Getting To Know You Blogfest and the Joys of Plotting (There, I Said It)

etting to know you!

Lavender!

I took part in this blogfest hosted by author J. L. Campbell over a decade ago!

Here's the original post.

Let's see how my answers have changed...

1. Name two historical romance authors who inspire you.

Joanna Bourne, same as last time...
...and because registration is coming up soon for the Surrey International Writers' Conference, I'm going to say Susanna Kearsley! I love attending her classes!


2. How did you start writing in your genre?

My answers from last time are still valid:

Short answer - I don't know.
Long answer - One day in high school I stopped writing middle grade stories and started writing a romance between two real life musicians. I knew they were meant to be together, even if they couldn't see it.

Some years later, after two finished novels and a few aborted story ideas, I went back to MG. But everything moved slowly. Ideas were halting, editing was plodding along at a snail's pace. And then... well, I've told this story before:

I sent my characters off to another houseparty.

"One or the other of them had previously participated in the writers' houseparties that take place on the Compuserve Books and Writers Community; there have been eight such parties to date and I – and my characters – were present at the very first one in June 2007. Each party after that grew in size and complexity, as more writers joined in the fun, bringing their characters to interact with the characters of other members, who all come from varying places and time periods. Houseparties are a great way to thrust your characters out of their familiar worlds and learn things about them that you may not have known before. Writing for a houseparty is just like writing your first draft – fast paced and fluid, with no second guessing; anything goes at a houseparty, from magic to skipping between time periods, to anachronistic events and language, to romantic interludes..."

I rediscovered my love of romance, the ideas began to flow - unstoppable - and I haven't looked back.

Totally still valid. There's nothing more inspiring than romance and true love!


3. You've landed a meeting with your dream agent. Write a one-paragraph pitch to sell your novel to them.

Let's go with the draft pitch for the story I'm hoping to send out to publishers as soon as I fix my synopsis:

The Flight of Time is a romance set in the Istanbul of the future, complete at 75,000 words.

In summer 2044, 24-year-old pilot STEPHANIE MACDONALD leaves her job in Switzerland to travel the world, and ends up in Istanbul, Türkiye. A distant relation by marriage, TAYLOR CUNNICK, is there as well, having moved from England. The end of the summer finds them both settled with jobs and relationships, but they continue to travel here and there, sometimes with friends, sometimes on their own and, on one memorable occasion, it's just the two of them on the road.

Each trip seems to bring them closer together...then drive them apart. Between work and travel and other relationships, can they stand still long enough to come together?

4. Sabotage or accident - which would you put your lead character through, and why?

I seem to have understood this question better last time. I wrote: "I have to say, I don't plan many of the incidents. Some appear out of nowhere and some are the characters telling me "I know you thought this would happen, but I'm going to do that." Sometimes they grow out of exercises on the Compuserve forum; that's how I met Baha. And I always, always, worry that I'm not raising the stakes enough."

That last line remains valid!

But I'm not sure what's going on with the rest. My characters don't generally intentionally sabotage their lives or relationships. And there are no accidents; everything grows organically from the inciting incident.

If it were up to me, there'd be a lot less angst and a lot more hugs!


5. Plotter or panster - who are you?

Ha ha ha! Now this is a good one.

Last time, I wrote: "Oh, definite pantster. Especially for the first draft. Then I do a read through, with editing, and make a list of all the scenes and links I need. And pants my way through them."

I used to be a chaotic pantster; I am now firmly a linear plotter. Isn't that amazing?

It all started last summer, when I really started to pay attention to some advice from a writer friend. I loved their explanation of all the meta layers in one of their stories. And I started plotting The Flight of Time in anticipation of NaNoWriMo...and then NaNo rolled around, and I finished the novel in two weeks (at more than 50,000 words!).

 

I've been sold on plotting ever since! Between that and romance, I've written nearly 300,000 words in the past six months. Romance for the win!

Poppies!

As I said back then, if anyone else wants to turn this into an ongoing blogfest, feel free!
I'd love to see your responses!