Chesapeake Romance Writers 2/14/15

Saturday I attended the monthly meeting of Chesapeake Romance Writers. It was Valentine's Day. We even had a freelance reporter writing an article for the Virginian Pilot, a regional paper, about our group.

We were excited to get the publicity, especially since we will be hosting a writers' workshop, "Pages to Publication," in Williamsburg, VA, on March 14.

Our group has several published and self-published authors. Our most recent celebrations are a newly published novel by Mairi Norris and a reissue of a cute paranormal romance by Kristine Overbrook. I've read both these books and enjoyed them. (There are several more published authors, so I apologize if I missed anybody and will try to work more names and publications into future posts).

If you think our meeting was strictly a social event or all about love and romance, think again. Writing is a business. The focus of our meeting was on how to get the most out of writers' conferences, including the one coming up in Williamsburg. There were even ideas for authors who plan to attend the national RWA conference that will be held in New York City this year. Our most experienced authors said that the New York conference is the most expensive, but well worth it, because so many agents and editors are based in New York. We were told to study the editors and agents who will be present at a conference, decide which ones we most want to pitch to, and write up a cheat sheet on each one of these before we go. We should be prepared to pitch to them not only at formal events but at a chance meeting in a bar or restaurant, for example. The trick is to take advantage of opportunities like this without being rude or pushy.

Authors practiced writing "elevator pitches." These are one-sentence descriptions of our books that not only concisely summarize our novel but leave the potential editor or agent with questions--so they want to know more. Hopefully they will ask for a submission. Elevator pitches are used at those chance encounters described above.

With some help from a fellow author, I came up with a decent elevator pitch for the novel I'm working on. The group liked it. Other authors worked on the material that they would put on the back of the book or inside the jacket.

We also got some ideas of what to say during three-minute, formal pitches. The general advice was to introduce yourself and the genre of your book, its length in pages and number of words, whether it is complete-- preferably it is, even if it is still in the revision stage-- and a little bit about it. Editors will usually start asking questions that allow the writer to fill out the remaining time. Most are very nice people. Knowing something about the editor and the editor's interests is helpful in establishing a rapport with him or her.

I decided my novel, at 48,000 words, is not far along enough to justify the expense of a trip to New York City. Hopefully by this time next year I will be able to report that it is ready to submit to editors, agents, competitions, critiques, pitches at conferences, or other events. The RWA conference is held in NYC once every four years, so I'm a little sad to be missing this opportunity.

Which reminds me--it's time to work on my book!

Suffolk Mystery Authors' Festival

After my romance writers' meeting yesterday, I headed over to the Suffolk Mystery Author's Festival. Featured authors were Ellery Adams, Mollie Cox Bryan, best-selling author Mary Burton, Erika Chase, VIcki Delany, Annie Knox, Joyce and Jim Lavene, Linda O. Johnston, Amanda Lee, Maggie Sefton, and LynDee Walker. I was disappointed that my friend, Jayne Ormerod, wasn't there, especially when I realized that all the authors there, with the exception of Mary Burton, were writers of cozy mysteries, just like Jayne.

One of the authors called cozy mysteries, "Death wrapped up with a bow." Mary Burton, who sometimes refers to herself as "Scary Mary," was quick to point out that her work is much darker and more violent than the other authors' work. Her category is romantic suspense.

I arrived too late for the workshops and readings, but I got a chance to meet authors at the book signing. I also listened to the evening's moderated panel discussion, where I gleaned some information that was useful to me as a new author.

An apiring writer from the audience asked for advice because she starts books with lots of enthusiasm for her initial ideas but winds up hating all her characters a few chapters into the book. Then she feels compelled to stop writing it. The panelists said authors often feel "trapped in the soggy middle" of their book. It's common to be excited about the start, and authors need to be excited about the end (or nobody else will), but problems in the middle are common. Their advice was to keep at it. Throw some twist into the plot, do something unexpected, and see what that does for the characters. Free yourself from the outline, from order, make your character do the one thing s/he would never, ever do. Write the end and then go back and figure out how to get there, or make the characters say something out loud. The characters might be too much in their own heads.

E-Books and social media have totally changed writing and publishing in the last few years. If you self-publish, don't do it on the cheap. It's a considerable investment of time and money to do it right. At least pay for professional editing and an exciting, professional book cover.

While listening to the panel discussion, I also took time to work on my own novel, "Dancing Under the Stars." Since the introductory speeches and panel discussion took about two hours, I got quite a bit written. I smiled wide when someone asked the published authors how they found time to write. While the various authors' specfic answers varied, I think the general answer is that you just make time.

Plotter or Pantser? New Writers May Want to Give Each a Try

I spent yesterday morning with the Chesapeake Romance Writers. The speaker for the expected workshop fell through, so after a long business meeting several of us spent an hour or two just writing. I joined in and felt happy to watch my word count grow.

I am working on my first novel, a contemporary romance tentatively titled, "Dancing Under the Stars." A couple of members of our group are participating in National Novel Writing Month, or NaNo for short. It's an event that takes place every November. NaNo challenges writers to produce a draft of a 50,000 word novel between November 1st and 30th.

I admire those making the effort, but I am not ready to work at that frenetic a pace. I have been working for a couple of months and so far have a synopsis plus about 11,000 words written.

I've learned that I still really don't know myself as a writer. For example, there are two general types of writers: plotters and pantsers. Plotters plot and pantsers write by the seat of their pants, preferring to let the characters take over and even surprise them. I thought I was a pantser. Then in September I participated in a workshop by Andrea Jackson called, "Taming the Dreaded Synopis."

I really didn't dread a synopsis because I'm such a new author I've never tried to write one. But I could tell from the reaction of the other members of the group that the term "dread" was not at all exaggerated, so I paid as careful attention to Andrea's advice as everyone else did.

Apparently, many authors write the book first, then the synopsis. Contests, publishing houses and potential agents often want to see first and last chapters and a synopsis. In the past, when I've tried to write a novel, I've often gotten a few chapters in and then stopped, stuck because I couldn't figure out where my novel needed to go. I decided to use Andrea's technique to write a synopsis first to use as a general guideline for where my book should go.

I am glad I did! Now I have names, main characters, background information, and a basic outline of the novel. If my characters take the story in another direction, so be it, but I no longer have the worry of getting stuck because I can't tell where the story is heading. I feel confident that I can take the plot from beginning to end.

I also read advice in The Everything Guide to Writing a Romance Novel that novelists should shake things up for themselves once in a while. If they feel they write best or most easily at home, they should take their writing out on the road, or if they feel they must leave home and go elsewhere to write, they should try writing at home, just to see what happens.

I thought this was stupid advice until I tried it. I am a homebody and thought I would write most easily in the comforts of my own home. But after trying the book's advice, I find I am most productive at the local Barnes and Noble bookstore.

A novelist friend is highly prolific. She says she thinks it's because she still writes her books out longhand. She carries notebooks everywhere she goes and writes her novels constantly throughout the day as time and opportunity present themselves. While I prefer to type, I plan to bring my Kindle HDX, for which I purchased word processing software, and my keyboard with me when I'm out and about more often. I plan to grab every decent opportunity to produce "Dancing Under the Stars" in a timely manner despite my day job and hectic schedule.

The Birth of an Author

I am an aspiring author of contemporary romance novels. Between reading, writing, cooking, cleaning, and working my day job, there never seems to be enough time for everything I need to do.

Sound familiar? Right now I am working my way through, "The Everything Guide to Writing a Romance Novel," which has some useful advice. The most useful so far has been to join Romance Writers of America. I also found a local chapter, Chesapeake Romance Writers, which provides a group of authors, many of whom are either published or self-published, with whom to network. Meetings are monthly. This group also hosts conferences and writers' retreats, all of which I am excited about.

So far, through this group, I have learned the basics of how to write a synopsis. Although many writers write this after they complete a novel, I have so far found it easier to start with one. It provides an outline or road-map of where I envision my novel going. While I haven't found time to write daily, I carve out time to write on weekends.

It may take me longer than other novelists, but I will reach my goal of becoming a published author. Follow me if you would like my thoughts as I work through the process of writing my first full-length work of fiction.