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 

NaNoWriMo!

No, it isn't Mork crank calling from his home world, Ork. It's National Novel Writing Month and it starts November 1st.

NaNoWriMo began in 1999 with 21 aspiring novelists in the SF Bay area with a mission. Okay, so part of the mission might've included expanding their dating opportunities, but the point is that they stumbled upon something that has struck a cord with writers world-wide: "a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to novel writing."

So, what is NaNoWriMo exactly?

Well, it's a challenge to write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days.

The organizers of this event state that NaNoWriMo values "enthusiasm and perseverance over painstaking craft...[and is] for everyone who has thought fleetingly about writing a novel but has been scared away by the time and effort involved. Because of the limited writing window, the ONLY thing that matters in NaNoWriMo is output. It's all about quantity, not quality. The kamikaze approach forces you to lower your expectations, take risks, and write on the fly. Make no mistake: You will be writing a lot of crap. And that's a good thing. By forcing yourself to write so intensely, you are giving yourself permission to make mistakes. To forgo the endless tweaking and editing and just create. To build without tearing down."

In 2009, NaNoWriMo had 167,150 participants and 32,178 winners.  And, the number of words officially logged was 2,427,190,537. Holy guacamole, Batman! There was a whole lotta of typin' goin' on.
 
Now, I know that there are skeptics. But the purpose of NaNoWriMo isn't to produce a polished manuscript worthy of the NYT bestsellers list. It's simply to motivate you to get done with your first draft. You can't get published if you can't finish the story.

For me, I need this challenge. The past year has been a frustrating turn of spinning my writing wheels in the mud. I'm looking forward to the pressure of a time crutch and the competition to finish the race. My goal is simply to have a completed manuscript by November 30th. I'm dedicated to putting the words on the electronic paper and hold the editing until "The End." I'll try to abate my OCD with Hemingway's inspirational words. "The first draft of anything is sh**!"

If writing a novel in 30 days sounds like a challenge you're willing to undertake, visit NaNoWriMo to sign up. Then, come back here and click on the icon below to "Buddy Me."

If you're already registered for NaNoWriMo, you can "Buddy Me" too. The more the merrier!

Buddy Me

Happy Tales, yall!
~kristal lee 

*Reposted from the New Kids on the Writer's Block blogunity article dated 10/21/2010.

(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