Drama Karma with Anna Campbell

Firstly, thank you, Sandra, for asking me to run this workshop at your blog! Love talking to other writers so come on, don’t be shy! I’ll choose a random comment and that person will win a signed copy of my new release UNTOUCHED which comes out on Tuesday. Whoo-hoo!

Actually in a lot of ways, I’m hoping this turns into a discussion rather than a formal workshop. I’d like you all to share your thoughts on the subject and perhaps our discussion might lead to some conclusions about the problem I want to talk about.

Anyway, on with the workshop! Let the drama begin!

I regularly judge writing contests and I also do some mentoring which means I read a lot of AYU work. Do you know that term? It’s a fantastic one my friend Ruth Kaufmann coined at the Atlanta RWA conference – it means ‘as yet unpublished’ which I love. It’s so hopeful and for a lot of people, it’s not soft soaping, it’s true! When you start out, you’re in the chrysalis stage. Transformation into a butterfly is on the way!!!

A problem I consistently find with a lot of this AYU work isn’t the basic premise for the story. Often, the premise is fantastic, original, emotional, full of potential for conflict. AYU writers have wonderful imaginations and they come up with great characters and great situations.

But having come up with this fantastic premise, many of these AYUs then spend the next 50 pages or so running as far and as fast away from the dramatic implications of that premise as they can.

It’s like the great premise with all its dramatic possibilities scares them silly so they try as hard as they can to squash it down, make it bland, drain all the juice from it.

So I’m saying BE DARING!

When you come up with your premise, sit down and brainstorm. Doing this with another writer is a fun way to pass an afternoon. Start thinking about worst-case scenarios. Doesn’t matter if they’re silly. Anything you come up with will help you cross your ‘I’m scared of this’ barrier. Good books thrive on worst-case scenarios. Start thinking about how to make the stakes higher. Emotionally. Physically. Take everything to the limits! And don’t stop until you’ve got your heroine about to be eaten by a starving tiger as a train rushes down the tracks towards her. Well, whatever the equivalent of that is in your story.

I’ve often heard New York editors quoted as saying they don’t want a ‘quite’ scary book or a ‘quite’ sexy book or a ‘quite’ funny book or a ‘quite’ dramatic book. They want everything to be REALLY scary, sexy, funny or dramatic. They want writing that pushes the envelope. And so do readers. Readers want to care and they’re not going to care about something that just rolls along at a nice even pace and doesn’t give them anything to worry about.

There’s a few techniques you can use to lift the drama.

1. Keep the focus on your principal characters. If your heroine’s in danger, don’t have her sitting down and telling her best friend about it over a cup of coffee. In fact, any scenes in your book that involve the making or drinking of coffee need to GO! Have her running from the bad guys, preferably as the hero saves her skin! Or as she saves the hero’s skin. Think how you can you present your character’s dilemma as vividly as possible. Action and dialogue are always sure bets for this. Readers like to see your characters doing things. In a romance, they particularly like to see your hero and heroine doing things together (and not just THOSE sort of things either ).

2. Try to avoid scenes where the hero/heroine remembers something that happened in the recent past. To give you an example, if your characters have ridden all day to get away from the baddies, don’t have them sitting around the campfire reminiscing about escaping the stray arrow aimed in their direction around about lunchtime. Show me the scene of the arrow coming their way. Remember, characters in action = excitement. Characters remembering stuff = reader turning of the light and going to sleep and maybe not picking up your book again. The aim is for the reader not to be able to put your book down until she gets to that blissful ending on the last page!

3. Get your characters to make mistakes then face the consequences. This is really important. Don’t be afraid of hurting or upsetting your characters – although perhaps killing them outright might bring an early end to your story. If your hero tells a lie, make him suffer for it. If your heroine does something really stupid and puts the whole enterprise in danger, make her pay. Your reader has a very finely tuned ethical compass and if she feels you’re going easy on your characters when they don’t deserve it, she notices. I know you love your characters, that’s why you’re writing about them. But make them suffer! Happy people don’t make for a great story. Put your characters in jeopardy, emotional or physical or preferably both, and then take that scenario to its end. Don’t wimp out on the way because you hate to think of someone being nasty to your poor heroine. Wonderful Robyn Donald who writes for Harlequin Presents says the secret to a great romance is putting your heroine up a tree and throwing stones at her. Well, I’m saying make those stones great big boulders!

Remember, fortune favors the brave! And may all your fortunes hold big fat publishing contracts! Happy writing.

I’d love your thoughts on drama and how to build it in a romance novel. How do you build drama in your own work? Are there elements of the drama in your own work that you’d like help with? Can you think of writers who build drama so well that you’d sit in a burning house to find out what happens next? I can list a few examples! Let’s talk DRAMA!!! And don’t forget the copy of UNTOUCHED for some lucky commenter!

Losing Weight and Writing

I realize this probably isn’t the best topic to bring up considering we're all probably still digesting that wonderful Thanksgiving dinner and Christmas cookies aren't much farther away, but this time of year always reminds me of losing weight.

It was eight years ago, right before Thanksgiving, that my doctor told me I had to lose twenty-five pounds. I was pregnant with kiddo #3 and had been diagnosed with gestational diabetes. My past two pregnancies...well, let’s say they hadn’t been kind to my butt or my waist. I’ll admit it, I love to eat. But sitting with the doctor, already feeling fat because of pregnancy--fatter than usual, I should say--was an eye opening experience. Not because he was flat out telling me to lose weight or I’d get diabetes permanently within ten years, or to lose weight because of the baby, but because I had to think about whether I wanted to lose weight. How sad is that? But for me, it seemed insurmountable, an impossibility and did I really want it that badly?

Could I really do this?

I’m proud to say I did it. Twenty-five pounds the doctor said and I went one better--I lost seventy. It took perseverance, dedication, and willpower. It took me envisioning a goal and letting nothing get in my way.

You see where I’m heading here? Losing weight is a lot like writing. Perseverance, dedication, willpower. It takes all three to become a published author. There were so many times in my weight loss journey when I told myself I couldn’t do it, the goal was set too high, I didn’t have it in me, and please God do I really have to go to the gym today?

I learned that I could indeed accomplish my goal and that empowered me in so many other aspects of my life. So why not set another one? Like writing that book I always said I wanted to write. Heck, the writing part was easy. As soon as I sat down at the computer all these people who’d been slumbering in my head were suddenly clamoring for their stories to be told. It was the publishing part that came a little harder. Dozens and dozens of editors and agents told me no. No, we don’t like the story line. No, your writing isn’t crisp enough. No, this story isn’t for us. Like the cream-filled devil on my shoulder telling me to eat that candy bar, I ignored them all.

Sure I fell on my face, just like those times I snuck that bag of potato chips. But I’d learned no one’s perfect and to look backward was a waste of time. Stay focused, pick yourself up, get back to it. Ignore those who say you can’t and focus on what you can.

I know what you’re thinking. “Yeah, but has she kept the weight off?” I’ll admit it; a few pounds have crept back to my hips and thighs, but only about twenty. I’m still diligent about exercise and what I eat and even more diligent about my writing career.

In eight years, I’ve given birth to my third baby, lost weight (and kept most of it off), wrote twenty books, and signed seven contracts. Perseverance, dedication, willpower.

During my weight loss journey, I had decided that someday I would write a story about a woman whose weight loss set her on an emotional journey to find herself in the new person she’d become. I’m happy to say that story, Hands Off, will soon be published by The Wild Rose Press.

And, Night Song, my vampire novella was just released through Samhain Publishing.

So what’s my next goal? Surviving the holidays. Enjoying the food without overindulging. Keeping my goals. Persevering.

To kick off this holiday season let's run a contest. If you comment on this post between now and say, oh, Monday at midnight you'll be entered into a drawing for an ebook copy of Night Song.

Happy Holidays, everyone!

~Sharon

When the former fat girl and the former geek meet at their high school reunions, past desires are tossed aside as new ones ignite. But when Mia's old insecurities return, can Jack convince her she's deserving of his love?

He’s a centuries old vampire who doesn’t do domestication. She’s a single mother struggling to survive. Evil brings them together, but will their love be enough to keep them alive?

About Sharon:

After reading Black Beauty when she was ten, Sharon had two dreams—to own a horse and to write books. She still doesn’t have the horse, but she does write. Nowadays she divides her time between the every day duties of a mom with three busy kids, a husband, a Labrador Retriever who occasionally makes an appearance in her stories, and writing.

Contact Sharon at sharon@sharoncullen.net
Visit Sharon’s website at www.sharoncullen.net

Craziness On Top of Craziness

Well, hello, everyone. No, I have NOT fallen off the face of the earth. Though it does feel that way sometimes.

No worries. I'm here and things will be hopping around Sandra’s Goings On in no time.

Due to a scheduling snafu, I have decided to run the uber-fantastic workshop by one of my favorite new authors, Anna Campbell, this Monday, November 26th, instead of today, which is when we'd originally scheduled it.

Why? Well, I completely spaced and forgot that my regularly scheduled month end guest and good friend, Sharon Cullen, is set for tomorrow the 24th.

I didn't think it fair to have Anna's work-shop up for only a day. So, I asked her if she minded if I bumped her to Monday and, lovely person that she is, she gave her go-ahead.

So, please, stop by for Sharon on Saturday and for Anna on Monday. There is sure to be a wealth of information to be had. And, I know Anna Campbell is offering a copy of her newest release, Untouched, to one lucky commenter.

Thank you all for your patience and understanding in this little scheduling change.

Sandy :-)