Inspiration!

Rose's Colored Glasses

March 2007 Newsletter

Join the Roses in a two-week workshop

Know Your Characters!

March 18-31

Finding Inspiration
By Layla Chase

The first two months of the year are officially over. Amazing, huh? How are you doing on your 2007 goals? Even with the best intentions of writing every day and getting that partial circulating with _____ (contests, agents, publishers-you fill in the blank), you've hit a snag. The plot doesn't work past chapter four OR the characters refuse to move in the direction you intended OR the ending you envisioned four months ago will just not work now. Curse those characters for their growth.

Step back

Take a break. Not from writing altogether-just from that problem project. Do something completely different. Write a short piece. Create a poem. Focus on an event that takes place in the span of an hour. Here are a couple resources that will give you a starting point:

Byline magazine - an online source of information about the craft of writing that also runs monthly contests with suggested themes. A variety of formats and word counts are included each month and vary from poetry to children's story to non-fiction to memoir to character sketch to short fiction. Entry fee ranges from $3-5; prize money for 1st, 2nd & 3rd place. [www.bylinemag.com]

The First Line - print magazine with quarterly contests. Each contest has a mandated first line that must be used to start your 300-3,000 word story. Any genre of fiction is welcome (unless specifically stated) No entry fee; payment is $20/fiction story, $10/non-fiction. [www.thefirstline.com]

The Story Starter -website that randomly generates starting sentences. Use this as a limbering up exercise. To get the creative juices flowing, log on, get your sentence, set a timer and write for ten minutes. What you create might spark more ideas and you can complete the snippet as a story. Or the paragraphs in front of you may need a bit of tweaking but will work in your work in progress. [www.thestorystarter.com]

Whatever you choose, keep writing.

Promoting Yourself, Promoting Your Book
By Betty Hanawa

Even before you sell your book, you need to start promoting yourself. If not, only your families and your best friends will be buying your book because no one else will know who you are.

BUY YOUR DOMAIN NAME NOW

First thing - even before you sell - buy your domain name. Places such as GoDaddy and Network Solutions have reasonable prices. The longer the time period you contract, the less expensive the domain is. If you have an idea for a pen name, buy that one in addition to your own name. If you can afford it, buy the domain not only with the dot com address, but also with the dot net. Buy your domains early in your writing career. You don't want to discover the name you want as your professional name is in use to showcase "professional ladies of the evening."

MYSPACE

You'll need a website eventually, whether you hire someone to build and maintain it or do it yourself. However, you don't have to start with an expensive, professionally designed website. MySpace.com is a fairly simple way to start a web presence. Follow the directions to launch it. If you want it more elaborate page, there are several sites to help even the most techno-illiterate make a MySpace area appealing or bribe a teenage with home-made chocolate chip cookies to help you through it.

WRITING ARTICLES

Another way for others to become aware of your name is by composing articles for your writing organizations' newsletters. These articles are frequently reprinted by other newsletters thus taking your name to a larger audience.

READERS GROUPS

All the book review websites have reader groups or message boards. Introduce yourself and join in the conversations. When you sell, these new friends will become your first fans.

Promotion intensifies when you sell, but with those first steps you can get a jump start. Publishing houses and agents like authors who can show they understand the importance of promotion. It's never too early to start.

So, how do you avoid the bad character name catastrophe?

LET'S GO BACK IN TIME

When naming your characters it's sometimes best to start at the beginning. What is their lineage? Are they descended from Viking warriors? Do they have English noble blood? I tend to start at this point. It gives me a good point of reference and something I can come back to if the name just isn't working later in the writing. And that has actually happened. The perfect name one day is terrible the next.

I spoke with Rose's Roses and some said they start with nationality and translations of names.

Allie - It all starts with nationality and lineage, then translation. What does their name mean? Is it right for the character? Does it show off the main characteristic I want to emphasize?

Delilah - I think about the nationalities of my characters. Where their families are from then go online to look for common names from those places. If I'm writing historical, I query to find names common to that region and time period. Then I look at name translations and seek meanings that resonate with me for the story. I also have the Writer's Digest book, but internet junkie that I am, prefer using Google!

Layla - Like Delilah, I consider nationality, then personality/archetype and then name translations (usually in that order). I want the translation of their name to speak to something in their personality. I do use the Writer's Digest book and a site that gives popular names for various decades (www.babycenter.com/babyname). I also pick names that flow together when said as a couple. In my last work, I chose the name Anastasia because I wanted a long enough name for a family-originated nickname (Ana) and one the hero would choose (Tassi).

Elle - I go online to baby name sites and query based on nationality.

LISTS ARE YOUR FRIENDS

Another good thing to keep handy when naming characters is a list. For those pantsers out there who dread the very thought of organization, I know it's painful. But when it comes to names, a good long list is a great tool. I've got an excel file I keep divided into female, male, and surname. On it I keep all the baby names I ever thought would make great names for my children. This way I get to use those names and keep my children's monograms from looking like an eye chart.

Megan - I usually keep a list of names I like. When a character appears, I go to the list and see if one jumps out at me straight away. If not, I head to an etymology site and search by key characteristics. Eventually, I find the right one or it finds me. I prefer unusual names and hardly ever give my heroines girly names. Some recent examples are: Jade, Asia, Winter, and Justice.

ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING WORKS

I live on an Air Force Base with over 2000 military students. Talk about a name goldmine! While walking through the BX, I read the nametags on people's uniforms. This provides me with a hugely diverse list of last names to put into my palm pilot to upload to the excel file later.

Shayla - Spam. Before deleting spam messages, I go through them to find any interesting names. I also use the Writer's Digest Character Naming Sourcebook.

Elle - The phone book is a great place for names.

Betty - Some of the characters' - especially secondary characters - names simply come from the nowhere into the here. For my otherworld characters, I frequently change around family and friends' names. In MORE THAN SHE WISHED FOR, the head House Brownie Kenj comes from my daughter's large yellow cat, who rules her home. Two of the other Brownies, Mdn & Ncy, come from Amanda and Nancy, my daughter and my sister. The young half-Elf, half-Human boy Teekae gets his name from my son's initials since he gave me the dragon I used for Welsom, Teekae's companion. Welsom got his name because I had to take a long drive and couldn't take my dog for companionship. I took the stuffed dragon my son gave me to have someone to talk to. I felt like Tom Hanks in "Castaway" talking to Wilson, the volleyball. So I modified the name for Welsom. All of the females in the Elf Realm I've built have flower or plant names. Since I wanted the heroine of MORE THAN SHE WISHED FOR to have Elf blood, I wanted a name to tie in with the female Elves. Since I designed her to be the child of a couple who met at Woodstock in the late 60's, Donovan's song "Jennifer Juniper" slid into my mind and Juniper was just perfect. Costac, the Master Warrior Elf she summons, had been introduced in FALLING STAR WISH. I knew he was a hard, battle-scarred warrior even though he only had a couple of lines in FALLING STAR WISH. I wanted a hard sounding name for him. I used it as a corruption of Cossack, the tough Russian warriors.

HARD VS. SOFT

Betty brings up a good point. Another thing to look at is harder sounding names as opposed to softer ones. A warrior might not do well to have a name like Benjamin or Sullivan. But he would do well with a single syllable, hard consonant name like Kreig or Gage or Tom. Whereas Benjamin and Sullivan are great names and can be shortened to give a bit more masculine flavour to them, in themselves they are softer sounding and can be used effectively in secondary characters or even as the hero's name by which only his mother calls him.

Naming your characters is the same as naming your children. They don't come already tagged and labeled so you need to start somewhere. Look in emails, online, sourcebooks, or family. There are thousands of places to find character names. If you've done that and the perfect name doesn't jump out at you, tack a list of names up on the wall and throw a dart. Let fate decide.

WEBSITES FOR HELP WITH NAMES AND MEANINGS

http://www.behindthename.com/ (The etymology and history of first names)
http://pregnancy.parenthood.com/babynames.html (you can search by name, meaning, or origin)
http://www.babynamenetwork.com/ (contains a list of over 70 Nationalities for names, including Babylonian, Sanskrit, Welsh, Gaelic, Native American, Yiddish, Swahili and many more)

Getting Published is perhaps 20% Talent, 70% persistence and 10% LUCK. I hope that adds up to 100%. I'm a writer, not a mathematician! Now, for some, the percentages are a little different. Some people may have the higher percentage of luck than persistence and some may have boatloads of talent that get them published. But let's talk about what goes into the three elements:

Talent

Talent is the ability to tell a good story in a unique "voice". You may have a unique voice, but your writing skills need so much work an editor can't get past the typos and bad grammar to see the fabulous story. You can hone your talent by cleaning up your writing skills and making the complete package more appealing to an editor. But the bottom line is, a pretty package won't sell, if you didn't tell a good story. Is it interesting? Does it grab the reader's attention from page one and hold it throughout the story? Are your characters individuals who sound different and have different goals, motivations and conflicts? Will your readers fall in love with your characters or love to hate them (in the case of villains)? Talent can get a boost by getting involved in critique sessions. Find one that works for you.

Persistence

No matter how talented you are, if you aren't persistent about submitting your work to publishers, you may never get published. So you get a rejection...it's not the end of the world. Learn from your rejections (if there is constructive feedback) and get back out there. Your first manuscript may not sell, so write another, and another. Join a critique group that works for you. Go to writing seminars where you can learn more about grammar, characterization and point of view. As you continue to write, your writing skills will improve. Don't stop at one manuscript. Many writers have written for 5-15 years without selling a manuscript. You can choose to be discouraged and give up, or you can let those voices in your head out on paper and continue to hone your writing skills. But remember, you will never sell, if you don't submit!

Luck

Luck can be one of the most allusive factors in publishing. You may have the best book yet, with the best packaging and the most unique voice and still get those rejections. Luck plays a factor on the road to publication. You can't always be lucky, but you can influence the luck factor. Any chance you get to put your work in front of an editor, you're improving your luck factor. Enter writing contests. Use the feedback to hone your writing skills and improve that manuscript. When you start finaling in those contests, your work is going before an editor. Your luck factor gets a boost when you final. Make sure your work stands out among all the contestants and you might end up with a request for full manuscript from that contest's final round judge-an editor!

Another method is to attend conferences and schedule editor or agent appointments. Get your face in front of those people who buy the books. Wow them with your pitch. You may get a request to submit. Okay, so you can't afford to go to the bigger conferences, some of your better one-on-one time with an editor or agent might come from a smaller conference. Volunteer to help with the conference. You could be the person who picks that editor or agent up from the airport. Think of all the time you have to talk while driving the editor or agent to and from the airport!

Make luck happen for you!!

Did you know Word can search for formatting and special characters? If your manuscript has underlining to indicate italics and the publisher you're submitting to wants italics instead, you can Find & Replace the underlining for italics.

Go to FILE - REPLACE, and click on the MORE button. Then click on the FIND WHAT field, then the FORMAT button and choose FONT. Click UNDERLINE STYLE and choose the underline you are using, then click OKAY.

Next, click the REPLACE WITH field, again click the FORMAT button and choose ITALICS under font style, then click OKAY.

The FIND WHAT and REPLACE WITH fields should be blank but underneath, it will list the formatting options you've chosen.

I wouldn't recommend clicking REPLACE ALL, but if you click FIND, then REPLACE, you can bounce through all your formatting changes in no time flat!

Play with the different options and see what suits your needs! Remember, Word is a tool that should work for us as writers, not against us!

Single, talented romance writer seeks like-minded writers to form a committed, long-term relationship around a multi-author project. Likes include: plotting, contemporary stories, and line editing.

Writing is for the most part a solitary craft. Maybe that's why multi-author projects have a strong appeal. A group endeavor gives a writer a chance to work with others, take on a new sub-genre, and explore a broader story arc. At the same time, the path of a group project has the most peril. Before you say "all for one and one for all", take time to consider some important aspects that can make or break your project as well as your group.

Picking Your Partners

People naturally gravitate towards those most familiar. For many writers that means their critique group. Before you run to your partners with your great idea, recognize creating a multi-author series is very different than critiquing each other's manuscripts.

A critique is offering input on a finished or developing piece of work. In a group project, all members develop the idea and each author's story has impact on everyone else's books from the tone to plot specifics.

Can it work?

Yes, but not in all cases. Critique partners are accustomed to working together and recognize each others' strengths and weaknesses. This can be great advantage. Also the longer the members have been together, the higher their level of trust.

No matter how the group is assembled, discussing the following is crucial.

Through all the conversations, it is important for everyone to be 100% honest and upfront. Conflict is not fun. While no one wants to hurt anyone else's feelings, keeping quiet about issues will only lead to bigger troubles down the road. You can be honest without being mean.

But It Says So Right Here

If you are serious about pursuing a long-term series, form a collaboration agreement. This is especially true if you or any group member is a well-established author. The agreement is for the protection of everyone.

Important topics to cover in the agreement are:

Legalities are never pleasant and always explore the worst-case scenario. But, much like an umbrella, if you have it you almost never end up using it.

Playing the Field

The formation of an idea, group, and even the creation of the stories themselves are only half the process. The second portion is the business side of the equation.

As the group develops the project, come up with ranked "hit list" of publishers you plan to target. During these discussions, find out which member has contacts where. This is also a good time to discuss agents.

If you have multiple members represented by different agents, everyone will need to agree on a lead representative and talk to their agents individually. This can get tricky based on people's contracts and personality of all the players involved. Again, honesty about any reservations is crucial.

When talking about a lead representative, the group must examine what terms they accept for a sale. This includes everything from advances to the medium of sale (hardback, trade paper, mass market.) As a group, everyone needs to be in 100% agreement.

The "ick" factor--the possibility one or more of the authors' book will not sell. Brainstorm the "what if's" and how the group wants to handle them.

Little Black Book

Whether your idea is for a series or an anthology, if any crossover exists between stories you need to keep a book of facts often called a "bible." This is especially important in connected stories. The information you'll want to track includes:

Ideally, you want one "keeper" of the bible to whom everyone feeds their information. This person updates the files and makes certain all group members have hard copies or electronic access depending on how you set up your bible. Your keeper should be someone very organized and good at details. This person can't do the job alone, so it's important everyone agrees to feed this person information and respond when they come asking questions.

Writing is hard enough without the author digging through previous stories for important information. Organization can help avoid potential frustrations not only in writing, but among group members.

Consistency in stories can make or break a series. We all know readers are much more eagle-eyed than most of us and will remember everything down to the color of the washing machines at the local laundromat.

Meaningful Conversation

Finally, concerns and problems will happen. When they do, don't wait! Address the topic immediately and as a group. Nothing has the potential to damage a group more than bottled resentment and secrets between some members.

Tips for difficult discussions

Working in groups brings many complex challenges and great rewards. The better prepared you are from the beginning, the greater the chances of success of the whole.