What makes a good cover?

Words of wisdom from two of our amazing, talented cover artists:

It's hard to explain from a cover artist stand point what makes a good cover because designing is sort of an organic process for an artist. What I'm going to try to explain is what you should think about when requesting a cover.  As far as composition, most of the time, less is better. Trying to request a complicated cover with too many elements will make for a messy cover, kind of like trying to put to many flavors in a cake. Also, white space is your friend; don't feel like every inch of the cover needs to be covered with something, it can be a very successful cover with lots of white space.

What I would suggest when making a cover wish list is concentrate on one or two items that are central to your story line like the setting and a good description of your characters.

For example:   A contemporary suspense set in a dark alley of New York, blond heroine, dark haired hero looking pensive.  Well you get the idea.

Also, watch being too picky if the characters on the cover don't look exactly like your characters. As long as they allow the tone of your book to come through and it's attractive from a marketing standpoint, I wouldn't sweat it!  I've had authors nit-pick covers into ugliness because they want it to look exactly like their vision, but sometimes that's just not possible, so they passed up an opportunity for an amazing cover.

Artists have to work from stock art, so they likely can't get your characters exactly. Here's an example, a long haired blond man. Likely, that's just not something the artist is going to be able to find for you in stock art, but if they can have an attractive couple kissing, for example, and it makes the cover pop, I wouldn't worry if the guy doesn't have long blond hair.

So that's my short advice on making a cover great, let the artist eye for design and overall composition for marketing purposes make you cover pop. If you give them room to work that way, I guarantee your cover will rock! - From Cover Art Designer Rae Monet of Rae Monet, Inc. Design

***

I love to create covers! I love to please! But there are times when those two things concepts simply collide.

Case in point, the historical lines. The author has a grand idea of what she/he envisions for the cover.

I have spent hours in search of an auburn beauty with green-eyes, wearing a blue period gown with a sapphire pendant in her hand as part of the story.

Oh dear heavens, I can only photoshop so much, so let's get creative here, because 'I WILL NEVER FIND THAT EXACT PHOTO'. What really needs to happen is some fantastic photographers loading the stockphoto sites with vintage, historically dressed romantic figures, and not some cheesy costume party picture. Don't get me wrong, if I were a writer and had a vision, I would love to see the cover come to life, looking like the pages from my book.

What a joy when I get close and the author writes back, FABULOUS, I LOVE IT!!!! And that is where the collision erupts into a masterpiece and life if good, until the next cover! -   Tina Lynn Stout, TWRP cover artist

Write your heart...

Hello, my name is Christine Kuczmynda, and I'm an editor here at The Wild Rose Press. I work with Nicole in the Historical plot of the garden and with Diana in Scarlet.

As an editor and a reader before that, I've seen many, many different types of books come through our doors. Some manuscripts I just know the author's trying to push through because the topic is what's 'in' right now-or they're trying to do a twist on a popular theme. For example, if we still accepted YA novels, I'm sure there would be a million and one about high schoolers falling in love with vampires.

Now in theory there's nothing wrong with this. And if the story is well-written with dynamic characters, it definitely works.

However, if you aren't writing your heart, or your passion, it shows on paper. It's lifeless, or cardboard. Flat characters. Or crazy ideas. Things that may make even the most prolific romance reader cringe in horror.

As a writer, I'm aware that my first completed novel is not ready for prime time publishing. But I think about it frequently. I love the hero and heroine. I still love the story. And I'm sure at some point I'll take it out, dust it off, and give it a rewrite.

Getting published is important-a dream of most writers. We, here at TWRP love to help authors' dreams come true.

But don't forget to write your heart.

Something started you on this path. Don't lose sight of it.

Pronouns

The word pronoun is taken from the old French, “pronomine.” Literally translated, it means instead of a noun. He, she, it, they, you, this, that, which, who, are pronouns. So what?

So…repeating a pronoun is like repeating any other word—dog or husband or elephant.  Pronouns are my pet peeve, as many of my authors have learned. Thankfully, they’ve also learned why, and been open to eliminating the overuse of them from their stories.

How do I write in my character’s point of view if I can’t say her or she—you ask. Don’t get me wrong, you can use the pronouns, just hopefully not overuse them. I’ll give an example or two, so show how it can be done. Yes, it’s work but worth it, I think.

Example: Brenda drew in a long, deep breath and let it out in a slow hiss. Then, the memory of the day she received the job offer came to her mind and a hint of a smile crossed her face. She’d been in a terrible mood after engaging in verbal combat with her new publisher. 5 pronouns

To eliminate pronouns, it could say: Brenda drew in a long, deep breath and let it out in a slow hiss. The memory of the job offer brought a smile that widened at the thought of the new publisher’s face, handsome with a hint of a quirkiness that hadn’t been showing today. Her smile died at the thought of the verbal combat he’d initiated. 2 pronouns

Here, we’ve eliminated a few pronouns and some telling, but notice that we’ve also developed Brenda’s character as she relates her opinion of the new boss’s quirkiness, and the fact that he’d instigated the confrontation between them.

One more example: That was the question of the day, Lana thought, since he was out of town the day she interviewed with John Richards. Just then, the door flew open. She jumped so high she swore she floated above the sofa for a split second. A man in an expensive suit strode toward her and she heard her heart thumping. His eyes washed over her and his brows raised in recognition. 11 pronouns

This could say: That was the question of the day, since he was out of town during the interview with John Richards. Just then, the door flew open. Lana jumped so high she envisioned dangling over the sofa like a wind-chime. A gorgeous man wearing an expensive suit strode across the carpet and her heart jack-hammered in reaction. His glance showed appreciation. His brows raised in recognition. 5 pronouns

In this example, we’ve done away with some telling, cut the adverb count in half, eliminated 5 pronouns, replaced a too-common image (heart thumping) with jack-hammered, and added a simile (like a wind-chime).

As I said above, getting rid of pronouns is work, but after a while becomes second nature. Your final result is tighter and more detailed.

Historical Department Announces a New Series

I read an email the other day that said students set to enter college this fall are the first who have never lived in a house where the  telephone have cords, and think of a pop star—not a princess—when they hear the name Fergie.  It went on to name several other things they’re missing out on, but it definitely got me thinking.  Then came the news that the daytime soap All My Children would be canceled this fall, prompting my 11 year old son to look at me in confusion and ask  “What’s a daytime soap?”

I’m forty something and when I think of my high school days, I remember running home to catch the soaps that came on at three o’clock—General Hospital, Guiding Light,  Another World (and in later years, my favorite of all time, Santa Barbara).  My friends and I would watch together over the phone --which, yes, was attached to the wall, but years of stretching made the cord juuuuust long enough to reach across the living room to the sofa.  There was nothing worse than Friday afternoon at 3:59 p.m. in the soap opera world—the doorbell would ring and our current heroine in distress would be handed a letter, sit down in her beautifully decorated home, slit the envelope open, read it …and clap a well manicured hand over her perfectly painted mouth.  Fade to black.  Cue the closing credits.

Is it really possible that kids my son’s age will never know the agony—the brutal anguish!!—of not knowing what will happen on your favorite soap until Monday?  The wait was interminable!  Was it bad news—was it about the husband who had been missing for five years (or at least since the last actor to play him asked for a raise…) Was he dead?  Or worse, now that she had found happiness with someone else, was she learning he was still alive and laying in a coma (covered in bandages, naturally, after some very convenient reconstructive surgery)?  We would have to wait three entire days (gasp! Practically an eternity!) to find out.

How did we ever survive it?

My son lost interest in my explanation long before I did but the trip down memory lane made me realize… kids his age (and even a decade older) don’t know the simple joy—or heartache—of receiving a letter in the mail (the relatively instant gratification of email just isn’t  the same, IMO).  Or even the act of gathering your special pen and paper, address book and stamps, actually sitting down and composing a letter, tucking it into the envelope, licking the flap to seal it and walking to the corner mailbox (when was the last time you saw one of those?) and dropping it in the box.  Then, depending on who you sent it to and where they lived, you waited anywhere from a few days to a few weeks to hear back.  And oh, what excitement when the mailman (I’m quite a ways down Memory Lane,  and at that time there were only mail men—I promise I’m not being sexist. *G*) brought you a letter. Sometimes those letters contained life-altering news: a proposal, news of an inheritance, the loss of a loved one, the birth of a new family member, the dreaded “Dear John” letter… the possibilities of what lie inside that innocent-looking white envelope were endless.

Today the historical department of TWRP debuts a new short story series called Love Letters.  In this series a character’s life is forever changed by the receipt of a letter.  Earlier this year invitations were sent out to a select number of authors to write stories to launch the series.  As of today, with the release of the first story in the series (Beth Trissel’s wonderful Into the Lion’s Heart) we’re opening this series to submissions.  The guidelines can be found below.

Whether you’re one of our current historical authors, or an author who has always thought about writing historical but has never taken the plunge, I hope you’ll read the guidelines and consider writing a story for this wonderful new series.  Let your imagination run wild and consider what life-altering news would be in your hero or heroine’s envelope.  Because sometimes… a letter changes everything.

For more information on the Love Letters series, or questions regarding the submission guidelines, please feel free to contact me (or any member of the historical team) at ndarienzo@thewildrosepress.com  We’d love to talk to you about Love Letters!

Love Letters stories can be:

News of an arranged marriage

Dear John letter

Unexpected inheritance

Mail order bride

Death of a loved one

...anything you can imagine that would alter someone's life!

Stories must be historical in nature and suited to one of the following lines: American Rose, Cactus Rose, English Tea Rose, Vintage Rose (for more information please visit the individual pages for each of these lines. Story length should range between 20,000-25,000 words.  The letter must be within the first three pages of the story.

Scare me to death...please!

Hi...I'm Ally Robertson, an editor for the Crimson Suspense line. 'Suspense' is the operative word here. I receive countless submissions that just aren't suspenseful enough. We need danger...threats...maybe a little violence...yes, even death. I want you to keep me on the edge of my seat. I want you to make me worry for your characters. I want your bad guy (or girl) to give me chills. Of course, there has to be romance--we're a romance publisher, after all. But, in the SUSPENSE line, I also need some danger and devastation. I need to see it soon, too. If your character hasn't experienced anything harrowing in the first chapter, you don't have a suspense.

It's hard to pinpoint exactly how soon the danger should come, but the first scene is an excellent place for it. I will, however, settle for the first chapter. I've received partials of the first three chapters where absolutely nothing frightening or the least bit worrisome happens. Sometimes, the writing is good and the romance is good. In that case, it's probably just in the wrong line.

If your heroine has a psycho ex she's running from, just having her mull over all the bad stuff he did to her in the past isn't enough. Something should happen early in the story to at least make her think he's caught up to her. A dead body is always good...not literally, not in real life, but in your story. If, for example, someone the heroine knows dies under suspicious circumstances, if it looks like psycho ex could be involved, you've probably got a suspense.

Some examples where you likely don't have a suspense are, first and foremost, if nothing threatening or mysterious happens in the first few chapters. Or, if nothing happens during your story, period. For example, if you have a story where the townspeople talk about killings that took place years ago, and no one is in danger now, you probably don't have a suspense.

So please, before you send us a suspense story, make sure you hurt or kill or maim someone (IN YOUR STORY, THAT IS), or at least severely threaten and/or terrorize them. And do it soon. Otherwise, you might have a stellar romance...but you just don't have a suspense.

Ally Robertson
Editor
Crimson Rose - Suspense and Intrigue

Let's Get Closer!

Distant Writing:

Hello, I’m Corinne MacGregor, and I’ve been an editor here at TWRP for about four years. It seems our editors have touched upon so many wonderful topics that I wondered what I could add this week. Then something came to mind, an issue I often encounter as an editor: distant writing.

Distant writing is something that stands out and is a problem because it interferes with the emotional enjoyment or connection with the characters in a story. Reporting something after the fact is not as exciting as letting the reader experience a scene as it unfolds for the characters.

It’s more fun to read a story if you’re involved and can almost hear, smell, see, touch, and taste what the point of view character does. Also, the inner happenings of the non-POV characters can be shown through expression, body language, tone, etc.

Here are some words that can be rephrased to take a story from distant writing to more in-depth, emotionally alluring writing:

Heard, saw, watched, thought, knew, and my favorite ;) “felt.”

When I see these in a manuscript, many times I’ll ask the writer to be more direct and “get under the character’s skin” so to speak.

While being more direct, the writer can involve the character’s emotions. Make it relevant to the character. For example, instead of “She heard footsteps coming up the stairs” this could be rephrased as “With each creak of the step, growing louder as he ascended, her excitement grew. She clasped her hands together and chuckled.”

Seeing words such as “saw” and “felt” draw a reader from the story by putting distance between the characters and them that shouldn’t be there to be engaging. Those words give it less of a feel of fiction and more like one of journalism/reporting.

Adverbs, especially those that end in –ly do the same thing. They water down writing and should be avoided where possible.  There you go! Happy writing. 

Hey! Why Did You Change That?

by Nancy Swanson, Editor and Production Coordinator

As we send edits back and forth, sometimes I’ll get a question from an author asking me about a change I’ve made in editing. What the author has written may be perfectly good in many respects but not be acceptable according to our particular style guidelines. If your hero is wearing a tee shirt, for instance, we will say no, he’s wearing a T-shirt. Your heroine’s dress may plunge in a vee neckline, but he has a T-shirt.

Every publishing house has its own set of rules for the formatting and style of its products. Here at The Wild Rose Press we have CMOS (Chicago Manual of Style) as our primary standard. Then we add a few idiosyncrasies of our own.

For instance, if you are a British author we let you keep your spelling but require the punctuation follow U.S. rules, including periods and commas inside quotation marks, generally, with those quotation marks double rather than single. We like commas in sentences using direct address, too: “Oh, John, are you leaving?”

Like all rules, they have their exceptions. The one British spelling we won’t let you keep, and won’t let anyone else use, either, is “alright.” “Alright” is simply not all right. We are positive-minded people and we love “all right.” Things may be already altogether lovely, but they’re not alright, even if you can find the word in the dictionary—they’re all right.

Would you rather say it’s OK? We sympathize, but we’ll ask you to make that “okay” despite the origin of the word.

For some word changes, you might check the dictionary for the correct or preferred spelling for the meaning you want. A mantle, for instance, is usually a cloak or covering, while what’s over a fireplace is usually a mantel, instead. Other spellings and usages are regionally influenced or might depend on the context. If your characters are in the Wild West and a grizzled, tobacco-spitting old codger is in the scene, he’s not going to talk like the dapper Easterner who just blew into town, for instance.

What you don’t have to worry about...

• Too many spaces between words – we have an easy fix for that when we format the galley proof.
• Whether dashes are the right size – as long as you have two hyphens, an n-dash, or an m-dash wherever you want a dash, we will take care of that, too.
• Underlining vs. italics – we can accept either one, but with underlining the editor will have to change each to italics during editing.
• What type font to use – or any other formatting details. We will make sure everything is in order for publication, and you will see it before it goes out.

One more thing to consider...

Your editor sends you a galley file to proof and you see large gaps between words in some lines. What’s this? Can we fix it?

It’s caused by the necessary formatting for production. You can fix it by rewriting those sentences to include more and/or smaller words in the affected lines. When the manuscript is justified, so you have straight margins on each side, the spaces between lines have to make the words stretch from one side to the other. Several long words together mean the spacing has to be more conspicuous. We applaud your excellent vocabulary skills, but “all things in moderation” is a good maxim.

To wrap up...

Never be afraid to ask questions – we welcome them; it’s how you learn – but sometimes the answer is going to be something as simple as “that’s how we do it here” and you’ll have to be ready to accept that. 

Top Reasons for Rejections from TWRP

The following list was put together after a discussion on our editor loop about the top reasons why an editor here at TWRP rejects a manuscript.  We hope these will come in handy for everyone who writes for us or is attempting to get contracted.

Rejection reasons from TWRP Editors

My last dozen or so rejections have been for either 1) poor control of POV, which leads right to a shallow emotional layer, or 2) the story isn't enough of a romance but is women's fiction with some romance tossed in.

POV issues seem to crop up more and more in submissions.  I've also had several that fall far short of the romance we are looking for or have so many plot lines and characters that the romance is too deeply buried to really shine. 

Another reason that I see over and over again is passiveness.  There is just no vibrancy, tension or action to bring the story alive.

I get a lot of stories where the hero and heroine marry halfway through and she gets pregnant, then the rest of the book has only external conflict keeping them apart (villain or distance).

Since I'm in Faery, I get excellent scifi/fantasy stories that boil down to not being romance. No conflict between hero and heroine. Their goals align too early.   I really enjoy some of the stories and the artistry of the writers, but they won't work for TWRP.

Lack of originality. I can't tell you the number of stories that begin with someone ditching their wedding or returning to town after a long absence. Also, I turned down an awesome story, a sort of sequel to a story that's sold a ton of copies--because it wasn't a romance.

I'm with the pov issue and the stories that don’t fit our line. It is like they do not read the guidelines for what each line or what TWRP is looking for.

Telling, not showing, lack of focus (story is all over the place), passive writing, pacing problems, and lack of control over POV issues.  I do get a lot that are not a romance, as well.

Scarlet has the same issues everyone else has mentioned. Substandard writing, not within our guidelines, and not romance but flat out erotica.

POV is a big one for me followed very close by 2 dimensional characters with no deeper undertone--as in conversations that have people just standing there talking with no action or inflection and telling descriptions with no depth

POV, and lack of relationship depth. 

The conflict shouldn't feel contrived or made up just for tension. The elusive "voice" thing is also important for me.

Sometimes a story is well written but the voice is I guess you'd call it DULL.

Like everyone else I struggle with the telling writing, not romance and pov.  My problem with pov though is when they think it is okay to have ten of them. 

As  we get the initial queries in, it is really irritating when they obviously haven’t read our website and they haven’t included things like a synopsis

I see too many authors who don't understand why NOT to use a hundred points of view.

Keeping with Black is predominantly vamp and shifters, originality is a big contract breaker as well. 

My pet peeve is the lack active writing and use of the senses.  You know when you lose yourself in a story(you seem to be part of it) and you're still thinking about it days/weeks later? You are literally still 'feeling' it? I look for strong imagery and use of senses as well as a deep and true romance(emotion-I want to laugh and cry and literally share the characters emotions) and a unique storyline.  I have been fortunate of late to receive some really awesome and different story threads and I might add strongly written!


There you go writers - take these words and heed them.  Go over your latest manuscript and see if you fit any of these rejection flags and see how to change it.  As always, you will grow the more you write so never stop trying.


Rhonda

Where is my book?

Take a deep breath. Let it out slowly.

Let’s look at circumstances outside our control, and ways to cope professionally. During many stages of the publishing process, we are at the mercy of someone else’s perception of time passage. Patience is a must; however, at some point a nudge asking “Did it get lost?” is appropriate. Where is that point?

For simplicity I will go with the generality that our author is female (because most of our submitters are) and the editor is also female (since at TWRP at this time, we all are).

Author sends her query to the publisher; she has followed all submission guidelines and expectations. Normal here at TWRP: author will immediately receive an automated response that her submission email was received and she will be contacted by the appropriate line shortly. If a week has gone past and you have zero response to your query—by all means, re-send your query. You’re going to get tired of hearing this, but emails can get lost in cyberspace. Our entire company is online, and our staff communicates mainly by email. We are not in a central location all in one building together. We’re scattered across the U.S. and Canada. For five years this has worked very well for TWRP, but occasionally emails disappear and must be tracked down.

Our editor in chief looks over every query and forwards them to the appropriate line’s senior editor. The senior editor alerts her staff of editors a new query is available, and we all glance over the blurb and synopsis. One of us responds with interest in the project, and is given the go-ahead to contact the author. We are required to respond to queries within 30 days of their arrival at the company. Sometimes this takes mere hours, other times a few weeks could pass before the query is in the correct hands. We like to choose projects that interest us, which is in the author’s best interest as well. Who wants her story evaluated by an editor who dislikes that particular setting or type of character, who finds the plot clichéd or boring? Or an editor who has too many other manuscripts on her desk to evaluate and so does not give proper attention to the new one? We try to be careful not to dismiss any query—to that author, her story is the most important one on our desk.

If the editor contacts the author to request the partial manuscript, or the whole manuscript in the case of shorter works, the author gives her manuscript to the editor, likely a person she has never met. Again, this is a file sent by email. Files can become lost. If you don’t hear back from the editor within a few days that this manuscript was received, send a quick note asking if it was received. I look at multiple emails a day from many authors, other editors, other departments—I don’t always remember to hit “reply” after going out to Word to verify the new file opens and going to the company database to log receipt of the file. I am human—I get distracted.

Now the waiting begins. The editor is reading the author’s baby. Or is she? 30 days go by…60 days…90 days. The date the editor said she would respond (she did give you a date, didn’t she?) is past and no word? The author needs to send an inquiry about the status of the project. In the light of “no news is good news,” the manuscript may be still in the evaluation process. When I receive a partial manuscript, I put it in line behind other projects that came in ahead of it. They’re all date-stamped and evaluated in order. Many times this means I edit a contracted work for two weeks then spend a Sunday reading four new manuscripts in a row. I don’t like having a to-be-read pile hanging over my head longer than 30 days but I often do. When those partials turn into full manuscripts of 80-100K, they loom in a much more scary format. How long does it take you to read a 400-page book? How about six books that size?

We editors have a helper system here at TWRP. Editors need to be the decision-maker on a manuscript, so we do read them ourselves, but our opinion does not need to stand alone. We have an in-house focus group of volunteer readers who help us scour manuscripts. They give us an honest opinion of strengths and weaknesses in a manuscript, which helps us decide if revisions need to be made, whether before or after offering a contract—or whether to reject. BUT this reading group is contacted by email, files sent back and forth to them, time for them to read—more waiting. Author is waiting for the editor, who is waiting for her readers. An organized editor will remember to alert her author that a delay can be expected if the deadline she set is approaching. But even that email can go astray.

After contract, the author has more waiting. Edits. Second edits. Possibly third edits. Committee decision on the best version of the blurb to sell the book with. Cover art. Copy edits. Galleys. All of these stages involve emailing a new version of a file back and forth. How much time does the editor or author allow to pass when the file is out of her hands before she should become worried it is lost?

I am beginning to learn that 10 business days is when questions of “where is the file?” become relevant. Five weeks is the outside time limit of any waiting I have done as an editor, with the exception of waiting to hear when a finished book is scheduled for release, and then waiting for that glorious release date to arrive.

If too much time has passed, you can always send a note to your editor asking for an update. Be polite and non-pushy, but you have a right to know where your story file is in the process, and whether it has become lost. It’s been known to happen.
_____

Kelly Schaub has been an editor on the Faery Rose line since September 2007. She has ushered 25 published titles through the garden gates of TWRP and hopes for the privilege of many more.

The Joy of Revision

Books aren't written—they're rewritten. Including your own. It is one of the hardest things to accept, especially after the seventh rewrite hasn't quite done it.

—Michael Crichton

So you received a rejection notice from a Wild Rose Press editor. She was encouraging but firm about certain changes you need to make to your story. You take a few weeks to go over the manuscript, revising it with an eye to her suggestions, and now you’re thinking about sending it back to the editor for another look.

But how do you know when you’ve done enough? It’s easy to underestimate the amount of time and patience it takes to revise a manuscript. Cosmetic changes aren’t enough—revision calls for heavy lifting. So here are some questions to ask yourself as you evaluate your manuscript (questions adapted from Writing Fiction by Janet Burroway) along with links to helpful articles in our Greenhouse:

1. Is the story about something? Is there conflict? Are your characters interesting people who have defined goals? Do those characters change in some way, from the beginning to the end? GMC: Conflict



2. Does the story begin with a hook? Did you give the reader a reason to be interested in the story? Is there tension in your story and is that tension apparent on the very first page? Grabbing the Reader on the First Page



3. Are your characters real or do they seem more like stereotypes? Are their emotions clichéd? Building Believable Characters



4. Does the story make sense? Do you show the reader enough to make the setting and your story clear? Bringing in the Senses



5. Have you avoided overwriting? Kept your characters’ emotions from being overwrought? Ways to Make Your Writing Stronger
   



6. Have you pared your story down to the essentials? Does every scene function to both move the story forward and show the reader something about the characters? Self-editing for the Flabby Writer

Piece of cake, right? So how do you know when you’ve done enough? Try doing a comparison between the original version and your revised version using MS Word’s Compare feature. You should see significant changes on every page—if not, time to get back to work. Good luck!

Wild Rose Press in NY!

New York was amazing! Fun, full of energy and life--and our fabulous authors. I was lucky enough to meet some of them before the Keynote luncheon on Wednesday.

Diana Bellew

Diana Bellew, Rebecca Clark and Maggie Van Well


Lynne Marshall
We'd planned to get a table together, but couldn't fight the crowd and ended up separated. There were literally thousands of women, all looking for a table.

I was lucky enough to sit next to the fabulous Roni Denholtz and Lynne Marshall


...and take chicken pictures while I enjoyed their company.

I missed seeing Anita Mae Draper, although we connected for a short time on the phone. There were a lot of dead spots in the hotel. I suspect it was because of all the concrete, and the internet barely worked. I tried to upload some pictures but after getting the equivalent of dial-up I gave up. I was so happy to get home.

I'm proud to say everyone I met was thrilled to be part of our Wild Rose family. Until we meet again next year--it was great seeing you in person. We have a truly wonderful garden.

Classic Contemporaries

I inherited my "romance-reader" gene from my mother. On quiet evenings, after the dinner dishes were washed and my younger sister was tucked in bed, she curled up on a comfy chair in the living room. One hand held a paperback; the other, a chocolate bar (I also inherited her chocolate addiction).

She loved the early series romances. Every month, like clockwork, a shopping bag filled with that month's releases appeared at the house. Eventually I began to sift through her bag of goodies, and as a teenager, cut my teeth on masters like Anne Mather, Violet Winspear, and Betty Neels.

Back then, heroines tended to be nurses, nannies, and secretaries. The men they fell in love with were wealthy and aristocratic: doctors, tycoons, owners of islands and kingdoms. Settings included everything from the businessman's London to the rancher's Australian Outback. (No heroine could resist a rugged, suntanned hero on a horse.) And I always looked forward to a new book by Betty Neels. An English nurse herself, Neels transplanted her heroines to Holland, where they met and fell for proper Dutch doctors.

Our new Champagne series, The Millionaire's Club, pays homage to these classics--with a modern, edgier twist. We're looking for submissions between 20k and 60k. Stories must be rated spicy to hot and must contain a fully depicted and fully consummated love scene. For more details, check out our website or feel free to e-mail me at roseann@thewildrosepress.com.

Keep reading and writing!

Roseann
Senior Editor, Champagne Rose

FIRST, SECOND, OR THIRD.

Let’s talk about a subject that is very near to my heart. One that can get an author querying her work rejected faster than a ballplayer can hit a home run.

Yes, I’m using baseball terms because in the scheme of things or your manuscript, you, the author, have the choice to use the point of view of your choice. However, if you are writing romance, for the most part publishing houses prefer third. Although, I have read some really great work with a first person point of view.

Now, how to you decide what to use, well that can be as confusing as who’s on first, who’s on second, or who’s on third as my husband use to say just to make me crazy.

It doesn’t have to be hard, however it does have to be right, no matter what point of view you decide on. My preference if you are querying the Faery Rose line is third. I like to see the hero and heroine’s pov. I also, don’t mine the villain or an occasional secondary character if it moves the story plot along.

A good rule of thumb when you are writing third is to make sure that you only describe what you can see. You can’t see me so if you were to make the statement Amanda Barnett’s hair is up in a ponytail, unless you were in the room with me, you would be wrong. However, you can say that due to the band left behind when I take my hair down, you believe I wear my hair up a lot. That might not be the best scenario, so let’s try this one.

We will use one of the editors on Faery, I’m sure Frances Sevilla won’t mind. If she and I are having a conversation and she walks out of the room in anger, I can only guess her hands are clenched in fists, or she’s mouthing off unfavorable attributes toward my innocent self. Yet, if I hear a thump on the wall and then hear her yell, I can safely assume she has used one of those same fists to punch the wall. Poor Frances.

Remember, you need to view point of view as you would by peering into the lens of your digital camera. You can only capture a picture of what you can see. Not hard at all, is it?

First person you can only guess at other character’s thoughts because you are not in their minds, and neither is your reader. You must show if they are sad, angry, etc, by remarking on how their eyes flash or tears are rolling down their cheeks.

I hope that makes sense. I will not be addressing the issue of using second as a point of view. I only want to make sure that the authors who are reading this realize that when we evaluate a manuscript, if you which point of view frequently, head-hopping as some call it, then you not only confuse the reader, meaning an editor, but also pull a reader out of what could be an important part of your work.

So instead of running the bases at full speed, take time to decide if the point of view you are using is right for your work, and if it is done correctly. YES, I know there are NY Times Best Selling authors who do have more license when it come to flipping back and forth, but your goal is to deliver the best work you can to get an editor interested in contracting your work. Believe me, the fundamental basics are a key part when I look at someone’s baby.

Take care and write on!

Relating to Chickens (and other experiences)

While racking my brain over a topic to blog on, my chickens sidetracked me. Anyone who has had any sort of conversation with me knows I can always bring the topic around to chickens. Imagine my delight when it dawned on me I could combine two of my favorite things in the world (chickens and reading) into a blog. So what do chickens have to do with reading? Read on and find out.

I read. A lot. I am the proverbial girl with her nose stuck in a book. I walk through the house at bedtime to let the dog out and in, feed the fish one last time, give the cat a treat—all with a book in my face. I can’t help it. My husband doesn’t get it. My parents are not readers. It’s just the way I am.

So, those chickens. You don’t often come across books with chickens. Everytime I read a book with chickens in it, I can tell whether the author has real experience with chickens. The details of the sounds they make, their movements, and their personalities—if you have spent any time with chickens, you will learn their idiosyncracies (taptaptap—don’t worry it’s just the hens begging at the back door), just as you would with any other pet. What? You don’t have pet chickens? I highly recommend them. What other pet lays your breakfast?

I have recently read two books where chickens had some sort of role. One has a single hen who is favored by a goddess. The hen makes little chirrups and I can hear her when I read those passages. My hens make the same noise. The other story’s climax and resolution take place in and around a henhouse, and the hens pop up throughout the story, usually in trees (ever seen a chicken in a tree? Ridiculous sight!). The hens put up an unholy racket during the big scene, and I laugh every time I think of that scene (usually at 6:22 am when my hens start demanding their daily release into the back yard).

Both of these stories will always stick with me. I will enjoy them again and again, as well as recommend them to others because I identified with story elements. I always find I relate to a book and identify with a story’s characters if we have something in common. It could be the smallest detail (the hero has a chipped tooth? So does my husband!) to something important (the heroine dislikes conflict and acts as a mediator in hot situations? So do I!). These details are what round out a character and give them lifelike qualities. I delight in authors who pull on real life experiences and inject those experiences into their story. Those details are what pulls the reader into the book. It’s why I avoid non-fiction. I want to be in the book. I want to know the characters and escape to their world.

My advice? Write down all those funny stories and memorable experiences. Draw on your life’s experiences for ideas and inspiration. Better yet, go get a chicken.