The Hobbit, Writing and Christmas....

Yesterday I went to see Peter Jackson's The Hobbit and, well, fell in love...with Thorin. If one man could make Tolkien's dwarves sexy it would be Richard Armitage....But aside from that I loved being back in that world.

I first read The Hobbit when I was thirteen. My English teacher Miss Walsh recommended it to me...I loved it. I loved the runes and the magic. I loved the elves. I introduced my children much sooner to it...and the boys are totally absorbed into the world but for different reasons, but that is part of the magic. The Hobbit and The Lord of Rings...offer so many thing for so many people....

To link this all together, I have begun writing again - a long story story or maybe a novella, A Cornish Carol. It's an idea that has been whizzing around in my head for a while. I took pen, yes pen, to paper and began this week and I now know that my hero looks just like Richard Armitage not as Thorin though. I will have to do a tremendous amount of research....I may be gone a while...

Christmas is almost upon us and I am woefully unprepared this year, but I am confident that it will all happen. I long to arrive in Cornwall and begin the process of making it happen but not yet...London still holds me while I tie up lose ends here...

Are you ready for Christmas?

The RNA's Regency Celebration

Yesterday! Wow!

At the Royal Overseas League in Park Place the RNA held a day celebrating all that was Regency and most importantly the work of two writers - Jane Austen and Georgette Heyer. It was the first time the RNA had held a readers day and what a result. Fun, frolics, drama and a touch of academia all rolled into one.

The day began with a panel on Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility. The chair for the panel was Julie Cohen revealing her previous life as an academic and reminding me of university with her insights in to the duality of the work....and more. While also on the panel were writers Nicola Cornick, historian and author of many best selling Regency novels, authors Beth Elliot and Juliet Archer (who takes Austen's plots and characters and gives them a modern twist in her work). The panel was fun and informative with much discussion of Emma Thompson film of the novel.

This was followed by a break when I explored Regency clothing and found myself in 'costume'....how different one feels and carries oneself....the clothes make the man or at least the posture in this case! Plus there were people wandering around in full Regency attire - I couldn't stop ogling.

Dr. Jennifer Kloester entertained us with a wonderful presentation of the life of Georgette Heyer and blew away many myths that surround this profic and superb writer of so many beloved novels. I can't wait to read the book penned by Jen GEORGETTE HEYER and her life....

Then it was time for more dressing up...DD and DH were with me and they joined in on the fun before the Regency dancing and the Regency Scents....

There was lunch with a quizz that went to tie breaker...so many people who really new their period and their authors...

For the next session I left DD and DHG to play parlour games with I enjoyed but won't report on the panel - THE CESTIAL BED - Sex & The Georgians...let's just say that the mind boggles. Biddy Coady did a fabulous job on her reading and Jan Jones demonstrated a knowledge of many thing that don't end up in her books!

There was a very special Waterloo tea held at the East India Club....drama, mystery and dashing men in uniform all with delicious cakes and tea in period surrounding...I might swoon (at one point a dashing solider oftered me snuff...be still my beating heart)

The day wound up with a panel on AUSTEN & HEYER - Were they better than they thought they were? On the panel - Gillian Green (Editorial Director for Ebury Press), Dr Jennifer Kloester, Roy McMillan (director and actor and with Naxos AudioBooks), Joanna Fulford (author of regencies) and chaired by Sophie Page.  The panel began with a general swoon when Roy mention that Richard Armitage had read there audio version of Heyer's Venetia.  There was far too much that came out of this panel to summarize at all...but brilliant.

I was live tweeting during the day as was @beecee (aaka Brigid Coady) and the tweets can be found #RNARegencyDay and #RegencyCelebration ...

I've posted a few photos here, but the rest of my pictures ( I apologize for the quality - my camera died and I used my phone) are here. The lovely Annie Burrows will be providing a report for the RNA Blog in the next few days....

Romantic Novelist Vote Richard Armitage Sexiest Thing on Two Legs

"British actor Richard Armitage has leapt from last year’s 4th place to this year topping the ratings in the Romantic Novelists’ Association 2009 Valentine’s poll, to take the title of Sexiest Thing on Two Legs, beating top Hollywood stars to the number one spot. Johnny Depp, who topped last year’s poll, was pushed firmly into second place, with Hugh Jackman and George Clooney mere also-rans.

“Richard Armitage took 20% of the vote, more than double the count of any other male on the list,” said the RNA pollster. “He was a clear winner from the off.”

The RNA is not alone in admiration of the actor, as numerous online Richard Armitage fan sites will testify. The ardency began with North and South, grew by leaps and bounds with his appearance as the leather-clad baddie in Robin Hood, and shows no sign of diminishing as Spooks takes to the airwaves. ‘It’s a coup for Britain,’ said one starstruck writer, ‘not just for sexy Richard.’

According to romantic novelists, the sexiest male celebrities of 2009 are:
1 Richard Armitage
2 Johnny Depp
3 Hugh Jackman
4 George Clooney
5 Daniel Craig
6 Sean Bean
7 Alan Rickman
8 David Tennant
9 Pierce Brosnan
10 Gerard Butler

The winner of the Romantic Novel of the Year Award 2009 will be announced on Tuesday 10th February. "

And I'll be there - Now wouldn't it be a wonderful thing is Richard happened to be free on Tuesday!

Currently am snowbound in Oxfordshire - no Cornwall for me. However it is glorious here and weather permitting I may just get to ds1 and ds2!

Romantic Novelists' Association Conference Day Three

Let's just say that day three began with a head that reminded me that I am not young any more. Breakfast was a fairly subdued affair and as I sat opposite Julie Cohen we were both grateful that we both knew each other well enough that words were not required.

The first session of the morning was a PR round up by chairwoman Catherine Jones. The RNA is all about raising the profile of Romantic Fiction in all its many forms. This includes the two main prizes - The Romantic Novel of Year (this year Freya North's Pillow Talk) and the Romance Prize for category romance (this year Kate Hardy's Breakfast at Giovani's). Liz Bailey who has been doing a sterling job with the PR asked us all to vote on who we thought was the sexist thing on two legs. Well in my hungover state there was only one name that came to mind - Richard Armitage - later I thought of a few more. We then had an update on the preparations for the RNA 50th Anniversary in 2010.

Then just what every writer needs on those feeling less than wonderful mornings - laughter in the form of Jane Wenham-Jones. I began to take notes but I was laughing too hard to keep going. So will apologize that I can not even sum up her talk but if you haven't picked up a copy of her book Wanna Be A Writer then do..........

The next session of the morning for me was on the RNA's New Writers Scheme led by Melanie Hilton aka Louise Allen. She reminded us that agents and editors give you two minutes as they 'speed buy' so make it easy for them with polished work. I realized this year will be my fourth year in the NWS but as Giselle Green whose debut novel Pandora's Box came out in June was in NWS for nine years so it's worth it to keep at it.

Next Up was agent Caroline Sheldonwho began with the not so good news about the publishing world:-

-publishers are focusing on best sellers
-shelf life is shorter than yogurt but longer than milk
-the full effects of the Net Book Agreement are now fully visible
- numbers of publishers is condensing (now 9 major houses here) so it is tougher to place books
-they want to publish fewer titles
-minimum sales are 4000/5000 hardback and 15,000 paperback
-250,000 is a big seller
-mid lid have been cut from 12 to 6

However they still say the are:

- looking for fresh, new, different voices
- new directions in romantic comedy, chick lit, mum lit, Gothic (think The Thirteenth Tale), weepy (think Bridges of Madison County), sagas, sweeping stories (think Maeve Binchy or Rosamunde Pilcher), and quality historicals (think Philippa Gregory)

For submission her tips were:

-material needs to be tip top
-title must evoke what the book is about
-great first line
-research agents carefully - there are more of them now which is good for the writer

An agent should:
-be enthusiastic
-share your vision
-have drive, professionalism and flare
-be in it for the long term

The most important thing she can do for you is find you a powerful editor who will fight for your book.

So with a break for lunch and a nap I was ready for Julie Cohen's workshop on Pacing (which isn't just what you do in your Jimmy Choos while waiting for the of your dreams to ring).

Julie began with the fact that pacing works on two levels:
-the whole book
-sentence and paragraph

She said that as a writer we are a time lord (here we all glazed over thinking of David Tennant) as you manipulate time for your reader. You control the novel time, the reader's time, her experience of time (that she spends reading the book and how quickly or slowly this feels). This leads to an intimate relationship with your reader.

She then moved onto length of book and how this effects pacing. A shorter books is fast (obvious) and a bigger one has more time for subplots, introspection, world building, history and reader digestion. The two example she threw up on the screen were Green Eggs and Ham vs. War and Peace.

She suggested doing a calendar after the first draft to visually see how the story is moving through time. A periodic event can help pace book. The example she used was Carole Matthewsbook the Chocolate Lovers' Club. The four main characters meet on a regular basis.

Conflict:

Golden Rule Number One: reading time is subjective (real time has gone quickly yet they have spend a longer time with the character)

Golden Rule Number Two: a book with a lot of well handled conflict will seem to go more quickly no matter how many pages (here she noted Penny Vincenzi's books and Phillipa Gregory's The Other Boleyn Girl - big issues but reads so fast)

Function:

-a pacy book is efficient in it's story telling (no wasted time or repetitions)
-each scene should whenever possible have two or more purposes

Some General Functions:
-more the plot forward
-move the subplot forward
-character development
-create emotion
-create atmosphere
-create conflict
-impart information

Julie prints out the manuscript and then goes through it to make sure each scene serves more than one function and to be sure that she doesn't have scene that do the same thing in the same way.

Hooks:

-start each scene with a hook to grab your reader
-end each scene with a hook to keep your reader from putting the book down
-use the biggest hooks for chapter endings

Julie then had us analyse a short scene for The Other Boleyn Girl. In a small space P. Gregory had packed in conflict, dialogue, atmosphere and irony.

Variety:

Give your reader variety in:
-mood
-topic
-theme
-style

Julie sited Marian Keyes' This Charming Man as a good example.

Keeping a Secret:

Readers are nosey - keep your secrets back.. Ask yourself how long can I keep it back from the reader or the other characters. Delay as long as possible. Here she sited Giselle Green's Pandora's Box (not a spoiler as it is on the back cover - the daughter has a terminal disease and plans to kill herself but her mother doesn't know - as reader you keep turning the pages to find out what happens when the mother finds out).

Slowing Down and Speeding Up:

You need to slow down for:
-dramatic events
-important points
-emotional high points
-sudden happenings

Short scenes can speed up but can also slow down by distraction and the white space around it can make it feel like more time.

Speed Up or Skip
-coffee scenes
-description for the sake of it
-things that are necessary in real life but not in fiction (going to the loo, washing hands....)
-naturalistic but unneeded dialogue
-the bits at the beginning and ends of scenes that are not hooks

R.U.E

Resist the Urge to Explain

Getting Out the Chainsaw (and loving it)
-embrace it
-revise for pace
-do a chapter list with title and what happens or function after first draft to make sure the novel is balanced

Her final thoughts were that pacing is as important in Romance as in any other genre and it must be invisible to the reader. With that in mind she said to remember that:

Ginger Rogers did everything that Fred Astaire did only backwards and in high heals.

I think that is enough of a post for today.......tomorrow I will fill you in on Kate Harrison's Botox for Writers. However check out the following blogs for more reports on the conference:
Kate Hardy
Imogen Howson
Ray-Anne's next installments

Happy Valentines Day - More Heroes

I had the highest raffic to this blog thanks to the RNA Heroes List. The key names that brought them in were Richard Armitage and Johnny Depp which means that Richard's position on the list might just be higher in the general populous than with the RNA authors....

So I have posted a picture of RA for all the lovely people who popped by yesterday.

Have a wonderful V Day and back tomorrow with some great writing links!

Romantic Novelists' Assosciation List of The Perfect Hero

Below is the text of the list of RNA's List of the Perfect Heroes. I personally might order them a little differently ( 5,1,4,7,10, 2,8,3,6,9) though I totally agree with the criteria and certainly love my 'job' as described so well below! Which order would you put them?

'Johnny Depp and Pierce Brosnan make Romantic Novelists’ hearts throb.

Members of the Romantic Novelists’ Association have voted Johnny Depp as the Number One Perfect Romantic Hero in a poll to mark Valentine’s Day. According to these authors, a romantic hero should be gorgeous, deliciously sexy, intensely masculine and have a commanding presence.

‘We should be qualified to judge,’ one writer commented. ‘After all, we create these heroes on paper every day.’

The top ten male celebrities voted the Perfect Romantic Hero were:

1. Johnny Depp

2. Daniel Craig

3. Sean Bean

4. Richard Armitage

5. Hugh Jackman

6. Colin Firth

7. Alan Rickman

8. Pierce Brosnan

9. George Clooney

10. David Tennant

A second poll, taken by members of the RNA bravely admitting to being ‘over a certain age’, voted for male celebrities over fifty who’ve ‘still got it’. Remarkable for his appearance on both polls, Pierce Brosnan took the crownfor the over fifties by a huge margin.

The top ten Over-Fifty Perfect Romantic Heroes were:

1. Pierce Brosnan

2. Harrison Ford

3. Ranulph Fiennes

4. Bill Nighy

5. Liam Neeson

6. Sam Neill

7. Sean Connery

8. Peter O’Toole

9. Clint Eastwood

10. Omar Sharif'