I knew it was Golden Heart and RITA “call day,” and I was very glad that I’d already made plans to spend the morning volunteering in my dareling’s classroom. You see, this is my 3rd or 4th year watching “call day” closely — but the first time I’ve ever been entered in either of the contests.  For those who may not know, the RITA and Golden Heart are nationwide contests sponsored by Romance Writers of America.  The RITA is for published romance novels, and the Golden Heart is for unpublished manuscripts. Entries happen way back in November/December. Then the finalists all get phone calls on the same day in March, and around the world, writers are plastered to websites and blogs and Twitter feeds, waiting to see who gets “the call”.

The stress! Yeah, I would rather be chillin’ in kindergarten.

I brought my phone along, just in case, but kept it on silent.   So there I was, happily cutting crafts and stapling papers, when my pocket started to buzz.  I didn’t answer.  When I checked the number, I didn’t recognize it.  My phone told me it was a call from Texas, though (where RWA headquarters is located), so the next time my pocket started tingling, I ducked out onto the playground to take the call.

And it was a lovely lady from RWA Headquarters, whose name I will never be able to remember, calling to tell me that Surrender of a Siren is a finalist in the Regency Historical category!  I was so excited!  But I had to be very, very quiet.  So I was quietly excited for an hour or two more, until I went home to get on the computer share the good news.

Oh, I did get a very exciting text from Courtney Milan, letting me know her novella, This Wicked Gift, had be nominated in the Novella category!  That just made everything sweeter.  Congratulations, CM!

For that matter, congratulations to all the finalists in all the categories! If you see the other nominees in my category, you will understand why I am just thrilled to be anywhere on the same planet as this list. A list of all the finalists is here.

2010 RITA for Regency Historical Romance Finalists

Surrender of a Siren by Tessa Dare
Scandal by Carolyn Jewel
Tempting Fate by Alissa Johnson
A View to a Kiss by Caroline Linden
Revealed by Kate Noble
What Happens in London by Julia Quinn
Lord Braybrook’s Penniless Bride by Elizabeth Rolls

Oh, and a big shout out to my Fanlit friend Gillian Layne, who got the Golden Heart call this morning!  Congratulations, Gillian!

The second is that, the more books I’ve written, the less I feel I truly know. Paradoxically, it also seems like any advice I give should be actually useful advice–which kind of scares me, because I am not a teacher. Some people have a true gift for crystallizing points of craft and imparting them as useful nuggets to other writers. Sadly, I’m not one of them. Plotting systems, storyboards, character worksheets, articles that tout “The Four (or Five or Nine or Eighteen) Essential Elements to Story” just make me break out in hives. And when I say that, I don’t mean to disparage them. For writers whose brains are wired that way, I’m sure they are lovely, useful things. To me, it’s kind of like childbirth. I would not dare criticize a writer’s process, any more than I would criticize a woman’s decision to give birth in a swimming pool–whatever feels right for you and gets the baby (or book) out, it’s all good.

When discussing my reaction to storyboards, I have often joked that I am allergic to squares. It’s more like, I just don’t think about stories spatially. Doesn’t work for me. By the same token, I am very reluctant to put forth the way I write books as any kind of model–because what works for me might not work at all for others.

So, what am I getting at here?

Ah, yes. I’m here to expound on a point of craft. Hahahahaha.

Seriously, the other day I finally thought of something that I believe is actually, truly really good writing advice. And that is to read stories aloud. Preferably to an audience.

Before I had my own children and started writing seriously, I worked as a full-time librarian. And one of my librarian duties was children’s storytime. Yep, I got to be that one with the puppets and the flannelboard and lead the little cross-legged children in endless rounds of “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” and “Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear”. Tons of fun. It’s a great job.

It also was great preparation for writing stories of my own. I don’t think any writer would disagree with the statement that if you want to write stories, you should read as many of them as you can. The more stories you take in, the more you internalize that natural story structure (that then some clever people are able to break into five/nine/eighteen points). But the other day, as I was reading aloud to my eldest dareling from a children’s book, I realized that so much of what I’ve learned about pacing, humor, suspense, and the like, I learned by reading and telling stories to others. In particular, preschool children. Let me tell you, 3- and 4-year-olds are a tough crowd. When they are bored, you know it. If they don’t think it’s funny, they won’t laugh. But they are also free with their genuine, instantaneous reactions. They’re the furthest thing from jaded. If they’re amazed, they say, “Wow!” If they’re scared, they burrow closer. If they’re confused, they ask a million billion questions.

Now that I have my own kids, I have a captive audience. Muahaha. And now that they’re getting a little older, we sometimes read longer stories (“chapter books,” in kidspeak). Some of the books my daughter adores are mind-numbing for me (won’t name names), but we also find a good many books that entertain us both. Lately we’ve been reading through Edward Eager’s brilliant Half Magic, and let me tell you, reading that book aloud is the best writing class I’ve had in a long time.

When you read (or tell) stories to an audience, you become a key part of their delivery. It’s an entirely new experience–the difference between reading a play, and staging a production of it. You gain a sense for the rhythm of language. You can tell if the dialogue feels natural or not. You get a backstage view of the drama unfolding. You must make decisions about how fast or slow a passage should be read; whether it could be played for laughs; whether this is the moment to drop your voice to an ominous whisper and milk the moment for suspense…

And you also know when it’s just not working. That’s when you start to skim or skip pages.

Reading aloud gives me an appreciation for the author’s ability to set up expectations in the reader’s or listener’s mind. I love watching how s/he nurtures those expectations, then meets/twists/exceeds/fails them in the end. I have a true admiration for authors like Margaret Wise Brown, whose enchanting prose casts a perfect little spell over my children, because I am never tempted to reword for clarity or skip pages. Goodnight Moon is Goodnight Moon is Goodnight Moon. A perfect little gem of a book that needs no polish whatsoever. Only a voice to read it, and a hand to turn pages.

Anyway, my point of this blog post was just to say, I think I have stumbled on a bit of craft advice that I can feel reasonably secure in recommending to all aspiring authors as an activity of benefit. And it is this:

Find some kids and read aloud to them.

Have you read aloud any great books lately? Have any surefire points of craft advice?
(No squares, please!)

Gee, what an interesting question! Honestly, I am not sure. Let’s see. I’m currently writing my 6th romance novel (not counting the novella).

Things that have not changed: My pace of writing. Compared to many, I am a relatively slow writer. If I get 1500 words in a day, I’m thrilled. With deadlines every 5-6 months, this has meant I must be very disciplined and write almost every day. Of course, I inevitably fall behind–and I’m able to push myself to write 4 or 5,000 words in a day occasionally, when I need to. But that’s rare.

I still use the same method of plotting (or lack thereof). I tend to sketch out a fairly loose plot, basically strung around a series of “moments” I’m building toward (turning points, I suppose you might call them). But the connecting scenes between points A, B, C, etc. usually develop and evolve as I’m writing.

I like to think I’m a little better at identifying plot or characterization problems as they arise, and taking steps to correct them earlier rather later. Not perfectly prescient, of course, but to some degree I think I’ve internalized the voices of my trusted CPs and editor and can “hear” what they’d say before they say it.

Which leads me to another difference–I don’t exchange writing with critique partners as much as I used to. Or at least, not on a chapter-by-chapter basis. Part of that is sheer time constraints, but also just a certain comfort level we’ve gained with our own voices and craft. I still try to recruit several people to read finished drafts of every book so I can get a variety of reactions to the plot and characters, check for continuity and confusing scenes, etc. And if I’ve written myself into a corner, they help me talk me through it.

So those are my thoughts on it, unorganized as they might be. For the writers out there, how has your process evolved?

My own belief is that the sharing of books is not only a reader’s right, but an author’s benefit and a public good (that’s my librarian side showing). I’m not talking about piracy here, where a book is illegally downloaded thousands of times, but rather the sharing of purchased books amongst friends, family and neighbors. There’s a huge difference between the two.

I’ve had readers write to me to tell me they enjoyed my book(s), but then go on to apologize for the fact that they got the book from a library or a friend, rather than by purchasing it themselves. It just makes me sad that they feel they should apologize! Please, if any of you reading this feel that way – don’t. Feel free to write me and tell me your reactions about my books, however you obtained them. If your life is anything like mine, time is your most precious resource. The dedication of the 4, 6, 8+ hours it takes just to read the book is an investment worth far more than $6.99. However you got the book, if you expended the time, imagination, and emotional energy to engage with a story I wrote, I am grateful to you. You’ve certainly earned the right to comment on it!

Of course I like sales and royalties. Depend on them, as a matter of fact. But as an author, especially as a new author, I firmly believe that the total number of readers is the key to my building an audience. Some of the readers who’ve written me these apologetic letters go on to say that after borrowing my first book, they went out and bought the other two. Woohoo! That’s exactly the point. It would be shortsighted of me to look at that first instance of borrowing as a “missed” sale, when it in fact led to two additional ones.

In my debut trilogy, the heroines pass a book from one to the next–a bawdy little novel called The Memoirs of a Wanton Dairymaid. Essentially, it’s a romance novel. Lucy gives it to Sophia; Sophia gives it to Bel; Bel passes it on to Hetta… Along the way, a second copy must be purchased due to some of Sophia’s…ahem, artistic alterations to the original. Et voila! The Wanton Dairymaid’s author (Portia, by the way, from The Legend of the Werestag) has just scored a second sale–one she never would have made, had Lucy kept that book hidden beneath the false bottom of her stocking drawer.

Please, share my books with your friends. Borrow them from libraries. And don’t ever feel you should apologize.

So, people have been asking about next year’s books, The Stud Club Trilogy. And I may as well start talking about them, since books one and two, One Dance with a Duke (5/25/10) and Twice Tempted by a Rogue (6/22/10), are now both available for pre-order! And because I’ve just recently received my lovely, sexy covers.

Oooh.

What’s different about this series, compared to the first trilogy? Well, they’re a smidge darker in tone, as you’ll see from the series’ inciting event, but they still have a fair amount of lightness and humor. The characters are all a little older and experienced than they were in my first set.

But I’m sure the burning question is, “What the heck is the Stud Club? Are you joking?”

Well, I will admit. Like so many elements in my stories (hello, Werestag?), it did start as a joke. After writing a series that was largely heroine-driven, I wanted to switch emphasis to the guys this time. And one logical way to do that was to create my own take on a “Regency bachelor club” series. And if I was going to do that, I thought, why not call it what it is? A Stud Club.

But the Stud Club actually does have a meaning, and to explain, I will quote from the proposal I submitted for the trilogy:

In Regency England, horseracing was known as “The Sport of Kings,” the collective passion of the wealthy and well-connected. Noblemen spent vast sums of money breeding, stabling, and training thoroughbred horses to compete for honors at racetracks like Newmarket and Epsom Downs. The Jockey Club was an actual gentlemen’s organization—its exclusive membership, which included the Prince of Wales, took responsibility for the schedule and rules of organized horseracing.

In this trilogy, “The Stud Club” is the brainchild of one good-humored and universally-liked gentleman: Leo Chatwick, the Marquess of Harcliffe. Years earlier, Leo purchased a valuable stallion at auction—Osiris, a champion racehorse now retired to stud. So many of his friends asked for the favor of breeding privileges, Leo devised the Stud Club as a lark—he had Osiris legally put in trust and created ten brass tokens to represent membership in the club.

It worked like this: possession of a token entitled a man to send his mares to be mated with the famed Osiris. However, tokens could never be purchased or given away, only won or lost in a game of chance. In this manner, Leo created a sensation within the ton—a club so elite it had only ten members, yet membership was attainable to anyone with luck.

As the years passed, the club was a source of good fun and camaraderie, forging unlikely alliances across class barriers and furthering Leo’s reputation as an excellent sport. He was friend to all, enemy of none.

But on the night the trilogy begins, Leo is brutally murdered.

Yeah, that would be the source of the slightly darker tone. Poor Leo. But as you see, the Stud Club remains a joke, even within the books. It’s Leo’s joke on a class-conscious society, and his legacy to his peers. The heroes of the trilogy are the Club’s three surviving members (Only three, Tessa? But you said ten tokens! I know, I know, all will be explained…), the titular duke, rogue and scoundrel. Only chance could unite three such different men, and after Leo’s death, suspicion drives them apart. In the search for meaning and justice, they each find love in unexpected places. Which is good, because boy, do they ever need it!

More on the guys another time…

In the meantime, let’s just gaze at the models portraying them…and sigh.

I had the most wonderful time with the book group at Sunshine Books in Cypress last week. The lovely ladies of Sunshine really know how to make an author feel welcome! This Saturday, I’ll be signing books at the Borders Express in Orange, CA, from 11 AM to 1PM. (1500 E. Village Way, Orange, CA)

Now that the darelings are back in school, I have more time to write. And boy, do I need it! Deadline for Stud Club book two (Twice Tempted by a Rogue) is fast approaching. Luckily for me, I’m able to combine deadline goals with fundraising goals for mega-motivation. For the second year, I’ve registered to participate in Unleash Your Story, a reading and writing event to benefit Cystic Fibrosis research. Once again, a group of us are teaming up–mostly friends from the Eloisa James/Julia Quinn Bulletin Board–to form the BonBon Chocolate Mafia. (Yes, of course there’s a story behind that name. But it’s long.) Last year, our team raised over $1200!

My goal for the month is 30,000 words (or more) by the end of September. I’ve added a little widget to the sidebar to track my progress. You can support this very worthy cause by either donating to my page or by joining the event yourself by making a reading or writing goal and collecting donations.

Click the image to learn more!

Today, book two of my trilogy, Surrender of a Siren is officially on sale! Siren stars Sophia Hathaway, Lucy’s friend from Goddess of the Hunt. Sophia is a beautiful, pampered heiress with a wild, irrepressible imagination, and she’s in for the adventure of her life when she boards the Aphrodite, a merchant ship owned by former privateer Benedict “Gray” Grayson. You can read a longer blurb and excerpt here.

Here’s what RT Book Reviews had to say about it:

4-1/2 stars and Top Pick! “Dare’s second novel cements her place as a “not to be missed” author. Her gift is for creating stories that are filled with adventure, three-dimensional characters and exciting plots, yet she maintains the purest form of romance.”

Speaking of RT, the review for A Lady of Persuasion just came out yesterday! It will also receive a Top Pick! in the October issue. That makes three for three! Says RT, A Lady of Persuasion offers ““..wry wit, endearing characters, laugh-out-loud moments, sensual interludes and poignancy. This is stellar storytelling!” And now that Siren is officially on the shelves, I’ve posted a nice, long excerpt of Lady here. (Warning — it’s mildly spoilerish, if you haven’t read the first two. But then, so is the blurb!)

I’m just happy as anything to watch Sophia and Gray’s story sail out there into the world. I can’t wait to hear what readers make of it!

Since Goddess of the Hunt came out, I’ve received so many lovely notes from readers through email, Twitter, Facebook, and such. If there’s anyone out there who wrote and hasn’t received a reply from me, it must be because something went astray in the Internet, in one direction or the other, because I have tried to reply to each message as they come in.

(Oh, the the person who wrote me to ask if my e-novella would ever be in print–my reply email to you bounced! The answer is, there are no plans to put it into print at this time. But thanks for asking!)

But please take this as my general thank you to everyone who has read the book and dropped by the site to find out more about me and the books coming up… I really appreciate it. I know it’s not easy to take a chance on a brand-new author! There are lots of books out there, and lots of demands on your time, and everyone has limited funds at the moment. Whether you buy the book or borrow it, every reader invests precious time and imagination and (hopefully!) emotions when she sits down with a novel. Thank you so, so much.

Over the weekend, I had my first bookstore book signing! It was so much fun. The Costa Mesa Barnes and Noble was our gracious host, and I was lucky enough to share the table with my fellow local authors DeAnna Cameron, Debra Mullins, and Jennifer Haymore (who also writes as Dawn Halliday).

All this was exciting enough, but just as the signing was starting, a mysterious man came up and gave me a gift:

If you look closely, or click on the image, you will see it is a paper boat, labeled S.S. Siren, filled with paper goats. Now, amongst my good friends, my second book, Surrender of a Siren, is affectionately known as “Goats on a Boat”. But this strange man was not one of my good friends. So I was a little bit weirded out.

But the signing was starting, and people wanted to take pictures and have books signed, and so I just sat there puzzling over it. Then a text came through on my cell phone: “You look nice in pink.”

Now I knew something was up. I jumped up, and out from the nearest bookshelf popped soon-to-debut authors Courtney Milan (who flew in from out of town!) and Sara Lindsey (who drove down from LA with her mom in tow!). I couldn’t believe it! What wonderful friends.

My other critique partner, Carey Baldwin, has a sorta kinda important job and understandably couldn’t make it, but look: she bought everyone in her office a copy of Goddess of the Hunt!

I have the best friends in the world. That is all.

I do want to tell you about some fun stuff I’m doing today to celebrate. And as with any good party, there are prizes involved!

I’ll be guest-blogging today at Romance Vagabonds about the timely topic of friendship–both in romance novels and behind-the-scenes of their creation. The post isn’t live yet as I write this, but I understand there will be prizes up for grabs!

The lovely Vauxhall Vixens also threw me a virtual surprise party to celebrate the release. If you want to read the words of overly generous friends saying completely gushy things about me, by all means, click over.

And last but not least, over at Courtney Milan’s blog, she explains the day-long Goddess of the Hunt Twitter Talk contest. She’s giving away copies of my book, as well as some of the other fabulous historicals releasing today. All you have to do is get on twitter, use the hashtag #tessadare, and make patently outrageous assertions about GOTH and/or its characters. Elyssa Papa takes an early lead with this hilarious pic of President Obama holding “GotH”. See Courtney’s blog for specifics.

And somewhere in there, if you find time to actually order, purchase, and/or read the book, that would be awesome, too.

Thank you everyone, for making this day so very special!