How many do you have?

Writing books that is.  Or How-to books.
I must confess I've been a bit naughty again.  And it's all Mulberry's fault.  She recommended a book on her blog and that's all it took.  To be fair to her I'd heard this book mentioned before, but this was in a workbook style so I felt like it was a message for me to do something.  And I can't blame her for the second purchase.  So, lo and behold, off I trundled to the Book Depository and bought
Save the Cat by Blake Snyder  and
Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook by Donald Maass.

Now I'm sure that I'll like these books.  Because I seem to like ALL of these books.  Then I took a little wander through to my "office".  You know I don't really have one, but it's the part of the house that's designated mine, with my old clanky computer, a filing cabinet and a bit of a bookcase. 
And guess what I find.  A treasure trove of how-to books.  Some that I'd forgotten that I'd even purchased!
So what was in that store?  Wait for it folks and take a deep breath.....

Writing a Romance Novel for Dummies                                       Leslie Wainger
Revision and Self-Editing                                                             James Scott Bell
The Everything Guide to Writing the Romance Novel                   Christie Craig & Faye Hughes
The 38 Most Common Fiction Writing Mistakes                          Jack Bickham
On Writing                                                                                  Stephen King
Hooked                                                                                       Les Edgerton
Solutions for Novelists                                                                  Sol Stein
The Romance Writers Handbook                                                 Rebecca Vinyard
The Writers Journey                                                                     Christopher Vogler
The Enneagram made Easy                                                           Renee Baron & Elizabeth Wagele
12 point guide to Writing Romance                                               Kate Walker
The Romance Writers Phrase Book                                              Jean Kent & Candace Shelton
How to Write Romances                                                              Phyllis Taylor Pianka
How to Write a Blockbuster                                                         Helen Corner & Lee Weatherly
Manuscript Makeover                                                                  Elizabeth Lyon
Scene and Structure                                                                     Jack Bickham
Goal, Motivation and Conflict                                                       Debra Dixon
Getting the Point                                                                           J Hadden & E Hawksley

WOW!!

I really need to get out more.  But to be honest some I've liked some more than others.  And they're not all writing books, some are about editing, some about characters, and some about punctuation. 

It's a weak defence - I know!

Most of all my favourite is still the one I bought first - Kate Walkers 12 Point Guide to Writing Romance.  It's still the one I find most useful.  And what's better, she's just released a new updated version.  There are a number of websites currently offering copies as prizes, but I won't be telling you where they all are because I'll be entering them myself!!!!

There are others I've enjoyed like Leslie Wainger's Writing a Romance Novel for Dummies and, now don't laugh, The Romance Writers Phrase Book.  It may be a little outdated, but it helped me write my very first story aimed at Mills and Boon.  For my latest story I didn't use it at all, but I think that just shows me that I've finally made some headway and progressed.

So, what about you?  Do you own any of these books?  Do you have a secret stash somewhere?  Which one do you like best?  Or, dare you recommend something else to me?  Remember - there may be repercussions!!!

Bad Blogger

Okay, so I've been a bad blogger. That's because I received a 4th set of revisions, so decided to get my head down and do them. So today I sent them back to Mills and Boon again. Just as the lovely editor I'm working with emailed to let me know she was off now until 4th January.
So I am hoping that when she returns from holidays, mine will be the first email she opens!
In the meantime I will work on the other story I've been writing Pelican Cove. I've signed up at Sassy Authors for their EditPalooza course for the month of January. It fits really well, because editing is exactly what I need to do right now for this story.
So in the meantime blog friends, lets look forward to 2011, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year and here's hoping 2011 is the year some of us get The Call!!!!!

What's in a name?

So today I want to consider character names.  How do you pick yours?
I am a little sad and keep notes on all the Mills and Boon/Harlequin books I've read.  One of the things I keep notes on is the names.  Now I read mainly Medicals but also some Romance, some American Romance and some Modern.  And I have a little list of the favourite names.  For heroes it is Max, Nick, Mac, Luke, Jake and James.  For heroines Maggie, Francesca, Izzy and Annie.  And GULP I've used one from each list in stories that I've written.
This year, during Romance is Not Dead it was one of the things I noticed about the first chapters.  The character names.  Sometimes, they really threw me out of the story.  When I see a name, I can hear myself saying it in my head.  But, quite often, during Romance is Not Dead, particularly in Historicals and Paranormals, I came across some strange names.  Some I couldn't even have pronounced no matter how hard I tried.  Whilst I am sure there was a good reason for the names, it really threw me out the story.  I stumbled every time I read a name that I couldn't even begin to pronounce and I lost the flow of the story.
It is also interesting that this year one of my comments from the New Writers Scheme, run by the RNA, was that the person giving feedback on my story hated my heroine's name.  And she told me.  Even though she didn't know why.  And she particularly hated it when my hero shortened the heroine's name.  Her name was Melissa by the way, occasionally shortened to Missy.
So I have to put my hands up and admit that I know that sometimes I am put off a story by a name.  Particularly when it reminds me of the school bully, or someone I really don't like.  And no matter how good that story is, it will never be a keeper for me.
When I was writing my latest story I had a name hurdle.  My heroine's name didn't sit quite right.  Then one day, as I typed, I just changed it mid chapter.  And suddenly the story just felt right.  Has that ever happened to you?  Tell me how you feel about names.  And if there are any you really, really hate!

Waiting....

The revisions are finally finished and have flown off to Mills and Boon again.  But I really felt as if I couldn't post a picture of the flying books for a THIRD time.  That would have been really lame.  So, instead I found a nice tranquil picture, to try and show a nice, calm, patient, waiting attitude.  But those of you who know me, know that that's never me in million years.  (Incidentally, this is actually wallpaper.  Would be a nice feature wall in a room somewhere, but since my beloved has just decorated our bedroom with a lovely red feature wall - pictures on facebook! - I think I might not be able to suggest it!)
This is me...

So, now comes the question of how long you wait.  Incidentally SO appears to my favourite word in a manuscript, Rachael Johns found a multitude of them that had all passed me by... Therefore I have to say thank you to her and my lovely critique partner Nancy (AKA Sheandeen on eharlequin) for their help in the past week. 
What do I think about the revisions?  At first, I have to admit, I wasn't sure.  After all, I was tearing 'my baby' apart and putting it back together again.  At one point I really didn't like my characters anymore, and would have hated to be stuck in a lift with them.  However, things moved on and I learned to love them again and I do think the story is stronger.  But is it strong enough?  Here's hoping.
The competition for today is HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN WAITING?
Most of us will have heard of Soraya Lane, who got the Call recently after around 8 months.  Maisey Yates had a 20 month wait all in.  However, the lovely Wendy S Marcus, returned her revisions on the Monday and got the Call at the end of the week!
I know that another blogger Janette has been waiting a while too.  So the question is everyone, how long has it been?  Move over, there's plenty of room on the waiting bench!

Light Relief

For those of you who don't already know I've just received my 3rd set of revisions for my medical romance and am going to have to and retreat into the Bat Cave for a while.
Meantime Heidi Rice got me crying this week when she put a clip of 'The Way we Were' on her blog, I haven't even seen the film but the last seven minutes had me crying buckets.
So for some light relief I decided to compile a little list of my favourite films.  Now not all my favourite film actors even feature in some of these films, so hats off to Sean Connery and Nicholas Cage who are nowhere to be found.  I am also about to reveal myself as a true eighties girl. 
I tried to compile a list of ten, failed miserably, and only got it down to 13 by amalgamating some together.
I make no excuses for some of the stuff I like, I only know that if any of these films are on the TV there is a strong possibility I'm going to sit down and watch.
So, in no particular order, here goes

1. Back to the Future - everybody loved Marty McFly and I really, really wanted a shot in that car....

2. Raiders of the Lost Ark.  One of my absolute favourites, with one of the best lines EVER "Snakes, why did it have to be snakes?"  I loved Indy, and none of the other Indiana Jones films ever matched this one.

3. Star Wars.  Because I'm a Sci-fi geek and I always will be.  I could watch this again and again and again.  And oops!  there's Harrison Ford again - how did that happen?

4. Star Trek First Contact.  Do you see a theme here?  Captain Picard is my all time favourite Star Trek captain and I do think I should be cast as his daughter.  But this film had the best baddies ever - The Borg!  Even the name sends a chill down my spine.

5. E.T  I told you I was a sci-fi geek and I do have son called Elliott.  The reason I chose this picture is because there is a ride at Universal Studios where you climb on Elliott's bike, go up in the air, and ET appears in your basket!  It is magical and I felt a tear in my eye as I sat next to all the kids on that ride.  And I really loved the glowing finger...

6. Dirty Dancing.  "Nobody puts Baby in a corner" yet another great line, delivered by a man who will always have a special place in my heart.  The tunes in this film were beyond fabulous and no, I didn't like Jennifer Grey, but then again, that's because she was dancing with MY man!

7. Pretty Woman.  What a fabulous story.  How beautiful, vulnerable and fiesty was Julia Roberts in that part?  She nailed it!  And I really, really loved it when she back into that shop and gave them what for, go girl!

8. Beverly Hills Cop.  Okay so I know that Victoria Beckham has now nicknamed him Beverly Hills C*ck because he done the dirty on her friend, but this film was magical.  The theme tune was fabulous and even my six year old hums it.  The one-liners were great too.  Watched Daddy DayCare the other day and he had me in stitches for that too, but this was definitely the best.

9. Die Hard.  The common theme here is that none of the follow up movies have ever trumped the first ones.  Bruce Willis was the perfect hero for this, reluctant, hard ass and definitely fit.  Everyone should have a Bruce in their corner when the chips are down.

10. It's a Wonderful Life.  Because I love Jimmy Stewart and I loved the fact he was so despondent in this film, absolutely rock bottom and he learned the value of life.  I loved the message behind this movie.

11. Musicals - The Wizard of Oz, The Sound of Music and Singing in the Rain.  Because I spent hours and hours watching these as kids and they don't make films like these any more.  And because I played the Scarecrow in the Wizard of Oz at dance school.  Remember Donald O'Connor running up that wall in Singing in the Rain, and the fabulous scene with Gene Kelly dancing in the rain - do you know how much of a perfectionist he was and how many hours he spent practising that?

12. The Slipper and the Rose.  Does anyone remember this Cinderella story with Richard Chamberlain and Gemma Craven and really snide singing.  Well I loved it!  Every second of it and I don't care if you are all screaming with your heads underneath your pillows.  We are all allowed one really bad film on our lists and this is mine.

13. White Christmas.  So I know that I've done musicals but this one is special too.  And I have to watch it every year because I love schmaltz and this one does it to perfection.  And do you remember the little girls on pointe at the end, who were WAY to young to be doing that??

Okay, so that's me.  So what gets your vote?

How do you pick your setting? Or how I discovered Pelican Cove

So I had a rough idea of what I wanted my next story to be about.  The only thing was - this medical had a little twist.  And this twist required the story to have an American setting.  So, since I don't live in America, how was I going to pick a setting?
Then it appeared, via Murder She Wrote.  Shown at present every afternoon on British TV.  Cabot Cove.  Perfect.

Then I discovered that the Cabot Cove set at Universal Pictures was also where they filmed Jaws and that kind of put me off.  Then I made another discovery - although Cabot Cove was set in Maine, some of the outside settings were actually filmed in Mendocino, California.  So that made me think a little harder and do a little research.
And here's what I found

Gorgeous!  Absolutely gorgeous!!  And just perfect for my setting.  So I did a little more research and found out about the nearby medical facilities, what was available, what would fit with my story.  I found out about the surrounding area and the beautiful nearby housing stock.

so I'm loving it.  Perfect.  My characters have the perfect setting for falling in love.  And now I find out about the local industry so I know what kind of accidents can happen that my characters can deal with!  Then it happens - I find out about the Pelicans.

The pelicans that are native to Mendocino valley.  And now I have my name for my fictional setting PELICAN COVE.
Now, just be glad I didn't want to tell you about the research I did for The Venetian Doctor, all set on a cruise ship!
So how do you pick your setting for your story?

Early NaNo Writing Month

It's time to admit I've been lazy.  It's very nice to have a story sitting the midst of Mills and Boon somewhere.  But this is the point where I should have been rapidly writing the next one.  And I haven't.  So it's time to get my head down and start writing.  Last time around I definitely had a slow start.  It took three attempts to write the first chapter, probably because I kept starting in the wrong place.  However I finally had something I was happy with.  This time around I've planned my storyline, worked out my conflict (well some of it anyway), did my lovely character profiles (courtesy of Kate Walker) and have a good idea of what I want to achieve.  I have also spoke to my lovely critique partner and my blog friend Wendy Marcus as this story is set in America, so I have two lovely American nurses who can point me in the right direction when I have any queries.
I have also been HEAVILY distracted by New Voices.  (Note to slap the back of my hand and stop going on to the website everyday).
So it's time to set a goal.  So I've decided to set October as my own personal NaNo Writing Month.  Yes, I know that I'm a month early, but this is a good time to start.  I'm going to aim to have the little word counter moving in an upward direction on a daily basis.  Hopefully by the end of the month I will (almost) have a dirty draft and spend the next few weeks editing after my critique partner has given me her thoughts.
It will also help to keep my mind off of Mills and Boon land.  So if I get a YES I can scream and shout and say, Yes I have written something else.  Or if I get a NO I can smile sweetly and say "Well that one might not have worked, but what about THIS one."
Time to get writing.  If you see me anywhere, tell me off and send me back here!