While working on rewrites of my upcoming novel, I've necessarily been thinking on a deeper level than usual. (If you smell something burning, it's probably my rusty brain gears.)
Why? Because this book is a historical, and my goals are: 1) to present historical events as they occurred through the viewpoint of one fictional character 2) to write characters that think and behave like real people, not like my idealized versions of real people. The French Revolution is not easily explained, and its events are anything but romantic.
My previous published books have all been genre romance. Is this necessarily a bad thing? No. But the romance genre is limited in its scope, and most of my 16 books and stories are quite simplistic. The extreme focus on romance can usually distract a reader from lack of actual plot and/or character development, and I often resorted to gimmicks to bring events about rather than building solid plots or characters. The fact that such gimmicks are widely accepted in the CBA-romance world doesn't make them good writing.
They make for trite, one-book-is-just-like-another writing. But what did it matter? I fulfilled my contracts and even won or placed in several major awards.
And I totally burned out on writing romance books. Any attempts to write a longer, more meaty novel crashed and burned--mainly because I did not actually know how to write a novel.
So who has been teaching me how to write? You guessed it: my daughter. Was it humbling for me, a multi-award-winning author, to be schooled by my daughter? You bet.
Was it good for me? Absolutely! I am a slow learner, but I think I did eventually catch on, and I am even starting to recognize and eliminate gimmicks from my own work. My editor can be counted to point out any I have overlooked, once she eventually gets her hands on the manuscript--and I sincerely hope she gets tough with me. Unlearning bad tricks gets harder with age, I think.
But the results are well worth it. :-)
Awesome!
ReplyDeleteSo, I'm wondering...will there be any chance at a hint of romance in this novel? Not the romanticizing of the past or people, but curious about what a reader would be getting themselves into when they pick up your novel about the French Revolution. ;-)
Oh yes, there is plenty of romance in the book, but the plot revolves around several important events and relationships, not only the romantic ones. My goal is to have every character and every scene in the book drive the plot forward to its exciting ending. And, at this point, I can only hope the ending is exciting, since that's what I'm rewriting at present. :-D
DeleteHope this makes sense--I'm running a fever today and feel a little woozy. Could make for some surreal writing tonight . . .
I can't WAIT to read the results of your brain-smoking work! So proud of you! xoxo
ReplyDeleteLove you, Oywen! Looking forward to reading your book-baby too. :-)
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DeleteI love this post! It's humbling and awesome to see the work God is doing in the lives of our kids, to see them grow and flourish. to realize we can learn from them. How wonderful that you and Anne Elisabeth have such a great relationship! By the way, it's been amazing to see Hannah grow and want to grow through Anne Elisabeth's writing mentoring program. She's provided just the right amount of challenges and empathy to be a total encouragment!
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad to hear it. Anne Elisabeth is a born teacher, I think--and I know that she is delighted with Hannah's talent and progress. Yes, it is a blessing to have a great relationship with my daughter. :-) She is a joy to me every day.
DeleteHey Jill! Well....I'm really behind on reading and commenting, but couldn't resist saying YAY for our daughters! :) That is so awesome that you are learning from your daughter (as I'm sure Anne Elisabeth has learned a ton from her sweet Mom!) and now I'm even more eager to read your book.
ReplyDeleteI am so thankful and blessed to also have a wonderful relationship with my 2 daughters (my son, too---but he doesn't talk nearly as much as his sisters, LOL). ;)
Sending hugs to my fellow cat-loving friend! Patti Jo :)