The fabulous JoJo Moyes spoke at the RNA meeting last week. Jan Jones did a wonderful post about it here. So I won’t go over the points that Jan reported so beautifully about, but tell you some of the inspiration, encouragement and tips I walked away with….(as always please forgive any mistakes as these are just how I took them down)
- - As mentioned in Jan’s post after submission and acceptance of book 10 JoJo took it back because she ‘knew’ it wasn’t good enough and deleted 60,000 words. She knew after rereading her previous book that book ten was good but it wasn’t good enough….
- - It was the 4th book she wrote that got published.
- - Be ruthless with yourself…understand the difference between the inner critic and the gut feeling (see first point). Trust the gut feeling. Don’t ignore the little voice…it should tell that at least 70% of the book is good
- - Write the best book possible – a good story will out
Her tips for staying published are...
- - Be professional
- - Be Nice
- - Promote self tactfully (she mentioned social networking sites changed the fortunes of THE LAST LETTER FROM YOUR LOVER)
- -Produce good books
- - Deliver on Time
In general when she’s writing she deletes as much as she writes. She first gets the emotion of the scene then she will craft it.
Finally she gave us her top tips for writing romance that she’s learned along the way (and she should know as she has won the Romantic Novel of the Year twice! First in 2004 for FOREIGN FRUIT and in 2011 for THE LAST LETTER FROM YOUR LOVER)
1. What is keeping them apart? There has to be tension
2. There are fewer things to keep people apart these days…the past is easier for this
3. She has to be madly in love with the hero
4. Do not take the easy route…be surprising, question self all the time….
1 comment:
v interesting Liz am a great fan of Jo Jo's.
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