Kristal Lee

photo credit: kristal lee romances

In July I attended my first RWA Golden Heart Award Ceremony, the Emmy's of the romance writers world. I primped for the occasion, donning a cocktail dress and enjoying dinner, wine, and schmoozing with other writers. As each category was announced and the winner revealed, I dreamed that one year my name would be called and I would have my moment gliding across the stage to accept the coveted award.

Next year will not be that year. I'm not sure that any future year will be either. Now, I'm not dissing my work because I don't think it's good. Rather, I'm reassessing my dream. My real dream.

As it turns out, the Golden Heart isn't my dream. Publication is. That means my current and future efforts are focused on that single, simple goal.

I've never entered the Golden Heart contest, so I can't speak to its judging and selection process. I have, however, entered other contests and found the feedback confusing. What two judges raved about, a third judge hated. In my inexperience, I found myself always catering to the critic who tore everything apart because whatever issue they had, I wanted to fix. It took me a long time, and losing my voice, to realize the not all feedback is golden. Some of it is crap and should be flushed down the toilet, pronto!

My experiences with the contest circuit caused me to forget the only writer's rule that should never be broken: my story is my story and I'm the only one who can write it. My story is not in the heart of some nameless judge who may not have expertise in the paranormal genre or who may have less writing experience than I do. My story is in my heart, my soul, my imagination. It is mine and mine alone. I need to own it. From the first click of the keys tapping out, Chapter One, to the last words, The End. I must stay true to my creation as I envisioned it, otherwise it's no longer mine.

My intent here is not to poo-poo contests, or tarnish the Golden Heart. All the finalists and winners are hard workers and deserve their moment in the spotlight. I begrudge them not in the least. And I will clap and whoop and holler with the best of them to show my support. They earned it. They deserved it.

For me, the stress of preparing for a contest and then waiting, waiting, waiting for the results takes away time from my heart's desire to see my work professionally published. Since my writing time is very limited, I must engage in those activities that have more of a potential of getting me closer to my dream. I need to finish my current WIP. I need to start planning the next one. I need to revise and edit the one that's been fermenting for a month or two. I need to query. I need to write that synopsis even though it gives me the willies.

I've gained an understanding that I'm not dedicated to the contest circuit like a bull rider is to the rodeo.The Golden Heart will probably never be my brass ring. But to those who are reaching for it, I wish you all the best from the bottom of my heart and when you hear the shouts and cheers go out when you're name is called, know that I'm somewhere in the crowd hooting for you.

~Kristal Lee

Reposted from NKotWB 

(Reposted from New Kids on the Writer's Block)

More than two months have past since I attended the 2010 RWA National Conference. I'm still digesting information from the fabulous workshops and my learning of the craft continues. One of the books I picked up while there is Angela Knight's "Passionate Ink: A Guide to Writing Erotic Romance."

You don't need to be an erotic romance writer to benefit from AK's how-to guide. It's written in an easy, down-to-Earth style that seems more like an afternoon tea with a writing mentor than a textbook.

One of the gems that I plucked from it's pages is a simple tip to avoid sagging middles. Ms. Knight's solution to this problem is "making a bad situation worse." In other words, up the conflict ante'. The middle should be the place where everything goes to he** in a hand basket. "[T]he action needs to ramp up with every scene so that each crisis is worse than one before."

In romantic fiction, love may conquer all in the end but until then it should throw everything into chaos. Love needs to complicate the external conflict so that it is much harder to defeat or overcome. If your story is sagging in the middle something must force the hero/heroine to jump from the frying pan into the fire. AK suggests to consider "the worse possible thing that could happen to [the] hero--given his particular emotional hangups--that he could still survive...[t]hen do it him." Be ruthless with your characters. Misery loves company and the readers will rally behind them.

The middle is also where lust begins to give way to love. As the pressure of the external conflict builds, a moment comes when the hero/heroine experiences an eye opening moment and realizes that he/she is in love and has much more to lose than when the story started. Falling in love should make the problem the hero and heroine are facing much more difficult to overcome and add unexpected consequences.

If your middle is sagging, take a hard look at the story's conflict. Conflict should drive the plot. If it doesn't, you're likely to experience a sputtering of your story. Check out your villain. Is he/she as three dimensional as your hero and heroine? Or a cardboard flunkie?

A weak villain undermines the conflict and sucks the ooomph right out of the plot. Your villain shouldn't be too easily defeated, unbelievable, and/or suffer motivational anemia.  His motivation should be as strong or stronger than the hero/heroine. One trick to creating a worthy villain is to remember that he is the hero in his own mind. He isn't evil for the heck of it. Something deep, dark and sinister motivates him to that end.  He has a cause, he has goals, and he can up the ante' if you let him. And, like a pair of big red suspenders, he can help hold up that sagging middle.

"Passionate Ink" is packed full of useful information and is an excellent resource for romance writers of every genre. If you're interested in winning a free copy of "Passionate Ink," please visit my website (www.kristalleeromances.com) and enter to win. The contest runs through midnight Saturday. Hope to see you there.

~kristal lee

After finishing "Passionate Ink: A Guide to Writing Erotic Romance" by bestselling author Angela  Knight (www.angelasknights.com), I decided that whenever I come across a particularly informative, wow-every-writer-should-have-this book, I'll post about it here. These recommendations will be about writing-craft books I've come across by browsing bookstores, talking with other writers, or at book swaps. "Passionate Ink" came to me by way of the RWA National Conference this year. I had the opportunity to attend Ms. Knight's riveting workshop and picked up a copy of "Passionate Ink" before I left. I'm immensely glad and grateful that I did. 


So, for my first writing-craft book recommendation, I give you "Passionate Ink." 



Bow down to Mistress Knight. Her guide to writing erotic romance should be on every aspiring romance writer's keeper shelf. Wait, forget the bookshelf, it's too far away. It should never be beyond arm's reach when tapping out your manuscript. Even if you aren't writing EroRom this how-to book is an invaluable resource, delving into characterizations, plotting, dialogue, voice, and the practicalities of the writing and publishing industries.

She uses excerpts from her works to demonstrate techniques and emphasizes why those particular caveats are important to the success of the story. I learn by association, so reading those enlightening tidbits after delving through the how-to's of those craft points are helping me more than hours of lecture time in a stuffy classroom.

Every writer worth her salt should know about GMC. Ms. Knight takes this a step further with her Romantic Conflict Chart. After using her simple guide on my current WIP, a little light went on and the Hallelujah choir began to sing. I finally understood why my story pooped out around Chapter 10. And more importantly, how to fix it.

If you're struggling with your manuscript, or you need some advice on how to spice things up, consider picking up "Passionate Ink." It's well worth your time and money. 
  
***CONTEST NEWS****
Because I believe that this book is such an excellent resource, I'm doing my first contest give-away. All you have to do is become a blog follower via Google Follows or Network Blogs and leave a comment. The contest runs through midnight, October 9th, EST. The winner will be chosen by a random number generator on October 10th and will receive a copy of Angela Knight's "Passionate Ink." 

Notice of Advisement-- "Passionate Ink" contains frank language and sexually explicit details. By entering this contest, you are asserting that you are at least 18 years of age, or the legal age of consent in your respective state or country of origin.

~kristal lee 

 

I'm excited to have Camryn Rhys, erotic romance author and Golden Claddagh winner blogging about erotic romance and the quest for recognition of this up and coming genre.

A big welcome to Camryn:

When I sat in the Golden Heart/RITA Ceremony at RWA Nationals this year in Orlando, I found myself imagining what it had been like ten years ago, fifteen or twenty years ago, to be nominated for a RITA. Well, it turns out, they didn't even have "RITA"s twenty years ago.

Well, twenty-one years ago, anyway.

In 1989, the top award in Romance Fiction was called "The Gold Medallion", and there were only eight categories (as opposed to today's twelve). The romance genre looked very different in 1989, and I should know, I was reading it, even at my tender age of ---- don't you wish I'd tell you?

You may wonder why, in the midst of such a beautiful and touching ceremony, I was musing about how different the RITAs looked. It's because of a conversation I had with a bunch of Erotic Romance authors at the Passionate Ink party a few days prior. It went something like this:

"Why isn't there a RITA or a Golden Heart for Erotic Romance?"
"I think they voted on that last year, with the epubs stuff."
"Yeah, I heard it's not a real genre."
"I heard that, too. Someone said 'erotic romances are welcome in any category, just like any other heat level of romance.'"
"But erotic romance isn't a heat level."
"You're right. It's a genre."
Being new to the genre, I asked, "What makes it a genre and not a heat level?"
"Think about it. Most 'sensual' romances, you could make non-explicit, and most sweet romances, you could make more explicit, and they'd essentially be the same story. No matter what the heat level. In erotic romance, the explicit language isn't a trapping, it's part of the love story. Their erotic love story *is* the story. If you take it out, there's no more story."

So I sat at the RITA ceremony thinking about the past because I was wondering about the future. I wondered when RWA would choose to validate a quickly growing genre that does herald itself as a genre, and not a heat level.

As an erotic romance author who also writes in other genres, I know when a story idea is an erotic idea and when it's not. It has nothing to do with how much sex is in the book. Putting more sex scenes in doesn't make a book erotic. If you think that, you need to read some erotic romance. I read a fantastic erotic romance novella, once, by Leigh Court, where there is essentially no sex until the last 20 pages (which is almost straight sex, but still... it was a long buildup). And it really was fantastic. Why?

Because the love story of the hero and heroine was an erotic one. Their sexual awakening was part of their  love story, and it was integral to the story (to their story) that the book be structured the way it was. Take away all the sex, and their relationship could never have happened. That's not true of non-erotic romances, even the super steamy ones.

Erotic romance novels have plot structures deeply rooted in the physical relationship between an h/h. A man who has dishonored his wife and vows to seduce her back. A woman who faces marriage to a man she hates decides to seduce the man she's loved for ten years in the hopes that she can have one good sexual experience before she's consigned to a loveless marriage. A man who so loves a woman that he offers to have a threesome with her and her husband, just to be in her bed. A woman who would become a werewolf, but needs to release her sexual energy in order to change for the first time. A man who regrounds his magic by having sex with an enchanted woman.

The sex is not just a trapping to books like these. It is integral to the very structure of the book. Without the sex, the plot completely disintegrates. While non-erotic books might not be quite as emotionally engaging without sex, they should still at least make sense without it. Erotic romance needs sex.

Preferrably lots of sex. Multiple ways. Maybe with multiple partners. And we're not averse to a little bondage, kink, or play. That's what erotic romance is all about. The sexual journey.

So I do hope that someday, RWA will acknowledge that erotic romance is not a heat level, it's a genre. And as a genre, it deserves to be honored as such. I also hope that I can be the first recipient of an Erotic Romance RITA. Let's say 2015. Yeah, that can be my goal.

Of course, in order to win a RITA, I need to get published first.

Better get on that. ;-)
Camryn

Visit Camryn at Camryn Rhys ~ Putting the H-O-T in History  and at New Kids on the Writer's Block.

I survived RWA’s 30th Anniversary conference.

Thousands of chickens did not.

I’m not talking about individuals afraid of taking risks. I’m talking poultry.


Chicken is my favorite food, next to pizza. It’s versatile, easy to prepare, and goes with anything. To my dismay, Disney’s lack of culinary creativity would have Chef Ramsay dropping the “F”-bomb because the delectable bird was cut and cooked and served without any variety for two luncheons and the awards dinner. Don’t mistake my intent. There was nothing wrong with how the chicken tasted. But, I expected more finesse and flair and variety from the magnate Mouse of magickal moments. To say I was disappointed, barely scratches the surface of the sentiment.

In pondering the many ways that the chicken could’ve been prepared, I began thinking about books and story-telling. {What can I say? I’m a writer. My brain is wired to that path and all roads of thought will eventually end up there.}

As writers, we must not fall into the trap of disappointing readers by dishing out plain chicken reads.

We must take every opportunity to stock our writer’s rack with savory words, ripened plots, and satisfying world building. Marinate characters with the mesquite of the wild west. Add a bit of cinnamon or cardamon for outer-space spice. Simmer plots like robust stew or turn up the heat for fast-fried scenes.

If we don’t, our stories will be as bland and unappealing as an unseasoned chicken.

That’s why I’m grateful for the RWA’s ongoing efforts to provide authors, aspiring and established, with tools to sharpen and hone our skills. The workshops at Nationals were fun, challenging, and oriented to helping writers learn about the craft of writing.

I had a fabulous time meeting interesting people from all over the world, developing friendships that I hope will be long and fruitful, and gleaning from those who have created their own recipes for success.

I’ve expanded my writer’s rack with fighting tips from Angela Knight, witticisms for career planning from Cherry Adair, admonishments to write without whining because it wasn’t any easier then than it is now from Nora Roberts, and Jayne Ann Krentz’s advice on how not to kill your career.

I learned about publishers and publishing, agents and editors, query letters and synopses, hooks and high concept pitches.

But, the boring poultry, thrice served, that could’ve been much more appealing and satisfying if a little creative effort had been put into making it, will be what I remember the most. Because I never want a reader to feel that I didn’t care enough to season my “dish” to perfection.

~Kristal Lee

I hadn’t planned to attend the Romance Writers of America’s annual conference in Nashville, Tennessee this year. Mostly because travel is difficult due to family circumstances and then, there was the flight, hotel, meals, transportation, and the conference fee. Cha-ching, cha-ching, cha-ching.

However, due to the recent flooding of the Nashville area, the conference was relocated to Kissimmee, Florida. With most of the travel expenses eliminated, it became more affordable for me to attend and it’s practically in my own back yard. So, I’m headed to the conference of all conferences this week.

I’m a little apprehensive, to say the least. Large crowds are the last place I want to be. All I can think of is being caught like a rabbit in a buffalo stampede. Yikes!

Although I’m a friendly conversationalist when I have to be, I’m more introverted than I appear and big social events tend to spike my anxiety. I’ve heard from veteran conference attendees that many writers share this phenomenon. Great. We’ll all stroke out together.

Just kidding.

Most of my stress is the build up before I get there. Why? I don’t know. Maybe it has something to do with stepping outside my comfort zone. Or outside my routine…but even that seems weird because I don’t really have a set routine. But, I do like to fill every spare moment with writing. And anything that takes away from those precious time slots fills me with angst.

There’s not much that I’d rather be doing other than writing. Oh, wait. Reading and napping are close seconds, but I usually do those when I’m stuck on a plot point that isn’t developing and my brain needs a break.

On the up side, (and so you know I’m not a complete social phobe) I am excited about meeting new people and hearing about their journeys. Also, the workshops and publisher spotlights scheduled look fabulous and I’m all about gleaning as much as I can from those who’ve gone before me.

So, my goal for this conference is simply to listen and learn, make friends and network. I’m foregoing the pressure of pitching since my current WIP is still in development and my completed manuscript needs significant revisions. At least my business cards came in on time, so I can get my name out there. Hopefully someone will remember me fondly when they see my query letters in the not so distant future.

So, tell me…will you be there too?