You are reading: Vol 1 Issue 4: December 2002
| In this issue: About Lord Ruin Carolyn's Projects Questions and Answers Tips for Writers End Notes |
Happy New Year! |
Lord Ruin, December 2002, Leisure Books
Devon stood with Mary and Aldreth but he was bowing over Lucy's hand, distracted, as most men were, by her beauty. Thus, Anne had the space of two breaths to compose herself. Though his circumstances had changed dramatically, he had not. His hair was still too long, and he still had that ungoverned air about him, as if he just barely restrained himself from some outrageous behavior. Four years had passed. She told herself she meant nothing to him now. Indeed, she expected he would show her only polite disinterest. He was rich now and ennobled while she was nothing but a spinster of no particular interest to anyone. Meet Devon Carlisle
Captain Sebastian Alexander is The Spare, a younger son who inherits the family title and an estate in remote northern England. Sebastian intends to marry a suitable you woman, but the family spirits have someone else in mind. The Spare is (as of yesterday, December 27) complete. Now it's just polish, polish and more polish and then off to my agent! Check out what's in the planning stages: The List and The Barbarian. But, what about Devon and Emily? Lucy and Thrale? I think I'll be moving their stories higher on my own list.
What do you do in your spare time?
What spare time? I drink coffee, that's what! OK. I read. I'm often seen staring into space, but that blank expression means I'm figuring out how to write the next bit of the story.
What do you like best about writing?
Is this a trick question? I like being done because by then I've eliminated all the really wretched writing and boring parts. After that, I like imagining the next story because that's way easier than actually writing it.
Ask Carolyn a question. She promises a personal reply. Suggestions about what you'd like to see in the newsletter would be greatly appreciated.
Getting Started
Writing a novel can seem overwhelming. Where's the best place to start? How should you start? When should you start? All good questions, but not only are they relatively easy to answer, they're not even most important questions to have answered. Read on for some short answers to a big subject:
Well, "at the beginning" sounds like a good answer, but it's not necessarily the right one. Start wherever you want to. Pick the bit of the story that most speaks to you and write that first. If you don't start at the place that interests you most, you risk getting bored before you've gotten far enough along to have some momentum.
With the knowledge that you will be discovering the writing method that works for you. So, my advice is to start with your instinct. Another way to say the same thing: Start wherever the heck you want, just as long as you start. Don't debate whether you should be writing on the computer, plotting, writing a synopsis or drafting in a notebook. Do what you want and start with what seems like the most fun. I wish there were a magic solution, but there's not. You are the only one who can discover what works for you. So! Get started.
Right now.
Expect some rocky patches. Expect that at times your work will be awful, horrible. Hopeless. Why did you ever think you could do this? Don't despair (for long)! The trick is to analyze what's not working and figure out how to fix it, and then go do it. Writers who don't do that either give up or don't adjust and in either case, they don't get published. Golly, I wish there were an easy answer, but there's not. Sigh. Actually, the answer is easy. But doing it's not.
Visit Carolyn's Workshop for more tips on writing.
Last romance Novel read: Regency Buck by Georgette Heyer (Week including December 10, 2002)
Last non-romance Novel read: Monster by John Kellerman (Week of December 20, 2002.)
School: A Christian Turned Turk, Robert Daborne (1612)
Last Updated: 12.28.2002