Whether
an author or not, we all face moments of indecision. Sometimes these moments
stretch into long periods of time.
~*~Go
to work, or be a stay-at-home-parent.
~*~Keep
the old minivan a couple more years, or buy a new SUV-After all, life is short.
~*~Buy a new dress for the anniversary party, or
wear last year's--who would remember anyway?
~*~Stay
with the old job for security, or launch into unknown territory to do something
you love.
Some
decisions are trivial and some are life-changing.
Consider,
though, decisions based on a problem
that is purely personal. These decisions won't change my life or destroy the
way I live.
At
this moment, my problem concerns my writing and which direction I'll take. I
could do one or the other, or perhaps both eventually. But for the moment, only
one can take center stage.
My
first novel was Western Historical Romance, and so were the next three. Writing
this genre is fun, almost like fantasy, and filled with action.
But
along the way, I wrote several contemporary romances. While I enjoyed writing
those, I couldn't wait to return to westerns with a romance set in the Old
West. Since the return to this genre, I've written six novellas, and almost
have a full-length finished--another "Texas book."
Now,
I'm at the crossroads again.
I
have made one decision--that is to write novella length for a while, whether
contemporary or western historical. If I yearn for prints, I can always put
them in a collection, as I did with the Dime Novels--titled Lone Star Dreaming,
or put them in a boxed set.
Here
are my two possibilities:
I.
Western Historical Romance:
Mail
Order Bride Series titled "Trinity Hill Brides." First one concerns a
man eaten up with guilt and has separated himself from the community to live
and survive in the hills alone. A citizen of the town, a wealthy, elderly lady,
takes it upon herself to order a bride for him. I could use the same lady as
the source for other brides.
Question:
Is this category of romances still viable? Do Mail Order Bride Series still
sell? I have loved every one I've read over the years, but are authors still
using the vehicle? Are readers still reading them?
II. Contemporary Romance:
Small
Town Texas Series titled "Welcome to Del Rey, Texas." First
one--maybe--is now titled Lily Marie, but should be something else--concerns a
young university professor in a small college. She is rather prim and proper,
and her best friend is another professor. They teach the same thing, so they
spend time together. He's somewhat of a nerd, but they get along well. Enter
the new football coach in town, and he moves into the small empty house across
the street. Now, her life changes.
Question:
Are
novellas selling as well as I think they are?
Of
the two options above, what is your opinion of which would draw the most
readers?
If
you're an author, do you write in more than one genre?
If
you're a reader, do you stay with one genre, or cross over to another some of
the time?
~*~
Thank you for visiting my blog. Comments are not only welcome, they are wanted!
Celia Yeary
Romance...and a little bit 'o
Texas
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/author/celiayeary
My Website
My
Blog
Sweethearts of the West-Blog
My Facebook Page
Note: Photo of Couple: Connie Breton and Kyle Chandler from "Friday Night Lights."
Please don't tell me I'm the only one
who does this--forget the color of my hero's eyes or the color of my heroine's
hair. Any number of details in a novel can be skewed or mixed up or completely
changed during the writing.
I should know better by now. After nine
novels and numerous novellas, I still work my way into the same quandary.
When I taught high school students, I
was always ready and organized. In fact, over the years, I earned the nickname
of "Miss Organization" as if
it were tattooed across my forehead, along with "Teacher."
Now? I don't know what happened to me
once I left teaching and later began writing stories. Why can I not use those
same skills of organization with writing?
My friend Cheryl Pierson teaches a
writing class in Oklahoma, and she shared handouts with me. This was a very
generous act, and I do read through them on occasion. However, if I took her
class now, she'd give me a failing grade because of my slap-hazard writing.
But I cannot break the pattern.
One handout was Characterization Traits.
This is one of the most important, and if I had any sense, I'd sit down and
write out my hero's physical traits first.
It's not complicated.
Hair-Black
Eyes-Brown
Height-6 ft. (Aren't all heroes tall?
They don't have to be.)
Build--broad shoulders and narrow hips.
(Aren't all heroes...never mind.)
Added to these traits are:
Color of his horse--was it a red roan or
a black stallion?
Age--is he twenty-five or thirty?
Some time ago, I read how an author
tackled this problem. All her heroes were just alike, and all her heroines
were, too--according to color of hair and eyes, especially. I recall her
writing, "All my heroes have brown eyes, and all my heroines have blue
eyes."
There you go! Problem solved!
Except that doesn't always work. A
character has a way of presenting himself/herself exactly as he/she is.
Sometimes we just don't have control over this. When the character appears,
he's fully fleshed out and who am I to change the color of his eyes?
As of this moment, TEXAS DREAMER is 3/4
complete. And as of this moment I have no idea what color are his eyes or his
hair. No, wait, his hair is black because he is a descendent of The Camerons of
Texas. They're all dark-haired. Eyes. Nope, can't remember.
I'll need a half day to sit down with
all my scribbled notes that are in a spiral, on note cards, and on sticky notes to
determine the physical characteristics of my characters. Then, I'll need to do
a Find and Highlight in order to correct all my errors.
I swear, this is the last time I do
this. From now on--Organize is my middle name.
Mystery Writer Elmore Leonard died this
week at an elderly age. Many readers loved his work; others thought he was too
caustic and blunt. But critics praised his work for being spare and to the
point.
His Ten Rules of Writing go down in literary history as among the very
best advice.
I received a paper copy of these rules
years ago when I'd entered a manuscript into an RWA contest. One judge gave me
high marks, and said, "I think you're ready to publish, with only a little
more polish. She said, read these ten rules of writing by Elmore Leonard and
pay particular attention to Numbers 3, 4, 5, and 6. She had highlighted them
for me.
These rules were:
3. Never use a verb other than
"said" to carry dialogue.
4. Never use an adverb to modify the
verb "said."
5. Keep your exclamation points under
control.
6. Never use the words
"suddenly" and "all hell broke loose."
These were so easy to remember, I
felt my life change. In the first place, #3 eliminated the agonizing thought
process to find some other flowery or exciting phrase. I thought using
"said" only was too mundane and boring.
Eliminating #4 also lifted quite a burden off my shoulders. I had
a difficult time finding enough proper adverbs to use with "said."
#5-Exclamation points? I loved those! But
then I learned I shouldn't use them! How else could I denote excitement?!!!
Rule #6 broke my heart, but I do
understand. The phrase "all hell broke loose" should be used in an exciting western shoot-out; should I ever
write an exciting western shoot-out.
The habit of using "suddenly"
was difficult to break, but now I calmly write, "He jumped from the
wagon," instead of "Suddenly,
he jumped from the wagon."
I give all due praise to Mr. Leonard,
but the very best advice on writing came from Strunk and White-The Elements of
Style.
The rule is: Use an Active Voice--Not Passive.
We all learned the difference in Active
Writing vs. Passive Writing in high school (or Action Verbs and Passive Verbs). The concept is easy enough to
learn, but to put it into practice is another task. My very first editor taught
me the difference, and thankfully, I naturally wrote in a more Active Voice.
Still, much room for improvement faced me every time I sat down to write.
These rules teach the technicalities of
writing a sentence, a paragraph, a full manuscript.
Other rules are more philosophical.
The very best I've ever heard or read
is: Write What You Know. Not just one person said this--I've heard it and read
it numerous times, enough to realize just how important it is.
It does not mean a writer living in a
major city cannot write about living in a small town, because a write can find
limitless sources of information. Still, firsthand knowledge does help
immensely.
The diligent author might take the time
and trouble to visit such a place to soak up the local flavor.
What is the best advice you received
about the art of writing? Who gave you this advice, or where did you read
it?
Thank you for reading my blog.
Celia
