"Womance Witing"

Recently, I went to Vegas and met up with two writer friends. We had a blast (but that's a whole 'nother story). At one point, one of the writers revealed she can read tarot cards and offered us a reading.


It was terrific and created a nice bonding moment for us all. Reading the cards is often subjective and I felt our friend did a fabulous job. The moment opened up to us talking about the industry, trying to stay the course, and our rejections. I even dug through my old email for my first rejection letter so they could share in my very first smack down from an agent.


They laughed their asses off and then sat in shock. Even at the time I received it, I didn't take it seriously. I laughed. Looking back, it is kind of odd a professional used made up words when giving any writer a rejection. My friends encouraged me to share the entire letter with other writers, not just snippets as I have before, to inspire them not to give up and to never lose faith in what you've written.


Before you read it, let me point some things out. First, My work was edited and the chapter she received had been re-written like ten to fifteen times.  It was the same chapter I had entered and finaled in contests with and the one which gained me over 600 followers on Facebook. With very few tweaks, it is the same work that earned me "fan favorite" and second place in the huge Dorchester contest in January '10, first place in another, and landed me an agent in March '10.


Second, the agent answered my email query in thirty minutes from when I sent it out. I was giddy with excitement but also slightly sick to my stomach. To be honest, the full MS wasn't ready yet. I had bargained on a response time of three to six weeks.


So, without further ado, here is my very first rejection letter, which helped me qualify for PRO status at my first RWA national writing convention, a mere four and half months after typing "Chapter One":

Hi C.J.:

I think you hit part of your target, but didn't land in the best place.

"If it's not your cup of tea, then I completely understand.  Having read a lot in the urban fantasy, paranormal, and erotic genres, I can assure you it is not erotica, but very erotic at times."

OK, it is very much not my cup of tea, but not for the erotica element--what you describe as the erotic element could be OK.

This plot/setting/character of innkeeper is not a bad idea but I can't get with the narrative.

A present tense narrative entices the author to fill the prose with ignorable, non-memorable details and you fell into the trap.  This combined with the narrator's voice which talks as much about how she receives sensory information and thinks, as what she sees and thinks, places the emphasis in the wrong layer of experience. I suggest you study (not just read) some Raymond Chandler to see what he leaves out and what you've put into this draft. Ex: "I mentally counted the guests..." It is much easier to read:  "I knew we had ten guests..."

Real people's interior monologs don't reach so hard for lush, romance-novel-expressions to describe what they are seeing and hearing and saying. So the narrator doesn't sound like an innkeeper or a vampire, but a script that has been shoved through a Romance Novel Thesaurus machine.

My free editorial advice is to revise by removing any word, phrase, or stock expression that even smells like Womance Witing and you might have a nifty Vampire Mystery. Then remove any prose that describes the character operating like a hydraulic system or computer.

Finally, the fact that the vamperoine has a warm (ha) relationship with her husband should provide the romantic element without carving each paragraph from Romantistone.

You might check out XXX by XXX as an example of an Urban Vampire series that worked for us. If you like XXX, you'd likely like this one too.

Other agents may feel differently.

Here are some links to help you survey agents and avoid scam agents and subsidy publishers.

http://www.anotherealm.com/prededitors/

http://nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/archives/004641.html#004641

http://www.sfwa.org/beware/

http://www.aar-online.org/mc/page.do

http://accrispin.blogspot.com/

and you can follow our blog at: XXX

And there you have it. My first rejection letter. I was grateful she took the time to write back and share her thoughts with me. As I later learned, it's rare to get anything other than a stock rejection form letter. 

It was good that I had enough confidence to shake her email off. I can see how writers can easily be crushed by a stranger telling them to get a book and learn the craft, or "here, read what I think is clearly a better writer than you", or being told their prose is carved from "Romantistone."

What do you think? Would you have been humored when this showed up in your inbox? Or cracking open the seal on that bottle of whiskey and starting before lunch?

**CONTEST TIME**

I'm running a unique pre-launch promo contest. I plan to give away ten signed and numbered copies of The Hunt (numbers 3-12, 'cause I'm giving my brother the first two). They will be mailed to winners one week prior to the book going up for sale, which is slotted right now for June 30th, 2011.

Here is how you enter: You comment on any blog I do for the next six weeks. I will notify readers when I post on my Facebook business page, and I will Tweet about it. Each comment counts as one entry (only one entry per post, but you can comment more if you'd like). The comments must be made within the first 48 hours of the post going live, and I will post a "closing" comment when the entries for that day are closed.

All entries will be tossed into a drawing, and the participants with more entries have a higher chance of winning.
BONUS!! Every entrant who comments on at least six blog posts and does not win a signed print copy will receive a free ecopy when the book goes up for sale.


Let the games begin!!

What You Read May Not Be What You Write

The old adage was: you are what you eat. It was what immediately jumped to mind upon reading what this week's topic was. I was pleased when I read this week's topic because I really do not fit so nicely into any boxes. I suppose it is true for many of us that we are multifaceted and not easily pinned down, but it is especially true for me.

You see, I am supposedly one of two horror writers on these hallowed pages. In the sweeping generalization which springs to mind, you might picture some of the following: a man dressed in black, a person who rarely smiles or laughs, one who listens to haunting or heavy metal music, one who watches every horror film that he can snatch up, perhaps one who likes old and scary-looking churches, but never attends one, etc. Now, I certainly mean no disrespect to anyone. I'm not saying that horror readers or writers are not sweet and gentle people, but there's a picture that often jumps into people's heads when they consider that someone writes horror.

Although I do listen to heavy metal music, it ranges more from 80’s hair rock to Iron Maiden and Judas Priest. However, I also listen to easy listening, although I will not spell out here just who that might be. ;) I love romantic comedies and like to sit and watch the neighborhood finches in my back yard that we’re feeding. I also love to laugh and make others laugh as well.

No so terrifying, am I?

My bookshelves are lined with Stephen King, Clive Barker and Michael Slade, but Pat Conroy is near and dear to my heart. Beach Music is my all-time favorite. Not only this, but some of the books that I have found the time to read in the past year have been nothing like horror at all: Anne Kleinberg’s Menopause in Manhattan (women of a certain age), Michelle Stinson Ross’s Revenge of the Siren Song (pirates) and Talli Roland’s The Hating Game (romance/drama). I read these because they were pals of mine and I loved all three.

I do have a second book in my vampire series coming out this year as well as third which I will begin writing at some point, but I also have other horror in me. I would love to do the definitive haunted house story as well as some other real dark stuff. Yet, I want to write a tear-jerker drama piece about heaven and a romance about a married couple.

Once again, I mean no disrespect to anyone, but just like most of you, I cannot be pinned down and placed in any neat little boxes. How boring would that be?

What do you say about this subject, my Wicked Reader and Writer friends? I’d love to hear it.

The above photo shows the author attempting to look menacing and cool. The last one shows me as I am.

(Editor's Note:) Whatever happened with Blogger this week caused this post which I had completed Wednesday night to be deleted. I attempted to post from my iPhone while at work, only to find that I had to rewrite the entire thing. I apologize for the delay...

Reading What I Write - Sort Of

This weeks topic asks us what we read vs what we write. I write High Fantasy and, I've admitted this before, I don't read much High Fantasy.

It's not that I'm afraid I'll 'copy' an idea or anything like that. It's the point that quite frankly, I hate the way the majority of High Fantasy novels are written. I know that sounds terrible as a High Fantasy writer myself, but it's true.

I do love to watch fantasy movies however, as it takes away the flowery language to describe the new world - it's just there in picture. This might also be due to the fact that I'm naturally a character driven writer. I want to know about the characters, how they act, their quirks, etc not read paragraphs of flowery adjectives about their house.

I absolutely love to read mysteries! Mary Higgins Clark is my favorite mystery/suspense writer and I own many of her books. I read her books over and over again because the tension is so great that even when I'm reading it for the 10th or 20th time, I still feel my breath caught in my throat in anticipation for what happens next. I don't think I could ever write one though - or anything contemporary for that matter. It's just not in me to write about the world I already live in I guess.

My novels do have a hint of mystery and suspense in them though. I love writing about the many twists and turns of solving some mystery - especially in my series The Kinir Elite Chroicles. The elves are elite warriors and it's their job to bring down the bad guy - much like a cop would! So the mystery element is definitely there.

I also enjoy reading romance novel - but not straight romance. It needs to have another main plot going for me to enjoy it. The romance is the side plot not the main point of the story. I eat those stories up. And as far as my writing is concerned, I always have a romance element in it as well.

Frankly, when it comes to what I like to read - I'll read almost anything. Horror is a definite no in my book and with fantasy it all depends on the voice and style of the writer. Sorry to any horror writers out there but I just can't do it LOL. One of two things happens when it comes to reading (or watching) horror 1 - it's so cheesy I feel like I wasted my money or 2 - it's so scary I can't sleep for a month. Which I know is the point of horror, I just prefer to NOT lose sleep thank you. :P

Since I feel like I've rambled through this post, let's recap. I write High Fantasy but don't read too much of it. My stories also have a hint of mystery and romance. I don't read horror, ever, and I'll read most anything else but my favorite is mystery novels. :) I want to write Sci-Fi some day, and I do read a lot of that.

What about you? What do you like read? Writers, do you read the same as you write? Why or why not?

Reading, Writing, and Publishing Announcement

Did everyone have a good mother's day? I hope so. I'm not a momma, but I did receive some very good news Sunday morning.... My urban fantasy novel, Dark Heirloom, is officially under contract with Muse It Up Publishing Inc!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! *does a little victory dance*

I'm so ecstatic! For those of you who don't know, Dark Heirloom is like THE novel, the one I've been trying to get published for the past year or so. And it's finally happening! YAY!  :-)

Okay, now that it's out of system (not really), I'll lead into today's topic. What do I read vs. what I write? Truth is, I read what I write and I write what I read.

My two top favorite genres are Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance, which are exactly the genres I write. Dark Fantasy comes in a close third on my reading list just because the basic elements are similar, but I have no plans to write Dark Fantasy so far. As some of you know, I also write Erotic Romance, which I have just recently become a fan of. I know I enjoy writing Erotic Romance much more than reading it. Erotica is such a selective genre. We all have a different comfort level when it comes to sex so there really is no concrete line between erotic and pornographic which is why I have trouble finding erotic romance that I enjoy reading other than my own stories.

I'll occasionally read Steampunk - though I'm more a fan of Victorian women's fashion than anything - Sci-Fi, Horror, and Gothic. I also like a lot of the new fairy tale spin-offs.

The thing that sometimes baffles me most is that over half the books I read and own are Young Adult. I do have plans to write YA novels in the future, but I admit I'm shocked I didn't start with YA right off the bat. Instead, I started with heroines that are my age - in their 20's. Understandable, I think. It's just easier to write about people your age.

What about you? Writers, is there a genre you love to read, but don't particularly care to write? Or a genre you write, but don't like to read?

IF I Could Be One Of My Characters...!

Wow! This is a toughie. I write about supernatural creatures mainly! Oh yeah and insane and evil human ones too!

However, in the spirit of this extremely thought provoking topic I shall endeavor to discuss it!

I'm going to shock everyone by selecting the one character in my novel, The House on Blackstone Moor who is an evil supernatural being--Eco.

Why you may ask would I want to be him?
Well, I think because (in the spirit that this is asked) I would like to live forever, I could if I chose not do any evil.

BUT YOU'RE CHANGING THE CHARACTER, CAROLE! THAT IS SOOOO UNFAIR!

Okay! I give up! I won't change him one iota.

I love Eco, I adore this evil, thoroughly deranged demon spawn because he is mad as a hatter, he is also campy and outrageous!

Put Caligula and Oscar Wilde together with a sprinkling of Johnny Depp in Alice in Wonderland and you get Eco's essence.

Campy is fun to write! Here's an example! In the scene where Eco appears first he is met by a gypsy housekeeper. He has arrived with his monsterous vampiric 'children' (winged little beasts that he calls his children). The gypsy is horrified and is cowering while Eco, in the best tradition of high camp, is grinning at her!

He then says to two characters who enter the room:

"I don't think she likes me!"

I ask you, how could I not want to be this character?
I'll tell you something he has become so popular he is featured in the sequel, Unholy Testament that I am writing now!

I have a great time as I recount in his own words, his experiences with such characters as diverse as Caligula, Richard the Lionheart, Gille de Rais, Vlad and Elizabeth Bathory to name a few.

It is his story I am telling in a journal, a confession really.
So yes, my choice would be the great character, Eco!

His charm is his mad, unpredictability and that's even to me and I'm writing him!

Goodness!

Just Another Part of Me Or Another Part of You?

I just know that C.J. is getting a hoot out of this week’s topic – which of my characters do I identify with the most?

Why will she be laughing at a man who just celebrated the 19th anniversary of his 25th birthday last week?

Because she knows that I tend to put a little of myself into each of my protagonist hero/anti-hero characters.Okay, maybe more than a little.

Check out Devin Calloway in They Call the Wind Muryah, Cantrell Ryker in Hunters, Lassiter Shane from My Dear, Mr. Shane or Devereaux Marshall Fox in Land of the Blind.

You’ll read those books or novellas and think “this Greg Smith guy puts himself into every book of his, like he’s Spike Lee or something.”

The psychologists among Wicked Writers’ fan base might call this slightly narcissistic. I prefer to call it laziness (I guess some of them could have birth dates other than 4/25/67). Maybe that is bad for the reader since, as I’ve stated before, my female characters tend to resemble the likes of Michelle Rodriguez, Angela Bassett, Lucy Liu or Gina Gershon.

And, truthfully, I’m not really at all like those characters of mine. They’re just another part of me, a part that might represent me on a darker day if I didn’t have self-control or me on a day that will, more than likely, never come (such as me picking up Gina Gershon in a bar; Lindsay Lohan, yes, but Gina, no).

All of this has gotten me thinking again (I know it’s dangerous, but I have to do it from time to time to release the pressure not alleviated by watching Jeopardy).

What about you, the reader?

What draws you to the characters of us, the writers?

Do you just have this hankering to follow the adventures of Alex Cross and only Alex Cross? Could you find some of yourself in Dirk Pitt or Jason Bourne?

What is it about Honor Harrington that draws so many readers who normally read science fiction for the heroes and not the heroines? Will those readers broaden their horizons and find comfort with the heroines of Elizabeth Moon or the late Marion Zimmer Bradley? Could they handle not only Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter but Morgaine, the White Witch as well?

While I can talk all day about what parts of myself are represented best by Cantrell Ryker or Devereaux Marshall Fox or Pegram Kimble, it really wouldn’t matter to the reader.

What matters more to the reader is what characters they can identify with most. That is ultimately what will draw them to us writers, giving us that foot in the door. It won’t guarantee that the foot is not withdrawn should the reader find our characters the only interesting thing in the tome, meaning we must write well enough to keep the reader.

At that point, we can pretend to be our characters walking to the bookstore, pen in hand, for yet another crowded book-signing.

"She Sounds Like YOU"

My close friends were the first ones to read my work who knew me. Sure, I'd had faceless, good-meaning strangers help to polish my work and give me their thoughts. But, most of them didn't know I have long, copper red hair, a curvy physique, a strong personality, slip into bouts of micro-control when under stress, and love my husband with a deep, consuming passion.

Friends and family? They know me pretty darn well and saw right through Vivian's gruff exterior and laughed their asses off at me. Before I got sick, I took the lead on many parties, projects, meetings, groups... you name it. I never assumed I should be in the lead role, it was usually thrust upon me or thankfully handed over by my busy peers. I quickly built a reputation for getting things done, being organized, loyal, and someone you could always count on to follow through.

One friend loving called me a "sheep dog" saying I herded the children and adults in a very unnoticeable way at large parties or gatherings, making sure the event followed smoothly. I was paid in college to run parties professionally, taking the place of the hostess regarding mundane duties like timing the courses, ensuring the catering staff followed her directions, lining up all details of the event to run like a fine tuned machine.

It taught me a lot. The experience showed me how to lead without being bossy. How to encourage without giving a direct order or negative feedback. And when to realize butting heads with someone does not mean either one of you is right or wrong, you just clash and don't agree. Then, to maturely face the fact you probably never will and move on.

I've brought a lot of personal aspects of myself into Vivian because I never expected the book to make it. I've said before that I started this whole career as a distraction, a way to occupy myself from my day to day predicament of doctor visits and health problems.

I've read in several places Laurell K Hamilton wishes she hadn't made her popular main character, Anita Blake, look like herself. I always found that kind of funny. It's done, so move on. No need to worry about what you can't change.

I feel that way about Vivian. I hadn't intended to pour so much of myself into her. I did intend to make her a powerful, ruthless woman with control issues, and one who may not win friends because of her actions. I wanted her fair, logical, passionate, and slightly paranoid. She is kind of like me on small things, but more of her own as the story evolves-- and thankfully my friends agreed, saying they quickly forgot the comparison and were able to enjoy the story.

In real life, I don't say all the snarky stuff Vivian does, I just dream about it. I don't hang from the basement rafters and have gymnastic-like sex. There has never been a time in my life where I have been chained to a wall and spanked with a crop -- and I can promise there never will be.

And, as much as I wish, I don't have the relationship she has with her spouse. I'm blessed with a good marriage to a man I admire and love. A man who is also my best friend -- but he is not Rafe by any stretch of the imagination.

As writers we're told to "write what you know". We need to make realistic characters and for new writers, like me, that means drawing on yourself and those closest to you. I've grown in my writing abilities and have been able to make up main characters nothing like me.

My erotica novellas require a different type of experience level ;-), and I can weave those elements in with completely unknown characterizations. That's where having a great imagination comes into play.

Sure, most of us may incorporate bits of ourselves into the stories we create. But isn't that what helps the story come to life? What do you think? Have you written about someone who looks, talks or acts like you?

**CONTEST TIME**

I'm running a unique pre-launch promo contest. I plan to give away ten signed and numbered copies of The Hunt (numbers 3-12, 'cause I'm giving my brother the first two). They will be mailed to winners one week prior to the book going up for sale, which is slotted right now for June 30th, 2011.

Here is how you enter: You comment on any blog I do for the next six weeks. I will notify readers when I post on my Facebook business page, and I will Tweet about it. Each comment counts as one entry (only one entry per post, but you can comment more if you'd like). The comments must be made within the first 48 hours of the post going live, and I will post a "closing" comment when the entries for that day are closed.

All entries will be tossed into a drawing, and the participants with more entries have a higher chance of winning.

BONUS!! Every entrant who comments on at least six blog posts and does not win a signed print copy will receive a free ecopy when the book goes up for sale.


Let the games begin!!