Hmm, what does a writer do now?

Self-isolating or being on lockdown is probably less of an issue for writers than many other people. Let’s face it, a lot of us voluntarily isolate anyway!

However, the issue raises questions in another way. I’m just coming to the final stages of my work-in-progress and, due to the current circumstances, will need to change all the dates since the time spans from June 2020 and June 2021 – with obviously no mention of Coronavirus, as when I began it, ‘Corona’ was nothing more innocuous than a lager.

Oh dear. This week I’ve been thinking – do I move the time in the story on a year, not knowing of course if Coronavirus might come back and therefore be a major world issue still, or move it further back, thereby potentially running the risk of making it less relevant. Hmm, questions, questions…

No doubt I’m not the only writer with this or a similar dilemma. In my next book, which I’m planning to start in summer, do I mention Coronavirus as it either still will be or will have been such a huge part of life, or do I avoid the subject all together?

That’s it – answered my own question. Who wants to either write or read even more about something we’re surrounded by day-in, day-out? Not me! No siree. No thanks very much. All that isolation, death, illness and job losses – hideous. If I remind myself why I read and why a lot of other people read – it’s to get away from all of that – escape, relax and enjoy, even if it’s just for the length of time we’re immersed in those beautiful pages.

So, no, I think I’ll keep Coronavirus out of it. And then we can elect to stay home for a nice reason – to read a book that makes us happy.

5 must-haves for your romance novel

5 must-haves for your romance novel

Thinking of writing a romance?

Publishers will often say there is no format when it comes to writing in this genre, which is often criticised for being formulaic. Is that the truth? Well, it depends what is meant by ‘format’. Certainly your book should not be a carbon copy of another, albeit it with the names and maybe location changed. There are however certain elements that are ESSENTIAL for a romance novel.

Publishers do state they want to see fresh voices and new ideas on traditional tropes, however, this does not mean they want something so unrecognisable from anything else ever published that it could barely be considered romance.

It’s important to remember that readers of this genre are loyal and big lovers of romance, and therefore they tend to know what they want. No, of course they don’t want to read the same rehashed story over and over, but they do expect certain things that romance writers should stay true to if they hope for success.

So, what are these ‘things’?

1. A happy ever after or at least happy for now (HEA/HFN)

A romance novel cannot end with death, destruction or sadness. Unlike the books of years gone by, a modern book can conclude with a happy for now, e.g. the start of a wonderful relationship as opposed to a marriage proposal.

Don’t be tempted to get cocky by changing these rules and thinking your writing is going to change the face of romance forever. It won’t. What’s that you’re saying? Nicholas Sparks does all right by bending the rules? Yes. Yes, he does, doesn’t it? What can I say – there’s always an exception. Chances are, however, if you’re just starting out, it won’t be you, so best go with the HEA/HFN.

2. The black moment

This is the moment in the book when, just as everything is looking rosy with the couple, the proverbial sh*t hits the proverbial fan. Perhaps an ex comes back on the scene, a secret is revealed, or the hero/heroine makes an unwelcome discovery about the other. Whatever it is, at this point their relationships looks doomed. The reader realises there are only a few pages left – precious little time for them to get back together – and is concerned it can never happen. Plus, if you’ve built your characters up so the reader really, really cares about them, this will be felt even more powerfully.

3. Conflict

Be under no illusion: no conflict = no story. Well no good story anyone wants to read, anyway. Have you ever read any decent romance where the characters meet, sail through the getting-to-know-you process, and live happily ever after? No, you haven’t, because that stuff doesn’t get published.

Conflict is at the core of every romance. It’s the reason your characters can’t / won’t get together immediately. In fact, the conflict should be so strong that the reader is hard-pressed to see how these two could ever make it.

So, what kind of conflict are we talking about? Clearly it’s not that she wants to paint the walls white but he prefers green. This is deep-rooted, internal conflict. By internal, I mean it’s nothing someone else is imposing on them, and nor is it some silly misunderstanding. Some examples are:

  • The characters are from feuding families
  • They’re fighting for opposing sides (political, environmental, capitalist v liberal, etc)
  • They share a turbulent past
  • His job conflicts with her moral beliefs (or vice versa)

There are many manifestations of these and other conflicts, which is why no two romances may ever be the same.

4. They learn from one another

Just like in a real-life relationship, two people in a fictional work need to get something out of the relationship and from each other. That ‘something’ is often a new way of thinking that makes them stronger in some way. Examples could be:

  • An up-tight character becomes more relaxed thanks to the other person
  • A commitment-phobe learns to love
  • A workaholic realises the importance of family time
  • A fat cat discovers the needs of a community

There are many others, so the world’s your oyster, but the important thing here is make sure that BOTH parties learn something from the other, and not make it all one-sided.

5. The couple finally reunites and finds a resolution

This goes back to point 1 – the HEA/HFN, but before the author realises all is good with the couple, it needs to be made clear how this has been achieved. Some examples are below:

  • An action triggers one of the characters to have a change of heart / see the world for what it really is – e.g. the boss they serve makes an unreasonable demand forcing the character to re-evaluate their values.
  • Self-reflection and perhaps some harsh but true words result in a shift in a character’s mentality.
  • One character discovers the other’s true feelings, even if they’re not said in a plain way, e.g. sees a painting they’ve created / hears a song they’ve written.
  • One character realises their eyes have been opened by the other, e.g. the fat cat who’s always been driven by profit sees the true sense of community in the village they’re trying to knock down.

Whether you call this a formula or not, hopefully you can see that such a wide spectrum of options means every romance can still be beautifully unique while being true to the must-have elements in the genre.

Creating a book trailer

Creating a book trailer

I’ve just created my second book trailer, this time for my erotic novella, Ice Hot, and I thought it might be helpful to share some insights into how I did this in case you are looking to do the same. I created this at absolutely zero cost, so whereas it could no doubt have been more sophisticated with some budget behind it, I wanted to see if it was possible to do it all for free, and found that indeed it is.

I’ve seen other authors creating book trailers and thought I’d give it a go. Some are brilliant, others not as much; some are just a few seconds, others go on well over a minute. I kept this one for Ice Hot to under a minute as I think any more than that and interest starts to wane.

I wanted the trailer to give a flavour of what the story was about and use the tone of the music, video and graphics to give a clue as to the mood of the story. I’m not suggesting this is the best trailer in the world, ever, but I’m proud of it for a second attempt, and pleased I’ve found some good, free resources for pics and video.

Editing Software

I have to confess, I was a bit green here having never created a video before. I researched ‘free video editing platforms’ and find a few including Animoto, Canva and Adobe Spark – the one I finally used.

I started on Animoto but if you use the free version the watermark is really obvious on every slide and I didn’t want this. Canva seemed more suited to graphic design rather than moving imagery, although an expert may have a different opinion. I’ve heard great things about Canva but I have no experience in it and it didn’t seem to me to be the easiest option. In the end I went for Adobe Spark as it was free and very easy to use.

It’s worth mentioning that for a fee you can upgrade your account and get rid of the watermark all together. A paid-for account almost certainly will do more whizzy things, but I found that the free version was perfectly suitable for what I needed.

https://spark.adobe.com/

Photos and Imagery

You have to be extremely careful when using photos and videos in your trailer as you’re not allowed to simply find this content online and use it. You can get in big trouble for this and end up with a fine. You’re free to use any photos and videos that belong to you, i.e. that you have taken and that you have the explicit permission of anyone in them to use.

I didn’t have anything of this type that was suitable, so I used photos and videos from a number of different websites which offer royalty-free content. These included:

https://pixabay.com/
https://www.pexels.com/videos/
https://www.videvo.net/

Even on these sites, some of the images/video require a credit. The website makes it clear which videos/images need to be credit and even tells you how to do this. You can see on the final page of my Ice Hot trailer that I’ve included the credits here.

Music

On Adobe Spark you can choose from a library of royalty-free tracks, all categorised by mood, which made the selection extremely easy. Most videos will be viewed through social media and therefore the sound will often be switched off, so it’s important to keep this in mind – your trailer has to be just as effective without music. Having said that, I wrote in the post that it’s best viewed with the sound on as I felt the music really added to the feel of the video.

My final video can be viewed here: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=2573097506108528

Good luck with your trailer, and if you have any pieces of wisdom as to how to create them, please share them in the comments below.

Getting the media interested in your book

Getting the media interested in your book

Ever seen an article in a local (or even national) magazine, newspaper or online about an author you’ve never before heard of who has a new book out, or tuned into the radio and heard an interview with the same? Ever wondered how they managed it? Here’s how…

Unless you happened to know someone very well who works in the media and can pull a few strings, you will have to contact the media to let them know details about you and your book. The normal way of doing this is to put together a short press release – no more than two pages – which includes a bit about you and your book, and why this is of interest to the journalist you’re writing to.

If you’re with a big publisher, they will undertake some marketing for you, but if you self-publish or are with a smaller publisher, all the marketing will be up to you. The more marketing you do, the more books you will sell.

Normally the ‘hook’, i.e. the bit that gets the media interested, is that you’re local. Alternatively, it could be that the location where your story is set, is the area where the radio station, newspaper, etc. is based. Either way, make the local connection abundantly clear in the press release and your cover letter.

Generally, all correspondence with media these days is done over email, so you will need to find their email address and make sure you’re addressing your mail to the correct person. You can do this by researching online – most of this information is freely available if you search for it – but this can take time.

You can try to call the news desk, or forward planning for radio, but journalists answer their phones very infrequently, if at all. However, you may have more luck with a phone approach with radio, so it’s definitely worth a go.

If relevant, you could tie your press release in with a particular awareness day, e.g. if your main character is living with breast cancer, you may want to try approaching the media on the run-up to October – breast cancer awareness month. Be aware though – national and glossy regional magazines can have up to a 4 month lead time! Radio works day-by-day and weekly newspapers work two weeks in advance. Online is pretty instant.

Visual media (magazines, online, newspapers) will most likely request an image if they decide to use your story. This could be an image of you and/or your book. Make sure you have both available in high resolution (min. 300dpi). If your image is not high res, printed media will not use it as it will come out pixelated. For online, the resolution can be lower.

Radio stations are a good shout if you’re trying to raise awareness through media. I suggest trying your local BBC station. Commercial radio stations (such as Heart) are extremely unlikely to touch your story as they survive on advertising revenue – something you won’t be offering unless you have several thousands of pounds to part with.

If the BBC station is interested in your story, they may invite you to be interviewed. Snatch this opportunity with both hands as they don’t come along very often! They will not ask you to pay for this and you will not be paid. Chances are, they’ll want you in the studio, as this will give them a better quality of sound. The interview may well be live, so it can be scary, but it’s well worth doing for the publicity opportunity it affords you.

Like anything else, media is a long game. Don’t expect to get one press cutting or do one radio interview and to be propelled into the limelight or sell hundreds of copies of your book. This is extremely unlikely to happen. However, appearing in the media is excellent for your profile as an author and is good experience for when you do reach that best-seller status!

Good luck with generating that all-important media attention. Go get ’em, tiger!

How to read – actively

How to read – actively

I’d never considered the concept of ‘active reading’ until I received my latest copy of Writing Magazine (I recommend subscribing if you’re a writer, btw). On the letters to the editor page is a letter from a lady who, as an aspiring writer, knows that reading is a great way to learn how to write (Absolutely!). What she questions is how to read ‘actively’. That is, how to read in a way that you notice whether the book is written in first or third person, what tense it’s in, and so on.

Of course, if you’re not trying to be a writer, the best way to read is probably, well, just to read, without being consciously aware of tenses, point of view, etc. However, if you are looking for trends, tendencies in genre, and the like, then active reading is definitely worth a go.

Here’s how.

  1. Enjoy. First and foremost, reading should be for enjoyment. So, rather than becoming obsessed with technicalities, read the book with your active reader button switched off. If you liked the book, switch the button on and read it a second time (you can skim this time) and try to answer the following questions…
  2. Tense. Is it present tense?
    e.g. I slap his face so hard my hand stings, then turn and run away.

    Or past tense?
    e.g. I slapped his face so hard it made my hand sting, then turned and ran away.

    What affect on the story does the tense have? How does it make you, as a reader, feel? Why do you think the author chose to work in that tense? In what way would the story be different if the author had chosen the other tense?
  3. Person. Is the book written in the first (I), second (you – this is very rare, especially in full-length novels) or third (she) person?

    How does the person choice affect the reader’s relationship with the characters? Would the story feel different if it were written in a different person?
  4. Dialogue. Approximately what percentage of the book is written in dialogue (where the characters are speaking)?

    Dialogue increases pace. Would you have appreciate more or less dialogue? Which parts of the book did you enjoy most – the sections with dialogue in, or the sections with narrative (story-telling) in? Take a look at the sections mainly made up of narrative. Why do you think the author chose to use narrative in these sections? Could they have used dialogue instead and, if so, how would this have impacted the story?
  5. Dialogue tags. Dialogue tags are the bits that come after the closing speech mark.

    E.g. “I love you,” he said
    “You love me?”
    “Yes, that’s what I said,” he muttered into his collar.
    “I see.”
    “Is that all you have to say on the matter?”
    “What did you want me to say?”
    He shook his head and sighed. “Never mind. Don’t worry about it.”

    You may notice in the passage above the lack of tags as well as the inclusion of them. When reading your book actively, ask yourself why the author might have chosen to use tags when she/he did, and why they might have chosen to leave them out.

    Would more tags have helped – are there any parts of dialogue where it is unclear which character is speaking? Or, do the tags sometimes get in the way; is there too much ‘he said / she said’?
  6. Description. By this I mean descriptions of people and places. Highlight the areas where the description is most intense. In your opinion, do these add to the story in a positive way, or is reading these bits more of a struggle?

    Why do you think the author chose to spend longer describing these people/places? If they hadn’t, would the lack of description have impacted the story for the better or the worse?
  7. Character idiosyncrasies. Choose a character in the book (not the main one) and flick through for where that character features. Read those sections carefully. Do you notice any speech patterns or gestures common to that character, which the author chooses to repeat?

    E.g. Perhaps a character calls everyone ‘duck’ or has a hair-flicking habit. Whatever it is, why do you think the reader has chosen those traits and reminds the reader of them? Does it help you understand or get to know that character better, or do you find it annoying?

There are many other elements of writing you can actively read for and ask yourself what motivated the author to make their choices, and how they impact you as a reader. Things to look out for include:

  • Humour – does the author use it?
  • The use of adjectives, or – more importantly – lack of them (remember show don’t tell). E.g. He strode purposefully, she laughed gleefully.
  • Senses. How often does the author mention smells and sounds?
  • Which are your favourite passages and why?

Finally, when you’ve repeated this exercise with several books, see if you can see commonalities within and across genres. Do thrillers tend to be in the first person, present tense, whereas romances are in the third person, past tense, for example?

Once you’ve tried actively reading several books and answering the questions above, plus any others you may wish to pose yourself, you should feel more confident in giving your own writing a try.

Remember – just because someone else uses a particular style, that doesn’t mean you have to, but ase a practised active reader, you will be all the more aware of how your choices affect your readers’ relationships with your story and your characters.

Want to write – get a change of scenery

Trying to find time to write anything that could be considered remotely good quality is extremely difficult when you’re trying to balance everyday life. Work, the dreaded ‘life admin’, juggling a family and chores make up a full-time job. How is it possible to do all this and write?

I’ve read interviews with writers before where they’ve said things like ‘even if you only have five minutes, you can still write a few paragraphs’. Hmm. I’m cynical of this. It takes five minutes for me to warm up my computer and remind myself what happened in the story the last time I wrote. Advice such as ‘when you’re waiting in your car to pick-up your kids, whip out your notebook…’ leaves me cold. Great if it works for you, but it sure doesn’t work for me.

Plus, you need time to get into ‘the zone’ – or ‘flow’, whatever you like to call this. Getting into the flow is amazing. It’s when you experience the ‘magic’; words fly onto your screen, ideas shoot into your head like never before and time zooms past, to the point that when you finally stop for a break, hours have past and you haven’t even realised. You can’t get this during five minutes on the school run.

Bliss for me is the extremely rare occasion when I have a full day to myself to write and, critically, I get away from my house. Even if it’s just escaping down to the local cafe, I find I get so much more done when I have a change of scenery.

Although going down to the local cafe for a coffee and a teacake someone else has made, is luxurious enough, what’s even better, if you can manage the time and the cost, is to go away for a weekend or a week and spend a substantial amount of that time on your latest project.

I’ve been on day, weekend and week creative writing courses in the UK and Tuscany (okay, Tuscany once many years ago) and find that pretty scenery, a tranquil environment and new people who share your passion, are highly inspirational for writing.

When you have a family and are limited to annual leave from work, then retreats are a rarity, but even a family holiday can offer the space you need to work on your writing – just the increased head space alone is so valuable. When you’re at home, doing your jobs and looking after the family and home, there is very little time to ponder about your plot and your characters, but being away offers a completely different approach.

If you’re struggling to find time and/or inspiration to write, then think about a week or weekend away if finances and time allow. If not, a couple of hours in your local coffee shop could work wonders!