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Creating the Setting: New Orleans

April 12, 2011 by in category Archives tagged as , ,

Shut your eyes, and think about your favorite vacation spot. What sounds do you hear? What’s the temperature like? Any memorable smells? What does the air feel like against your skin? And, what are some of the culinary delicacies of the area> Finally, how do you take all those details and infuse them within writing to that a reader can capture the same senses?
The skill to writing setting, and in this case in particular setting based on reality can be hard or it can be easy. Some people do world-building where all the details come from the imagination, or an alternate reality that’s loosely based upon our world.
When I thought about the setting of my recent release – an erotic paranormal – the location because intrinsic to the storyline. THE VAMPIRE, THE WITCH & THE WEREWOLF: A New Orleans Threesome obviously lives within the Big Easy – Louisiana. 
Last October, when my husband said he was going to New Orleans for a conference, and asked if I wanted to tag along, I quickly contacted my parents for babysitting duties, booked a boutique hotel in the French Quarter and bought a plane ticket. (It helped that the trip fell right after my birthday, so my parents more readily accepted the task of taking on the 4-year-old).
Despite all the hardships of the past few years, the city completely lived up to expectations. And, I felt very much like in Florence, Italy, connected to the soul of the city.
In a recent interview with Desmond Haas of the Romance Radio Network, Mr. Haas commented on that in my first book Physical Education I did a good job capturing the setting. He felt like he could visualize the school courtyards and dining area.  I believe that comes from the details, and my background in journalism.
While in New Orleans, I took a cemetery tour, a ghost tour, a Cajun-Creole cuisine cooking class, and partook in most of the infamous pastimes (Hurricane anyone?). Yet, there’s so much more I want to see and experience, such as a swamp tour.
Mardi Gras doesn’t fascinate me. My husband has experienced it a few times, and something about knowing a 6 foot, 4 inch, 250+ pound man being swept off his feet and directed within the crowd scares me.
But ghosts? Bring them on.
In 2012, the Future, Fantasy & Paranormal chapter of the RWA is planning their first conference in New Orleans, and it seems like a very good reason to attend.
Until then, I’ll have to get lost in my sequel and all the details of setting …
Louisa Bacio
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Want Romance Trading Cards? Leave a message about your favorite setting – or vacation spot – and send me your address via Facebook, and I’ll send you out the threesome! (If you come to the OCC/RWA meetings, I’ll bring some in May.) 
The Vampire, The Witch & The Werewolf is available now via Ravenous Romance and Amazon Kindle.

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5 Job Tips for a great romance novel hero interview

April 11, 2011 by in category Archives tagged as , , , , , , , , , ,

by Evelyn Q. Darling
Romance Reporter At Large


How well do you know your hero? Is he tall, dark and handsome? Okay, so you don’t want a cookie-cutter hero, but have you really thought about what questions to ask him?

(When you can take your eyes away from his sexy grin among other parts of his anatomy.)

This reporter recently interviewed heroines for a romance gig and got some very interesting answers.

Now, it’s your hero’s turn. Ready, ladies? Start your engines…

Here are my 5 Job Tips for a great romance novel hero interview:


1. Don’t ask him to take off his shirt. Tempting, yes, as you check out his muscular arms, but this is a sexist attitude that will get you nowhere. (But oh the fun you’ll have trying!)

2. Schedule the interview in a locale where you’ll both feel comfortable. Not in a sports bar where he can eyeball the basketball scores and the waitresses with the deep cleavage. Forget tea shops that serve lemon dainties, unless you’re writing a regency and you want to see if he exudes the proper Mr. Darcy-isms.

3. Ask him to show you his…wheels. Yes, I said, wheels. Is he a Harley guy? Jaguar? Or does he drive an old pickup? Does he keep half his “stuff” in his car? Or is he a neatnik? You can tell a lot about a man by his…wheels.

4. What’s his day job? Or if he’s into night work (and what hard-working vampire isn’t?), you’ll want to make sure he’s a good match for your heroine. If she’s a lawyer, a police detective can make her life hectic; if she runs a cake and bake shop, how about interviewing a land developer who wants to tear down her vintage cottage shop? And let’s not forget the city gal who’s just aching to meet up with a real cowboy. Just make sure he can ride…a horse.

5. And finally, don’t ask him if he’s a good kisser. Tell him to show you.

Evelyn Q. Darling is the alter ego of Jina Bacarr.

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Dialogue Tags: How To Kill Off Some Of The Little Buggers

April 10, 2011 by in category Archives tagged as , ,
By Sharla Rae

In Laura Drake’s recent blog My Editing Peeves, at www.writersinthestorm.wordpress.com/ she points out dialogue tags. I have to agree that too many “saids” on a page or even in a chapter are annoying. Sure, there are other tags like snarled, whispered, interjected, cried etc. But again, they stand out if overused. Included in this illustrious list are all the he and she thoughts.

After taking a hard look at tags, I realized something. Tags are tattletales! He said, he yelled, he whispered. It’s “telling.” And one of the first lessons in writing is to “show” not “tell.” Don’t you love how writing is like knitting? One set of rules always weaves into another set. Okay, back to the subject of tags.

We can’t do without tags completely, but we can kill off some of the little buggers.

With only two characters on stage, tag extermination is easier. Using new paragraphs each time one of the two speaks, eliminates the need for tags. Also, a character’s dialect, acccent or speech pattern may set them apart from other characters. Still, even with just two characters there are times it’s absolutely necessary to indicate who’s speaking to prevent confusion.

Now, place three or more characters on stage, and things get really complicated. Complicated but not impossible.

One of my favorite ways to kill of a dialogue tags is through the use of body movement and/or body language. If a character is moving or has a certain facial expression, we don’t need the tag. Body language has the added benefit of expressing emotion. In other words, using this method “shows” a character is angry, happy, or depressed.

Examples:

Instead of: “Stop it!” James said. [He could be angry but then again he could be laughing hard and telling someone to stop it. But if we say: James said, angrily, we’re telling.]

  • Try: James sliced the air with his hand. “Stop it!”
  • Try: “Stop it!” James held his sides, laughing.

Instead of: “Is she serious?” Amber asked, rolling her eyes.

  • Try: “Is she serious?” Amber rolled her eyes and laughed.

Instead of: “Gosh, I love this song,” Jill said, dreamily. [Yikes an ly word]

  • Try: “Gosh, I love this song.” Jill closed her eyes and swayed to the music.

Instead of: “Try it, you little weasel,” Jake bellowed. “Just try it.”

  • Try: “Jake’s palms slapped the tabletop. “Try it, you little weasel. Just try it.”

Instead of: “You jerk!” Pam screamed, swinging her handbag at him.

  • Try: “You jerk!” Pam lashed out at him with her handbag.

The same idea applies to the he or she thought tags.

Example:

Instead of: Can this day get any worse? Jane wondered.

  • Try: Jane slumped into the nearest easy chair and kicked off her shoes. Could this day get any worse?

Instead of: If he comes through that door, I’ll brain him, Jill silently vowed.

  • Try: If he comes through that door, I’ll brain him. Jill’s fingernails bit into her palms. [Shows determination]

Punctuation can be used to negate tags that indicate strong feelings. To demonstrate what I mean, I’ll use one of my above examples.

“You jerk!” Pam screamed, swinging her handbag at him.

Given there is an exclamation mark after jerk, we know Pam said this with strong feelings. Unless we want her screaming to draw the attention of characters around her, we don’t need to “tell” the reader she screamed. Also, her actions indicate anger and that makes the tag an even bigger overkill. But what if Pam said it under her breath so as not to draw attention? Do we need to say, she whispered? It works. But we could also say: Pam sneered and leaned close, her lips a mere inch from his ear. “Jerk.”

Note: Don’t over use exclamation marks. Again, body language will work just as well.

It must be said, though, that having all the characters on stage constantly nodding, scratching, dancing and throwing things would be just as annoying — not to mention ridiculous — as too many tags. So a few tags are allowed and in some instances they work better for a tight, straight to the point sentence.

I know of no set rules on how many dialogue tags are allowed on a page. The best rule of thumb is to vary your dialogue and cut them when possible. And if you’re still unsure, read the page out loud. Too many tags make the writing sound choppy. They also distract.

The right balance will result in tighter writing that “shows more and “tells” less.

Interesting related websites:

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The Power of “Why?” by Kitty Bucholtz

April 9, 2011 by in category Archives tagged as

Today I met with my friend Betsy for hot chocolate and brainstorming. We’re both in our last semester of our Master of Arts in Creative Writing degrees, so we’re both working on our “final project” book. We’ve read a little of each other’s work over the last 14 months, but it’s not like being in the same critique group for years: we don’t know each other’s stories inside and out.

So it was with some trepidation thatI started trying to explain-slash-figure-out my story in the back room of a nearby cafe. Twice Betsy said, “But why?” Why does the story have to be set in the future? Why do you need to have destroyed the government before the story begins?

I was getting frustrated because I didn’t know how to answer the questions (hence the world building brainstorming). I was too nervous to explain some of the reasons in my head because they sounded silly out loud – like that the second protagonist/mentor is an undercover angel. But my not explaining things was confusing to Betsy.

She finally stopped and said, wait, what did you want to brainstorm about, I’ll stop interrupting. But I saw the opportunity to really dig into the story (only because now I’ve had years of experience in missed opportunities), so I said, no, let’s figure out the answers to your questions. Maybe we’ll think of something fresh and new.

And in less than an hour, my dystopian futuristic fantasy that I knew very little about was suddenly a Kitty story. Not dystopian, not futuristic, but a world I could totally see in my head. I really knew the location now that we’d re-set it in Philadelphia, and I really knew the world now that we’d made it “now.” I understood the ways children could go missing and no one could find them, and I had believable reasons for how a secret underground group could exist in this small world we’ve created with our technology.

The story began to have my voice again. And that, perhaps, was the thing that had made me most nervous when I woke up this morning – it was a really interesting story, but not a Kitty story.

So now I’m sitting here with a glass of Australian wine, some Green& Black’s 85% dark organic chocolate, and episode 1 of several TV shows we own that have characteristics I’m interested in for my story. Oh, and an open notebook with a lot of writing in it. Life is awesome again.

What are you struggling to brainstorm? Can you try discussing your idea with someone who knows nothing about it so you can be forced to answer the question, why?

Tell us what you’re doing and what has worked for you!

Kitty Bucholtz is a writer and speaker, and a member of Romance Writers of America and Romance Writers of Australia. She co-founded Routines for Writers (http://www.routinesforwriters.com/) a web site dedicated to helping writers write more. In 2011, Kitty will receive her Master of Arts in Creative Writing degree from University of Technology, Sydney.

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Let’s Get Physical!

April 7, 2011 by in category Archives tagged as , ,

Non-writers have no idea how physically demanding being a full-time writer can be.

What? Do I hear you laughing? Not so fast.

Give some thought to what happens to a body when it spends eight or ten or more hours per day in a sitting position. (Granted, I have writer friends who sit curled up in a big easy chair with a laptop all day, but that can’t be too swift on a body either.)

Wrist and elbow problems, and carpal tunnel, are as frequent as typos for writers.

The spine — all those discs and vertebra — can turn on their owner, resulting in serious orthopaedic problems.

Knees and hips are joints that are meant to move, not remain immobile for hours on end. (I assume you’ve heard of the condition called ‘piano player’s spread.’ Same problem for writers.)

And then there’s the foggy brain syndrome which is a result of hours of being sedentary and no blood reaching the brain.

Writers have to get up and MOVE! Deadline or not. MOVE!

Some folks have home gym equipment like a treadmill. (Please note: Treadmills are only effective if used regularly, not left sitting in a corner.)

Some writers take walks. That’s a great way to let your brain toy with your latest plot idea or characters.

I’m a member of Curves, the 30-minute women’s exercise program. I haven’t lost a lot of weight, and I’m a long way from being buff, but it does give me a chance to talk to ‘real’ people, in contrast to those talkative characters who inhabit my brain.

So, writers, let’s get moving!

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