Jaci Burton’s Muse

Anyone who thinks erotic romance is filled with nothing but sex is totally full of it. I’m living proof that there is plot in erotic romance, because my plot is currently taking over the entire book, running mad like a Pamplona bull hot on the heels of a man in red pants. (Yeah, yeah, bad analogy but my brain hurts)

As I mentioned in previous blog rants, our menage plot sucked (”Our” being me and Charlie, since we’re cowriting this one). So we tossed it and have been plotting another, this time with vamps and lycans. Okay, so far so good. Except now the stupid plot is so freakin convoluted it’s turned into an epic. I don’t wanna write an epic. Charlie sure as hell doesn’t want to write an epic. But we’re arguing about the plotline now. It went something like this:

Charlie: One of the guys dies

me: Nuh uh. Readers will hate that

Charlie: Mel gibson died in Braveheart

me: Yeah and i hated that. Nobody I like dies in our book

Charlie: Mel’s first girlfriend died in Braveheart too

me: (thinking Charlie needs to quit watching Braveheart). No. We’re not killing one of the main guys in our book.

Charlie: Why not? She has a spare

Me: (groaning) Babe, this is a romance, not an epic with a little romance in it. It’s a full fledged love and sex romance, not a war book. Everyone lives happily ever after at the end.

Charlie: Not if we expect movie rights

Arghhhh!

Is it too early for cocktails?

So after dumping said chapter 2 of contemporary menage story, realized what wasn’t working…entire story. It was boring. Nothing was happening. Characters spent too much time thinking.

Too much thinking in story = really bad story.

So now I’m thinking of dumping the entire plot and replotting it as a vampire/werewolf/menage. Now that sounds fun. I think I’m stuck in paranormal land right now, and it’s the only thing hitting my ‘hot’ buttons.

Then again, maybe I’ve been watching “Underworld” too much *snicker*

I dumped 7 pages of story yesterday. Not much, mind you, but still painful.

The worst part was, I agonized about deleting the 2nd chapter of this book for like half a day. Was it because I’m lazy and didn’t feel like rewriting, or was it because there was something of value in what I wrote.

After reviewing said pages numerous times, I came to the conclusion that there was aboslutely nothing of value in what I had written. It was crap. Crap Crap Crap. Delete Delete Delete

I realized then that I feel less than adequate as a writer if I write something that later has to be deleted becuse it turns out to be pure crap. Shouldn’t I be past the point of writing crap? Isn’t there some magical “I’ve published twenty books so I couldn’t possibly write crap any longer” milestone? Or is it only Anne Rice who thinks that? ;-)

I would guess a lot of authors have to do this, but in the lonely world of writing sometimes we isolate ourselves and put on the ‘dunce’ cap like we’re the only one out there who has written pure dreck and later had to delete it. That everyone else has some secret clue or formula for writing perfect the first time.

So maybe I’m not alone on the crappage front. Or at least it makes me feel better to think so *g*

Off to write non-crap (hopefully)

Jaci

I had a dream last night.

Well, early this morning anyway because I woke up at 5 a.m. in the middle of it.

Leslie Wainger, VP of Harlequin/Silhouette, had me in her office in New York.

We were talking about some pamphlet that had different subjects on it. She circled one about wood chips and said she’d love it if I’d write a book about that. (Yuh huh….nothing like a a little sex and romance among the mulch).

Then she hands me several lengthy reams of paper and some binders, tells me to sign everything and walk it a couple miles up the road and turn it in. So I walk outside and my hubby, Charlie is waiting there for me. I tell him that Leslie Wainger just bought my book but I have to fill out all this paperwork and walk it to some other building.

Right about then I woke up.

Of course I have no book with Leslie, or with Harlequin or Silhouette. I’ve never been to NY, I’ve never met Leslier Wainger, and I have no freakin idea why I had this dream.

Somebody help me! I need a plotline about wood chips!

pay close attention, this is complicated.

1. think up cool characters. guy must be hot. girl must actually be present in book, so guess it’s okay to plot her too, though she doesn’t matter much cuz we’re mainly interested in hot guy

2. after development of awesome characters, grumble about actually having to have a plot. develop plot. (i.e. ’stuff’ happens from chapter 1 to end of book. don’t forget to showcase hot guy a lot in plotting)

3. Plotline - a) meet and greet b) sexual tension c) plot ’stuff’ d) more sexual tension e) kissing f) plot ’stuff’ g) sex h) sex i) sex j) plot ’stuff’ k) boo hoo moment l) sex m) sex n) sex o) HEA p) sex

3. Write up synopsis that looks like you created it in third grade. Messy, with typos. Doesn’t really matter what you put in synopsis because arrogant, smart-assed characters will change it on you anyway. Synopsis will contain aforementioned ’stuff’ that happens from chapter 1 to end of book (note to self: don’t forget the sex….make sure hot guy gets lots of sex…with or without token woman)

4. After synopsis written, open template and write book. (Note: start at chapter 1…don’t forget hot guy…get him in there right away)

Hey…it seems to work okay for me ;-)

Jaci

Been working on the last Storm book for the past few weeks. I’m just about heading into the black moment, which means resolution and then ending! Wooo hoooo!

It occurs to me that after nearly thirty books written I can finally predict how my writing flow is going to go.

It’s like a train. It starts out slow in Chapter 1 as I build the plot and introduce the characters. Then it begins to pick up speed through Chapters 2 through about 6, really gaining momentum. Since I write erotic romance, a lot of that fast moving buildup leads to a love scene. From the first love scene comes more plot points and how the sex has changed the relationship between the characters. The train is really moving along now, and into perhaps a second love scene.

Then it starts to climb uphill. The dreaded “middle” of the book. The train begins to slow down. Each chapter going slower, and then s l o w e r, and then even s l o w e r.

We’ve hit the middle of the book. The part where I usually start to loathe the characters, hate the plot and wonder why in the hell I wanted to write this stupid book in the first place.
But I plod on, forcing the characters to talk to me, forcing the plot to work as I designed it to work. This is THE hardest part of the book for me.

And then something miraculous happens.

The train begins to speed up again, because its crested the precipice and is heading downhill.

This is where things start going really fast. Plot points come together, the characters are heading toward a big crash. The train is running at breakneck speed down a steep slope and there’s nothing I can do to rein it in.

Boom! Black moment! I am SO there right now!

When I hit the black moment, I can see the end of the tunnel. The end of the train ride. It’s just a short ride now to resolution and the end.

All aboard! ;-)

Jaci

I ‘grew up’ in the corporate business world, where I sometimes had to work with either bosses or peers that I simply could not stand. But I never sat across the conference room table and sneered at my coworkers, nor did I write a company-wide memo lamenting how much my boss and/or my employer sucks. When I got to the point where I couldn’t give 100% of my loyalty to the company I worked for, I left.

I learned valuable lessons in the corporate world that I’ve carried over into the writing world.

1. Don’t bite the hand that feeds you - Part 1 - If you hate your publisher, for God’s sake quit sending them books. Don’t publicly bash them…it just makes you look bad.

2. Don’t bite the hand that feeds you - Part 2 - Readers are our bread and butter. Don’t ignore them or treat them like idiots. Don’t expect them to fawn all over you. You’re just a person. You write books. Sorry, but that doesn’t make you special.

3. Treat your peers professionally. Jealousy comes across loud and clear. If you hate another author for whatever reason (insecurity), keep it to yourself or vent it privately. Once again, if you do it publicly, it just makes you look bad.

Now I’m a HUGE advocate of free speech. But I think, as a professional, we have to draw the line somewhere. Keep your nasty, high-school comments to yourself….again, it just makes you look bad.

I’m also a big believer in Karma. I try to treat people the way I would like to be treated. So far it’s worked very well for me.

Back to back books. Got one on Thursday and one on Friday. How can I remember to blog when I’m under this kind of stress? (insert tongue in cheek look here *g*).

Okay it could possibly be attributed to my complete lack of organizational skills.
Or that my back hurt (clearly affecting my brain cells)

Now, onto revisions. First book was a quickie (12K). Piece of cake for edits. Did edits and read through in one day.

Second book I knew would need some tweaking, plus my editor has once again used the “E” word (as in, can you Expand this book and make it longer?). Being the ‘yes’ girl that I am, I said…uhh…yes.

Now, the edits are going great so far. I’m halfway through editing and my own reading/revisions. Some sections I find I’m rather impressed with how well they’re written (hey, even I have occasional moments of brilliance *g*). Okay, not perfect, but they don’t suck and when a section doesn’t suck I pronounce it ‘brilliant’.

It’s the other sections that plague me. First I cringe when I read a paragraph that a third grader could write better (I blame drugs. Or alcohol. Or bad hair days. Anything but my own writing abilities ). Then I can easily spend twenty minutes rewriting a 3 sentence paragraph. First I tweak and that doesn’t work. Then I delete one sentence and rewrite that one, only to find the other two sentences now don’t make a lick of sense. Argh!

How come I can’t have more moments of brilliance instead of third-grader-itis?

Back to editing. Or drugs. Or alcohol. Or a bad hair day.

Check out the picture Shannon posted for me here. (Yes, I’m inept and can’t do anything without her *g*).

Bondage Southpark girl….for some depraved reason this works for me *snicker*

If nothing else it’s worth a laugh…especially since I just got hit with edits for not one but TWO books! Ack!

Jaci…off to flog self

Been reading about sex and romance again. Mrs. Giggles always has great thoughts about this topic.

I think that as long as we (’we’ being both romance readers and writers) continue to wince and apologize when we tell people we read or write romance, the admission of how much we enjoy explicit sex in those romances is always going to take an apologetic tone.

I read erotic romance. I write erotic romance. Hot, spicy, no holds barred sex. And I never will make apologies for that. If someone asks what I do, I tell them I’m a writer. If someone asks what I write, I tell them erotic romance. I’m not ashamed of sex. I’m not ashamed of writing it, reading it or viewing it.

This is 2005. Isn’t it about time we step out of the provincial closet and announce that we are educated, savvy, intelligent women who know what we like and aren’t afraid to admit it?

When did liking sex become a bad thing?

Jaci…still feeling like we’re taking some giant steps backward….