I love men.
Seriously. All different kinds of men. As I’ve matured, I’ve learned to appreciate all the nuances and varieties that get my motor humming. And when I’m writing a new novel, I spend a lot of time fantasizing about my leading guy. A lot of time.
Unnnnff.
And like any romance novelist, I have my “types” that I like to write, and my two recurring men are front and center in various forms.
This will be the first year I haven’t entered NaNoWriMo in a long, long time. Why? Because a book I started as a NaNo Project finally landed me a bona-fide book deal with a “Big 5” publisher, that’s why – so I am living proof that You. Can. Do. This.
In my resource collection I have a file of stuff I use to motivate me before NaNo starts every year, so I’m going to share them with you:
Hope those help – and good luck to everyone!
Now here’s my sage advice:
FINISH THAT BOOK. JUST WRITE AND FINISH THAT DAMN BOOK.
I need to write a book. I have a partial outline. I have an overall outline for the entire series. I know where I need this book to end up and mostly where it’s going.
I just can’t seem to begin the damn thing.
One of the key things you really need to do as a writer is hook your readers from the start. I love a book with a great opening – and even better, a book that grabs me with the opening sentence. You’ve got to pique their interest. You’ve got to grab them and not let them go – particularly in this age of the Amazon 10% free sample read. You’d better get them sucked in and rolling, or you’re not going to sell that book.
Hello everyone! It’s Thursday, so it’s time to share some writer resources! This week I’ll be highlighting opportunities that you might not want to miss!
51 Magazines That Pay Writers #250+
10 Magazines That Pay Writers $500+
Top 5 Writing Contests For Your Book
Halloween Short Story Contest With $500 Prize
Finally, I’ll finish off with the granddaddy of all writer links: Redditor motopoeta publishes a huge list of monthly writer resources in the Reddit writing community – you don’t want to miss it!
Hello everyone – here are this week’s writer resources. Our subject today: Inspiration!
10 Works of Art Every Writer Should See In Person
The Thirty-Six Dramatic Situations
Writing Prompts That Don’t Suck (these gave me some great short stories – one of which germinated into my latest novel)
Ray Bradbury On How Listmaking Can Boost Your Creativity
Hope these got your creative juices flowing! Happy (miserable, brow-beating, frustrating) writing!!
One of the things I learned early on when writing romance (and after having read many, many good romance stories) is the judicious use of the sex act.
That’s partly what sets erotica apart from romance as well – erotica spells it all out to the nth degree because that nth degree is really the entire point of the book. A good romance (either in a romance novel or as a story arc in a book of another genre) might show you characters making the beast with two backs, but having it spelled out every single time actually detracts from the real goal: showing a growing relationship.
There are many ways to show that your characters are having great sex without them having great sex. For instance, in Someday In Dublin, my characters Michael and Amy have been happily shagging each other across two continents. It was time to move onto something more important, but it didn’t make sense for them to be in a hotel room and not taking advantage of that. So I wrote this scene: Continue reading
I’ve got a lot on my plate right now.
In addition to a tradtionally published book that I’m knee-deep in edits for, I have a self-pub’d series that I just released book one for and I really need to flesh out an outline for book two.
Then there’s another book behind the one I got the contract for that my editors are going to be wanting some direction on. Then, into all this madness strolls another idea.
And damn, but it’s a good one. I can feel my brain longing to follow this idea down a dark, alley, willing to see where it’s going to lead us. My breath coming in little pants of excitement as I wonder if this one is going to terrify me, or excite me, or leave me feeling hollow inside. Continue reading
I keep an enormous running file of great writer tips and resources that I find as I’m surfing around, and I figure it might be a good idea to share some every week.
Here’s this week’s list!
Hope you found those helpful – I know I did!
“Write what you know,” they say.
Because, if you’re being reasonable, writing about things you know makes perfect sense. Who knows about that? You do! You should write about it so other people can know it, too!
Which is great if you’re writing a memoir. Or a non-fiction book. Or a historical tome. Or a collection of recipes.
But if you write fiction?
Fuck that noise. Continue reading
When I attended my first writing conference, I received an amazing piece of advice that has stood me in good stead.
“Write the movie they’ll make from your book.”
This helps with not only positive reinforcement (This book is going to be so good, they’ll make a movie out of it!) but it also keeps you focused on striking the right balance between showing and telling.
If you’ve got a ton of backstory to fill in, your first inclination might be to write five pages of it, but if your reader becomes your movie viewer, you know that watching that on screen would probably be deadly dull. Writing like you’re watching it helps you find where to use narrative vs dialogue, and it can be a really useful tool.
Here’s my for instance: in my book, Someday In Dublin, Michael and Amy meet in a Dublin bar, then strike up a romance. Somewhere along the way, Michael ends up visiting Amy in Pennsylvania and they spend a whirlwind day in Philly. In a movie, this would be a montage of them running up the steps of the art museum like Rocky and shoveling down cheesesteaks and pointing at the Liberty Bell. On paper, it needed a little more fun and heart to paint the picture: Continue reading
Britt DeLaney 