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?

Last week,  a few friends joined me in twitter-based rehash of my "Save the Kitties" writeathon from last year to motivate me to push through to the end of the draft.  The idea is to challenge yourself to write a certain amount over the course of a few days - if you meet the goal, you get to donate $ to a good cause (like Kitten Rescue, for me).  If you fail, you have to donate that money to a cause with which you, ahem, strenuously disagree (not telling which).  Add in public accountability, and I find this method extremely motivating for short bursts.  I'm proud to say I powered through to finish my manuscript in the wee, wee hours last Wednesday.   Now the book's been out for some reads with CPs and friends, and the feedback coming back is frighteningly unanimous in pointing out the book's major issue, so I have a very clear direction for revisions.  All of that is good. 

So once I turn in my book on Friday (and I will!  I will!), I get to reward myself with a weekend CP retreat!  My main goal for the weekend will be to read, relax, and start plotting my next book, tentatively titled The Passion of a Warrior.  (Doesn't quite have the same ring, does it?  Again, I'm open to suggestions.)

A few weeks ago, my local RWA chapter invited screenwriter Blake Snyder to speak.  He's a very amusing guy, and his book, amusingly named Save the Cat! The Last Book You'l Ever Need on Screenwriting, contains a plotting structure based on the 15 "beats" of every good screenplay.  I've heard it compared to The Hero's Journey, but I personally found the "beats" a bit simpler to grasp and more intuitive.  Alyson Noel, our chapter's newest NYT Bestseller, swears by Blake's method.

I am not usually one for plotting schemes (allergic to squares, remember?), but linear story progressions resonate with me.  Plus, you know I'm all about the saving of kitties.  I bought Blake's book, and I'm going to take it with me on my retreat to share with my CPs and see if it can't help me as I do my rough plotting of the next book.  I'll let you know how it goes.

Do you use Save the Cat!, "The Hero's Journey", or any similar method for plotting?  Do you have title ideas that are better than The Passion of a Warrior?  Ones with alliteration?  The third book is supposed to be The Secrets of a Scoundrel, and it's killing me that the middle one has no alliteration.

It's Tuesday, and I try to always blog on Tuesdays.  And usually I blog about something related to writing, because...uh, because I really have no life.  Seriously.  I write, I take care of my kids, I work at the library from time to time, I spend some time with Mr. Dare, and I try to keep the laundry pile from growing large enough to develop sentience.  That's about it.

But wow - this week, I had a social life!  I went to a movie.  I went to a wine-tasting party on Saturday, and then a Super Bowl party on Sunday.  Whee!!

The movie I saw was Slumdog Millionaire.  And if you only see one movie this year (says the girl who only sees one movie a year), I suggest you make it this one.  Wow.  So gutwrenching and so heartwarming, so awful and wonderful, all at once.  It reminded me of that oft-repeated writing advice:  Make your characters suffer.  (Oops, I'm blogging about writing after all.  Oh, well.)  The protagonist, a Mumbai orphan named Jamal, has to go through so much crap (literally and figuratively) in this movie, by the last half-hour I just wanted to find director Danny Boyle and wring his guts until they felt as knotted as mine did.  But oh, how deeply it made me care.  And ah, how sweet the ending was, after all that pain.  As I left the theater, I felt resolved to put my characters through hell in this next book--and I immediately had this sinking feeling, because I knew just what I'd have to do... *sob*  I don't wanna!  But I know I should...

'Tis the season for award-winning, thought-provoking movies!  Any recommendations?  If I see two movies this year, which should I make my next one?

Seriously, when my books come out, I expect I'll get some comments on the fact that they include a fair amount of slapstickyness.  People stumbling, tripping, falling on faces and arses (usually the heroines).  Some people like that kind of comedy in moderation (raises hand) and others don't--it's not ALL there is to my books, of course.  But I write it in because...honestly, I don't know how to write a heroine who doesn't fall on her face occasionally.  Because I do it all the time.

Right after New Year, for instance, I made a lunging grab for my younger dareling as he took off across the parking lot.  My boot caught on the curb, I fell swiftly and hard, and I ripped a newish pair of jeans and still have yellowing bruises on both knees. *sigh*  Yep, that's me.  As my grandmother used to say, "Just call me Grace!"

These incidents also factor into my own real-life romance.  It's astounding that Mr. Dare convinced me to marry him at all, considering that I incurred some serious blunt trauma on one of our first dates.  And it was all his fault. Yes.  It was.

See, we were at the Getty Center in LA (and the man was getting some serious points for taking me to an art museum on one of our first dates.  I'm not sure he's taken me to an art museum since, but...)  The Getty Center is several galleries, connected by terraces and and pathways overlooking a beautifully landscaped hillside garden and the LA skyline.  It's stunning.  In my case, literally.

So we were standing on one of these terraces, holding hands and taking in the breathtaking view, and Mr. Dare (whom I have since learned is prone to these sudden bursts of energy and movement, not unlike a predatory cat) decided we should take off quickly for another gallery, because the museum was closing soon.  He took off, dragging me by the hand behind him while I was still looking at the hillside garden, and

BAM.

He pulled me face-first into a very large, very metal flagpole.  Seriously.  You know that cliche, "He didn't know what hit him"?  I was living it.  I had no clue what had just happened to me, only that my head was ringing and my sunglasses were broken and I was swaying on my feet.  Actually, it's probably a good thing I was wearing the sunglasses, because although they cut into my temple and made it bleed (!), they probably sustained the brunt of the impact.

So we spent our last half-hour at the Getty Center sitting on a bench applying ice packs to my head.  It was really fun explaining to the security guard for his incident report that I'd...yeah, walked into a pole.  Really hard.

Anyway, if anyone ever wonders why I write these scenes--it's because I live them!  And because clearly blunt head trauma aides blossoming romance.  Mr. Dare convinced me to marry him just two months later.  And my head is still ringing. 

Do you write (or live) slapstick comedy?  Do you enjoy reading it or not?

Cover art for Goddess of the Hunt exists, but I cannot yet show you.   It's pending approval by...all those mysterious, powerful people who approve such things.  Covers for the second and third books are in the works, and I hope to get a peek at them soon!  My relatives can breathe a sigh of relief, because (unless something drastically changes) the "look" for the trilogy is very tasteful and pretty, with nary a nipple in sight.

I am expecting my line and copy edits on GOTH any day now...I've been assured I'll have a whole week to go over them.   My second book, Surrender of a Siren, has been sent off for copy editing too, after I added a few pages to the epilogue at my editor's request. No word yet on the third book, A Lady of Persuasion.

I was mentioned in Romantic Times!  Okay, so it was half a sentence (maybe a third-sentence?) in a 2009 preview article (page 10 of the current issue, if you're curious), but hey - Romantic Times!

Oh, and this is super exciting for me - that little novella I wrote over the summer?  It's going to be published as an e-book with Samhain Publishing, next May!  SQUEEE! So there will be a little taste of Tessa Dare out there in the world a few months before my print trilogy releases.  More about that in months to come...

And of course, I continue to work on The Desire of a Duke, AKA Stud Club, book one.  LOL.  You don't know how much I want to write a scene with this dialogue:

"The first rule of Stud Club is: You do not talk about Stud Club."

"The second rule of Stud Club is:  You do not talk about Stud Club!"

Um, that would be referencing this movie, for anyone who's scratching her head.

Oh, what the heck. While we're breaking the rules and talking about Fight Stud Club, let's have some shirtless Brad Pitt.

I've got characters, a vague plot built around these "moments", and I've started my research.  As part of the research, I collect pictures.  I find it helpful to imagine my settings and characters' physical traits from the foundation of a painting or photograph of an actual place or person.  Or horse.

For example, for the book I'm working on right now (working title The Desire of a Duke, since it includes the essential Tessa Dare titling element: the word "of", LOL), I'm loosely basing the hero's estate on an actual estate in Cambridgeshire: Wimpole Hall.  Pretty impressive, no?

And there's a very important racehorse in the book, who I am making the fictional "great-grandchild" of the famous stallion Eclipse.

Lastly, I also pick celebrity models for my hero and heroine.  I know different authors have mixed feelings about this - I don't know why I find it so helpful, but I do.  It's important that it not be just a photo of a model, but someone I can watch in action, on TV or in movies.  Somehow this helps me develop a visual image of how my character moves, reacts, stands, sits, relaxes, and so forth.  Seldom does the character in my mind match up exactly with his/her inspiration, but it's just a helpful starting place.

If you're one of those readers who prefers her own imagination, I'll put the pictures of my Spencer and Amelia inspirations below the fold:

My inspiration for Spencer, aka the Duke of Morland:  Rufus Sewell.  Tall, dark, lean, slightly brooding, unnervingly handsome.  Something about this man's features and bearing just projects the right mix of sexy confidence, sly wit, and above all, extreme intelligence that I need for Spencer.  And he often gets cast in villain roles, which is appropriate for Spence, too.

To "cast" as his heroine, I needed an actress who is not a conventional beauty - someone who can look (with all due apologies to her) sort of common on first glance, but exceedingly lovely on closer inspection.

For Amelia, I'm using English actress Anna Maxwell Martin.  You may recognize her from supporting roles in North and South (Bessy Higgins) and Becoming Jane (Cassandra, Jane's sister).  She's also got a great deal of intelligence and confidence that comes through in her physicality, but in a distinctly feminine way--all this makes her very Amelia.

So there they are!  What do you think?

Warning:  Overextended analogies ahead.

At this point in my process, I have characters.  I have this constellation of "moments" that I believe I can string a plot around.  My next step is to take all these wild ideas I have--like, "Ooh, what if she gets on a ship for the West Indies!" or "Ooh, what if he runs for Parliament!" and let historical reality crush them.  Mua ha ha.

No, not really.

For a writer of historical romance--okay, at least for this writer of historical romance--research is a chicken-and-egg thing.  Meaning, I eat a lot while I do it.

No, okay, seriously.  It usually starts out as, "Here's the story I want to tell.  How can I make it historically plausible?"  (Note, I am relatively unconcerned about it being historically probable. It's more than okay with me if I have my characters doing highly unlikely things--that makes for good story, IMO.  I just try to avoid having them do chronologically impossible things.)

So I crack open that egg and start the research, and discover all the defects in that perfect, fluffy adorable little chick of a plot I'd been dreaming about.  I have the inevitable moments like these: 

"What do you mean, they didn't have metronomes in 1815!?! My entire plot hinges on a missing super-spy metronome! *headdesk*" (This would be a random example.  While I admire those authors who can write convincing Regency spies, I know I am not one of them.  At least, not yet.)

But as the research progresses, I find myself getting new ideas.  This is where that imperfect chicken starts laying some eggs.  Some are good eggs and some are bad eggs, but hey--free eggs!  For example, when I was researching the second book of my trilogy, Surrender of a Siren, I read several first-person accounts of sea voyages to and from the West Indies, and those accounts were where I got the idea for many of the scenes in the book.  Certain traditions and experiences popped up in book after book, and I decided my characters should endure enjoy the same.  (Really, how could I miss the chance to put my hero in a toga?)

So...um...at this point I have...an imperfect but oddly endearing chicken, that's starting to look cute despite its flaws.  And a bunch of eggs, just full of golden, yolky possibility.

Let's start cookin'!

Of course, as I write the book, I keep researching.  A thousand little questions arise along the way.  "Just how does one milk a goat?" for instance.  (Answer here.)

Note to self: I really should have breakfast before I blog.

My apologies to CM for any offense to her beloved totem, the most honorable and venerated chicken.

What's the strangest thing you've ever found yourself researching for a book?  Any favorite sources to share?

So, last week I blogged about how my novel-writing process starts with months of thinking, and that usually the thinking starts with the main characters.

Once I have these two protagonists in my mind, even in very vague, shadowy form, what I start thinking of next are "moments".  I'm not sure why, but this seems to be how I plot a book.  I don't get big story trajectories coming to me in during all those long walks and hot showers, I get (what I've taken to calling) "moments".  Little scenes with the potential for great humor, drama, angst, suspense....or heat. 8)  Some might call them the book's turning points.

Anyway, these evolve in different ways.  Sometimes I just have a vague idea for a situation, and other times whole swaths of dialog just pop into my mind.  But they give me that "ooh, that would be soooo funny/sad/hot" feeling.   My gut tells me, I just HAVE to put that scene in the book.

I start to mentally refer to these "moments" by little one- or two-word tags.  For Goddess of the Hunt, for example, they might have been things like: orchard, wardrobe, letter, dinners, tears.  Right now, for this new book, I'm working with moments like: hay, party, piano, symmetry.  The moments are like a constellation of stars, and then the rest of the plot is a line connecting them.  By the time I finish the book, that line may change a dozen times--but the stars are pretty permanent.

Once I have this vague notion of what will happen, I start to research.  And I'll blog about that next time.

Hey, it's a new month.  I'm starting a new book.  And I thought it might be an interesting experiment, this time, to blog about my writing process (such as it is) as I go.  I'll tag them all "How I Write a Book."

I know many of you who read this blog are writers, and you each have your own process.  I certainly don't mean to suggest anyone should follow mine!  It's messy, as you'll see, and continually evolving.  But there are some people who follow this blog who may be wondering, "Just what it is Tessa's doing when she should be [returning my phone calls/addressing my Christmas card/making my dinner]?"  This is mainly for them.

Right now, I'm getting ready to start writing this book.  Which means, I'm wrapping up the work involved in preparing to write the book.  Which brings me to

My Messy Process, Step One:  Thinking.

Lots of thinking.  Lots and lots of thinking.  In the case of this book, my fourth, I've been mulling over these characters and their story for at least 8 or 9 months now, since I was in the middle of writing book two.  And beyond Spencer and Amelia (the hero and heroine's names), I currently have three other couples - wait, four - whose stories are spreading roots in my gray matter.

The thinking part of this process is the longest step, obviously.  It's also the one most often mistaken by bystanders for daydreaming, inattention, child neglect, etc.  Well, in truth, there's an element of each of those in it.

I think about the characters while I'm out for a walk, making dinner, washing dishes, taking a shower, and so on.  Becoming a professional writer has actually been some salvation for me, because I am a person who has a hard time turning off her brain.  If I weren't thinking about character histories and plot tangles, I'd be thinking about something else - something that would probably get me into trouble.    By nature, I'm inclined to endless rumination, so it's handy to have this endless supply of mental alfalfa.

The thinking usually starts with a character--in this case, it was the hero.  And then I decide on his pair--the person who is nothing he wants, but everything he needs.  In the earliest stages, they are very flat characters.  I simply start with a few personality traits that will clash spectacularly at first, but with a bit of time and affection, dovetail nicely.  For example, in this book I began with the idea that I would pair a character who is socially awkward and introverted with one for whom close relationships and hospitality are paramount.

And then the fun begins...I start to imagine all the things they could possibly argue about, all the ways in which they could find themselves at cross-purposes, and what it will take to bring them together in the end.  That's where plotting comes in.  And I guess I'll blog about that next time.