what has all of this got to do with the other?
Nothing actually, but it got you reading this hasn't it!

I've been illustrating my contribution to For Rich For Poor entitled tentatively:

POUR PLUS RICHE, POUR PLUS PAUVRE
L’Ermite de Blamain

My story is set in the Regency Times. I think I haven't enjoyed writing a novel more than this one. First of all, it was the first time I've dabbled in anything other than Jane Austen. And it was so much fun. And illustrating these characters was an extension of this, given that graphic novels are the new BIG THING.

The writing of a Regency is quite demanding. And I was told that Regency readers are also very fussy. Given that I am a Jane Austen fan, literature and the modern extension of her work - visual media, once I'd mastered the speech patterns, my whole concentration could fall naturally into creating authentic and believable characters. That is one of the charms of Austen. Her characters are very believable and she creates her world without using overdramatic artifice. She has a subtle way of comedy that avoids Charlie Chaplinesque overdrama.

The illustrations are being drawn in the style of cartoonists of the late 1800's. Charles Dana Gibson is an artist I absolutely adore. And as I gather my thoughts together on this day's blog, it makes quite statement on how exactly you imagine your characters when reading a novel. There is a 'feeling' of them, but you never quite see their faces. We are all used to the concept of seeing a character from our childhood experience in a picture book, but adults reading adult novels will develop that 'feel' rather than 'seeing' as one does in a movie. Of course once we have been given the picture that picture will always live with the character. Example, Colin Firth will forever be Darcy. Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh will forever be Rhett and Scarlett.

When I write I have a personal romance of my own with the characters. I fall in love with my heroes and probably put a lot of me into the one with whom they will fall in love. And, as an artist, thus being very very visual, my ability to draw will give me some added fuel in order not to desert my characters too fast once I have finished the novel.

So Estienne Devereaux, Duke of Blamain, lives on in my imagination.

By the way, in case any of you might be curious.

Blamain is an acronym for the suburb I live in in Sydney, Australia. Google the postcode and you will solve the puzzle. 2041

Damn you Colin Firth. Why couldn't you wait for Estienne. You rushed into playing Darcy so I guess Hugh Grant, you are cordially invited to...

belated Happy Valentine's Day

2010-02-16T08:36:00.002+11:00

Valentine's Day was quiet for me this year. I don't have a special someone at the moment, so no bouquets of roses, boxes of chocolates or nice dinners out. I did get a really nice card from my neighbour, who's become a good friend this past year. That was sweet. And I did get a couple of cute Valentine's emails from friends, so that was special. Oh, and my Mom called to wish me Happy Valentines. So all in all, I can't complain. I made myself a nice dinner and rented the movie "Whip It" (which sounds like a really dirty movie, but isn't...lol..honest) It's a cute film set in the world of women's roller derby and directed by Drew Barrymore. I totally enjoyed it.

I got thinking about my favourite Valentine's Day. It was many years ago when I was young and just launched into the working world. I had a lovely boyfriend at the time, who was quite romantic. We happened to work in the same place, and he arranged a scavenger hunt for me that lasted the whole day. It started with a china rose and a note left on my desk in the morning. It directed me at break time to a cupboard where I found a lovely original poem and another note for the next break in the day. It went like this all day long. I was in a state of anticipation all day and could hardly concentrate on my duties. I found a chocolate treat at one stop, and a gorgeous thoroughly romantic card at another. My final gift was given to me that evening when my boyfriend gave me a lovely necklace I still have to this day. Unfortunately the relationship didn't last, but the memories from that exciting day linger.

turning over a new leaf

2010-02-05T06:02:00.002+11:00

I will admit here now, publicly, that I'm the poorest blogger on the planet. I have great intentions, but somehow I always manage to drop the ball.
Part of the problem is that I have been a lifelong procrastinator. I think it's built right into my DNA. I begin projects with great vim and vigour, and at some point life interferes, or I hit a block, or my enthusiasm fizzles, and I start finding a myriad of other things that I should be doing "right now", instead of the aforementioned projects.
And thus it is with blogging. I have always been a little behind when it comes to technology. My computer still uses Windows XP, and I'm quite happy with that. I do have DVD, but not a burner. I just this year got a scanner and learned how to use it. I have a cellphone that sits in my purse, never turned on and rarely used. Facebook? Forget it. My homepage makes my head hurt, there's so much going on there. Twitter? Well, okay, once in a while I remember to Tweet, although it's hard for me to think of something worthwhile to say.
And that brings me to my other issue with regard to blogging...having something worthwhile to say. I periodically visit other people's blogs, and I am often entertained, informed, amused, surprised...And I think, I'm not near as interesting or witty as these folks. So who would want to read anything I would think to blog about?
But I'm an author, and blogging, like it or not, is one of the tools we writers use to reach our readers. So today, once more, I turn over a new leaf. I will endeavor a few times a month, to stop by and post about whatever is going on in my life at that moment...good or bad. Hopefully I won't just put everyone to sleep. ;o)

A Moment of Incredible Credibility

2009-11-28T21:46:00.003+11:00

Our (the Romance Spinners) next novel is called "For Richer, For Poorer".

Love hath no fear like a woman’s scorn. Or the curse she can weave.
In 11th century England, jilted by Philippe Devereaux in favour of a wealthy Norman wife, impoverished Gytha of Wessex conjures a binding spell that curses generations of wealthy Devereaux to suffer unless the Rich marry the Poor.
The succeeding generations of Devereaux can resist the curse and refuse their fate. But if they do, they will lose everything. Their lands will become barren. Their wealth will dry up... life as they know it will cease to exist.
But amid their bitter destinies, they find true love. And perhaps, some day, true love could break the curse.

My story takes place a thousand years later in the 21st Century.

I have Beatrice, a distant Devereaux descendant, who attempts to track down Gytha and Philippe through genealogy. I was speaking to someone the other day about this particular aspect of the story, and she could not suspend her disbelief. "Nobody can do their genealogy back that far," she told me.

Well, I beg to differ:

134. Their Ladyships
133. Me (Her Grace)
132. My Dad
131. My Grandmother
130. My Great-Grandmother
129. Mary Isabel Pettit (b 9 Jul 1866, M Henry Green)
128. Edwin Alfred Pettit (b 16 Feb 1834, M Rebecca Hood Hill)
127. Jesse Pettit (b 26 Feb 1793, m Mary Pettit, his first cousin)
126. William Pettit (b 1754, m Catherine Ryder) and brother James Pettit, Sr (b 1757, m Mary Ann Sealey)
125. Increase Pettit (b 17 Aug 1726, m Martha Eldert)
124. Joshua Pettit (b 24 Feb 1702, m Sarah (Susannah) Carpenter)
123. Thomas Pettit III (b 1666, Long Island, New York, m Catharine Branch)
122. Thomas Pettit II (b 25 June 1630 on the ship "Talbot" in Salem Harbor, Mass, m Hannah Goffe Moore)
121. Christian Mellows (b abt 1611, Widford, Hertford, Essex, England) m Thomas Pettit I (b 1610)
120. Martha Bulkeley (b 1572, m Abraham Mellowes)
119. Reverend Edward Bulkley (b 1540, M Olive Irby)
118. Thomas Bulkeley (b abt 1520, m Elizabeth Grosevenor)
117. William Bulkeley (m Beatrice Hill)
116. Humphrey Bulkeley (m Cecliy Moulton)
115. Hugh Bulkeley (m Helen Wilbraham)
114. John Bulkeley (b abt 1325 m Arderne Titley)
113. Baron Peter De Bulkeley (m Nicola Bird)
112. Baron Robert de Bulkeley (m Feliece)
111. Ellen Davenport (b abt 1250, m Baron William de Bulkeley)
110. Roger De Davenport (b abt 1226, m Mary Salemon),
109. Vivian De Davenport (b abt 1180, m Beatrix De Hulme),
108. Amabilia De Venables (b abt 1147, m Richard De Davenport),
107. Margary De Hatton (b abt 1100, m Gilbert de Venables)
106. Walter de Hatton (b abt 1075)
105. Emme Lupus (m Ivan Bellomontensis b 1026)
104. Geoffrey Bretagne (Duke) (b abt 972AD, M Hedwig of Normandy (Countess Brittany)

Yes, it can be done. I've got several lines that go back this far. Pretty much, once you hit nobility (who were meticulous about keeping records), you can go back until you run out of recorded info.

[Beatrice] looked at her handheld, silent and dark. The small machine held tens of thousands of genealogical names along with their hatches, matches and dispatches, generations of Beatrice's ancestors, some lines going, as her Grandmother put it, "all the way back to Adam."

Oh really? How far back can one go?

Well...

103. Ermengarde of Anjou (m Conan "the Crooked")
102. Geoffrey I Grisegonelle of Anjou (b 11 Nov 958AD, m Adelaide of Vermandois)
101. Fulk II "the Good" (m Gerverga of Gatinais)
100. Fulk I "the Red" (m Roscille de Loches)
99. Adlinde Rescinde de Gatinais (m Ingelgerius)
98. Geoffrey de Orleans
97. Bouchard de Fezensac (b 800AD)
96. Aubri de Fezensac
95. Bouchard "the constable" de Fezensac
94. Guerin von Thergovie (b 20 May 722AD, m Adenlindis)
93. Robert (b abt 700AD, m Williswinda)
92. Lambert of Hasbaye
91. Warinus (Guerin) (m Gunza of Metz)
90. Sigrada Sigree (m Bodilon de Treves)
89. Erchembaldus (m Ansoud)
88. Ega (b abt 560AD, m Gerberga of the Franks)
87. Erchenaud of Moselle
86. Ausbert of Moselle (m Blithildis of Cologne)
85. Ferreolus of Metz (b abt 450AD, m Deutria Outeria of Rome)
84. Ferceolus
83. Sigimerius
82. Clodius "the long-haired" (m Basina)
81. Pharamund (m Argotta, b abt 376AD)
80. Marcomir
79. Clodius
78. Dagobert II (b abt 300AD)
77. Genebald
76. Dagobert I
75. Walter
74. Clodius III (b before 264AD)
73. Bartherus
72. Hilderic
71. Sunno (Huano)
70. Farabert (b abt 122AD)
69. Chlodmir IV (b abt 104AD, m Halfilda
68. Athilidus (b abt 90AD, m Marcomir)
67. Coel I of Britain
66. Caradoc
65. Bran "the blessed" (m. Enygeus "Anna")
64. Penardim (m Lear "Llyr Llediaitha")
63. Anna the Prophetess (m Nasciens)
62. Joseph "of Arimathaea" ben Matthat
61. Matthat ben Levi
60. Levi "Levi ben Melchi" ben Simeon
59. Simeon "Belchi ben Jannai" ben Judah
58. Jannai ben Joseph
57. Joseph ben Mattathias
56. Mattathias ben Semel
55. Semein ben Josech
54. Josech ben Joda
53. Joda ben Joanan
52. Jonan ben Rhesa
51. Rhesa ben Zerubbabel
50. Zerubbabel of Judah
49. Salathiel ben Jeconiah
48. Jeconiah ben Jehoiakim
47. Yekhonia ben Josiah
46. Josiah ben Amon
45. Amon ben Manasseh
44. Manasseh ben Hezekiah
43. Hezekiah ben Ahaziah
42. Ahaz
41. Jotham
40. Uzziah
39. Jehoram
38. Jahosaphat
37. Asah
36. Abijah
35. Rohoboam
34. Soloman
33. David
32. Jessee
31. Obed
30. Boaz
29. Salmon
28. Nashon
27. Amminadab
26. Ram
25. Hezron
24. Perez
23. Judah
22. Jacob
21. Issac
20. Abraham
19. Terah
18. Nahor
17. Serug
16. Reu
15. Peleg
14. Eber
13. Saleh
12. Arphaxad
11. Shem
10. Noah
9. Lamech
8. Methuselah
7. Enoch
6. Jared
5. Mahalaleel
4. Cainan
3. Enos
2. Seth
1. Adam & Eve

Cool or what?

More good news

2009-05-18T11:32:00.005+10:00

UK internet bookseller Bookdepository.co.uk now has The Enchanted Faerie for sale.

Their sale price is ~~£9.78~~ £9.48 sterling. Depending on the exchange rate, this could be cheaper than buying it from US stores.

Plus, Book Depository has free delivery to most countries in the world.

Bitten Review

2009-05-18T11:27:00.004+10:00

Another top review from Bitten By Books. Reviewer Lyda has sunk her teeth into The Enchanted Faerie and likes what she tastes.

As Good As Gold by Heidi Wessman Kneale

4 Tombstones

A gold hunter has a surprise homecoming when a young woman steals some cursed gold from him to pay for a chance at finding love - now if he can just find that woman. This story was definitely one of the better ones in the anthology. It not only met the expectations for a story, but it also had a bit more depth and meaning that gave it more significance.

The Beltane Faerie of Fate by Holly Greenfield

4 Tombstones

Shaw has known Calinda all his life. When she is left to be the leader of her clan, she may need his help, she stubbornly refuses. Shaw enlists the aide of a gypsy to maybe, somehow, possibly, show Calinda some reason. This is the other story in the anthology that is definitely more notable and memorable. To put it simply, they chose a good story with which to end the book.

The Hoarder

2009-05-17T12:45:00.003+10:00

The other day my daughter wrested a cake from my hoarding hands and threw it out. The cake had been given to me by her old flatmate who was a (insert fancy name for fancy pastry chef here) and taught said subject at a career college. It was a fruit cake - traditionally made, complete with brandy soak, marzipan and icing, rosebuds - you know... the kind of thing that somebody plonks a bride and groom doll on top and the wedding planner charges 4,000% of basic cost on top of.

Over the course of a year it lived in my microwave so the ants wouldn't attack it. I picked off a lot of the roses and decorations, and it was a nuisance to have to unload it out of the microwave before I could cook anything but...

I hoard therefore I am.

Yes I hoard. Mea Culpa - a sin for the confessional in which I am sure the priest would give me four Hail Mary's and one Our Father for breaching the 11th commandment:

Thou shalt not hoard.

I have no problem generally with the ten commandments, but you see, the trouble is that Thou shalt not hoard is rarely mentioned.

But ironically this comandment inadvertently made me commit the first one. The biggie. Thou shalt not kill. You see the darn cake was discovered by an ant scout. The word went out and the ant brigade invaded my house and my microwave.

It was like some awful scene out of a horror swarm movie, drunken ants soaked in the juices of a dousing of brandy the microwave looked like it was about to be hijacked.

Wall to wall ants didn't last too long under the onslaught of my can of ant spray. My kitchen tidy became a mass grave for dead ants.

My daughter is on constant alert. She's tossed out any cans dated before 1709 in my pantry. Gone through my freezer and thrown out the Barramundi dated 1968. And I'm too scared to leave the fort in case she comes and tries to throw out my pile of RWA newsletters in the still to be read pile.

I have a theory about hoarders. My mother wasn't. My father used to say, coming to my sister and my own house felt like coming home, because they were always full of my mother's unwanted junk. We are both full-blown hoarders. So my daughter grew up in a clutter environment and isn't a hoarder. If it hasn't been used for six months out it goes. Shauna's kids are the same.

Are you a hoarder? Is my theory sound? I have a friend whose house is so uncluttered you long to see whether it's all in the cupboards and would kill you if you open a door. But then,

Us hoarders are a breed apart.

Book Launch: The Enchanted Faerie

2009-04-20T20:19:00.003+10:00

apologia for our silence. We've been busy working on our next new shiny, "For Richer, For Poorer".

Meanwhile...

Y'all are invited to a book launch for
The Enchanted Faerie

Tuesday 28 April, 6:00pm

Warnbro Community Library
Swallowtail Parade, Warnbro, Western Australia.

RSVP to the library (08) 9593 4608 to ensure your bag of Faerie goodies!
We'll also have food, both faerie and Scottish (with some recipies taken from our free promo ebook).

We'll be "launching" the Official Launch Copy and everyone present can enter the draw to win this poor, abused book.

For those who prefer a pristine copy, I've got a few available for purchase at the Amazon-equitable price of AU$20. (limited numbers only)

Readers loved us!!! "TEF" was voted #2 Best Anthology in 2008 by Preditors & Editors

Available in print and ebook from Amazon.com and The Wild Rose Press: http://www.thewildrosepress.com

Visit Romance Spinners http://www.romancespinners.com for your free copy of our promo ebook.

Hope to see you there!

Kindle 2 and Audio Rights

2009-03-08T22:54:00.002+11:00

Wherein I wax eloquent.

You did know The Enchanted Faerie is available on Amazon in the Kindle format? Good. Go forth and purchase.

(Note: I am not an agent, a publisher or a lawyer. I am a published writer. I have a BA in Film and have worked in the film and sound industries. I have researched what rights are concerning creative works and have a vague clue as to what they mean. While I may not know everything I do know something. Also, I have worked at a blind school and I currently work at a library. The availability of literature to all is important to me. Now you know where I am coming from.)

So the new Kindle has the capability of displaying written text "out loud" (ie, it "reads it to you").

A some people are up in arms over it, claiming that it's "stealing their audio rights" and they want to be compensated for those rights.

I say it's not stealing any rights at all.

In a book contract, when they say audio rights, it usually means the rights to create a sound based on the written text and record that sound. It is almost always a vocal reading of the work (but may not be limited to just that). That recording is what is covered by audio rights. (The generation of a written work as a sound (ie someone reading aloud) which is then shown live is covered by public performance rights.)

Now, say you have an electronic device that is capable of taking written text and displaying it in a format other than pixels on a screen. Why would it need this capability? Possibly because there are many, many people who cannot read text on a screen. I'm not talking about people who prefer printed material to electronic material, but people who, for whatever reason, are physically incapable of reading text, printed, electronic or otherwise.

The blind cannot read computer monitors. Are they to be discriminated against because of their physical disability?

The voice capabilities on electronic devices such as a computer or the Kindle are not there to steal away the audio rights of a few, but to provide an alternative access to written text for those who are unable to read printed (or electronically displayed) text.

Visually impaired people currently suffer a certain level of inconvenience and prejudice within the publishing industry. Most books printed are only printed in one format, a book printed in a "regular-sized" font. It is not until later that some books are printed in a large size font or recorded as an audio book (sometimes called a "book on tape" or "book on CD").

A Braille version? Yeah, right. These are few and far between, and only if the initial book sells "well enough" to "justify" printing a braille version. Few publishers can justify the cost. It is very rare that a Braille version of a book is released simultaneously as the first print run, so when it happens, it makes the headlines.

Large print books are a little more expensive than their hardcopy regular print counterparts, but a Braille version and an audio book version are a lot more expensive, roughly three to five times the price of the original hardcopy.

This is dreadfully unfair, but that is due to production costs.

Recently (as in the past couple of decades or so, as opposed to the few centuries since Gutenberg invented the printing press or a few thousand years since the Egyptians invented paper), they've invented these cool devices called "computers" with the ability to take basic ASCII text and convert it to sounds that sound close enough to human speech for a human to recognise the text. (For the English language, this is no mean feat as English spelling is not exactly phonetic.)

Microsoft Windows and Mac OS have this capability, and no doubt somewhere someone has written a bit of Linux to do the same thing. (Simon Haynes wrote a little Windows-based application called yRead that works marvellously with .txt files from Project Gutenberg. The display of text through a sound device (like a speaker) without pre-recording it is not a new concept.)

The audio capabilities of a Kindle to read text aloud is a brilliant breakthrough for visually impaired people. Finally, the blind are closer to equal footing when it comes to books. No more having to wait months or years for a Braille or an audio book, then paying exhorbitant prices for them... that is assuming a Braille or audio book version comes out.

Now any Mister Magoo with a Kindle can buy an eBook for half the price of a print book and listen to it!

Do you know how liberating that is?

Now, it may seem that the Kindle is dominating the market, but I can assure you that other e-readers will soon come out with the same text-to-voice capabilities. I say it's about time that sort of technology became freely available. My little blind Second Graders from 1991 (now grown adults) are probably shrieking for joy at the thought that they have easy access to a whole lotta books that were previously denied them. They always loved their stories. (I'm looking at you, John Lipsey!)

So, is the current situation with text-to-speech on the Kindle infringing on audio rights?

I'm gonna plant myself in the "No, it's not" camp for now, mostly because I see the text-to-speech Kindle as the gateway technology that will open the whole of modern literature to the visually-impaired and others who may not, for some reason, be able to read text off a screen. (And yes, I think that would include people driving their car to work.)

Like with the introduction of all new info-storing technology, the rights associated with books (fiction and non-fiction) need to be redefined. An electronic book right should include not only the right to be displayed on a screen but also in a text-to-speech format and even on a Braille displayer. (You know, like the one you saw in the movie Sneakers?) These display formats should not be listed as separate rights. Rights have a habit of being separated and not sold. I believe that the separation of display rights would be discriminatory.

So you lovely new Kindle 2 owners, go buy a copy of The Enchanted Faerie in Kindle format and listen to it with aplomb. Just don't record the text-to-speech output. That would be the audio version of photocopying a book.

Literature should be available to all at equal cost, regardless of their handicaps. The blind and the not-fully-literate are at enough of a financial disadvantage without having the additional burden of expensive Braille and audio versions of books, not to mention the social disadvantage

Technology like the Kindle with its text-to-speech recognition levels the playing field a bit more. I wanna see that.

eagerly awaiting

2009-02-21T11:18:00.002+11:00

I found out this week that the author copies of The Enchanted Faerie are in the mail. I can hardly wait. But, living in Canada, it'll take a little longer for my copies to get to me....that darn border!! LOL But this is always an exciting moment for an author...to open the box and lift out that freshly printed, shiny bright new book that has her/his name on the cover. I have several books out now, and it never gets old for me. So I hope the post offices on both sides of the border are running with unusual efficiency at the moment, so my copies get here soon!!

Blazing Trailers!

2009-02-13T17:37:00.002+11:00

Hey look! We're on Blazing Trailers, where you can see our clever trailer video and read an excerpt from Holly Greenfield.

Check it out!

Rumour mill is buzzing that advance copies of "The Enchanted Faerie" have made it into certain hands...

Awesome Result

2009-02-09T10:40:00.003+11:00

We made it to #2 on the Preditors and Editors poll for best anthology.

Thanks to everyone who voted for us, we really appreciate the support!

There were more than 140 titles to vote for in the anthology poll, so there were a lot of good books to choose from.

Our Book Block

2009-01-31T19:10:00.003+11:00

This week we are featured on agent Jenny Rappaport's Book Blocks series. Check out not just our entry, but the others as well.

And don't forget, the hard copy version of "The Enchanted Faerie" will be available end of February. That's less than four weeks away!

The Enchanted Faerie on Amazon

2009-01-29T15:18:00.003+11:00

Amazon lists the Kindle version of The Enchanted Faerie.

I know a few people who have Kindles (such as agent Krisin Nelson and who swear by them.

Meanwhile, for those of you who are eagerly awaiting a hard copy that is safe to drop in the tub, you only have four weeks left until the release.

Meanwhile, now that I am done with the January Faire, the Seminary play, school shopping and my YouTube Symphony Orchestra audition, I can now see my way clear to post some more Love Letters.

Ahh for a new year....

2009-01-10T12:19:00.003+11:00

The new year brings out the deep superstitions in the average person. It's a time for renewal, new vows, new ambitions and fulfilments. To some it can be an achievement as monumental as a life change (giving up smoking?)
But with it comes a lot of hope.

For others it can start off a superstitious belief that it has brought a whole series of bad luck.

But what ever 2009 represents to you, the visitor to this place of hope and ambition, I wish you the best of this coming year.

Zara Penney

post holidays set-backs

2009-01-08T11:39:00.002+11:00

I'm a little late getting to this, but I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and that your New Year got off to an auspicious start.

My Christmas was lovely, but the day after I got home I came down with the worst cold...chest, throat, head...argh! And I'm now well into my second week of trying to shake it. It's meant a lot of time just lying in bed, and not nearly enough time focused on writing. But as of today, I think I'm winning the battle, so hopefully renewed writing energy is not far behind.

It was nice to see a review of EF. I hope many more will follow.

On a totally different topic, I couldn't help but drool over the dishy actor the most recent poll is about. I think we're really missing something here in Canada. Is this an Australian series?

Poll: New Look Guy of Gisborne

2009-01-03T19:56:00.008+11:00

For the first two seasons of Robin Hood, we've had a dark, brooding Guy of Gisborne clad in black leather:

Now, for season three, we get dark and brooding, but with a whole new look:

(photo source: Spikesbint)

So, this month's poll question is...

Guy of Gisborne's new look: Good, Bad or Indifferent?

Poll located over in that thar right-hand column. ------>

Awards!

2009-01-03T10:32:00.004+11:00

The Enchanted Faerie has been nominated for a Preditors and Editors award.

Go Vote.

(Note, they will ask your name and email address for verification purposes, to ensure you're a real person and you're not stuffing the ballot box.)

Pass the word along!

Also up in the awards (in different categories) is our publisher, The Wild Rose Press (vote), and our editor Cheryl Wright's website (vote) and newsletter (vote).

Review of "The Enchanted Faerie"

2009-01-01T13:33:00.004+11:00

Gina Marie Pettitt of Between the Lines has reviewed The Enchanted Faerie.

She says, "Each story on its own is well written and uses the theme very creatively... I love the use of other mythic races, and other paranormal aspects to the themes. In all this is a book that I think most would enjoy."

Aww, thanks. We're glad you enjoyed it.

Love Letters, part 20

2008-12-30T22:06:00.002+11:00

There are some times in my life I wish I'd written a letter like this one (though in a more timely fashion). And then there are times in my life when I did, and I never regretted it.

Love Letters, part 19

2008-12-29T11:26:00.003+11:00

We're back after the madness of End-of-Year school stuff and the Holiday season.

Someone else named Mackenzie has been involved in a bit of EoY school stuff and has been giving some thought to her future:

the Holidays

2008-12-24T12:40:00.002+11:00

I'm off to my Mom's in the morning to spend a few days over Christmas. I'm really looking forward to it, even though the weather is dreadful and the driving will be nerve-wracking.

This year's holiday is bitter sweet. It's the first without my Dad, and I'll miss him. But I have such wonderful memories of last Christmas. Dad, Mom and I spent Christmas Day on our own (my brother's family had gone away for the holiday) We got out old family pictures and spent the day going through them. Dad would identify the people and I recorded the information. He had such great stories to tell, and I could see that this trip down memory lane brought him a lot of pleasure. We lost him a short three months later and I'm so glad to have these pictorial archives in place, and a wealth of stories to reflect upon.

May you all have a joyful and happy Christmas. And may the New Year bring you peace and joy and deep fulfillment.

Love Letters part 18

2008-12-16T16:34:00.002+11:00

Today's love letter brought to you by Feath's Bookcase and the Genre-less Random Idea Generator.

Your Main Character is a(n): female
Your MC's main character trait is their: obsession
The Main Symbol in the story is a(n): rock
Theme point is: Lust
Your story will start at/on/in: a tree top

Exhibit C
Item(s): Leaves (four), found under the deceased.
Text reads:
Leaf 1: "I love you! Pls look up"
Leaf 2: "up here is a marvelous place. Join me?"
Leaf 3: "I want u at my side. come up!"
Leaf 4: "Pls look up I'm waiting 4 u"

Exhibit B
Item(s): Rock (one), found next to the deceased.
Text reads: "Look up!!"

Exhibit A
Item(s): Leave (one), found on top of the deceased.
Text reads: "Sorry..."

love letters 17

2008-12-12T11:58:00.003+11:00

Today's Love Letter brought to you by Seventh Sanctum's Romance Story Generator.

This story takes place in a small nation on a war-scarred planet. In it, a nurse whose culture has collapsed ends up on the run with a stressed CEO. What starts as obligation quickly becomes infatuation. Yet, how can someone discovering a report about themselves tear them apart?

What he found tucked in his pocket the next morning after the patrols found them:

love letters 16

2008-12-10T14:15:00.003+11:00

A writing tool generator is a little deely-bobber applet that comes up with random ideas to inspire writers. I find them great fun.

Today's love letter brought to you by They Fight Crime! a writing tool generator based on film noir and the comic book genre. Sometimes the ideas are completely off the wall, other times they are spot-on.

Yes, people have written stories spawned by ideas from this generator and have had them published.

Today's writing tool generator result:

He's a benighted hunchbacked boxer who dotes on his loving old ma. She's a manipulative wisecracking archaeologist in the witness protection scheme. They fight crime!

Plague!!!

2008-12-06T19:21:00.003+11:00

Alas, both Their Ladyships have caught the dreaded Chicken Pox.

Essentially, this means a week of cancelled life while I tend to two cabin-fevered daughters.

While I haven't been taking them to school, going to work, dragging them to extra-curriculars or everything else that comprises our busy lives, I've been thinking about doing a brief series of love letters based on some writing tool generators I came across.

Come back tomorrow (or the next day) to see what I've come up with.

Meanwhile, y'all enjoying The Enchanted Faerie?

Love Letters part 14

2008-12-01T16:06:00.000+11:00

Puppy love.

The Anti-Love Letter

2008-11-29T13:10:00.002+11:00

This was too funny to not share:

From Fail Blog.

Hope you all had a Happy Thanksgiving and have survived Black Friday with your wallets and wits intact. In Australia, many Americans celebrate Thanksgiving on the Saturday, as Thursday is just another day Down Under.

love letters part Thanksgiving.

2008-11-27T22:58:00.004+11:00

What are you grateful for?

Love Letters 13

2008-11-26T15:47:00.006+11:00

The story she told the grandkids:

"So he took me out for this lovely dinner and then we went on a romantic drive. After that, he gave me a book."

Today I declare "Pride & Prejudice" Day. For your delight and edification, we present the following offerings:

YouTube: Mister Darcy Goes For a Dive.

BooksShouldBeFree: Free mp3 Audio book of "Pride & Prejudice" (zipped into one file for your convenience).

Project Gutenberg: Pride & Prejudice in html, txt, PDF and Plucker. (Other Project Gutenberg goodies for Jane Austen including several audiobook versions of P&P.)

Also freely available at your local library and bookshop (both new and used).

Which version of "Pride & Prejudice" is your favourite?

Most people agree that Colin Firth is the best Mister Darcy to date. This may be true only because they have not yet cast Richard Armitage.

There are those who believe that Our Richard might do better than Our Colin as Mister Darcy: "Some are even claiming that Richard Armitage (as Mr. Thornton) has "de-throned" Colin Firth's Mr. Darcy as the ultimate brooding romantic hero."^[1]

So, who would make the better Mister Darcy? Colin Firth or Richard Armitage?

Meanwhile, here is a lovely conversation between Fitzwilliam Darcy and John Thornton from the excellent web site Foolish Passion.

^[1] BBC Masterpiece Reviews: North & South.

Love Letters part 12

2008-11-25T19:11:00.003+11:00

Bestseller!

2008-11-23T20:30:00.005+11:00

One day out and already The Enchanted Faerie has reached #3 Bestseller in Paranormal and #1 Bestseller in anthologies on The Wild Rose Press site.

Woo Hoo!

Now, with your help, maybe we can get The Enchanted Faerie to #1 in Paranormal this week.

Plus, don't forget our free companion ebook full of recipes, excerpts, bios and loads more.

love letters part 11

2008-11-23T20:18:00.001+11:00

Happy Release Day!

2008-11-22T10:26:00.005+11:00

You're invited to the party.

Today I and my fellow Romance Spinners celebrate the eBook Release Day for
"The Enchanted Faerie", out today from The Wild Rose Press.

To celebrate, we have brought some cake:

And a cheese platter:

Because you are a very special guest at our party, we would like to give you a gift. Please have, with our compliments, this lovely free eBook of Scottish recipes, faerie lore and excerpts from each story of "The Enchanted Faerie".

Have a beautiful day and happy reading!

Love Letters part 10

2008-11-22T09:42:00.003+11:00

Today's the day, and our hearts are brimming over with love!

Woo Hoo

2008-11-21T14:57:00.003+11:00

One day to go!

It's very exciting to think our book will be out tomorrow - or perhaps a bit more than tomorrow considering I am in Australia and the book release is in the USA. What with the whole round globey thing and time zones and all.

So while the world markets are crashing around us, and there seems to be quite a fair bit of gloom about, perhaps you might like to escape into a wonderful world of romance.

Go on, you know you want to.

Love Ebs

2008-11-21T13:41:00.002+11:00

A spot of Romance for us all. You cannot go wrong with the beautiful Richard Armitage and his chocolate voice.

I think we shall write a love letter to him.

Love Letters part 9

2008-11-21T09:45:00.003+11:00

our first release

2008-11-21T09:30:00.004+11:00

I'm so excited by the prospect of The Enchanted Faerie finally being released. We're here! The ebook comes out tomorrow!! Whoo hoo!

And for all our readers, we have put together a little special gift for you that I expect will be handed out tomorrow as well. Stay tuned here for more on that.

Way to go Spinners! We made it.

As for my NaNo-ing...um...not going so well. Only at 15,000 words. Dismal. But I haven't given up yet. A few intense, non-interrupted days and I could still nail this word count on time. Wish me luck.

Love Letters part 8

2008-11-19T19:35:00.002+11:00

Love Letters part 7

2008-11-18T10:14:00.003+11:00

(today, a sound file!)

From an answering machine:

Yes, sometimes there is such a thing as "too late".

Love Letters part 6

2008-11-17T09:35:00.002+11:00

Love Letters part 5

2008-11-16T16:03:00.000+11:00

Ah, adolescence.

Love Letters part 4

2008-11-15T14:46:00.005+11:00

Spontenaety...

...or forgetfulness, until one reached the office. Still, it's sweet.

Love Letters part 3

2008-11-14T09:55:00.003+11:00

Sometimes some people must learn the hard way.

Remember, you can click on the image for a larger version.

Love Letters part 2

2008-11-13T09:46:00.004+11:00

Some love letters are written in haste, using whatever comes to hand:

If an image is too small to read, click on it for a larger version.

Love Letters part 1

2008-11-12T09:36:00.003+11:00

Who doesn't know about the pending release of The Enchanted Faerie?

Leading up to this exciting event, the Romance Spinners will be posting at least one love letter per day. Enjoy!

NaNo-ing

2008-11-10T07:48:00.002+11:00

It's been a while since I last blogged...anywhere! Yes, I've been busy. Life gets like that sometimes. I have an elderly mother who needs a lot of help right now, for instance. But mostly I get very one-track-minded. I've always had a problem with multi-tasking...balancing multiple jobs at one time. I prefer finishing one thing before beginning another. What happens when I do multi-task is that I start dropping the ball...a LOT! And so, I forget to blog...and update my website...and meet deadlines...and finish stories I've begun...It can get very frustrating. (You'd think I'd be used to it after over fifty years of living like this...lol) Anyway, I'm blogging today. Yay, me.

This month I'm trying to participate in NaNo (National Novel Writing Month) It's been over two years since I submitted a new novel and thought it was high time I wrote one. But as of yesterday, I'm only at 7000 words. That's pitiful! I should be at twice that at the very least. And as I write this blog entry, I'm feeling guilty that I'm not working on my NaNo story. Round and round and round it goes...LOL...

Just one of those days...

2008-10-28T14:53:00.003+11:00

Today started much like any other. Until I sat down at the computer and started a quest.

I haven't had one for ages and it feels good. Feels healthy like a good diet makes you feel healthier. A diet for what constitutes good writing is good for one as well. Things like POV, and goal/conflict. What is good dialogue and what is bad?

And as always when this happens or when I google, I think...

WHAT ON EARTH DID WE DO BEFORE THE INTERNET?

We humans can make something as wondrous as this. Of course there are those who have turned it into a tool of depravity. But it can also be a wondrous bowl of knowledge. Where anything and everything that is spinning in the universe can be found.

Every so often I get philosophical. It's a mood directly opposed to other moods I get - especially the one that tells me if I don't get to a shop and find a sale soon I'm a goner.

What are you doing at the moment?

(Okay, smartypants, apart from reading this blog.)

LADIES IN WAITING

2008-10-26T15:40:00.002+11:00

Other people's books come out so fast. Ours takes a long time. Why is this so? Asks Professor Knowitall.

Well, when you put x with y it makes xy then you add < is greater than but > minus ab which was a combination of the compound a and b but that is = g force in minor...

Yes I was a genius in algebra.

But then the same goes for queues. I'm always the last. And street lights are always red for me.

And just when I thought it was safe to set myself up in the garden to write. Comes a dark cloud and oops - back inside (false alarm).

But there's a simple answer. A watched pot never boils. You see? I told you I was a genius in algebra.

Run with the big dogs

2008-10-17T15:15:00.003+11:00

I love writing fiction, but if I want to make money writing, I write non-fiction.

Pitching non-fiction involves searching out possible magazines, reading a few articles, then querying the editor with ideas.

I've spent the morning browsing through markets, looking for my next sale. Some magazines I'll glance through and decide whether or not I'll pitch.

Some magazines I'll start reading and I can't stop. They have my interest. I should pitch to them.

But I get nervous. How could I possibly write anything that good?

Really, I should stop procrastinating (aka blogging) and just pitch an idea already! THe worst thing they can do is never get back to me. A distant second is for them to say no. And if they do, that doesn't hurt. I just pitch the idea elsewhere...

...as soon as I can find a market for it.

Fangirl Silliness

2008-09-29T18:47:00.002+10:00

Since it's been a while since we've had a Richard Armitage post, I thought I'd share the following silly fangirl song:

Look Back At Me mp3 (3.3M download) (MM:SS - 3:38)

Music: HWK (me)
Lyrics: BW ("The Poetess") & HWK
Vocals: Angry Little Babies

Enjoy!

Spin-off news

2008-09-28T09:54:00.002+10:00

Trumpet at the ready ... BLOW!

Thanks to the hard work of my agent Suzy Jenvey at PFD, I've just signed a two-book deal with a UK publisher.
I truly believe this has come about as a result of the experience and confidence I've gained from being involved with the Romance Spinners.

It's a bit of chicken and egg. Editor Cheryl Wright read some of my Young Adult novel about the girl and the ferret, and liked my style. She invited me to contribute to The Enchanted Faerie anthology. That gave me the boost to start seriously looking for an agent for my novel. One thing fed into the other.

I am about to get into serious edits with my UK editor, and I also need to deliver a second novel. I've never been so busy and I couldn't be happier.

Thanks!

New Romance... or is it?

2008-08-30T22:08:00.005+10:00

Over on LiveJournal, AlleyPat discusses Colleen Gleason's article “The New Romance?” and whether or not the HEA (Happily Ever After ending) is necessary to call a romance tale a Romance.

Now, is an HEA necessary, and I mean ABSOLUTELY necessary to make a romance a Romance? For the most part, pretty everyone would say yes.

But there is a trend in some of the crossgenre works to have a strong romance plot and yet not feature an HEA. Some are calling this the New Romance.

Me, I don't know if I want to give it such a label. Genres evolve. They change, they adapt. I think the overwhelming oppression of HEA requirement may stifle some of the strength of storytelling. From the very beginning, you know Our Hero and Our Heroine are going to get together and everything will turn out all right. This knowledge can take the tension and delicious suspense out of a story. It becomes not so much a question of will they get together, but how it'll happen.

I'm starting to think this is weakening stories.

Compare two TV shows I've loved in their time--Star Trek and BBC's Spooks (aka MI5).

In Star Trek, you know no matter what, the main crew will survive whatever comes their way. You know they're going to outsmart them, what you don't know is how. (But woe the Red Shirts. This is a series of disposable extras.)

Then there's Spooks. They get into all sorts of scrapes, and there is some serious tension. Not only do you wonder how they're going to get out of the scrape, but you have some serious angst about whether or not they will. Forget Red Shirts. Spooks features disposable regulars. Main characters die all the time, and it puts some serious tension into the show.

Now, back to Romance. Most of the Romance published in the past thirty years has mandated each story have an HEA.

Perhaps readers are no longer requiring an HEA, because they prefer deeper tension in their stories.

And there is nothing wrong with that.

But there is also nothing new about it.

Georgette Heyer (if you read romance and you haven't heard of her, go google her) has written stories that don't feature obvious HEAs. I recently read her "Cotillion". For pretty much most of the book, I wonder if Our Heroine is going to end up with the guy she's in a sham engagement, or the fancy lord she had a young crush on as a child.

Now, this story isn't exactly "new". It was published before most of today's authors were even born.

Want another romance story that features Not-an-HEA? Romeo and Juliet.

If anything, the mandatory requirement that all Romance stories feature an HEA is the New Romance, and hopefully a genre straitjacket that will be loosened and we can discover the true tearjerk of a bittersweet ending.

New Date for Print Copy Release

2008-08-23T13:19:00.002+10:00

For those of you who wish to read a copy of The Enchanted Faerie in the tub without risking electric shock by dropping your eBook Reader in the water...

The release date for the print version of The Enchanted Faerie has moved up to February 27, 2009. (The sticker price is tentatively set at a very reasonable $12.99.)

Happy Birthday, Richard!

2008-08-23T13:12:00.003+10:00

From all of us silly, hearts-on-our-sleeves Romance Spinners, we would like to wish one of our favouritest British actors Richard Armitage a very happy 7th Birthday for 22 August.

Hope you get the chocolate cake of your dreams, preferably with a file baked into it.

Oh Mama! What a long carpet ride.

2008-08-04T13:10:00.003+10:00

The dream begins.
First time, as Heidi says, and carrying on slightly in that flavor of new beginnings, is that which you write. The manuscript. Things happen maybe for a reason, and our adventure here started with a failure. Fortunately not for us, but for the publisher who went bust, just as each of us was beginning.

But as sure as Mother Luck would have it, this fork in the road was just a fork so Cheryl Write, our lovely editor and mentor, tucked her little band of chicklets under her arms, and...

Off went we to market.

A writer/author must have as part of their inbuilt structure, a huge dose of optimism. A self-belief not only to dream but to pursue the dream and make it happen. That is scary. You bear the loads of whatever good times and bad times as you pursue the dream, the pain, the agony, the doubt, the fear, the inferiority, bouts of blockage, we went with hope to seek and find and found and...

This our first anthology in what will hopefully ensue, one of many.

We are in the process our next anthology, talking about the third already. Publishing is like that. Release date November 21/22. Ebook and May 2009! What a long wait and the galleys were finished a few months ago. But that's what this game is like.

The dream starts with the first chapter of your new novel. The characters form and you live and love them as you write. It's a long journey and editing is literally a pain in your rear, but you go through the process of the approach to the editor, the acceptance which according to your experience and your reputation, a process you approach as an 'if', or an 'not if but when'.

Once it's gone, your love affair is starting again. You get excited about the next project. Your old love affair comes back, first as editorial changes which you can either love, respect, loathe, dread, consider as interruptions, but must face. Then come galleys (proofs). All of them reminders of this old love affair as your novel goes through it's incubation. Your head is so into your next manuscript and gradually the release of your novel sits somewhere in the back of your mind as something exciting to anticipate.

And then the actual release date, like a birth, this dream is now out with wings and off to catch it's own worms soon. Out of that nest and your nest is full of the new batch of eggs to hatch.

I now have the release date to be excited about and I hope I never never take it for granted. That slight childish feeling - remember? Like when you are getting close to Christmas and the tree goes up with it's decorations and that smell of pine needles in the house. The shiny shapes that appear beneath it waiting for you like mysteries.

Waiting for you, my reader to share that vision and that love affair I started so long ago.

Writerly Firsts

2008-08-01T14:08:00.003+10:00

A writer has a lot of firsts that make up the milestones of one's career. Some are wonderful, some are not.

How many have you had?

First story completed.
First submission.
First rejection letter.
First acceptance.
First paycheck.
First publication.
First fanmail.
First incidence of plagiarism.
First repeat assignment.
First agent.
First contract.
First galley.
First booksigning.
First good review.
First bad review.
First hate mail.
First advance.
First reprint.
First missed deadline.
First fired agent.
First mistake to get past copyeditor, galleys and typesetters.
First manuscript auction.
First Guest-of-Honour appearance at a convention.
First stalker.
First three-book contract.
First best-seller.
First "retirement from day job".
First personal secretary to handle everything else while you write.
First posthumous publication.

Any other firsts to go on this list?

Big News!!!!

2008-07-28T09:53:00.003+10:00

Hello, dear readers. Have we got news for you!

Go study what you want.

2008-07-23T16:11:00.003+10:00

If you want to be a physicist, you go to college and study physics. If you want to be a psychologist (and why on earth would you want to?) you go to college and study psychology. If you want to become an historian, a musician, a geneticist, that's what you study at school.

So what if you want to be a writer? Does this mean you should study Creative Writing at university?

Australian author Justine Larbalestier says no.

For the most part, I agree with her.

Of all the useless classes I ever took at university, the Creative Writing ones were the second most useless ones ever. (Archaeology takes top billing in my book.) My CW classes were full of pretentious snobs who, if you didn't write true Lit-ra-choor, you were not worthy to muddy their boots. They were cliquish, stuck-up and narrow-minded.

Not good if you wrote genre stuff (like, say, fantasy or romance).

So I spent two hours a week of every quarter (for a year and a half) suffering the toffee-nosed abuse of people who thought they were beyond elite.

If I hadn't already been published, if I didn't already have a writing mentor, and if I wasn't so in love with storytelling, those classes would have turned me off writing for good. I can't think of a single one that didn't make me cry.

I describe my CW classes as the second most useless, because despite the abuse, I did learn one useful thing: the Milford Method. Hallelujah.

So, should a bright-eyed young aspiring author major in CW?

No. Really, there is no need.

In fact, it is better if they don't. Instead, I say to them, go study something--anything--else. It'll benefit you in the long run. First, it'll give you something to write about. Second, it'll give you a broad interest base. Third, you'll probably gain marketable skills; after all, all writers have a Day Job to support themselves while they write. Fourth, you probably won't suffer the abuse many poor genre writers do in CW courses. Fifth, we won't lose you to the Dark Side.

Really, unless you're getting a specialised job, nobody cares what you got your degree in. So go be a history or an economics major.

So you've earned a BA or BS in Underwater Basket Weaving. Cool. Still wanna study CW? Well, that's what Master's Degrees are for.

Okay, you don't need a MA to write and be published. There's only two purposes behind pursuing an MA: one, getting to add more letters after your name and two, being able to indulge yourself in writing for a few years. That alone makes it worth getting.

Another (side) benefit of an MA, it looks good on your application for grant money to sit home and indulge yourself in writing.

Other than that, it's unnecessary.

What? You still wanna be a writer? Yeah, okay. But why do so many young people have the mistaken impression that one must go to college? That's not how a writing career works.

It's an old-fashioned apprenticeship. You simply sit down and do. If you're lucky, you can study under the guidance of a master (aka writing mentor, like I did), and belong to various writing groups, both face-to-face and online. But for the most part, it's up to you to seek out the knowledge and the feedback.

And like an old-fashioned apprenticship, you spend some time as an apprentice (developing your craft, finding your voice, collecting rejection slips) then you become a journeyman (developing your craft, honing your voice, occasionally getting published) and then you can become a master (developing your craft, indulging your voice, regularly getting published).

You don't need a formal college education to do that. In fact, most writers I know didn't study CW at university.

If you want to get a CW degree, I can't stop you. But please realise there's a big, wonderful world out there. Go study what you want.

In the end, you'll still be a writer.

The Next Big Thing

2008-07-16T09:40:00.005+10:00

Many not-yet-published writers think that one of the things that will improve their chances of getting a novel published is a practice known as "jumping on the bandwagon". This is where they try to get in on whatever the hottest publishing trend is at the moment.

Several years ago it was wizard boys and religious conspiracies. Currently it's vampire romance.

However, jumping on the bandwagon is not a benefit to getting published. Quite the opposite--it is much, much harder to be published in a market glutted by vampires falling in love with wizard boys despite the warnings in St Mark 57:12.

Why? Because by the time a book hits the shelves, the "fresh and new" ship has long sailed.

For readers, sure, the trends are happening right now, and you can easily pick up a book on the current hot topic in the bookstore. But for writers, agents/editors and publishers, the trend readers see on the shelves this week happened two, three or even four years ago.

How does this happen?

An agent or editor has a novel come through that's well-written, hooky and has a fresh idea. "Cool," they say. "I think this might be a winner." Their professional instincts are right. The publisher picks this up in a nice deal and the book sells wonderfully on its first print run.

Now, sometime during this process another editor will come across a novel, also well-written and hooky, that deals with similar themes to the first novel. "Hmmm," they think. "I wonder if we have another winner?" It too, goes to press in a nice deal and does well on the first print run.

Perhaps it happens a third time, this time in a very nice deal, possibly brought on by the excellent sales records of the first two novels and the next thing you know, we have a trend!

Now, editors and publishers don't sit around and say, "I think we need a trend on fae-folk-in-captivity." The trends are arbitrary. They happen at random and nobody can really predict what will be the next big trend.

But if you wanna have a shot at it, Nostradamus, don't look at what's hot right now, but have a look and see what's not being published, and hasn't been published for the past twenty (thirty?) years. These are the areas that have the best chances at becoming the next hot trends because in the marketplace they will be seen as fresh and new.

Now, that's an awful lot of topics, and choosing the one that will be the next big trend may be a shot in the dark, but at least you'll be shooting forward instead of shooting backward at the dead rabbit that's already been skinned, hassenpfeffered and consumed.

However, hopping on the bandwagon is not what secures these nice deals or even very nice deals. It's writing well and being hooky. Books are published because of this, and only then do the trends follow.

Being a "Real" Writer

2008-07-12T12:27:00.005+10:00

A friend of mine had a good cry on my shoulder the other day. Being a writer, she works hard on her craft, and has gained a pretty good mastery over it for her needs.

Her source of misery? A non-traditional reader's comments disparaging her chosen field.

See, she writes fan-fiction. She's really good at it, having several novel-length works under her belt, and a bit of a fandom of her own.

I love fan-fiction. Used to write fan-fiction as a way of developing my own mastery of the craft. (Alas, I don't have the time now.)

Fan-fiction is a good tool for working on one's craft.

1. The love is already there. To write really good stuff, one must love what one is writing: the characters, the world, etc.

2. Instant fan base. You wanna write Snape slash? There's someone out there that wants to read it.

3. Quick feedback. Readers of fan-fic will respond to your posted works, with everything from "I loved this!" to detailed critiques. Snag a few good beta readers, and your mastery of the craft grows in leaps and bounds.

So why does fan-fiction have a bad rap? Its biggest critics claim it's "derivative and unoriginal".

Okay, granted, fan-fiction writers are borrowing characters created by other writers. Unless the fan-ficcers plan on passing off these characters as their own, I don't see anything wrong with this.

But the rest of the story? Pure originality. Fan-fiction writers take characters and develop them. They delve into areas that the original writers didn't cover (for whatever reason) They come up with new plots. They explore the unexplored territories.

Sounds like being a television writer. They're given characters and a situation and even settings and told to come up with a new plot each week.

Only difference is that television writers get paid.

Another argument some people use against fan-fiction: "If you didn't get paid for it, it's not real writing."

You know, I've heard this one a dozen times from lots of people who aren't being paid to write. I have yet to hear it from a paid writer. I'm not sure why that is.

So it's a law that fan-fiction writers cannot earn a profit from their fan-fiction. After all, the rights to the characters belongs to their creators, and if any money is to be made, it must go to those who hold the rights.

One could argue that fan-fiction itself is illegal. But authors tend to turn a blind eye for the most part. Fan-fiction is one of the most sincerest forms of flattery.

Enough about the legalities; more about the craft.

Writing is writing. Every writer wants to become a better writer--that much they have in common. Why they write, that diverges. Some write for themselves, some write for small audiences, and some want to write for bigger audiences. Some love writing fan-fiction for an audience that pays in whuffie and adoration. Others prefer writing fiction with commercial potential (and comes with ca$h).

To say that fan-fiction isn't "real writing" because it borrows established characters or doesn't turn a profit shows true ignorance of the writing craft.

A writer writes because they want to. The real payday of writing is not whether or not you get paid, but if you entertain your audience--whomever they may be.

So my friend knows this. Intellectually, logically, she knows this. But her heart wanted approval.

For the most part, she gets approval from her traditional audience, and well she should. But when someone who isn't of her traditional audience asks her if she's a writer, she told them she was. That seemed to impress tem and when they wanted to see something of what she'd written, she gave them a sample of her work, and, well...

One can't please the whole world. Be happy with the few one can please, and above all, please oneself first.

Best Screen Kiss Ever.

2008-07-12T12:20:00.004+10:00

Before I get around to posting a serious post about writing, I had to share a YouTube link to a snippet from the BBC miniseries "North & South" (starring Daniela Denby-Ashe and Our Hero Richard Armitage).

Four words: Best Screen Kiss Ever.

Why?

I think it's more how he looks at her and listens to her that wins me over.

The romance of Romance happens in the moments, the hours, the days or even the years, leading up to the moment that tells us there will be an HEA. Romance works because our savvy readers can see the hopes and dreams and desires of Our Hero/Heroine and we want them to be fulfilled.

So when the kiss (or the wedding) comes, we know all will be well with the world, and that makes us feel better.

Hooray!

2008-06-30T17:47:00.002+10:00

They galleys are done! I am doing a happy dance in my head because if I get up and dance for real, I'll probably fall over.

Galleys come long after the editing process of making your story the best it can be. Changing plots, fixing confusing scenes, changing a point of view etc. That's the fun stuff, when it's all fresh and lovely and a writer is feeling creative.

It all changes when the galleys come in. At this point, a creative writer must s.l.o.w. d.o.w.n and check everything again, and again, and perhaps again.

At last, we have done our final checks. The next thing to happen is we get a release date. I'm crossing my fingers it's before Christmas - that will make buying everyone a Christmas present so much easier!

Gee, it's drafty in here...

2008-05-28T16:09:00.004+10:00

So we Spinners have been working hard on our drafts for the next anthology For Richer, For Poorer, and we're bantering around our word count totals, hoping to fall somewhere in the realm of, say, a book (as opposed to a pamphlet or a Fantasy Brick).

So, I'm seeing totals like, 8K, 13K, and so on, for the contributions of the other Spinners.

And then they ask me: "So, Heidi, what have you got?"

"Um, I'm sitting about 27K about now."

*BOINK!* "You wha-?"

I hastily calm my fellow Spinners. "It's just the draft at the moment. I plan on cutting out several thousand words."

"Oh...kay... So, what do you estimate your final count to be?"

"Um... 23K?" Wince.

Mmm... yeah. All right. We'll see. I think I've accidentally written a novel.

If I could get this story down to 20K, I'll be happy. But I don't know if I'll be able to do that, unless I trim down a few conversations, take out a bit of snark between some of the characters and tighten up a few things. I could cut out some of the world-building, but don't know what or where.
A tighter story would be good. And I might be able to do without a dinner scene. We'll see.

Meanwhile...

How well do you know British actor Richard Armitage? I scored 10/10 on this little quizzie. (Not quite the same as scoring with Richard, but I'll take what I can get.)

Judging a book by its cover

2008-05-17T17:45:00.003+10:00

I'm extremely proud of our book cover for The Enchanted Faerie.
We are very lucky Romance Spinners, because we had a say in what we wanted the cover to look like.

Most writers are not so lucky. Science fiction writers seem to be particularly unlucky.

So for a good chuckle, and a fair amount of shaedenf.. schaedenfroo... snark, check out the goodness at Judge a Book by its Cover.

I hate galleys

2008-05-05T23:00:00.002+10:00

Really, I do.

Galleys are that penultimate step (on the author's side of things) to publication. The story's done, the layout's finished, the book is pretty much ready to publish. Not much left to do except go through the galleys page after page, line after line, word after tedious word.

This is soo not the time to be making changes to your story, or even the sentences. All you really do with a galley is make sure everything's spelled correctly and there aren't any stupid grammar mistakes.

This is not the correction of your work, for by now you will have long turned in a clean copy of your ms and your copyeditor will have made it cleaner. No, this is the time for the correction of any slips-of-the-wrist that may have happened during layout--not the author's fault (in theory).

Nobody's perfect, not even the book designers. (Really, we love our book designers.) But once in a while something will happen: a reversal of two letters, a missing or present apostrophe, a dropped word.

These are what we try to catch in the final galley proofs.

Now, the problem with the human brain is that it's got this auto-correct feature. It can see part of a pattern and fill in what's missing, often without you realising it.

You know your story, you know your words. Is something missing? That's okay. Your brain will fill it in for you.

And thus you might miss a tpyo in the galleys.

To keep this from happening, one must slow down their reading speed. And then one must read backwards. One must get a ruler or a piece of paper and go line by line. Only by making the brain work hard, can one find these little errors. (Now that I think about it, I can't think of many galleys I've gone through that didn't result in an errata sheet.)

Because of this reduced reading speed, the going through of galleys becomes a painfully slow and tedious job.

And that's why I hate galleys.

That said, I would not do away with this very important step of going through galleys. Just think how much more I'd hate it if I never got the chance to catch some stupid little mistake.

Ya know? Da Muse. Da Star. Da Movie. Da Imagination.

2008-04-17T08:41:00.002+10:00

Somebody in my critique group, Romance Writers Unlimited (see link to my blog - and then follow the link to critique group blog)...

posted the whimsy side of the author.

Who is going to star in the movie. And I thought it might be an idea to introduce you to mine. He goes further back into the production of this grand piece of Zara Penney imagination. Has worked harder and longer, so he deserves the kudos he gets.

His name is Estienne Devereaux - he is the star of my next WIP for the next anthology which all the Romance Spinners have been working on.

The paparazzi were hanging around his dressing room where he was resting between scenes. There's been a lot of down time lately, because she has been in editing mode, which is the workingman's side of the fun of writing - but still very important.

Meet da muse. Da Star. Da movie. And da imagination.

Book Promotion and Brand Establishment

2008-04-08T04:57:00.004+10:00

The Enchanted Faerie is coming out soon. Real soon. So soon we can taste it.

We're terribly excited about it and want to make the world excited too. So our thoughts have turned to book promotion.

See, book promotion is more than just handing out flyers and cleverly-wrapped candies. Book promotion is more than just letting you know we've got a book out. (since you're reading this blog, there's a good chance you already know about The Enchanted Faerie.)

We want more.

We want our book to stand out from among all the others you might come across this year. We want not just for you to know about The Enchanted Faerie, but we want you to be interested in it.

We love the premise of The Enchanted Faerie. Love always comes at a cost. Gypsy Alishandra Orona has set the price at 100 gold pieces. That's a lot of money by today's standards and certainly not a small fortune in the Sixteenth Century.

Is love--true love--worth it? (Is Greggie MacDonald worth a hunnert?) Perhaps the price of a faerie is too high. Just because one acquires a faerie doesn't mean that one is guaranteed to find love. After all, one's heart can only stand so much stress before it breaks.

And yet, for some, the thought of dwindling and dying in lonely spinsterhood is the worst fate of all.

Oh, decisions, decisions. Can't anything ever be easy? Not every tale ends in the HEA every heroine dreams about. Who finds true love? Whose heart gets broken? And what is it about Lachlan the Blacksmith?

Now, before we started really promoting the book, we were establishing our brand.

We're the Romance Spinners and we spin tales of love, of sorrow and of the indomitable human spirit.

The Enchanted Faerie is only the beginning. Our next project is For Richer, For Poorer. Ah, the poor Deveraux family and their curse.

Meanwhile, we Spinners would like to show you the cool stuff we've discovered from research, our experience in the writing craft, the fun things we've encountered on the Internet and our obsession with actor Richard Armitage.

So pick a Spinner and ask three questions. They don't have to be serious (either the Spinners or the questions).

Meanwhile, I find the following very interesting:

I Can Has Cheezburger?, proving the third largest purpose of the Internet is to post pictures of cats.
Miss Snark, who'll lay the writing craft out in a brutally honest yet useful form.
Fourmilab, for all those really cool astronomical-ish stuff.
Google Earth. Dude, everyone's gotta check out Google Earth, even if only to find their house.

Well, well, well...

2008-03-27T11:11:00.002+11:00

The year is running fast, deadline is almost upon the Romance Spinners spinning their second anthology.

March 31st.

It seemed like lightyears away at the time. We could fly around the moon a dozen times and still be in time to write THE END

Where have all the eons gone.

Are you ready for us?

I'm glad I'm writing the story, I can't imagine what sort of cover will be designed for us.

Which brings me to a point. If you are there and have the time, what sort of covers do you like? Personally I tend to like subtle covers. Not the bodice ripper kind. I like my imagination to dictate the hero to me. If I want George Clooney in my imagination then let me have him rather than be dictated to. Same goes for my heroine.

Covers are very important. They are the marketing tool. Probably the one chance on a shelf of hundreds of little pieces of competition so they are so important. Style, color, and a good blurb on the back to entice the reader to give it a bit of time to really consider putting in an investment.

Back to editing Zara Penney. Deadline is nigh.

World Horror Convention

2008-03-25T07:13:00.004+11:00

Yep, you heard me. I'm going to the World Horror Convention next weekend in Salt Lake City.

"But," I hear you say, "You're a Romance writer."

And so I am, mostly. But some of my published stories are a bit dark. Especially that one where Our Heroine attempts to scoop her eyeballs out with a spoon.

Now, there has been a trend for genre-bending the past decade or so. Anyone here read Stephenie Meyer's "Twilight" series? If so, would you call it romance or horror? Or perhaps both?

I love this new trend for genre-bending. In the 80's and 90's I thought many genre books were starting to get stale with the same old tropes, structures and memes. I mean, there are only so many fantasy quest novels one can read before it all starts looking alike. After all, a McGuffin is a McGuffin.

Then some smart cookies started reading outside their usual genre (which, really, is something every writer should be doing) and started applying the earmarks of one genre to another.

And so we got Fantasy Romance. And Science Fiction Mysteries. And Romantic Horror.

At first, some purists thought this invasion from other genres would dilute or corrupt the genre they knew and loved, but the rest of us realised the trend for what it was--a breath of fresh air.

So now today fans of Romance can stand on a hilltop and say, "all this is ours, and that bit over there," and Horror writers can stand on another hilltop and say, "all this is ours, and that bit over there." And "that bit over there" is a timeshare Victorian home that various genres can enjoy on occasion. (Ne'er you mind the flux capacitor in the basement. It's stable.)

And that's one of the reasons why I'm going to the World Horror Convention. Y'all are welcome to come join me.

P.S. for Holly: I think Richard Armitage would play an excellent Mr Darcy.

Easter

2008-03-20T14:50:00.002+11:00

I wish all my fellow Spinners, their families an friends, and those that will be reading our forthcoming anthology the happiest of Easters. And here's a bit of fun:

fi yuo cna raed tihs, yuo hvae a sgtrane mnid too. Cna yuo raed
tihs? Olny 55 plepoe out of 100 can. i cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a
rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno't mtaetr in waht oerdr the ltteres in a wrod are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rghi t pclae. The rset can be a
taotl mses and you can sitll raed it whotuit a pboerlm. Tihs is
bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the
wrod as a wlohe. Azanmig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was
ipmorantt! if you can raed tihs forwrad it.

Hope the Bunny Rabbit brings you a nice big chocolate egg.

Zara Penney

The Faerie Most Enchanting

2008-03-07T13:43:00.003+11:00

Look what I found. Not in the bottom of my garden in a cauliflower as tradition would have it, but in my inbox at my email. And her arrival there bodes well for the launch of our anthology, very soon.

Her name is Phoebe and her mother's a Lizzard.

Both are good luck omens.

What is it about romance novels?

2008-03-06T05:53:00.009+11:00

Romance novels are devoured by woman around the world. Even those who hate them, secretly read them. They have been called trashy, forbidden, inappropriate and not true literary works. But we all know the truth is that romance is one of the biggest selling genres around.

To be honest, I don't think their are many out there with the close minded attitude that romance novels are the gateway to sin anymore. (at least they have quieted down some) Sure, we run across the occasional naysayer, but what that naysayer doesn't realize is that she is missing out on a wonderful, heart enlightening journey of love to rival the ages. And what these protesters are really against is the sex. But if they read the book they would see that the sex is an escalation of love. A meeting of souls, right?

Why do I read romance novels? It's not for the happily ever after or the awkward meeting of two destined souls, but for the middle of the novel. Where attraction is intensely strong and undeniably there. The hero and heroine fight it, deny it, and try to avoid it. Yet, circumstances keep forcing them together. I love the pull and tug of hearts. The yearning for what (they believe) they cannot have or deserve to experience. It is the ultimate kick start to the heart.

Some of my favorite novels? Karen Marie Monings entire Highlander series. Why? KMM creates a world unlike any I've ever read and within this world one man and one woman defy the fates, traverse time and conquer the impossible just to savor one more minute with each other. He is the missing the piece of her and she is the reparation for his damaged soul. I think my favorite is Immortal Highlander where the bad guy (who really isn't so bad) turns good. He is a faery who feels the way humans feel. He is fighting to return to his position beside the queen, all the while he has already found his rightful place in this world, the human realm.

Other novels?
Pride and Prejudice is a classic. I love... love Mr. Darcy.
Kinley MacGregor's Macallister Series- these four brothers are the men of men. They are stubborn, arrogant and tortured souls who need the very thing they don't want. The love of a good woman.
Jude Deveraux's The Duchess- a book I could read over and over again. The heroine is to wed the fair-hared brother, a titled duke, but falls in love with his dark, exotic older brother (the true duke) who had been her childhood hero under another name. Obviously, the older brother has some issues and wants nothing to do with society or his title. She must make a choice, he must come back from the dead and learn to accept her choice. -- Love it!

I read romance for the same reason I write it. It's captivating and refreshing. When I first started writing I never even gave a thought to what genre I would write. I just wrote what I loved. Just when I picked up my first romance novel. I didn't think about what genre I wanted to read, I was just gravitated toward it.

So why do you read romance novels? And if you haven't read one yet, why? What are your favorites or what can't you stand? I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Sitting on the other side of the fence...

2008-03-01T16:33:00.002+11:00

My style of writing is to gallop to the finishing post. Then like a sniffer dog I start to follow me with the editor head and the weaver's head. Weaving, changing, looping, detailing, and this style I think I got from the canvas at my art teacher's knee:

"From ze general to ze particular! She'd say in her Hungarian accent waving her arms like Zsa Zsa Gabor - easy for her since her name was Olga and she was 110% Hungarian.

Well, how does it feel to be on this side of the fence, where the ending of my story was reached in the Bare Bone Stakes? Wonderfully comfortable. No panic. No block. Luxurious. Its like the hot bath to which now I add the bubble bath.

Since dabbling in the historical I am finding my interest in dabbling in it very nice. Or as Estienne would say: "I like it very well indeed!" I've always been a history buff, and have loads of books on just about every subject - meaning lots of reference points. As with the Securement of Greggie Donald from our upcoming anthology set in the Highlands of Scotland, I am finding happy 'accidents' in my research which can steer the plot quite significantly once I find them. There is joy in discovery, a quickening of the heart and oh... spooky but this gives me an idea... kind of joy.

Regency. It has loads of taradiddles and 'diamond of the first water' and nabobs. Very flavorable language.
And we are so Austenised these days with a rich tapestry of things from the BBC on DVD, one can almost imagine ourselves there, in amongst our cast of characters.

Expect to meet Estienne Devereaux, Duke of Blamain. Blamain is a real place you know. As a matter of fact I'm sitting in it right now. Living there. I'm the housekeeper, the cook and the footman and the Duchesse of it. The supermarket is there. And isn't life grand when you have the luxury of authorship to use it as freely as have I.

Of course as per usual, I am currently in love with my darling Estienne, despite his obvious arrogance - and taunted as he is by the frustrating boy poaching on his parklands. But sshhhh. I don't want to say too much.

Except to protest "This is such hard work!"

and to whisper "Ah but it is so much fun."

Looking all official-like

2008-02-24T09:34:00.002+11:00

Woo hoo, the galleys are here. These are the final proof pages of the book before it becomes available to the public.

So my fellow Spinners and I are all reading over the pages with eagle eyes and fine tooth combs and any other finicky cliches, so that we can spot any tyops. Typos.

Now is not the time to save the trees. The only way I can proof read properly is to print out my story and hold it in my hands, pencil at the ready. Somebody's probably done a study to explain why, but all I know is that I can spot things much easier in printed form than on a screen.

In the mean time, The Enchanted Faerie is officially listed as coming soon on The Wild Rose Press website, which is very exciting. I am really looking forward to seeing this book out in the wider world.

Romance isn't just for the past...

2008-02-16T20:54:00.002+11:00

Of all the Romance Spinners, I must be the luckiest. In our next project, I get to write a futuristic romance.

You got it baby, I getta write Sci-Fi!

Now, depending on your point of view, my job is either easier or harder than Judy's or Zara's.

Easy: I don't have to do a lot of research. I don't have to make sure my historical facts, fashion, language, and more are historically accurate. I don't have to worry that "contemporary-isms" that don't exist yet are gonna slip in.

Hard: I have to compile, from nigh-scratch, an entire world. I have to invent (well, speculate) future technology (and its foibles). I don't just come up with gadgets and Google's grandchildren but I've got to postulate how that technology will affect the lives of my characters. I've got to come up with future events that would change the world as we know it.

Fortunately, something exists in the Speculative Fiction universe that means I won't have to re-invent the videophone, nor will I have to waste precious wordspace explaining how it works.

It's called the supertext.

Some criticise Science Fiction (and Fantasy too, to some extent) as being self-referential. I guess, in a way, it has to be. How else are we going to define the complexities of future technology, society, races and characteristics?

The supertext works something like this:

I mention I have a vampire in one of my stories. Our Heroine sees the vampire and she reacts with fear. I don't need to go on and explain that vampires are scary un-human monsters who will lure you in with seduction then suck your blood with fangs, because the information is available in the supertext and thus available as "general knowledge".

Now, everyone doesn't have access to all of the supertext. Sometimes bits of it are limited to certain readers of some fiction.

Take, for example, the Three Laws of Robotics. Read something of Issac Asimov's, (or click on the above link) and you'll have a good idea what the laws are and how they work. But if you haven't read any Asimov (nor seen Star Trek, nor anything else that has made, at some point, reference to the Three Laws), then you might not understand why Our Heroine, when faced with a really big nasty robot armed with laser cannons, would not be afraid of him, especially if I established earlier in the story that RoboMonstro With Dual Laser Action^TM was "governed by the Three Laws".

(Counts) I have summoned the supertext with a ~~spell~~, ~~sentence~~, fragment of five words.

Pretty powerful stuff.

So now I am faced with a different challenge: I'm not writing for the Skiffy audience. I'm writing for the Romance audience, especially one that prefers historical romance.

Yet I think I'll be okay. The Historical Romance audience has a skill that will enable them to read something from 1016 or 1586 or 1831 or 1923 or 1945 and that will also enable them to understand something from 2172. They are able to look to the past (or the future) and see a world that is different from their own. They are able to understand that Our Heroine won't be carrying around a mobile phone. She'll have other ways to communicate. Her clothes will be different, her language use will be different, her role in society will be different, her goals will be different.

Historical Romance readers will grok this. They may not fully understand the technology that surrounds Miss 2172, but they will realise she is a human with a heart yearning for love. They'll figure her out and come to love her, the way they love the Regency Debutante, the Gibson Girl, the Flapper, the WAVE.

So yeah. I'm looking forward to having Our Heroine's implant misfunction when she moves out of signal range.

the launch of my free e-serial

2008-02-14T12:33:00.003+11:00

Tomorrow (Valentine's Day), I am launching my first ever free e-serial. Entitled Desperate Hearts, it follows the lives of the residents of the fictional town of Rollin's Landing, set in the scenic Muskoka region of Ontario, Canada.

I am holding a virtual launch party from noon to midnight at http://indigochick.conforums3.com/index.cgi?board=judyb and hope you can all join me as I send this story out into the world. There will be contests with prizes, virtual refreshments, and I hope some lively chat. See you there! www.desperatehearts.homestead.com

many irons in the fire

2008-02-03T07:56:00.000+11:00

I am feeling a bit daunted as I read posts on how far some of the Spinners have gone in writing their new anthology stories. Other than some research and a first paragraph (and a lot of mulling over in my mind), I've done so little on mine. Part of the problem is that I have so many irons in the fire at the moment. I've been working on polishing short stories to send to a new romance magazine, and raced like mad on the last day of submissions to get a novella into a publisher. I am launching my first ever free e-serial on my website on Valentine's Day, so have been working like mad on that. (www.desperatehearts.homestead.com if you want a little preview) And that's just the major stuff. There's the promoting of my existing work, and the editing and revising of things I want to submit before summer... Sigh....But I suppose, in the end, all will get done.

I've set my Spinner's story just at the end of WW II. I'm in the process of figuring out how to get my American Devereux decendant, to Devon where the bulk of the story will take place. It's an interesting time in which to set a story. So much change has occurred. In fact, I get lost sometimes surfing around researching that I don't get much writing done (another reason why I'm so far behind my sister writers...lol)

BTW, I went to the tarot card site to find out which card I was. It came out as The Lover, but I couldn't figure out how to post it here on the blog. I'm a tad technologically challenged. :o)

On this day Mea Culpa

2008-01-29T15:53:00.001+11:00

I've undertaken the next anthology project from Romance Spinners from this humble person called me... REGENCY.

And since I heard lovers of Regency are a tough mob, I quickly got my butt into some serious research. And you know what?

It might seem fascinating to us. Romantic and all that.

But really. It's as boring as bat's teeth in reality. If you consider you live in a constant electricity blackout that's how much fun it is.
Spontaneous? Hell no. Only the fire ever did that.

The only fun thing you had was not knowing what a joy was in store for you with hoop skirts.

The grass is always greener on the other side.

Zara pondering on Regency during a Regency swat.

fabbo waste of time

2008-01-25T12:00:00.000+11:00

I should know better, but I can't help myself.

moar funny pictures

I love these guys.

moar funny pictures

I took the test.

2008-01-24T16:17:00.000+11:00

And I'm The Star

You are The Star

Hope, expectation, Bright promises.

The Star is one of the great cards of faith, dreams realised

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An explanation for loff.

2008-01-22T16:22:00.000+11:00

I sometimes have people ask me why I'm so devoted to Richard Armitage.

"What is it about that obscure British actor?" they wonder. "Why don't you lust after Brad Pitt instead?"

Good question. Apparently he's one of the sexiest men alive. But I don't like him.

Sure, he's easy on the eyes (if you like blondes), but a man, a really appealing man, must be more than just a face.

I confess I don't like Brad Pitt because of his dubious behaviour concerning his past and present relationships. We don't know the details of why he and wife Jennifer Aniston divorced, but there are enough unanswered questions and boundless rumours going about that makes me believe it was not a clean split. Then there were the questions about exactly when Angelina Jolie came into the picture. Again, we don't know all the facts, but there's enough shady areas that fuel doubts.

One thing we know for sure: he and Angelina are living in sin. The rest of the world may be okay with that, but I'm not.

"Okay then," people say to me, "What about George Clooney? He's Hot-onna-Stick and dipped in chocolate besides."

Yes, Miss Snark, he is another pretty face. But again, it's the man behind the mask that really matters to me.

George's a player. Having been married once, he's vowed to never get married again, nor to have children. For this little black swan who was raised on a steady diet of HEA romances, that's a bit of a turn-off. George also admits, "I've slept with too many women, I've done too many drugs, and I've been to too many parties." Too bad, George. What will things be like in your dotage? How will you spend your twilight years? Not everyone can be Hugh Hefner. Not even you.

Remind me again how we like our Our Heroes? Yes, we like them handsome. We like them rogueish, dashing, passionate, intelligent and alpha male.

And then we like them to fall in love, and their love and devotion to Our Heroine surpasses all. Nothing is more valuable than the woman they love. Nothing, not life, not darkness, nor the bad guy or even death, will shake his devotion.

Sorry, Brad and George. It's a shame you've fallen short of the mark. I guess we can't have everything.

So back to Richard.

He may not be as famous as Brad or George, but that's all right by me. He's smart and he's funny. He's gracious to his fans (collectively known as either the Armitage Army, or the RAF--Richard Armitage's Fans), and always has a kind word for them whenever he runs into them. He writes thank-you notes and keeps in regular touch (well, regular for a guy). You never hear a bad thing about him.

No, he's not married. Never has been (oh, menace to society!). Some may see this as a failing, but we'll give him a few more years before we call him on it. After all, scores of Romantic Heroes in historical romances make it to their thirties before losing their bachelorhood.

On the other hand, one must also take into account that he does not have a bitter ex-wife, nor a bevy of ex-girlfriends. He doesn't play around and get caught up in the gossip mills. He wants to have children (awww...) and dotes on his nephew.

And he is good to his mother.

He's got the goods and the potential to be a great Romantic Hero. We're just hoping Our Heroine comes along real soon now and sweeps him off his feet.

If she doesn't, the first thing I'll do in my widowhood (may that be a long way off) is to sneak up on him in his sleep and screw a ring on his third finger, left hand.