Michelle Styles's Blog, page 39
September 20, 2010
Impoverished Miss,Convenient Wife in Italian --Notte Di Nozze
Finding a new translation of a book is always a cause for celebration. Impoverished Miss, Convenient Wife is out in Italian Notte di Nozze. It hits the Italian shops in October. You can purchase it here.NOTTE DI NOZZE
di STYLES MICHELLE
Inghilterra, 1814
Simon Clare è un ricco possidente che conduce un'esistenza solitaria. Dopo un matrimonio infelice e con un figlio ammalato cui badare, l'ultima cosa di cui ha bisogno è che una donna, per giunta aristocratica, si intrometta nella sua vita. No...
September 18, 2010
Win an autumn break in Scotland
Mills & Boon and Visit Scotland have teamed up to offer a break to the Scottish borders. You can read more about it here. It is very simple to enter and the scenary is sure to inspire. Good luck!!!
In other news:
I've had a hard few days. My daughter ended up in hospital with suspected appendicitis. Luckily it turned out to be a burst cyst. Young women are notoriously difficult when it comes to severe stomach aches. As a general rule of thumb, if the patient can hop, it is not appendicitis. ...
In other news:
I've had a hard few days. My daughter ended up in hospital with suspected appendicitis. Luckily it turned out to be a burst cyst. Young women are notoriously difficult when it comes to severe stomach aches. As a general rule of thumb, if the patient can hop, it is not appendicitis. ...
September 14, 2010
Contracts and such
I turned in my short story yesterday. My lovely editor as a favour read it and had a few tweaks. It goes to the Online Read Editor so she may notice different things. Editors are like that! But I am super excited about it and can't wait to see what she says and ultimately what readers think!
Anyway, my editor has declared that she is going to hold me to that level of focus and intensity now that she knows I can do it! Oh help! It is a challenge...challenges are good. I learnt a lot from writin...
Anyway, my editor has declared that she is going to hold me to that level of focus and intensity now that she knows I can do it! Oh help! It is a challenge...challenges are good. I learnt a lot from writin...
September 13, 2010
Discovering a flat scene
Many instructions in bee-keeping start with first find your queen. This can be far more difficult than it sounds, even when the bloody queen is marked with a huge blob on her back.
To determining if a scene is flat, you need to first find your turning point and more important to make sure that turning is active rather than passive. Like the beekeeping instruction of first find your queen, it is more difficult in practice than it sounds.
So here is a small formula:
1. Determine the POV character...
To determining if a scene is flat, you need to first find your turning point and more important to make sure that turning is active rather than passive. Like the beekeeping instruction of first find your queen, it is more difficult in practice than it sounds.
So here is a small formula:
1. Determine the POV character...
September 11, 2010
Building bridges to the Inciting Incident
Where to start a story? It is a problem that all authors grapple with? Do you start with the inciting incident or do you start with the ordinary world that is about to change?
For a romance -- the inciting incident is the MEET. This is the thing that starts the spine of the story -- namely the growth of the emotional relationship between the hero and heroine. Without them meeting and interacting, the relationship can't change and grow. And the MEET doesn't mean necessarily the first time in t...
For a romance -- the inciting incident is the MEET. This is the thing that starts the spine of the story -- namely the growth of the emotional relationship between the hero and heroine. Without them meeting and interacting, the relationship can't change and grow. And the MEET doesn't mean necessarily the first time in t...
September 10, 2010
Backstory is not your friend
I read a few of the New Voices entries and I want to highlight something.
The reader wants the story to be happening now. The writer might need to know the set up, but does the reader? Back story kills the movement of a story and deflates tension.
I love the Donald Maass exercise which says highlight all the back story in the first three chapters and move it to chapter 15, certainly beyond the halfway point.
Reread the first three chapters, what does the reader need to know to make sense of th...
The reader wants the story to be happening now. The writer might need to know the set up, but does the reader? Back story kills the movement of a story and deflates tension.
I love the Donald Maass exercise which says highlight all the back story in the first three chapters and move it to chapter 15, certainly beyond the halfway point.
Reread the first three chapters, what does the reader need to know to make sense of th...
September 9, 2010
Creating a Page Turning Read Workshop -- 18 September
As part of the New Voices competition and the reopening of Haltwhistle Library celebrations, I'm giving a workshop on creating a Page Turning Read. 10:30 -11:30 am Saturday 18 September.
I believe it is free. There are 25 places. You can telephone the library to find out more.
Hopefully I won't be talking to an empty room!
I'm working away on the Online Read and it is challenging but tremendous fun. You have to create a serial and realise that readers might read the last chapter before they read...
I believe it is free. There are 25 places. You can telephone the library to find out more.
Hopefully I won't be talking to an empty room!
I'm working away on the Online Read and it is challenging but tremendous fun. You have to create a serial and realise that readers might read the last chapter before they read...
September 3, 2010
winner from Christina Phillips Forbidden party
Christina asked me to draw a winner from my blog post -- Morton S Gray. So if you can contact me via my website Morton, and give me your postal address, I will get the four books sent out to you!
Christina's party is on going until the 7 September and lots of other books are up for grabs!
One recent discovery is that Donald Mass does a monthly column on Writer UnBoxed where he discusses craft and various aspects of it. Some of his posts relate back to his books and some are musings and outgrowt...
Christina's party is on going until the 7 September and lots of other books are up for grabs!
One recent discovery is that Donald Mass does a monthly column on Writer UnBoxed where he discusses craft and various aspects of it. Some of his posts relate back to his books and some are musings and outgrowt...
September 2, 2010
Win a set of my Roman set books
To help Christina Phillips celebrate the publication of Forbidden, her debut Berkeley sensation, I'm offering one lucky commentator on her blog a signed set of my Roman books. So that's The Gladiator Honour, A Noble Captive, Sold & Seduced and The Roman's Virgin Mistress up for grabs. She also has a ton of other great prizes and her book looks excellent. Why not go and comment?
In my own news: my editor called late last night and I've had to drop everything to work on a Special Project that i...
In my own news: my editor called late last night and I've had to drop everything to work on a Special Project that i...
Top Tips from New Voices Workshop
After doing my workshop at Knaresborough yesterday, I thought I'd post my top tips for writing a M&B series romance.1. Know which line you are targeting -- imagine yourself writing 40 books in a line, which one would be your first choice? What is your dream line to write for? Go for it!
2. Know what every romance contains -- first meeting of the characters, confrontations, physical attraction,
realisation of love, and finally emotional intimacy -- the payoff. Make sure your ms has these thing...
