Confessions of a Closet Puzzler

I never suspected I had it in me.

You think you know yourself, but then the whole thing just sort of blind-sides you. There I was, putting along on my current WIP, being a good little linear pantser, and . . . what's that you say?

You don't know what a pantser is? A quick primer on writing process is in order then.

Pantser-- A character-driven writer who wakes up each morning wondering where her H/h will take her story today. (This is me. When I say I'm linear, I mean I start at the beginning and stop when I hit "The End.")

Plotter-- A plot-driven writer who knows down to the POV and sensory details what's happening in every single scene before she writes the first sentence.

Layerer-- This writer starts with a powderkeg of a premise distilled down to a single sentence. Then she expands to a paragraph, a back cover blurb, a one page synopsis, a 5 page synopsis, a 10 page . . . an 80 page first draft, a 200 page second . . . well, you get the idea. This writer keeps ploughing through the story adding layers of detail on each pass.

Puzzler-- These magical writers conjure their stories out of the air in vignettes written in whatever order the scenes come to them. Then they shuffle them into the correct order and string together connecting passages to make a story. Sort like patchwork quilting, but with words.

Anyway, back to my original thought. There I was, minding my business, writing away, when out of the blue, here came a scene into my head that was completely out of order. And I realized immediately that it had to be incorporated into my WIP, even though it meant backtracking considerably. (Like a couple hundred pages. This was a seriously out of order scene!)

After I finished tucking the scene in seamlessly, I basked in the moment. It fit. It was as essential to the story as any of the other scenes. It was like a Mozart sonata, each note strung together like a perfectly matched set of pearls.

Even though one pearl was tied in out of order.

I had tried plotting and layering before, but I never thought my mind worked organically enough for puzzling. I guess it just goes to show that if you write long enough, you'll use every known process and make up a few of your own.

When you read, have you ever been able to tell what sort of process a writer used?

Where's the Maguffin?

The what?

In case you've never heard of it before, here's a little background. Alfred Hitchcock gave us the term "maguffin." It refers to some thing all the characters in the story are after. It can be anything at all, but its purpose is to be a prime mover in the plot.

In TOUCH OF A THIEF, my debut Mia Marlowe title, the maguffin is a red diamond with unusual properties. And because of those qualities, Baaghh kka kkhuun (Blood of the Tiger) almost becomes a character in its own right.

I'm blogging about it over at http://www.miamarlowe.blogspot.com/ and I'd love you to join me!

Hero Casting Call

When I guest blog for a new book, I'm often asked who I'd cast as my hero if my story was made into a movie. Here's a peek into my private casting call.

Trevelyn Deveridge in DISTRACTING THE DUCHESS is clever, sophisticated, and dangerous when he needs to be. Sexy as the devil, this Queen's secret service agent whistles Rule Britania as he peels off his clothes to become my heroine's nude model.

He's Pierce Brosnan in a cravat.


The knee jerk choice for my PLEASURING THE PIRATE hero might have been Johnny Depp, but frankly his Jack Sparrow nances about a bit too much to be Gabriel Drake. My prodigal pirate needed to have more of the seriously bad "bad boy" about him if I was going to make his reformation mean something.

He's Russell Crowe in a tricorne hat.



For VEXING THE VISCOUNT, I needed a man with innate sweetness for my virgin hero Lucian Ignacio de Castenello Beaumont. This treasure hunter may have "pockets to let," but his heart is rich and he's ever so eager to learn about love. Lucian's love scenes with the heroine may be exercises in the blind leading the blind, but they have plenty of sexy fun wandering the dark together.

He's Colin Firth in a frock coat and knee britches.




Ian Michael MacGregor in My Lady Below Stairs (A CHRISTMAS BALL) isn't a titled lord. He's the head groom who's in love with the scullery maid. It made sense to to choose a burly unknown as my model for this muscle-bound "man-of-all-work."

Earnest, devoted and determined not to lose his lady love, I may not know this model's name, but I know Ian Michael's heart.





I really need two pictures for Crispin Hawke, the brilliant artist in STROKE OF GENIUS. One for his gorgeous exterior and one for his irritating, insufferable interior. I already had a mental image of Crispin's dangerous male beauty when I ran across this suffering artist at the 2009 RT Convention. It was so close to the hero in my head, I had to have the picture.



But once Crispin opens his mouth, it's hard not to recognize him as the Regency's answer to Hugh Laurie's HOUSE. Crispin isn't addicted to opiates and he isn't as self-destructive as HOUSE, but his "I-dare-you-to-care-about-me" demeanor makes him one of the most complicated heroes I've ever written.



COMING ATTRACTIONS!

My debut Mia Marlowe title will be coming out next May. Some of you will remember the name for my hero from my Pirate Name Contest a few years ago. Lisa Mancini-Verges, the reader who submitted it, has given me permission to use the name and I'm thrilled to report that Greydon Quinn will come to life in TOUCH OF A THIEF. A disgraced British officer, Quinn is single-minded, committed to justice for his friends and a master of the Kama Sutra.

Of course, the fact that Quinn looks remarkably like Clive Owen doesn't hurt a bit either.

And that brings us to my current work in progress which I'm not at liberty to say much about yet.

Except that my hero strongly resembles Matthew McConaughey.

Ok, now it's your turn to play casting director. Take a look at the book on your nightstand. Please share the title, author and who you imagine as the hero!

Red Pencil Thursday with Kristine Cayne

Please welcome Kristine Cayne to the Red Pencil Thursday online critique group. As with any group, we're only as strong as the members around the table, so please be sure to leave your comments for Kristine.

As usual, my comments are in red. Kristine's are purple.

Obsession
Very nice. One word titles are quite strong.

Where was the best place to shoot Nic “The Lover” Lamoureux? The king-size bed or the beige club chair?
Now, that's an eye-popping opener. He must have really ticked her off. I've never seen Nic spelled that way. Am I just out of the loop?
Thank you! Nic is short for Nicolas (without the “h”). Nic is French Canadian and this spelling is more regionally appropriate than Nick.

Lauren James scanned the hotel room through the lens of her Nikon D700. Eager to get started, she adjusted the intensity of the lights and the angle of the umbrellas around the bed. With her foot, she moved the chair an inch to the left then nudged it an inch to the right.
Ha! Deftly done. I thought I was in the mind of a pre-meditating murderer for a minute. I like it when an author fools me and then lets me in on the joke. Our goal is always to surprise and delight our readers. You're off to a great start.

Thank you.

She glanced at her watch for the tenth time in as many minutes confirming what she already knew. He was late. Everything she needed to get the cleanest shot possible was already in place except her target.
Yay! You've followed the writer's path by showing, not telling. You've let us know Lauren is a detail oriented professional by showing her meticulous preparation.

Thank you.

Just then, the door opened, revealing a perfectly matched, elegant couple. Her heart rate accelerated sharply as Nic entered the room. She didn’t recognize the pretty redhead who sauntered in beside him.
I'd cut Just then. It's unnecessary and as I'm always telling my critique partner (and myself!) "Less really is more." I sometimes do a search for all the just, that, even, still and other "filler" type words so I can weed them out of my literary garden.
Good point. I’ll scrub my manuscript for fillers like these.

As she stood rooted to the spot, gaping at the most beautiful man she had ever seen, he crossed the room to stop directly in front of her and smiled. “Hello, chérie. I’m Nic Lamoureux.”
I wonder if famous people actually introduce themselves or if they assume others know them.
I was trying to show that Nic is not your typical arrogant star. That being said, I’ll take another look at this to see if I can bring out that point in a different, perhaps more realistic way.

Oh, God. His voice still held a hint of the sexy Québécois accent she remembered so well. She’d always thought it a shame that he kept it hidden in his movies and public appearances. With considerable effort and concentration, she fought to close her mouth and struggled against the need to slowly peruse his amazing body. After surreptitiously wiping her sweat of her palm off on her hip, she met his gaze and held out her hand.
Oh, God is Lauren's direct thought so it should be underlined to indicate it will be italicized. Other than the bit about his accent (which is great, BTW. I'm drawn to a man's voice first) Kristine has chosen to show us how cool Nic is by giving us Lauren's visceral reaction to him. This is a good technique to demonstrate another character's importance and it allows the reader to fill in the missing details of Nic's "beauty" to conform with their particular preferences. Good job. One little nitpick: I'd change wiping her sweat of her palm off to wiping off her sweaty palm.
You’re absolutely right. It sounds better the second way and gets rid of one preposition.

“Hi Nic,” she said. “I’m Lauren James.”

“Enchanté.” Nic raised her fingers to his lips and lightly kissed her knuckles. She watched mesmerized as the expression in his eyes turned inquisitive. “You seem very familiar. Have we met?”
While this conversation is realistic, it's not interesting. Fictional dialogue has to work harder than this. Every exchange needs a purpose and every speaker has their own agenda. What do each of them expect from the encounter? What do you want the reader to glean from this? If they do know each other, where is Lauren's disappointment that he doesn't remember her as well as she does him?
This encounter is supposed to show two things: Nic The Lover is a flirt and there is something about Lauren that rings a bell but he doesn’t know what. Since this isn’t coming across, I’ll need to rework the passage. As for Lauren’s disappointment, you make a good point. I need to include that here.

Before she Lauren could reply, the redhead joined them. Lauren had always envied women like her. Even though she was perhaps ten years older, the tall, slim woman with her flawless skin, gorgeous hair and perfectly tailored clothes could, no doubt, turn the heads of men still in their twenties. "I’m Vivian Carmichael, Nic’s agent. Where is Raphael?”
Envy isn't an attractive quality. While we need our protagonists to have flaws, you've already given Lauren some jitters. I'd rather not see her afflicted with the green-eyed monster.
Interesting viewpoint. Since we envy what we admire, I’ll change it to “Lauren had always admired women like her.”

The woman leaned forward. “I’m Vivian Carmichael, Nic’s agent. Where is Raphael?”
It's amazing to me how often this happens in my own work. I do some revisions, move some things around, and forget to delete the material in its original place. Reading aloud helps me catch those repeats.
Thank you for catching this.
That said, I'm not sure Ms. Carmichael would deign to introduce herself to someone she really didn't want there. I think Lauren should realize who she is based on her boss's instructions about the gig.
Good point. I’ll rework this part.

“Raphael has a nasty case of the flu. We were supposed to work the photo shoot together but since he can’t be here, he asked me to handle it on my own.” Lauren turned to Nic. “I hope that’s okay with you?”

Are there any un-nasty cases of flu? Some people are very private about their health. Raphael may not appreciate her sharing the details of his illness. Then too, if Lauren's been with him, Nic and his agent might think she's been exposed and is carrying the coughing-up-a-lung, feverish, aching, snot-producing virus I think of when you say "nasty case of the flu." A simple "He's home sick" would suffice.
LOL. Not quite the impression I was going for. I’ll change this.

“Of course it’s —”

“Not okay!” interrupted Vivian, pointing a perfectly manicured finger at her. “Raphael told me about you. I agreed to this arrangement as long as he was here to direct and supervise. I can not allow Nic to go through with this.”

The job of a writer is to choose which details to include. The perfectly manicured finger really speaks to Vivian's character in an economy of words!

Thank you.

Nic smiled at Vivian and smoothed a strand of red hair around her ear. “Vivian, what’s the big deal? We agreed to a photo shoot after the Bad Days premiere. So, let’s just do it. What can it hurt?”

That's a very intimate gesture. We allow very few people to touch our heads. Are Nic and Vivian sleeping together?

Their relationship is not sexual (at least not on Nic’s part) but it is intimate. Vivian is Nic’s only real friend in L.A. and they are very close. Also, when Nic is being “Nic The Lover,” he manages (most) women, including Vivian, through flirting. But, I do see your point and I’ll think about it some more.

Vivian glared at Lauren. “I won’t have your reputation ruined by some two-bit department store photographer.”

Nic frowned. “What are you talking about?”

This question makes your hero seem not quite bright. Obviously, someone in the public eye has to be careful how their image is presented and would demand the best. I'd rather have him say something to try to calm his agent down or say she's being a little harsh. Especially if he and Lauren have a history of some kind together, as I suspect they do.

Good point. I’ll think about how to make him sound brighter even though he has no clue as to the particulars of this particular photo shoot. Vivian manages all these engagements leaving Nic to concentrate on the acting part of his career.

She grasped him by the forearm while making a dismissive gesture toward Lauren. “Darling, this woman isn’t a professional photographer. She simply won a contest and you’re the prize.”

Now the agent seems not quite bright. Lauren isn't there with her cellphone to snap this photo. She's got a heavy-duty Nikon and has set up all the professional lighting equipment and staged the room for a shoot. Lauren is projecting a professional demeanor, despite her inner fangirl. If there's something else afoot here, now is the time to have Vivian give an explanation without making Nic ask her for one. Or if there's a special circumstance surrounding Lauren getting to do this, it should be introduced earlier, maybe as she's setting up for the shoot.
Lauren did win a photography contest for which the prize was to assist Raphael in a photo shoot. This is explained in the next paragraph which unfortunately isn’t in this excerpt. Vivian knows this but hasn’t told Nic since she didn’t think it was a big deal as long as Raphael was there. Now that he’s not, she’s trying to back out of the deal. The tone of her words is supposed to show that she’s very protective, even possessive of Nic to the point that she can be a b*tch about it.

He turned to Lauren, one beautiful black eyebrow raised. “I’m the prize? Exactly what kind of contest was this?”

You used beautiful for Nic once before. Maybe perfect would do here.
Good point.

Thanks for letting me take a look at this, Kristine. There are some good elements to build on here, but I'm going to give you a little tough love. I'm concerned because I just re-read the email from you that indicated that Obsession is a romantic suspense and I wouldn't have known that from this excerpt at all. There's no sense of danger. No hint that someone is being stalked or targeted because you quickly made the bit about "shooting Nic" in the beginning into a joke. You might need to rethink the opening. Pull a Lisa Gardner, Lisa Jackson, or Karen Rose novel from the shelves and see how they start. There's no doubt something evil is afoot from the get-go.
I’m glad that you brought this up since it has forced me to make a decision on something I’d been toying around with for a while. Since Lauren isn’t aware of the danger to Nic, I’ve been thinking about adding a first scene either in Nic’s POV or in the stalker’s POV.

Whew! I was sweating bullets over bringing that up. Sometimes writers just want affirmation. I'm so glad you're serious enough about the craft to be willing to take a hard look at making substantial changes. Your idea to have a scene in a different POV character is a good solution.

Genre fiction needs to be more of one thing than anything else. If it's a comedy, make me spew my drink out my nose. If it's sensual, make me fan myself. If it's historical, don't mess up on the details. If it's suspense, I want tingles running up my spine. From page one. Those are the reader expectations and writers ignore them at our peril.

I'm sure your manuscript becomes more suspenseful, but if you're promising a RS, you need to begin as you mean to continue. Right now this reads as straight contemporary romance.


Bio:
Kristine is a software developer by day and a romance writer by night. She lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband and two boys. Kristine started writing, feeling that through words she could create her own stories and entertain herself in a way that nobody else could. Kristine is busy polishing her current work in progress and eager to begin working on her second full length novel.
My website: http://www.kristinecayne.com/ (Aspiring writers should take a look at Kristine's website. It's well-organized, professional and presents her as a serious writer. Just what you want as you build your platform.)
My blog: http://blog.kristinecayne.com/

Gerard Butler Grammar Quiz

Credit for today's post goes to the hysterically talented Kristan Higgins. You may have hated grammar in school, but I promise you'll think differently after this!

The following articles first appeared in Connections, Connecticut RWA's monthly newsletter.

Gerard Butler Grammar Quiz: I vs. Me

Oh, stop! You love grammar! You just don't know it yet. Take my little quiz and
see how much fun you have.

A) That's a great picture of Gerard Butler and I.

B) That's a great picture of Gerard Butler and me.

C) It meant a lot to Gerard and I that you burned those porno shots of the two
of us.

Only B is correct. An easy way to get the proper answer here is if you just
deleted Gerard Butler (which of course I'd never do), you'd say "me." That's a
great picture of me. Same if Gerard's in the picture (and we hope he still
is).and therefore we have B.

A) Me and Gerard are getting married in June.

B) I and Gerard are getting married in June.

C) Gerard and I are getting married in June, and we plan to have a long and
exhausting honeymoon.

The grammatically correct sentence is C. For the record, the first person
pronoun (I or me) always comes second. It's just polite, like serving the guest
first. And again, if you'd say I (as in I'm getting married), you'd say Gerard
and I. Not Me and Gerard. Because he won't marry you if sound like a dope.


Gerard Butler Grammar Quiz: Affect vs. Effect
Which of the following is correct?

A) The affect that Gerard Butler has on women and gay men is undeniable.

B) I was deeply effected by the way Gerard tore off his shirt.

C) The effect of Gerard's kiss was that I slipped him some Rohypnol and
dragged him off to Vegas for a quicky wedding.

The answer is, of course, C. Effect is a noun, as in "cause and effect." Affect
is a verb. Gerard's smoky blue eyes affect us chicks. The effect of those eyes
is devastating. True! So true!

Gerard Butler Grammar Quiz: Its vs. It's

Which of these is correct?

A) Its so nice to have Gerard take his shirt off in a movie.

B) It's even better if he wears a kilt.

C) The movie, its actors and script were pointless, at least until Gerard Butler
had that love scene.

Ah.it was a trick question. B and C are both correct. When one uses an
apostrophe, it's to indicate that a letter is missing or to designate possession
(Kristan, Gerard's wife) In the case of "it's" the missing letter is the "I" in
"is." "Its" (no apostrophe) indicates ownership.

The kilt, its fasteners having melted in my laser-hot stare, fell to the floor.
"It's getting steamy in here," I murmured.

"'Tis," Gerard breathed.

Note the apostrophe in front of "'tis"-because I deleted the letter "I" from the
implied word "It."

Thanks, Gerard! You're the best, baby!

Kristan Higgins is the RITA©-award winning author of six romantic comedies and a devout Gerard Butler afficianado. Her latest book, All I Ever Wanted, received four and a half stars from Romantic Times.

Emily here again. Never knew grammar could be so much fun, did you?

Ok, if Gerard Butler doesn't help you remember these little rules, which hunky male would you substitute?

Blogging from the other side of my brain . . .

Today I'm blogging at http://www.miamarlowe.blogspot.com , my evil twin's site. Ok, not so evil exactly. Slightly woo-woo, maybe, since she mixes magic and mayhem in her stories to a much higher degree than the Emily books do.

Anyway, I'd love to see you over there. I'm talking about approaching people I respect about giving a cover quote for Mia's debut TOUCH OF A THIEF.

ttys,
Emily

Confessions of an RWA Slacker

I went to my first RWA Nationals in 2003, when it was held in the Big Apple. I didn't know a soul except my roommate and she was only there for part of the time. I had only finished my sad little western, but I was working on the manuscript that would become my debut MAIDENSONG (a Diana Groe title which is now sadly out of print. There are still used copies available on most online stores). The pitch appointments were all filled by the time I registered that year so I couldn't talk to an editor or agent about my fledgling work.

That was probably a good thing. I'd have had no idea what to say.

So I attended every craft workshop I could squeeze into my schedule and by the time the conference was over, I thought my brain was going to start leaking. The presenters had given me so much to think about, I couldn't wait to get home and implement the new ideas.

But I couldn't shake the feeling that there was another conference going on in tandem with the one I attended. One that required a wink and a nod and a secret handshake which I wasn't privy to. No matter. My first conference met my needs right where I was. It filled me up with new knowledge about the craft of storytelling.

Then a few months later my DH lost his job, so I had to skip the 2004 Nationals. I was too busy working 40 hours a week and trying to learn how to write nights and weekends. I finished ERINSONG and another still unpubbed story during that time.

By the time 2005 and Nationals in Reno rolled around, my fortunes had changed dramatically. I'd received "The Call!" I met my lovely editor Leah Hultenschmidt of Dorchester for the first time. It was my first peek behind the curtain into that 'Other Conference,' the one where networking was the byword, relationships were cemented and deals were struck.

From 2006-2009, I had books to sign at the Literacy Signing. I was invited to my publisher's parties and my agent got me in to some of the others. In 2009, I presented my first workshop at Nationals NEUROTICA~Adding Humor to your Prose. I hobnobbed with authors whose work I adored and tried not to stammer when I met highpowered bookbuyers, editors and reviewers. This part of the 'Other Conference' terrified me, but it's so necessary to learn to be comfortable with the business side of writing.

Now I love that part of conference. In fact, I could probably count the number of workshops I attended in DC last year on one hand. And yet Nationals met the changing needs of my writing career.

This year, I'm sorry to admit I will not be in Orlando. I had signed up for Nashville, had my room booked at the Opryland Hotel and was slated to appear on a panel, but when the venue was changed, I was told initially that the panel was being cancelled. I took a hard, business-like look at my options. Since I'd just signed contracts obligating me for 6 novels and a novella before July 15, 2011, I could definitely use the writing time. And I had to weigh whether the money I'd spend on Nationals would be better spent hiring a developer to design a website for my new Mia Marlowe pen name.

I think I made the right decision, but there's still some niggling regret. The jazz of being with so many creative people is a rush I've become addicted to and I won't get my fix this year. I'll miss the excellent keynote speakers, the excitement of the Golden Heart and Ritas (the Emmy and Oscar of the Romance World), the buzz of meeting so many writing and reading friends. But for right now, the post-it on my computer says, "It's the deadlines, stupid!"

So how about you? Are you going to Nationals? If not, do you live close enough to attend the Literacy Signing at least? If you've attended a writer/reader's conference, do you have a funny story to share?