Nicole R. Murphy's Blog, page 7
May 31, 2011
Thoughts on contemporary romance and character motivation
Tomorrow I start writing my first contemporary romance. Actually, that's not wholly true – I've started a few but haven't ever finished them. This time I will. I've planned it, I've dived into my characters, I've worked out who they are and what they want and I'm excited to begin and end.
I love contemporaries. Some authors, such as Jennifer Cruisie, have turned them into a masterful artform (I really need to get onto getting some more Cruisies – roll on end of financial year…)
When you get into categories, it can be a bit hit and miss. For those not into the romance genre, category romance is the wording used to describe the Harlequin/Mills and Boon books. For longer books, mostly published by presses such as Avon or Berkeley, the term is single title.
Anyway, categories can be a bit hit and miss because often they rely on some standard tropes. Some people do a brilliant job with the trope. I have twice since March read Paula Roe's The Billionaire Baby Bombshell and I've loved it both times. Paula's using the 'secret baby' trope, but she's come up with a new twist on it that means I wasn't sitting there wondering why she was such a mole as to not tell him about the baby and why is he so thick that he hasn't worked out it's his. Paula not only had a twist on the 'secret baby' trope but more importantly, the character motivations were right so it made perfect sense that he'd get the shock of his life when she turned up with a baby.
Character motivation is a major part of why these tropes work and why they don't. A well-worn one is the 'misunderstanding'. One of the characters has heard something, or seen something, and made a judgement about the other character (or someone close to them) and it colours everything in between.
A classic is that one thinks the other cheated on them. There might be a confrontation about it, or there might not, but the first is SURE it happened, even though it didn't. Then the couple go through the entire book, the first hurt and angry and bitter, the second unable to do something about it until somehow, the first realises it wasn't true and all is forgiven.
This trope annoys me more than just about any other because most of the time I don't believe the misunderstanding would last as long as it does. If I had a dollar for every time I've yelled at a book 'Just have a chat about it and all will be well!' I'd be a rich girl.
The problem here is character motivation. When you're in love with someone, you're not going to automatically believe the first rumour you hear about them. Particularly when you confront them over it and they say it isn't true, and maybe even offer some evidence it isn't true. Doesn't matter how Alpha you are.
Now, if you'd been burnt before, either by a previous partner or by this one, then you could well have a violent reaction. Even if you think they might be innocent, you just can't bare the pain of that moment and so you up and leave (until you meet again, which is often where the romance novel starts). But if you've got NO REASON to believe that this person would cheat on you, why would you believe the rumour? Why would that rumour mean you automatically walk out on them? It makes no sense to me.
But time and again, authors decide that they need a character to react a certain way in order to provide the conflict and it doesn't matter if it doesn't mesh with how the character would act, or whether a sensible person would believe it. They go ahead, and then you've got pages of one half being angry and the other passively trying to love them back to happiness until miracle of miracles the truth is revealed and then all can be well.
I. Hate. It.
In her fabulous book 'The Art of Romance Writing', Valerie Parv says "with a romance novel, so much of the plot is predetermined that you have more of a chance of writing an original story if you start with your characters.'
Word, Valerie. Word.
May 29, 2011
May 27, 2011
Growing as a writer
Today is all about writing short stories. As part of my new approach to my writing career, I've set aside a day a fortnight to focus on writing short stories.
Why? Well because a) if I get good enough at em, I can sell short stories and make a small supplementary income and b) short stories are a great way for me to practice skills, try new ideas and approaches and continue to improve as a writer.
I know I'm a better writer now than I was when I sold the Dream of Asarlai trilogy two years ag0. That growth came from the furnace of having to get the three novels done on some reasonably tight deadlines.
Novels are a platform in which to improve the writing craft, but the problem is the amount of time they require. I write fast, and it still takes me two months to finish a draft of a 110,000 word novel.
I'm going to be starting a new novel in June – a 50,000 word contemporary romance that will only take me one month. But still, that is a month and that's a long time to take to try something that you're not sure will work out.
So when it comes to novels, the chances I take and the challenges I set myself don't divert too far from what I already know. In the new trilogy, for example, I'm challenging myself by having a more complex and subtle overarching plot, and by introducing ideas such as serial killers and love triangles. They're stretching the skills I already have, helping me to improve. But the overall tone of the trilogy, the way it's set up, is exactly the same as the Dream of Asarlai trilogy.
Now, the contemporary romance is going to have a different tone. It's going to be a more stripped back, relaxed story because that's what contemporaries are, compared to my action packed gadda stories. The trauma tends to be more emotional, rather than a real physical threat. So that too, is a challenge that will test my skills. But at the same time, it is a romance and I feel safe in giving over the month to it because I feel comfortable writing romance.
But I also want to be wild. I want to try genres that I haven't touched before. Try POVs, try narrative structures, try characters I've not been game to write before. Short stories allow me to do that with little sacrifice in terms of time or energy.
A short story only takes a day or two to write, so if I get to the end and find it hasn't worked – it's not the end of the world. And who knows, it might later be the seed for something bigger.
Some of this is negated by the fact the first thing I'm working on today is tweaking an old story for submission [image error] But then I'll experiment and get funky. I promise.
May 24, 2011
My newsletter
I've now got a monthly newsletter that you can subscribe to. It will have news, information, chatting and also freebies that you won't get on the website.
For example, the first edition in June contains a brand new gadda short story! Cool, right!
May 23, 2011
Rogue Gadda–the cover reveal
I can finally show you all the FABULOUS cover of Rogue Gadda, the final book in the Dream of Asarlai trilogy.
Ah, Hampton [image error]
On sale July 1, but your favourite bookstore will now be taking pre-orders (hint, hint).
May 22, 2011
And so it’s done.
On Friday, I submitted my new trilogy People of the Star for consideration by my publisher.
It came together amazingly quickly – it's like that moment in the City to Surf when you round the corner, see Bondi Beach and realise that you've made it. Despite the fact you've still got another k and a half to go, your energy rises and you might even run the last couple of hundred metres.
I found the synopsis difficult to write – this trilogy has a more complicated, subtle narrative line than the first, and so getting it down on paper in as few words as possible proved challenging. But after taking a break from the synopsis for a day and re-reading the manuscript for Future Found (tweaking a few little things), the words I needed came together.
So the publisher received the completed manuscript for Future Found and the synopsis for the entire trilogy. Now I sit and wait to see what the response will be.
So what do I do now? Well I kinda laid off the promotional stuff for the past couple of weeks while I worked on Future Found, so I'm going to get back onto that. I'm going to do some admin and clean my office. I need to finish my judging for the RWA, and I want to get stuck into working on a few short stories. And I'm going to do some prep for the next project.
The next project is – a contemporary romance. I've always found the romance aspect of the gadda books pretty easy to write, so now I'll see if I can do it without the whiz-bangery of magic and monsters and other excitement to support it.
I'm intrigued to see how easy I find it. I'm thinking at the moment of aiming for a Harlequin line so I'm looking at a much shorter book than usual. So I won't have the space for intricate worldbuilding or spending a hundred pages getting the reader to fall in love with my characters so when they hook up there will be much rejoicing. I'm going to have to really pare back to the characters, the conflict and the love story.
My prep is going to consist of re-reading the contemporary Harlequins that I own, and also going over some of the romance writing texts I have, particularly the two Valerie Parv books. Then come the beginning of June, I'll be ready to start drafting my first romance-only novel.
May 18, 2011
Future Found almost ready to go!
So thanks to a couple of great writing days, the revision is almost done. I thought yesterday it was, but overnight I've decided to tweak one scene and re-write another from the hero's POV to bring some of the overarching storyline more clearly to the fore at the end.
There's a different sense to this book compared to the first trilogy – the overarching storyline isn't as clear and so I wonder if that's going to impact the reader's desire to move on. I'll leave it to smarter minds than mine to decide that.
So once I've done this last bit of writing, I'll plot it against a couple of charts I use to ensure pacings there and so on. Then I'll do my spell check and it's done.
Tweak the synopsis, let finger hover over the button for a while as I consider whether I really want to do this. Then send to the publisher and hope she loves it.
The neuroses of a writer don't die with a publishing contract – you just develop new ones.
May 8, 2011
Writing–progress, I guess.
Been a bit quiet because the past few days have been – well, rough.
So last Wednesday, I picked up Future Found to work on it again and there was an instant sense of fear. Working on this was part of the series of events that triggered my depression in March, and I've not really done any focussed writing since. What would it mean?
My two fabulous beta readers had given me some incredible insights, and they fit in with some bib and bobs that had been flitting through my mind as well. It all coalesced and I realised the depths of what is actually going on in this series. Always nice to know what it is you're writing about [image error]
So far, I've done the first five chapters and there's been some dramatic changes. I'm not sure how much will filter through this particular book – these are more impacting on the overall storyarc than this first of three acts, but I like some of the intriguing ideas the characters are making me consider. I really do feel that I'm stretching the old writing muscles, challenging myself and getting some good stuff done.
Unfortunately, it has all helped trigger the depression again. To be expected I guess – we all feel a little blue when we're forced to leave holidays or happy things behind and get onto the real work again. I've written more about that here.
That said, there's still some fun to be have with Future Found, so I'll keep ploughing on. I particularly like some of the dynamics that are growing in the relationship between my hero and his father – there's the opportunity for some major fireworks later on.
Ah – does anyone fight like family does?
May 3, 2011
An intriguing day…
This morning, I went into ANU to participate in a study on the neuropsychology of creativity, and particularly if there are differences in the way artists and writers brains' work.
I don't understand the import of all the tests (and was a bit freaked when the very first one involved drawing – dudes, I can't draw!) but it came together well. I NAILED the vocabulary test [image error]
The last test involved monitoring brain waves while firstly visualising an art activity (I went through the details of how to put together the April handbag – am hoping health continues to hold together and I'll get to it this weekend) and then mentally telling yourself a story.
I used this opportunity to think through some of the issues with the new trilogy – namely the overarching storyline only really became clear when I started working on book two of the trilogy. I then tried to fit it into what I'd already written of book one cause, quite frankly, I was being lazy. But then I got an enlightenment, which I can tease you with in two words – Tea Party.
When I got home, I sat down to look through the feedback from my beta readers. I'd already read it, but I guess I wasn't that well at the time (duh!) and so it didn't really sink in. Today it did, and I realised that something my readers picked up as an issue directly linked into my Tea Party concept.
Score!!!!!
So now I know I'm on the right track, even if it does involve some major re-writing of Future Found. Maybe it won't be ready to submit to the publisher this month, but it's going to be a more interesting series because of it.
I've made some notes and scenes are starting to play their way through my head. Tomorrow morning – it's writing time.
Which, as I said on my depression blog, is a bit scary. But I won't be defeated.
I will, however, go for a walk tomorrow. Exercise is good.
April 29, 2011
On Natcons, Ditmars and controversies
Yeah, I know – I'm stark raving bonkers to be getting involved. But seeing the anger and hurt that's flooding the web, I can't say nothing.
So first – congratulations to Alisa and the con com. You did a fantastic job in running the convention. Sure, there were hiccups – we're human, that's what happens. But you had a dream, you worked your arse off and for me at least provided the BEST convention I've ever been too. I know that right now, you're all utterly exhausted and trying to get back to the real world while dealing with everything and it might be hard to see but – you done good.
Second – congratulations to all the winners of the Tin Ducks and Ditmars. I was so thrilled to be part of the award show in my own small way, and so proud of how it all went. I know that every single person who went up there to receive an award has worked really, really hard to produce work they can be proud of and you deserve the moment of acclaim. So to do the other nominees – I thought it was one of the best ballots I've seen in years and shows how strong the industry is in Australia at the moment.
Third – at the next Natcon Business Meeting, I'll be putting forward a proposal for a formal review process for Natcons and Ditmars. The controversies that seem to arise annually after each Natcon/Ditmar have to stop. They provide no value, don't change anything and simply hurt people and create fractures in our community. A formal process would allow people to have their say, for it to be presented for discussion within the community in an objective manner and would also mean it gets considered at business meetings and can therefore be an agent of change, if the change is necessary. It does mean more work for the Natconcom, but it would seem it's a burden that needs to be borne for the sake of our community and industry.
I remember what the week following the Conflux I chaired was like – I was tired, I was sick and over the two weeks I took off to run the convention, my work life fell apart. If I'd encountered the anger and vitriol that I've seen online in the past couple of days – it would near have destroyed me. Thinking about how Alisa and the con committee and Ditmar organisers might be feeling right now has tears welling in my eyes.
These are REAL people, with thoughts and feelings that are being discussed here. Let's keep that in mind, shall we?
