CRAFT TALK: 10 Plots in One Book! No Way!

By Marie-Claude Bourque

Hi everyone, I am away on holiday while you are reading this, so I posted an old blog article of mine that I find entertaining, perhaps useful. No giveaways this week, sorry. But as soon as I get back on Sept 5th!

How many plots do you have in your book? You write romance, so the boy meets girl plot makes one. Right? If you add a subgenre, your hero and heroine chase a villain, that makes two. Add a little side story of the heroine’s best friend and that makes three plots.

My two single title manuscripts have 10 plots each. Yes…10 plots. In each scene, I advance two or three plots. Each plot is a mini story in the book. They develop, some end well, some don’t. They are all resolved at the climax.

You think 10 plots may be too many? Look at your projects, see if maybe there are not some plots, plot layers and subplots burried in there. Yes, there they are. you just didn’t notice.

So here is a generic list of Plots (plot layers and subplots) for a subgenre romance, with examples from ANCIENT WHISPERS (AW).

1. The Romance-Plot (AW- True Soul Mates – Gabriel and his reborn soulmate Lily fall in love)
2. Evolution of H/H Lovemaking – Plot Layer (AW – Trust and Control – The lovemaking makes increasing uses of magic until it ends in a powerful love magical ritual)
3. The Heroine’s Journey - Plot Layer (AW – Lily and the Coven – Lily reclaims her magical abilities with the help of her mentor, the coven’s High Priestess)
4. The Hero’s Journey - Plot Layer (AW- No escape from the Priory – Gabriel’s struggles with the hold his brotherhood of sorcerers has over him.
5. The Heroine’s Duties – Plot Layer (AW – Lily’s Responsability – Lily inner turmoil over being the main caregiver of her beloved great aunt)
6. The Time Bomb – Plot Layer (AW – Loosing his Soul – Gabriel will loose his soul to a evil mage  if he doesn’t convince Lily to mate with him at Beltane.
7. Heroes Againts the Villain – Plot (AW – Defeat Theuron Keir – The battle of Lily and Gabriel to vanquish the evil mage Theuron)
8. The Large-Scale Ongoing War for the Whole Series- Plot (AW – The Ancient War of the Souls- The war between the whole Priory of sorcerer and the evil mage)
9. The Heroine’s Girlfriend Sad Struggle – Subplot (AW – Keira Possessed – Lily’s friend Keira becomes a victim of the evil mage Theuron.)
10. The Heroine’s Sidekick Fun Story – Subplot (AW – Brianna’s Wedding – Lily’s best friend stuggles to plan her perfect wedding)  – Note: my editor made me take out this entire plot and character out! Yes. It was easy because I had my plot lines straight!

So here it is, 10 plots, 10 little stories that changes through the book. Go check your current work in progress, see how many plots and subplots you can find!

Let me know

Friday Writer’s Quote: Laurell K Hamilton

Laurell K. Hamilton at work.

“I always treated writing as a profession, never as a hobby. If you don’t believe in yourself, no one else will.”
Laurell K. Hamilton

Hump Day Kick Start

Song of the day: Lost in the Crowd by Shinedown

Fill ‘er up!

Love me a grease monkey. Okay. So I couldn’t resist.

If you can tear your eyes away for a moment, tell me his story. Is he waiting for someone? Did he just fill HER tank and is having naughty thoughts? Maybe he just serviced the most beautiful corvette he’s ever had the pleasure of touching. <wink, wink>

Let me hear from you.

CRAFT TALK: Characters leaping off the pages!

by Marie-Claude Bourque

THE WINNER OF LAST WEEK”S BOOK IS MELISSA!!!

On a writing loop I am on, someone asked how to make our characters leap off the pages. I don’t have all the answers, but it one of the things reviewers mentioned they liked when reading ANCIENT WHISPERS.  Now mind you, I was the first surprised but it was kind of nice to hear.

Everyone has their own way to write and frankly there is no “right” or “wrong” way but here is what I thing about when creating characters.

(1) Establish a good GMC (aka Goal, Motivation, Conflict)

I am big on goals and motivation. I try really hard to make my characters want something, and I mean want so badly that they are consumed by it, or at least that their life and decisions are based on this goal. We all have goals in life, daily goals, 5 years goals, life goals. Our characters need them to.

I try to have my plot lines challenge that goal (conflicts). For example, my current WIP’s hero wants to keep his freedom above all. A lot of the plots threatens his freedom, (1) he is wrongly accused of causing an airship crash (2) the big bad he is chasing with the heroine wants to take the freedom of everyone in their world, (3) he is falling for the heroine where is wants to keep is heart free and (4) the heroine is a witch, one that took his freedom a long while ago and caused him to value it so much.

With all these threats to his goal, the character has a lot of space for visceral reactions that will make us readers care for him.

(2) close that POV

It is not a secret that while I write in 3rd POV, I actually write my first draft in 1st POV, then switch it all to 3rd. I usually only have the heroine and hero’s POV, so I switch being her, than him. It allows me to go very deep with the emotions and inner thoughts. I actually do a little visualization before I start writing. I think, I am her (say a young nurse, tired after a long shift at the hospital and I just want a glass of wine, now I bump into this really hot guy, how so  I feel?)

This trick may not work for you, but if you have POV problems you may want to give it a try.

3) Bigger than life!

The best advice I ever got was the comment that characters in books are like Chinese shadow theater where we see them through a white screen. We need to exaggerate everything about them in order for the reader to really see them. Think of Stephanie Plum, Eve Dallas, Harry Potter (and the other wizard Harry Dresden) or even the vampire brotherhood in JR Ward books or the dark-hunters.

These characters are bigger than life. Taller, stronger, sexier, zanier, more tortured, grittier.

Donald Mass says it well in his workbook when he advises to make the heroes bigger than life. We want heroes who do things we can’t. Their strength may be within and may be as simple as the agoraphobic woman who finally takes the bus, but everything our characters do have to be big in their own way.

(4)  Templates or journals?

I do hate characters templates. I know most people use them and I do have them but I write them after the book is written so I don’t forget things when it comes to revision.

I love journaling. Again, I pretend I am the character and write his journal. Right now I am experimenting having each characters journaling about (1) their back story (2)how they feel about the other characters (3) how they feel about various turn of events during the story.

When I am stuck trying to figure out a character, I interview him. That works well too. But the journaling gives me lots of dialog and inner thoughts that pop out naturally again while I write the story.

(5) Traits and objects

That is a trick I stole straight from a blog post by Jim Butcher. Basically, you describe your character by one or more specific traits (her long hair say) and you include that in the scene to quickly indicate who is who.

The other thing Butcher advises is include an object that always goes with your character. If you have a character using a magical staff, you can mention that staff during the scene and it may help clarify who is doing what, for example in the middle of a big action scene with lots of character. One has the staff, the other the dagger, another has the sword while one stand aside with his magical ring.

M-C’S BOOK PILE GIVEWAY:

This week-end, I’m continuing with my books giveaway. I’ve looked at my crowded bookshelf and find out that have tons of brand new–some signed– paperbacks that I have received free from conferences.

So every week-end, I am giving away one book to a lucky commenter. I have enough books to do this for a whole year! So if you don’t want to miss out, I suggest you subscribe to the blog to make sure you do not miss a single contest!

This week, I am giving away a signed copy of paranormal romance SKIN GAME  by Ava Gray (aka Ann Aguirre) from Berkley Sensation!  Ann is a great writer particularly good with creating awesome characters! I got this copy at RT this year.

Just tell me about your own characters(or your favorites) for a chance to win!

Friday’s Writer Quote: Stephen King

Young Stephen King working hard!

“Talent is cheaper than table salt. What separates the talented individual from the successful one is a lot of hard work.”
Stephen King

Knock, Knock. Who’s there? Opportunity.

Song of the day:  Should’ve Known Better by Cinder Road

When opportunity knocks, answer the door. What lay on the other side may surprise you. Sure, if it makes you feel better, look through the peep hole. But answer the door.

WWJD - What Would Jones Do?

As writers, every opportunity is a golden one. Fortunately for us, there are loads of gold nuggets. We need them, too. This business of writing and publication is riddled with obstacles, pitfalls and hair-pin curves. Time and again, we are bowled over by a giant dream-crushing boulder, our resolve is rattled and we cower in self-pity to lick our wounds.

I encounter my first brush with opportunity while in college four years ago. My professor from a wildly interesting creative writing course encouraged me to take a short story written for the class and expand it into a novel. I took the task as a challenge and quit school. Though I didn’t write the romantic comedy he liked so much, I wrote my first pirate historical in under seven months.

Oh, it's you, Orlando. I've been waiting for your call.

Shortly after writing said novel, I quickly learned New York wasn’t interested. What? Hard to believe, I know. Apparently, I had some silly issues with POV, verb tense, and “showing not telling”. Pshaw! This led me to pick up Janet Evanovich’s How I Write book. In it she mentions Romance Writers of America. I had a favorite author thanking this very organization. Hmm…maybe RWA is something to check out. Brrriiing. Brrriiing. Hello, opportunity?

Soon, I signed up with RWA and began enjoying the networking, education and genuine support of my local chapter. I strengthened my craft, hit the contest circuit running, co-founded this blog, became a Golden Heart® finalist, attended RWA’s annual conferences and accepted a position on my chapter’s board; all this in a little more than two years. These chains of events were like a rapid succession of gunfire.

An opportunity is never lost. It's just found by someone else.

Each opportunity grabbed is another step toward my dream of a successful writing career. I don’t trip over good fortune. It doesn’t land in my lap. If it did, I’d be basking in the glow of my latest five book deal, sipping a fruity rum concoction on a pristine beach in the Caribbean. No, I shed a lot of blood, sweat, and tears to lay down each cobblestone in my yellow brick road before I walk upon it. If opportunity crosses my path, I’m going to grab it, wrestle it to the ground, and make it my bi-atch.

Opportunity comes in many guises.

It may be subtle, a casual conversation at the coffee shop, a comment on a blog, or a website visited. Sometimes it is abrupt, slapping you and making you scream uncle in a contest score, critique group, and even in a rejection letter.

Aside from contests, blogs, and critique groups, there are many other places opportunity can be found. Judging, attending meetings, participating in online discussion and classes, writing challenges — yep, fortuity can be found in every facet of this industry.  The key is to recognize opportunity, no matter how insignificant it may seem at first, and act upon it in such a way that will benefit you.

Opportunity runs rampant at conferences, too. You may find it in the elevator, at dinner, volunteering, attending a workshop, and, hopefully during an agent/editor appointment.

OMG! Please, please, please don't let him read it!

Take for example the RWA conference in Orlando a few weeks ago. I happened upon an editor in the hotel lobby who has had my manuscript since February. I have since added more layers of depth to my characters and two new scenes. Like a love letter accidentally sent, I didn’t want the editor reading my manuscript. The horror! It is so much better now. Really. I would simply die if the old version was read. Call me a nut job, but I struck up a conversation with the editor and asked if I could resubmit it. Here, I have done three things. I have now made face-to-face contact with this editor. I am no longer just a name in the manuscript header. I have saved myself the embarrassment of my first love letter being read. Plus, I have given myself a chance to present my new and improved masterpiece. Whoop! There it is. Opportunity.

But wait! There’s more. I had just signed in for my agent appointment when a volunteer asked the waiting group if anyone wanted to pitch to editor so-and-so. I hadn’t even sat down to look over my notes, practiced what I would say in my head, or prayed to the gods for a successful pitch. But I recognized the opportunity. I knew of this editor and what she accepted. You bet I raised my hand. This happened not once, but TWICE. On top of my scheduled two appointments, I ended up with four. I walked away with two requests for a partial, one request for a full and given the freedom of name-dropping to four more agents. Cha-ching! Opportunity!

Moral of the story? Never ignore opportunity knocking. Open the door. Chances are something good will come of it.

I’d love to hear about an opportunity you may have answered.

Writer Inspiration: Katharine Ashe

by Marie-Claude Bourque

Hi everyone!

Today I am please to host AVON historical author Katharine Ashe. I know I write paranormal but I am truly a historical fan. I can’t wait to get my hand on Katharine’s novel! And it’s a Regency… oh my! Don’t have enough of those!

Visit Katharine at www.katharineashe.com

From the Heart and Head

They say write from your heart but sell from your head. And they’re right. I know this from experience. I’m going to tell you a little story about that experience. I hope it’s useful to hear.

The hero of my debut historical romance, SWEPT AWAY BY A KISS, is a priest. What’s more, he is a French Catholic priest. 

No, he isn’t a real priest. He is a dashing and decidedly non-celibate English viscount. But he pretends to be a French priest (for good reasons), and for a handful of chapters the heroine has no reason to believe otherwise.

 How did I ever imagine I could sell this book? I suppose I figured that if Richard Chamberlain—an actual priest in The Thorn Birds—could stir the pulses of women worldwide, then my pretend priest could pass.

Well, clearly some women out there were appalled with Rachel Ward’s character having the hots for a man in clerical robes. One contest judge disgusted with my heroine’s attraction to a priest gave me such a thrashing I still feel the sting of it years later. But the thing is, another judge in the same contest loved it. She felt deeply for the heroine, a young woman with scandal in her past trying hard to make a new start and torn apart that she’s failing.

So I thought: “Okay, the priestly guise is fine with some readers. What do I do to pull in those other readers still looking askance?” Solution: Make the hero so attractive in so many ways that he is irresistible, and make the heroine’s struggle against her feelings as poignant as possible. 

I beg you to please note: My solution was not to throw up my hands, hurl the manuscript into the fire, and write another story with a less dicey premise. Actually, I did that last one too. I wrote other books with unquestionably available heroes. But I never gave up on the priest book. I loved it. I loved them—my characters. So I reworked it and I sent it off again.

About a year and a half ago, amidst plentiful rejections and in the depths of despair about my future as a published author, I had three different manuscripts floating around in Agent Land. Two of them featured warrior heroes—blatantly guys’ guys. But when a top New York agent called and told me she’d fallen in love with my book, it was the priest book.

I am still so grateful and humbled that my story touched her, as I was with that contest judge who adored it. When someone loves your book, whether that person is your mom or a big-time editor, it is a gift beyond measure. That is why I write, because I want to share my stories and move people. So I write from my heart because that is where the warmth and adventure and emotion live in me.

But on this twisty road to publication, I have learned that when I need to sell, I sell from my head. I study the market and pitch my stories accordingly. 

If you have an idea for a book with an unusual plot, an atypical hero or heroine, or an uncommon setting, don’t let someone convince you it’s “off market” (my most loathed publishing industry term). Just write it. Then send it out—to CPs, beta readers, agents, editors—whomever. Get feedback. After the initial shock of that feedback wears off (whether positive or negative feedback, I’m always shocked at first), kick your brain into full gear and act on the feedback. Keep the book in your heart, but rework in your head. Hold onto what makes it special but include as much of what makes it sellable as you possibly can. 

Regencies are selling now, and my priest book is certainly a Regency. It strays a bit from the ballroom (the first few chapters take place on a pirate ship, arrr!), but it doesn’t by any means leave England’s beau monde behind. The hero masquerades as a priest while he is in fact a warrior and a lord. But perhaps most importantly, at the heart of the book is a powerful love story, which is after all why we read romance. 

Do you have an unusual story in your computer or desk drawer? What sort of feedback have you gotten and how have you acted upon it? And while we’re at it, who is your favorite atypical hero or heroine?

Books on Writing Reviews: The Weekend Novelist

by Marie-Claude Bourque

WINNER OF “MAID IN MONTANA”: Katie McGarry !!!!

(don’t forget to comment to be entered in this week’s giveaway!)

THE WEEKEND NOVELIST by Robert J. Ray and Bret Norris

I got this book at the library after I read and liked THE WEEKEND NOVELIST REWRITES THE NOVEL by the same author. It’s a pretty heavy book. Basically, it shows you how you can write a novel in 52 weeks or so by working during the week-end. And I’m taking a solid block of hours in the week-end but not outragous. Maybe 5 hours a day.

This book is not for panster, not at all. Which is why it appealed to my crazy-scary plotter self so much. If you follow this plan, you will have a solid first draft with a solid plot and well-defined characters by the end of the year. The method probably works best for genre novels.

The plan is very appealing and I was tempted to use it but by days (or steps) instead of week. It would sort of work but it is at times much too structured for me.

You won’t actually write your novel until about week 29. The rest is all planning. And while I like planning my plot, I usually discover my characters as I go along. So waiting so long for me doesn’t work as well. But it may for some.

There are some great ideas in there, great charts to make to keep track of the story with scenes, characters and even objects they use. I plan to use some of those ideas for my own work.

For those who need somewhere to get started this is a great book, but it could be scary with so many charts and graphics, taking much of the organic part of writing out of the process.

I’d recommend it for intermediate to advanced writers who are very analytical and those who feel they need a recipe to get started, but knowledge of basics such as POV and show vs tell would help.
I don’t plan to buy this book, but will check it out at the library now and again.

M-C’S BOOK PILE GIVEWAY:

This week-end, I’m continuing with my books giveaway. I’ve looked at my crowded bookshelf and find out that have tons of brand new–some signed– paperbacks that I have received free from conferences.

So every week-end, I’ll be giving away one book to a lucky commenter. I have enough books to do this for a whole year! So if you don’t want to miss out, I suggest you subscribe to the blog to make sure you do not miss a single contest!

This week, I am giving away a copy of suspense novel MALICE by Lisa Jackson! I got this book free last year at the Emerald City Writers Conference where Lisa Jackson herself gave a very inspiring keynote speech. If you think big authors like her have cruised to the top, forget it. She is just like us, with ups and downs in her career but she keeps at it, keeps working!

So tell me how is your writing going this week (mine is slow- it’s too hot in Seattle to do much!)? Any news? Breakthroughs? Blocked? Good week? Bad week?
I’ll annouce the winner next week!

Friday Writer’s Quote: Nora Roberts

 

Nora Roberts at work.

“And each book has to receive your best effort every single time. No slacking. “
Nora Roberts

Hump Day Kick Start

Song of the day: Blaze of Glory by Jon Bon Jovi

I’m taking an on-line workshop that inspired me to post a cowboy for this week’s muse rousing prompt.

Howdy, Marshal.

Okay, so the picture isn’t exactly historically accurate.  But who cares? You didn’t notice, did you?

So what’s his story? What’s he thinking?

Good guy? Bad guy?

Is he the new marshal in town?  Did he just shut down a cattle rustling operation?  Maybe he has his fingers in the rustling pot. Is he breaking in a mustang? Or trying to break in the sweet saloon owner’s daughter? Perhaps he has his eye on the fiery widow whose ranch is in the middle of Indian territory.

On the contemporary flip-side, could he be a rodeo star? A rancher about to lose the family lands? A hired hand up to no good?

One thing about cowboys, the stories can be endless.

I’d love to hear from you.