Bad News/Good News

Those of you who are my Facebook friends will already know this, but last week I had some bad news and some good news. 

The bad news was that after a lot of work and three rounds of revisions, I got the final verdict from Mills and Boon on The Welsh King’s Spy—in the end although they liked my voice and thought I had potential, the story wasn’t quite what they were looking for.  The really bad news was that I’d just put on mascara and my first lesson was due to start in ten minutes when I read the email, so instead of crying and sulking, which always makes me feel better, I had to smile and explain circular geometry. I wouldn’t recommend that as a remedy for dashed hopes—I think my poor student is now terminally confused.

The good news was that the editor went on to say that although TWKS wasn’t right, she’d like to continue working with me on my next story. I’m really excited about that because she wouldn’t go to all that work and trouble unless she thought my voice was a good fit for Harlequin Historical. So now (after being wiped out for a few days by a cold caught from my maths student) I’m working on some characters and plots for a few scenarios set in the Twelfth Century. Hopefully I can come up with something that shows promise. Wish me luck!

An update and points to remember

Easter decorations in Prague Old Town Square

I got back from a fortnight in the Czech Republic on Thursday and after a whole weekend of what feels like solid sleep, I’m ready to get back to work. 

I was quiet on my blog in the weeks running up to my holiday because I heard back from HMB with another set of revisions. So after much hair-tearing I buried myself in those and cut back the amount of time I spent on social media. I finished and sent back the revised manuscript a couple of days before my holiday so now I’m back to the jumpy, nail-biting wait!

Of course, the best way to keep my mind off the wait is to get on with the next story, so starting tomorrow it’s back to the WIP. It’s been on hold for nearly two months now, so the first thing to do is read it through. I’ve come up with things to look out for, gleaned from the points that have come out in the revision process for TWKS. They are (in no particular order):

•  Does the progression of the romance take centre-stage at all times, or are there places where it gets buried under the action?
•  In each scene, is it clear how the hero and heroine feel about each other and is their behaviour consistent with these feelings/conflicts?
•  Do the hero and heroine each have a clear and consistent emotional arc throughout the story?
• Are there places where introspection could be replaced by the hero and heroine interacting?

Hopefully now I’m more aware of my areas of weakness I won’t repeat the same mistakes again. I also hope I won’t make any new ones!

My writing process (or lack of)

Whilst I'm waiting to hear back from HMB about the revised ms I sent back in December, I’m doing the  only thing I can do, which is get on with my next story. Reading about other people’s writing process has got me thinking about my own and I’ve decided that I’m in awe of writers who are able to plan their novel down to the last detail before they begin their first draft.

Whenever I start a new project I decide that this time I’ll have the plot and emotional arc of my hero and heroine straight before I even begin to think about beginning the first chapter. So I do all the things recommended by all the workshops I’ve attended and writing guides I’ve read. I fill in character questionnaires; I work out my hero and heroine’s goals, motivations and conflicts; I try to imagine how they would react in certain situations. However, the moment I start writing, most of that flies out of the window. My problem is that I only really ‘get’ my hero and heroine when I throw them together and get them talking to each other, interacting.

Not even bright stationery can improve my planning

At first I thought I just wasn’t taking enough time to plan, and maybe that’s true—I accept that I’m impatient and when I get an idea I just can’t wait to get started. However, I also think there comes a time that I just have to accept this is how I work.

However, I do have a system, although any plotter worth their salt would sneer to hear it termed that. What I do is this. I always start out with a scenario—usually the moment when the hero and heroine meet. For example, the first image that came to me when I wrote The Welsh King’s Spy was the moment my heroine pulled back a beggar’s hood and found it was the hero in disguise. Everything else started from that point. From there I fill in the character sheets and the most important thing I get from these is each character’s internal conflicts. From the conflicts I work out what the Black Moment is going to be. I do try to do a story outline but I’ve never yet stuck to one!

Then I start writing. However, the most helpful trick I’ve found is to draft out each scene before I write it. I do this longhand and for some strange reason I find handwriting it rather than typing it straight onto my computer frees up my imagination. It’s no more than rough notes, but all of my best ideas have formed at this stage. Then when I write that scene onto the computer I find the words flow and I get through the scene much faster than if I’d tried to type it out from scratch.

That’s what works for me. What about you? Where do you stand on the plotter/pantser spectrum?