If you haven’t caught Author Talk, with Jill Monroe and Gena Showalter, you’re missing the best videos ever! I think Jill and Gena should win some kind of award for these. :boobie:
Check out this week’s video below (um because you might find something you recognize :giggle: ), and then go to the Author Talk website and watch them all!
Where do I get my story ideas?
I get asked this question a lot. It’s probably one of the most frequently asked questions, and one that doesn’t have an easy answer, because ideas for stories come from everywhere. They pop into my head at the oddest times- while watching television, while driving, while lying in bed or taking a shower–usually anytime I’m nowhere near my computer or a piece of paper. :gah:
Sometimes it’s nothing more than a single thought–a line, a character, a scene, a face. Sometimes it turns out to be nothing. A fleeting glimpse into an idea, and poof! It’s gone. Other times it’ll catch on and develop into something more concrete, and I’ll mull it over in my head for awhile and see if it takes shape into something I can use.
And I have to say that I usually get story ideas when I’m not looking for them. They usually hit me when I’m knee deep in deadlines for another book, when I have several books I know I need to write. Then another story idea will come to me.
So what do I do then? I write it down, of course, letting my imagination take flight. At that point it may be nothing but gibberish. A lot of random thoughts and ideas. Maybe something a character is doing, or a plotline about something happening. Either way, I take notes of whatever is hammering away at my head and file it away in my plotlines folder. I have an entire folder on my computer for nothing but random plotlines. This is my well of ideas that I go to when I need to pull out something new to write.
And sometimes, when I hit a wall with my current book, I’ll open up one of those ideas and toy with it a bit, see where it takes me, develop it a little further, then close it again until I have more time to work on it.
A writer never runs out of ideas.
And ideas never stop popping into our heads. It’s like a constant turning wheel.
I love my job. :sasmokin:
So you want to write a paranormal romance. Where do you start? With World Building, of ourse. No easy task, but we hope to help. World Building is an all encompassing part of the aranormal. From characters to geography to weapons to social dynamics, to the creatures or magic contained within your world, everything in a paranormal must be created by you, the writer. And once you create your world, you and your characters must abide by those rules. We’ll show you where to start, the step by step process for creating your world, and how you and your characters can easily learn to live within the boundaries you’ve set.
ABOUT THE INSTRUCTORS
Jaci Burton is a National Bestselling author of contemporary erotic romance and paranormal romance. She writes for four publishers, so her life is spent juggling deadlines and trying to keep the characters straight in all her books. Jaci is an award winning author, and has won the Romantic Times Bookclub Magazine’s Reviewer’s Choice Award. Jaci makes her home in northeast Oklahoma with her husband and more dogs than she can wrangle. To date she has published over thirty-five books. http://www.jaciburton.com
Mandy M. Roth grew up fascinated by creatures that go bump in the night. From the very beginning, she showed signs of creativity. At age five, she had her first piece of artwork published. Writing came into play early in her life as well. Over the years, the two mediums
merged and led her to work in marketing. Combining her creativity with her passion for horror has left her banging on the keyboard into the wee hours of the night. Mandy lives with her husband and three children on the shores of Lake Erie, where she is currently starting
work on her Master’s Degree. She was nominated for Romantic Times Bookclub Magazine’s Reviewer’s Choice Award for Best Paranormal Erotic. http://www.mandyroth.com
REGISTRATION INFORMATION
Cost for each workshop is $15 for NEORWA members, $20 for all others. You do not have to be an RWA member to take our workshops! Please email [email protected] or
[email protected] with any questions– list the title of the workshop in the subject line.
Visit the NEORWA website for more information.