RNA conference - part 2

Here’s a run down on some of the seminars I attended on day two:

Ann Lingard ran a session about using science in our books. She runs a website called Scitalk, which is an excellent resource for writers researching science-related matters. Plenty of scientists from a variety of fields have signed up to the site to make themselves available if a writer wants to contact them to ask a question. They have quantum physicists, forensic pathologists and people who investigate horse sweat (!), among others.

Kate Fenton talked about writing romantic comedy. She had me in stitches. She said that, although love is a serious business, falling in love is intrinsically funny – a socially acceptable form of madness, if you like. I was interested in what she had to say about off-setting humour with the emotional sections of her books to increase the tragedy.

Diane Pearson, RNA President, ran a very practical workshop on arresting the editor’s attention. She asked us to provide her with the first two sentences of our books and a short synopsis. She told us that the first couple of lines should give a feel of the whole book, saying something about character setting or theme. Unfortunately, I had used my current wip where Adele, the heroine, was faced with a spider in her bath. It read more like a horror story than a romance. Did not get a gold star…
Good tips for the synopsis (short synopsis) were to keep it to the main story and avoid mentioning too many secondary characters. She was constantly commenting on how there was “too much information”.

Dorothy Lumley gave a talk on what a literary agent is looking for. She said the submission letter is important as it is like a first meeting and it is wise to create a good first impression.

Penny Jordan also did a very interesting question and answer session. I’m afraid I didn’t write lots down, but a good tip for prop up a sagging middle was to add a subplot that lasts for only a few chapters, perhaps from chapters three to seven. I also found it hugely encouraging that she always thinks the current book is the worst one she’s ever written. Makes me feel a bit more normal.

After that it was a quick break to get ready for the gala dinner. The dining room might have been cramped, but the atmosphere was great and I had lovely time chatting to people I hadn’t caught up with yet.

RNA conference - part 1

The RNA conference was brilliant. My brain has officially switched off now I’ve come back, though. Which is a real pity, as some of the workshops gave me ideas for improving the blah bits of the wip, but I’m just too tired to look at it.

I’m going to blog in three parts about it otherwise it’s going to be a huge chunk of text. I took my camera, but didn’t manage to take a single photo. Doh!

I arrived on Friday afternoon after catching the train from London. I was in such a tizz in the morning, I managed to get on a train going to Blackfriers instead of Victoria. Thankfully, I was running early and didn’t get held up much. I travelled up with my pal Liz (Hi, Liz!) and we had a great giggle – especially when I accidentally head-butted a man in the bottom.

After the welcome, we had a little session of congratulating those who had had good news during the year – first sales, award wins and the like. I got my NWS award trophy, now with my name on it, so I was really chuffed.

First session was a panel of saga writers answering questions about their writing techniques and research. It was very interesting, even though they are a different kind of book to the ones I write (the thought of writing double, if not triple, the amount of words makes me quiver).

Everyone then sprinted to the bar to sit out in the evening sun and catch up with old pals. The highlight of my evening was when someone thought I was 28. They were a decade out, but I’m not admitting to which way.

Just a little excited...

I'm packing my bags ready to go to the RNA conference in Penrith this weekend. I'm really looking forward to see friends, meet new people and soak up all the knowledge.

If you're going, say "Hi" to me. If you're not, I'll post when I get back.

Black Hole Still Gaping

I've deicided to break out of the box and just write the first bit of my book. One of the problems with plotting the start of act two, is that I just don't know how much backstory will have come out and how much my characters will have talked about their issues.

So I just said, "What the heck!", and started writing, and before I knew it I was at the end of chapter one. (Woo Hoo!). Just goes to show that every book needs it's own approach and we shouldn't feel afraid to try something new. Normally I would find it difficult to write without a clear plan, but actually since I have been sitting at my keyboard, I've actually been less worried about my black hole.

Sagging middles

Apparently, mine is not the only middle that is sagging. This is what my plot board looked like yesterday morning...

See? A big gaping black hole at the beginning of Act 2. (Top left is plot point 1, and then they descend in two colomns to the bottom right, where "happy ever after" is wrtitten). I know some writers prefer not to know what's coming up, but I definitely need a basic idea of my plot. I can't seem to start writing knowing that the black hole is there. But I must remind myself that I always get stuck at this point.

A great book to read on three-act structure is Linda Seger's "How to Make A Good Script Great". I know the book is mainly about screenplays, but it is relevent to the novel writer too. I'm a structure-junkie and I liked the idea of having three acts to the story, like a play.

Act one: this is the part where you set up the story and introuduce the characters. At the end of Act one there is a turning point which leads the action on to...

Act two: the story moves off in a new direction. Plot develops, characters deepen. A turning point (more dramatic than the last) leads to...

Act three: the final section of the story with a climax and resolution.

Most stories can be split into three acts, basically meaning that good stories have a beginning, a middle and an end. I found using the three act structure useful when plotting as it stops me meandering all over the place with no clear direction. I don't need to know all the small details of the plot before I start, but it helps if I know the basics - what Linda Seger calls the story "spine".

I see it more as a skeleton myself. The basic structure is there, but it isn't until I write a particular scene that I start to flesh that part out, knowing its feeling and texture and how it joins to other parts of the story.

The best advice I heard regarding plotting was at a workshop at the RNA conference last year for members of the New Writers' Scheme: plot is not just a series of events, there should be a chain of cause and effect. So, I could think to myself, "What could go wrong on Adele and Nick's journey?"and come up with various ideas: running out of petrol, taking a wrong turning, having an accident. But if I throw all of these ideas in, it will just feel disjointed and episodic.

There should be a reason why certain things happen e.g. they take a wrong turn because they are arguing about Adele's driving and she's not paying attention. Then they run out of petrol because they've ended up miles down a country road with no petrol stations in sight. "Because" is an important word in plotting. Now, I may or may not use these ideas, but it makes a lot more sense than just flinging every idea into the pot.

So, I'm off back to my plot board to see where the actions and reactions of the characters are going to take me...

The first words are the hardest...

Right. I’m going to start my new book today. Honest.

It would be so much easier if I hadn’t taken a break to decorate my house, do copy edits and generally let life get in the way. I’ve lost the flow of the story.

I can’t seem to write unless I feel the story is ‘bubbling’. By that, I mean the point when my head is crammed full of ideas, I can see the scene in my head and I just feel itchy until I sit down and get it out of me. Of course, I can write when the bubbles aren’t there, it’s just that it tends to be awful.

I think the problem is that my plot is still a little sketchy. I went back to my plot board this morning and pinned some bits on it. It’s a bit empty. As I look at it, I know what is happening in the beginning and I’ve got a vague idea of how the story resolves itself, but it’s the middle section that is blank.

The problem is, this is a story about a couple reuniting and, although they are stuck in a car together, their journey is really an emotional one. So, before I can plot it, I am going to have to make sure my character arcs are solid.

More about character arcs when I have made myself take a look at them.

I love my bookcase

Okay, something daft made me ridiculously happy yesterday.

I had to demolish some lovely stone cladding in my living room (my house had been done up in the 70's in the "fake country cottage" style). So, fo quite a while I had to live in what looked like a building site. All moveable furniture left the room - including my big bookcase.

I love that bookcase. Mostly because my father-in-law made it for us not long after we were married, and since he died only a few years later, it feels good to have something that reminds us of him as a very central thing in our lives.

But yesterday, it was just the sheer joy of seeing the bookcase full of books and sitting in my living room that made me smile. I hadn't realised how much I had missed it until it was back. There is something strangely comforting about seeing row upon row of books all waiting eagerly to be read (or re-read, most likely). I keep looking at it and feeling all warm inside.

Barking mad

I must be stark, raving bonkers. I was varnishing my living room floor at midnight last night.

Would my real life stop interrupting my writing life, please?

My house is in turmoil. We have painted our open-plan living room and now we are sanding the floorboards. There is dust everywhere. Everything we can move out of the room is now in my bedroom (which looks like an overstuffed storeroom with a bed in the middle). We were eating all our meals in the garden until it started to rain and now we are forced to picnic in our bedrooms -if we can find the floor space.

And just to top it all, the proofs for “Her Parenthood Assignment” have arrived. I have two weeks to get them done and I can’t even find a flat, dust-free surface in my house to put them on. Last night I dreamt that when I looked at them I realised that it wasn’t even the right book staring back at me. In my dream, the word document had corrupted and had somehow morphed into my aborted first attempt at a novel, full of typos and gobbledegook.

I think my brain is trying to tell me I'm a little overstretched.

So many words, so little time...

At the moment I am far too busy to write. In the next week or so, I have both a house to decorate (I’m trying to get a huge chunk done before I really get going with the next book) and a “pirates and princesses” birthday party to plan, cook for and host.

I’m feeling a bit odd, because I’m a writer who isn’t actually doing any writing. Mind you, I’m having lunch with my editor next week, and since we will be discussing the synopsis I sent her, I'm sure I will have plenty to run with once the pirates and princesses have sailed away home to their mums.

Romance and paintbrushes

Just when I’m getting cheesed off with my husband for not doing the washing up, he goes and does something romantic that makes it impossible to be cross with him. Hmph!

He comes home from work with a big bunch of roses and a bottle of pink bubbly in honour of the fact it was nineteen years since our first date. I had completely forgotten. And since hubby normally gets the date wrong, I was also very surprised.

Unfortunately, I had an evening of decorating ahead of me. But I’ll tell you this: painting a door with a brush in one hand and a glass of sparkly stuff in the other is definitely the way to go.

Still floating

Apart from the fact my little toe looks like a plump purple grape, I am still on cloud nine. Jenny Haddon (RNA Chairman) kindly posted the judges comments for all the shortlisted books on ROMNA (the cyber chapter of the RNA). So here's the verdict on "Blind-Date Marriage", as it has been re-titled:

This very contemporary short novel is funny and charming and has real heart. The hero is an original, with his two distinct personae. You're on his side right from the cracking first page. Among our pleasures were a delightfully brisk heroine, whizzy plot, her ageing rocker dad and the way the hero handles a truculent kid. We believed totally in the world and the characters, including a scuzzbag would-be blackmailer. And there were some fabulous one liners that turned us green with envy.

...And the winner - for its freshness, vitality and sheer page turnability- isTHE BLIND DATE BRIDE by Fiona Harper

Now, I should be thinking about quoting bits of this in promotional material and such like, but all I do when I read it is go warm and squishy inside at the thought the judges actually liked my writing.

I've actually been quite terrified at the thought of my book coming out. The down-side of an overactive imagination is that it's very easy to imagine the worst as well as the best. (Think nightmares of angry people with pitchforks at my door shouting "fraud!" shortly after the publication date). But getting this award has boosted my confidence no end. More than the flowers, the trophy, and the cheque (wonderful though they are), it is the judges comments that have me on a high.

The unexpected actually happened!

Erm, remember I said I wouldn’t be needing a speech? Wrong!

Much to my surprise, I was presented with the Joan Hessayon New Writers’ Award at the RNA Summer Party last night. You could have knocked me down with a feather, as my mum likes to say. I had looked on the list of previous winners on the RNA website and discovered the last time a Mills & Boon had won was 1992, so I had assumed that the award would go to a mainstream book.

I must say, I can hardly believe it’s real. Certainly, most of last night felt like a dream (the champagne probably helped in that respect). I attended the RNA AGM beforehand, then carried on to the party where I met up with some of the lovely ladies from The Mouse & Pen on eHarlequin.com. It was so good to see some of the people I chat to online in the flesh.

I was busy chatting to my editor at Mills & Boon, Kim Young, when the champagne was passed round and the herd of butterflies in my stomach decided to stampede. Most of the authors on the shortlist had made it to the party (6 out of 8) and we were called to the front and given lovely bouquets. Then Jenny Haddon, the RNA Chairman, gave a quick run down on each of the books. I couldn’t tell at all from her comments which book was going to get the award. I was just rather pleased she’d liked mine.

As I said, I hadn’t built myself up to expect anything yesterday evening, I thought my chances were slim, but as I was standing there waiting for Jenny to announce the name of the book that had won, I decided I really wanted my name to be read out. And then she was saying that the book they had chosen was “fresh”, and just as I was thinking that what she was saying sounded a bit like the comments on my book earlier, she announced the title of my book (The Blind-Date Bride, re-titled as Blind-Date Marriage by M&B) and my name.

The rest of the evening was a bit of a blur. After listening to David Hessayon, who generously donated the award, I was suddenly confronted with an empty mic and managed to burble some thanks to the RNA, the New Writers’ Scheme and Mills & Boon. Friends were grinning, Mills & Boon editors were crying and I just had the eerie feeling that I had entered an alternate reality. At some point I managed to edge out onto the balcony and call my husband with the news.

Me and my editor, Kim.

On the down side, when I got home, I kicked a stairgate as I was on my way to bed and now I think I may have broken my toe. But even that hasn’t managed to dull the excitement.

And the Oscar goes to...

I’m up for an award!

On Thursday, at the RNA Summer party, the winner of the Joan Hessayon Award will be announced. If you want to know all about the award, you can visit here, but the short version is that the shortlist is made up of books that have been through the RNA’s New Writers’ Scheme and have subsequently been published.

I sent my manuscript of what is now called “Blind-Date Marriage” to the NWS last year. It was my second attempt at a novel and the first one I felt was truly finished to a standard I was happy with. I needed feedback. Before that the only person to have read my work was my husband (I made him check for plot holes and loose ends).

What’s an imagination for, if not to allow you to accept the Oscar for Best Actress or pirouette across the stage of the Royal Opera House? So, I day-dreamed that I would send it off and everyone would swoon over it and insist on sending it to a publisher right away. In reality (I do live there some of the time – think holiday home, rather than permanent residence), I was just hoping for a not-too-awful critique. You know the kind of thing: blah blah blah…bit of potential…blah blah blah…writing doesn’t stink too badly…

When I got an email from the scheme organiser, Nicola Cornick, to tell me the first reader had really liked it and it had gone for a second read, I was gobsmacked. Over the next few days I was known to yell: “I DON’T STINK!” whenever there was an unfilled silence.

Then things really snowballed out of control. The second reader liked it too. (People who knew what they were talking about said nice things about my writing and gave useful criticism!) So the daydream became reality – the NWS sent the manuscript off to Mills & Boon and not long afterwards I got a call from an editor to say they wanted to buy the book.

I was equally overjoyed and terrified. I am the ultimate planner. I don’t just not leap before I look, I measure the size of the obstacle, arrange medical insurance, spend 6 months training, and then I might, just might, consider letting my feet leave the ground. I had planned on getting published (just as every serious writer does), but I hadn’t expect it to happen so soon. Not that I’m complaining! I just had to do a bit of mental rearranging to get my head round it.

And now I’m trying to arrange my head to accommodate the fact that I’m up for an award. Thankfully, I spend so much of my time in la-la land, I have a useful defence mechanism against stressful situations – I never believe they are actually happening, thus the nerves don’t kick in too badly. (I remember the morning of my wedding day, standing in a large white dress thinking, “It’s not really me getting married today, is it?”).

Now, I’m just thrilled to be on the list. I have a sneaking suspicion it’s one of my daydreams that has somehow leaked into the real world. I haven’t read any of the other books on the shortlist yet, but a couple were on the long list for the Romantic Novel of the Year this year, so I will not be adapting my imaginary Oscar acceptance speech for use on Thursday. I don't think I will be needing it.

But then again, if there’s one thing I’ve learned in the last year, it’s that sometimes the unexpected happens…

Carving characters

Okay, my idea is chosen: an estranged couple forced to share a rather eventful car journey which makes them face up to the problems that tore their marriage apart.

Exactly what is going to happen to them is anyone’s guess. First, I need to get to know my characters, and the best way I know how to do that is a character interview or worksheet. Now, I have a love-hate relationship with character worksheets. I love sparking off new ideas for the story, but answering the questions often makes my brain hurt.

I use the character questionnaire from Kate Walker’s “12 Point Guide to Writing Romance”, with a few changes of my own. It covers all the basic stuff: hair, eyes, age, place of birth, parents etc. Then come the hard questions: what is her most treasured possession? How would an ex-lover describe him? What would she never do for any amount of money? Tough questions! (You’ll have to see Kate’s book for the full list.)

While my brain cells are spinning trying to answer these questions, little flashes of inspiration come – tiny details that flesh the characters out and make them likeable and, hopefully, unique.

So, now I have Adele and Nick. Adele is fiercely independent, and is buttoned-up a little too tight sometimes. But she cares deeply for people and is totally loyal to those she loves. Nick is a charmer, full of imagination. He’s a bit of a daydreamer and finds it hard to take life seriously. And he has dimples. Sigh.

Now, some authors definitely like to have photos of their hero and heroine to look at as they write. (Check out Julie Cohen’s or Ally Blake’s blogs, or Trish Wylie’s hero database, if you haven’t already!) I just can’t seem to work that way. I can see a picture that will fit my characters basic physical type, but it never matches the picture in my head exactly.

For my ‘Luke and Gaby’ book (coming out March 2007, by the way) I had a photo of Rupert Penry-Jones pinned onto my picture board. Luke was a kind of rougher looking version of him when I started the book. But the further into the story I got, the more he stopped looking like Rupert and looked more like – well, Luke. And I haven’t found anyone who looks remotely like Gaby yet!

So now, I’ve got to know them, the ideas for how to start the book are starting to brew and bubble. The first thing Adele has to do is catch a spider…

And now for something completely different...

I’m a huge fan of Strictly Dance Fever. For those of you not in

the UK, this is a show similar to “Dancing with Stars” only there are no professional dancers and no celebrities. It’s just raw talent.

After rounds of auditions (think Pop Idol/American Idol) dancers are put into pairs and ten couples go to live in a mansion for the duration of the show (or until they are booted out). Each week the couples learn one of two dance styles for the Saturday show. The styles are broader than the ballroom dancing version, with many great dances to choose from: the jive, jitterbug, rock and roll, charleston, argentine tango, hustle, lindyhop, salsa, lambada – you name it, they try it.

The rest of the format is fairly familiar. The couples dance; the judges give their verdict (the judges get booed.); the public vote, and someone goes home in tears. £50,000 and a professional dance contract is the prize everyone is hoping for.

It’s totally addictive. This show isn’t a way of raising their profile and getting a couple more TV presenting jobs – it’s their dream, their passion! And as the weeks go on, you start to find out why the contestants want to win this competition so badly, and their stories grip you round the throat and won’t let you go. Love it.

Anyway, this year I am cheering for Darren and Lana! I’ve been rooting for Lana from the get go, because my best friend is Lana’s ballet teacher. I was prepared to cheer Lana and partner on, no matter what, but thankfully, they are a very talented pair and deserve all the jumping up and down on the sofa I do.

So what are you waiting for?

VOTE LANA AND DARREN!
0901 121 2408

Champagne and celebrations

I had a great time yesterday at the RNA’s Romantic Novel of the Year awards lunch at the Savoy. It was great to meet up with people I knew and chat to people I didn’t. And, of course, eat nice food and see the awards presented.

The main award went to Erica James for her book, “Gardens of Delight”. I was keen to see who won the “Romance” award for short romantic fiction. I was seated next to the winner, Jessica Hart (a fellow Tender romance author) for “Contracted: Corporate Wife”. I really enjoyed this book and loved the fact that the heroine, Lou, was 45.

Jessica Hart accepting her award

I also had some good news of my own. Just as well I had a glass of champagne in hand to celebrate with! I sold my monster - the Luke and Gaby book that I’ve blogged about recently. And much to my surprise, apart from dropping the prologue, it’s going through without any revisions. Seems all that ripping apart and putting back together paid off in the end. And my editor is right, I think it is a stronger book for all the changes.

My profile

My "new author" profile is up on eharlequin.com!

Click here to see it it.

The birth of an idea

Many writers have likened writing a book to giving birth. My fellow M&B author, Trish Wylie, said that writing one of her books was like giving birth to a pineapple. Ouch!

My second book (still no title), while I’m not sure has been a pineapple, has been hard work. The dreaded “second book syndrome” hitting, probably. Certainly, in the end stages, I was reminded of how I felt when giving birth, and it led me to musing over the analogy further.

I see the ideas stage as the gestation period. That stage when you’re all full of hope and excitement and isn’t-it-going-to-be-wonderful, forgetting that there is some hard graft (and pain and tears) ahead. Thankfully, the ideas stage doesn’t need to take nine months for me.

I may have a handful of story embryos floating around my head, but that doesn’t mean all of them will actually make it to the fully-fledged story stage. For example, I’m whittling down the shortlist for my next story at the moment. There are three contenders:

1. A story idea I got while watching a documentary more than a year ago about people getting trapped in their cars on the motorway during a snow storm.
2. A spin-off story from my first book featuring the pink-haired best friend, Cassie.
3. Something I thought of last week while at Kew Gardens.

What generally happens is that I have other ideas floating around my head (or scribbled in the margin of my notebook) and these will lock in to the main ideas. Maybe this is the moment of conception – when the idea starts to become something more solid with a real possibility of a future.

For example, I may have an idea I want to write a very independent, feisty heroine, or I may want to do a reunion story where the couple have a shared history. Idea number one is a story line that will work with a couple getting back together. Fancy being trapped in a snow-bound car with your soon-to-be ex-husband. Think of all the conflict! Yum.

So really, I think my ideas are more like snowballs than babies as they grow. They start off with a little “what if” and pick up other little snippets of ideas as they roll down the hill and gather momentum.

My first book, Blind-Date marriage, came together in exactly the same way. I had an idea that I wanted to write a very imaginative, creative hero, who was denying that side of his personality. I also had an idea for a slightly off-beat heroine, who had an unconventional life and yearned for the kind of family she sees on TV commercials. These two people were such opposites, it seemed fitting to make them fall in love with each other and watch them struggle with how to be together.

So all this was floating around in my head when, one day, I was driving in the rain, and I went through what looked like a shallow puddle, but as the car wheel hit it, it sprayed water up in the air and soaked someone walking along the pavement. I felt awful! But that anonymous person had suffered for the sake of my art (Fiona, get over yourself!). What a great way for a hero and heroine to meet. Where would they be going? How would this affect their evening? It was at this point I knew the story had legs and I should write it.

As for the next part of the process, I’ll blog about that another time…

Conquering the beast

Finally! I’ve finished the first draft of the work in progress. I think I’ve been suffering from the dreaded “second-book syndrome”. Writing it has felt a bit like scaling a mountain with only my fingernails in the way of climbing tackle. It has come in way over the word limit – 61500!

(I definitely have a “roll” when I’m close to the end of the book. I wrote almost 14000 words in the last three days. Wish I could do that the rest of the time!)

Now I’ve just got the hack the beast into shape. I find one way to get rid of any extraneous waffle is to think about the focus of each scene. What am I trying to develop? Plot? Character? Theme? Probably a combination of all of these, but one element may stand out.

So, as I edit, I think about the scene and what my characters are thinking, feeling and doing. Are there any lines in there that don’t really add anything? Can I condense two paragraphs of internal monologue into a couple of pithy sentences? (Usually!)

I often give my scenes little headings or titles. I started doing this when I was counting up words to find out where the chapter breaks should be. I would completely forget what scene 23 was, but could remember it was “the party”. So now I use my little headings to help me keep focused on the purpose of the scene.

For example, the current wip has various types of headings:

“Everything’s Fine”
This is a scene where the heroine is pretending everything is peachy while the hero knows she’s putting on a brave face, and shutting him out at the same time. So this title reminds me of the heroine’s state of mind. So the focus of this scene is character.

“First Kiss”
Does what it says on the tin. A plot development more than anything else.

“Pointy shoes and diamond rings”
Sometimes I use an image from the scene. The images are usually there in the first place to emphasise character development or theme and these type of heading just seem to give me a feel for what I want to bring out.

“Sad lemonade” or “Toast and Y chromosomes”
Sometimes I just come up with something silly that sums up the scene to me. I’ll leave it to you to come up with a scenario for these two!