I love Romcom. I love to laugh and make others laugh. I love drama. I have been told I write really good drama that brings tears. When I can combine the two, it is great.

Picture this: The scene- Intense heart break, mammoth pain, leading to the emotional climax of the story. My heroine gets drunk and, in a wrenching tear-jerk scene, confronts the hero.

I had to rewrite it three times. I kept wanting to slide into slapstick. It would have been hysterical, but inappropriate for that moment. It had all the elements for humor. But also for pain. A double edged sword.

It made me realize how closely related the two are. In classic Three Stooges, the idea of pain was funny. poke Moe in the yes, slap Curly’s head, punch the Larry’s gut; laugh. But the change the people or the mood and it becomes a fight scene, complete with injury.

Romcom is not that much different. To grab some one by the funny bone, you sometimes have to go through the heart strings. And vice versa. Those moments of laughter through tears or Joy through pain are so much more human and touching. because they are real.

Haven’t you ever wanted to laugh at a funeral? The heightened emotion leaves you ripe for humor. Have you ever watched a comedy movie and found yourself sighing at a tender touching moment? Maybe that is why the sarcastic heroine is so popular today. Not only is she a better embodiment of today’s woman but her very existence symbolizes our understanding that people are multifaceted. There are very few truly 100% dark or funny or somber or boring people. Every one has layers and layers of emotions that bleed over, like a red shirt in a bleach wash. It colors everything around us. It is the layering that makes a good story.

Perfect example: Years and years ago when my parents were struggling financially, my mother gave my father a roll of duct tape for Christmas. It was meant as a gag gift, as he could never find duct tape when he wanted it. It was also what she could afford that year.

Fast forward to the next year and things were much improved. Dad bought Mom a ring. He wrapped it inside that roll of Duct tape and told her thanks for STICKING with him during the lean times. That same damn roll of duct tape has been making an appearance under their tree for nearly 15 years. For my Hubby, when he spent his first Christmas with us, he was lost. Duct tape? He didn’t understand. So I had to explain.

Sweet? Of course. Touching, yep! Funny? It is to many, especially when you never know what item is going to be inside the roll. It has held everything from diamonds to denture adhesive. The gift is not as important as the vehicle, a cardboard roll of silver stickiness.

But that roll of tape symbolizes their history, their connection. And that is what I strive for in my writing; Continuity, connections and emotion. Diamonds or denture adhesive, I want to make you feel something. I want you to know it is duct tape but find a treasure inside that is going to reach out and grab you by the feelings. And if I can make you laugh AND cry, then my job is complete. In that story.

I love Romance Divas. If you haven’t found your way to this excellent writers’ forum, this is a perfect time to visit! Take a look at the FREE workshop that’s happening this weekend…

Everything Old Is New Again – Using Mythology in Romance

May 16, 17, and 18 at Romance Divas

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Robin D. Owens

Gena Showalter

Nancy Madore

Lori Handeland

Alyssa Day

Want to know how to use mythology, culture, fairy tales, or folklore in romance? Romance Divas is hosting a 3-day workshop with some of the hottest names in the genre. It will take place at the Romance Diva Forum. All are welcome. To get access to the forum you will need to register.

Dear Inez,

You’re one of the most prolific people I know. Jinx, John, and now this new guy? All in five months? How do you do it? I spend forever finding a new man to adore, and end up test driving about twenty before The One grabs hold. But you - you love ‘em for 100k words, pack ‘em up and say goodbye, then turn around and smile charmingly at another one and he’s all yours.

Is it my technique? Am I picky? Do I not know what I want out of a hero? Do I flutter my lashes at the coy boys, the tease-and-move-on men? Or do I not latch on fast and hard enough? Hey - do you have some kind of kinky trunk full of handcuffs and gags that you drag out every time you need a new hero? Am I just not tying the knots hard enough to keep ‘em in the chair? If I hadn’t caught myself a good man for my own real-life romance, would my love life take the same path as my fictional pursuit of good men, select-and-reject until I’ve left a string of ‘em behind me?

I ask because I’m having a great big SIGH week on the hero front. I’m working on a new project (remember last week’s “prose outline”) and I was 15,000 words in when I realized that NEITHER of the two men I gave to my heroine are the right men. Aaaagh, hate those false alarms. So I’m back to the search for The One…but what do I do with The Two? Can a heroine have Three? (I couldn’t deal with three…good lord, who has the energy?)

In the last year, I thought I loved Frog, Rory, Jesse, Heath, and Alexei but as it turns out, I only really loved Ethan…and I’m still trying to get over him. My heroines are glaring at me. They’re tired of being toyed with by my fickle affections. So tell me, Inez - how do you fall in love so completely from one hero to the next, without a rebound period in between?

Sincerely,

Emily

Em and I were talking about this last night and it got me to thinking.  What stands in your way of writing?  I know it’s different for everyone.  For instance, many people can’t write with noise or with their children.  I have a computer in the living room and an autistic son.  Obviously, if I couldn’t write with a screaming child in my proximity I would never write anything at all.  Some people can write when they’re eight months pregnant.  I can’t even imagine how that’s possible.

Em and I were both saying that we are completely derailed by any hormone changes.  Just unable to write.  Every month my Aunt Flo comes a calling, I can’t write a dang thing.  Every time I’ve been pregnant, not a word.  I don’t know how people write when their hormones are fluctuating.  I dread the day when I go through menopause.  I may not write for five years.

So what stops you?  Environment?  Dirty house?  Screaming kids?  People standing too close to you?  (That actually bothers me a little.  When I feel like people are reading over my shoulder.)  Or maybe they are internal.  Arguments, bills due, divorce, lack of self actualization?  Those things can really effect your mindset.

You don’t have to tell me, but I am curious.

AJ

I’m super excited! No, I didn’t get “THE CALL” but I did get an awesome email from a favorite author of mine. She said that she’s sending me a copy of her upcoming book. *WOOT!!*

After having a downer of a week (over all not feeling good junk) this is *happy dance* news.

Ok, you might be drumming your fingers by now waiting for me to say who the H*ll I’m talking about. Ok, I’ll be nice and tell you. Toni McGee Causey wrote the hilarious book Bobbie Faye’s Very (very, very, very) Bad Day. Trust me when I say this is a MUST READ book!

But now Bobbie Faye *(kinda, sorta, not exactly) Family Jewels* is up to more trouble!

Release date: May 27th

The blurb:

It had been a whole freaking month since Bobbie Faye Sumrall had blown up anything or been shot at, and that was almost a new record. Then her diva cousin Francesca waltzed up to where she manned the gun counter in Ce Ce’s Cajun Outfitter and Feng Shui Emporium and everything just went to hell. Fast.

Francesca’s mom has disappeared with exceptionally valuable diamonds swiped from Francesca’s dad (difficult marriage) so of course Francesca broadcast to every insane psycho (family included) that Bobbie Faye could recover the ersatz family jewels.

Accused of one man’s murder, Bobbie Faye’s on the run as an unintentional Pied Piper to a rabid band of thieves. She has to find the diamonds, figure out the motives of the dead sexy FBI agent who’s pressing her for more than just the jewels, all while racing to side-step her steamy (and steamed) detective ex-boyfriend before the deadline arrives and the diamonds disappear.

Bobbie Faye Sumrall is back in fighting form in this second installment of crazy, wacky adventure through Cajun country.

Now be warned, the first book is action packed from the first page and will have laughing aloud at the most importune moments. And I’d wager that the second book is going to be just as amazing!

*Jumps up and down a few more times*

I’ll let you know how it turns out, but for now I want to know: What books and/or authors do you get super excited about?

I’ve only read one bodice ripper ever. And that was back in high school. I can’t remember the author or the title, but I do remember LOTS of sex in it. Detailed scenes of members journeying into budding love sheaths.

From what I can remember, the plot had lots drama. A strong-willed, yet delicate heroine forced to marry the Alpha of all Alphas. His manhood wines and dines her womanhood many times before they realize they love each other. Then just as things are getting good, they get separated (I can’t remember how).

She gets kidnapped or something and ends up in a harem, where her pleasure garden is tilled by peter and later, by woody. The hero thinks she’s dead and goes on with his life. He hooks up with a gold digging faux virgin, who’ll do anything to get him to marry her. Like burst the vein of a chicken in the vicinity of her harbor of hope so the hero doesn’t realize his boat’s not the first to dock there.

Anyway, the hero and heroine are eventually reunited and go on to live happily ever after.

Critics of erotica call the genre pornography and accused its writers of writing stories heavy on sex and light on plot. I wonder what they would call the bodice ripper I described.

This story has several graphic sex scenes and at least one forced seduction (the wedding night) and maybe another one between the heroine and a secondary character. In my opinion, the plot is more high drama than high conflict. Filler between the nookie passages. 

So can bodice rippers, like the one I read be considered pornography like erotica? Maybe soft porn because of the language used to describe sex organs and the sex act? How do you view bodice rippers?

*sniff*

When I finally get to the point where I write those longed for words THE END, there is a lot emotional baggage I have to dump. I write long. My shortest mss is about 80K. So I spend a lot of time with my characters. I know them, I love them. I fall in love with my hero every damn time. This time is no exception. I love John Murphy, my wounded bad boy.

I should be finished my WIP. I should. I wrote the last chapter.  And promptly deleted the entire chapter. Why?  It sucked. I had to wonder why it sucked. And the answer was kind of scary. I am not ready to leave John yet. Which goes to show how far I got into my heroine’s mind. Livvy’s mantra during the last half of the story is ‘I am not leaving him, no matter what.’

Hmmm, so how do I do this?

Meet Coe. Coe is my new hero. He came in a dream and is the perfect match for another character I have had in my head for a while, Charly. Charly is a riot and needed a quiet alpha male to steady her. John is more in your face with balled fists than quiet. Should be quite a switch for me. I am starting to get excited about the story.

So altho I hate to write THE END on John and Livvy, I will. Soon. In a few days. *sigh*

Of course I get to visit them during edits and rewrites and what have you. But once their tale is told, I really pull back and move on. I have to. I can’t be in love with more than one character at a time and do them any justice.

But for now, I am sniffling into my kleenex as I plod slowly towards those two bittersweet words. The End.

How important is the Romance Community to you?  To me, it’s very important.  I’ve found many new friends via blogs or eharlequin.  I’ve found writing buddies and reading pals.  People who are very much like me.  I’m part of Tales because of the community.  If I hadn’t found this, where would I be in my own writing career?

In all actuality, I haven’t been a part of the community for all that long.  I don’t even really remember when it all started.  But, I do remember how it started.  I came across the wonderful site eharlequin.  What’s so funny is that I’m not really a big fan of harlequin books.  I’d been googling writing communities and that site was one of the first I came across.  I signed up & started flitting around the little communities there until I found 20-Something Writer’s.  I thought “Oh, kindred spirits!”  This was about 3 1/2 years ago.

From eharlequin I got into the blogging community.  I started my own blog and began searching for likeminded people.  Found some wonderful authors that I NEVER would have found before the blogs.  I was able to bare my soul to the world and made some wonderful friends because of it.

A group of fellow readers and I are doing a fun project listing our top heroes of all time.  In-fighting, trading, bragging…it’s all in good fun.  And to top it all off, I think I’ve found a brainstorming buddy!  How cool is that?

So, in the end, this blog is more a thank you than anything.  It’s allowing me to say how much I appreciate this wonderful community I’ve found myself a part of & how I don’t think I’d be who I am today without it.

Randy Travis? Remember him? My CP said something last night that reminded me of his 80s song “Diggin’ up Bones” and it’s been in my head ever since. I seem to recall there being more to it.

For the past six days (and for the next nine) I’m “fast drafting” a new project (modified; Fast Draft calls for 20 pages/day and I can only manage 5, give or take a couple depending upon my dayjob). It’s not detail-rich and has no symbolism or theme or anything at all unless I can count the wintry setting as the source of a motif - and even then, kind of a cop-out if you ask me. I actually find it kind of ugly with the exception of the occasional line of dialogue (”You do not get to be her hero” as a parting line from her former hero - just a hint of the kind of trouble he’s going to get into trying to redeem himself). I complained to my CP - I don’t write this way anymore, throwing words on a screen and hoping they come out salvageable in the end - and she said, “Think of it as assembling bones. You need a skeleton from which to hang the meat of the story” (although we had this exchange late last night so she might’ve said it better - but the gist is there).

Huh. A prose outline. Is that what I’m doing?

I knew a writer who outlined using an excel spreadsheet. She figured a certain number of words per entry in the drafting portion (one excel entry would equal about 250-500 words in the actual writing) and she’d aim for about 250 entries in her outline. I could never envision that until now, but I think I finally get it. She was writing down a few bits of scene, of character action, laying the bones so she could come back and put the meat on later. No wonder she produced so much so fast.

So I think I’m outlining. Prose outlining, which is also what I’ve heard synopsis referred to as. Who would’ve thought? Who knew plotting didn’t have to take place in the context of Roman numerals, index cards or flow charts? Not me. But now I do. What have YOU realized this week?

K, I’m going to be brutally honest here.  We’re involving ourselves in this exercise today because I have nothing else to write about.  But here it goes.  How’s your goals list looking this year.  This is a show and tell.  I’ll show you mine but you have to show me yours.  I’m not very good with making goals.  I’m a pantzer in every area of my life.  But I did make a couple of goals for the year.  I wanted to try and branch out a little.  So I wrote a humorous shifter story for Samhain’s Tickle My Fantasy anthology.  I don’t know if they’ll be interested but at least I wrote it.  I wrote a Presents last year at the end of the year.  (It was amazing how motivated I was after I saw those dollar signs) and I made a goal of at least getting a request.

I got a request for the full with a three page personalized letter about changes I needed to make for them to want to publish it.  I’m all over that.  It took me a few days to come up with a new idea to replace the plot point she didn’t like but I think I have one and I have until the end of June to get it back to her.

I had a goal of getting Awaken the Devil out to more people.  It’s been at the same major NY publisher for over a year.  I’ve decided nothing is going to happen there.  But it finalled in the Connecticut RWA’s CONNections contest in the romantic suspense/mystery division.  So it went to an editor over at Dorchester so at least someone else is forced to look at it.  Maybe I will get a request.

So how’s your year looking so far?  Getting any closer to living the dream?  Trying some new things?  What’s going on in your world?

AJ