I Need a Hero!!!!

So, I confess, I love the old Bonnie Tyler song, I Need a Hero.  I belt it out in my car at the top of my lungs and picture every archetypal romance novel hero that exisits.  From a knight in slightly tarnished armor on a black horse (cause I have to be a little different!), to the hot cop with the oh so Freudian gun. 

What makes him a hero?  What qualities make this man irresistable to the heroine and to the readers alike?  Is it necessary that he be movie star gorgeous?  The answer to the last one is probably yes.  It is fiction after all, where even a plain heroine can land a smoking hot guy.  

Common elements of heros are that they have a lot of internal conflict.  The bottom line is he can't think of himself as a hero.  No matter what his job, what his motivation, it can't be to save the world.  Most romance novel heros feel on some deeper level that they are atoning for something, even if those sins aren't theirs.  Maybe he's a cop who lost a partner because he didn't go by the book, or possibly because he did go by the book.  We'll see a transformation in this hero from one extreme to another.  Maybe he's a kid from the wrong side of the track who feels the overwhelming urge to prove himself as a worthy person and devotes his life, risking it time and again, for his country.  Maybe he's a guy born with a silver spoon in his mouth and has to prove to himself and everyone else that he's more than the sum of his family's wealth.  So at the heart of every hero, he is conflicted.  Who he is, what he is and where he comes from all play a part in that. 

In terms of relationships, they want to be loved, need it, even if they don't recognize it, or feel unworthy of it.  They will NEVER verbalize that desire, at least not until the last chapter.  They will instead struggle with this guilt of developing a relationship with the heroine knowing that it can never work out because they are cursed, doomed, unlucky at love, on a mobster's hit list, have a job that makes them a target for violence every day, or in historicals, have no money, have a title that isn't truly theirs because they were secretly born a bastard, etc.. etc. etc.  Again, the secret is conflict. 

To write a compelling and readable hero, take a hot guy, inflict a world of misery on him, both internal and external and then throw him in the path of a woman who calls to him on an elemental level, and who makes the good better and the bad bearable. 

RWA Follow Up

So, we're one week post conference and I have been a busy, busy girl.  I have submitted synopses and partial manuscripts to all the editors and agents who requested them, and I sent synopses and WHOLE manuscripts to the agent and editor who requested them.  Had to mail a hard copy to one person.  I didn't even think people did that anymore! 

I feel really good about this.  I think coming back from the conference, getting through the holiday, all the drama of the past week, and getting back into the swing of things at work and STILL managing to all edits done, the emails sent, and hard copy shipped off, is pretty impressive.  So, you'll just have to pardon me while I give myself a nice little pat on the back. 

Writing It Out... How to keep going when the world falls apart.

It's hard to focus on the people and the plot of a make believe world when the real one is so intent on intruding.  But we have deadlines, whether we've given them to ourselves or etched them in stone with someone else.  Part of being a professional, of being a "real" writer, is working even when you don't feel like it. 

In many ways, writing is a solitary profession and it is one where you are largely accountable only to yourself, at least until you reach a margin of success with it.  So where's the motivation to keep plugging away when things have gone crazy around you?  Sometimes, writing is therapeutic in that sense, because at least in the world you are creating on the page, you are in control. 

I lost a dear friend today, someone that many years ago I thought would be my Happily Ever After.  That wasn't to be, like so many things, but while our romance fell apart, our friendship actually became stronger.  It hurts me to know that he's no longer in my world, that I won't hear his laughter or see him quirk his eyebrow sardonically at me (and yes, he really did that, just like the hero in a book).  But, I am happy that he isn't suffering any more, and that he is no longer dependent on other people to care for him, something that rankled him to no end I am sure. 

With all that weighing on my mind, the last thing I wanted to do was work on my book.  Reading and proofing and editing and rewriting seemed unimportant in the overall scheme of things.  Until I realized that getting lost in my story gave me an escape, gave me an avenue to get away from all that was going on and focus on something positive just for a few minutes.  Writing is a profession, yes.  But it isn't a job.  I don't write because I have an obligation to do so, but because I love the art of it, the craft of it.  And at times when things are spiraling out of control elsewhere, I find solace in it.

What the heck is POV? (and about half a dozen other acronyms germane to the publishing world)

Really, I just wanted to show how smart I was by using the word germane.  Truthfully, there are a lot terms and various acronyms that will get tossed around at writing conferences, in groups of writers, and in blog posts about writing.  This post is an attempt to define those terms for all you newbies out there. 

 POV (point of view)--during a workshop featuring the fabulous Susan Elizabeth Phillips this term came up.  She described it as being inside the character's head, looking through their eyes, or being beside the character, observing them in the situation.  An example would be, Stacy's heart pounded in her chest and the cold sweat of fear beaded on her skin. She knew the killer was close, she could feel him.   That is from Stacy's point of view.  If you were observing Stacy, it might read, Her heart beat was audible in the room, the sweat beading on her skin a clear indication of her fear.  She had to know the killer was close by.  This is the point of view of someone who can observe both Stacy and the killer.  Not the best of examples, but sometimes POV shifts can be subtle.  Also, repeated shifts of POV in a book can sometimes be difficult to follow.  There are no hard and fast rules about whose point of view to use, when and how to switch them.  Bottom line, if you change POV, have a reason for it.  Try not to head hop (back and forth between character's POV's).  Your manuscript should read seamlessly. 

GMC (Goal, Motivation, Conflict)--This refers to a fairly simple concept.  Your character must want something (goal), there must be a reason why want it (motivation), and there must be an obstacle to their getting what they want (conflict).  Example, your main character wants the of respect of snobby people in her home town--that is her goal.  She wants this because she was made fun of and teased growing up poor and looked down on--that is her motivation.  In spite of everything she's done and achieved in her life, the townspeople still see her as the same poor, white trash she was growing up--that is her conflict, that she isn't really able to control how other people see her. 

The Black Moment--I feel like that phrase should be accompanied by the dum, de dum, dum dum of the Dragnet theme music.  In almost every romance novel, there is a point, usually near the end of the book, when all hope seems lost.  In short, this is the cliffhanger before the HEA (next segment, I swear).  When the heroine believes the hero has cheated on, when the hero realizes that he has a history of madness in his family and to protect the heroine from himself he leaves her, when the heroine finds damning evidence that the hero actually only married her for money and that she can't trust anything he says, etc. etc.  You get the point.  Regardless of what form it takes, this is a moment in the point where it seems that there are insurmountable obstacles to the couple being together.  Naturally there aren't.  In terms of writing a black moment, the important thing is that it needs to seem organic in the story.  In other words, if there has been no hint at all in the book that the hero has a history of being a rake or womanizer, suddenly throwing in the suspicion of infidelity ISN'T organic.  However, if all along the hero has been sort of emotionally distant or afraid to express his feelings, an argument between the hero and heroine where he says something stupid and horrific such as "There is no such thing as love.  It's nothing but a word for poets and fools".  That would be organic to the character. 

HEA (Happily Ever After)--This is the reason we all read romance and write it.  We all want to believe in the Happily Ever After.  These very within genre.  In some books, the couple gets married, others they have children, some they ride off into the sunset for a life of adventure...Bottom line is, they are together.  The level of commitment depends on the genre (inspirational, contemporary, historical) and also on the characters themselves.  These are happy, hopeful end points where we can say goodbye to characters we've become invested in and believe that they are going on to better and happier things. 

There are more terms and acronyms, many more.  This is a sampling to start, and more will be added later.

Things I thought I knew about writing...

Writing is for some, an organic process.  You sit down, inspiration flows through you and pours out through your finger tips, echoing through the room in the tapping of keys.  That works for some people.  In the writing world, those people are called pantsters.  Meaning, they write in a fly by the seat of their pants kind of way where the assumption is that the story will all come together on its own in the end.  Other people are called plotters.  They have grids and spreadsheets and index cards and outlines and timelines and character profiles... and etc. ect. 

Not everyone falls neatly into those two categories.  As usual, I walk the middle of the road with pleasant indifference.  I tend to start writing in the pantster fashion.  I'll do about fifty or sixty pages of good solid writing, something that lets me know who my characters are and how they interact with one another.  Then I become a plotter... bwha ha ha ha.  Not really, but whatever.  I do like to take those established characters at that point and see what I can do with them.  Where do I want them to wind up, what obstacles will they encounter along the way, what sort of internal and external conflict will they face, what is ultimately keeping them apart and how can it be defeated?  There are a dozen other such questions, hundreds honestly. 

The thing is, whether you are a pantster or a plotter, you can't be published until you start writing.  So, write.  Plan, plot.  Do whatever it takes, short of illegal methods, to be inspired.  If you do use illegal methods, don't get caught.  I imagine prison could greatly hamper the creative process, unless you are Sir Walter Raliegh.  It worked for him. 

Check him out.  What a guy!!!
http://www.luminarium.org/renlit/tohisson.htm

RWA Conference

So I went to the Romance Writers of America Conference, held in NYC this year.  I know, it was a really expensive excuse to get to Chinatown for the shopping.  Kidding.  I've wanted to attend this event for years.  I can remember buying the Romantic Times when I was younger, before I'd written a book or even seriously believed that I could, and being fascinated by the pictures and articles that came from the conference.  Everyone looked so happy and like they were having such a FABULOUS time.  Now, I know its because they really were. 

There is something to be said for being surrounded by thousands of people who are as passionate about something as you are, and also, who understand exactly where you are at in your "career" because they have been there, are still there, or are hoping to be there by next year's conference.  Whether you are published, unpublished, or whether your manuscript is even finished, there is a sense of community at the event that makes you feel welcomed.  You walk in and think, "Ah, my people...".  And they are my people. 

I met some of the most amazing women and amazing writers there.  On the second night of the conference I wound up going out to dinner with three other ladies from the conference.  We had a district manager for Barnes and Noble from Phoenix, an Engineer for Boeing from Seattle, a Graphic Designer from Fargo, and myself, a Social Worker and Counseling grad student from Kentucky all at one table.  We had just met, and we talked for hours.  As different as night and day, we had a common interest, romance novels, both the reading and writing of.  And if the collective intelligence and achievements of that group doesn't show the world that romance novelists are some of the smartest people around, then the world can just go read its literary fiction until it falls into a deep, boredom induced sleep.