Starting a New Manuscript by Diane Gaston
I'm continuing with my September theme of New Starts (See my
blog of Sept 7). I think September is a perfect time to start a new manuscript, like starting school.
I don't have any consistent way of starting a manuscript. Sometimes I start with a story idea; sometimes, a character; sometimes, just an initial situation.
The Mysterious Miss M, my first book, started with a desire to sell a book. I was entering lots of romance writing contests at the time. Most contests are judged on a first chapter so I decided I needed a first chapter with a big WOW factor. What could be a better WOW factor than starting with a sex scene? From that idea the characters came to mind and then the story.
Other books started with a character. Both
A Reputable Rake and
The Vanishing Viscountess began because the heroes in those books were secondary characters in earlier books and they simply would not stop trying to take over the book. I had to promise them books of their own.
This time I set up a trilogy involving three soldiers. The original idea grew from watching
The Lives of a Bengal Lancer but all I took from that was the idea of three soldiers who all experience the same traumatic event that affects each of their lives from then on. I'm working on the third book so I had the hero and heroine who appear in the first book, only I didn't really know much about them. (shown is
Gallant Officer, Forbidden Lady, the first book in the trilogy, to be released Dec 2009)
Before I was published I started a book with whatever idea or character that gave me a beginning. I was the classic seat-of-the-pants writer and I liked discovering the story as I went along. Now that I'm published, though, I have to write a proposal. So to start a book, I have to have enough of the story to create a synopsis. No more "pantsing."
Do you start a book with a situation, a character, or something else? Do you plot out the story before writing, or do you fly by the seat of your pants?
If you like a story, what captures your attention the most-the characters? the plot? or something else?
Labels: A Reputable Rake, Forbidden Lady, Gallant Officer, How to Write, The Mysterious Miss M, The Vanishing Viscountess
Writing Love Scenes from Real Life by Diane Gaston
I'm not going to tell you about MY real life love scenes. Or provide instructions on what-to-do with your real life partner. This blog is not about what
happens in the fictional love scene. It is about how it
feels.
When reading I often skip love scenes that primarily describe in great detail the physical steps a hero and heroine are taking to achieve bliss. My favorite love scenes are the ones that recreate the
feeling of new love or of love restored or love that-looks-like-it-will-be-lost. I want to be inside the character's heads, feeling what they feel. The actual placement of body parts during the scene is less important to me.
This is what you can take from real life--the
feelings of the experience.
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Think back upon that time of first love or new love. The thrill of seeing your "hero." Think about what it felt like to meet his eyes for the first time or the first touch, the first kiss. Try to bring it all back and think about how your body felt. Was your heart racing? Were you out of breath? Or did you just feel giddy. What was sound like during that experience? Did it muffle or did it become clear and crystaline? Did your skin turn warm at a touch or did you get goosebumps all over? What kind of emotional thoughts went through your mind?
This is the man I want to marry perhaps? Or
This can't be true? How did your hero smell? Do you remember? Do you remember any time that a smell was associated with your real life love scene? A taste? Think about all your senses (sight, sound, smell, touch, taste) and use as many as you can in the love scene.
Your real life gives you this information. The challenge is, you need to find fresh words to describe the experience and not rely on the hundreds of love scenes you've read in other romance novels. If you call up your own feelings and think about your own experiences, you will start in a unique place. Once there, you can think about how it would be for your characters. Starting with yourself, though, gives your prose a better chance of being unique.
Someone is going to say,
"Not all of us who love reading and writing romance have had those kinds of experiences. What are we supposed to do?" 
Even if life has not dealt you that deck of cards, you are still in the game. I'm willing to bet that all of us who love reading romance have conjured up those kinds of feelings somewhere. Maybe fantasizing about a TV or movie star (Gerard Butler. Need I say more?) or a boy at school or a man who rides the same bus to work. I'm willing to bet we've conjured up those feelings from fantasizing about somebody.
Someone else is going to say,
"But I count on getting those feelings from the romance books I read, but you said don't use other romance novels...." What I mean is, don't copy or mimic the
words of the other writer, start from your reaction to the words, your fantasy about the characters, your feelings, and go from there.
It is entirely permissible to exaggerate your real life experiences. Or to idealize them. Give fantasy a free rein to go beyond your own world of experiences. We all know that our real life experiences rarely look, sound, and act like larger-than-life fictional ones, but they are the place to start.
What do you think makes a good love scene in a romance novel? What are your tips to keep the writing fresh?
Visit Diane's website to learn about her April Undone, The Unlacing of Miss Leigh, and her April Novella, Justine and the Noble Viscount, in The Diamonds of Welbourne Manor.
Diane also blogs every Monday at Risky Regencies Labels: 5 senses, How to Write, love scenes
Crafting Subplots
Happy Saint Patrick's Day
Think about St. Patrick's story, son of a Roman father, kidnapped by Irish pirates and enslaved in Ireland. If we were writing a novel about him, might we not have a subplot, perhaps about the people with whom he'd been enslaved, and what happened to them when he returned to Ireland? But why would we do this?
In
Building Better Plots, author Robert Kernan rather thoroughly discusses the use of subplots. I’m using his ideas, but also inserting my own thoughts.
Purpose of subplots 
Subplots provide diversion or reliefIn our main plots, we try to build the tension to keep the readers turning the pages, but readers also need some breathing room, some relief from the tension we’ve created. Subplots are perfect for this. At a point of high tension, turning to the subplot not only provides that “breathing room” but still keeps the pages turning to get back to what is going to happen in the main plot
Subplots as context or background – to enlarge toneOne of the ways to bring our setting to life, our time period, the “world” we are writing about is to use the subplot to show more of the place, the culture, to reinforce the tone of the story. In the case of a Regency historical, subplots can show more of what life was like in that era. In stories like Maureen’s Mossy Creek novellas, subplots show more about life in Mossy Creek.
Subplots as backstoryThis is a special sort of subplot—flashbacks illuminating characters’ backstories, subplots about the main plot, sorta. Flashbacks and backstory can enrich the main story by illuminating your characters motivations, increasing reader sympathy, or in the case of a reunion story, showing the origins of the romance.
Subplots to tell concurrent or parallel storiesOne type of subplot I love in a romance is a secondary romance. What could be better for a romance reader than two romances in the space of one book? You can use these sorts of subplots to either strengthen the theme of the main plot, show a variation on the theme, or show a complete contrast. Sometimes fiction uses a Parallel stories structure. This is where the stories of several characters are told, one after the other or a little bit at a time. The stories are connected in some way, especially at the end.
Subplots to develop CharactersShowing your main characters in the subplot gives an opportunity to show them in a different context. You can show them reflecting on the main plot or put them in a situation that shows a different part of their personality. You can show their strengths and weaknesses. Sometimes in using subplot this way you can foreshadow something important, like that first scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark foreshadowing Indie’s fear of snakes.
Placement of subplots
The most important thing to keep in mind in choosing where and how to place your subplots is to make certain they do not detract from your main plot. Subplots can be shown in one scene (like a flashback) or several, but it is important to establish the main story first. Use logical entry points and try not to interrupt the flow of the main plot. Kernan says to wrap up the subplots before the crisis begins, but I think you can vary this a little, especially if you have woven all the threads of the plot and subplots together. The subplots should be resolved before the main plot, so as not to distract from your big ending, though.
We’ve often discussed what to do when we get stuck. One more thing to try is a subplot. If I am agonizing about what sort of scene to write next and can’t think up enough scenes to get me to the end of the book, sometimes it is because my story needs a subplot. In my latest book, The Vanishing Viscountess, that is how the secondary romance was born and I had fun thinking of ways to weave it in to the main plot.
What are some of your ideas about subplots?
Do you have examples of subplots done well? Some of your favorites?
Come to my website and enter my contest for a chance to win one a signed copy of my The Mysterious Miss M and How to Seduce a Duke from Kathryn Caskie, celebrating the release of Kathryn's How to Propose to a Prince.Labels: How to Write, Subplots
I'm continuing with my September theme of New Starts (See my blog of Sept 7). I think September is a perfect time to start a new manuscript, like starting school.
The Mysterious Miss M, my first book, started with a desire to sell a book. I was entering lots of romance writing contests at the time. Most contests are judged on a first chapter so I decided I needed a first chapter with a big WOW factor. What could be a better WOW factor than starting with a sex scene? From that idea the characters came to mind and then the story.
Other books started with a character. Both A Reputable Rake and The Vanishing Viscountess began because the heroes in those books were secondary characters in earlier books and they simply would not stop trying to take over the book. I had to promise them books of their own.
This time I set up a trilogy involving three soldiers. The original idea grew from watching The Lives of a Bengal Lancer but all I took from that was the idea of three soldiers who all experience the same traumatic event that affects each of their lives from then on. I'm working on the third book so I had the hero and heroine who appear in the first book, only I didn't really know much about them. (shown is Gallant Officer, Forbidden Lady, the first book in the trilogy, to be released Dec 2009)
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