To publish our writing we have two main avenues, traditional publishing or self-publishing. But there’s that third choice, the holy grail, best of both worlds: hybrid publishing. Is it right for us? What are the benefits? What are the drawbacks? Have you considered being a hybrid author, already are one? Or are you on the “never in a million years” list?
Come chat with us about it Sunday 4pm PST / 7pm EST !
~Robin Lovett
Graphic by Alexis Daria
A lightbulb here. A lightbulb there. Ideas come and go. They spark and die. How do we hang onto them? Organize them? How do we make them more than ideas but characters with full backstories and plots with compelling tension?
Come tell us how you organize your ideas and learn how others do it too. Sunday at 4pm PST / 7pm EST!
~Robin Lovett
Graphic by Alexis Daria
The growth and development of a hero or heroine through a novel is as important as the plot itself. There are as many journeys or character arcs as there are people in this world. But there are lots of tropes and patterns that we can build our characters on. What are your favorite character arcs? Which ones have you used and which ones are you looking to explore?
Join us, Sunday 4pm PST / 7pm EST!
~Robin Lovett
Graphic by Alexis Daria
We all have ideas about what we want to write but having the courage to write it is often not so easy. We worry what others will think, if anyone will read it, if agents and editors will want to buy it. But writing afraid is no way to write at all. So how can we write with fearlessness? How can we get in touch with the courage to write amidst the pressure to do it well?
Join us Sunday 4pm PST / 7pm EST!
~Robin Lovett
Graphic by Alexis Daria
Graphic by Alexis Daria
We’re all supposed to blog. Everyone says we should have a blog. But blogging is such an intricate process it’s practically it’s own sport. So how do we get in the game?
If you’ve been blogging for years, come share your skills. If you’ve never written a post, join us and learn.
See you Sunday at 4pm PDT/ 7pm EDT!
~Robin Lovett
We’re pleased to have a guest post this week by #RWChat regular, Bronwen Fleetwood!
You might think we read for artful plots, or to meet memorable characters, but both will fall flat if they don’t inspire emotions in the reader. This is especially true in romance, which promises to provide an emotional experience with a satisfying HEA. How to evoke emotion is a vast topic, but here are some tips to get your heart fluttering.
Identify the Emotion
What do you want the reader to feel? Anger at a character, joy at an outcome, sadness over a loss? For every scene, make a note to yourself of what the reader should be feeling. Some scenes may have more than one emotion, or have an emotional arc.
Create Empathy
Give your reader a reason to care about your character. The heroine’s dog died. That sentence doesn’t do very much for you, does it? The heroine’s beloved childhood companion, who faithfully followed her everywhere, died. The difference is that I set up the relationship between the heroine and her dog. Through the description we get a sense of how the heroine feels about the dog. When the character feels something, the reader can react to it, and feel something themselves.
Draw on Past Experience & Visceral Details
Actors are often told to draw on their past experiences to portray a scene more authentically. You can do the same. If your heroine is ecstatic, remember what it was like to be ecstatic yourself. What details stood out to you? How did you feel physically? Really dig into the visceral reactions you had. It’s these details that will make a reader say, “Yes! I’ve felt that way before!”
To learn more, check out 18 tips for Creating Emotion in the Reader, a guide to stimulus and Causes of Unemotional Writing & How to Correct Them, and Margie Lawson’s lecture series on Empowering Characters’ Emotions.
And don’t forget to join us for #RWchat this week!
Bronwen Fleetwood writes books for young adults, because those have always been, and often still are, the books that have made the biggest impact on her. She’s always been fascinated by fairy tales and myths, and always wanted to know why so many female characters get the short end of the stick in such stories–and in life in general. It must be all that “GIRL POWER” messaging in her youth. You can find her on Twitter @bronniesway or on bronwenfleetwood.com.
Submitting your work for feedback is like putting your heart in someone’s teeth. If you’re lucky, they’ll hold it gently in their hands. If you’re not so lucky, they’ll bite down and make it bleed. But if you’re REALLY lucky, they’ll take the time and effort to help your work be the best it can be, even if it means tough love. And there’s a reason why they call it tough – it ain’t easy to take.
But before we chat tonight about receiving feedback, I’d like a word about GIVING it. I admit, I didn’t know how to give it at first. I was one of THOSE people who coated others’ work with so many comments, it looked like a sea of red by the time I was done. I was brutal. And I definitely owe some people formal apologies for the feelings I hurt. I was new, and I didn’t understand what good feedback meant.
Here’s my understanding now of what good feedback means, or at least the kind I like to get:
Good feedback does not mean taking the person’s work and nitpicking it until you’re trying to make it your own. That’s not feedback, it’s rewriting, and it’s rude. (See the guilty sign on my back…)
Good feedback also does not mean sugar coating – telling someone glowingly how wonderful their work is without any critique. That is shallow and superficial and unhelpful. (I’ve done that too, out of laziness.)
Good feedback, great feedback, falls in the middle. It means taking the time and care to highlight in detail the strengths of a writer’s work. Because let’s face it, most of us don’t know what our strengths are, and it’s important that we know what we do well.
It also means giving the attention to make constructive, deliberate critiques. To look carefully at a writer’s work and find the potential that has yet to be realized. Great feedback is given with respect and wanting to bring the work to a higher level. It’s given with a belief in the other writer’s ability and the integrity of their story. It’s investing the time and effort to uplift the work, not degrade it.
Great feedback is a giant compliment of YOUR WORK IS WORTH MY TIME. Accept it with grace, consideration, and discernment. Having the dedication to take every piece of it seriously is a hallmark of a great writer.
Given compassionately and well, great feedback is the foundation of building the great relationships we have going in this wonderful community of ours.
Looking forward to hearing your insights on receiving feedback!
See you at 7pm EST on #RWChat.
~Robin Lovett
Next week on RWchat we’ll discuss how to infuse ambiance and atmosphere into our writing – especially in love scenes. We’ll talk about tone, language, and pacing, and how to write love scenes that capture mood and still advance the story.
Join us on Sunday at 7pmEST/4pmPST on the #RWchat hashtag.
And make sure to join our newsletter to receive a reminder email straight to your inbox!
#RWchat is a weekly Twitter chat for romance and women’s fiction writers. We gather every Sunday evening to discuss writing process, craft, promo, and industry. It’s a fun, informal environment, and a great way to meet other writers in the genre.
Our next chat is March 27th, 4pm PST | 7pm EST. We’ll discuss writing Act 3 – black moment, climax, and resolution.
If you’ve spent time researching how to craft a compelling query, you may have noticed most of the good examples end on a cliff-hanger to generate hook. Will he overcome his past? Will she finally learn to trust? Unfortunately, we already know they will. That is the nature of the Happily Ever After. This #RWChat focused on how best to catch the interest of agents and editors when everyone already knows how it’s going to end.
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Kim Lionetti@BookEndsKimAfter starting her career at Berkley Publishing, Kim Lionetti left her position as Senior Editor to join BookEnds in March 2004. As an agent, she still enjoys using her editorial skills to help authors shape their work into more marketable products and guiding them to see their writing as part of the “bigger picture. Kim’s obsession with books began in middle school when she was introduced to her grandmother’s collection of gothic romances by Phyllis Whitney, Victoria Holt, and Mary Stewart. To this day, Kim harbors a soft spot for dark, tortured heroes, but also enjoys a good romantic comedy. A member of AAR, Kim is looking for fresh voices and compelling storytelling. Her areas of interest are historical and contemporary romance, women’s fiction, cozy mysteries, and contemporary new adult fiction and young adult fiction (except fantasy or sci-fi). Originally from Pennsylvania, Kim currently resides in New Jersey with her son, daughter, cat, two guinea pigs, and very patient husband, who puts up with her crushes on Mr. Darcy, Eric Northman, blind dukes, and Ryan Gosling. You can contact her directly at KLsubmissions@bookends-inc.com and see her in person at the 2015 RWA National Conference in New York or the 2015 Malice Domestic Convention in Bethesda. |
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Ava Jae@Ava_JaeAva Jae is a YA and NA writer, an Assistant Editor at Entangled Publishing, and is represented by Louise Fury of The Bent Agency. Her YA Sci-Fi debut, BEYOND THE RED, is releasing Spring 2016 from Sky Pony Press. When she’s not writing about kissing, superpowers, explosions, and aliens, you can find her with her nose buried in a book, nerding out over the latest X-Men news, or hanging out on her blog, twitter, Facebook, tumblr, Goodreads, Instagram, or YouTube channel. |
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