Writing Tips: Difficult Romance

Today I’m reverting back to answering reader questions!

Shaylee said I really love your books and I really want to know who the hardest romance for you to write was? And how did you finish writing it even though it was hard?

Oh-ho-ho-ho, this is a question I am so looking forward to answering!

Hands down, Elle and Severin from Beauty and the Beast were the most difficult couple I have ever written. Never before (and hopefully never again) have I written a pair of characters who were so completely disinterested in each other. Their lack of interest comes from their fascinating backgrounds, and it provided a great backbone for the story, but when I hit the halfway point I was pulling out my hair because neither of them would speak to each other. The entire story hinged on their backgrounds, so it wasn’t something I could rewrite, but I knew I needed help, or the pair would never fall in love. Disinterest between a couple is much more difficult to handle than dislike.

You have to be aware of someone to dislike them, but disinterest is dangerous because it means you don’t notice the other person is alive. If you have two characters like this, it will be a real challenge to make them shed their apathy.

Having painfully learned this while writing B&B, I knew if I wanted to make the romance happen, I had to have a massive intervention with the entire cast of B&B. I took an afternoon where I sat down and asked Severin and Elle what it would take to make them get interested in each other. I ended up concluding that the duo would not willingly start down the path of friendship, but I realized that they both prized their relationship with Severin’s servants. I swapped my attention to their servants, and Emele enthusiastically volunteered and became the vehicle used to brow-beat Elle into befriending Severin. Once Elle was convinced an attempt at friendship was necessary, she was going to force Severin into talking to her, whether he wanted to or not. This opened up interactions between the duo, which is what allowed their relationship to blossom.

Most times the couples I write are self sufficient—like Ahira and Azmaveth from Princess Ahira, or Gemma and Stil of Rumpelstiltskin. If I give them enough “screen time” together, they will make the romance happen themselves. Sometimes the characters need a little nudge—or a big wallop, like Elle and Severin. It’s important to have a strong cast of supporting characters, or several outside factors, which can impact the hero and heroine and open a path for them. Even my books where the couple falls in love on their own have strong supporting characters, because it provides a deeper canvas for their relationship to be displayed on. Having dowdy secondary characters will not make the magic of the romance stand out more, it will make it less believable.

Another helpful trick I’ve learned in trying to jump start character relationships, is to collect real-life examples of romance. Ask married couples how they met and how the proposal was pulled off. You’ll get some sweet and some hilarious stories, you’ll learn a lot about romance and how it affects the way a couple interacts, and it will also teach you what won’t work. In example, the invasive persistence Colonel Friedrich of Cinderella displays would have utterly terrified Tari of Red Rope, and the relationship never would have gotten off the ground.

That’s all for today! Next week I will receive the corrected draft of the Little Selkie, so I will have a better idea when it will be released. Also, I updated the “Coming Soon” tab with a tentative/estimated release schedule, so check it out when you have time. Thanks for reading, Champions! I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Writing Tips: Productivity

I’m sad to say I’m pushing back The Little Selkie‘s release to early April instead of mid March. The delay is a downer, but I’m actually excited about it! It’s being delayed because a second editor is taking a look at it! I’m hopeful this will give my books a boost in terms of quality/proofreading, which will deliver a higher quality read. Or it should. I hope. Time will tell what you Champions think!

Also, fun news! The Wild Swans will be available on Amazon for FREE from March 5, to March 7. Pick up a copy, or send a copy to your friends! 😉

Moving on, today I’m tackling two questions about writing and time management. Let’s begin!

Maddie asks “How can you find time to write while in school and taking an extracurricular?”

I’ve been out of school for a while, but as I’ve mentioned before I did write a few books while in high school and college. When I was in high school I tried to set aside an hour a day to write. Some semesters that hour was my study hall, but typically it was the hour after I got home—before dinner and before I did any of my night activities. In college it was a little easier because my schedule was so flexible.

An hour a day is what worked for me. For you it might be half an hour every day, or an hour every other day, or maybe three hours on Saturdays and Sundays. The amount/frequency of the time isn’t  as important as the dedication. If you manage your time so you can write half an hour every day, (Or three hours on the weekends or whatever you choose) it will become habit. If you really want to make your time count, try to write in a place that is free of distractions—this means probably NOT your bedroom. In college I wrote a lot at my university library. It was great because I couldn’t ever get distracted by food, roommates, or noise.

It’s easy to say “carve out an hour to write,” but it’s another thing to do it. You’ll probably have to make some kind of sacrifice. ( For example, I watched zippo TV in high school, but I was okay with that because to me writing was more important.) Now days if I want to squeeze extra time into my day for writing, I get up an hour early.

Another option–besides the dedicated time–is to try and redeem “lost” minutes. Instead of writing on a computer, do all of your writing in a notebook, or maybe your ipad or your smart phone. (Some Japanese stories are written entirely though texts, with each new “chapter” being one text.) Carry your chosen recording method with you EVERYWHERE. Whenever you have a few minutes (if you arrive at school early, or you’re waiting for practice to begin or class to start, or you’re riding the bus) take out your notebook/ipad/smart phone and get writing! The downside to this method is that it can be jarring to delve into your writing only to disconnect several minutes later. However, the short time periods can help with your creativity. I know of an author who writes short stories using twitter. About 5-20 tweets make one story, and they are really entertaining. Anyway! If you’re absolutely desperate for time, this is your way to go!

I hope that helps, Maddie. Good luck!

Annnnd for the next question, Kelly asks, “How do you write so fast? Most other authors I follow write so slowly compared to you. They take double the time or longer. (This includes the post-writing process)”

The building blocks of my speed are practice, and time. I’m a full-time author, which means I log anywhere from 40-50 hours a week on my books. As for practice, my first book (It was HORRID. In fact, let’s not talk about it. It brings back nightmares.) I wrote almost fifteen years ago. When I started it took me over a year to finish a book, but practice and reading a lot of non-fiction books and articles about writing helped whittle it down to roughly six to three months depending on the book length. Mind you, I had written about eight books by the time I got to that point–and at least four of those eight books will never see the light of day. It’s like the old saying “It takes 10,000 hours to master something.”

The biggest game-changer was when I read a book called “2k to 10k” by Rachel Aaron. On average, most authors write 500 to 2,000 words per day, which is roughly 2-5ish pages in a Microsoft word document. I usually managed to write 5 pages a day, or 6 on a particularly good day, and this was considered impressive. After reading “2k to 10k” I jumped to writing 13 pages a day.

And the final reason why I am relatively fast, is because I tackle my books in much shorter succession than most authors. For instance, last month I wrote Little Selkie. This month I’m aiming to start and finish Puss in Boots. Most writers take a few months in between their books. I don’t. My mother tells me I’m a wee bit obsessed. I choose to use the term “passionate.”

As a side note, my fast pace is due mostly to my writing speed. The editing process takes much longer than you would expect, because I’m trying to balance my schedule, my beta reader’s schedule, and my editor’s schedule. Plus, whenever anyone edits the book I have to go over it again to read their comments and view their changes.

I hope you found this post informative, Champions! Have a great day, and I’ll chat with you soon.

Writing Tips: I’ve got answers: Round 2

Today’s question is closely related to Monday’s question, so I wanted to get it out quickly so the answers can been seen together. After this I’ll answer a wider variety of questions, but I feel like these two answers should be viewed together to strength their meaning.

Madison says, I am an aspiring author, but I have recently been having trouble with my book. I can’t figure out how to better develop my characters and reach the climax. What do you suggest I do in order to prevail this situation that I have found myself in?

Hopefully my previous post will help you get ideas about getting your characters to the climax (Recap hint: make a list of all the terrible calamities you can force them through) but you’ve touched on a VERY important concept with character development, so I want to give you an in depth answer.

You are right on in feeling that you need to have well developed characters for your story to move on. They need a set of behavior patterns by which they function. For example, Gemma from Rumpelstiltskin avoids talking and is self-sacrificing. Devin from the MBRC is incredibly flirtatious with Morgan, and a little jaded towards everyone else. Britt Arthurs from King Arthurs and her Knights is obsessed with making and avoiding King Arthur legends, and she hates Lancelot. Those characters won’t deviate from those behavior patterns. However, you want your characters to grow as part of the plot.

Let’s take another look at Gemma. She doesn’t deviate from her regular behavior patterns (Quiet and self sacrificing) but by the end of the book, her attitude has changed. She went from always giving for another’s sake and not relying on anyone, to believing and accepting that Stil loves her and wants to make sacrifices of his own for her. It is important to note that this change is a result of the climax, it is not the climax scene itself. (In a romance novel, however, the emotional development may very well be your climax.)

If your character doesn’t change from start to finish, it means they are either dense because they didn’t learn their lesson, or perfect, which is also bad because people generally don’t want to read about perfect characters. During the middle part of the story, you need to present the idea that your character wars with. For Tari from Red Rope it is the fact that she is an elf in love with a human. For Cinderella from Cinderella and the Colonel it is that she is in love with a man from the country that is supposed to be her enemy. As you can see, love is usually the concept I have my character wrestle with, but there’s lots of other options. Take Legolas and Gimli from Lord of the Rings. They dislike each other because of their races, but by the end of the books they’re best friends.

Pure character development shown in two sentences.

A tool to help you develop your characters is to ask yourself, “What do I want them to learn?” Mind you, each character might need to learn something different. (Like Arion. He didn’t care Tari was an elf, but he had to learn to open his mouth.) Once you have identified what you want them to learn, try to imagine scenarios that would highlight this difficulty. Readers will like your characters more if they make a few embarrassing blunders or face tough situations caused by their emotional issues. (Cinderella rocks back and forth between her love for Friedrich and her desire to preserve Aveyron. Raven from Life Reader  is forced to reveal her powers or face the destruction of her coworkers.) The basic idea is to stick them between a rock and a hard place, and use the trial to help smooth out your character’s flaws.

Character development adds interest, but it is also crucial because it reflects real life. When people face adversity it is painful and difficult, but they come through the trial in three ways: Stronger, twisted, or weakened. Try to incorporate all three reactions in your characters. While a particular trial might make your hero stronger, it might turn their best friend into a villain, and so weaken their love interest that the love interest becomes a shell of who they used to be.

Writing is a lot like driving multiple pairs of horses. You have a set of reins for each pair, and you have to keep them all straight as you direct the horses and drive the cart along. With stories you have to keep tabs on the plot of the book (the events) the subplots (spikes of action that prop up the plot) character development (the emotional drive behind characters) relationships, tone, and more. All of these ‘reins’ are deep and seem awkward, but the faster you learn to balance and control them, the more quickly you will improve.

My final pro-tip: try to think of what you want your character to learn BEFORE you start the book–that opens up avenues to bring in characters  and situations early on to help highlight your character’s development process. For instance, if Legolas wasn’t brought in at the same time as Gimli, their friendship wouldn’t be what it was. Also, be aware that your characters won’t be perfect by the end of the book, they should merely be more mature, or wiser–not flawless.

I hope that answers your question, Madison!