Too Tired to Title This

‘Tis the morning after the Romance Writers of Australia annual conference and I’m functioning on borrowed brain cells. This time I was far more relaxed than last year, when I had to pitch to Miriam Kriss, but no less excited for my buddies Fiona Lowe, Sharon Arkell, Tracey O’Hara, Rachel Robinson and Allison Withers who were up for awards.

We spent all of Friday with the incomparable Jenny Crusie. She’s every bit as warm, funny and entertaining in life as she is in print. And she even signed my copy of Anyone But You with the inscription “To dear Vanessa, who is a great writer.” Gosh, she’s so smart. How did she know? (I’m kidding – she forced all of us to chant, “I am a great writer,” out loud all weekend.)

Anne Stuart, whose genteel exterior belies a twisted* mind, talked about dark matter of the literary variety: heroes and heroines who maim and murder. If your heroine must commit a crime, make her goals, motivation and conflict clear, said Anne. Give the reader a reason to empathise with the protagonist. Psycho killers are generally boring because often they kill without emotion or reason.

From Allison Rushby I learnt about applying the three-act play/film structure to novel writing. One of my crit crew members, Janette, found it useful to identify the three acts of her ms and major turning points, and then base her editor pitch on it. (P.S. Worked like a charm.)

Dynamic duo Annie West and Anna Campbell unleashed alpha heroes on us. They cleared up a lot of misconceptions about the definition of an alpha male. Very nice of them to use visual aids, like pics of Indiana Jones and James Bond (the latest model) too. In short, a real alpha male can take many forms but he’s never a bully or brute.

Okay, now I have to go cultivate some more brain cells. Tell me, what have you learnt from a conference or workshop?


* Anne Stuart even describes herself as twisted, but she’s really very sweet.

Never Work with Vegetables and Animals

Special congratulations to four of my writer friends, Christine Wells, Paula Roe, Kate Mulvany and Amanda Ashby, who've all received amazing reviews for their work in the past week.

Christine Wells's historical debut, Scandal's Daughter (Berkley) won four well-deserved stars in the Romantic Times.

"Richly etched and multilayered" is how the Romantic Times described Paula Roe's characters in Forgotten Marriage ( Silhoutte Desire). Paula scored four and a half stars for her debut. Don't you think her coverboy looks just like Martin Henderson?

The Sydney Morning Herald had this to say about playwright and actress Kate on her play The Seed: "Kate Mulvany went to a very candid place inside her heart to tell her family's story. At this stage in her career, Mulvany is often described as an emerging playwright. The Seed suggests she's close to fully fledged."

And finally, Publishers Weekly says Amanda's You Had Me at Halo (NAL) is "The Lovely Bones meets Bridget Jones. It's a fun, witty traipse through the afterlife."

So put these books on your to-be-read...no, MUST-be-read list. Kate's play finishes its run at the Belvoir St Theatre in Sydney on August 12.

Cowboys Herding Cats

Everyone knows you can't lead a cat to water. Unless you're a cowboy.

Heart of Darkness

Are you a frequent Googler? Concerned about energy usage? Well, set your home page to http://www.blackle.com. It's the same old Google, only the background is black. It takes more power to display a white page than a black one.

Smarty-pants Doogie Houser used a blue background in Word when writing his electronic diaries. It was quite irritating to look at. I wonder if he did it to earn carbon credits.

Sowing the Seeds of Success

(Corny title, I know... )

My uber talented colleague Kate Mulvany won the 2004 Philip Parsons Young Playwright’s Award with The Seed, and tonight the play opens at Sydney's Belvoir Street Theatre. She also stars in this drama about the effects of war, based on her family history. If you're in town, please go along and check it out. I'm so excited for Kate. She was with me when my agent offered representation. As a writer, she knew just how much the offer meant to me. We jumped around and screamed for ages (after we double-checked the email to make sure I read it right the first time).

Congrats, Kate! Thanks for your support. Break a leg.

Goodness Gracious!

While cruising my favourite blogs for pitching tips, I read this exchange in the comments trail of a recent Pubrants post. An anonymous poster criticised the Publishers Marketplace blurb for YA author Kelly Parra’s Graffiti Girl. Expressing an opinion is fine. But what I found memorable was Kelly’s gracious response. It would’ve been all too easy to shoot back with a scorching reply. Instead, she killed 'em with kindness. I think that says a lot about her and how to win fans and influence bloggers.

In other news...
Writing victory of the week: finished a YA ms. Hooray!

Today's headlines...

Congratulations to Amanda Ashby, who just signed a two-book YA deal with Puffin. Amanda's debut novel, You Had Me at Halo (who could resist that title, eh?) comes out in August. Hooray, Amanda!

Another author celebrating tonight is Alexandra Adornetto. At 15, I believe she's the youngest published writer in Australia. Isn't that amazing? Her book, The Shadow Thief will be released on July 1.

Well done, ladies! Happy sales to you.

Eight Random Facts

That dastardly romance bandit Anna Campbell tagged me and I've been trying to think up eight random things about me that won't send anyone to sleep. I'm sure this list is the blog equivalent to Valium, but here goes anyway...

1. When I was a kid I once scared the heck out of my sister, with whom I shared a bedroom, by sleep-talking in Spanish. And that's weird, 'cause I can't speak Spanish when I'm awake (but I do know what El Pollo Loco means).

2. I'm fascinated by ghosts and write about them but I'm not keen on the idea of actually meeting one.

3. I was one of the tallest girls in Grade 7. Now I'm the shortest person in my group of friends.

4. I am the sudoku champion of my household.

5. I can never pick just one favourite thing.

6. I got married in Savannah, Georgia, which is about 9,444 miles (or 15,197 kilometres) from where I live. Apparently a ghost was there too but I was too nervous to notice.

7. Many years ago, in a nightclub, a high-profile football player once accused me of throwing ice at him. (A friend later said to me, "Are you sure he wasn't saying 'You've got nice eyes' and not 'Did you throw ice?'")

8. It has taken me 30 days to come up with this list.

I now pronounce Philip, Stephanie Hale, Elizabeth Scott, Tracey O'Hara, Joanna Challis, Tina Ferraro, Elle Royce and Simone Elkeles tagged! You can post your random facts here, on your own blog, or to really mess with people, post on some random blog.

Four non-random rules about the Eight Random Facts game:
1. Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
2. People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.
3. At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.
4. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

Excuse Me, Haven't I Seen This Plot Before?

Picture this: A proud moment. You’ve just spent months (maybe years, maybe weeks if you’re disciplined) writing a whole entire novel. Your characters are so real they could be made of flesh and bone. The story zings in all the right places. There’s an action-packed beginning, the middle is sinewy and not one bit saggy, and the ending – well, you’ve outdone Stephen King, haven’t you?

Then you go to a bookstore and treat yourself. The first tome you pick up is in the same genre as yours and has an enticing title. Its cover is to die for. But when you read the blurb, you want to die for a whole 'nother reason. Why? Because this published book, with its snappy name and shiny cover, is exactly like the one you’ve just finished writing. Same setting, same plot, same everything.

How does this happen? Is it a product of collective unconsciousness? (Great time-waster here.) Where the heck are you going to find an original idea?

I’ll leave the how’s and the why’s to scientists and philosophers. What you, the writer, need to focus on is your own book. It may seem like the end of the world, but don’t panic. Unless you plagiarised whole sections word-for-word (and you wouldn't have done that), you really shouldn’t throw your hands up and abandon the project.

What will set your story apart from that Doppelganger? I’m sure you’ll find lots of things, starting with:
a. Your voice. It comes from within. Sure, you can mimic someone else’s voice, but it won’t ring true.

b. Main characters and bit players. Maybe they’re motivated by different things; maybe they’re more tortured or more emotionally stable; maybe your heroine’s tall and the other book’s heroine is short. You get the idea.

c. The basic plot maybe similar to yours, but it’s likely you’ll see twists in other directions.

So your book has a fraternal twin. Where to from here? Choose your own adventure:
a. Scrap your book. (Not recommended – I’m just throwing options around here.)

b. Tweak, revise, polish. Remember, you have the advantage of creating a stronger hook.

c. Do nothing (that includes wallowing in depression) because you’re convinced your book is similar...but different.

d. Put your manuscript away to marinate and start on something new.

e. Vow never to read again, that way you won’t be influenced by others. (Er...also not recommended.)

f. Google that elusive factory where new ideas for books are invented daily by a crack team. Or is it a team on crack? I think they have a MySpace page...

g. Read widely, keep developing your skills and style, quit comparing yourself to other writers.

h. A combination of the above.

So, fellow writers, has this happened to you? How did you deal with it?

YA Author Interview - Sara Hantz

At school, my fellow Antipodean Sara Hantz was the girl most likely to get sent to the principal's office for disrupting class. Now she's the girl most likely to create a stir when her debut YA novel, The Second Virginity of Suzy Green (Flux), storms the bookshelves on September 1.

In between writing her next book, running a motel in beautiful New Zealand and vetting potential pool boys, Sara sat down to answer a few burning questions.


Tell us about your protagonist, Suzy Green.
Suzy is a typical fun-loving teen, whose life spirals out of control after the tragic death of her sister, Rosie, for which she blames herself. After one major incident she comes to her senses and decides, misguidedly, to emulate high achieving Rosie so she can ease the pain of her parents’ loss. When she starts her new school she reinvents herself, including joining the virginity club (for which she isn’t qualified), which has some amusing and poignant consequences.

What inspired the plot?
This is a tricky question because there wasn’t any one thing that inspired me. I had a title in mind, which I loved - Virgin on the Ridiculous - and I wanted to write something around that (as you can see it’s not the title I ended up with, but that’s okay because I love the new title even more). I remember brainstorming with one of my crit partners and she told me about virginity clubs and I researched them on the net and came up with the idea of someone lying about being a virgin so they could join. And the rest of the story sort of evolved through my planning.

Describe your writing process.
Little and often. I have a very low attention span and am easily distracted. So, I open my manuscript up first thing in the morning and dip in and out of it during the day. Some times I get more done than others, depending on how busy the motel is and how sidetracked I get on the internet.

I’d love to know more about your Call story.
I’d been writing chick-lit and hen-lit for a couple of years, when in November 2005 I decided to try a teen-lit. After writing three chapters I did what you’re not meant to do and started to send it to agents, to test the water. Ooops!!! That’ll teach me. The story seemed to hit the right nerve because straightaway five agents asked for the full manuscript and six for partials. I sent the partials and said to those requesting the full that it still needed some tweaking (aka writing) and I’d send when ready. In only a few days one of the agents had read the partial and asked for the full.

I managed to finish the full by January and send to all those who requested it… most of them asked for it by email which was an added bonus… and 10 days later the agent I mentioned above phoned and offered representation. I said yes pretty much straight away. By February I’d done some revisions for my agent and she sent it out to lots of publishers. Andrew, the editor from Flux, phoned asking if I’d be prepared to do some revisions. I said yes (obviously!!!) and he sent me a very detailed letter. I did them. He was happy and then asked me to do some more, saying if they were okay he’d take it to the Acquisitions Committee. He took it to the committee and they offered me a contract. The actual ‘call’ was staged. First, my agent emailed asking for me to let her know a time I’d be available for a chat on the phone. So I sort of knew they’d offered. So I didn’t scream or burst into tears because I’d already prepared myself.

How has your life changed since you signed that first contract with Flux?
Well, now I get up at midday, have a long soak in a bath full of bubbles, then my chef will prepare a light lunch and I’ll go to my office and write. I’ll write for maybe an hour and then go for a massage, after which I’ll sunbathe by the pool reading. The pool-boy will be on hand at all times to pander to my every need… no, not those sort of needs!! I mean peeling grapes and dropping them gently into my mouth.

What??? You don’t believe me. Okay… Not a lot has changed, except I have both an agent and editor to work with, and when given a deadline I must meet it. It’s also great to have such fabulous editorial input. My books are a thousand times better than they were originally because of their help.

What do you know about publishing now that you wish someone had told you earlier?
That publishing moves at a snail’s pace. Two days in publishing time is like two weeks for the rest of us. I’m slowly learning to be patient… but it’s very hard for someone who’s made impatience an art form.

Your book debuts in September – how are you going to celebrate its release?
Being stuck in NZ I won’t be able to stalk all the high street stores looking for it, and placing it to its best advantage. So, I guess I’ll be with my family drinking a toast to its success. I’m hoping to enlist friends in the US to go on a hunt for it and send me photos.

What are you working on now?
I’m working on a book called Dating The Megan Russell Way, which is about a teenage girl who sells psychic dating advice to pay off a huge debt.

What’s the best part about being a writer?
Being able to make things up! I spent many years in academia, having to research and write papers on some very dry and boring issues. Writing is like a breath of fresh air. Oh yes, and being able to wear track pants every day. Now that really is heaven!

Do you have any advice for aspiring authors who might be struggling with agent/editor rejections?
Hang on in there. Very often rejections don’t mean you have no talent, just that your manuscript isn’t right for them at that particular time. I believe there’s an element of luck involved in all sales. Take The Second Virginity of Suzy Green as an example. It landed on the editor’s desk just as he was thinking about broadening their offering to include books set overseas from a different culture. Right place, right time!


Great answers, Sara. Thanks so much!


The Second Virginity of Suzy Green is available for pre-order now at Fishpond and Amazon.