between the sheets: revisions

I'm currently having a blissful time working through some minor revisions on Hud and Kendall's tale. Remember them from KISSING A FOOL? The romance I was working on in my Between the Sheets series.

It's been about 6 weeks since I sent them away to play with my editor and at that time I was well rid of them ;). And nervous as I always am that this one will be a disaster and I just don't yet know it. But my editor loved the story. The revisions merely entail filling in gaps of information that I know intimately in my head but didn't get onto paper clearly enough, or in some cases left out all together. Hmmm...

And now, re-reading, layering in said bits and bobs, I am thoroughly enjoying this tale. My heroine is damaged but determined and completely discombobulated by the tall dark stranger in her mist. And the split second my hero lays eyes on her, his heart is hers and his fate is sealed. It's all kind of a bit magical if I do say so myself.

Throw in copious quotes from Byron and Shakespeare, a rampant summer garden that I can smell the minute it hits the page, a deaf schnauzer, a fairytale mansion, a cool shadowy pine forest, a tattoo of a woman's name, Jeff Buckley's Grace playing in the background as I write, and the slow opening of two people's eyes and minds and hearts, I'm finding it hard to sleep at night without thinking about this story.

For the journey of writing a Harlequin Romance from initial idea to 'the end',

check out the whole Between the Sheets series…

done!!!

Book is done and dusted and sent away. Picture me about to crash on lounge chair and not get up.

What a relief! It was a tad late, for which I owe many grovelling hugs and kisses of feet to my lovely editor for being so understanding. But it was also the fourth book I have written in eight months. And for a girl who usually wrote 2-3 books a year since the beginning of this crazy journey that was some feat.

Exhausting. Nutty. Fun. Terrifying. And I'm glad it's over!!!

Next book, a Modern Extra, isn't due for another 3 months, and I've already begun it. And what a fun fun premise!!! (Not giving anything away here though as it is just too too fabulous for words ;)) I really can't wait to get stuck into it.

Buuuuut, I'm thinking a week off would be looooovely. Time to spend with folks this weekend. Maybe a few DVDs while sitting on the couch. I might even see the sky for the first time in days. That would be nice. Especially since daylight savings ends here in Aus on Saturday. Boo hoo!

The couch calls!

between the sheets: collaging

Character development doesn’t all happen in the week leading up to the beginning of writing a book. Not for me anyway. When I begin they are barely a skeleton. Not much more than a pretty face, a job, and a glimmer of a background story that means they’ll find it hard to fall in love. For example so far, Hud is dark, needs a shave a a haircut, and has run the gamut from nature-documentary film producer to adventure junkie photographer already. Kendall has long red hair, wears Doc Martens and long skirts, even in summer, and that's about all I knew at the beginning.

At any stage in the writing of a book, I give you permission to take a step back and re-look at your characters. And today I did just that. I spent time pouring through old In Style magazines hoping for snippets and ideas that might add to what I know and my guys. Looking for nuances, and shade and colour. Inspiration for future scenes. And I found them. And I put these scene ideas into a collage. Much of this may not end up in the book, but already I have thought of future scenes taking note of the girl with arms outstretched on the left, and the bicycle ride. The car on the long stretch of country road, Waterhouse's mermaid painting and Hud's camera were already there in my mind. I love the colour flow, the green overtones, the balance of nature. It all has resonance to Hud and Kendall's story.

Now, remember back a coupla days ago I talked about "split focus" and the possibility that I might soon begin work on my next story as well? I'm there! My next Modern Extra is taking form inside my head. So while I was ripping out magazine pages and googling, I did a collage for AT YOUR SERVICE too. Do you think the two collages have a different feel? I think the top one is more romantic, whimsical, and moody. While the bottom one is hopefully sassier, sexier, naughtier, citified, and fun. Glancing at them on my office wall I get a definite feel for both. hope it helps!!!

today's progress:

Morning tea with some lovely girlfriends Sheree and MJ (who is just pregnant!!!) Lots of rubbing of tummies and baby name talk.

New groovy but very easy care hairstyle discovered accidentally ;). This is exciting for me as I'm heading up to Brisbane for a long weekend and my mum says its hot, hot, hot. My usual Melbourne dos just won't hold and I'm in danger of teenage frizzed hair flashbacks. But no longer. Groovy new up do ought to serve me well!

New Modern Extra begun. AT YOUR SERVICE: Bridget Moynahan (best known as "the idiot stick-figure with no soul" from Sex and the City, though I'll be giving her a slightly different role of gorgeous, fabulous heroine ;)) and McDreamy (Patrick Dempsey from Grey's Anatomy for anyone without a TV) chosen as hero and heroine inspiration. Important note they will be nothing like any chyaracters I have seen them play. My characters are solely on these pics. First meeting worked out. In Melbourne cafe - though based on Le Procope which is in, believe it or not, Paris!

For the journey of writing a Harlequin Romance from initial idea to 'the end', check out the whole Between the Sheets series…

la vie on rose

I really have no idea where this Paris kick began.

Sure my last MX heroine lived in Paris. My current hero in Kissing a Fool lives in a house reminiscent of the Hotel Brion in Paris ;). But now it's just getting out of hand!

Yesterday my hubby's aunt came over with a book she had bought out of the blue. It is called La Vie on Rose and has the most beautiful pictures of houses and apartments throughout France. The decorating ideas alone are enough to make you weep they are soooo beautiful.

And there is even a small picture of a window with a sideways, half-hidden behind winter trees iew of the Sacre Coeur, which is a vision from my MX!

...her cosy Montmartre apartment with its wrought iron balcony big enough to fit only one smallish person, but positioned just so that she was afforded a sliver view of the exquisite splendour of Sacre Coeur, a building her father had promised would make her heart ache it was so beautiful...

Do you think the world is giving me a sign or three?

between the sheets: catering

I once heard that it is wise to study in the manner in which you plan to sit your exam. For example, if you eat buttered toast and drink scads of tropical juice while studying, do the same thing before going into your exam. It’s helps you tap into that part of you brain you used while studying - like some kind of sense memory.

And being of the mind that one ought to do whatever gets them through, I stick by the same eating habits when writing. Every day as I sit at my computer I do so with a cup of coffee – white no sugar, big glass of iced water, and a tub of M&Ms at the ready. And this book is no different.

Since I have started the PHS Diet Club as well, I have added exercise to my list of daily habits. (I'm not even going to pretend that I can or will change my diet - that would be just setting myself up to fail) And there's nothing like getting the blood flowing to get ideas flowing too. I keep telling myself it will feed my mind oxygen while hopefully stopping writers’ spread as well ;).

today’s progress

All this talk of Paris has me itching to go. Added to that I finally succumbed and watched the final four episodes of Sex and the City last night after waiting a month between the rest of the series and the last disc. Not wanting it to end. When Carrie goes out onto the balcony of the Plaza and sees the Eiffel tower and jumps up and down and claps her hands in glee - that was me the first time I saw Paris. Though I wasn't at the Plaza, and the view from my tiny window was of the tips of the Notre Dame spires over the tops of a dozen Parisienne rooves... Sigh...

Enough that I've even ben onto website slooking at airfares, and dreaming of those crepes they make on street corners. Bad, bad Ally!

word count: 5,643 / 50,000

For the journey of writing a Harlequin Romance from initial idea to 'the end',

check out the whole Between the Sheets series…

between the sheets: soundtracks

Something I learnt back in the olden days when I wanted to be a film-maker was that even if a film goer blinks, looks away to check out a cute guy in the next row, or spends half the movie with their nose buried in their popcorn, their ears never turn off.

For some writers this is the case. They need perfect silence. To hole themselves away in a small enclosed room. I’m the opposite. I need noise. Ambient noise. White noise. And I need music. Sweet sweet music.

I watched Elizabethtown today, a film by Cameron Crowe. It was funny, moving, sexy, sad, strange, unstructured, surprising and I loved it. (Check out the collage on the movie poster - is this a sign or what???) And this is guy who knows music. Almost Famous was based on his experiences as the youngest Rolling Stone reporter ever. Elizabethtown had nothing to do with music. It was a film about a young guy trying to bury his father, with enough romance thrown in along the way to keep me happy ;). Nevertheless music played a huge part in bolstering the narrative. Not just preetty songs to sell records at the end. But it’s as though characters in his movies have a soundtrack to their lives. A mixed tape, if you like, of songs that bookmark the memorable moments in their journey. I love that. I get that. And I use that.

For each book I write I tend to have a CD that get splayed over and over and over. In a normal world this would drive me crazy, but in the world of writing a book it can be really helpful in getting you in the right mood.

My CD of choice for Kissing a Fool is Jeff Buckley’s Grace. I am a mjle behind the times on this one having only bought it before Christmas. But it’s beautiful. And evocative. And very very moody which is just what I need for this book.

yesterday's questions...

Do you fix as you go or rewrite later?

I do a bit of both. And I'll talk more about rewriting down the track. But to answer Rach's questions, when I get bogged down in language or plot, I do move on. Absolutely. I highlight anything I'm not happy with in yellow. Nice and bright so that when I'm skimming later I won't miss it. I highlight words, passages, things I need to research, plot twists I'm not sure will work, and then I just keep writing. Because how easy is it to go back anytime you want? Viva la computer!

If they are character problems, its worth fixing now. Characters are everything in a romance. You must love them or how can you expect your readers to love them! Unless you are happy that your characters are acting in character, you can be setting yourself up for a world of hurt. In my last Romance, my hero didn't play nice for me for the whole first half of the book. Once I got brave and realised I had to change him, his voice, his reactions completely, it made ALL the difference. I rewrote him from the beginning, and the end of the book flew.

Just remember, a book is a living thing. Some authors say writing IS rewriting. That's half the fun! No words are set in stone at this stage, you may even end up deleting whole chapters later on if they don't move the plot where it needs to go (again with my last Romance I had to do this!!!), but you can't know that now. All you need to know is that you don't have to make them perfect first go.

The most important thing, especially for new writers, is finishing the book. Unless you've done it, you don't really know that you can. So just keep writing...

today’s progress

word count: 3,969 / 50,000

For the journey of writing a Harlequin Romance from initial idea to 'the end',

check out the whole Between the Sheets series…

between the sheets: location

To me settings are as important as characters. I think of them as a character themselves if that makes any kind of sense ;). As they are a product of it as much as of the people and circumstances that have shaped their lives. My editor calls this "context". The greater world in which the characters live.

I can never build characters without building their world at the exact same time. I don't create their whole world or I'd never get a thing written, but at least two or three primary settings are detailed, researched, imagined, googled...

Kissing a Fool is set in a fictional township on the edge of Melbourne. I couldn't set it in Melbourne proper as I usually do as I needed to make the physical world open and spacious with lots of places a person could hide. But their social world to be claustrophobic. People in this township, name as yet as yet undecided ;), have to know Hud and Kendall’s names. Their business. Their pasts. Their ghosts. So in the end there is nowhere left to hide.

The slightly rural setting also gives me lots of scope for the natural beauty I can see inside my head. I see a town with tree lined main street. I see a cool, shadowy pine forest. I see an overgrown garden around a stunning old neglected mansion. The colour palette overriding everything is green, like a veil over the images in my head. Or like I am lying beneath a mossy lake, looking up through reeds and water lilies to the hazy sunlight above.

Yesterday I wrote the first scene in which my hero walks through a garden feeling much the same way. I can only hope I got the mood down pat.

yesterday's questions...

Do you use character interviews or studies?

Never interviews. I know this works beautifully for some writers - asking their characters questions and having them answer them as an exercise to find out more about them - but it’s just never been my thing.

I have always used a really basic character template - one page for each character - to keep track of certain characteristics of my characters such as: eye colour, hair colour, family names & history, job, car, basic psychological and personality traits. I started this years ago when I used to have so many ideas on the go at once I wanted to make sure I kept track and now it’s more of a habit than any kind of real study.

At times when I have become stuck, I have dived into more detailed character studies, several pages of questions asking things like: hero’s worst fear, heroine’s favourite pet, what hero’s feet look like, how heroine dances. Far more information than could ever be needed in a 50,000 word book, but sometimes I have stumbled upon some really nice details which were used as a springboard for later scenes. Right now I written down that my heroine loves Keats poetry, loves spending hours walking aimlessly through the forest between the town and the hero's house, and my hero's Aunt owned an Irish wolfhound when he was a kid. These details may never appear, but even so they can colour the character from the inside out.

But I much prefer to find out about my characters as I tell their story. I like the surprises that come from nowhere in the middle of a scene. In my recent Silhouette Romance, A MOTHER FOR HIS DAUGHTER, I had no idea that the hero’s daughter was not in fact his child until the hero’s brother laid claim to her in the middle of diner one night. I sat back with my hand clasped over my mouth in shock! I’ll never forget it! I do wonder if I knew in advance whether I would have unknowingly sprinkled in clues leading up to the big reveal which then would have made the moment less powerful.

So basically, I like to find out about my hero and heroine at the same pace as the reader, then hopefully my surprises will surprise them too ;).

today’s progress

setting: I found some beautiful pictures around the Hotel Biron, Paris (the home of the Musee Rodin, where that sculptors greatest works reside both inside the beautiful old home, and outside in a beautiful garden - my hubby and I visited Paris a couple of year's ago and it was a highlight). I googled pictures of overgrown gardens as well.

character: I know my heroine lives with someone, I’m just not yet sure who it is. I’m hoping when she gets back home and walks through the front door, she’ll introduce me ;).

word count: 2,972 / 50,000 = 6%

For the journey of writing a Harlequin Romance from initial idea to 'the end',

check out the whole Between the Sheets series…

the next big idea

I am in the middle of revisions right now, which is always a kind of danger point, as to me nothing is more tempting than the next big idea. The germ of a thought, the colour of a new heroine's hair, the glint in a new hero's eye. The pure pleasure of a brand new, fresh as a daisy first meeting.

After having ~ three weeks away from the computer, far longer than I have had in one stretch in well over a year, the ideas have been flowing thick and fast. But remember I am in the middle of revisions.

A heroine is speaking to me - quite loudly in fact. Which isn't surprising as Kendall is a total handful. Spirited, opinionated, and not one to pull her punches. I have Rachel McAdams firmly in mind. She of The Notebook and The Family Stone fame. Lots of fire in that one and I can't wait to get her talking on the page.

My hero is slowly appearing from out of the mist. Which is fine as that's pretty much as he appears to my heroine as well. I have his name in place. Hud. And a feeling. A character. A personality. A background. I'm not yet all that sure what, or who, he looks like. But I'm not going to push it. I've tried that before and paid the consquences. So at the moment he is a delicious mystery. He is so far a small part James Purefoy's laid-back appeal, with a little Colin Farrell darkness, and the clear heart-breaking good looks of Josh Hartnett, but really none of the above. I can't wait to see who he will become when the mist clears.

Of course I have to wait until my revisions are said and done. So alas, Hud and Kendall will have to wait their turn. It's a great ity neither of them are wait-their-turn types, or maybe that's what has me so tempted to get on and tell their story...