Archive for October, 2005

October 30, 2005

all about me

Sela tagged me with this meme, so here it is.

Three screen names that you’ve had: Feckless. pottymouthjulie. Feckled.

Three things you like about yourself: My handwriting. My love of the colour orange. My ability to get excited over small things.

Three things you don’t like about yourself: My feet. My tendency to speak before thinking. The fact I can never be bothered to exercise.

Three parts of your heritage: Eastern European Jews, French Canadian Catholics, Irish Canadian Catholics.

Three things that scare you: Having darkness at my back. That out-of-control feeling of being stressed. Drivers who tailgate.

Three of your everyday essentials: Peppermint tea. A sweater. A book.

Three things you are wearing right now: A silver heart necklace. A wedding band. Matching underwear.

Three of your favorite songs: Build Me Up, Buttercup by The Foundations. Copacabana by Barry Manilow. You Shook Me All Night Long by AC/DC.

Three things you want in a relationship: Fun. Sex. Someone who does the chores.

Two truths and a lie: I have never ridden on a horse. I have a painting of Elvis on black velvet in my living room. I once kissed Boy George on the cheek.

Three things you can’t live without: Love. Friends. Sunshine.

Three places you want to go on vacation: Spain. Italy (some more). San Francisco.

Three things you just can’t do: Reverse round a corner. Pierce somebody’s ear. Clean up sick without gagging.

Three kids’ names: Lily. Emily. Jaiden.

Three things you want to do before you die: Live. Live. Live. (Like Ruth Gordon in Harold and Maude)

Three celeb crushes: I can’t decide on three!! Whaaaa!! I’m going to take six. John Cusack. Hugh Jackman. Ewan McGregor. Owen Wilson. Guy Pearce. Constantine Maroulis.

Three of your favorite musicians: Teenage Fanclub. Bert Bacharach. Elvis.

Three physical things about the opposite sex that appeals to you: Hands. Noses. The obvious.

Three of your favorite hobbies: Hiking. Drawing. Letting Kathy convince me to get crushes on people (not SAM though).

Three things you really want to do badly right now: Finish the partial and synopsis for Connected. Hear Build Me Up, Buttercup by the Foundations. And I can’t say the third thing in public.

Three careers you’re considering/you’ve considered: Full-time writer (please please please). University lecturer. Cartoonist.

Three ways that you are stereotypically a boy: Short hair. Always want the biggest piece of cake. One-track mind.

Three ways that you are stereotypically a girl: Love silly cocktails. Talk for hours on the phone. Shoe addiction.

Three people that I would like to see post this meme: Kris. Biddy. X.

contest winner

It’s time to announce the winner of my positive affirmations contest. I had some great entries that were very funny, but the entry that won did the following things:
1) It was purely positive, no negative words allowed, in order to foster a truly positive state of mind.
2) It was instantly recognisable as the truth.
3) It was gross.
4) I have thought about it on a daily basis whenever my husband is around.

So the winner is Danica, with:

The odors that my man emits in my presence are a sign that he is comfortable around me. More importantly, I should be thankful to have a strapping healthy man.

Hooray Danica and thanks to Anna, Michelle, Jude, Lori, Sadhbh, crissachappell, kay, abookworm, Mike, and Maureen for entering!

October 29, 2005

map

Not sure how much you can see of this (you can click for a bigger view), but this is the map of Carla and Sabrina’s characters. I colour-coded it–blue for past, yellow for description, green for conflict, red for love relationships–and tried to trace the connections between them by drawing lines. As a matter of fact, there aren’t that many connections; those will come with the plot. Mostly they’re contrasts.

Besides making me quite ridiculously pleased with my pretty piece of paper with colour all over it, this exercise has totally helped me see how this book is going to go. I can visualise their conflict and how it will be worked out much more easily. After doing it yesterday I stared into space, “seeing” the shape of the story develop in front of me in the air.

Do you do similar stuff?

October 28, 2005

two heroines

I’ve been being a bit of a fraud, actually.

I’ve been blogging about creating the characters for my next Mills & Boon, RUSH, when as a matter of fact I’ve been working on writing the beginning of my latest mainstream novel, CONNECTED. So in tandem with figuring out Jo and Bruno, I’ve been trying to get my head around Carla and Sabrina, who are the two heroines of CONNECTED.

Jo and Bruno are pretty easy. Carla and Sabrina are not.

I’ve been for long walks and had long chats with long-suffering Kathy, because with a two-narrative novel, I have to not only develop two main characters and their attendant backstories and settings and heroes and secondaries, but I have to make sure they’re different from each other, while still reflecting the themes of the novel. Oh, and try to figure out the intricacies of a plot that may, or may not, get the two heroines to meet. I haven’t decided yet.

Remind me why I’m trying to do this, again?

Anyway, one of the techniques I’m trying to use to develop Carla and Sabrina, which I haven’t blogged about yet, is making charts and trying to map it out visually. I have, already, split a piece of paper down the middle, put CARLA on one side and SABRINA on another, and made lists of their contrasting qualities. Since then I’ve learned more, so today I plan to go to a cafe and do a more detailed chart. If it turns out to be readable and helpful, I’ll photograph it and put it up here.

October 27, 2005

hangin’ with the rock gods

One of the great things about my husband’s job is that I get to hang out with bands occasionally. Last night I got to hang out with Icelandic band Leaves after their gig in Reading, and I am totally addicted to their album now.

Of course, I had to leave before the party broke up because I only pretend to be a real rock chick. But hey, I still got to have a backstage pass and say “Well, yes, I’m with the band.”

Awesome!

October 26, 2005

enneagrams

Back to character creation.

Michelle did a bit of enneagram diagnosis on my heroine on a previous post, and I decided it was time for me to drag the enneagram book out and do some checking.

I don’t always do this. I didn’t for my last book, for example. But it’s helpful to give you ideas, to hint at conflict, to define your characters more sharply in your mind.

So I got out Riso and Hudson’s book The Wisdom of the Enneagram (you can visit their website here) and did the little quiz in the front. You pretend to be your character and answer as they would. I came out with 7, The Enthusiast, for Jo (as Michelle predicted!) and 8, The Challenger, for Bruno.

Then I read the type descriptions. These don’t always fit perfectly. I use them as guidelines, and choose some attributes that fit, and ignore the ones that I don’t think will work. Where they really help isn’t really in the character descriptions–because I have those anyway. They do, however, point out the main flaws and problems that the character types are likely to have, and that can be good for building conflict and plot.

Now type 7, The Enthusiast, is perfect for Jo. (I’m largely this type myself.) She’s impatient, she’s creative, she’s charming, she’s dynamic, she’s clever, she’s optimistic. The type description says that 7s are likely to have been cut off from nurturance at a young age; I’ve already decided that Jo’s parents were always very busy fighting with each other rather than nurturing Jo. A 7’s main sin is gluttony (in a metaphorical way), because they are always looking for something new, afraid to miss out on anything, never being satisfied.

Huh. So suddenly Jo’s addiction to candy bars–which I gave her originally in DELICIOUS as a quirky foil to the main character–becomes an external symbol of her inner conflict. She goes for the quick fix instead of waiting for the main meal. She has flings instead of waiting for real love. And the reason she does this, is because she’s afraid the real thing will never happen. And even if it did happen, she’d be too busy worrying about what was coming next to appreciate it.

I think this will be mirrored in her career, as well–or her fears about her career. She’s very good at teaching, and has recently had a promotion. But underneath, she’s certain she doesn’t deserve this; she thinks she stumbled into it, got it because of her quickness and inspiration. She’s not sure she can do it for the long haul. Real teachers are more dedicated than she is. She spends a lot of time secretly in a panic, hiding her real worries under a confident, clever, surface.

What’s going to be her dark moment? When the quick fix becomes the real thing–when her marriage of convenience becomes a real marriage–and she can’t appreciate it, because the thought of limiting her options panics her. And she’s sure she doesn’t have what it takes to stick it out.

So she’ll turn to something as a quick fix, try to go back to her old habits. And that will taste like ashes.

I’m not sure how this will work out in the plot. But I’ve got my internal character arc, now, and all I have to do is find events to fit.

I can also begin to see how this conflict will make Bruno’s conflict even worse. But that’s for another post.

October 25, 2005

amazon

Oh and Featured Attraction is totally on Amazon.co.uk for pre-order. And somebody has actually already bought it.

Wow!

very good day

I have loads to post about character, but first I need to celebrate my Very Good Day.

First, I got the mail, which included a thank-you note from someone whose entry I judged in a contest. It is so wonderful when somebody thanks you for judging their work–especially when your comments were on the constructive side. I have to say I really don’t have time to judge contests, but I did three this year anyway, and getting thank-you letters makes it all worth while.

I also received a package to scare away the crows, from Kate Hardy, with some gorgeous chocolate in it, and her November Medical romance, The Consultant’s Christmas Proposal. Maybe it will get me in the mood for doing some early Christmas shopping!

Then my husband complimented me on my dress.

Then I went and had lunch with my editor, which was great. We had Thai food (jasmine tea and sticky rice, mmmmmmmm) and talked about my next three story ideas. I’m very pleased to report that I’ll have four books out in 2006, and we’re planning for 2007 with the next two. We set some deadlines that I think are do-able and she said some very nice things about my writing which I will not repeat here for fear of sounding all big-headed and stuff. It was excellent.

She also said she thinks I’ll have a man with a naked chest on the cover of my first book! YES!!! And a motorcycle on the cover of BEING A BAD GIRL!!! Yipppeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!

I was also waylaid in the M&B offices by a certain historical editor who showed me some photographs she took of Ewan McGregor. We all stood around and “oooh”ed. I really like these people at M&B.

After that, I met up with a friend I hadn’t seen in 14 years, and we had a long talk and a couple glasses of wine, all of which was immensely enjoyable, so much so that the afternoon went far too quickly and it was evening before we knew it.

And then I got home, hugely pleased with myself, and realised, as I was standing on my doorstep in the pouring rain, that I’d locked my keys inside the house.

Funny how fate knows when you’re in danger of becoming too self-satisfied and finds a way of letting you know you really are a ditzbag, after all.

October 23, 2005

editing and ideas

Well I thought I would spend more time developing my characters today, but I spent the morning doing copy edits for BEING A BAD GIRL and the afternoon doing line edits for DELICIOUS. I ended up rereading all of DELICIOUS, even though I didn’t have to, so I could remind myself of Jo’s character. I found out that Elisabeth never really opens up to Jo, though I think she probably does after the events of the book. So that’s something to remember to look at in one scene.

I think I need to explore Jo’s attraction to immediate gratification. And her reckless driving. And her distrust of commitment. And the fact that she has a very responsible job, which she keeps completely separate from her private life. And her fast talking. All of which I think stem from the same conflict, and I haven’t quite nailed that down yet. Though I have an idea that her parents might have spent a lot of time fighting. At the end of DELICIOUS she’s actually seeing somebody, so I have to figure out what happened with him, because he’s not around any more.

Oh. Wait. Impatience. That would explain a lot of this stuff. Why would she be impatient?

I’m going to bed now to let that settle in and work in my brain.

I’m going to London tomorrow to meet with my editor for lunch (hooray!) to discuss this book and the next two, so hopefully I’ll do some exploration of character on the train on the way there. I think I’m going to take Michelle’s advice about looking at enneagrams next, because I think that will inspire me to go a bit deeper. I’m hoping to take lots of notes.

October 22, 2005

I’m sticking to romance

I’ll go back to character creation next but I have to share this stupid thing I did.

Our central heating system has developed a knock, and when I read a DIY manual it said you should check the tank in the loft, because if it’s empty, that can cause knocking. So I went up and checked. And sure enough, the tank was empty. I tried moving the stopcock, but it seemed that the tap had been switched off, and I couldn’t find it. So I figured I’d just fill the tank a bit manually and my husband could figure it out when he got home next week.

So I carried two full buckets of cold water up the ladder into the loft and dumped them in the tank. The central heating still knocked, but I figured it would take some time for the water to filter through the system.

About an hour later, there’s a knock at the door. It’s my neighbour on the right, whose loft adjoins ours. “Sorry to bother you,” she said, “but you haven’t been drilling and gone through a pipe, have you?”

Both buckets of water had gone straight through the tank and down their living room wall.

Turns out the tank belonged to their house, and was an old one they no longer used. Which drained into their living room, since the pipes were disconnected.

Fortunately they’d just installed a new wooden floor that’s waterproof. I got to work with my mop. And I need to go buy them a nice bottle of wine.

October 21, 2005

hero

As I wrote below, I blatantly stole a premise for my hero and the hook for the story, and the next thing I had to do was flesh out his character.

Really, the plot had to come first at this point. There are only so many reasons for a marriage of convenience, especially in a modern story like mine. Joanna’s British, and the obvious reason for her to marry somebody would be to keep them in the country. (I have practical experience of this, since my British husband and I got married so we wouldn’t be separated–an excellent decision, as it turned out.) So–the hero’s American. He could’ve been African, or Mexican, or Japanese, but I’m sticking with what I know. This is a little bit of a comfort zone thing for me–I keep on putting North American characters in my books because I have a North American voice. Maybe my next one will have two Brits.

Simple equation: pain in past + needs to stay in country = hero’s only living relative is in England and hero feels he must stay in England to be with the only family he has. Makes sense.

Okay. Now I’ve got the beginnings of an inner conflict for this guy (who by this time is called Bruno). His entire family is dead (except for this one person in England, who I’ve already decided is a child). What problems would that cause?

Well, he has to be a risk-taker–or else he wouldn’t get married on a whim, right? Or be attracted to fast-driving, sugar-rush-loving Jo? Why’s he a risk taker? I decided he’s got a brother–a twin brother–or rather, he did, and taking dares, risking things, was how they related to each other. Testosterone-ridden twins. Mmm. Now that’s sexy.

But losing your family would complicate these impulses. For Bruno, I think losing his family (including his twin brother) made him MORE likely to take risks. To prove he’s alive, and because he has nothing left to lose.

At the same time, taking risks means that he is safe. If he never settles on a relationship, always plays around, moves around, he can never lose another person.

Now I have a conflict. Bruno desperately wants a family. But at the same time he’s afraid to connect with anybody. His risk-taking isn’t risky–it’s a safety net for him, though he doesn’t know it. I have two key words for him: RISK and SAFETY. These can guide me as I make up the rest of his qualities. But I’ve got the basics now. The rest will follow. For example, his career, which combines risks and safety. What he’s most afraid of, which is losing somebody because of a risk he’s taken. What he (eventually) wants out of love, which is the rush of risk-taking along with the safety of commitment.

To develop Bruno this much took about two afternoons of thought, while I was doing something else, and when I realised each point, it was like a small firecracker going off in my brain.

October 20, 2005

stealing

Yesterday I talked about one method I used for getting characters for this story: I based my heroine, very loosely, on a real person. This is unusual for me, and I’ll be moving away from the real person as I develop the character more.

The second method I’ve used is even less praiseworthy: stealing stuff.

I’ve been reading lots of Harlequin Presents (M&B Moderns) recently, partly because I have several friends who write them, but mostly because I find them a really great emotional escapist read. I don’t write Presents, but reading Presents put two thoughts in my head:

1) Man, I would really like to write a hero with lots of pain in his past (like the Presents hero I was reading about). Wouldn’t that be perfect for Jo, who’s a compassionate teacher.

2) Man, I would really like to write a marriage of convenience story (like the Presents plot I was reading about–different book from the first one). Wouldn’t that be perfect for Jo, who’s afraid of commitment.

So there I was. Hero with pain in his past, Jo has to marry him. Neither of those ideas original in the slightest. The next step was figuring out what sort of pain, what the pain has done to him to create his inner conflict, and why the heck he and Jo would need to get married. And instead of a Presents way (dramatic, passionate, tempestuous), I have to do it in a Modern Extra way (sexy, playful, emotional). That, hopefully, is where the original (ish) bits come in.

Have you stolen anything good lately?