The Dead Zones

It's been a very busy week. Emergency doctor appointments and ultrasounds and vaccinations and the usual demands of catering to two very high energy little boys, both of whom are still in diapers. Not to mention the cooking and the cleaning that comes with being a little (nesting!) house wife.

Combined with the above distractions I have reached a very slow point in my WIP. It's an unfortunate phenomenon that happens to me. I have vision for where I want to go, it all went good up to this point, but it seems like at about 20K words I can get a little lost for what needs to happen NOW. I can't wait for the scene that I've envisioned for three scenes from now, but I just don't know how to connect the dots and get there! In short, I have fallen into a dead zone.

So I've been slowwwwwly creeping that word count up. What do I write when I don't know what to write? Oh, it varies. But I do try to write something. One of my dear crit group friends said 'you can't edit a blank page' and she's very right. I could sit there and stare at the screen, waiting for inspiration, or I could just blaze past this point by writing what seems best. I can always go fix it later (as you remember from my earlier posts, I have no issue at this point with completely erasing mass chunks of MS if need be) and sometimes some of the best little moments come about between my h and H when I'm just 'writing blind'.

Now, there's a method to my madness (oh how often I claim that!) I try to think 'what does their relationship need?' Does it need more conflict? More sexual tension? Or do they need a moment of calm, maybe even some camaraderie. Above all else, I want my reader to know that the h and H are meant to be with each other, and only each other. So in order to answer the question 'why her/him?' I do try to give them a well rounded relationship.

So in these moments, that aren't so driven by events and plot, my characters can have their moments together. Granted, sometimes they end up slow and rambling, but again, I can cut it later. But it also gives some really good character building, relationship building opportunities.

Even though the 'slow times' still frustrate me, I'm past the point of fighting against them. I just try to make them work for me, rather than against me.

So, what do you do when you reach slow points? (or do you 'real' plotters never have those?)

Maisey

Plotter? Pantser? None of the Above?

If there's one thing I've learned over the last year it's that there are an infinite number of ways to approach writing. There's plotting, there's pantsing and there's all the wonderful methods in between and somewhere way off in left field.

Now, I think 'the process' is such a nebulous thing that it can be hard to explain, especially since it rarely makes complete sense even in my own mind. But I'll give it a shot.

I think I'm a weird sort of plotter hybrid. The beginnings of each MS start out differently. Sometimes it's a character that sticks in my mind and I build an MS around him or her. Sometimes I think 'what if a very uptight corporate woman met an equally driven playboy and they had to get married?' and build characters and reasoning from there. In the case of this last MS, I decided I wanted to do another marriage of convenience, because they're about my favorite plot line, so I spent some time thinking of characters and situations and stuck with the one I was able to imagine most clearly.

So from the little seeds of an idea I created my characters, Sabrina and Cade for this MS, and I started thinking about who they were, why they were that way, and what would ultimately cause conflict between them. What's going to stop them from just confession true love when it's clear they're right for each other? And how are they going to overcome it?

So after I had their internal conflict and their back story I thought, okay, now how can I throw them together. I was aiming for MOC with this one and after I came up with the reasons they would both agree to it I started thinking of what journey they needed to take.

I know their issues so the next step is to figure out what they need to grow. I always try to think of what someone with their particular set of conflicts would need to overcome in order to fall in love. What do they need to get from each other? What do they need to find on their own? So, I don't know that I plot events as much as 'milestones' I feel my characters need to reach inside so that they can grow.

Then of course I like to have my 'black moment' planned, and then a rough idea of the resolution. Rarely do I write any of this down, but I actually did this time.

However, I reserve the right to change whatever I want during the writing process, or get rid of an element I see isn't working.

So I guess I plot to give myself a direction, and then I pants as needed. :-)

What's your method for crafting a story?

Research

Another question for you writers out there! How do you do your research?

I know for the historical novelist this is going to be a much different kettle of fish than for us contemporary writers. I can't even imagine all the work that must go into historicals. From clothing to homes to speech to customs. It's daunting!!

For me I use a lot of Google. Thank God for Google! I can use it to see the interiors of private planes, take virtual tours of resorts and private islands and million dollar homes in Aspen. Oh, and Google Earth. I rely on it to kind of give me a sense of direction when I'm writing about places I've never been.

Then there's people watching.

I used to go to Starbucks to write, much more often than I do now, and I would always spend a good portion of my time listening (yeah, okay, eavesdropping) to people's conversations.

I heard a love story about a couple who met once in Australia and then again, by chance, or not, in Oregon. I listened to people meet each other, talk for hours, exchange phone numbers and make plans to meet again. I got to overhear a job interview for an exotic dancer position at a strip club. People are fascinating. There is a lot of good information to be gleaned from just listening to people talk.

Though I've never used direct snippets from these overheard conversations (because I've never had an exotic dancer in on of my MSs ;-) I feel like I've taken my observations about these people that are so different from me, and that I've been able to use it to help me with character development in my various MSs.

So, fellow writers, what are your research tricks?

Maisey

Recommended Reads Again!!

The Wild series, By Stacey Kayne

I enjoyed all three of these books immensely. A great Western continuity. They take place in Wyoming in the late eighteen hundreds and feature twin brothers Tucker and Chance Morgan, and in the third book, their brother in law Garret Daines.

Mustang Wild

The first in the series. Skylar Daines has spent most of her life traveling with her father and younger brother, herding mustangs and disguising herself as a boy (at her father's insistence).

After her father dies she finds herself accidentally married to Tucker Morgan, the man who owns the land her father promised to her. A lot hinges on them getting an annulment, but they have a very hard time fighting their attraction for each other.

It was a lot of fun to see Skylar experience being treated like a woman for the first time. She'd never been given compliments or any kind of special care, and it made her relationship with Tucker all the more special.

Maverick Wild

Chance's story. Chance always vowed he would never get married because of his evil stepmother, but when he encounters his stepsister for the first time in nearly twenty years he finds himself attracted to her in spite of the fact that he thinks she's probably just like her mother.

Cora has run away to Wyoming to find her stepbrothers, the only real family she has. Her mother has abused her horribly and tried to trap her into a marriage she doesn't want by allowing a man to assault her. Chance was the best person in her childhood, so she seeks him out when she needs a place to go.

Their love story was very sweet, and appropriate considering everything poor Cora had been through. I love the lost childhood love aspect of it too.

Mountain Wild

This book takes place quite a few years later. Garret is only thirteen at the beginning of the series, and he's twenty three in this book.

After being trapped in a snow storm he's rescued by a reclusive woman who lives in the mountains that everyone in town knows as Mad Mag.

Maggie has spent her life avoiding people and living in fear, but Garret gets under her skin in a way no one else ever has. Much like with Skylar in the first book, Maggie has never known any kind of tenderness in her life, not since the death of her father.

Garret was a unique hero, not afraid to proclaim his feelings and show some real tenderness, while Maggie was much more cagey and fearful than your average heroine. And interesting role reversal that I really enjoyed.

Can't recommend these books enough. They really were wonderful. A great example of what a Western romance should be. I'll definitely be looking for more from Stacey Kayne.

Happy reading!

Maisey

All the News That's Fit to Print

Big doings going on over here this week! I could do with a little less excitement in all honesty.

The abbreviated version: I put in a new kitchen and bathroom floor, which I think for one little (hahaha) pregnant woman was quite a task. Then, a couple days after that, my youngest son, with the aid of my oldest son, escaped. After much running around, crying hysterically and calling emergency services, we found him safe and unharmed and just a little annoyed by how his mother clung to him and cried. So, thank God we have him back safe and sound. There really are no words to express my thankfulness. Glad God covers where I fall short.

The good news, my editor contacted me! It's been fourteen weeks since I submitted the latest version of my full, and while there's no news on that score, she's offered to look at my next MS should it not work out with this one, which is a huge, huge happy thing to me. No more slush!

Also, I started a new MS. I like to have a project going at all times and I just finished a revision round on the MS I'll be submitting next, so I'm letting it rest while I work on this new project. I'm very excited about it. The characters are really fun and I did myself a favor, for once, and focused on the internal conflict as I was plotting this story. So, while I don't know for sure what all actual 'events' I want to have happen, I know the essential conflict of the characters and what they need to overcome and work through before they get their HEA. And the NEED their HEA.

I'm moving a little slower than I usually do, I blame the stress, but I've been enjoying the process and am hoping to make some serious progress today, children willing.

Have a blessed week everyone!

Maisey

Internal Conflict, A Subject on Which I am No Expert

So I'm working very hard on this internal conflict thing, something I hadn't given a lot of thought to prior to submitting my first MS to M&B.

Of course, when the revision letter came back 'less external conflict, more internal' I had to figure that out real quick.

I think Michelle Willingham summed it up perfectly when she said this on the subject: ...

"Emotion is what forms the backbone of the romance. You have to be able to remove every external conflict and still have a compelling reason for the hero and heroine to be conflicted.
If the hero is a damaged man, who's never been loved, he'll be suspicious of the heroine's efforts to love him. He'll draw false conclusions and he'll fight against his own feelings for fear of being hurt. As the book progresses, you play on those fears, and at the end, he should face his greatest fear (loving the heroine and almost losing her).
The heroine might be someone who isn't afraid of love, but maybe she's made bad choices. Maybe she thinks she's not good enough for the hero (Cinderella story). The more she tries to get close to him, the more he pushes her away(that plays on her feelings of insecurity and being not good enough)
You use the external conflict to push them into the wall, to face those tough emotions. Make 'em bleed."

The internal conflict is all about what keeps the hero and heroine apart. Sure, there are external forces at work such as a marriage of convenience for the sake of the hero's business, or an unintended pregnancy, but in the end, the reasons for the h and H for being apart, or not falling in love, have to come from within.

It's so frustrating to read a romance where the whole conflict could have been solved through a conversation. Say the ex of the hero shows up, telling the heroine what a cad the hero is, how he left her pregnant and destitute, then forced her to have an abortion, so the heroine leaves, that was an external force. The issue the heroine has with the hero has come from somewhere else.

In contrast, say you take that same heroine, same situation. Take out the plot device, i.e the crazy ex, and ask what the heroine's deeper issues are. What if she's frightened of being with a man, loving a man, who doesn't love her. She watched her own mother self destruct as a result of her father's indifference and she knows she can't allow herself to suffer the same way. Even if she is carrying his baby. So she leaves.

In that case, the problem is not so easily solved, and we stay away from the simple solution of 'but, darling, that's just not true!'
'oh, okay!'

The end.

It's always better when the journey to "The End" is centered on the journey and growth of the characters, and to really accomplish that, the conflict has to be internal.

I'll let you know when I master it. :-)

Maisey

Interracial Romance

Yes, it's true, that technically more than half of all Harlequin romances are interracial. The men are typically dark skinned, Italian, Arabic, Greek, and most recently, Indian, while the heroine is usually the pale, English rose type. Not only do the hero and heroine have different skin colors, they are also typically from different cultures and backgrounds.

There is, however, only one from category romance that I know of where there was an interracial relationship between a white and African American hero and heroine. (Taking Care of Business, by Brenda Jackson) The focus of the book was largely on the heroine, who was black, dealing with dating a white man.

This is a point of interest to me because, for those of you who don't know, I myself am married to a very handsome African/Italian/Czech man. :-) And while I can, and do, enjoy a romance with people of any ethnic background at the center of it, sometimes I want to read one that 'represents' my relationship.

So here's the thing though, what I really want is to read a romance with an interracial relationship where the races of the hero and heroine aren't at the center of it. Why? Because it's not at the center of my relationship. My husband and I do not have the same skin color, but that's not the sum total of our marriage, or even any part of it at all.

Not that we've never experienced discrimination based on the fact that he's black and I'm white, but it's been very rare, and when we met and fell in love, race never came into it for the two of us.

I have written an MS, aimed at Presents, but not submitted yet, where the hero is based off of my husband and is half African American. It is not an issue in their relationship.

So here's a question: Are people ready for that? Can it really be presented as a non-issue in a book? What are your thoughts on an interracial couple in a romance?

Maisey

(yes, that is a picture from my wedding)