Okay, Just One More

I’m going to own up to this right now. I have a problem—it’s a good problem—but a problem none-the-less.

I am addicted to writing craft books.

I just can’t say no! They are like my own form of Pringles! Maybe not so tasty but certainly better for my hips. 

Image courtesy of giphy.com

This has been a lifelong habit for me; Whenever I find a topic of interest I always go overboard. E.g. Husband bought me a rose, but how does one look after a rose? Off to the library I went, seventeen books on roses later, well let’s just say I haven’t killed the rose yet.

With writing craft books, I started small. I went to the library and borrowed/reserved every writing book I could get my greedy little hands on. There weren’t a lot that actually covered my genre: Romance. That meant it was time to dig deeper. Booktopia, Ever After Book Store, Amazon… One little click into Google and I was buried with suggestions on the best ever romance writing craft books.

My writing craft collection

Over time I’ve built up quite a little collection (see picture above) But I thought I’d do a mini run down on those that I CANNOT live without. These babies sit beside me as I write, their corners well licked from my desperate thumbing of pages to find the information I need.

GMC – Debra Dixon

I think this is like a unicorn craft book – all bright, sparkly and beautiful. It’s mythical in its printed form but I was lucky enough to score a hardback from my local romance store and boy do I love this book. The authors tone is enjoyable and her information so darn easy to understand.

The Emotion Thesaurus – Angela Ackerman & Becca Puglisi

I’m going to add here that ALL the thesauri are incredibly insightful and useful for writers of any genre. Also the websites; https://writershelpingwriters.net & https://onestopforwriters.com are brilliant and I’ve often found myself losing hours just reading all the craft blogs and traipsing through the wonderful information contained on both of these sites. The emotion thesaurus though has REALLY added depth to my characters. It has improved my showing through visceral reactions, and I find myself now studying other people, matching their reactions to those outlined under the emotions in the books (yes I probably look weird; but I also hear voices in my head so really what hope is there!)

Romancing the Beat – Gwen Hayes

This is short, sweet and simple. I love the breakdown of beats for a romance novel. I mainly write category length, so I found this breakdown particularly useful for that. She also has some great follow up information on her website including a free scrivener template that has the beats laid out so you can just open and get writing. Her sense of humour had me chuckling whilst I soaked up her information like a sponge. I also found myself creating a playlist from her suggestions – though I will admit I can’t listen to it whilst I write.

These are my top three and they have all helped add structure and depth to my stories J Particularly GMC – the first few manuscripts I wrote I have now revisited – realising there was an underlying story but not enough strong conflict to sustain reader interest. My characters were flat and boring without obvious goals and motivations. Now I have a better understanding of GMC I really feel my stories have improved dramatically. It’s been a lifesaver!

If anyone is keen on some further reading on GMC, please let me recommend these excellent Blogs:

https://shannoncurtis.wordpress.com/2013/11/13/writing-101-internal-vs-external-conflict/

http://romanceuniversity.org/2017/05/03/goal-motivation-and-conflict-with-joanne-dannon/

I love to love... romance craft books
I love to laugh... at my terribly messy desk
I love to learn... what other’s turning points were for their writing

How about you? Do you have any favourite writing craft books you simply cannot live without?

What Do You Know?

with Sharon Burke

One of the first pieces of advice beginning writers receive is to write what they know.  At first glance, this idea sounds incredibly restrictive so I thought I’d explore it a little.

Author Nathan Englander believes “write what you know” is excellent advice, but sadly is often misunderstood. He argues it applies to emotions, not events. This makes sense to me as an aspiring romance author.  The characters in romantic novels experience wide ranging emotions with differing intensities: love, anger, jealousy, loss, happiness, fear, disgust. If you know what it feels like to be scared, then it should be easier to create plausible fear in your characters.

Marg Gilks an author of short stories and poetry argues “write what you know” applies to everything you feel, not just to emotions. “You know what your senses tell you, and other people share those sensations”.  I believe the best romantic novelists have an uncanny ability to take their readers on an emotional, highly sensory journey.  The romantic novels I enjoy the most capture my senses. I see and feel the sunlight and rain, hear the sounds of wind, running water and the tone of words spoken. I feel uncertainty, love, hope and turmoil just as the heroine and hero do.  I think this intensity of reader vicarious sensory experience makes romantic novels unique and special. The reader has the chance to develop a depth of empathy and connectedness that other genres struggle to match.

Fiction writers must be prepared to go beyond what they know. Valerie Parv stresses the importance of knowing your characters well and understanding their motivations. “You can’t write about real people unless you know them and understand why they do what they do.” She suggests many strategies to help with this including developing wide ranging interests, exploring both sides of a question and reading popular psychology books. I find popular psychology books tremendously helpful for “fleshing out” characters, and for matching their motivations and actions.

Finally, fiction writing by its very nature demands authors venture into the unknown.  The nybookeditors.com site states “We can’t limit ourselves to what we know. Instead, be open to what you want to know, what your characters know, and the great body of experiences some other writer before you has known.” I find this statement challenging, but tremendously exciting. Reading widely, and reflecting on ways in which romantic novels are constructed helps me to better understand the challenge of what I am attempting to do.

So where does that leave us?  I think we as romantic novelists utilise our sensory experiences and emotions within our writing. We should never be afraid to let our imaginations lead us on our writing journey. This is where some of the most fascinating parts of our profession lie. 

What do you think?  What does 'write what you know' mean to you?

I love to love…relationships as so important.

I love to laugh…the comedy in everyday life never ceases to amaze me.

I love to learn…life has so much to offer.