There's Only One Right Way to Write a Novel!

Unfortunately, no one knows what it is.

I have friends who plot extenstively, even down to the POV of each carefully laid out scene. They 'interview' their characters and know exactly what's going to happen from beginning to end before they ever put a word to paper.

Oh, to be so well organized.

There are some in my RWA chapter who 'layer' their work. They start with a powder-keg of a sentence, reducing their premise to its most elemental state. Then they write a 2 parargraph blurb. Then a one page synopsis. Then a 10 page synopsis. Then 50--with each pass they add layers of dialogue and action until after many, many times through the story, they arrive at the desired page count.

Some writers are "puzzlers." Their stories come to them in chunks, out of order and disembodied, like magma rising from the deepest place in their psyches. Once they have all the pieces, they patch them together with connecting material and voila! A manuscript is born. This method is more like magic than any other I've ever heard of, but it has some well-known practitioners, like Diana Gabaldon and my friend Rowena Cherry. I'd try it, but I think it may involve chanting at midnight and killing a chicken.

Then there are the 'pantsers,' as in "writing by the seat of their pants." They get up in the morning and wonder what's going to happen in their story today. I count myself in their number now . . . again.

When I first started writing, I followed my characters around because I didn't know what else to do. That's how I wrote MAIDENSONG, my debut Diana Groe title. Then when circumstances forced me into a 9-5 job, and my writing time was severely cut back, I decided I needed to learn to plot in order to get anything accomplished. As a plotter, I wrote ERINSONG and SILK DREAMS (2 more Diana Groe books) and I first dabbled with my light-hearted Emily Bryan style as a plotter. That's how I wrote DISTRACTING THE DUCHESS, PLEASURING THE PIRATE and VEXING THE VISCOUNT.

Then my editor asked me to contribute to a holiday anthology, A CHRISTMAS BALL. And I decided it might be the perfect time to experiment a bit. I didn't have to submit three chapters and a synopsis. I had a totally blank slate with this contract. So I assembled my cast of characters--Jane Tate, hard-working, deserving scullery maid. Ian Michael MacGregor, hard-muscled, drool-worthy head groom. Spoiled Lady Sybil Sommerville, Jane's well-born half-sister. Her Italian portrait painter lover. Viscount Eddleton, the gentleman to whom Sybil is supposed to become affianced at the Christmas Ball, and grasping Lady Letitia Darvish, a black widow in the hunt for her 5th husband.

I stirred them in my head a bit and brought them all together at the appointed place (the previously described ball at Hartwell House) and the result was MY LADY BELOW STAIRS, my novella in A CHRISTMAS BALL.

'Pantsing' that novella was such a success (as judged by the love my editor professes for the story!), I decided to pants my current WIP, STROKE OF GENIUS, too.

But my 'pantsing' now is much different than it was when I was working on MAIDENSONG. I've been a student of the craft for more years. I understand novel structure and have a basic outline of major plot points in my head. The road map is there. It's just not on paper. So you might call me a closet plotter. And occasionally, I go back in the story, tucking things in that hadn't occured to me on the first pass. You might say I 'layer' a bit.

I still haven't 'puzzled' (can't seem to find the right incantation or a chicken!) but I won't say never. Keeping the process fresh keeps the writing fresh. And I'm game for just about anything to accomplish that.

So how about you? If you're a writer, what's your process? If you're a reader, do you think you can tell how a story was put together by the way it reads?

PS. Today is the last day to enter my CHRISTMAS IN AUGUST contest! Don't miss out on a chance for your choice of my backlist! And if you've already entered, please tell your friends about it. Thanks so much!

The Making of A CHRISTMAS BALL

This sprig of holly is just a reminder that A CHRISTMAS BALL is coming soon. And today I thought I'd share a little with you about how this anthology came to be.


A CHRISTMAS BALL is the brainchild of my brilliant editor, Leah Hultenschmidt at Dorchester. (Leah is on the far right, next to Charles Paz, RT's 2009 Mr. Romance and Erin Galloway, marketing expert extraordinaire!) She conceived a holiday anthology where all the stories were linked by virtue of time and place--a grand Christmas Ball. She invited USA Today Bestseller Jennifer Ashley, Alissa Johnson and I to contribute novellas and we set to work. Other than the setting and the date of our stories (December 19, 1822) we were given free rein.

Because we did, however, have a few common elements, we had to agree on those. First of all, who are the hosts of the ball? Leah entertained suggestions (I hoped they could be Lord Robert and Lady Evelyn, because those are my parent's names. Turns out in 1822, Evelyn was a man's name, so Leah opted for Lord Robert and Lady Julia Hartwell as our hosts.) Lord Hartwell is a force to be reckoned with in the House of Lords and his wife is the consumate hostess. Their annual Christmas Ball makes staying in London over the holidays bearable for the politically well-connected members of the ton who normally would celebrate the holiday at their country homes.

Just where is the Christmas Ball being held? Since all our characters would be sharing the same space, we had to agree on the layout. So we did what all good writers do. We borrowed a little from a real London mansion and then altered matters to suit us. This majestic Georgian is Spencer House, the ancestral seat of Princess Di's family. Located in the heart of St. James, Spencer House was built by the first Earl Spencer between 1756-1766. History buffs will want to pop over to the Spencer House website for a more in depth peek into this fascinating place.

Of course, for the purposes of our stories, Hartwell House needed a few changes from the Spencer model. For one thing, we turned the Great Room on the First Floor (which would be the 2nd floor in the American system of reckoning) into our Ballroom. None of the servants' portions of the house is shown in the floorplan detailed on the Spencer website, so I used my imagination. Since my heroine is a scullery maid and my hero a head groom, they passed through the kitchen a time or two. And I discovered a system of secret passageways behind the walls in Hartwell House that are not easily discerned on the Spencer blueprints. But Spencer House gave us a wonderful point of commonality for our stories and a strong sense of place to get us started.

You'll be hearing more about A CHRISTMAS BALL in the coming weeks. It's due to hit the bookshelves on September 29th! If you'd like a taste, please visit my website! And while you're there, be sure to enter my CHRISTMAS IN AUGUST contest! The drawing is just days away.

And speaking of winners, I have a couple to announce from Gerri Russell's visit here this week! Debra Parmley has won a copy of TO TEMPT A KNIGHT and Katie O'Sullivan is the winner of a Scottish Templars T-shirt! Please contact me through my website with your mailing info and I'll get it to Gerri. Amanda McIntyre already announced her winner the day she was here, but I'll repeat the anouncement here--Etriv (aka Delilah) please contact me or Amanda to receive your prize! For those of you who didn't win when Amanda visited here, you have another chance today at The Chatelaines!

No prizes to give away here, but I still love to hear from you. We were talking about setting today. How important is the setting (the place, decorations, food, etc.) for celebrating a holiday to you?

Last Summer Fling

I always hate to see summer end, but here's a way to squeeze in one last fling. NightOwl Romance has teamed up with a bunch of authors (including me!) to bring you the SUMMER LOVE WEB HUNT.

It's an e-scavenger hunt that will have you visiting a number of websites, collecting the required info and registering for fabulous prizes (see NOR for details!) Of course the hope is that you'll find some new authors who intrigue you, but the main goal is to have some fun. The HUNT runs till Sept 8th, so you can go at a leisurely pace (but please visit my website first!)

And I get the chance to show off the new navigation bar on my website (My DH is so proud of this technological wonder! My website is sort of his toy and he has a love/hate relationship with it.)

As summer draws to a close, I thought I'd share the best book I've read this season. It's the one I just finished--Sherry Thomas's NOT QUITE A HUSBAND.

There is something about Sherry's prose that speaks to my heart, that makes me feel she's written her stories just for me. This book is about an estranged couple and how they find each other again. When her hero said, "The space between the stars is filled with your silence." I knew this couple was in deep trouble. Their path to reconcilliation and joy is as difficult as the path through Northern India they are traversing. Like in all Sherry's stories, her characters are desperately flawed and achingly human. She makes me weep and she gives me hope.

Ok. It's your turn. What's the best book you've read all summer?

25 Blogs in 25 Days . . . The TORTURED Tour!

My friend, Amanda McIntyre is doing a grueling 25 Day Blog Tour to celebrate the release of TORTURED, her new erotic medieval from Harlequin Spice. Today is Day Twenty-23 of the tour for Amanda and she's come up with something really fun and creative for you. But before I turn my blog over to Amanda, I want to share her cool book trailer with you.




from Amanda McIntyre . . .

In a time of chaos, darkness, and violence, it is better to live only in the moment, lest your memories eat you alive.
A young woman blessed with “sight seeks vengeance against a tyrannical lord responsible for her mother's murder. Forced to become an executioner's apprentice, she encounters a Roman prisoner who offers her a way to escape her prison and find a future. Torn between desire, duty, and the chance for revenge, her choice to live or die leaves her TORTURED. (Available now, Harlequin Spice-Books Aug. '09)

TORTURED has been called “a disturbingly touching tale of hope, love and survival.” (Romance BookWyrm) and “Captivating, sexy…not to be missed,” Heather Graham.

With every book I write, at some point, I end up with music that paints a visual in my head of the scene I want to write, or the mood I want to convey. I am an eclectic music lover with very few genres that I don’t truly enjoy listening to. Case in point…just this summer we had the joy of being able to take a family vacation with three of our four children to the eastern states. While in Washington DC, we went to a outdoor music pavilion in Virginia called Wolff Trapp. I highly recommend the experience the next time you are in the DC area. It is amazing!

The concert that we went to see was called “Video Games Live” performed by the National Symphony Orchestra and conducted by composer/producer, Jack Wall. Tommy Tallarico, known in his own right as one of the top video game composers,
Virtually has single handedly taken the sound of the music industry from bleeps to epic music now enjoyed by gamers and non-gamers alike. I was blown away how the music swept me up, taking my imagination to amazing places! If you ever have the opportunity to see this concert, I highly recommend it. But I digress…

Music…it inspires, it soothes, it entices. I’m sure my friend, Em would agree. As such, I thought it might be fun to share with you a couple of the tracks that inspired my writing of TORTURED.

Medieval, dark ages…for me I almost always go classical or soundtrack. After much searching, I found the King Arthur soundtrack and downloaded it on my itunes, so I could listen as I wrote.

So here is the game and how you can win a copy of TORTURED today.

Go to my blog and listen to the three tracks on the virtual Ipod.
http://www.mcintyreshouseofmuse.blogspot.com
(Em here with a quick note for those of you who may be visiting us while you're at work. The music plays automatically on the site, so you'll want to check it out at home unless you wear headphones at work.)

Match the songs with these three scene descriptions and leave your answers 1, 2 and 3, here in your comments on Emily’s blog. Winners will be chosen at random from correct answers:

Here are the song titles:
(Em again ~ This is really cool music. Adventurous and evocative!)
Woad to Ruin/Hans Zimmer
Tell Me Now (what you see) Moya See
Do you Think I’m Saxon?/Hans Zimmer

Here are the scene descriptions:

a) love scenes between Sierra and Dryston-learning to trust her emotions, trust another person

b) Sierra’s courageous attempt to alone, save her brother and Dryston

c) the battle march of the brutal Saxon warlord and his horde as they come to meet the grass roots army that has risen against them

Good luck!

May the wind be at your back~

Amanda

Thanks for coming today, Amanda. And thanks for sharing the music that inspired this story! I always write to a movie soundtrack and it really helps me slip into the world of my book.

Buy TORTURED here! and have fun matching the music to the scene for a chance to win a FREE copy!

Back to School, Back to Writing

Meet my friend Gerri Russell. She's a two time Golden Heart winner and was first published when she won the American Title Contest a couple years ago. Since her debut in January 2007, she's had 3 more books published. She knows a thing or two about writing. Today she's sharing about how to get back into the writing groove after a summer hiatus. My words are in bold today, Gerri in regular type. Take it away, Gerri.

This summer has been filled with one distraction after another. All the distractions might be fun, but they reek havoc with a writing schedule.

Fall brings consistency of daily writing back into the regime. Are you as ready for a change of season as much as I am. Is it time to get back to writing consistently every single day?

But there may be one little problem…are you ready to get into the groove?

In order to be a marathon runner you must learn to train every day. To start with small goals for activity and slowly build to more. You have to get your muscles in shape and prepare for the ultimate test to your endurance. Is preparing for writing any different? Not really. So what's a writer to do when their muscles are a bit out of shape? When the skills and abilities of achieving page goals each day are a bit…let's be polite here…less than toned? It all goes back to the basics--those same principles marathon runners use.

• Retrain your discipline. This is a tough one. How to be disciplined enough to sit down in your writer's chair after a long break from that habit. Two things that have always worked for me are a quote and a kitchen timer. The quote: "Discipline is remembering what you want." by David Campbell The timer: gets set for 10 minutes the first day, 12 the second, 14 the third, and so on. When the timer is on, I write anything that comes to mind. It's a great way to get back in the habit of writing.

• Start with a plan. What do you want to accomplish? You need a map, a guideline of where you are going. Do you want to complete a whole book by a certain date? Do you want to finish one chapter each week? Write one, three, seven, twenty pages a day?

• Set small goals at first, then build gradually over time to increase your endurance. One you have a plan you can break things down into smaller and realistic goals. Setting goals helps you feel like you are making progress forward. I might start my first week off writing three pages a day, then after the first week bump the total up by 2-3 pages a day until I hit my normal daily average.

• Track your progress. I'm a visual person and I really have to keep a log or a graph to show me what my goal was and then how I'm performing. Placing that chart near my computer desk can really keep me focused and inspired when things are going so well.

• Eat a healthy diet and get enough rest. Yes, you actually write better when you each nutritious food and sleep eight hours a night.

• Celebrate the successes. When you hit your milestones, celebrate the moment. One of my favorite ways to celebrate is to go for a hike. I like to think about it as time off for good behavior. It's also a great way to regroup and feed that writer's well with new thoughts and ideas about what to write next.

What do you need to do to get yourself back in shape after a long summer's break?

Thanks so much for sharing those gems with us, Gerri. I'm thrilled to share that a couple commenters are going to make out like bandits today. Gerri is giving away a copy of her newest release, TO TEMPT A KNIGHT and one of her Brotherhood of Scottish Templar's T-shirts! So leave a comment!



To Tempt a Knight

Upon his return to Scotland from the Crusades, Templar knight Sir William Keith is charged with finding a vital holy relic and protecting the daughter of its former guardian--a task that will force him to choose between duty to his vows and desire for the beautiful, courageous woman finally able to soften his battle-hardened heart.

PS. Wanna join me in a treasure hunt? Be sure to click on the NightOwl Webhunt graphic in the right sidebar and have some end of the summer fun!

At The Chatelaines!

My friend Cindy Holby is interviewing debut author Leanne Renee Hieber about her fantastic fantasy/historical debut THE STRANGELY BEAUTIFUL TALE OF MISS PERCY PARKER over at THE CHATELAINES (my group blog!) today. The hysterical header on the blog is worth the trip (I'm the one in the Monica Lewinski beret on the left!). If you leave a comment over there, you just might win a copy of this very exciting, critically acclaimed debut! Hope to see you at THE CHATELAINES.

The Age of Deception

Fashion Makes Fools of us All. I research a number of areas for my stories and one of them is filling my characters' closets with the correct garments for the time period. Here's a taste of some of the things I found when I was writing PLEASURING THE PIRATE (1720) and VEXING THE VISCOUNT (1731)

Eighteenth century fashion encouraged unrealistic ideals. Lest you think only women fell prey to the urge to be more or less than they naturally were, let me assure you men indulged in deceptive fashion, too. Both sexes wore wigs and face paint. Men and women wore 'beauty spots' to cover small-pox scars or evidence of sexually transmitted disease. Well-developed calves were prized in men, so spindly-legged fellows wore wooden 'falsies' in their stockings. Women's figures were manipulated through tight binding in some instances and heavy padding in others.
 
A lady's costume started with a chemise, a thin slip-like garment. This was covered by a heavily-boned corset that flattened the breasts and shoved them up into the "rising moons" position. A gown's neckline might be cut so low that the nipples were displayed as part of the décolletage. Georgians did not fetishize breasts, so a well-bred lady was just as likely as a courtesan to show her nipples (and rouge them!) in public.

I probably wouldn't have believed this startling tidbit if I hadn't seen a Georgian miniature in a schloss (castle) the last time I visited Germany. Sure enough, the lady was depicted with two little pink dots peeping above her gown's low neckline.

Next, the panniers would be attached to a lady's hips. This contraption of wire and horse-hair might expand the width of the woman's hips so much, she'd be forced to turn sideways to fit through doorways. If the lady needed additional derrière enhancement, she'd wear a "bumroll" made of carved cork. It was said a woman wearing one could never drown.

Stockings of silk or cotton were gartered at the knee. This completed the undergarments of the Georgian woman. I know what you're thinking. What? No undies? That's right. No undies. With the yards of a woman's skirts held out with panniers not even touching her legs, I expect a lady would feel naked from the waist down most of the time.

Lady's gowns were tightly fitted in the bodice, but might be loosely flowing in the back. This draped style was known as a sack dress.

The stomacher on the front of the gown was frequently ornamented with bows of descending size from the bosom to the waist.



When has fashion not been about the shoes? The platform shoes shown here were actually quite conservative. Some women tottered along on 22 inch chopines until a maximum height of 11 inches was mandated by law. In a time when streets frequently doubled as sewers, platform shoes made a surprising amount of sense.

As the century turned, fashion turned away from manipulation of the human form toward a more naturalistic style in the Regency era. Since A CHRISTMAS BALL and STROKE OF GENIUS are set during that time, I'll share those fashions with you soon.

PS. Be sure to enter my CHRISTMAS IN AUGUST contest! The drawing will be held September 1st!