lara confidential

LARA CONFIDENTIAL
The Newsletter of the Los Angeles Romance Authors Chapter of RWA
Presidential Prattle:
Microsoft Word Tricks
and Tools 1
"Promoting Excellence in Romantic Fiction Through Education and Community Service"
PRESIDENTIAL PRATTLE:
Hot Off the Keyboard 5
Meeting Notes: "Linda O.
Adds Mystery” 5
MICROSOFT WORD TRICKS AND TOOLS
Oh, Goth! 6
The Regency-Era
Romance 7
Battlestar Housewives in
the West Wing: Learning
from TV
Part I: Characters 9
The Art of Compulsive
Procrastination 11
IN THIS ISSUE
Editor's Talk 13
I
’m no techie, believe me. I couldn’t prepare a PowerPoint
presentation even if you bribed me with Tommy’s chili fries.
However, over the years I’ve discovered a few Microsoft Word
tricks that help me in my daily writing. You may already know
some of them, but hopefully, you’ll find at least one in this list
that will work for you.
Tool(bar)s of the Trade
Later in the article I talk about buttons I have displayed on my
toolbars that you may not have activated. So, first make sure you are
viewing the Standard and Formatting toolbars by clicking VIEW and
then TOOLBARS. STANDARD and FORMATTING should be
checked. If I refer to a button and you don’t see it on your toolbar,
scan the toolbar in question until you get to the last little down arrow. Click on that and it will allow you to add or remove buttons on
that toolbar.
Brought to You in Color (the “A” button on the Formatting
toolbar)
Microsoft Word allows you color your text. I use this feature to
insert comments into other people’s work when I’m critiquing it. I’ve
also used it to see the proportion of hero POV vs. heroine POV in
my manuscript. In that case, I made all the scenes in his POV blue
and hers pink. Then, I shrunk the page view down to 10%. I couldn’t
read the words, but I could easily see how much pink there was vs.
blue.
Just choose the text you want colored, click on the “A” button,
which is the Font Color button. The little arrow adjacent
allows you to choose the color.
LosAngelesRomanceAuthors.com
cont. on
pg 3
Chapter # 26
1
October 2005/Volume 9
For inquiries on article submission
rules for the LARA Confidential
newsletter or to request reprint
permission, please contact:
Madaleine Laird
Editor, LARA Confidential
c/o TS Jackson
15030 Ventura Blvd, Box 509
Sherman Oaks, CA 91403
President: Kim Winklhofer
Executive Vice President:
Christine Ashworth
Vice President in charge of Programming
Programming::
Janet Maarschalk
Vice President in charge of Membership:
Sandra Robinson
Vice President of Ways and Means:
Roben Schaerf
Vice President in charge of Public
Relations: Melissa Jarvis-Prieto
Madaleine can also be reached by
email at the following addresses:
info@sharp-eyes.com or
thundrail@yahoo.com
Treasur
er: Anne DeV
orr
easurer:
DeVorr
orree
Newsletter: Madaleine J. Laird
Secretary: Jennifer Laam
Newsletters are published one
week prior to each meeting,
and the publication deadline is
two weeks prior to each meeting, which is typically held the
third Sunday of the month.
PAN Liason and Advisor to the Pr
esident:
President:
Mollie Molay
PRO Liason: Deanne Avner
Next meeting:
Sunday, October 16th.
Website and Listserv Diva:
Sandra Richards
Los Angeles Romance Authors
c/o Madaleine Laird & TS Jackson
15030 V
entura Blvd, Box 509
Ventura
Sherman Oaks, CA 91403
Maureen Pratt, an RWA recognized author for non-fiction,
speaks on the topic of "When Life
Intervenes: Putting life events in
perspective."
Newsletter Design: T
ai Shan Jackson
Tai
The editorial team of the LARA
Confidential welcomes input from
LARA members.
This is your newsletter, and it
should meet your needs.
Please send comments and suggestions to info@sharp-eyes.com or
thundrail@yahoo.com.
If we get enough feedback, maybe
we can start a “Letters to the Editor” column!
2
(continued from page 1)
<
Heads Up
When you submit your manuscript you usually leave the pages
loose, binding them only with a rubber band or banker’s clip. Because the pages may get out of order, each one should be labeled
with your name, the title of your manuscript, and the page number.
To do that you need to use the Header function of Word. Click
VIEW, then HEADER AND FOOTER. Your screen will go gray,
except for the top of your page where you will find a box outlined
with a dotted line. You will also get a little window for formatting
your header. Type your last name and story title, and it will appear
in the box. Then tab twice, which puts your cursor on the far right.
Click on the # button, and page numbers will magically appear
throughout your manuscript.
Monthly meetings:
While you’re formatting your header, keep in mind you can mess
with the font and change it, italicize it, re-size it etc. So, if you
want, your header can look completely different from the rest of
your manuscript. Also, once you have a header on your manuscript,
if you ever want to fiddle with it, double click on any of it and
Word will pop you into header mode.
meeting for free. Coffee and
Meetings of the Los Angeles
Romance Authors are held at
the Barnes and Noble in
Encino, usually on the third
Sunday of the month. Guests
are welcome to attend one
chat starts at 10:00 AM.
General meeting starts at
10:30 AM.
Spelling Counts
You all know that spell check underlines words you
spell incorrectly. What you may not know is that if you
put your cursor over the misspelled word and right click,
cont. on
pg 4
R e f e re n c
e R
esour
ce :
ce
Resour
esourc
Where Science Meets Fiction™
Address:
Barnes & Noble Booksellers
16461 Ventura Blvd.,
Encino, CA 91436
(818) 380-1636
by Tai Shan Jackson
Technovelgy.com is a good resource for science fiction and
fantasy romance writers. As mentioned on the website's home
page, there are "a wide variety of inventions and ideas of science
fiction writers." The website features science and science fiction items currently in the news, as well as a long list of categories to choose from, such as: artificial intelligence, communication, culture, lifestyle, travel, robotics, virtual persons and warfare. There are connections made between sci-fi stories of the
past, and current inventions that are related to them.
What reference resources (online or in print) have you found
useful? Contact the editor at info@sharp-eyes.com or
thundrail@yahoo.com and share the information with fellow
LARA members!
3
Cross-street: Hayvenhurst
(continued from page 3)
This comes in handy when
critiquing, too. If your comment
is in regard to a particular phrase
or if someone is repeating a word
too often, the highlighting
makes it easy to see.
once, one, say, in Chapter Two,
the other in Chapter Eight. It’s
easy to do. Click WINDOW off
the menu bar and choose SPLIT.
It gives you a gray horizontal bar.
Place that wherever you want.
That splits your screen into two
separate windows on the same
document, each with their own
scroll bars. To get rid of the split
screen, let your arrow hover over
the dividing line until you get the
little parallel lines icon, then
click and drag the dividing line
either all the way up or all the way
down and let go. Voila. You’ve got
one screen again.
Give Yourself Some Space
Repeating Yourself Repeatedly
I like to see as much of my
writing on the screen as possible,
so I usually write single spaced.
However, we all know that you
can’t submit them that way, and
single spacing throws off the
standard “250 words per page
Courier New” word count formula. I like to keep track of how
many words I’ve written, so to
make it easier, I’ve enabled the
Single Spacing and Double Spacing buttons on my Formatting
toolbar.
I have this bad habit of using
the word “just” where it’s (just)
not necessary. Heh heh. Maybe
you have pet words that you overuse. Here’s an easy way to find
all the instances you’ve used that
word and how close together
those instances are. Click EDIT,
FIND. Choose the REPLACE
tab. In the first box, type the
word you’re worried about. In the
second box, type that word again.
Then click on the MORE button
just below that. Click on FORMAT, choose HIGHLIGHT, and
click REPLACE ALL. Word has
now highlighted every “just” you
have.
Word will give you a list of words
it thinks you want. Click on the
one you want and Word automatically replaces it, saving you
the trouble of retyping it correctly.
Highlights (the button with
the marker on the formatting
toolbar)
Double Up
If you ever wanted to print
your manuscript and use less paper, you can print two pages on
one sheet. Here’s how. Click
FILE, then PRINT. In the bottom right corner you can choose
how many PAGES PER SHEET.
Divide and Conquer
There may come a time when
you want to look at two different pages of your manuscript at
Those are all the tips and
tricks I could think of. If you
have some of your own, please
email me and share!
Kim Winklhofer is finishing her
second term as President of LARA.
Her first e-book, Carnal Devotions, is due in late October from
Liquid Silver Books.
4
Proposed
By-Laws
Change
We the Board of LARA
propose a change to
LARA’s bylaws, by making
the position of Vice President into a President Elect
position. If approved by
LARA’s membership, the
bylaws would be changed
to read as follows:
‘President-Elect and
President. The PresidentElect shall be elected annually and shall serve a oneyear term as PresidentElect, then immediately
following shall serve a oneyear term as President.’
This would effectively
remove the possibility of
the President staying in office an optional second
year. All other positions
would remain the same at
this time. This proposed
change will be voted upon
at the November meeting.
Discussion will be held via
the LARALink and at the
October and November
meetings.
Hot Off the Keyboard
(Last minute news from
the grapevine)
Keep an eye out for Kim
Winklhofer’s e-book Carnal Devotions
(written as Kate Willoughby), which
will be released in late October by
Liquid Silver Books.
Did you see LARA’s ad in the October issue of RWR? Thank Melissa
Jarvis-Prieto, LARA’s VP in charge of
Public Relations. Cara King’s letter to
the editor appeared in the same issue.
Milestone Recognition
Deanne Avner signed with literary
agent Cheryl Ferguson.
Literary agent Barbara Collins
Rosenberg requested new LARA member Stacey Jane’s chick lit manuscript
La La Girl.
PAN N
Neew s
Cara King will be signing her first
novel My Lady Gamester at B. Dalton
Booksellers in Topanga Plaza on Saturday, November 12, from noon to 4:00
pm. According to Cara, it’s her first
signing and she’ll probably be petrified, so do stop by and say hi!
Sit, Stay, Slay—the first book in
Linda O. Johnston’s pet-sitter mystery
series—will see a second printing. And
Linda’s been given the go-ahead for the
fourth and fifth books in the series.
More Good News
Caro Louaillier’s paranormal short
story “Here’s Looking at You,” has been
accepted for e-book publisher Linden
Bay Romance’s charity holiday anthology Romance Unwrapped, which will
be released in November.
Aileen Kelly’s short story (written
as Jane Thompson) will appear in Red
Sage Publishing’s fifteenth Secrets anthology.
Got any “Hot Off the Keyboard”
news to share? Be sure to send it along
to the editor before the next submission deadline on November 6, 2005.
If you wish to receive the LARA
Confidential in hard copy from now
on instead of accessing it online, please
send your name and mailing address
to the editor at info@sharp-eyes.com
or thundrail@yahoo.com.
Meeting Notes: "Linda
O. Adds Mystery”
by Sandra Richards
“How do you add mystery to your
romance? By thinking like a mystery
writer,” said LARA member and multipublished author Linda O. Johnston
at LARA’s September meeting. “Mysteries and romances have much in
common.”
Both genres depend on conflict and
suspense. “With no suspense, there
would be no interest for the reader,”
Johnston said.
A romance has problems to solve,
external and internal conflicts to overcome, obstacles to get around, and,
sometimes, a villain. The story concludes with a satisfying ending. Adding mystery is simply mixing in crime
solving and villains.
In mystery-romance, the mystery
will be the external conflict, usually a
5
Linda O. Johnston and "Lexie," alter-ego
of the dog character in Linda's Kendra
Ballantyne Pet-Sitter mystery series.
Photo courtesy of Dan Irvin Photography
murder; suspense-romance will have
a chase. The Heroine isn’t always in
law enforcement, and is a possible
suspect. She might investigate the
crime to clear her name. She must
deal with the hero, too.
The Hero is part of the Heroine’s
worst nightmare, possibly the cop
pursuing her, or an ex from a bad
relationship. But she’s gutsy, facing
her internal conflicts and the crime
head on.
So, how do they solve the crime?
They do it together, and not all at
once. Keep the reader guessing what
comes next to create suspense. Does
the Villain throw obstacles in their
path, implementing his plans? The
Villain can be an ex, a jealous rival,
or even the situation. However, the
Villain must have a reason for his
actions. To end it all, the Heroine and
Hero solve the crime, the Villain gets
his comeuppance, and the reader has
enjoyed a good story.
Join us at our next meeting for
Maureen Pratt speaking on "When
Life Intervenes."
LARA member Sandra Richards lives in
Downey with one husband, one best
friend, two rats, nine cats, and one
completed paranormal manuscript.
Oh, Goth!
by Kate Fink
Whether it’s historical or
magical or paranormal, I’m your
reader. And, boy, do I have the
utmost respect for those of you
bent on spinning a story in that
direction. In truth, it’s more than
I can tackle as a writer. I have
enough questions about location
(What kind of tree is indigenous?), wardrobe descriptions
(Does a Harley-Davidson leather
vest even have buttons?), and
proper word usage (What is that
thing y-ma-bob next to the
whatcha-ma-jiggy?) in a contemporary setting!
But I am your audience. I am
willing to take a high dive off
the real-world platform into
whenever and wherever the author will take me. Escapism? You
bet! And let me point out to the
critics that it’s not a four-letter
word. On some red devil days,
it’s a blessing. It’s an economical
mini-vacation without the sanity-shattering screams at the gas
pump or the are-we-there-yet
mantra coming from the
backseat. It’s a visit to Cold
Stone Creamery without the caloric debt.
Hmm. I should jot down that
paranormal thread that’s been
tugging at me . . . right after I
get back from Cold Stone.
Whether you’re aiming for the Keeper Shelf, or just found the
courage to take a new genre out for a whirl, here’s the October grabbag of historical and paranormal topics available though the LARA
Tape Library :
Tape
Title
28
Compelling Themes: Barrier and Ritual Death
as Thematic Goldmines
46
The Poisoned Pen
54
Breathing Life into History
75
Roundtable Discussion: Paranormal
83
An Evening at the Theatre Royal
113
The Real Britain
140
The Rules of Magic
141
Medieval Warriors and Ladies
(Conference tapes can be reserved by logging on to the Members Only Section of the LARA website. Click on “Conference
Library” and follow the instructions on how to access the list
of titles. Email Kate with your selections—up to five tapes—
to reserve in advance of the next chapter meeting.)
Kate Fink is the tape librarian for Los Angeles Romance
Authors and writes contemporary romance.
6
The Regency-Era
Romance
by Cara King
Okay, so what’s the big deal with
the Regency period? Why are so
many romances set then? And why
have Regency-set romances been such
a major slice of the romance pie for
over forty years? There are as many
answers as there are authors writing
in this period, but here’s my version
of the truth.
to enjoy it all with clear consciences.
Even better—they were no longer
wearing silly wigs! They had servants
to do the dirty work, their clothes were
often comfortable, they had newspapers and silk and novels and oranges
and souvenirs and a thousand types of
alcoholic beverages, and they even had
the beginnings of indoor plumbing.
England wasn’t yet overrun by factories and reformers, so there was nothing to mar the fun had by Lord
EverythingIsMine.
What is the English Regency, anyway?
Historically, the English Regency
was the period from 1811 to 1820
when King George III was incurably
insane, and his son (the Prince of
Wales, also named George) became
Regent in his place. In other words,
King George III was still king, but
he didn’t do anything anymore.
Okay, I hear he talked to trees, but
politically he was no longer in power.
So, why is the period so famous?
Well, let’s just say the Prince Regent
knew how to have a good time. He
ate (a lot), he drank (a lot), he had
two wives at the same time, and he
drove the nation into debt by buying way too much stuff. Prinny was
a huge man in more ways than one.
He made Beau Brummell famous,
and Brummell made bathing fashionable. Prinny and Brummell set
the tone for the Regency: extreme elegance, plus vast self-indulgence.
Basically, the Regency was party
time. The rich people hadn’t yet realized they were supposed to feel
guilty about being rich, so they got
So is that it? Well, no. The extended
Regency period (approximately 1790
to 1830) brought us the romantic
movement, and along with it a literary renaissance that included wicked
Lord Byron, dreamy Shelley, hallucinating Coleridge, haunted Blake, witty
Jane Austen, and epic Sir Walter Scott.
The Regency was also the time of the
Napoleonic Wars, which created heroes like the Duke of Wellington and
Lord Nelson. But during the Regency,
war didn’t mean you had to sit at home
and watch CNN all day. Nope—still
party time. To the music of Mozart
and Beethoven, the aristocracy flirted
and schemed and learned the licentious
waltz.
Why is the Regency such a popular
setting for romances?
First off, the Regency was long
enough ago that we can romanticize
7
it, but recent enough that we can
identify with its inhabitants. On the
romantic side of the balance, they still
had duels and highwayman, muskets
and swords, gloves and garters and
men in gorgeous (and revealing)
clothing. On the modern end of the
balance, they already had coffee and
tea, curry and chocolate, daily newspapers, and the revolutionary idea
that bathing made you more attractive to the opposite sex.
This gives us the opportunity to
write about manly heroes who are
skilled with both sword and pistol,
but who bathe—and who never
wear wigs or high heels. Our heroines are literate, and may even speak
several languages or be successful authors or painters or musicians. They
may be seventeen or thirty-seven, rich
or poor, virgin or widow or spinster—or even fallen women. They
may be financially independent, or
at the mercy of a parent or guardian—whatever the author wants for
her story, she can generally find a way
to do during the period.
Writers have just as much leeway
with heroes. Sure, the Regency was
full of frivolity, but that doesn’t
mean our heroes have to be too. In
fact, the decadent era is a great backdrop for the serious hero, who may
be a military veteran who no longer
fits in with high society, a politician
dedicated to a cause, a landowner
who readily shoulders his responsibilities—the possibilities are vast. Or
if we want, our heroes can be experts
at fun and pleasure—rakes and wits,
dandies and adventurers.
In other words, authors love to write during the period because
cont. on
pg 8
there are so many possibilities to play
with. Of course, to write a decent
book one needs to know all the important rules of society—etiquette,
titles, that sort of thing—but within
that framework, there’s a great deal
of freedom.
So, is this Regency
thing a passing
phase?
In a word, no.
Baroness Orczy’s first
Scarlet Pimpernel book
came out in 1905,
Jeffery Farnol’s first
Regency novel in
1910, and Georgette
Heyer’s Regency Buck in
1935. Barbara Cartland
wrote Regency-set romances throughout most
of the 20th century. But it w a s
in the 1970’s that the genre known
as the Regency Romance really became recognized as its own genre
with a huge crop of new authors.
Eventually, the Regency Historical
was born, and as time went on it
lured more and more the readers
away from what came to be known
as the “traditional Regency.”
Nowadays, the Regency Historical is the dominant subgenre of Regency-set romance. These books are
long (usually around 100,000 words,
though many publishers are creeping toward the shorter side), and the
content varies greatly. Although the
Regency Historical market is not as
strong as it once was, Regency
Historicals are still one of the most
solid segments of the romance industry, and almost every romance publisher acquires them.
The Regency period itself is ex-
Recommended Reading:
Regency Historical Romance
by Cara King
[Editor’s Note: Beginning writers are often advised to actually read the
sort of books they want to write. With that in mind, I’d like to supplement every article on a particular romance subgenre with a list of recommended books. Feel free to contact me with your suggestions for articles
and related reading lists.]
Flowers from the Storm
Laura Kinsale
Avon
Wedded Bliss
Barbara Metzger
NAL/Signet
More Than a Mistress
Mary Balogh
Dell
The Duke
Gaelen Foley
Ballantine/Ivy
Lord of Scoundrels
Loretta Chase
Avon
Forbidden
Jo Beverley
Kensington/Zebra
Lady Midnight
Amanda McCabe
NAL/Signet
The Duke and I
Julia Quinn
Avon
tremely popular nowadays. There are several popular Regency mystery series;
there are film adaptations of Jane Austen’s works and Patrick O’Brian’s Master and Commander; there are television versions of Horatio Hornblower and
Sharpe. There are Regency dance groups spread across the U.S. The Regency is
alive and well, and likely to stay that way for another two hundred years.
Cara King’s first Regency, My Lady Gamester, is a November release
from Signet Books. For info on Regency gambling, dueling, and more
(including her November 12 book signing), see her website at
www.caraking.com. Or if you want to chat about Jane Austen movies,
Regency cover art, and more, check out the Risky Regencies blog at
www.riskyregencies.blogspot.com.
Looking for a critique group? LARA’s got
one! Get the scoop from LARA member Rae
Shapiro, at raeshapiro@aol.com.
8
The following article first appeared
in the August 2005 edition of the
Imagination in Flight newsletter of
the New England Chapter of
Romance Writers of America®. It
is used with permission.
Battlestar Housewives
in the West Wing:
Learning from TV
Part I: Characters
by Jessica Andersen
Okay, I’ll admit it. I’m a TV
junkie.
Our set is a fifteen year-old widescreen that we rescued from the side
of the road. Any image with orange
in it (Homer Simpson, for example)
overloads the screen into a fiery sunset, but we’ve vowed not to replace
it until I sell a single title. These days
it’s looking like we’ll be watching
Homer on my ten-inch dorm TV
when the big one craps out.
"The witch sisters
in 'Charmed'
...their human
goals are always
in conflict with
their roles as
witches."
My Perpetual Fiancé (PF) doesn’t
much care what we watch, so I have
Supreme Command of the remote
(though I’ve learned that if I don’t
pick something we both enjoy, I
wind up watching WWII
documentaries). On the rare occasion
when PF complains (he was not a fan
of “Showbiz Moms and Dads”), I
smile and say, “But, honey, it’s research. I’m writing a book on this
very subject.”
For all of his steadfast support, he’s
never read one of my books, so he
usually buys that. But saying it has
made me realize that I do gain writing insight from television shows that
work, and those that (in my opinion) don’t work.
Take for example “Revelations,”
a mid-season network replacement
show from this past year. Starring Bill
Pullman, it addressed the coming of
the apocalypse through the eyes of a
lapsed Catholic physicist, a nun, and
a Satanist. In the post-DaVinci Code
era, I figured the show would work .
. . but it lasted maybe five episodes
and lost me after two. When PF
asked why I didn’t want to watch it
anymore, I said that not only was the
9
writing dumbed down (sonorous
voiceovers explained every detail to
the viewer), I found the characters
bland.
I challenged PF to identify ten
characters in the show, which had a
fairly large cast. He couldn’t. I then
challenged him to identify ten characters in the new “Battlestar
Galactica,” which had been running
for about the same number of
episodes. That one was easy for him,
because the characters in BSG come
alive with hints of back-story and
conflict. Same thing with “The West
Wing” and “House.” We could identify (and identify with) those characters because they came alive on the
orange-streaked screen.
When I went to a few email loops
and posted the question “What TV
shows do you watch and why?” I got
such an overwhelming and varied response that this article went from
one part to three. A large number of
those responses focused on characterization—the good, bad and ugly.
Paranormal author Rebecca York
wrote, “The three
cont. on
pg 10
witch sisters in ‘Charmed’ usually win out over the bad guys.
They have tremendous power.
They have the job of saving the
universe from evil. Yet they also
have all the normal desires of
contemporary women.They
want to love and be loved. They
want marriage and family. And
their human goals are always in
conflict with their role as witches.”
(Beyond Control, Berkley, 8/05;
www.RebeccaYork.com)
Intrigue author BJ Daniels said,
“‘Desperate Housewives’ is my favorite at the moment—but isn’t it
everybody’s?! The characters are great,
the conflict is just weird enough that
you keep watching and it’s got a great
setting—a cul-de-sac in suburbia. It
has everything a good book should
have! And even the pacing doesn’t
drag.” (When Twilight Comes, Intrigue 10/05; www.BJDaniels.com)
Romance author Judith Arnold
voted for “The West Wing” because,
“it’s smart. The characters have complex motivations. The show acknowledges the world outside the
characters’ own petty problems, yet
the characters are never simply
mouthpieces for this or that issue.
(In other words, their petty problems
never get forgotten, even when
they’re grappling with world crises.)”
(The Fixer Upper, Mira, 7/05;
www.JudithArnold.com)
Intrigue author Julie Miller loves
reruns of “The Magnificent Seven,”
because of the characters. “I love almost any story with flawed, unique
individuals who find the heroic elements in their characters and develop
a strong sense of loyalty, justice and
doin’ the right thing when they come
together as a team.” (Cornered, Sig-
nature
Anthology,
www.JulieMiller.org)
9/05;
Though she writes dark, erotic
vampire books, author JR Ward
says she’s “hooked on ‘Hooking
Up,’” because this reality show features “single women in Manhattan
who are trying to find romance
through Internet dating. What I
like is its high credible surprise factor: you never know who’s going
to hit it off or how things will
unravel so it offers terrific lessons
on people’s real life goals, motivations and conflicts.” (Dark Lover,
NAL, Sept ’05)
Bombshell author Sylvie Kurtz
writes, “‘NCIS’ is one of my favorite shows because of all the quirky
characters and the interplay between
all those quirky characters. ‘Lost,’
same reason—the characters and their
interactions. ‘Veronica Mars’ and
‘Boston Legal’ (William Shatner and
Candice Bergen are a hoot), ditto.
‘House,’ although I hate his Godlike
views on medicine, the main character has one of those deliciously nasty
personalities.” (Ms. Longshot, Bombshell, 12/05; www.SylvieKurtz.com)
The moral is one we’ve heard a
thousand times but bears repeating
yet again. A solid-seeming plot can
falter in the absence of characters we
care about, while interesting characters (whether sympathetic or unsympathetic or a complicated mix of
both) can make a story come alive
for the viewer . . . or reader.
In the coming months, we’ll
look at conflict and pacing in TV
shows, with input from a variety
of other authors and publishing
professionals. We’ll also think
about the relevance of TV to our
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"A solid-
seeming plot
can falter in
the absence of
characters we
care about."
writing, how it keeps us abreast
of pop culture and (sometimes)
helps us anticipate trends.
So here’s your homework. For
those of you who love TV like I
do, pick a favorite show and think
about the characters. Why do you
love them? Why do you hate
them? How can you use that in
your own work? And for those of
you who don’t watch TV, maybe
think about clicking on one of the
shows mentioned here and see why
the characters work—or don’t
work—for you as a writer. Then,
when your PF (or DH or SO or
kid) squawks at your choice of
shows, you can do what I do.
Tell'em it’s research.
Jessica Andersen writes sexy
medical mysteries for Harlequin
Intrigue. Her seventh Intrigue,
Bullseye (part of the Big Sky
Bounty Hunters continuity series),
will be released in September ’05.
If you have a favorite (or not-sofavorite) TV show to share, feel
free to visit her at
www.JessicaAndersen.com, for
more TV opinions and contact
information!
The following article appeared in
the September 2005 issue of The
Galley, the monthly online newsletter for the Georgia Romance
Writers’ Chapter of Romance
Writers of America®. It is used
with permission.
The Art of Compulsive
Procrastination
by Julie Dykstra
Are you too busy to write? Do
you cringe when others ask,
“How is your writing going?”
Rather than setting an inspiring
example, have you become a horrible public service warning for
other would-be writers?
Hello. My name is Julie, and
I’m a writing Slack-aholic.
I’ve read the articles/books and
heard countless speeches on time
management and prioritization,
so why can’t I find more time to
write? Is it an attention deficit?
Chronic exhaustion? Post-concussion Syndrome? A paralyzing
fear of success, failure, or both?
Or is it that I’m a working wife/
mother with a life-sucking day
job, a commute from hell and a
time management disorder?
Although some might confuse
it with laziness, Compulsive Procrastination is NOT a passive lack
of action. Consistent avoidance or
delay of a particular activity requires substantial creativity and
misplaced effort. Procrastination
is a powerful, debilitating addiction like any other (drugs, alcohol, eating, shopping, etc.) where
we compensate for a lack of control by redirecting our energy elsewhere. And the first necessary step
to writing rehab is recognizing
that you have a problem—even if
it requires An Intervention by
your critique partners.
So, what are the signs? You
might be a Chronically Compulsive Procrastinator if:
• You’ve purchased “special”
pens/pencils, highlighters,
notebooks, paper, or notecards
to color-code and/or re-outline your manuscript rather
than writing your next scene.
• You’ve used a vacation day to
catch up on six months’ worth
of ironing.
• You’ve rewritten your
first three
chapters more
than
five
times.
•
Yo u’v e
taken up crocheting and
promised to
make afghans
for your entire family.
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• You’ve actually crocheted
afghans for your entire family, as well as several of your
friends.
• You’ve purchased and read the
latest “how-to” writing guide,
then convinced yourself you
must rewrite your first three
chapters again.
• You’ve refused help with dinner, dishes, laundry, housework, your children, your
yard, etc. because no one can
do it as well as you (which
also makes you an unappreciated martyr, trust me).
• You haven’t brought anything
new to your critique group in
over a month.
• You’ve never said “no” when
asked to volunteer (child’s
school, employer, church,
neighborhood, local RWA
Chapter, etc.).
• You’ve spent your scheduled
writing time journaling what
you intend to write about
when you find the time.
• You’ve granted your husband/
children access to your computer and/or your designated
writing space.
• You’ve reformatted an e-mail
joke before forwarding it
(which also makes you hopelessly anal-retentive).
• You’ve gotten sucked into the
television broadcast of a
movie that you own on DVD
and have seen
several times,
and despite frecont. on
pg 12
quent commer-
cial interruptions you
watched until the end.
• You’ve alphabetized your CD
collection while looking for
music to put you in a writing mood (again, anal-retentive).
• You only write when you’re
in a writing mood.
• You’ve received non-writing
professional recognition and
chapter service awards but
haven’t finished a manuscript
in three years.
• You’ve stayed up until 2 a.m.
baking cookies or balancing
your checkbook, but you’re
too tired to write.
• You’ve written an article on
Compulsive Procrastination
(hmmm).
Still think you’re too busy to
get your butt in that chair? How
can I, um, we focus our energy
and use these powers for Good
rather than Evil?
There are many legitimate
non-writing demands on our
time as well as countless excuses.
However, successful writers find
ways to work through anything,
including personal crises, and
consistently produce quality as
well as quantity.
First, keep it simple. Don’t get
lost in the details. Unless you
have Dr. Phil on speed-dial, don’t
overanalyze your reasons for procrastinating (another clever waste
of time). Don’t find time to
write—MAKE time to write.
If you can’t kick your addiction, redirect your efforts and
use your writing as a procrastination tool to avoid these other
types of distractions. No matter how much or how often you
dust and vacuum, your house/
apartment will get dirty again.
Put your kids to work, hire a
service, and/or lower your standards. Find a good dry cleaner/
laundry service. Order pizza or
other take-out—even Pizza Hut
offers salad (and it’s not like my
kids eat those green vegetables
anyway). Sign up for automatic
bill-pay. Let Otis Spunkmeyer
and those Keebler elves do your
baking.
Julie Dykstra manages her
three sons, her husband, and a
brokerage office, and she’s currently serving her fourth year as
GRW Treasurer. She’s working (really, I swear) on a new singletitle romantic comedy.
NaNoWriMo
Do n’t f o r g e t Na t i o n a l Nove l Wri t i n g Mo n t h
(NaNoWriMo) is just around the corner. NaNoWriMo
is an annual novel writing project during the month
of November that “brings together professional and
amateur writers from all over the world.” It is a “seatof-your-pants approach to novel writing.” The concept is similar to LARA’s recent Book-in-a-Week; however, the goal is to write one 50,000-word novel from
scratch in a month’s time. See their website for more
details at: http://www.nanowrimo.org.
12
Editor's Talk
by Madaleine Laird
Like many people, I’ve been
writing for as long as I can remember. I’ve kept some sort of
diary or journal since I was about
eight years old. At first, the journal was just another school assignment.
In fourth grade, Mrs. Clark
passed out spiral notebooks in
class. Mine was bright orange
with the words “MY JOURNAL” written on the cover in
black magic marker. She told us
we could write about anything
we wanted in our journals, but
we had to write four sentences a
day.
For at least half of the school
year, I wrote my four sentences,
knowing that they weren’t very
interesting. How could I sum up
an entire day in only four sentences? One of my entries went
something like this: “I had tacos
for lunch. I played on the swings
at recess. I like Mary Margaret’s
blouse. It has little colored
mushrooms on it.”
One day I caught a glimpse of
someone else’s journal, and his
entry took up half a page instead
of four measly lines. Did he
write really big, or what? I had
to find out. “I thought we were
only supposed to write four sentences,” I whispered. He looked
at me as if something were
sprouting from my forehead,
then told me that we had to
write at least four sentences. At
that moment, I swear I heard the
Mormon Tabernacle Choir burst
into the “Hallelujah Chorus.”
From then on, I wrote page-long
entries in my journal, sometimes two or three pages.
The moral of this story? Pay
attention to submission guidelines, especially the word count.
And if there’s any confusion, ask
someone (like Mrs. Clark) for
clarification!
Madaleine J. Laird
Editor, LARA Confidential
Wanted
Stringers, columnists, contributors for
the LARA Confidential.
No experience necessary. Ability to meet
deadlines greatly appreciated. Must be a
LARA member to apply. Contact the editor
at info@sharp-eyes.com
or thundrail@yahoo.com
for more information.
13
"Dramatic novels require dynamic characters, alive with
great passions
and strong
emotions: lust,
envy, greed,
ambition, love,
hate, vengefulness, malice,
and the like.
Make your
characters ...
emotional
firestorms."
James N. Frey