Writing Between the Sexes by Leigh Michaels

Let’s say you’re wandering through the bookstore, you flip open a book by someone called Chris Smith, and you read this:

Joe had spiffed himself up by putting on a tie, a silly one decorated with the Three Stooges. Elizabeth was still wearing her tan suit, but she’d removed her jacket, revealing a holstered .38 and two holstered 36 D’s.

Now from the name our author calls himself, Chris Smith could be either sex. But I’m betting that from those two sentences you have a pretty clear picture of Chris Smith – and a strong opinion on whether Chris wears boxer shorts or underwires.

How about this one? Is the author male, or female?

Reluctantly turning off the tap, she reached for a thick amethyst towel, winding it around her hair, turban-style. Wrapping another around her torso, she stepped from the shower and surveyed her steam-filed bathroom with a sigh. In the mirror, she saw the blurred reflection of a tall, slender redhead with very pink skin. I look like a lobster, she thought.

Or maybe this one?

Her eyes narrowed. “Does this have anything to do with my being sick?”

Warily he asked, “What do you mean?”
“Are you trying to get me to rest more?”
“If I am, do you have a problem with that?”

Men and women think, act, and talk differently -- and vive le difference! But when women write the actions and dialogue of male characters, those guys often come off sounding like gal pals. And when men write the actions and dialogue of feminine characters, those gals come off sounding like tough guys.

Why is that a problem? Because when readers encounter a guy who doesn’t sound masculine, or a woman who doesn’t sound feminine, they stop believing in the world the author is trying to create. You might get by with that if your audience is the same sex you are – but if you’re aiming to broaden your readership, here’s a place to sit up and pay attention.

I hope you’ll join me for WRITING BETWEEN THE SEXES. In this four-week workshop, we’ll look at the behaviors and traits which most commonly lead us to tag someone as feminine or masculine, and how to use those behaviors and traits to create realistic -- but not stereotypical -- characters of the opposite sex. I hope you’ll come along for the ride!  Here's the link to sign up:  http://my.rwa.org/e/in/eid=23

About the Author: Leigh Michaels is the author of more than 100 books, including historical romance novels, contemporary romance novels and non-fiction. She is the author of On Writing Romance (Writers Digest Books) and teaches romance writing at Gotham Writers Workshop. Her next Regency-period historical romance, The Birthday Scandal, will be released in September 2012 by Montlake Romance.

Lessons from the Olympics by Monica Stoner

            I was NOT going to get involved in the Olympics this year.  Especially not in the preliminaries.  I have far too much to do, my preferred sport is not going to be well televised if at all, it can be such a time thief. Yadda Yadda Yadda.  Besides, it’s all the same every time, isn’t it? Lots of young people running and swimming and bouncing around.  Nothing new.

            Okay, I admit I’ve been grumpy lately.  Life has thrown lemons at a frightening rate this last year and I’m not adjusting as fast as I think I should.  Heck, I get weepy at those coffee commercials, the last thing I need is to get sucked into watching someone’s dreams go up in smoke because they’re one one-hundredths of a second too slow, or because their balance was marginally off and they missed a grip on the uneven bars.

            But still.

            I use the television for news, weather, and occasional background noises.  I prefer Food Network but there’s only so many times I can watch Battle Sauerkraut, or even listen to it, so I do the channel flip, find something that seems marginally entertaining.  That ends, and the Olympic Trials comes on.  Qualifying for the swim team.  Michael Phelps.  Yeah, I’m as much of a googly eyed fan girl as the next red blooded American Romance Writer about Michael.  You can have your gymnasts, your body builders...those swimmers are HOT.  Given the recent weather in New Mexico, I don’t dare mention water polo teams.  Doggonit, I just did.

            Ice water break.

            I’m back and cooled down enough to share the message I got from breaking down and watching the Olympic Trials. 

            These people are truly the best of the best of the best in their chosen sport.  They start with raw talent but that is never enough, so they train. For years. In good weather and bad, with or without the support of their fellow athletes.  When they’re not training, they’re conditioning.  Or they’re studying new ways to be just a bit better.  They miss parties, trips, all those social events their friends attend, to get themselves to peak condition for these competition.

            Their goal is to stand on the top step of that podium, hand over their heart, listening to their National Anthem being played to honor them.  Failure is not an option.  Unfortunately failure is a distinct possibility, and we see the falls, the slips, the bad starts.  But we also see the getting back up and onto the apparatus.  We see the extra surge of power to make up lost time or distance.  We see the indomitable spirit setting them apart from those who might have made the team if they had just tried a little harder.

            And here’s the lesson I’m actually writing for myself as much as to share with my fellow writers.  Many writers start off with an abundance of raw talent, and some of them do manage to produce and sell books.  At some point, the effort becomes a bit too much, and they start to mention how difficult to find an agent, an editor, someone to believe in them and buy their books.  Up to and including readers.  All too often they fall by the wayside, turning their innate talent to other endeavors. Because it’s just too hard.

            How much of ourselves do we invest in ourselves before we decide it’s just not worth the time, effort, money, loss of social life?  Do we seriously train to be not adequate, not good, but really GREAT writers?  Do we take the time to analyze writers we admire to understand the foundation of their work, and why they call to us?  Do we do the drills, the exercises, the mental conditioning to hone our ability to the highest level? 

            Or do we decide it’s all smoke, mirrors, and luck?

            Sure, there are stories of success without much effort.  But you look behind that mirror, and more than likely you’ll see the overnight success after only a few decades of effort.  No one gets chosen for an Olympic team through luck alone, and the same can be said for a successful writing career.  Luck is being in the right place at the right time with the right skills.

            Monica Stoner writes as Mona Karel, and blames her for any inappropriate comments concerning swimmers and water polo teams.  Find her on the web:  http://mona-karel.com/

Writing Outside the Box – A Gift or a Curse by Lisa Kessler

Hi everyone –

Thanks for inviting me to the FF&P Blog today!

Do you write outside the box? Maybe you write paranormal romance with secondary characters who are under 18, so you keep getting rejected because it’s straddling the line of Paranormal Romance and Young Adult. Or maybe you wrote an Urban Fantasy with intermittent blurbs of omniscient point of view.What about that Korean War historical with one character who is a ghost? You get the idea…

For me, I never set out to write out of the box, it just happened. Over and over.LOL 

I’ve found that if you write out of the box books, you need to brace yourself for lots of rejection.  Sometimes it’ll break your heart, because the editor or agent will tell you how much they enjoyed your book… BUT  they can’t figure out how they would market the book so they have to pass.

Don’t you hate those buts?  Ugh!

My debut novel, Night Walker, is a contemporary paranormal romance, but it has quite a few historical flashbacks throughout the first half of the book. The historical flashbacks made the book tough for me to sell. I had more than one agent advise me to cut the flashbacks, but I really believed they were necessary. Without them, the heart of the book, and the source of my hero’s angst would be erased.

So rather than conform, I wrote a new series and set my Night Walker world aside. I couldn’t face more rejection at the time.

But an opportunity arose and my husband (Who also believed in my out of the box vampire novel.) encouraged me to submit the book one last time. It was a new publisher, and I thought I might have a chance at getting my foot in the door.

I held my breath and hit send…

Now here comes the gift!

The publisher loved that this was a different take on vampires, and they embraced the flashbacks.  So far, readers have also embraced the concept as well. Night Walker has gone on to win a San Diego Book Award for Best Published Book in Fantasy-Sci-fi-Horror, and it’s a double finalist for the Book Seller’s Best.

I think readers are hungry for something new, but publishing is a business. Taking a chance on a book that might be too far out of the box is risky for a publisher.

But, the other side of the coin is that it can also make you stand out.

So if you’re writing the book of your heart and it speaks to you in first-person present tense, or maybe you have that story set during the Korean War with a ghost for a hero, keep in mind that it’ll be a bumpy publishing road outside the box.

However, it’s not impossible!

And I’m here to tell you that once you get to the other side and you hold that book in your hands, readers will be excited to see a new angle, and with any luck they’ll tell their friends and your audience will grow.

Is writing out of the box a gift or a curse?

I guess it depends who you ask.  For me, I wouldn’t have it any other way…

Lisa Kessler

                                        

http://lisakessler.wordpress.com
http://goodreads.com/LisaKessler
http://twitter.com/LdyDisney
http://facebook.com/LisaKesslerWriter

Bio:

Lisa Kessler is an award winning author of dark paranormal fiction. Her debut novel, Night Walker, won a San Diego Book Award for best Fantasy-Sci-fi-Horror, and was also a double finalist for the Book Seller’s Best for Best Paranormal and Best First Book.

Her short stories have been published in print anthologies and magazines, and her vampire story, Immortal Beloved, was a finalist for a Bram Stoker award.

When she's not writing, Lisa is a professional vocalist, performing with the San Diego Opera as well as other musical theater companies in San Diego. You can learn more at http://Lisa-Kessler.com

Lisa lives in southern California with her incredibly fun husband and two amazing kids.

Night Walker Blurb:

He gave up his soul for a second chance to love her...

Two and a half centuries ago, Calisto Terana lost everything when a zealous priest murdered the woman he loved. Now, desperate for another chance to love her, he wants redemption for the mistake that cost her life.

She's haunted by dreams of her own death...

After catching her fiance with another woman, Kate Bradley returns to San Diego to clear her head. The last thing she needs is romance, but after meeting Calisto she's drawn to him in ways she doesn't understand.

They've waited in the shadows for centuries...

Calisto has no doubt Kate is the reincarnation of his lost love, but the Fraternidad Del Fuego Santo has a new watcher with dark ambitions of his own. As old enemies reemerge and a new threat arises, the betrayal that enslaved Calisto to the night might destroy the only woman he's ever loved again.

What the Heck is Deep Point of View? by Carrie Lofty

So often when receiving critiques from peers, editors or agents, the subject of “deep point of view” can rear its head. What, exactly, does that entail? How can we add depth to characters--and therefore depth to our stories--by immersing readers into unique, powerful points of view?

My upcoming course for FF&P is title “Beyond Research: Stronger Point of View and the Effective Use of Detail.” I initially approached the topic from the perspective of a historical romance writer--hence the workshop title "Beyond Research." Originally, I wanted to convey to workshop attendees that research was not the be-all end-all. It's not about how many obscure details you can cram into a book, but how meaningfully those details create individual characters who resonate with the reader.

I accidentally stumbled on this idea for myself while teaching an introductory creative writing class for senior citizens. We were in a spare, industrial room, where florescent lights glared down on long gray desks--a wholly uninspiring space. But as I looked out across the room, I noticed that all of the chairs were brightly colored plastic. My daughters, then age three and four, would've loved that room. They would've run along the four tiered levels, probably skipping back and forward along each one, and most certainly counting the number of blue, red, yellows, and green chairs. They would've used the chalkboard to keep track of each color.

To write a description of that room from a non-parents' perspective might have been a dull affair, but to describe it from my POV would've demonstrated a mother's affection for her blossoming children. To write it from a child's POV would've been to create a place nearly as much fun as a playground. Perspectives make the scenes, the characters, and the story as a whole.

Grounding any information--from historical details to paranormal world-building--within POV not only provides the reader with a sense of location, but helps her connect to the characters. Details that do not contribute to this goal are expendable. 

With that in mind, consider the following passages. One is from my June 26 release from Pocket Books, STARLIGHT, and the other was taken from Wikipedia. Both describe the Northern Lights.

Being able to name each star held nothing to way he saw the aurora anew. Through her eyes. He had wanted to show her a natural marvel. Instead, she had given him a gift. He saw color like a field of flowers and movement like a dancing angel. Science fell away to reveal only beauty. Now, this moment with Polly wove into each of his veins and promised to remain just as bright.

Auroras seen near the magnetic pole may be high overhead, but from farther away, they illuminate the northern horizon as a greenish glow or sometimes a faint red, as if the Sun were rising from an unusual direction. Discrete aurorae often display magnetic field lines or curtain-like structures, and can change within seconds or glow unchanging for hours, most often in fluorescent green.

The second, factual description is pure research, but readers would be disappointed if that was the full extent of how information was relayed to them in fiction. The description as seen from Alex Christie’s point of view is more personal. He’s a scientist who’s suddenly looking at a familiar sight in very new ways.

That is deep point of view. Take research. Make it personal. Use it to enrich characters and further the plot or romance.

I hope you’ll come along with me as we further explore the concept of deep point of view, and how little tricks and details will enrich your writing. Once you start to see through the eyes of your characters, you’ll never see research or your writing the same way again.

Next up for Carrie:

STARLIGHT, the second full-length romance in the Christies series, is set in Victorian Glasgow. It just received a 4½ stars Top Pick from RT Book Reviews. Then comes Pocket Star digital original, HIS VERY OWN GIRL, an honest to goodness historical romance set in WWII! Available September 4.

Carrie on the internet

Twitter: @carrielofty

FACEBOOK   

I hope you will join my class

Beyond Research: Stronger POV

& Effective Use of Detail

Hosted by

Fantasy-Futuristic & Paranormal

Romance Writers

This 2 week class starts July 2^nd

For more information click HERE.