Romancing the Blog | Romance Authors and Readers Who Blog

How many times have you picked up a book excited by the back cover blurb, the cover art, the excerpt you read on the author’s website, or the buzz on the romance boards/blogs only to be let down completely within the first few chapters?

Or, how about reading an entire book—no skimming—only to be left with a great sense of disappointment or overwhelming mediocrity?

Do you cast the author off your list of To Be Read and into the fiery pits of Never Again?

Every author, especially those who have yet to be published and are desperate to be noticed in a tough industry, knows that a reader may give only one shot to impress, one shot to knock her socks off and leave her wanting more.

One shot.

So what happens when the author fires her best work but squarely misses? Are there legitimate reasons for never dipping into that author well again? Are you a forgiving reader?

I’ve read authors I’ve been less than impressed with. Because I do book reviews for online sites, I commit to read and review books, some of which I’m less than thrilled with on page one. I try to get through them. If I can, I write a gentle but honest review. If I can’t—really can’t—then I send the book back for someone else to review. Momma always said, “If you can’t say something nice, then don’t say anything.” I’m painfully aware that someday I’ll be on the receiving end of book reviews. I like to think I’ll get the same courtesy.

But this is not about book reviews. This is about second chances. When do authors deserve a second chance?

I’ve read books where the grammar and spelling are so bad that it’s a wonder the editors got through them. Maybe they didn’t—or couldn’t—but should I blame poor quality on the author, the editor, the agent, or all of the above? And not all of them were self-published.

Then there are the ones that are technically on point but the writing is, well…boring. Plodding. Elementary. Even painful. It’s true we all have to start somewhere but maybe we, as authors, should be less eager to publish and more eager to polish. Hard for me to admit that, as an aspiring author but it’s true. Let’s just say a long time passes before I venture that author’s way again.

How about if the author takes the story or series in an unexpected direction? I’ve see some vicious stuff online recently by outraged readers. Is this an unforgivable sin?

Finally, there are books that are well-written, both technically and creatively, but which, for some unknown reason, simply miss the target. They may be in genres that I love and read voraciously but they don’t do it for me. Rather than sing in harmony, my reader spirit clashes with the author’s writer spirit. Does that make him a bad writer, or me a bad reader? Maybe we aren’t in sync because we have different worldviews or because one (or both) of us has experienced a rough period recently. Maybe we just don’t, and will never, jive.

I’ve given authors second chances when a particular book doesn’t astound me yet I feel a spark. Of what, I’m not quite sure but a little voice inside says, “I liked something about her voice. I’ll try her again later.” Sometimes later is years later, after the author has grown a bit in her craft…and I, as a reader, have grown too. I’m definitely not the reader I once was. I also like to think the writer I am today is not the writer I’ll be even a year from now. I’ll get better.

And that’s the trick. Authors have to continue to work on their craft. Because new, talented authors pop up every day, and other authors, like Ms. Nora, are both popular and prolific.

Did I say tough, competitive industry?

An author has to earn her share of the reading audience. Some authors may rest on their laurels but from what I’ve seen, most work hard to hone and improve their skills, because they care about their readers.

So, if it wasn’t a match made in heaven the first time, how about giving her a second chance?

Here are important some of things you should know about booksellers:

1. The first time a customer takes a bookseller’s book suggestion seriously and buys the title the bookseller falls in love—in love with the book (again), in love with the customer, in love with bookselling and in love with the power of a positive hand-selling experience—love, love, love, love. Love. Yes, it is a many splendored thing.

2. Booksellers talk a lot—about books they’ve read, customers they’ve helped and authors who have entered the store. Call it talk, gossip, discuss—whatever—they do it all day and everyday with their bookselling coworkers, booksellers from other stores, and even with booksellers from other companies should they happen to cross paths. They like to tell a good story just as much as they like to read them.

3. Booksellers have very long memories. They have to, otherwise how will they know what that one blue book that was on the table near that one window about three months ago was. Why would they need to know that? Oh, because it is pretty much a guaranteed thing that a customer will come in asking just that, and expect an immediate answer.

4. Booksellers are always hungry. You would be too if you spent all day hauling books, shelving, and helping customers…in between all that talking, of course.

The inner psyche of the average bookseller is not a very dark or murky thing (and should you ever meet a bookseller with a dark and murky psyche, I would suggest you run away. Run away immediately), and there is no reason why you, the author, can’t turn this knowledge into book sales. In fact it is rather easy: just be nice to every bookseller you meet…and bring cookies.*

Booksellers will follow you over to your genre dark side in a nanosecond if cookies are involved.

What? We all know that snack cravings rarely ever coincide with actually scheduled break times. Enter an author with cookies, candies, sweets and a smile and you’ve got a bookseller who will suddenly start paying attention. They’ll see that this is an author that gets it. They’ll probably remember the author’s name. And when it comes to a time when the bookseller is in a genre, suggesting titles to a customer, who do you think will come to mind?

That’s right, the author with the bribe sweets.

Now, I’m not saying that the (Preciousssssss) New York Times Bestseller List can be yours through bribery by cookie, but it is a way to break through the natural barrier that exists between most authors and booksellers.

Namely that the bookseller hasn’t heard of you or had time to read your book. Maybe they don’t read your genre, maybe you’re new, or maybe their TBR pile is so huge that their roommates have to call in contractors to access the structural integrity of their house. Whatever the reason an author often has a small window of opportunity to swing a bookseller to their side, and giving them something to stuff in their mouths so they can’t talk back can only be a good thing.

It’s a classic cookie defense, my friends, and you should know how it plays out.

Step one: Author feeds bookseller a cookie, is cordial, and briefly (I’m talking elevator pitch here, people) mentions their book and who they are like.

Step two: the bookseller assess whether or not cookie is a bribe that could damage her bookselling career only long enough to realize, hey, that’s stupid. It’s just a cookie, and if she breaks it in half it will actually have less calories.

Step three: the bookseller will tell other booksellers how this great author came in and gave her a cookie. (Side note: it doesn’t matter if you actually sign stock in the store. Spread the cookie love to stores that don’t have your book. Spread cookie love to bookstores when you’re on vacation. Spread it to every store you come across.)

Step four: Booksellers who did not receive cookies (as well as those who did) will store knowledge of this authorial largesse away. It will sit tucked away in the back of their minds, waiting. Just waiting, until…

Step five: A bookseller is approached by a customer looking for selection from X genre. As the bookseller scans the shelves looking for titles, she’ll come across your book and a little cookie shaped light bulb will go off in her heads. Maybe she’ll have read your book by then, maybe she won’t, but more often than not I can guarantee that title will get picked up and handed to a customer with a, “I might the author of this, and s/he was wonderful.”

Is it a commentary on the cultural significance of your book? No. Does it delve into the depths of your literary soul? Of course not. It just means that because you gave a bookseller a cookie, they may get someone to buy your book.

And that’s a damn hard thing to get people to do these days.

*It should be noted that you can substitute a smile and really listening for a cookie, but it does not have the same chocolatety goodness, nor the ability to decrease the growls emanating from the vicinity of the bookseller’s stomach.

The book of my heart is driving me nuts.

I love this book, so much that I’m afraid it will never live up to the high hopes I have for it. I know down deep in my soul that this book is the one that could boost me up to that next rung on the career ladder. Even my critique group agrees that it’s different, special, that I’ve really found my voice.

So why haven’t I finished it? Oh, I have a first draft. But I finished that a couple of months ago, and since then I’ve been tinkering. I know it needs a lot of work, but I’m not sure how to proceed. The manuscript is littered with yellow-highlighted comments, notes to myself to freshen up clichés, liven up flat dialogue, pick up the pace, research this or that. Some things I know just how to fix; others I’m not so sure. I spend hours every day deleting bad paragraphs, then trying to figure out how to bridge gaps and I end up writing a whole new scene.

I’ve written a lot of books, yet I’ve never had one behave like this one. Or, more accurately, I as a writer have never written like this, piecemeal. My normal process is to write straight through, revise straight through.

Can a writer change her process? Can a pantser become a plotter, or vice-versa? Can a linear writer (me) become an all-over-the-map writer? And if my process is changing, does it mean I’m growing as a writer, or am I simply cracking up?

I really am puzzled, and if anyone has any experience with this, or advice, or reassurances, please speak up! I don’t want to end up one of those writers who agonizes over the same manuscript for ten years, never finishing anything.

I really envy those folks who can write by the seat of their pants. You know the kind, they just sit in a chair and … write a novel. No outline, no road map, no compass. About all they start with is a hero, a heroine and an internal conflict.

I simply can’t do that. Oh, I’ve tried. And my critique partners told me the title needed to be “Everything AND the Kitchen Sink,” because everything that could possibly happen to that poor heroine, happened. That WIP is now MIA–for good, I hope.

Since then, I’ve highlighted Christopher Vogler’s entire book on The Writers Journey. I’ve attended workshops on the Snowflake Method. I’ve used post-it notes and giant diagrams. I’ve listened to countless cassette tapes on plotting.

Now, I may not know how my characters are going to get from Point A to Point B. But I definitely know what the points are and where my characters are headed–from the prologue to the epilogue.

What about you? Do you write with a detailed outline or do you write by the seat of your pants? If you write with an outline, what’s your favorite method for plotting?

Recently, I met up with JaynieR, who moved to Singapore a couple of months ago from Australia.

Naturally, I had to show her around, especially to the bookstores.

Following our gossip session (you don’t know want to know if we discussed you *g*) and shopping trip, I came up with the following list of things that a newly transplanted bookaholic needs to know.

1. Where the best bookstores are. This had to be number one, of course. I’m ashamed to say that Jaynie now has a very bad impression of Singaporean bookaholics because I didn’t even manage to give her competition at the bookstore! I bought three books to her six. Sigh. Now that I’ve admitted it, I must go put a brown paper bag over my head.

2. Where to buy good shoes. Because you need cute and comfy shoes to go on extended bookshopping trips. It’s a good thing that Jaynie has kids and couldn’t stay longer, or I would have dragged her to the other end of town to my other favorite bookshop.

3. Where to buy good chocolate and other nibbles. Especially when one is PMSing, one needs good nibbles to accompany good books. The diet be damned!

4. Where and how to get the books that you can’t find in stores here, and not just in ebook format. If you’re lucky, like me, you won’t have to order all the way from Amazon US. Pray you’re equally lucky if you’re moving across international borders any time soon.

5. Whether or not to get a library membership. In Singapore, it is, in my not so very humble opinion. Even if the crazies managed to convince them to start shelving by genre instead of just in alphabetical order.

6. Where to get good boxes cheap. Jaynie will need a lot of boxes to ship her books home in a few years. I’m going to the UK later in the year, so I’ll need someone to hook me up with cheap boxes too in about three years.

So that’s six, but I’m sure there’s more. And that’s where you, dear readers, come in. Tell me, what else do you wish you knew when you first arrived in your new home, temporary or otherwise?

So, all the world is talking about Harry Potter and the BIG ENDING. Don’t worry, I won’t join all the evil spoilers out there and give anything away, I promise. But it was a fact known months before publication that J.K. was including an epilogue in the final book. Since I’m still coming down from my HP high, I’ll try to force my Potter-filled brain to write (sensibly, I hope) about epilogues in general.

Some people think an epilogue makes every book better. We all love happy endings, or else we wouldn’t be romance readers. Who wouldn’t want to see the characters you’ve come to know and love in the future, being happy in their happy ending? Julia Quinn included epilogues in all her Bridgerton novels, and then wrote second epilogues that you can buy as e-books. And apparently they’ve become some of the best-selling e-books of HarperCollins’s history. Obviously a lot of people love epilogues (and the Bridgertons, of course).

And some people think epilogues are extraneous—if you have a happy ever after, that’s it. That’s all you need, the story is done. The conflict is resolved, the couple is united—who cares if they go on to have 2.5 children and a white picket fence? If that information were integral to the story arc, it wouldn’t be shared in an epilogue, it would be part of the main story.

Now, I loved the HP epilogue, but part of me thought it wasn’t enough. Give me more! But then I wonder, could it ever be enough? Would any epilogue satisfy me? I was so engrossed in the world of Harry Potter that I wanted to know everything. But let’s face it, the book was already 750 pages. All good things must come to an end eventually.

I always know that I’ve come across a really exceptional book when I read the last page and immediately start daydreaming additional scenes—really, I am creating my own epilogues. And I get to dream it any way I want it. Sometimes I think it’s better that way. The author has done her job if she has created characters with such vibrancy that I feel I know them and can imagine my own story for their happy future. To me, that can be more satisfying than any normal epilogue.

So what are your thoughts on epilogues? What makes for a good one? Anyone have a particular favorite?

I recently read a romance that was written in first person hero’s point of view. It blew me out of the water how much I liked the unusual viewpoint because I’m not normally all that big on first person, much less its use in romance to begin with. It was a romance, too, with all the necessary emotional content even if some of the language was a little grittier and shall we say down-to-earth than usual to make the male outlook seem more realisticaly, well, male. The fact that I had to check several times just to make sure it was written by a female author, though, got me to thinking about how strongly we view romances as being by women for women about women. I mean, sure, it’s one thing if the romance truly is her story but what about when it’s clearly their story or even more specifically his story? How then can we justify taking sole possession of something that should belong to all of us?

I don’t care who wrote it or who reads it.

I was also recently rewatching a marathon the original Star Wars movies and was struck by the scene where Ben tells Luke that our perception of truth depended upon “a certain point of view”. Yeah, Luke wasn’t too impressed by the logic but I think ultimately he understood that he hadn’t been ready for the full truth of the situation any earlier. The simple fact of the matter is that life experiences can and do change our perceptions of “truth” when what we hold as an absolute at one time is seen through the lens of new perceptions and viewpoints.

I know when I was much, much younger and most of the romances I was reading were almost exclusively told in limited third person through her eyes and many even in first person at that, it was especially easy to identify that this was something that was definitely all about the female journey, any blatant hero worship aside. Then began the era where the heroes got a lot more narrative time, sometimes as much as the heroine. Enter something known as dual perspective. Suddenly we were seeing into his head as much as hers and it was glorious. Not always realistic, granted, but definitely gloriously fun.

At some point, probably about a decade ago, I seriously began to question just how much validity there was to our continued insistence that romance should be championed and cheered as by women for women. I mean, we can’t do much about the fact that the majority of authors are women or that the same is true of the readers. That is a truth. Sure. However, that isn’t the same thing as wanting it to stay that way for all time. Is it?

Why shouldn’t the stories belong to all of us?

I mean if we truly want that universal respect for the romance genre that we say we crave then shouldn’t we strive to see the stories as universal also? I know I for one have an extremely difficult time reading a romance told in first person hero POV and thinking it’s all about women for women, let me tell you, but maybe that’s just me.

I should have posted this entry before the 2007 RWA in Dallas but alas, I didn’t actually think of these potentially helpful points until after this year’s conference. The recent experience jogged my memory.

So grab a pen, notepad, and create your Notes-To-Have-Handy folder for 2008. If your goal in 2008 is to meet industry professionals, then let me give you the agent insider perspective on ways to do it.

1. Get brave. I had so many writers come up to me just to chat and I was thrilled to interact but only two authors asked if they could pitch me their projects. They did it well too. We chatted and made a connection first and then they asked really nicely if they could pitch their current project but wouldn’t be offended if I said no. With that kind of professional politeness, of course I’m going to say yes. My only surprise was that only two people took the plunge. I’m awaiting their sample pages as I write this.

So be brave but don’t forget to simply be human and interact first. Most agents/editors won’t mind that approach.

2. Attend a workshop given by an agent or an editor and here’s the secret. Don’t approach them at the close of the workshop when every person sitting on the panel gets mobbed. It can be overwhelming. Nope. Wait for an opportunity to present itself later. You are going to see that agent or editor again. When you do, simply go up to her and say, “I attended your workshop this morning.” Then you can follow it up with a “thank you for giving it” or “this is what I learned” or “I have a question that I hope you could answer.” This gets the ball rolling, allows you to connect, and then the opening is there if you want it.

3. Seek out the editors/agents’ authors and chat with them—especially if you’ve read and enjoyed one of their books. Authors love talking to fans (or I should say they usually do. Some might not). Chances are good if you make a connection with the authors, their agent or editor will show up at some time and then you can have the serendipity of a casual meeting.

4. Simply pay attention. If you are aware of who you are trying to meet, you’d be amazed at how often serendipity can happen. That editor or agent might be right next to you at the luncheon, at the RITAs, while standing in line for coffee, or while at the bar so be sure to simply look around. Here’s a hint though: if the agent or editor looks “deep in conversation” with another person, that might not be the best time to say hello.

5. Be prepared by perfecting your short and sweet pitch (what sums up your work in one or two sentences—otherwise known as the elevator pitch) for when the moment happens.

6. And one last word. Don’t try too hard (meaning don’t stalk). That might send the wrong message. Big smile here.

So good luck and I’ll see you San Fran next year!

Ps. I just want to say thank you to all who came up to me to say how much you appreciate my other blog Pubrants. Your compliments and feedback keep me fired up when time is tight or my brain is tired and I feel like skipping a day.

by Joely Sue Burkhart

I quickened my step toward the lovely village ahead. Smiling people with perfect teeth, fabulous hair, and elegant clothing welcomed me. Glancing down at my ragged jeans and coffee-stained shirt, I cringed.

Ducking deeper into my coat, I searched for lodging.

Down “Contemporary,” shops displayed designer clothing and sleek cars lined the street. On “Historical,” people dressed in period clothing, mostly Regency and Victorian with the occasional cowboy. Despite the horses, the street was surprisingly clear of… refuse. In the shadows of “Paranormal”, I saw several suspicious-looking gents in wifebeaters and shitkickers. A flash of fang made my heart hammer against my ribcage. I really wanted a taste… Rather, I wanted to investigate further, but I really needed to find my own spot.

Except I still didn’t know which street to take. Straight and narrow, never crossing, every street led to a gleaming palace lit by halogens bright enough to singe my eyeballs.

Even “Romantic Suspense” led straight to that put-Disney-to-shame castle dominating the hillside. What were a few serial killers when you had a strapping cop–FBI agent–ex-SEAL–at your side and a mansion waiting ahead?

I muttered, “Does everybody end up in the castle?”

A lady in a frilly pink gown with a magic wand in her hand flitted down beside me. “This is Romancelandia, dear. Of course everyone ends up at HEA Castle.”

“Even the fantastical characters? Like werewolves–”

“Paranormal,” she chirped brightly.

“Unicorns, centaurs, fairies, witches, demons–”

“Paranormal!”

Apparently everything “weird” got mixed in with the blood-sucking vamps. “What about stories like King Arthur and Guinevere and her love affair with Lancelot?”

Taffeta rustled with her agitation. “Oh, not in Romancelandia, dear. Only one hero for each genteel lady, unless you want to visit…” Glancing about furtively, she whispered, “Erotica,” with a delicate shudder. “They’ve taken over the lower levels, but we pretend they’re not here.”

“How can Guinevere not be allowed in Romancelandia? Her tale is one of the great classic Romances!”

Her lips tightened into a grim line. “It’s not allowed.”

“What if I take some elements from this street and mix it with another?”

Her eyes bugged out and she smacked me over the head with the wand. “Don’t bring that cross-genre filth in here! There are no mutts in Romancelandia!”

I yanked that wand out of her hand and said the unthinkable. “What about stories where–gasp!–the hero dies?”

She grabbed her heart, her eyes rolled back in her head, and she collapsed into a Pepto-Bismal pile on the pristine street.

Whispered curses chased me down the narrow streets. The serial killers targeted me. A werewolf sounded his hunting howl. Down stifling streets, they drove me toward HEA Castle.

Instead, I ran away.

I wasn’t afraid of werewolves, who wouldn’t really eat someone in Romancelandia. Nor the vampires, because they were heroes and couldn’t hurt anyone either. Certainly not the debutante brandishing her parasol.

I was afraid of myself.

There was something feral pacing in me, lashing out at the rigid streets and perfect people. I wanted to be with them so badly… I wanted to sit in an elegant tea shop and wear a smart little Regency hat. Or seduce one of those wicked vamps. But my heart… rebelled.

I longed for imperfect people who did bad things sometimes. Maybe they loved where they shouldn’t, hurt people who didn’t deserve it, yet they cried out for redemption. I wanted true Evil to crawl through the streets and their souls to quiver on the edge of the Dark Side. And oh, how I wanted them to sacrifice for their love.

What did these perfect characters risk to reach HEA Castle?

I don’t know how this story ends yet, because the journey continues. I love romance, but I find myself on the outskirts of Romancelandia just as often as I roam the Wild Woods and Enchanted Realms beyond.

Do you chafe at the rules sometimes? Do you break them, proudly? Do you blend those genres to create your own “mutt?” Please share your experiences! I really want to know I’m not the only lonely traveler struggling to find my place in–or out–of Romancelandia.

*For information on how you can submit to Open Blog Night, click here.

First off, let me state up front that I’ve never been a huge fan of the alpha hero. Call me crazy, but I prefer my guys to be civilized from the get-go, both in real life and in fiction. Doesn’t mean they can’t have issues, but let’s get real – a lot of these dudes could do with some serious couch time. And I don’t mean with the heroine. In my book – or books — “taming” is for horses, wild beasts and, on especially humid days, hair. Not men.

However, back when I was first starting to read – and write – romance, I picked up Susan Elizabeth Phillips’s DREAM A LITTLE DREAM. From the very first page, I was hooked…until I met the hero. Man gave me the creepy crawlies like nobody’s business. As he did the heroine. And rightly so.

But too late, because by then I just had to find out what was gonna happen. And long ‘bout page fifty, when Ms. Phillips switched into the hero’s POV, I got my first glimpse into the circumstances that had turned Gabe Bonner into a bear with a thorn in his paw. So I kept reading. And bit by bit, the growling lessened. By the end of the book, I loved the big lug. I also had me a brand-new autobuy author.

All these years later, SEP is still reforming her borderline butthead heroes, and I’m still falling in love with them. Why? Well, aside from a talent like no other during the Boy Loses Girl phase of her books for bringing her heroes to their knees, she’s a master at letting her readers see, early on, glimmers of humanity behind the brute…a little tenderness here, a spark of humor there, those generous dollops of honor, generosity and dignity that hint at more than simple wounded pride or macho entitlement.

In other words, she gives us hope that they are redeemable. Maybe not right from the start, but neither does she wait so long that that we’re shaking our heads at the last page and thinking, Nope, not gonna work. Six month, tops, before somebody walks.

So her guys may start out jerks (and her heroines, very often fluff-brains) but they don’t stay that way. They do grow. They do change. And that’s why I can read SEP’s alpha guys when others often send me screaming in the opposite direction – she not only gives her characters someplace to go, but she doesn’t wait until the last page to suddenly, and inexplicably, shove them there.

And she relies on some damn fine literary tradition in the process. Mr. Rochester, Darcy, John Thornton in Elizabeth Gaskell’s North and South – not exactly your average game show hosts. Now, I noticed that, around the middle of the book, all three of these guys actually have enough on the ball to recognize, and be attracted to, the heroines’ good qualities. On their terms. Which means they still have many, many pages of growin’ to do before they really earn their ladies’ love. Shucking off all those putrid, suffocating layers of their old selves, until they truly become the men worthy of the women who made them want to change, is not the work of a moment.

At its finest, this genre glorifies healing of the heart and soul. Which is why I can only shake my head, dumbfounded, at the criticism that romance novels are worthless. What could be more worthy than stories in which love, to paraphrase AS GOOD AS IT GETS, makes our protagonists want to be better people? Even so, readers need to connect with, and believe in, our characters’ changes of heart enough to buy into their happy endings. Those grumpy gusses with their dark, brooding ways might send thrills up our spines (or make us want to slam frying pans upside their heads) but unless they at some point discover, or reclaim, their humanity, it’s pretty hard to root for their happiness – or to feel confident that the heroine hadn’t just made the biggest mistake of her life.

So…whether you adore or loathe those jerkface heroes, how long do you give an author to start showing you glimpses of the “better man” underneath? Or do you even care? And for those of you who could devour the badasses morning, noon, and night, do you still draw a line between redeemable and hopeless? How flawed is too flawed? What makes a hero’s “change of heart” work for you, so you can wholeheartedly buy into the HEA?

And last, is it just more fun to fall in love with a guy you hated first?

At least, in your fiction?