"The Writing Life" part 2 - Interview with Susan Gee Heino

Regency romance author Susan Gee Heino is with us again for the second installment of “The Writing Life.” She will share some writing advice and tips with us. You can find Part 1 of the interview here. Susan has a new book coming out in August (Damsel in Disguise (Berkley Sensation)) so we really appreciate the time she is taking to be with us. Susan, thanks for joining us.

Thanks for having me, Michele. I love it here!

When and why did you begin writing? Did you just sit down one day and say “I’m going to write a book to be published?”
I’ve been writing fiction since I was a little kid. Seriously, I love stories and I love make-believe. But I hardly ever told people I wanted to write novels because I thought it was something so far out of the realm of possibility that talking about it would only lead to disappointment. Still, it was a dream that just would not go away. In college I studied theatre and turned my focus from acting to playwriting. I had some success with that, but not enough to pay the bills. After graduating, I went out into the real world and got a “normal” job, but just couldn’t shake the writing bug. I took correspondence classes, I wrote plays for church, I submitted short stories to magazines, and I filled journal after journal with story ideas and scene drafts. Still, though, what I really wanted was to be an author. And what I wanted to write was Historical Romance. So, I finally came out of the closet, joined a professional writers group, and put all my eggs in that basket. It was still several years of determined work, but finally I’ve seen that dream come true.

Do you have a specific writing style?
Yes, but I’ll be darned if I can define it! I think every writer has their own “voice”, or style, but generally we can’t see it as clearly as others can. I’ve been told my style is witty, quirky, emotional, unpredictable, and even farcical. Since those are all characteristics I love when I find them in other authors, I’m hoping this is an accurate description of my style! I think it’s very important for writers to understand what fires them and what they do well. Highlight those things and make sure they are front and center in everything you write. That is your “voice”.

Do you write an outline before every book you write?
I do now because my publisher requires it. Years ago I didn’t—I just started writing and let the story go wherever it wanted. The problem with this is that sometimes the story rambled into a place I like to call “Stupidville” and it was quite a bit of work and effort to drag it back out of there and carve it into something more closely resembling a readable plotline. Now that I’m on deadline, I don’t have that luxury. I need to keep things going full steam ahead without drastic detours into dumb stuff that just has no place in this particular book.

We talk about writers being either “plotters” or “pantsers”. The Plotters are the ones who plot and outline and do character studies, etc. before they even begin their book. They revel in their plans and love setting goals. These are usually the OCD neat freaks who are convinced Pantsers must be insane.

Pantsers are the ones who fly by the seat-of-their-pants, just making stuff up as they go along and dreading the idea of outlines or plotting charts. For a Pantser, the thrill of writing a book is gone if they already know details of how it will end. The Pantser usually has 45 unfinished manuscripts tucked under her bed and thinks Plotters are weirdo control freaks.

I am a recovering Pantser. I realized that 45 unfinished manuscripts won’t help me much until I can find a way to get them finished. This century. So, I’ve learned to embrace the outline. In fact, I’ve discovered that I like having an outline! It helps keep my ADD brain focused on where the story is going and I’ve actually come up with a really cool Excel spreadsheet that I use to help me with plotting and keeping track of things like Goal, Motivation, Conflict, and whatever the heck I named the butler in Chapter three.

Do you ever experience writer's block? If so, how do you get through it?
I really don’t get writer’s block. I love writing and I always have many, many more ideas than I have time to write them. I do, however, get very, very tired of working the same idea for months on end. Long about page 200 I’m generally soooo sick of these characters and this plotline that it’s hard to get my head into my work. How do I overcome that? By pure, torturous plugging away at it day after day. I muscle myself into my chair, I wrestle my brain into working order, and I force myself to stay away from email and Facebook. Then I write the darned book until it’s done. Then I go back through it and rewrite. And rewrite. And proofread. And edit. I think writers must have some serious masochistic disorders to do what we do.

What were the challenges (research, literary, psychological, and logistical) in bringing your novel to life?
I think the biggest challenge was to believe that what I was doing had value even though I had nothing to show for it. Writing is very solitary. It’s just you and your keyboard. In my early years, it seemed like the only feedback I was getting was rejections. But I’m stubborn and pretty self-centered, so I kept on writing because I wanted to and it didn’t really matter that no one was interested in buying it. I realized that I wrote for ME and that I was a better person when I was writing. I gave myself permission to continue. I learned to navigate the logistics of spreading my braincells out between mothering, house-wifing, and writing. And I had fun with it. It’s good to be challenged. It gives you a target to shoot at.

Have you ever had to put a project away because you couldn’t write it?
Yes. Some years ago I sat beside an editor at a luncheon and she told me there was a specific type of story she’d been looking for but it seemed no one was writing it. The next day, I went home and started writing that kind of story. A few months later I had something pretty good and I submitted it to her. She liked it, but requested a few revisions before she could consider making an offer. Her suggestions were right on the money and I could have easily made those revisions and sent the manuscript right back to her, but I didn’t.

The more I thought about it the more I realized I did not want to write in that genre. I didn’t write this book for ME, I wrote it for HER. Did I really want to sign a contract saying I would publish this book and then write more like it? Did I love this type of story enough to spend the next couple years at it? No, honestly, I didn’t. That very day I put that manuscript aside and began working on the one that eventually won the Golden Heart and became my first sale. Guess I owe that first editor a big thank you, don’t I?

Have you ever hated something you wrote and why?
Oh heavens yes! Practically every day. I always thought this would go away, that once I got published I would somehow magically no longer need my delete key. Wrong! But I have learned that this is just one of those things I have to live with. I am getting better at recognizing what works and what doesn’t, even if I’m having an “I hate everything I write” day. It’s never really as bad as it seems.

What was the hardest part of writing your first book?
Realizing when I made a wrong turn and deleting the stuff that just had to go. I’m getting much better at recognizing when my hero is acting out of character or when a scene I love is going to bore readers to tears, but I still find myself having to cut things I really wish I could keep. But the sad truth is that most manuscripts don’t need stuff added to them, they need stuff cut from them. Embracing that truth was not so much fun, but it has helped immensely.

Does it get easier to write the second book? Third?
As with just about any skill, the craft gets easier the more you practice. However, once you’ve made a sale and now have deadlines and contractual obligations and promotional opportunities, things get really tricky. My writing time now has to include not only writing a book that is better than the last one, but managing the business and marketing aspects of my career. That’s hard work!

Plus, I decided to write connected stories, so my second and third books all have plot elements that must fit a pre-established storyline. My characters have to fit the mold I made for them in previous books. I thought this would make things easier, but really it makes it a lot harder. Instead of a big, blank page to color on, I have to be very careful to stay inside the lines I’ve already drawn. Ugh.

Do you see yourself writing something other than regency romance in the future?
Regency is my fave, but I also have a couple really fun contemporary romances that I really, really want to see in print someday. I would totally love to write more contemporary. Also, I’m working on a proposal now for a non-romance YA Paranormal series (yeah, I know—who isn’t?) that my agent is really excited about. Hopefully we’ll see something coming from that before too long. Oh, and I’d love to see Westerns get popular again. I looooove cowboys and it would be so much fun to write one.

Do you have any advice for other writers?
I just met author Heather Graham at a conference and she said something immeasurably profound. I think I’ll steal it from her: “Read read read. Write write write. Live live live.” That’s the best writerly advice I’ve ever heard and I don’t think I could possibly give any better. What about others? What advice has helped you in your writing journey?


Susan, again, thank you so much for joining us today.

Readers, we want to hear from YOU! Tell us what advice has helped you in your writing journey. Plus, do you have more questions for Susan? She will be hanging out with us today, so leave your question in the comments section.

Also, check out the Tuesday Contest, where we are giving away an autographed copy of Mistress by Mistake (Berkley Sensation) to one lucky follower.

We'll conclude this series of interviews with the next segment of "The Writing Life" in 2 weeks. Susan will be discussing rejection - how she deals with it and how it's affected her writing. Check back with us then. Click here for Part Three.

Contest Tuesday - Mistress By Mistake

A few weeks back we gave away an autographed copy of Mistress By Mistake by Susan Gee Heino (see my review of the book here). Surprise!! I have another copy of the book to give away to some lucky follower this week.

In addition to the book giveaway, the second installment of  "The Writing Life," my interview with Susan, will be posted tomorrow. In the first interview, Susan discusses how she got started writing and who has influenced her writing. You can read that interview here. Tomorrow, Susan will be talking about writing tips and advice, so be sure to check back with us.

All followers – with the exception of contributors and those who have won prizes within the last thirty (30) days – will receive one chance at winning. Contest will remain open until midnight (EST), Friday, July 2, 2010. Winner will be chosen by random drawing and results posted July 3, 2010.

Miscellaneous Monday - Craft Writing Books

How many books on writing fiction do you own? Do you read them? I must confess, I have acquired quite a collection, thinking that each will possess that little secret needed to push my writing to the next level.

The truth of the matter is, books on writing are meant to be a help in your writing, not replace it. I have been writing fiction for a little over eight years, and the best tip I have ever received on writing from a writing book is......well....to write. We can improve our writing skills by simply writing. Even if it's only one page a day, it will keep your skills sharp.

That being said, here is a list of my top five favorite writing books. Please comment back and share a few of yours.

Plot & Structure by James Scott Bell

Writing For The Soul by Jerry Jenkins

On Writing by Stephen King

Self Editing by James Scott Bell

Hooked by Les Edgerton

Happy Writing!

It's Sunday Snippet Time!!!

Humble Creek Holler
(WIP)

Beth Zellner

Chapter One

I lingered on the bank of the creek. The cold water slapped the soles of my feet. The ground was cool, too, though the places where the sun kissed me – my shoulders, one knee, an elbow – were warmed and so balanced the chilling effect, and I felt quite comfortable standing there. The birch leaves had yet to fully fill out the spring canopy, and through their patchwork pattern, I could see out across our mountain, many miles distant. Slowly, I inhaled the deep green air.

This was the place I came everyday to draw our water, and I should not have been dawdling. Still, my thoughts hung heavily in the bright spring morning, and I didn’t much feel like returning to our homestead. The watering hole rested upstream of our place, and small bits of the day’s festivities were carried up to me, wafting by on the breeze. I could faintly hear a child’s cry of glee, a parent’s reprimand. I could smell the pig that turned on the spit, and despite my foul mood, my mouth watered at the flavorful scent. I sighed. I hefted up my buckets and began to weave my way back down the well-tramped path to our cabin. My feet, often bare as they were today, knew well the path home, the feel of each pebble under each toe.

I passed beneath the “thinking tree,” the place Daddy would send me or Sis to consider both our childhood indiscretions, as well as our earthly sin. It was an enormous white cedar tree that stood proudly alone in a small clearing between stands of other, less self-assured varieties. Some folks called the cedars the tree of life, and the trees often dotted the landscape within our local cemeteries, intermingled among the squat square tombstones, equal signs of both hope for the departed, and last ditch desperate attempts to make amends.

Mam had no use for Daddy’s tree, however. Sin or the overzealousness of a little girl were both exactly equal reasons for the switch. I had learned – probably somewhere around my fifth or sixth year, as I recall – that the more slender the sapling, the more memorable the punishment. Mam would send us, me or Sis, off to choose our own stick, you see, then apply the necessary punishment. The slightest wisp of a twig could leave a raised welt that prevented sitting, or sitting comfortably, at least. But a more substantial branch provided more wallop. In the end, we discovered, it was really a losing argument either way one went in their choice.

Off in the thick underbrush somewhere behind me, I heard a twig snap. Too loud to be merely a squirrel, or even a deer, yet I thought little of it. I assumed it was Montrose, and continued on. We still thought him to be harmless back then. Folk do love a good story, and there were plenty surrounding Montrose. He had lived here - out here - in the seclusion and wildness for all of my years on earth. Some said he had lost his mind when his mother died and left him an orphan. Others whispered it was the shame of not having a father that drove him finally mad. And there were a scant few who blamed his condition on a woman, some unknown, unnamed vixen who had stolen his heart and possibly his sanity. Somewhere in there truth might be found, or not. But the known facts were simply that one day Montrose arose, like any other seemingly normal day, packed himself a bedroll, and strolled out of his house, never again to know the feel of a soft goose down pillow under his head, or the glow of a welcoming hearth at his feet.

A group of my young cousins, the infinite offspring of my father’s four sisters, played in the side yard. They had, in the center of the group, a chipped yellow pottery bowl full of soapy water. With a small wooden hoop, they made large and small luminescent bubbles, which now floated lazily in all directions, and lended preciousness to the scene. I remembered playing the same game when I had been their age. Percy, one of the especially naughty little boys, ran around with a stick, trying to harpoon as many innocent orbs as he could. A great wail went up from one of the girls, and one of the aunties dispersed the group, rambunctious children running in all directions away from the interloping adult, and reforming in smaller groups at the edge of the lawn. The family gathering had officially begun.

For more from writer Beth Zellner,

Please visit:  http://www.bethnbijoux.blogspot.com/

Who's your favorite Vampire? Poll results

Thanks to everyone who voted in our unofficial "Who's your favorite vampire?" poll. The results are in. And apparently all the Twilight fans are in line somewhere waiting for the opening of Eclipse, because in a surprise win ANGEL beat the competition. Wooo Hooo!

ANGEL: 60%

EDWARD: 20%

VAMPIRE BILL: 20%

Friday Review: Courting Morrow Little by Laura Frantz

If you are looking for a great summer read...look no further. Courting Morrow Little by Laura Frantz is a Historical romance set in the Kentucky. The author has an amazing way of drawing the reader in both with deep characters, and settings so beautifully described you feel as if you are there.

What a pleasure to see Morrow change from a frightened young woman into the confidant woman you see at the end of the novel. Red Shirt is a hero that you won't soon forget. Rugged, brave and a man of action. I found myself rooting for the unlikely couple right from their first meeting.

Packed with adventure and romance, I found this book hard to put down.

Laura Frantz's ancestors followed Daniel Boone into Kentucky, and she still has family that resides there. Her debut novel The Frontiersman's Daughter is also set in Kentucky.

Creating Characters: Encourage Reader Participation!

Last week for our “writing prompt Thursday” exercise, we discussed creating characters. If you did not get the chance to read that post, and would like to, you may find it here:

http://fictionflurry.blogspot.com/2010/06/writing-prompt-thursday.html

One of the most important aspects of creating a memorable character is to give your reader the opportunity to participate. When I am reading truly good writing, I feel as though the author and I are working together in a partnership. He or she is providing me with a breadcrumb trail to follow, guiding me down a particular path, but allowing me to stop and look around from time to time, to take in whatever scenery I might conjure along the way. The truly accomplished author does not tell me everything – nor should they. If a detail is especially important for me as a reader to be aware of, then the writer should provide that information. Otherwise, let my reader’s imagination fill in the blanks. Trust your writing enough to know that you don’t have to include every single detail.

Ernest Hemingway called this the “iceberg theory” of prose, and he discussed it in his book, Death in the Afternoon:

If a writer of prose knows enough about what he is writing about he may omit things that he knows and the reader, if the writer is writing truly enough, will have a feeling of those things as strongly as though the writer had stated them. The dignity of movement of an iceberg is due to only one-eighth of it being above water.

In High Five, by author Janet Evanovich, we are introduced to a character by the name of Randy Briggs. As it turns out, Randy is a "little person." This is a crucial fact to share with the reader, because a good deal of the slapstick humor that Ms. Evanovich is so adept at writing comes from the juxtaposition between bounty hunter Stephanie Plum and the ways in which Mr. Briggs manages to outmaneuver her attempts to capture him.

I recently read a novel (which shall remain nameless) where a potentially critical piece of information was withheld from the reader. As I began to read this particular book, I was introduced to a strong, but aging, woman executive. She was upset about being pushed out, and after a good many pages, I felt like I knew the character, and that she and I were fighting the good fight together. Then, out of nowhere, the author just happens to interject the fact that this lady is also African-American.

This character must have encountered any number of critical, life-changing moments in her climb to the top, especially as a woman of color. What offended me was not only the fact that I wasn’t told this detail sooner, but that it wasn’t mentioned again in the entire book! If this fact was important enough to tell me in the first place, then surely it was important enough to explore. But that author dropped the ball, as though adding this particular character trait was just a quaint afterthought. It’s simply not nice to play tricks like that on your reader.

As I promised, I used some of my own prompts and came up with a character introduction. In order to keep today’s post a reasonable length, I have continued with more over on my personal blog:

http://www.bethnbijoux.blogspot.com/

Feel free to visit me there and comment/share what you come up with!

As ever, Happy Writing!

Writer Beth Zellner is currently finishing her first novel

and is excited to begin on the journey to representation!