What Surprised Me: Plotting, Pantsing and Puzzling

By Anna C. Bowling

When I first started creating my own stories, I didn't know any techniques. Then as I started to learn more about writing, I learned about plotting. A character's journey is from wanting something to either getting it or knowing they will never get it. How do they get there? Lots of options. There's the snowflake plot, the W plot, Goal, Motivation and Conflict. Rising action. Falling action. Plateaus. Arcs. Augh! Getting characters from point A to point Z, precisely pinpointing exactly where points B, C, and D through Y are along the way can be too confusing for many a new writer, and anyway, don't real writers run on pure creativity?

At one point I thought so, and it sure seems to work for authors like Jo Beverly. Her Flying into the Mist talk originally given at an RWA conference in 1999 has helped many pansting writers accept that, for them, writing isn't something that can be captured in index cards or character charts. So I tried flying through the mist, hither and yon as the day took me, only to find that for me, flying through the mist more often turned into a belly flop on the rocks. I needed more order than that.

So if plotting wasn't working and pantsing wasn't working, what was there left? Hopeless, utterly hopeless. I threw my (metaphorical) hands in the air and decided that all I could do was all I could do and if I was going to tell my stories, it would have to be my way. I knew where my story started and I knew where it had to end, so what if I tried working both ends toward the middle? What if I worked on what I knew and prodded, poked and even bribed those headstrong characters until they coughed up the information I needed to see where things were headed? What did I have to lose?

Sure enough, things came. A little bit here, a little bit there. Things didn't come in order, but who cared? I wrote things as they came, labeled each new section and figured I'd put them together later. I didn't know this was a technique of its own, or that it had a name, but when I read Emily Bryan's "Only One Right Way to Write a Novel" blog post, "puzzling" did seem to fit the bill. Puzzling with a bit of layering, to be more specific. Different bits from different methods fit together, often over a few different passes through the manuscript.

I never thought that I'd wind up with notebooks full of color coded sticky notes, numbered scenes and a rainbow of highlighted passages, song lists, images and the like, but so far, so good. All of that gives me the picture I'm working toward as I fit the puzzle together. Your mileage may vary. The way that works is the way that works for you.

Humor: How come I'm the Only One Laughing?

By Delia DeLeest

"This potato masher sucks."

This statement is guaranteed to send my siblings and me into gales of laughter, but other people just don't get it. That's the problem is much of our humor: it's very situational.

Many things are funny because we can relate them to something that had happened previously in our lives. The trick to writing humor is to make sure that what you're writing is funny to someone besides yourself and/or others who’ve had a similar life experience. You want it to be funny to everyone--or at least to the majority of your readers.

I remember a writer friend lamenting on the fact that she wrote a scene she thought was hilarious, her sisters felt the same way, but nobody else thought it was funny. Finally, the writer realized that it was funny to her sisters and her because it related to an event that happened to them in their childhood. Nobody else thought it was funny because they hadn't lived through that experience. She had a sucky potato masher.

You Just Had To Be There

I could tell you the story about what makes the potato masher statement so funny, but it'll get lost in the translation. It was hilarious because of the time, place and person who said it, but if you weren't there, you're not going to get it. Frankly, when I tell someone the story, it doesn't even sound all that funny to me anymore, but I still giggle when someone in my family makes the infamous potato masher pronouncement. But I realize that if a character in one of my books would say it, no one but my family would think it was funny.

There's a scene I wrote where the heroine asks for directions. After a very detailed description of how to get there involving turning left where Anderson's barn used to be and right where that oak tree got struck by lightning ten years ago, she left just as confused as she arrived. This is funny because just about everyone has experienced getting bad directions at some time in their lives or, possibly, they recognize themselves in the direction giver. Either way, giving and receiving bad directions is something everyone can relate to.

I Get It. It Just Wasn't Funny

The worst scenario in writing humor is when what you write just isn't funny. Repeating the joke to force your audience to laugh isn't going to work either. If it wasn't funny the first time, it's not going to get any better the second--or third. Of course, the opposite of this can be true as well. One of the things I enjoy about reading the latest of Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum books is finding out which new way and hilarious way Stephanie's car is going to be blown up this time. It became an inside joke between the author and her readers--and who doesn't love to be on the inside of an inside joke?

Everyone doesn't find the same things funny, which is why there are so many different kinds of comedy out there. People become known for their comedic style--there's a difference between reading a Jennifer Crusie book and one by Katie MacAlister. They're both hilarious, but in different ways. The trick to writing comedy is to find out what you do best, make sure your reader can relate and have a good time.

Men: Writing the Historical Hero

By Anna C. Bowling

What is it that makes the historical hero special? Yes, you in the front. He lives in another time? Well, yes, that is important to the definition. Let's get some other opinions on that. Over there in the frock coat? A sense of honor? Very good. Someone else? Yes, there in the ah, what sort of fur is that loincloth? That is a loincloth, isn't it? Survival instinct and a pioneering spirit? Yes, those are very useful. Third row, in the cravat? No, no, the one with the emerald stickpin. Manners and breeding? Yes, sometimes, or a self-made man with rougher edges. Hush, hush, please, or we could be here all day listing heroic qualities.

Why ask this sort of question at all, some might wonder? Isn't a historical hero merely a hero who lived in a previous time? Couldn't any of the above qualities reflect in contemporary gentlemen as well? Of course they do, and apart from time travels, all historical heroes do their derring-do in previous eras, but strip them down and put them beside their contemporary counterparts and there's still something different.

The German word for it is "zeitgeist" In short, the spirit of the age and society. The time in which a hero lives will shape him and what he views as heroic. True, the inspirations for our fictional heroes can come from sources as diverse as the latest blockbuster film, a favorite soap opera, the new trainer at the gym, a dusty history tome or a random thought that meandered through the daily chores, but heroes, whatever their era, are not interchangeable. Knowing what a potential hero looks like is only the beginning.

Imagine taking a Victorian nobleman and swapping him with a Viking jarl or a Spanish grandee from the seventeenth century. For that matter, an Iroquois warrior or Moorish scholar. Not only would each gentleman find the costume and social climate strange compared to what he's lived with all his life, but imagine the gents filling out the same questionnaire regarding heroic attributes. Education, tastes in food and leisure activities, even what they would find attractive in a potential mate, all vary vastly across the years and the globe.

For those wondering why the gentlemen in the opening paragraph are gathered together in the first place, other than to beautify the scenery, take a good look at the heroes depicted by Unusual Historicals authors. They come from places as diverse as Africa and Germany, France and the New World. Hm, yes, even England in various eras. They stretch from the ancient world to the modern day, and perhaps a tad beyond. We have alphas, betas, and the elusive gamma (who may or may not exist, depending on whom one asks, but if he does, he combines the qualities of the other two) and a few who refuse to be categorized at all.

Were we to collect the above-mentioned questionnaires, the variety of responses on most questions would astound us, but the answers to the most important questions would be the same. What would they give for their beloved? Everything. Certainly, there would be disagreements on exactly how one might best accomplish that, and I can't guarantee there wouldn't be a few fisticuffs, but when it absolutely, positively has to be happily ever after, there are no odds over which a historical hero can't triumph with his beloved by his side.

Literature & Education: Egyptian Literature

By Jean Adams

Ancient Egyptian literature grew out of religious beliefs, but quickly evolved to deal with man's day-to-day life. Literary works occupied a distinguished position in ancient Egyptian civilization. The Egyptians viewed literature as a source of spiritual nourishment and a unique way to elevate style of expression. Refined literary style was a source of pride for the writer and appreciation and enjoyment for the reader.

Egyptians wrote plays, dramatic poetry, songs, religious hymns and love poetry, in addition to description of nature, poems to glorify their kings and their battles, and songs for workers and farmers and others to be sung in parties.

Ancient Egyptian literature can be dated back to the Middle Kingdom (2022 BC-1850 BC). This era witnessed a great number of writers and thinkers who left behind works of art reflecting the elevated status of thinking and culture.

One story is titled "The Sailor and the Wonder Island" (The Shipwrecked Sailor). It narrates the story of an Egyptian sailor whose ship is wrecked with all others on board, drowned. As the only survivor, he lives on an isolated island, finds a treasure, and returns home. The original“Treasure Island perhaps?

Scholars and critics of comparative literature are at loggerheads on the extent of the influence of the "Message of Forgiveness," written by the Arabic poet abul-Ala'al- Ma'arri (973-1057 AD), on Dante Aligieri's Divine Comedy. The central theme of both works is the description of heaven and hell in the hereafter.

Some scholars believe this theme has clear roots in ancient Egyptian literature, which tackled this theme in many works. It was evident in The Book of the Dead, The Book of the Gates, and in the story Isis, Osiris and the World of Dead.

Ancient Egyptian writers expressed their imaginative vision of the journey of the soul after leaving the body to the sky until it reaches the court where the deceased's heart is weighed against "Ma'at's feather" that symbolizes justice, truthfulness, rightness and bounty. Then, the deceased is sentenced to eternal paradise or hell.

The ancient Egyptians also excelled at novel writing. This is reflected in the great number of stories left behind. In some of these stories, a well-traveled hero tells us about his adventures such as the story of the sailor and the dangers he witnessed on the mythical island of snakes.

Another example is "Snohi" (Sinuhe), a story that was famous for many centuries. It describes Snohi's escape from Egypt after a perceived wrongdoing and his stay in Syria for many years where he won the favor of the king. He became so close to the leader,who allowed him to marry his elder daughter, and gave him a plot of land. When Snohi grows old, he also grows homesick. He appeals to the king for permission to return to Egypt to see, as he says, "the place that his heart is longing to see because the greatest thing in the world for a man is to be buried in the place of his birth." His hope is fulfilled and he returns to Egypt.

The ancient Egyptians excelled in writing romantic love poetry. In addition to eulogies to Nile River and its merits, there were many love poems that expressed not only passion surging the heart of a lover, but also delicate emotions. Sentiments of love were couched in beautiful similes derived from aspects of the Egyptian environment. For example, a lover says to his beloved, "My beloved is like a garden, full of beautiful papyrus blossoms and I am like a wild goose attracted by the taste of love."

Another lover says, "My beloved is there on the other bank. We are separated by the floodwater. On the bankside, there is a crocodile lying in wait. But I am not afraid of it. I will swim through the water until I reach her and be delighted."

In another love song, two lovers exchange refined expressions of love. The loving woman says, "I will never leave you my darling. My only wish is to stay in your house and at your service. We will always be hand in hand, come and go to gather everywhere. You are my health; my life."

In many of the love poems of Egypt, the man calls his beloved "sister" and the woman calls her lover "brother" in order to show how each one of them highly appreciates the other.

Finally, can you guess this story?

Rhodophis, a young slave girl, who could dance beautifully, so delighted her old master that he bought her a pair of golden sandals. The other servants were jealous, so when Pharaoh decided he wanted to take a wife, and summoned all the women of the kingdom to a great feast, they didn't tell Rhodophis and left her behind. But the gods intervened and sent Horus, in the shape of a falcon, to steal one of her sandals. He dropped it at the feet of Pharaoh, who declared the sandal was so dainty that we would marry the wearer. Many tried it on but it fit none of them so he sent out his chariots to find her. They found Rhodophis cowering behind a bush and sent for Pharaoh. He took her by the hand and declared his undying love for her.

Cinderella's story with the same central themes appears in abundance in the folkloric and literary works of many nations all over world, the most famous being the Brothers Grimm.

The first reference of this story dates back to the era of the fourth Dynasty in the 26th Century BC.

Fashion: Lady Looks Like a Dude

By Anna C. Bowling

Having a heroine adopt male guise has been a staple of the historical tale for quite some time. Shakespeare did it in Twelfth Night, and Georgette Heyer in The Masqueraders and These Old Shades. Kathleen Woodiwiss brought this device to the modern historical romance with Ashes in the Wind. Susan Elizabeth Phillips also had her heroine in male guise for part of her only solo historical, recently reissued under the title Just Imagine. Several romances have adapted or borrowed from the lives of pirates Anne Bonny and Mary Read. As of this writing, there are four newly-released books that have heroines in male disguise in my to-be-read and just-finished-reading piles.

Whether our heroine is out for a lark or running for her life, the heroine disguised as male device is one that can be used in several different settings and eras and for a variety of reasons. In many historical eras, a lone woman would have endured challenges and restrictions that a man, even a young one, would not. Prior to the twentieth century, a heroine who wished to serve in the military had no option but to adopt a male identity, and maritime superstition about women being bad luck aboard a ship (though some captains were allowed to bring their wives) revealed many a cabin boy to be a girl. A heroine who needs to elude captors would be wise to alter her appearance, and altering her perceived gender can throw even the wiliest villains off the track.

The specifics of this will of course vary on geography, era, culture and common dress, but the phrase "If it walks like a duck and talks like a duck, it's probably a duck" applies to disguised heroines. In most historical eras, male and female dress were distinct from each other, and if some form of uniform was involved, the gender of the person in it couldn't be readily assumed.

A woman adopting male guise would have a few things to consider. Her hair would likely have to be cut or at least concealed, and the lack of any form of facial hair would turn even a twenty-something heroine into an assumed adolescent. If she can avoid bathing, a natural patina may have formed, hopefully obscuring a more feminine bone structure as well as smooth cheeks and jaw. Breasts would need to be bound with long strips of cloth such as bandages, unless the heroine has a naturally boyish figure, in which case she might have an extra advantage. Beg, borrow or steal a shirt, breeches and jacket from a likely male compatriot and the transformation is...not yet complete.

Depending on where and when our heroine found herself, she'd need to alter not only her appearance but her speech, vocabulary, movement and social skills. A sailor, for example, would have a different air about him than a gently reared miss of the upper class. If the disguise persisted for an extended period of time, she'd have to find a way to deal with menstruation, and once the hero entered the picture, possibly pregnancy.

Though many women throughout history did choose to live out their lives in male garb, in a romance, at some point, our heroine would resume her feminine appearance. Still, as with when our heroine adopted her disguise, the outer appearance wouldn't always tell the whole story. Whatever she wore, our heroine would have seen life from a different angle, giving her insight into any adventures yet to come.

Expansion & Invasion: A Cunning Plan

By Anna C. Bowling

Setting: Unspecified location, long ago. Two historical personages survey the world beyond their borders and debate what must be done.

First Historical Personage: Hey, look at that place over there.

Second Historical Personage: Nice and roomy. Think they'd mind if a few hundred of us moved in with all our stuff?

First Historical Personage: They might. They have their own stuff already, and I'm fairly sure they're using their houses.

Second Historical Personage: We like some of their stuff. Think they'd share?

First Historical Personage: Given the right incentive, possibly. Got any ideas?

Second Historical Personage: We have things that make them go "ow" if used properly.

First Historical Personage: They have owie things, too.

Second Historical Personage: Hmm.

First Historical Personage: Hmm.

Second Historical Personage: What if we asked nicely?

First Historical Personage: That might work if any of them speak our language.

Second Historical Personage: Do they?

First Historical Personage: What do you think?

Second Historical Personage: Probably not the majority.

First Historical Personage: Probably not. What we'd need is a universal language.

Second Historical Personage: Good luck with that one. Are you sure you don't want to use the owie things?

First Historical Personage: If we use our owie things, they use their owie things, and that can't end well.

Second Historical Personage: True, true.

First Historical Personage: So, the question is, how do we get them to let us move in a few hundred of our nearest and dearest (or least desirable, depending on our motives) in a way that could end well? I mean, isn't the whole invasion thing not weighted in their favor? Except for the "them" that fight back and keep us out altogether. Which, I might point out, would not end well for us.

Second Historical Personage: Ending well is a must. They have comely wenches.

First Historical Personage: That's it!

Second Historical Personage: What's what?

First Historical Personage: They have comely wenches, we have strapping young men. I know it's a rather simplistic view, but that's the genius of the whole plan.

Second Historical Personage: We have a plan? I thought we'd send in the barbarians....

First Historical Personage: No. No barbarians. Maybe a few who look like barbarians, at least before a decent bath.

Second Historical Personage: Bath? I shudder at the thought.

First Historical Personage: That might be one of the reasons you were asked to leave in the first place. Work with me here. We send in some outwardly rough specimens, preferably with tortured pasts, and they will seek out the comely wenches. Or the wenches seek them out. It can go both ways. Keep them in close quarters, and given enough time, they'll get to know each other as individuals and nature will take its course. Which will cause the parties involved to cut through the preconceived notions and things can indeed end well. Or well-ish. Depends on who's in charge of actually writing things down.

Second Historical Personage: But surely there will be some collateral damage.

First Historical Personage: Sadly, yes, but that can depend on the writers again, and it does leave the door open for sequels. Which will also end well. Even in the darkest of times, love does find a way to turn things around.

To Plot or Not to Plot

Here's a post from Christine. Go ahead and talk about your process! -- Carrie

Unlike everyone else on this list (I think), I write with a partner, Marisa. She lives about 2 hours north of me, and we manage to get together once every other month or so. Mostly we rack up long distance phone bills (ok, we have a total phone package deal but it doesn't sound the same) and email each other like a pair of stalkers.

Usually, we outline a story, get the first few chapters finished together, then divide the rest of it up. Once our latest section is sent off to the other, we tweak that part then I add it into the story as a whole. Depending on things, and if we like the way we’re actually progressing, a story will take us about 5-6 months. But then we both have full-time jobs and outside interests that suck up our time. Plus we tend to go back and self-edit quite a bit. Our goal for this year is to cut that time in half.

So my for everyone out there: Forgetting for a moment Work, Family, Non-Writing-Commitments, and most importantly Life (and how it has that annoying little habit of getting in the way of writing) how do you plan a story out and, assuming all goes well, about how long does it take you to finish it?

By Chritine Koehler

Seventy Days of Sweat

I'm participating in Alison Kent's Seventy Days of Sweat. Anyone else up for the challenge?

Reading and Writing Through the Storms of Life

This has been a month to make history in my family. Within one week, my husband had three asthma attacks, the first one coming within a hairsbreadth of fatal, and my father went into the hospital for a surgical procedure, which proved to be one more thing than his poor body could handle, and this week, we lay him to rest. Hubby is home, healthy and back at work, and a big support as we start this new phase.

For a couple of weeks there, my life was spent shuttling between two hospitals, and it wasn't at all uncommon to go two days and change without sleep. Signing my name on countless medical documents for both of my guys, starting to recognize the staff and their voices on the phone, and all that stuff, stress can get to even the hardiest of us real-life heroines. It was, incidentally, all those heroines from mumblecough years of reading and writing historical romance that helped me keep up what I needed to get through it all.

Back when my father started having his troubles, we made a hospital bag -– something to grab when going out the door for medical emergencies, stocked with all the necessaries, from lists of doctors and medications, to clean socks, healthy snacks, and...a romance novel. Trust me, if you're going to be spending hours in a waiting room or by the bedside of a loved one, you're going to want a romance novel. Give me the choice of watching the closed captioning on the news or talk shows versus opening the cover of a book and slipping into another century full of adventure and love, and guess which I'll pick every time?

I thought when this started that I wasn't going to get a lot of writing done. Wrong. I've been toting around notebooks for two of my current projects, and welcoming the chance to not only slip into another era, but have control over it as well. Visiting with Trista and Drew on a deserted island in the Georgian era, or Angus and Summer in modern New York and Tudor era Scotland, is a welcome break, and a reminder that real life is going to throw us curves in any era, and like the heroines we are (as we all are heroines of our own stories) we can get through it. I can't ask my heroines to push through if I'm not going to push through myself. Even on days when I can't get anything on a page, the story still goes on in my head, and that little bit of normal is a big help to get through the rest. Because heroines always do.

To the authors of the books that saw me through some long nights, and ushered me through the rigors of ancient Rome, the social strata of Victorian England, the wild adventure of sixteenth century Caribbean seas and the pageantry of the medieval era, thank you a thousand times for the respite, and a thousand more for the inspiration. In choosing which books should replace the ones just read, I found myself pleasantly surprised that there does seem to be a bigger selection of settings and eras these days, which can only be good for readers and writers alike.

It also gave me a new connection with some of the hard things my characters have to experience. The eras I write about don't have the medical advantages we have today; a loved one could either linger indefinitely or be gone in an instant, and some of the common cures or treatments of the day might have the exact opposite effect to what we know to do now. All of which may someday find their ways into future stories. Life, death, love, fear, faith, hope, family, friendship and such aren't confined to a particular time or place.

When you come to a tough bend in the road, how do you get back on track when it's time to get writing again? Does reading help, or is that for another time? What about using real life experiences as ways to make your characters work for their HEAs? Some things are universal.

What Have You Done Lately?

Just a quick post today, as my brother and his family are up for a visit today. Full house! Thus far in 2007, and with regard to writing or reading, what have you achieved that you are most proud of? Most. One thing (I know, it's hard).

Go ahead, bloggers and readers alike...brag a little!!

Punctual Punctuation

The right word may be effective, but no word was ever as effective as a rightly timed pause.~~Mark Twain

originallytherewerenopunctuationmarksorevenspacesbetweenwords

But that was rather difficult to read. The Romans sometimes used a dot between words, which later changed to a space and became standardized with the printing press, as did many other punctuation conventions--more about that later. The Greeks gave us paragraphos, or paragraph breaks--a horizontal line inserted when starting a new line of thought. Of course, there might be three or four pages of text in one paragraph, but what breaks there were certainly did aid in readability.

The period or "full stop" still wasn't used consistently. Medieval scribes often used daggers, flowers, birds, and other ornaments to indicate paragraphs or footnotes. In fact, punctuation was used more for speaking--reading the text out loud--than for reading silently. In other words, where a speaker should pause, the writer inserted some sort of mark. No regard was made to such things as dependent clauses, dialogue, or things of that ilk.

So let's skip ahead to a Venitian printing shop in the late 1400s, and visit Aldus Manutius (1449-1515). What an innovator he was. He was the first to publish classics without annotations or other distractions. Italics typeface is attributable to him. Periods, commas, and some grammar conventions came about because if his scholarly efforts. And yet, the print shop stayed in business for years, so he must have been somewhat profitable while swimming against the tide. His grandson, the younger Aldo, recorded punctuation rules in 1566. Three generations of the Manutius family defined the look and content of books today.

The Next Generation

At the beginning of the 1600s, punctuation was still used more for elocution than to delineate syntax. Not until Ben Jonson's posthumously published work, English Grammar (written in 1617 and published in 1640), was punctuation used syntactically and in a way that made sense. This small book can be somewhat daunting to read, however.

"There resteth one generall Affection of the whole, dispersed thorow every member thereof, as the bloud is thorow the body; and consisteth in the Breathing, when we pronounce any Sentence; For, whereas our breath is by nature so short, that we cannot continue without a stay to speake long together; it was thought necessarie, as well as for the speakers ease, as for the plainer deliverance of the things spoken, to invent this meanes, whereby men pausing a pretty while, the whole speech might never the worse be understood."

That means punctuation makes a sentence more easily comprehended. Makes one appreciate Strunk & White.

Contemporary Punctuation

From Punctuation in English Since 1600, which cites Encylopaedia Britannica:

"It was the lexicographers Henry Watson Fowler and Francis George Fowler in The King's English, published in 1906, who established the current British practice of light punctuation. Punctuation in the United States has followed much the same path as in Britain, but the rules laid down by American authorities have in general been more rigid than the British rules."

Even today, punctuation rules are fluid and each publishing house has its own "style" which may or may not conform with late 20th Century's accepted standards. Most large publishers are using fewer and fewer commas whether a pause is indicated or not. My publisher, however, inserted hundreds of commas in my last book because they adhere to the standard comma rules. They do not, however, adhere to the standardized rules for interrupting dialogue with body motion--there's a house "style" for that. It behooves a writer to read a few books from her targeted publisher to find out how that house punctuates. There are vast differences.

Just for fun, try the Eats, Shoots & Leaves' Punctuation Game.

Contest!!! For a chance to win Into the Woods by RR Smythe, join the Keely list (announcements and newsletters only). Winner will be drawn from the list of subscribers at 11:59pm June 30.


Jacquie



Jacquie Rogers
Faery Special Romances (May 2007)
Take a look at the book video
Royalties go to Children's Tumor Foundation,
ending Neurofibromatosis through Research

Historical Novel Society, Part II

Lisa Yarde can write about Friday night (hey Lisa! hope you're feeling better) because I missed the entire thing.

The next panel was "Rewriting the Role of Women" with Suzanne Adair, Irene Burgess, Susanne Dunlap, Sandra Gulland, moderated by Mary Sharratt. Again, they mentioned this Red Tent by Anita Diamant that Irene mentioned--Irene recommended being like that author and going on a two-year promotional signing tour, something that shut the room up immediately because it's clearly not practical for most of us. Irene Burgess, a professor of women's studies, mentioned a lot of historical heroines who seem anachronistic to readers really aren't. A lot of this comes from a lack of understanding. In the 20thC we created a lot of behaviors that were already present in women for centuries. Sandra says she got a lot of her historical information from midwifery guides. Josephine went into early menopause and was crying all the time, had intense migraines. Oops, it appears I didn't take all that many notes during that panel. I had to run to the group book-signing where I purchased Jeanne Mackin's novel about Maggie Fox, the "founder" of modern Spiritualism. To me, that's the fun part of a group signing--purchasing the other author's books and talking to them. Diana Gabaldon and Bernard Cornwell signed the entire two hours, and had lines going around the pool.

That night was a delicious banquet--the "Feast" part of "Feast 'n' Fun"--Diana Gabaldon (the "'n Fun" part) said it was the best conference food she'd ever had. She told a story about her road to publication that I think left most of us functionally depressed. She was a mother of two working at a university, apparently the world's only expert at writing bird programs in FORTRAN (or something of that nature). She realized she was almost 35 so had better start on this novel she'd always wanted to do. She doesn't write in a linear fashion; apparently she writes in chunks and pieces them all together later like a puzzle (yes, she does wind up with chunks that won't fit, and those all go into a separate file). Someone in her compuserve group said he'd recommend her to his agent. A very short story ensued: the agent took her on and within three days had five offers. And the book wasn't even finished yet. The end. Imagine three hundred people gaping, slack-jawed, in awe and stupefaction.

Sunday morning the first panel was "Bringing Pirates to Life," with my pirate editor Cindy Vallar, and Jim Nelson. Jim believes it's OK to use secondary source material to get an overall idea of your big picture, but you must use primary sources for the details of what happens to one guy. He is amused at our fascination with pirates. It's as though in 2020 we will all dress up like gangbangers, because in the interim they've gained an aura of coolness. But pirates ran the show back then. They were mostly in warm areas because they could fall down, pass out drunk, and not die: that was good.

In the 16th and 17thC pirates all emerged from geopolitical struggles. In the early 1600s the French moved into Hispaniola (now Haiti). They were savage woodsmen. Smoking meat over a fire called a "boucan" led to their moniker of "buccaneers," a term you should never use for anyone other than Caribbean pirates of this era. Soldiers eradicated the buccaneers and drove them to Tortuga. Now they became a large cadre who hated the Spanish. Cindy discussed a lot of technical details I didn't take notes on, since it’s all fresh in my memory from having just written a pirate book. One thing I didn't know is they always wore striped stockings. She did mention she's not big on the nautical details, and was recently stumped working on some gal's big "storm at sea" scene since she didn't know 90% of the technical stuff. I'm going to get her for that. Later. Beforehand I made her promise not to call on me, but forgot to make her promise not to TALK about me.

Next up was the Sitting Room Only "Writing Love Scenes: How Much Sex is Too Much?" with Diana Gabaldon, Chris (C.C.) Humphreys, and Jade Lee. Diana said her books have been categorized as everything from horror to Gay/Lesbian. Jade Lee said being a romance writer, she's seen it all. She wanted people to remember that in romance, there are different ways of rating how sexy a book is. There are chili peppers, HOT/BURNING scales, etc. Homoerotic stuff is also very hot right now, even though she doesn't understand why. (I do.) Diana said the female idea of how two men are together isn't accurate. We make it all tender and kissy, and that's not how guys really do it. Diana read aloud a homoerotic scene from one of her Lord John books that concluded with a hearty, "Yes, I AM a nasty beast."

Jade mentioned how big Ellora's Cave is, for those not familiar with it. Some of those women make $10k per month, "IF you are able to do it." (I think I know what she meant--I am physically incapable of writing a pure erotica. I wish I could!) When she first started out, she received rejections for being "too hot." Nowadays, she has to take "erotic" out of her press literature because now, though she hasn't changed, her writing is relatively mild. Now she's only three chili peppers. Chris opined that he wants to see more thigh boots of the sort he uses in his Jack Absolute novels.

For Diana, a sex scene should show emotional intimacy between two people. People were appalled when, in her later books, she depicted people in their 50s having sex. "Oh my god!" But she wanted to tell a story about how to maintain a long-lasting close supportive marriage, the story of what makes two people stay married for fifty years. Sex is integral, it's a power issue in marriages; sex heals after stress and loss. Sex must further the plot. Chris thinks you should show something different in a sex scene that demonstrates a fresh aspect of a character. For instance, show the same soldier being tied up in the same way, but this time whipped by dwarves. In romance, said Jade, each sex scene is a plot point. The first plot point is the first kiss, then at least one sexus interruptus, and so on. Each publisher has different requirements. Once she was told by an editor not to stress the required three orgasm scenes, to just phone them in. Chris thinks men are more restrained when writing sex scenes, unless they're going for the "throbbing blue veiners." They’re more restrained for fear of offending. Then I had to leave because my feet were killing me. Another two years until the next HNS conference!

Historical Novel Society Conference, Albany NY

Historical Novel Society Conference
Albany NY, June 8-10, 2007

Friday night there was a dinner banquet at the Desmond Hotel in Albany. Bernard Cornwell was the keynote speaker and unfortunately I didn't make it thanks to the evil incompetent sadists of O'Hare International Airport. Cornwell was eloquently hilarious, apparently.

So the first panel I dragged myself in to see Saturday morning was "Fictionalizing the Already Famous" with Jeanne Mackin and Brenda Rickman Vantrease. Jeanne said that bad fiction is telling the same story over and over, thus perpetuating myths and legends about a historical figure--for example, the myth that Marie Antoinette said "Let them eat cake." (She never said that.) If you're going to use what Irene Goodman calls a "marquee name" in your fiction, readers already have preconceived ideas, so you have to keep digging to find the fresh character.

Jeanne asked us to mention which historical figure we felt like at that very moment, and I thought "Timothy Leary" because I felt on drugs after no sleep for two days.

The already famous are emblems, so you need to keep building and refreshing them, not building up the same lies over and over again. Kosinski said "Only in fiction can we tell the whole truth."

Brenda said Michelangelo looked at a piece of marble and saw his character in the block. He merely chipped away at it until the person was freed. The drama is in the first cut, the first rough draft, and like Michelangelo you need to learn what to leave out. Someone asked how to interest readers who are not enthralled with your particular era or setting, and Brenda thinks you need to catch them off balance--you need to have a new approach, not the same old "let them eat cake."

Irene Goodman was the keynote speaker at the luncheon. They must not have set up 300 chairs because it was SRO—standing room only. Irene talked about being in second grade and students were asked to choose between two study subjects--animals or "the olden days." She was the only one who didn't choose animals. Her mother would yell at her to go outside and play, and she'd yell back, "But I'm already up here playing with my friends!" Her historical "olden days" friends.

When she went into publishing, there were a few anomalies like Jean Auel, Colleen McCullough, and John Jakes, but they were considered the exceptions to the rule--historical fiction was a dead zone. Now, Irene said, The floodgates are open! Now you have atrocious in-laws, jealousy, trophy wives, drop dead gorgeous women, and history is full of sex! The sky's the limit, as long as it's well told and has the necessary hook.

Now you have historical fiction shelves in bookstores in the nebulous section titled "Literature," which means anything from Mark Twain to Jackie Collins. There are sub-genres: historical thrillers, historical mysteries, historical romance (and some is quite good, she added--and like TV, some is bad). You just have to know where to look.

Some subjects seemed unmarketable until a writer broke the barrier. Australia was stupid until The Thornbirds came along. Right now England is the smart place to set a historical since the TV advent of "The Tudors," even though they changed France into Portugal for no good reason.

Next up: "Sharpe Practice: Writing a Historical Novel" by Bernard Cornwell. He said the entire panel would revolve around "All right, who has a question?" The first question was, "Why is it so difficult for an American author to get published or taken seriously in England?" Cornwell hated Cold Mountain. He said there is no way men talk to each other like that, so damned serious all the bloody time--men joke together. He wrote a Civil War series after he'd moved to the States, and we were so fond of pointing out "mistakes" that weren't, but nobody would listen to him because he was British.

He said we're writing historical entertainment--leave history to the historians. Write an exciting story, but write A STORY first and foremost. You read a history book and you don't say "Wait, I can't go to sleep, I've got to get to the end of Chapter Five!" But you do when you read a historical STORY. The worst thing you can do is to make it obvious that you copied facts down from notecards. We entertain. You have to chuck 95% of your research in order to TELL YOUR STORY.

Some Americans criticized one of his American stories by claiming "baseball wasn't invented yet," when he knew it was, but his hands were tied in refuting it, because he didn't want to get involved in all that bitchiness.

Someone asked what does he do when he has no inspiration. He laughed and said, Inspiration does not exist! You write by being a writer. You sit there, you write, and you stop in the evening. Writer's block doesn't exist! We all have bad days--that's not writer's block. You write through it, even though it might not be your best work. You don't hear a nurse claiming she has nurse's block, do you? 'I can't come into work today, I have nurse's block.' No one put a gun to your head, 'Be a writer now, dammit!' It's a job of privilege and we should be glad to have it. The dress code is pretty easy, too. Ben Franklin wrote naked. Cornwell encourages this habit, for some of us.

"How much research is too much? How do you know when it’s not enough?" Cornwell doesn't know where to draw the line. You copy from one book, that's plagiarism. You copy from forty books, that's research. Your first draft is like a huge mountain. When you get halfway up there, you look back and you see a better route to the top. The first draft is the biggest job, that's getting the story down right. Don't worry about style or length! He recommended typing out a few pages of your favorite book. In his case it was Forrester, some Horatio Hornblower thing. Put these pages in a drawer. When he went back to look at his pages, he was all, "Oh my god! What crap!" Then he realized, "Holy shit, that’s Forrester!" You can easily see how overly-critical you're being on yourself.

Is he a plotter? No. Someone once said, "There are three rules for writing a novel. Unfortunately no one knows what they are." The joy for him is in finding out what happens, the process of discovery along the way. Seeing what his characters decide to do, since he is one of those who views them as living breathing people. He holds conversations with them. People often ask him why he feels the need to have a major woman character. Why not? 70% of his readers are women. The successful writer doesn't write for men! The three most popular subjects in the world are golf, cats, and Nazis, so someone wrote a book called "Golfing for Nazi Cats."

What sells? THE STORY. Tell a good story. Write the book YOU want to read. If you write to the market you're guaranteed to fail. You SHOULD be saying "Bernard Cornwell is no bloody good, I can do better than that!"

Drink Jameson Whiskey, though not until you're done with your day's work, or it's all downhill from there.

Here's how to trick an editor. Put in something stupid that you're completely prepared to give up, and defend it to the death. Let her have her way at the end. Then she'll be too tired to fight the other stuff.

Writing is intuitive. You either have a gift for storytelling, or you don't. Cornwell doesn’t believe in groups, creative writing classes, crit groups. You write alone. The only critics you have to please are #1 yourself, #2 your agent, #3 your publisher, and #4 your readers.

How does he go about writing battle scenes? He wrote a battle scene once that had three sides--it was just too bad not one of them was French. If your battle is famous, the reader already has the terrain fixed in his head. You have to find another reason to visit that place, and you're limited to what the hero can see and smell. He recommends reading John Keegan, The Face of Battle. In another battle scene there were two peaks to a mountain that only confused the issue, so he eliminated one of the peaks. Anything that helps your reader to visualize it clearly.

Part II from Karen on Tuesday!

Niggling Ideas

I am working hard to finish up my WIP in preparation for nationals, plus we move in a week, so I must make this brief!

Yesterday, over at my blog, I posted thirteen place/time settings for novels that I'd eventually like to write. Some of them are merely exotic locales about which I'd enjoy learning more. For others, I have actual plot ideas. But they all call to me at varying moments of WIP weakness.

Your turn: as writers, what three place/time settings do you toy with pursuing? As readers, what three place/time settings you would love to find on a bookshelf? They don't have to be MS secrets you are loathe to divulge, just ideas that niggle at the back of your brain. I'm just curious how far your imaginations stretch!

Research and writing...

I LOVE to research. Anyone who knows me, knows this. For me, it's such a huge part of my writing process. The more research I do, the more excited about my stories I get.

BUT, it has a downside too. I can get so caught up in looking for specific details, or just reading about the past that I forget to write. It's definitely a balancing act. Because I ground my stories as firmly in the past as I can, I NEED to know as much as possible. So I'll spend a lot of time tracking down sources and reading from as many different books as I can to make sure I have all the facts I need for my plot.

This slows down my writing and sometimes I wonder if I'm doing the right thing. But would I be happy crafting a plot without all that research?

How about you? How do YOU balance research and writing? Any tips you can share?

Teresa

Process This

Late in the day, but still here. I've had a story idea eating me whole, so it's not at all unusual to forget things like putting the cat food dish down in the cat's eating area and instead leave it on the counter and trot back to the office to bang out the next section of outline. I've gone through an entire legal pad in a very short time, and am now resorting to its matching shopping list until I can find a replacement, killed a favorite pen dead, and the particular sticky notes I've been using are not long for this world. These things matter.

In some of my preferred historical periods, my process might be considered eccentric at best, a ticket to Bedlam at worst. Normally when I talk about starting a new project, I'll prepare a compostion book with a collaged cover and attatched bookmark, and all notes go right in there, nice and easy. For work on a Georgian-set book, for example, I'll collect decorative papers by Anna Griffin to alter, distress or combine with images culled from other sources. StockXChng is a good place to start browsing for stock images of everything from people (I prefer closeups of hands, eyes, etc -- easier not to be distracted by modern clothing or props) to gardens, buildings, and miscellaneous items. There's even a menu that allows searching for images by mood. If you get the Rhapsody romance book club, the newsletters are great for images. Spread out on the floor and combine in different ways until it feels right.

If I start in a different sort of notebook (as with this project, where I started with a legal pad -- but an Anna Griffin legal pad -- flowers and paisley) then if I fill that one, I need to pick up a new one that is the same. Or close enough. It has to feel right in my hands, beneath my fingertips, and be up to getting toted around in my purse. I will become crochety if I run out, hence my now working on the matching shopping list paper that came with the fancy legal pad. I am like my historical heroines. I will make do with what I have while fighting for what I want. They had to get it from somewhere.

There's music, of course. I think a monster sprang to life when I acquired my first mp3 player. Though the entertainment factor of me trying to figure out new hardware was quite amusing for my family (I'm a scream at the offending bunch of circuits type person) the absolute joy of having Sting snuggle up to Mary Chapin Carpenter (there's an image) backed up by Meat Loaf, Eva Cassidy and Great Big Sea, all somehow mingling to whisk me back to Tudor era Scotland, Cromwell's England (he'd object, I know, but I didn't ask him) or the eighteenth century Carribbean somewhow feels right.

I'm well aware that some of the clerks in my favorite candle stores probably watch me funny when I come in and sniff things for very long periods of time, but it's important. Where else can the average modern woman find out exactly what the combination of woodsmoke, red wine and sea air can do to the senses? Leather, roses and fresh cotton? Fresh peaches and lilacs, but it's in the middle of December? Sometimes we need to know these things.

We all have peculiarities in our processes, things that those on the outside might not think go together in the general scheme of things. How on earth could we be looking right at something very modern, very straightforward and instantly be transported centuries and half a world away? I like to call it writervision. If they have to ask, they won't understand. They don't have to; for some, books are like laws and sausages. They're glad to have them, but don't really want to see how they're made.

What parts of your process make perfect sense to you but not everyone else?

On Twyla Tharp's Creative Habit.

One of my great discoveries of the past few weeks has been Twyla Tharp's book –The Creative Habit. When my friend Anne McAllister first started blogging about the book, I thought it sounds interesting, but not for me. Then she blogged a bit more about ruts and grooves and I decided I had to read it. A groove is when everything is flowing, and a rut, unlike a writer's block is when your creative wheels are churning and you are not going forward. And it is a wonderful read -- full of ideas to get your creative juices flowing.

In case anyone doesn't know Tharp is one of the great American choreographers. She has been active in the field of dance since the 1960s and has won numerous awards.
Her book, The Creative Habit, details her approach to producing a creative work.

One of the book's great strengths is that it is not by a novelist and gives insight into how she goes about her life. She also does not hesitate to explain her failures, or her blocks.

As befits a dancer, she has a very disciplined approached to creativity. She extols the importance of rituals. For example, one of her rituals is catching a taxi cab. One of my rituals is before I begin the day's work, I put on the kettle and make myself a cup of tea. She extols the virtues of keeping a box for each project, and of reading archeologically –- going back and seeing a writer's influences, of looking at each project as part of a continuum, of scratching (in terms of a scratching a lottery card) around for idea. She also extols the importance of always carrying a pencil. I found the chapter on failure very interesting. It is through failure that success comes. And as a great believer in editing and revision, I was interested to see how she tackled it. She does not shy away from explaining how Movin' Out also became a disaster. She also explodes the myth that was perpetrated in Amadeus -– that Mozart did not have to work at his genius. Apparently by the age of twenty-eight, his hands were deformed from holding the quill pen. She makes the point that all the best dancers spend the longest time getting the basics right. mastering skills leads towards greater creativity.

If you are at all interested in creativity, or feel in the need to learn more about the work habits that can lead to creative success, read the book. I suspect I enjoyed this book as it emphasized that desire, determination, dedication and discipline play an important part in creativity, a concept that I firmly believe.

Breaking Down the Mental Block

I'm in the first stage of writing my story for the third book of my Warring Hearts trilogy – Light in a Hollow Place. The second book is being released May 11 – Fragments of Light, so I need to complete my third book for a May 2008 release. This means I have to send my story to the editor by September.

I've been struggling coming up with the plot for months. For some reason, nothing really excited me. It takes place during World War II, towards the end of war. I love my characters, so that wasn't the problem. Since it's a romance, Richard and Claire have to be together in most of the chapters. And, that was the rub. He's an intelligence officer working in Europe and she's a struggling artist living in New York.

I needed help. On my vacation last week, between walking along the ocean, dining out, and shopping, I forced my sisters to brainstorm with me. We had a great time coming up with outlandish ideas and ridiculous plots, but out of all of this craziness, my oldest sister hit the jackpot. She gave me the one idea I needed to jumpstart my enthusiasm.

So, my question for today is: what tricks do you use to break down the mental block preventing you from beginning your story?
Vicki - http://www.vickigaia.com

Musings on Deadlines

In less than a week's time the deadline for my next manuscript is going to hit me over the head. Apparently some people write really, really well the closer their deadlines; why, some people even need their deadlines to write really, really well.

Shall I let you into a secret?

I'm not one of these people.

Oh no! I go into full panic mode at the mere thought of a deadline, while my Muse apparently wanders off into la-la-wonderland. As a result my characters start to behave in the strangest ways imaginable: heroes throw temper tantrums, heroines hold knives against somebody else's throat or start thinking about contraception (which I blame on a recent discussion on Smart Bitches).

As if this weren't bad enough, gaping holes suddenly open up in the background research, like

• "Is there really a breed of sheep called Blackheads?" (No, there isn't, but there's a breed called Scottish Blackfaces - lovely!)
• "What the heck does the borametz (barometz???) in the British Museum look like?" (I swear I stumbled across a pic some months ago. Now, of course, said pic has vanished into cyber-nirvana.)
• "Is a Sicilian Dragon really called a Sicilian Dragon in English?" (Yes, apparently, it is.)
• "Does every guest bedroom also have a separate dressing room?" (Uhm ... no clue.)
• "Did (filthy rich) people in the Regency already have greenhouses in their gardens where they could grow veggies and flowers in winter?" (Yes, they had! Hurray!)

And as if this weren't bad enough, I've also reached that stage where I think I'm surely the worst writer EVER! Worse even than the dinosaurs had they been able to type on a keyboard! Such a horrible writer actually, that upon reading the first page of my manuscript, my agent and editor will both move to another city, change their names, and will pretend not to know me should we meet by chance at the next RWA conference. OR they will hide behind the nearest potted plant. OR they will simply run away screaming.

Oh yes. I absolutely love deadlines. They make for a jolly good writing time! *g*

But Series-ly, Folks...

There's no denying series are popular in publishing right now, and when done right, can make readers happily return for more and more, enjoying the ever-expanding cast with each new release. Other times, readers (and sometimes the authors themselves) look at one more Fluglehorn Family logo stamped on the newest release and run screaming into the night, only to be found hours later at the local coffeehouse, nursing a chai tea in the corner and muttering something about not being able to tell the Flugelhorn-Smythes from the Flugelhorn-Joneses. In some cases, whispering "but that makes him her step-cousin" to a dinig companion crafted from an empty styrofoam cup and a handful of stirrers.

There are readers who can be quite content jumping in at book sixteen, figuring they'll catch the rest later if they like this one, and enjoy whatever installment they can pick up when they can. There are readers who must start at book one and proceed in order (with debate over whether story chronology trumps release date if applicable) or mountains will fall, puppies will die and their matinee idol of choice will wake up ugly. Any way we look at it, it's an important aspect of publishing.

Saying "series" seems easy enough; in modern parlance, it can refer to any linked books, but to be more specific, let's consider breaking it down into sub-groups. Sequels, sagas, spin-offs, not to mention prequels.

At the moment, it's easy to find historical romance series that will follow groups of siblings, friends, soldiers or schoolmates, mostly staying within one time period; everyone's around the same age, and about in the same period of their lives.

Every once in a while, there is what I term a direct sequel -- Hero and Heroine from Book One are also Hero and Heroine in Book Two, with new events to test their mettle and their union. We've seen this more in the earlier days of the genre, as in Rosemary Rogers' Steve and Ginny books or Valerie Sherwood's Lovesong trilogy, but Jennifer Roberson's Tiger and Del in her Sword Dancer books had to fight through six volumes for their well-earned HEA. Yes, I know the books were marketed as fantasy, but they're romance, I tell you. For some readers, another trip to the well for a beloved couple is a welcome revisit, but for others, once the original HEA is in place, that's the best way to leave it.

Sagas have long been a historical fan's delight. Bertrice Small's O'Malley clan has covered a few centuries, from matriarch Skye through mentions in the author's contemporary erotic works, crossing with the equally prolific Leslie clan. To bang the old school drum again, Aola Vandergriff's classic Daughters Of... series followed three sisters from the 1850s through 1920s, with lots of marrying and burying in between. While some readers (me, me, me) enjoy seeing a hero and heroine at different stages in their lives, passing on the torch to daughters and sons, and eventually grandchildren, others might prefer not to have to see age change the young lovers who first stole their hearts.

The spin-off may be more common in television, but there's no reason it can't work in historical romance. The hero's friend who didn't get the girl can strike off for a new land, or the new world, be lost at sea, presumed dead, or any other number of reasons he (or she!) might leave First Story Land and begin a new life elsewhere.

Then there's the standalone (a term which has always confused me, but I think that's just me) -- the book with no sequels, prequels, spinoffs, or connections left, right or diagonal. Sometimes a story that ends with one couple's HEA is exactly the right note.

For me, I prefer to write stories that are one to a customer, but if a truly outstanding secondary character had something to do on their own, I'd consider it. Not all supporting characters can support their own stories, command their own spotlight, while some do it quite well.

So, readers, what sorts of connected books do you like best? Least? What about the one-offs? Writers, what's the best thing about crafting connected stories? Hardest? When should a series end? When the original protagonists age? Die? The historical period changes? Something else? Never?