Lynn Shurr's Blog, page 14

Kick-Ass Heroines

     I like a kick-ass heroine as much as the next woman, but I like them in the right time, place, and context.  Eve Dallas in futuristic New York, great!  Hunting vampires and werewolves, you bet.  But, when a Victorian lady delivers a few karate kicks, not so much.  Give me Amelia Peabody and her reinforced umbrella to take on her foes any day. A woman on the frontier might be expected to know how to use a rifle, a Regency lass, highly unlikely.  The latter is better off using her feminine wiles to conquer a man.
     Of course, a case can always be made for odd, out-of-sync skills.  Her daddy was a fencing teacher, her Chinese houseboy is also a master at judo, possible but not probable.  Still, these devices always seem contrived in historical novels. I have a Regency heroine, Lady Pandora, who badly wants equal rights with men. She can ride like the devil sidesaddle, but would love to be allowed the freedom to ride astride in breeches. She believes she can do anything as well as a man, but um, that does not always work out for her as she simply does not have the training or the strength to bring off all her schemes. In other words, I try to keep my heroine in the realm of reality for her time and place.
     Today, it is likely a woman might know how to shoot a pistol or deliver a karate chop.  She may drive race cars or be in the space program.  We've come a long way, baby.  Still, I do appreciate when the contemporary heroine leaves something for the hero to do other than be good in bed.  I mean, I can change my own oil, but why would I want to if a man will do it for me?
     Enough said on this topic.  I am between the publication of Kicks for a Sinner in February and the just completed edits for my 1920's historical, Queen of the Mardi Gras Ball, to come out in June. The heroine of the last has spirit but does not deliver a single lethal blow in the whole book-though she does try.  Sorry about that.  I think it is still a good story in its own time and place.
     Well, I am confused by the new Blogger formatting but charmed to know over 1,300 people read my blog at sometime or another.  Not huge numbers, I know, but here I thought only a few friends tuned in from time to time.  Makes the time I spend on this seem more worthwhile. Thanks for reading this and my books.

Silver Threads

After my rather disastrous conference last month, I returned home to lots of buzz on one my writers' loops about ageism in publishing. Evidently, a young agent blogged that she would never take a client over forty because they would not be able to produce enough books to make a good career or enough money for her. Truth be told, I would rather have an agent with some silver threads in her hair, lots of clout and contacts, rather than the baby agents sent to small conferences to start their careers-but I know this is not likely to happen as more mature agents already have long lists of writers to represent. At least, I'd give a young agent a chance to show her stuff.
Let's see. At forty, I had just given birth to my third child, consequently moved into a larger house with a bigger yard needing more upkeep, was running a county library system with eight branches, and had a husband to keep happy. Time to write - zero. Ten years later, I eeked out some short stories, rewrote two old novels, and over the next five years, wrote two more. By the time I got published, I had twelve books in my closet, now up to twenty though six have been sold and two more will most likely be printed. So, lack of productivity as one gets older, I don't think so. You actually get back some of that time and energy that formerly went into family and career.
I don't know if that is what happened at the conference, if the young agent took one look at my silver threads and stopped listening to two pitches for very viable books. It is the first time I went through that excruiating process and was not asked for at least a few chapters. I do believe if that is the case, I am done pitching in person.
I did have a last laugh. Before going in to pitch, I spoke to another person in waiting. She had twenty inspirational novels ready to go and was at least ten years older than me. When her name was called, she went in on her walker. Good for her! I wish her luck.

What Agents Want

When you find out, tell me. I just returned from a small writers' conference that I usually enjoy. This year, they lost my registration so I walked around with a handwritten name tag no one could read and had no pitches scheduled since no one knew I was coming. Two very nice people donated pitches to me. I had prepared to sell my Regency series of which six books are written. The first pitch session with a young agent went like this: I am looking for representation for my Regency series.... Her: The Regency market is dead. Pitch something else. So, I stumble through a pitch for a contemporary I finished last week, A Trashy Affair. Her: It sounds funny. I don't like funny. Needless to say if she doesn't like the Regency period and hates funny, we would never have gotten along, so no loss on either side there.

Next up, I pitched to an editor. Since I'd just been told the Regency market is dead, I went with the new contemporary and did a better job this time. She was very nice, gave me some pointers, but did not ask to see the book. We got on the subject of my football romances, and she advised me to keep on writing those which of course I intended to do anyhow. I left that pitch with a smile since several years back I was told no one would buy a sports romance.

Okay, I have strung you along listening to my woes. Here is what most of them seemed to want this year: short Harlequin type romances that could be sold easily and published quickly, and books like The Help, though I found it odd they would be looking for that at a romance conference. Since I grew up in a small Pennsylvania town where everyone did their own housework, I'm not likely to write one like that either. Best advice received: If everyone in your writers' group is writing the same sort of thing, that market is already overcrowded.

And so I add to my list of topics agents have told me they can't sell: A Regency series, funny books, 18th century stories, 1920's novels, and sports romances. Do not believe it.

More Titular Musings

I am going to say more about titles and nothing about tits. From my previous post, you would think I am the Grand High Pooh Bah of title creations. Not so. I have had my hand slapped by contest judges more than once. In my effort to get rid of the word LOVE in my titles, I changed Loving Blindly to The Earl's Ugly Mistress. Now that title got attention, mostly good, but one person chastised me by saying a romance should never use the word "ugly" on the cover. I disagree and haven't changed it - but haven't sold the book either.

My other brush with the title police occurred when I wrote a story about an American bull fighter who becomes involved with a woman who uses her sexuality to draw rich husbands. I entitled it Bull Bait, referring to both of the characters. The word used to describe that title was "repellent". I've waffled a little on this one. It is now paired with another book under the title Deserving of Love? There's that love issue again. I still like Bull Bait. What do you think? As it is also unsold, I can play with this title as much as I want.

I called another story with a reincarnation theme Star-Crossed?, but now realize how many times that title has been used thanks to Romeo and Juliet. I'm thinking of changing this one to Always Yellow Roses. In another case of having too common a title, I switched Masks to A Devil in Disguise (too many those out there, I found) to its current incarnation as Courir de Mardi Gras under which heading it sold. Did the title change help? I might never know, but Queen of the Mardi Gras Ball (formerly High Water) and Mardi Gras Madness (previously Flames), all stories in which Fat Tuesday plays a pivotal role will be coming out in 2012. You never know what will happen on Mardi Gras Day.

While I am having great fun switching up titles, it is probably driving my web master crazy because she has to keep changing the the copy on my site every time I get a new inspiration. Enough for today. Taryn, thanks for following my blog. I promise you Kicks for a Sinner will be out soon. The delay came because of a change in cover and pricing beyond my control. Spoiler Alert: No half-naked guy on this one which is fine with me, but I hope it doesn't hurt sales.