Hearts Through History Romance Writers

Writer’s Conferences

by | Jun 13, 2011 | Blog, Terry Blain

Later this month is the Romance Writers of America’s National Conference in New York. And while I have to miss this conference I will be going to the Historical Novel Society Conference this month. If you are a writer you should make an effort to go to a conference.

If you can’t make it to the national conference takes advantage of a local conference. A conference is a place to meet editors and agents and to network with other writers. It can be exciting, fun, worrying and exhausting and a darn good time all at once.

Here are some pointers I’ve picked up from attending local and national conference through the years.

Plan ahead. Look at the conference schedule, and see which workshops will be of interest. It never fails that there will be a time when you want to be in two places at once. Perhaps you can arrange beforehand go to one and a friend can go to another and then share notes. If you have a ms. ready, sign up for an editor and/or agent appointment. Be sure to read all the conference info and sign up with someone who’s looking for the genre or subgenre you write. Can you relate your work to other works they represent or published? How is your work in the same vein or is it different?

Dress professional. Just because writers can work in their sweats, doesn’t mean you should wear them to the conference. The editors and agents dress professional, and so should you. The conference is essentially a business meeting that last several days. At large conferences, you may end up doing a lot of walking going from workshop to workshop, so comfortable shoes are something to consider.

One of the benefits of conference is to get to know other people. Take advantage of this, especially at meal times. Sit with people you don’t know (that why we all wear name tags!). At the RWA National conference, there are 2000 (mostly) women flowing into huge room filled with tables. I’ve seen people try and save seats for their friends, who never show up as they are sitting somewhere else. Met up with one or two friends and go in together, and take a seat. I’ve had lunch with big name authors, editors and agents buy just going in and intentionally not sitting with someone I already knew. Mingle!!!

If you’re not sure about a workshop, sit in the back so you can slip out without bothering others if you decide that workshop is not for you. Workshop presenters are used to people slipping out the back to go to editor or agent appointments, or just because.

If you get an editor/agent appointment – celebrate. And relax. Some editors/agents are just a nervous as you are. Just smile, shake hands and introduce yourself. Give the pitch (the one you’ve been working on). This can be as simple as the one sentence or log line or the high concept. Mention any previous works, awards, etc. and a smidge about your background — at the Historical Novel conference, I’ll be sure to mention my MA in History and that I used to teach. Make sure you leave time for the agent/editor to ask questions about your story. Be prepared if they say they are not interested in that particular story, but ask ‘what else do you have?’

At the end, if the editor/agent asks for the story, note do they want a proposal, or the whole ms? How do they want it? Usually today it’s electronic, so get the complete email address. If you have a card, give one to the editor/agent and say ‘thank you’. Leave on time.

If you’ve gone to conferences, what other hints or recommendations would you give to other writers?

Right now I’m off to work on my pitches.

Why and How to Contest

by | May 13, 2011 | Blog, Terry Blain

Why and How to Contest©

Why:
If you read your RWR every month, you know there are a lot of contest out there. But before you enter a contest, you might want to think about what you’ll get out of the experience.

If you have a manuscript or synopsis that you’ve gone over and over (along with your critique group), it’s a good idea to get ‘fresh eyes’ to look at it. Here’s where a contest can help. Make sure you choose a contest that will give you written feed back from multiple judges. Today most contests will have a copy of the judging sheet in advance so you can see what type of comments to expect. Read the score sheet. Carefully.

Some contests only allow unpublished authors. Some contests allow published authors if they haven’t published in a number of years, usually three to five. Some contests allow published authors enter only ms. in sub-genera in which they weren’t previously published. Some contests allow on ms. that haven’t been entered previously.

So be sure to check and double check all the rules and regulations of the contest.

Choose a contest that has a category for your type ms. Check the entry form and rules for every contest that seems likely, then choose the best contest for your needs.

The contest’s ‘fresh eyes’ can find holes in your story that you (or your critique group) might overlook because you are so familiar with the work. If money is no object, you might try out two different opening/hooks to see if one was better received.

I really like synopsis contests, as they generally cost lest money and are shorter. I found this to be a great help with synopsis, as it can help you decide what information to cut (if too long) or punch up the motivation that you know, but the reader didn’t see in the synopsis. I always wanted to make sure my story would hang together before I spent my time and effort to write the complete ms.

If you think your manuscript is pretty good and you have a good chance to win, enter it in a contest where the top judges are editors of the line you are targeting. Just finaling in such a contest gets your ms. to the editor. Then when you write your thank you notes, you can ask if they’d like to see the ms. And even if they don’t buy it, when you thank them for looking, ask if they want to see something else. If they aren’t buying now, they will in the future, and they’ve seen your name and your work. You can always query later.

If you win or place in a national contest, then be sure to mention it in your cover letter to editors and agents.

If you’re already published, there are now plenty of contest for published works.
If your previously published work placed/won in a contest, this might look good if you want to ask for a larger advance, are trying to change lines or houses. And again, if nothing else, placing or winning shows the quality of your work.

How:
Choose a contest that suits your needs. Send for the entry form and rules. Read the rules carefully. Read them again. Make sure you enter your ms. in the correct category.

Check the scores sheet and make any adjustments in your ms. Let me repeat that, check the score sheet and make any adjustment in your ms. If there are scores for the hero, and in your 25 page submission, the hero appears on page 20 — you’re probably not going to get max points for the hero.

For example, in my ms. which has finaled in several contests, I cut out the paragraphs where the Hero finds a cat in the barn – this is important as it foreshadowing and the cat plays in important part later — however, by cutting this section from the contest entry, it allowed me to fit more page time between the Hero and Heroine in the contest page count.

Make sure you send exactly the material requested, and with the proper postage/envelope for return. And many contest today are on-line, so there is no postage. If it’s an on-line contest, make sure you send your entry to the correct address/category coordinator.

When you get your entry back, be sure to write thank you notes to the judges and contest coordinator. It’s a lot of work, and they deserve your ‘thank you’. You can address you thank you to Judge #whatever and send it to the contest coordinator to be forwarded. Don’t forget the contest coordinator, they deserve a big thank you.

In your thank you note, be sure to mention the title of your entry, so the judge/coordinator can know who said thanks.

Read over all the judges’s comments. Read them again. Did they point out the same problem/areas of concern?

If they liked your ms. – then celebrate. It’s always nice to hear good things about your writing.

If you got negative comments – put them away and do the following steps:

1) Sulk for one day and eat two chocolate bars.

2) Write.

3) A week or so later, get out the comment and read them over again.

See if maybe there are some comments that will help you better your ms. After all, you paid money for their opinion.

I once got back a score of 168 and 68 from two judges, but their comments were almost identical. But that’s the way it goes.

My ms. that became Kentucky Green won a contest for unpublished ms. And later in a contest for published books, finaled in Best Historical and Best First Book – winning Best First Book. So contests can be a big help in your writing.

Remember, contest judges are subjective – but then so are agents and editors. This is worth repeating – Remember, contest judges are subjective – but then so are the agents and editors.

Take any comments you think will help your writing and ignore the rest.

Good luck and keep writing.

Writing Historical Romance and Who to Invite for Dinner

by | Apr 13, 2011 | Blog, Terry Blain

I found this interview I did a few years ago, and thought it had some good information on writing historical romance, as well as one of my favorite questions about who to invite to dinner. Hope you find it interesting.

1. Colorado Silver, Colorado Gold is your second historical romance. Would you tell us a little about the book?

The book is set in Durango, Colorado. I created this story around the setting. When I was a child we lived in California, but every summer drove back to Illinois to visit the grandparents. I remember how beautiful Durango was, so I wanted to set a historical here. I got a book of Durango history, and used what I found for the background for the story, the mining, the smelters, etc. 2. Both the hero and heroine are hiding secrets .What problems did you run into maintaining this tension and how did you deal with them?

The fact that they are hiding secrets is what keeps them from going right into a relationship. The reader is privy to Wes’ work for Wells Fargo and why he’s in Durango right up front, so there was no real problem in writing Wes. I had to be a little more circumspect with Julie, as the reader knows she concealing something, but not exactly what she’s concealing. The hard part for writing Julie is not to reveal too much when in her point of view or internal thoughts. Just enough to keep the reader wondering, but not enough to give the secret away until the proper time. This creates a push-pull in their feelings, as they are attracted to each other, but don’t feel they can do anything about the attraction.

3. Both your first book, Kentucky Green, and Colorado Silver, Colorado Gold are set on the American frontier. What in your opinion is the hardest part of writing stories in this setting? What is the easiest?

Well, since I a BA and MA in History and taught I was familiar with the history so once I decided where and what type of story I wanted to write, I had a general idea to start. Doing the detailed research is easy and fun for me. For Kentucky Green I did research on Kentucky long rifles, Conestoga wagons, their average speed, how far it was from one little town in Pennsylvania to another. You can find really great thing, such as a WPA travel guide to Pennsylvania that listed all the little towns, when they were founded, if they’ve changed names, what they might be famous for, etc. And I used this as a guide for the wagon train trip.

For Colorado Silver, Colorado Gold, I learned about mining and smelting in Colorado, the history of Wells Fargo, etc. The hard part of this is to stop doing the research and start writing. And while I like research, my formal training didn’t cover what clothing people wore, so I had to do a lot of research on who would be wearing what, when.

One problem I have is conveying the social conventions of the time I’m writing in without over explaining (author reader-feeder). For instance in Kentucky Green, it takes a while for the hero and heroine to even think of each other by their first name before actually addressing each other that way. That was the convention of the time, where even married people addressed each other as Mr. and Mrs. in public. Another problem is writing in a time period where S*E*X* (as Erma Bombeck used to write) wasn’t quite so prevalent. Today there is S*E*X everywhere you look. So it had to balance the actual conduct of the time with today market that wants things hot, hot, hot.

4. You’re ready to begin a new project. What’s the first thing you do? Research? Character bios? Plot and plan? Or just jump in and let the muse take you?

The staring place can be the setting, or just the idea of a hero or a heroine, or a plot line such as a marriage of convenience. Then you noodle around with the characters (how are they wrong for each other, how will they be right for each other) and the plot, until I have a vague outline. Then I’m fortunate enough to belong to a critique group, that over the fifteen plus years we’ve been together we’ve become a plotting group. We have an annual retreat where we each bring an idea and do the brainstorming to flesh out the characters and the plot line.

Then I write a narrative outline of the story with all the important points before I actually start writing. I sometimes do a first person bio, but not always. I know some writers feel that plotting takes away the mystery of the story, but I like to have a road map, but with my general outline, all the details somehow revel themselves as I write the story.

For example, in one of my ms. I wrote in the outline ‘Johnny finds out where the fence cutter will strike’ but had no idea how he would find out, but as I wrote the story, it figured itself out. Too weird, huh? 5. What advice can you offer to writers who are working toward publication?

Have friends who are also writers – no one else understand except other writers what we worry about, or understand and support us. My husband loves me, but he just doesn’t get ‘writing’.

And you have to keep thinking of the line from Galaxy Quest – “Never give up, never surrender!”

6. And lastly, if you could invite three people to dinner (real, fictional, living or dead), who would they be? What would you serve and why and what would you want to discuss over coffee?

Wow! What a choice. Did you ever watch the old PBS series Meeting of the Minds where Steve Allen had historical figures to dinner and a discussion?

After a lot of thought (too many possibilities!) I think I’ll have dinner with George Washington, Elizabeth I and Alexander the Great. These are personalities who fascinated me while studying/teaching history. I think it would be interesting to find the real person behind the historical persona they’ve become. All of them seem to be bigger than life characters but from my studies I think they all were in essence really very private people who only allowed a few real friends to really know the people they were.

And it, it just occurred to me, none of them left a direct descendent. What to serve would be a real problem since George, Elizabeth and Alexander come from such different times. So I think I’d go with a simple menu, roast turkey and new world vegetables such as corn and tomatoes, some bread, then round it out with fruit (apples, pears, grapes) and nuts along with a couple of types of cheese, one or two types of wine, and of course coffee and tea.

Discussion is easy as we would discuss leadership and the responsibility there of. George was a natural leader, who was willing to step up and take on the role and responsibility.

Elizabeth had to keep her head (literally) on her way to becoming queen. And then as a woman in a man’s job, learn to lead men without making them resent it.

Alexander must have been some sort of super charismatic man to get his troops to follow him to the ends of the earth.

These three were also in a sense the first/originator of their role – President, a reigning Queen, a conqueror.

If you got to invite three people from history for dinner – who would it be?

How Ready Are You?

by | Mar 13, 2011 | Blog, Terry Blain

The horrible earthquake in Japan reminded me of how natural disasters can impact all aspects of life.

Here’s an article I wrote for our chapter’s new letter several years ago, right after one of the large brush/forest fires that routinely hit Souther California.

How ready are you?

As I’m sure you all know, the San Diego area has been on fire for the last week. We live in a suburb of San Diego, and last Sunday morning when I got up the air smelled of smoke the sun of just a orange ball (you could look directly at it) because of the smoke. This was at 7 am, and the TV told me the fire was forty miles away.

Well, brush fires are not uncommon in Southern California, so we went on with our usual business.

By noon, the fire was only twenty miles away, so I told my dh to get a box out of the garage and I started putting all the thing I couldn’t live without in it in case we had to evacuate.

I put in the important papers (birth, marriage, DD214, etc), and photos of weddings and graduations, etc. The good jewelry my husband bought me. A bag with a couple of changes of clothes and underwear, a book (with four novels) and some needlework just in case I got stuck in a shelter for a few days.

And of course, I packed all my back up disks with all my mss, letter to editor/agents, articles I’ve written, any thing to do with my writing. And just as I entered my office to pick up these disks — the power went out. What if I’d waited to do the back up??

As it turned out, they stopped the fire about ¼ mile from our house. We and the neighbors spent all afternoon and evening at the end of the street watching the flames come closer and closer.

So we were lucky, just a lot of clean up and unpacking and a hard time breathing until yesterday when the weather changed.

The moral of this to all you writers is WHERE IS YOUR BACK UP FOR YOUR WRITING?

Even in my critique group, when we finish a ms., we put it on a disk and give it to someone else in the group, or take a copy to work. What good will it do if your back up disk is next to your computer when it burns down?

Yes, and I knew there are ways to do off site storage on line, but I’m too computer inept to deal with that, so as long as disks work, that’s how I’ll do my back up.

Just as a side note, when I taught a workshop on POV at our chapter, I went back and found, on disk, the first draft of a scene from my first ms., where I’d changed POV every paragraph. Although I’d written it in WordPerfect 5.1 (the best !!), my WordPerfect 10 pulled it right up, and I used the first draft against the final version at the workshop to show how I changed from switching POV every paragraph for four pages in to one POV change, and made the scene work better. And all because I had the back up disk to go back too.

So thanks for letting me share this with you. And go make those back up disk and update it as often as possible.

Terry Irene Blain
(cough, cough)

Historical Conflicts that You Don’t Find in Contemporaries

by | Feb 13, 2011 | Blog, Terry Blain

Historical Conflicts that You Don’t Find in Contemporaries

This topic came up when a friend of mine used the term illegitimate and her teenage nieces asked what it meant. So obviously being illegitimate wouldn’t be a problem of conflict in a contemporary story.

While today illegitimacy doesn’t carry much weight, it meant a great deal in the Middle Ages.
We’ve all read romances where the hero is illegitimate. Today the term bastard is a pejorative about a man’s character. But in the Middle Ages it was a description of a man’s birth. William the Conqueror, later William I of England, as a boy was known as William the Bastard of Normandy, as his parents weren’t married. His father did, however, acknowledge William and name him as his heir as he had no other son.
If you want to add conflict to your story by making the hero illegitimate, then realize how significant that stigma of illegitimacy could be. This is why bastard (description of birth, not character) son’s either acknowledged or unacknowledged are always good for conflict, especially in a Medieval.

In the Middle Ages upper class and noble marriages were a business arrangement between two families for political, social or economic reason. (que the song What’s Love Got To Do With It). This one of the reasons that a marriage of convenience works so well in Medievals, as often the bride and/or groom didn’t choose his partner, but they were chosen for them.

And to preserve these political, social or economic ties, inheritance was important. Very important when talking about the landed aristocracy. Doubly true in countries where primogenitor, where to keep the land intact, the oldest son inherited it all.
So direct descent, or legitimacy was necessary to inherit. And the problem?

Now everyone knows who a baby’s mother is (why there was always observers when a queen gave birth). But how do you know who the baby’s father is? You have to take the mother’s word for it. That’s why a woman’s virginity was the dowry that she brought her husband.

This is the value of a virtuous woman for a wife. A man knows the son who will inherit his property is his. You can see this Regency area novels, where a wife, if she had given her husband and heir and a spare (two sons), then she might take a lover if she is discreet.

Notice that most of this deals with male illegitimacy, not female. Being an illegitimate female was a minor consideration to that of a male, as most inheritance was thought the male line. Although, it happens in novels, illegitimate sons were rarely ‘legitimized’, though often acknowledged, especially if they turned out to be, or could be used as an asset to the family.

Henry VIII, while in desperate need for a son, only acknowledged Henry FitzRoy, making him the Duke of Richmond and Somerset.
This was a special problem for reigning monarchs. Remember this was the age of the diving right of kings. Scot kings who ruled Scotland by the divine right were God’s stewards of Scotland. The ‘d’ in steward became a ‘t’ (say both and see how similar) and the old spelling of the royal house of Scotland was Stewart. Since kings ruled by the grace of God, it was necessary the legitimate heir inherit. If a non-qualified person, an illegitimate person (one without the grace of God behind him), it was an invitation to disaster for the entire country. There would be invasions, famine or plague to show the wrath of God, who no longer protected the king and country.

A good example of how a country must have a legitimate rule can be seen at the death of Edward VI, the son of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour in 1553. By this time the Protestant Reformation had a firm hold in England, and the majority of the people were Protestant. However, the oldest daughter of Henry VIII was Mary Tudor, a devout Catholic.
If she became queen it was obvious that she wold try to reconcile the country to the Catholic Church. Thus causing a repeat of the unrest caused by Henry VIII’s break with the Pope. There was an attempt to supplant Mary with Lady Jane Grey, a Protestant. But even in the face of more religious turmoil, the overwhelming support for Mary, as the legitimate heir, put her on the throne of England.

Even in the next century, when Oliver Cromwell died the best the Commonwealth could come up with for continuing ruling was Cromwell’s son, Richard – an implicit legitimacy in a ruler. And of course this didn’t work out, and Charles II was recalled from exile an declared king with the Restoration, thus proving that legitimacy was very important.
PS – see my previous post about love/hate technology. It took me three times to get this blog posted.

So, if you’re considering a bastard for your hero, I hope this helps.

Music hath powers –

by | Oct 13, 2010 | Terry Blain

Music hath powers –

At one of our chapter meeting we had a workshop where we listened to music and wrote a paragraph or two in response to the music. This was a new experience for some of the members, but I’ve always listened to music as a background when I write. Mostly, I choose music to give me a feel of the time and period I’m writing.

The idea is to choose music that will focus you on whatever your writing. For example, the story of KENTUCKY GREEN takes place in 1794 and involves the conflict between the Indians and the American in the what was then the Ohio Territory. The hero is part Shawnee, and much of the story takes place outside, so I had a recording (which I’ve lost) of Indian flute music that also included the sound of streams and bird songs.

I also listened to the sound track of The Last of the Mohicans*, as the look and feel of the movie was the same as my story.

When I was doing research for writing COLORADO SILVER, COLORADO GOLD, I found a great CD. The story takes place in Durango, Colorado, and he hero of the story, who now works for Wells Fargo, grew up in a saloon. Several scenes take place in a saloon. The CD I found is Durango Saloon*

Of course, for writing the romantic scenes, I have recordings of love songs. If there are lyrics, I tend to listen, so all the music has to be instrumental, so it just washes over me.

My current work are westerns set in Texas. And, if you’ve read my previous blog you know I love western movies*. So I have several CDs of western movie themes*.

Now, as I said, when I’m writing I can’t listen to music with lyrics. But on the way home from work, I can listen to music that will get me in the mood. Nothing like Marty Robbins* who’s most famous song is El Paso. I’ve read that his grandfather was a Texas Ranger who told him stories when Marty was a boy. And since my heroes are Texas Rangers — you get the idea.

While writing the first of three stories, one of the song lyrics gave me an idea for the next story.

I also use several movie soundtracks as background music as I write. Gettysburg* for the epic, sweeping sounds, Quigley Down Under*, even through its set in Australia, it has that wide open spaces feeling. I like Cowboy Celtic, for the hammered dulcimer sounds.

And lest you think all I listen too is western stuff, I also used the Onigo Boingo* track of Not My Slave to represent the conflict between the hero and heroine in one of the Texas stories.

So, do you use music in your writing? How? What do you listen too?

*******
Last of the Mohicans, soundtrack, Trevor Jones and Randy Edelman
Durango Saloon, Peter Elman
The Wild West, the Essential Western Film Music Collection
Marty Robbins, #1 Cowboy, Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs
Cowboy Celtic, Davie Wilkie
Gettysburg, movie soundtrack, Randy Edelman
Quigley Down Under, movie soundtrack, Basil Poledoruis
Best of Boingo, Danny Elfman