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Rain and Writing
May. 4th, 2009 04:20 pmIt's raining again. My drains are not mooing. Turns out that it was my computer all along.
I've checked out a handful of books from the library about writing romance novels and have been reading them. In spite of their firm yet upbeat and encouraging tone, and helpful common sense advice, (it was even alright if I was a man!) mild panic ensued, and I freaked out and redesigned a local non-profit's Web site. When nerds go bad...
I've also reread one of my favorite historical romance with a critical eye. Even though this stole a fair bit of the emotional umph, I was still totally in tears at the end. It's almost like the thing has subliminal messages or something: 'Date cranky but muscular and highly competent cowboys,' 'Bawl like a baby,' 'Even though he has a mustache.'
One thing I got from this exercise was to resolve their sexual tension half way through, and have this immediately open up a much bigger conflict than when and whether they would bonk. In this particular example, 'Muscular Cowboy' discovers during pillow talk that the man he has sworn to kill happens to be 'Spirited Innocent's beloved brother. I also tried to read one of my Silhouette paranormals this way, and had to give up. The thing is just a fast moving series of events alternating with emo and sexxors. I don't find planning to be very romantic in concept, but the first author is a BIG bestseller, and makes me bawl, and the other author, though popular, not so much.
I've also looked into the 'snowflake' method of writing, and also re-read Jim Butcher's LJ. Butcher's discussion of scenes and sequels made a bit of a light bulb go off. I realized that in Between Two Evils my current WIP chapter was a sequel, and my frustration and sense that it was going on too long was instinct. Pacing is created by the balance of scenes and sequels, and the fic should probably start to be picking up about now, more scene, less sequel. On the other hand, I am probably within a few days of posting Ch. 13 of BTE.
I've actually written down an idea and a few paragraphs for a paranormal romance. *iz skeered*
I've checked out a handful of books from the library about writing romance novels and have been reading them. In spite of their firm yet upbeat and encouraging tone, and helpful common sense advice, (it was even alright if I was a man!) mild panic ensued, and I freaked out and redesigned a local non-profit's Web site. When nerds go bad...
I've also reread one of my favorite historical romance with a critical eye. Even though this stole a fair bit of the emotional umph, I was still totally in tears at the end. It's almost like the thing has subliminal messages or something: 'Date cranky but muscular and highly competent cowboys,' 'Bawl like a baby,' 'Even though he has a mustache.'
One thing I got from this exercise was to resolve their sexual tension half way through, and have this immediately open up a much bigger conflict than when and whether they would bonk. In this particular example, 'Muscular Cowboy' discovers during pillow talk that the man he has sworn to kill happens to be 'Spirited Innocent's beloved brother. I also tried to read one of my Silhouette paranormals this way, and had to give up. The thing is just a fast moving series of events alternating with emo and sexxors. I don't find planning to be very romantic in concept, but the first author is a BIG bestseller, and makes me bawl, and the other author, though popular, not so much.
I've also looked into the 'snowflake' method of writing, and also re-read Jim Butcher's LJ. Butcher's discussion of scenes and sequels made a bit of a light bulb go off. I realized that in Between Two Evils my current WIP chapter was a sequel, and my frustration and sense that it was going on too long was instinct. Pacing is created by the balance of scenes and sequels, and the fic should probably start to be picking up about now, more scene, less sequel. On the other hand, I am probably within a few days of posting Ch. 13 of BTE.
I've actually written down an idea and a few paragraphs for a paranormal romance. *iz skeered*
