Defeat and a New Challenge

For the life of me, I can't come up with another 5,339 words to get Keeping Promises to the 65K mark. It ends just right--short, sweet, happily-ever-after--so I don't want to add on. I've been adding scenes within the text, but there's nothing else to add, at least nothing that I can think of right now.

So, I concede defeat and relegate the story to the "percolate pile" until I'm psyched up to revise it. Maybe then I'll have a flash of brilliance and be able to add some words, but I'm not counting on it.

The Crimson Rose line of The Wild Rose Press has put out a call for submissions for their new "Jewels of the Night" series. I vowed not to do it because there was too much else going on, but...never say never.

Here is the information:

The Wild Rose Press
Introduces a Special Submission Call from Crimson Rose

Jewels of the Night…
WHAT MAKES THIS SUBMISSION CALL SPECIAL?

One submission will be chosen at random to launch the series. The selected contract will be given a premium publishing slot during Crimson month (November, 2010) as well as a featured review and interview with the review site Once Upon a Romance. The selected story will be showcased on the Crimson Rose Page of The Wild Rose Press website and the Behind the Garden Gate blog. The Wild Rose Press will provide an advertising book banner to the author. Once Upon a Romance will also display this book banner without charge for a thirty day period beginning with the day of book release.
This submission call is open to current Wild Rose Press authors as well as all new query authors.

THE STORY:
· Must involve a blue diamond. It could be a treasure hunt or a midnight thief or… Let your imagination take flight!
· Must involve a high level of danger
· Can be in any region of the world
· Can be any timeframe as long as the most prevalent elements are romance and intrigue

Guidelines:
Stories must be complete. With a word-length between 20,000 and 65,000 words (miniature rose or rosebud length)
Must be an original, never-before published work and you must own the rights to it.
To qualify for the launch, submission must arrive on or before March 31, 2010
Manuscripts must be formatted per standard formatting rules (Times New Roman, 12 pt, double-spaced, 1 in. margins, numbered pages)
Submission call is open to both published and unpublished writers
Story content must adhere to posted Crimson Rose guidelines as posted on the submissions page of www.thewildrosepress.com
HOW TO SUBMIT:
Email your manuscript as a single Word .rtf attachment to Lori (at) thewildrosepress.com
Put: “Jewel of the Night Series: Manuscript Title: YOUR NAME” in the subject line
In the body of the email, include
The synopsis
Your Real name
Pseudonym, if applicable
Your contact email
Word-count
Submissions received that do not follow these guidelines will be discarded without notice. The Wild Rose Press is not responsible for submissions lost in cyberspace and not received.
Upon receipt, you will receive a confirmation email. If you have not received a confirmation email within five working days of emailing your submission, please send us an email.
Direct questions regarding this submission call to: Lori (at) thewildrosepress.com.
If you have received receipt of your submission, please do not inquire about status until after standard response wait time. All entrants will be reviewed per our normal submission guidelines which are available at http://www.thewildrosepress.com/.
Thanks for submitting and good luck!

Valuable Information from the November Issue of "The Writer"

Having finally plowed through the November and December issues of The Writer, it's time to share the harvest! (Yes, pun intended.) Thoroughly highlighted, the November issue offers more than I can pass on in one blog, but here goes.

The focus of the November issue is a special section on "The Power of Place". In his feature article "Power Your Story with a Sense of Place", Philip Martin suggests using a particular POV when describing a place for the first time, using only the detail that creates interest, the use of senses for a more vivid image, and using the place to develop characters, mood, and action.

Linda Lappin suggests a "workout" consisting of finding a place near you and considering the rhythm of the place (daily, seasonally, etc.), your explorations of and experiences in the place, and finally honing in on one particular experience to practice describing.

Nancy L. Sanders talks about the use of timelines in the development of plot and character. Separate timelines for what the characters are doing and what is going on in the world around your characters helps build the action.

From the archive, "The 10 Most Common Story Problems" by Joseph Hansen, first published in 1976, offers these points to think about: (my paraphrase)

• lack of action
• starting the story too soon
• repetitive text
• too many flashbacks
• lack of characterization
• too many characters
• lack of focused setting
• too much "talk" as compared to realistic dialogue
• overuse of a thesaurus
• poor pacing
  

Finally, "The Art of Critique" by Melanie Faith, addresses ways to make a critique group best serve the needs of its members: (also my paraphrase)

• Thorough reading and summarization to aid understanding of the piece
• Finding things to praise as well as things to suggest need changing
• Eliminating personal judgment
• Saying what you have to say in a diplomatic way
• Remembering that the story does not belong to you but rather to the author, and he/she doesn't have to act on your suggestions for change

A regular feature, "Literary Spotlight" highlights Story Quarterly, which came to publication in 1975. It's an annual publication ($12), circulation 4,500, which accepts short stories, short-shorts, novel excerpts, interviews, essays, and memoirs. They feature a year-round reading period, electronic submissions, a window of 50% publication for new/emerging writers, and payment of $150 - $200. An added feature is the online publication of selected stories that don't make it into the print issue.

Two things to keep in mind:

•  "We like to see a strong narrative design from beginning to end" and
• "He (the editor, J.T. Barbarese) looks at style and character more than plot, and he cautions against trite subject matter--as well as subject matter that stretches the bounds of good taste."

Contact Story Quarterly via their website: www.camden.rutgers.edu/storyquarterly

And go out and find a copy of the November issue of The Writer. Better still, subscribe. I count the money well spent on subscriptions to the 3 writing magazines that come to my mailbox each month.

Kat Henry Doran's Novels

My most recent release through Wild Rose Press:

          Captain Marvelous is a contemporary romantic mystery set in the northern edge of New York State's Catskill Mountains. Immigrant women are murdered then dumped along the highways like pieces of garbage. No one in the small town of Nohmensville is the least bit concerned―except for Physician's Assistant Annie Wolfe, a career focused woman who will let nothing and no one get in her way of attending med school. Some of the women were Annie's patients, a few were friends. Enter New York State Trooper, Captain Ronen Marvelic, assigned by the Governor himself to investigate the murders. He uses Annie, no fan of local law enforcement, to construct victim profiles in order to hunt down the killers. Ronen wants home, hearth, picket fences and babies. Annie wants spiral CT scans, a cure for drug resistant TB, smooth functioning trauma teams―and for the Orioles to win a pennant.

            My second novel, Try Just Once More, currently available only out of the trunk of my car, is scheduled for re-release by Wild Rose Press in May 2010. It is a contemporary romantic suspense set in the Adirondack Mountains of Northern New York State. After she is cleared of homicide charges, and Maggie McGuire retreats to her childhood home to regroup and begin traveling the rocky road to sobriety. Now, after three years, her past rises up to bite her in the butt; this time it's aimed directly at her precious children. The new chief of police who won't leave things alone, continually picks at her, trying to find all the puzzle pieces. She once trusted a cop and lived to regret it. No stranger to personal treachery or betrayal, Chief Mike Brandt will have to set aside personal biases in order to protect the McGuire family―and convince Maggie to try just once more.

Kat Henry Doran on Goals, Motivation, and Conflict

Become intimately familiar with the following terms: GOALS. MOTIVATION. CONFLICT.  So familiar you can watch a movie and pick them out immediately. Warn your friends before you catch the flick, however. Or learn to go to the movies alone.

          You won't find the three concepts in all fiction genres, but you will [should] find them in well written romances. Each should be so well-ingrained into the story and the internal dialogue of the protagonists as well as the verbal dialogue, they jump out and shake your hand as you turn the pages.

Goals are easy: what does the hero and heroine want? Make it worthwhile, realistic, something the reading audience will relate with, will root for. 

Motivation should be tied directly into the Goal: WHY the hero or heroine wants this goal. Again, make it understandable, relatable, realistic.

Conflict is probably the most difficult to craft. External Conflict is the event or situation or circumstance which brings the hero and heroine together and  keeps them together throughout the story. Internal Conflict is the deal breaker; it's what keeps the two apart. When done well, it keeps those pages turning because the reader, who believes the H&H will never get together, wants to know how the author pulls it off the HEA.

By now, I hope someone is asking: Is this dame going to give me an example or two? Okay, the dame will provide two strong examples.

          In Naked in Death, the first in JD Robb's futuristic police procedural series, we meet Eve Dallas, a New York City police detective. Her goal is to solve homicides, in particular the homicide of a US Senator's grand-daughter who worked as a high-priced call girl [External Conflict]. Eve's motivation: she's always wanted to be a cop, being a cop is what defines her. 

       Enter Roarke [one name only, a gorgeous Irishman, more money than the Pope, and very funny]. He is, from the beginning, high on Eve's list of suspects. [more of the external conflict] The attraction is immediate and intense, though both fight it tooth and nail [this is the Internal Conflict]. She can't have anything to do with a suspect; he doesn't want to become involved with a cop because some of his business practices walk a fine line between the legal and illegal sides of the street. Before the story ends, evidence is manufactured to frame Roarke for the murder, only heightening the Internal Conflict.  

       So, after you've got all of the above down pat, and truly believe you have the next Pulitzer Prize winner on your hands, the more experienced �gwinner�h suggests you need to strengthen the character's motivation or hype up the conflict between the two protagonists. Do it!

          Nowhere do I suggest the comments won't hurt your pride, because they might. Nowhere do I suggest the “winner” has publishing credits. Someone may be published; that doesn't make them a winner. There are people out there who live to tear down a new writer just to inflate their own egos. Stick with the winners; they'll never let your down.

With that, I think I should shut up. 

Come back tomorrow to read about Captain Marvelous and Try Just Once More.

Kat Henry Doran's Writing Tips

My writing experience:

I was originally published with another electronic press. When the contracts for my books came up for renewal, I elected to obtain the rights back, then brought them to Wild Rose Press. Captain Marvelous came out in re-release in 2008; Try Just Once More will be out in May 2010.
     



It is my opinion, and I'm speaking only for myself, WRP's art department is the best ever. Too prove this point, I invite the readers to surf the web and take a look at the art work produced by our competitors. Also, WRP goes above and beyond with author promotion. That’s not to say we as authors can sit back and relax [one of the bigger mistakes I made with my previous publisher] but WRP goes a whole lot farther than other presses with regard to promoting their authors.

Writing tip(s) for beginners:
       Join a writers group, in person or on line. Become involved with a critique group. Once you're comfortable, look for the winners, those authors who are willing to help the less experienced author. Listen to what they have to say, and stick with them.

How do I define a winner?
       * The person whose smile extends from their mouth into their eyes, who welcomes the new author to the meeting, who takes time to ask what they are currently writing.
       * Avoid the person who tears down another for their writing success.
       * If group has a guest speaker, beware of that person who hogs all the workshop time by asking foolish, already answered questions, and is compelled to express their opinion every other minute.
       * Look for the person whose critique is fair and asks questions or makes comments in simple understandable terms.
       * Enter contests and pay attention to the feedback. Talk to the more experienced members of your group to determine the contests with a long track record for offering fair, non-judgmental comments and suggestions for improvement. If you receive the one-time only comment, take it for what it's worth. If you hear the same comment over and over, pay attention!! Set a goal to write a certain number of pages or words per day or week. Not everyone has the opportunity to write every day; that's okay. It doesn't matter when you write, or how often, it's that you write.

Tomorrow:  Goals, Motivation, and Conflict

Welcome TWRP Author Kat Henry Doran

      Welcome TWRP author Kat Henry Doran to The Word Place. Be sure to come by for the next four days and leave a comment. At the end of the week, Kat will be drawing for a hard copy of each of her two novels!





        Judy, thanks so much for allowing a little arm twisting on my part when I asked to participate in your blog. This sounds like a lot of fun! I hope it brings you as much success as you deserve. First, a bit about me.

       Over the years I've been honored to work at a number of occupations: nurse, malpractice insurance investigator, forensic nurse examiner, victim advocate, wife and mother.

        Even if I sometimes wish they'd remain in the closet, the years I spent advocating for victims of sexual violence have contributed significantly to the voice of my writing. You can't spend twelve years haunting police stations, Emergency Rooms, and criminal courts and not come away with a feel for misogyny, apathy, and bigotry.

         I retired my speculum a few years ago but I continue to advocate, quietly, for disenfranchised populations through Panties for Peace and Doctors Without Borders.

          My website, www.KatHenry.com,  has information about my books and how to order them as well as the workshops I present to writers' groups. Occasionally an injustice, committed by some idiot who possesses few socially redeeming qualities, will spark my ire. For my latest rant, check out www.WildWomanAuthor.blogspot.com. 

 A brief description of the line I write for:

          Last Rose of Summer features the more mature heroines and heroes. Though the editors don’t follow cut and dried age limit, they want H&H’s who have some life experiences behind them, such as but not limited to: widowed after 20+ years of marriage [happily or not] ; the man or woman, suddenly abandoned for a younger/richer “trophy” spouse; the long-time employee who is downsized at the workplace, and forced to not only reinvent themselves but also compete with twenty-somethings for gainful re-employment.

         When I consider plot lines, I like to reverse the usual: it's not a trophy wife but a trophy husband; the college professor [her] confronted with a “mature” student, the man she loved as a young, immature college student; the woman who served time in prison, perhaps a wrongful conviction, perhaps not, who must learn to readjust to drastic changes in society, ie cell phones, the Internet, emails, text messaging, the lengthened MLB and NBA playing seasons; DVD’s and Hi-def TV.

          I like the idea [fiction-wise not real life, thank you very much] of a the man or woman whose adult child dies suddenly, leaving the hero or heroine with custody of the grand-children. There’s nothing funnier than a 50 year old struggling with disposable diapers while searching frantically for the cloth diaper and diaper pins. Ask me, I saw it with my own eyes!

 My motivation for writing for this particular line

Heroines experiencing the last ticks of their biological clock, teetering on the edge of peri-menopause, don't win a great number of “feature” roles in romance fiction right now. If they are mentioned, it is the secondary character, maiden aunt or goofy older best friend, primarily there for comic relief. A few of the New York houses tried [Harlequin’s Next line] devoting lines to the older heroine; in the end, the number crunchers claimed the lines weren’t commercially successful.

        In my personal life I am attracted to men who have been around the block a time or two. I like to see a bit of gray at the temples, a few lines of experience in the faces [the most recent James Bonds, Daniel Craig and Pierce Brosnan; Tommy Lee Jones; Dennis Quaid; Timothy Hutton, and the actors who play Flynn and Provenza on TV’s The Closer]. I want someone who doesn’t take himself too seriously and, of course, he has to make me laugh. To quote my writing hero, Nora Roberts, “If he doesn’t make me laugh I don’t want him in my bed”. Whether we care to admit it or not, we do invite our heroes into our beds.

        Equally important is that I create strong, capable female characters who practice one of the many helping professions: medicine, nursing, the  criminal justice system, victim advocacy, and/or social work to name only a few. I’m not enamored with the young pretty thing whose brain is consumed with her next date, or who only wears shoes with a name brand, or the latest MTV or YouTube offering. I appreciate women with a spine, maybe it was always there, maybe it grew out of adversity. This is not to say all the heroines I've created are mouthy, ball-busting man haters [though in truth a few are]. I have women in my head, and on paper, who are quiet, reticent, “real ladies”, but aren't pushovers.

Tomorrow: Great tips for writers!

Reflecting on Alan Elsner's Guest Blogs This Week

I saved my comments on Mr. Elsner's guest blog series to "sum up" as it were. I always enjoy having guest bloggers at The Word Place because I learn so much from them.

The blog on "The Joys and Pain of Publishing" reinforced what I've been learning from others more experienced that I, that as writers, we're all in the same boat unless, of course, we've penned one of those elusive "blockbusters". We must promote and market ourselves. We're all in this together, and networking with other writers and supporting our mutual efforts can be rewarding in more than just monetary ways--though, of course, we all want to sell our books!

As for romance novels taking the romance out of romance, I totally agree. I grew up in the "fade-to-black" era and still, re-watching those old films, find the love scenes (or lack thereof) far more titillating than what I've seen on television and the big screen in the last thirty years. How many books have I closed and returned unfinished to the library because I just can't stomach one more anatomical description (and the accompanying language)? Some of them have had good basic plots, too, but I don't have the time or desire to plow through the gratuitous sex to stay focused on the plot.

That said, I have no problem with anyone writing or reading more erotic genres. There seems to be a wide market for them. I'm not straddling the fence here--merely acknowledging the differences in reading and writing tastes. We're all free to choose--thank goodness--and I make my choices. That might explain why I tend to check out more non-fiction than fiction books and why, when I find a good author, I diligently search the shelves and used book markets for his/her work.

I'm printing out the press release for Romance Language to deliver to the Garland County Public Library when I go this weekend. It already has two of Mr. Elsner's books--The Nazi Hunter and Gates of Shame--and I want them to add the new release also. Meanwhile, unwilling to wait to read it, I've ordered a copy from Amazon.com!

My thanks to Alan Elsner for sharing his thoughtful insights this week at The Word Place.