lori sizemore

Are you a Twilight enthusiast? A Bella-Wannabe? Mooning endlessly over Bella’s identification withWuthering Heights and thinking the only thing as great as being the author of Edward would be being the author of Heathcliff?

Just so you know: the author of Heathcliff was dissed by her publisher, left unpublished until he could ride the coattails of her sister Charlotte, then published in a terrible edition with sloppy typesetting and cheap paper, and ignored by the reading public, who found Heathcliff—beyond reprehensible—downright disgusting. Emily Bronte was a bonafide literary genius whose greatest work, a saga in verse, was altered after her death against her passionately-clear wishes by busybody Charlotte and re-published in its mutilated form, although half the poems had vanished by then and have never been recovered. Emily Bronte died young, unloved, unhappy, unfulfilled. Undiscovered.

And the author of Edward can’t write for beans. She stumbled on a misogynist aspect of our culture she could exploit in impressionable kids, along with a really good marketer. That really good marketer is now busy with Twilight, and you are in their backwash.

via A. Victoria Mixon, Editor » Blog Archive » 6 Personality Types Who Will Fail as Writers.

This article is great, Ms. Mixon is better.  People who speak their minds and can back it up with facts–priceless.

Title: Show Up Naked: Writing the Male

POVInstructors: Chris Redding

Date: August 2 – 27, 2010

Classroom: Mile High

DESCRIPTION: This class is a fun, but informative trip through a man’s mind. Scary thought, I know, but when you finish this course you will know more about that man in your life and, more importantly, you’ll write believable male characters.The lessons will include:

• Male Emotions, yes they have them

• Stages men go through

• Bad boys, why we love them and how they got to be that way.

• Insight into why men can be so sweet one minute, and then the next say the most boneheaded things.

BIO: Chris Redding lives in New Jersey with her husband, two kids, one dog and three rabbits. When she is not writing she works part time in the Emergency Medical Services Department of her local hospital. Her latest, release, Incendiary, will be out this Spring.

via Colorado Romance Writers Inc. – the Denver Affiliate of Romance Writers of America®.

I deeply wanted to take this class, but time constraints prevent me from doing so right now.  If any of you have the opportunity, I highly recommend it.

I’ve had some distracting circumstances recently that forced me to pretty much put aside writing for a while until I could own my time again.  My time still isn’t completely free and clear, but there is a little more of it.

The problem, though, is how do you pick up that piece you once had so much passion for?  What magic formula brings it alive again?

I have two works in progress; one is still very much alive, but the other I laid aside because it just..wasn’t…working.  That’s the one I want to discuss today.

My first approach is to try something new.  I mean really new, something–a pov, a timeline, a plotting versus pantsing technique–that you’ve never tried before.  This novel is very much connected to events in the past.  So much so, that’s where a good portion of the story should be.  So I’m breaking my own backstory rule and trying to weave it in.  I’m going to have two simultaneous timelines happening to explain what’s happening in one by using one.  Will it work?  Don’t know yet.  But, right now, this story is so much dead weight in the water.

Second, I’m going to bask in the process.  I’m a note taker, a big one.  I write everything down, even conversations with myself and my characters about the story.  I plan on steeping my mind in this information until that spark of passion ignites again.

Finally, and I’m pretty sure this is how any story truly gets written, I’m going to just do it already.  Hold my nose, close my eyes, and jump in. I’m strongly believe, a story is written not through love of writing but commitment.  Push through the wall, head down, hands on the keyboard, and just write.

The goal is not a number of words or hours spent writing. All you need to do is to keep your heart and mind open to the work.

WALTER MOSLEY

Put your notes away before you begin a draft. What you remember is probably what should be remembered; what you forget is probably what should be forgotten. No matter; you’ll have a chance to go back to your notes after the draft is completed. What is important is to achieve a draft which allows the writing to flow.

DONALD M. MURRAY

via AdviceToWriters – Home – Put Your Notes Away.

I usually post quotes that I, you know, agree with.  But this? No freaking way.

I almost spend too much time making notes; I’ll give him that one.  Sometimes it’s a procrastination tool.  Sometimes, you do just need to sit your behind down and write.  And, maybe, for some people, the above is true.  They don’t need notes! They have memory and imagination and they bask in the story like a cat in the sun.

I’m not that person. I have a notebook for each project that I work on.  I have character bios (not forms, but freehand bios written in character voice), I have house plans, I have pics of cities and rooms and people to model the characters after.

I guess my point is this: writing is deeply, deeply personal and whatever it takes to get you to that sweet spot, that’s what you do.

On Kathy Carmichael’s awesome site, she has a form to aid in creating a short synopsis and plotting your story.  You should go download that now.  I’ll wait.

She suggests, on the first page, to list ten events that will help change a character’s core belief and to keep in mind the stages of change.  This opened up a whole new way of looking at structuring character arc for me so I wanted to share what I’d found on the stages of change.

The earliest stage of change is known as precontemplation. During the precontemplation stage, people are not considering a change. People in this stage are often described as “in denial” due to claims that their behavior is not a problem. If you are in this stage, you may feel resigned to your current state or believe that you have no control over your behavior. In some cases, people in this stage do not understand that their behavior is damaging or are under-informed about the consequences of their actions.

via Stages of Change – Precontemplation Stage.

We’re going to be dealing with 4 of those stages, so it would make sense, I think, to divide this arc into quarters.  For example, the precontemplation stage would be the first 1/4 of your story.

During this stage, people become more and more aware of the potential benefits of making a change, but the costs tend to stand out even more. This conflict creates a strong sense of ambivalence about changing. Because of this uncertainty, the contemplation stage of change can last months or even years. In fact, many people never make it past the contemplation phase. During this stage, you may view change as a process of giving something up rather than a means of gaining emotional, mental, or physical benefits.

via Stages of Change – Contemplation Stage.

Of course, our heroes and heroines will make it past this stage because that’s what makes them heroic.

During this stage, you might begin making small changes to prepare for a larger life change. For example, if losing weight is your goal, you might switch to lower-fat foods. If your goal is to quit smoking, you might switch brands or smoke less each day. You might also take some sort of direct action such as consulting a therapist, joining a health club, or reading self-help books.

via Stages of Change – Preparation Stage.

What’s key here is small changes.  Our hero or heroine isn’t ready to full on commit yet, so explore ways to make small concessions to change.

During the fourth stage of change, people begin taking direct action in order to accomplish their goals. Oftentimes, resolutions fail because the previous steps have not been given enough thought or time. For example, many people make a New Year’s Resolution to lose weight and immediately start a new exercise regimen, begin eating a healthier diet, and cut back on snacks. These definitive steps are vital to success, but these efforts are often abandoned in a matter of weeks because the previous steps have been overlooked.

via Stages of Change – Action Stage.

There’s another stage, maintenance, but I think that stage comes after the HEA.

To me, it makes sense to structure your characters change, and that what it’s all about–the character’s journey–in a way that is scientifically proven to be how real people handle change.

Again, you should check out Kathy’s site or follow her on twitter (linked above) because she is clearly brilliant.

I’ve really been struggling lately with process.  I’ve come to a dead end and, it occurred to me, it’s not the story.  It’s how I’m getting the story out.  I always considered myself a planner (vs. a pantser) but it occurred to me when I was actually writing five page descriptions of my heroine’s apartment that maybe I was doing too much planning.

But writing the beginning of a story is easy. Or it is for me.  There’s so much to get out, so much you know is going to happen, it’s like you channel the story.  And then you hit that wall, where you haven’t planned any further and you’re not sure where to go next.  I had notecards based on GMC (which I still believe is a good idea), but they just didn’t ring true to my story.  Nothing did.

I decided to pick up another project I had done some notes for (my stories generally start with pages and pages of backstory–how did my protagonists get where they are now?).  I was sick of rules, sick of genre, sick of trying to write what I should.  I just wanted to fly with the story as it flowed out of me.  No worries about description or narrative.  I wanted minimal direction, I wanted to know what my characters were feeling, and I wanted to get the dialogue down.  (Dialogue always comes first and easiest for me.)  I’m 41 pages into this long “outline” and I don’t know how it’s going to work out.  I don’t know if it’ll be easier to avoid those walls and how much work it’ll be to turn it into a decent first draft.  I just know writing feels good again.  It feels right, and that matters.

The main rule of writing is that if you do it with enough assurance and confidence, you’re allowed to do whatever you like. (That may be a rule for life as well as for writing. But it’s definitely true for writing.) So write your story as it needs to be written. Write it honestly, and tell it as best you can. I’m not sure that there are any other rules. Not ones that matter.

NEIL GAIMAN

via AdviceToWriters – Home – Write Your Story As It Needs to be Written.

Please share your process with me in the comments.  I’m always looking for new techniques.

An excellent article on how to create a set of rules for what’s selling and, more importantly, what you like reading in your romance novels.  It makes it a lot easier to know what to write when you know what you like.

But I needed help—some guidelines when it came to spinning a story that was right for the market.

And that’s when I realized I should turn to the bible. No, I wasn’t getting religious. This was all about research and the creation of my own bible—a set of rules to follow and requirements to incorporate. This was all about identifying the sort of things that had to appear in a book.

I’m not merely talking about love scenes. I’m talking about lifestyles, backgrounds of characters, how to get to that happily ever after at the end of the book, and a myriad of other elements.

How to Dissect Romance Novels and Create Rules for Writing.

So I’m a third to a half of the way through my manuscript and oh. my. God.

I knew the beginning.  I had so much to write, to get all these threads and storylines moving.  I had to write and then condense and rewrite just to make sure I could get in everything important without rambling.  And then I get to this point and I’ve got nothing.  What comes next?  I sort of know the ending, though not the specifics, so where do I go from here?  Some ideas.

1. A preset time (say, 30 minutes) of freewriting, preferably with a program that pushes you to just keep writing, like Write or Die.
2. Use note cards to just jot down scenes or even ideas and then piece them into order.  Great advice from Johanna Harness on her magic note cards.
3. Use these 4 tips from Writer’s Digest to tame your ideas.

Don’t worry about failing. Be fearless about taming your best ideas, and about tossing out those that don’t fit your model. Choose paths that illuminate your own unique take on the world.

Most importantly, don’t give up! The middle is supposed to be hard, the whole writing process can be hard.  Don’t let that make you think you don’t have what it takes to be a writer.

I know, subtle title, right?  So, I’m revising because I realized I need more sexual chemistry.  And how do I get that?  Subtle sensuality.

It’s not that I’m an idiot when it comes to writing the sex.  Some people have told me I’m quite adept at it.  It’s just that, sometimes, when you’re trying to get a hundred other things right, like plot and characters and goals and motivation–you get it, it’s easy to forget that people who just jump into bed aren’t sexy.

I started thinking about personal space.  I’m married with kids, so people are in my space all the time.  We hug, we kiss good night, we hold hands.  I forgot, for a moment, how sexy personal space could be.  Because letting someone in your personal space, or someone pushing past that bubble, is incredibly intimate.  A touch on the hand, a massage, a hand brushing the thigh–tell me that couldn’t send your blood pressure through the roof with the right person.  So, I’m focusing on showing sexual chemistry and attraction by showing that secret, tingly sharing of personal space and putting off the payoff as loooooong as possible.  I’ll let you know how it goes.  Maybe even posting a sampling.

Love scenes are not all about the physical act, they are more about the characters and the story. What happens to change them and advance the plot?

via Writing the Love Scene in Fiction Stories: How to Add Heat to Romance Novels without Turning the Reader Off.

Writer’s Digest is studying the romance novel today (and giving you a bit of a glimpse into the book I’m currently reading, On Writing Romance: How to Craft a Novel That Sells by Leigh Michaels).

I say: If you’re not a beginner, the first 85 pages are full of info you’ve heard before.  But then, it’s writing gold.  Give it a shot.

My favorite, the real “formula” of a romance:

What romance novels have in common is this: A romance novel is the story of a man and a woman who, while they’re solving a problem that threatens to keep them apart, discover that the love they feel for each other is the sort that comes along only once in a lifetime; this discovery leads to a permanent commitment and a happy ending.

via Writer’s Digest – Studying the Romance Novel.