We paid $15 to take a shuttle round trip from the pier into town, about a ten to fifteen minute ride but definitely not doable on foot. We were deposited in front of Faneuil Hall and Quincy Market with their tempting shops and restaurants. The kids were thrilled to see a Cheers bar and café from some TV show. Weather was partially cloudy and cool but good for walking. We hung around this area until lunch then made our way a block over to Union Oyster House where I’d made a reservation. I’d enjoyed this restaurant when I lived in Boston many years ago, and I liked it just as much this time. It’s atmospheric, dating from 1826, with lots of wood inside. We had the best New England clam chowder ever with those little oyster crackers…um, I can taste it now. Then we had moist and tender Boston scrod that you can’t get anywhere else. Yummmm. Oh, I miss this food. We had to pass on the Boston baked beans and Boston cream pie. Couldn’t eat it all. Great food, great atmosphere! Highly Recommended if you’re in the area. I made reservations online at Open Table.
Faneuil Hall Area
Our stomachs full, we strolled toward the Old State House, which we toured later. This brick building dating to the revolutionary era is near where the Boston Massacre occurred. Following the Freedom Trail, we passed the Old South Meeting House as we headed toward Boston Common. I saw the old Filene’s building being torn down but didn’t realize Filene’s Basement had moved to another location. Oh well. We stopped in a huge Macy’s to use the restrooms. You could get lost shopping in here. An H&M is in this downtown area too. Back on the historical trail, we ended up at Boston Common with a view of the majestic State House up on the hill. From here we turned back toward the wharf, passing by a historic Burying Ground where many of our forefathers lie at rest.
Old State House
It’s hard to do Boston is one day. You really need a week here to see everything and to take excursions to the surrounding area attractions.
You’ve put aside the first draft you have just finished so you can gain some distance on the work before tackling revisions. It’s a great time to clean your office, sort your files, and write a few blogs. But your mind starts seguing into the next story.
Here’s what floated into my mind, even when I’m trying to take a break:
My next hero is a Tsuran swordsman who has been disgraced on his home world and shunned by his people. What dastardly deed did he commit? He protected a family member by taking the blame for a murder that she’d committed under duress. Thus close family ties mean a lot to him. Now bring in a heroine who is trying to escape from her family obligations. Conflict!
Add another element. Say our hero, Lord Magnor, is protecting his sister who killed her abusive husband. After he was incarcerated, he learned that she’d been cheating on the man. Betrayal!
Now he’s a sullen, mysterious loner forced to join a team of warriors because they’re the only ones who will accept him. How will the heroine differ? She has to be a people person, outgoing, gregarious, generously reaching out to others. Maybe she gives of herself too much and has overextended her limits. Perhaps her last boyfriend left when she put her dedication to various causes before their relationship. She doesn’t want another man who’ll be so selfish and who lacks compassion. So why does this fierce warrior appeal to her?
Before I delve further into their GMC, what is the hero’s main mission for this story? He has to find the secret weapon that will destroy the evil Trolleks who’ve invaded Earth (it’s a paranormal romance). How will he proceed? Even though I have a list of plot threads from previous installments that have to be tied up in this volume, I’m stumped.
I give up and start cleaning out my files. Oh cool, here’s an article on archetypes. You know what I mean: marriage of convenience, rags to riches, twins, secret baby, prince in disguise, etc. Hey, what if I mix one of these into my story? Imagine the sparks if these two characters had to wed. What if (yes, we plotters use What If? a lot) the heroine enlists Magnor as her fake fiancé? Nah, that’s been done to death already. So how to put a modern twist on the old marriage of convenience tale in a way that would suit my story?
Genius strikes. My bad guys are using theme parks to recruit humans as their mind slaves. Magnor goes to Las Vegas to follow a lead. What else is Vegas if not one huge theme park for adults?
I’m getting excited. I can envision my hero striding down the Strip in his cloak and sword. He encounters a woman who drunkenly boasts to her friends that she can snag any man who walks through the door. Guess who it is? Yep, our hapless hero. But he doesn’t fall for her allure right away. Nope, he recognizes the watch she wears as being significant to his mission. And when they end up in a wedding chapel, our warrior from outer space has no idea what it means. They wake up the next morning together in a hotel room, and…you get the picture. Cool set up, huh?
Now I have to figure out why the Norse goddess Hel releases her “Dead Walkers” so the hero has to brave the underworld to stop her. It could be another ploy for dominance by the evil demon, Loki. He’s manipulating the Trolleks, and… well, I don’t want to give too many spoilers. In case you haven’t guessed, this series is based on Norse mythology.
As each idea comes to me, I jot it down. It’s all jumbled right now. Next I’ll sit down and do my Character Development and Romantic Conflict charts, figure out the plot progression, and write the synopsis. It just has to brew upstairs a while longer.
What do you think of my story idea so far? Any suggestions? When you finish a book, how long of a break do you take and how do you approach the next story to get started?
The morning’s annual RWA meeting was followed by a keynote luncheon featuring NY Times bestselling author Nora Roberts aka J.D. Robb.
Nora Roberts signs her books
NORA ROBERTS Keynote Luncheon
Nora spoke about how technology changed from when she started writing in the days of typewriters. Writers used to go to the library for research, wrote letters by hand, and made phone calls on land line telephones. RWA started in Houston in the early 1980s, and Nora’s friends from those early days stayed with her throughout life. RWA provides networking and education and is a springboard for publishing.
Even though technology has changed, there are more opportunities in romance today. She talked about how we have to stay in the pool and avoid excuses like it’s too cold or we’re too tired or there are too many people crowding the water. Getting published is “supposed to be hard. Hard is what makes it special.” And regarding the value of RWA, “No one should have to face the hard alone.”
Lunch with Zelda Benjamin (left) and Sandra Madden (right)
Publisher Lou Aronica’s State of the Industry Address at the PAN Retreat
“Slightly down is the new up” in this economy. Only a few bestselling titles sustain the publishing houses, according to veteran publisher Lou Aronica. Sales at the bottom of the list are low, as in dozens of copies sold. It’s very hard to sell a novel today even though many romance programs are fully sustainable. Sales at Amazon are up while Barnes & Noble sales are flat and Borders is having problems. Bookstores are in trouble like the CD music stores. Barnes & Noble realizes their brick-and-mortar stores are in jeopardy because consumers prefer to buy books online. Amazon buyers purchase books they are looking for in particular. The main problem there is that we cannot duplicate the bookstore browsing experience. There’s no place for impulse buyers. Amazon tries with their “if you like this book, then you’ll like…” but they mostly recommend bestsellers. Few readers are discovering new fiction online.
E-books are changing everything. Few people estimate the speed of change. It was predicted there would be 11 million ebook readers by the end of 2011 but we’ve already reached this level. 3 million iPads were sold by the end of last month. Before Kindle hit the market at the end of 2007, a few e-reader devices were available but not many people were interested. Now it’s a different story. But with soaring e-book sales, consumers don’t want to spend more than $12.99 on an e-book. This loss in sales revenue concerns publishers and bookstores. Barnes & Noble is making an effort by allowing consumers to read ebooks for free in their stores and to preview books they see on the shelves that way. Booksellers may promote the store as a social site for people to hang out, but if nobody buys print books from them, what then? CD stores went out of business because listeners wanted to buy online. Readers like the price and convenience of buying e-books online. It eliminates the need for manufacturing, distribution, and returns. This means a publisher could potentially make more money by selling an increased number of books for less. However, marketing is critical because the browsing experience is lost. Far more effort has to be put into marketing, plus ebook prices have to rise to return a profit.
Publishing to date has been a business-to-business industry. It goes from publisher to bookseller to consumer. Now, however, there is a business-to-consumer model, a demand market instead of an impulse market. New books go unsold because readers know what they want when they go online. Many publishers don’t have the staff, training, or interest in consumer marketing. So authors have to take charge of marketing their own work. As a writer, you need to find a community of readers specific to your book and market directly to them, but this requires time and money. Social media is a necessity. Book reviews used to drive sales and so did independent booksellers, but this is not the case anymore. Bloggers fill this void. Authors should reach out to bloggers who have a passion for reading. Again, this can be very time consuming.
If no one is printing or distributing the book, why do we need a publisher? Lou offers these reasons:
Editorial input
Advances
Marketing
Multimedia access
More niche publishers are yet to come with expertise in locating readers. Connecting to individual readers will rise in importance. Lou foresees a Renaissance and says it’s “a great age to be a writer.”
Nancy Cohen, Allison Chase, Sharon Hartley
Writing in Multiple Subgenres: the Pros and Cons of Branching Out
Panel with authors ANN AGUIRRE, CYNTHIA EDEN, BETH KERY, ELISABETH NAUGHTON, JULIANA STONE, and BETH WILLIAMSON
I sat next to author LAURA BRADFORD who writes romance and mystery. It was nice to meet her. Panelist ANN AGUIRRE said she keeps her work fresh by writing in multiple genres. She takes a week off between books. She wanted to write a science fiction book women could enjoy and that inspired her popular Jax series. She would not want to settle down writing just one genre. CYNTHIA EDEN said she writes very fast and can do a draft in six weeks. The advantage of writing in multiple genres is you can produce as many books as you want although you may need a pseudonym. You can meet reader expectations in a new genre by writing with the same voice. “Don’t be afraid” to try a new genre. The cons of writing multiple genres are:
Fans may not cross over if they’re dedicated genre readers.
Multiple websites and promo may be necessary for pen names and this can get costly.
Fans want you to stay in the genre they like.
It can dilute your brand. You should be clear with your labeling on your website and other sites.
Your publishers may expect you to write two or more books a year.
One author suggests doing double-sided promo items to separate the genres which can save you money. Connecting websites can be a way to attract crossover readers. But heed this caveat: “The only thing worse than not selling is overselling.” In other words, don’t overbook yourself when setting deadlines. Allow time for vacations, edits, page proofs, blog tours, etc. And just because Author X writes 10 pages a day doesn’t mean you have to produce the same. Everyone is different. Do what suits your lifestyle.
Paranormals
Panel with authors KELLEY ARMSTRONG, JEANIENE FROST, TERRI GAREY, COLLEEN GLEASON, JULIANA STONE, and CHERYL WILSON
The panelists discussed the differences between paranormal romance and urban fantasy. Paranormal romance has the happy ever after ending expected in the romance genre along with spin-off sequels, while urban fantasy employs first-person viewpoint and will have the same character recurrent in a series. However, these lines are blurring as some PNRs may have recurring heroines and some UFs may be less gritty. One author defined fantasy as more Tolkien in scope, while PNR involved “things that go bump in the night.” Whatever the subgenre, world building rules must be consistent. We may be seeing more stories based on mythology because this is still a “rich area to mine.”
The panelists spoke about their world building process. One author first defines her forces of conflict, i.e., good versus evil. Then she goes from the macro level down to the micro level starting with government and ending with daily life. What is unique about your world must be essential to your story. What does the culture value the most and what will they do to protect it?
Our last workshop on Thursday finished at 5:30. We headed off for drinks at the bar with our FRW pals: President KRISTIN WALLACE, KATHLEEN PICKERING, ONA BUSTOS, MICHAEL MEESKE, MONA RISK, CAROL STEPHENSON, DEBBIE ANDREWS, and more. Publicist JOAN SCHULHAFER stopped by to say hello. So did CFRW members DARA EDMONSON aka WYNTER DANIELS and CFRW prez LORENA STREETER. Then we all split to find dinner.
More workshop writeups coming over the weekend. Hit the Subscribe button if you want to stay informed about new posts.
Disclaimer: These workshop reports are based on my notes and are subject to my interpretation.
I arrived at the Dolphin Resort with my roomies for the weekend, authors ALLISON CHASE and SHARON HARTLEY. We went early in the morning to register at the RWA Annual Conference and to drop off our promo items in the goody room. Not too many people were around but we figured it would get crowded later. We said hello to JOYCE HENDERSON and LYNETTE HALLBERG from SWFRW and to DARA EDMONSON and MICHELLE YOUNG from CFRW. MONA RISK was there from FRW looking for the booksigning room to drop off her stuff for later.
Allison Chase, Nancy Cohen, Sharon Hartley
At 2:30, we attended the Librarian Networking Event where we met librarians from Florida and around the country. Many authors were there too and offered book giveaways and other promo items for the librarians. The mass Literacy Booksigning followed with over 500 authors in alphabetical rows sitting with their books in front of them and cashiers at the far end. NY Times Bestselling authors like HEATHER GRAHAM and SUSAN ELIZABETH PHILLIPS had their own spots. I roamed the aisles greeting fellow authors and introducing myself to people I hadn’t met. I greeted JUDI MCCOY who writes the dog walker mystery series, and other authors whose names were familiar from the various listserves where I hang out online. A bevy of our own FRW authors were present: KATHY PICKERING, BONNIE VANAK, DEBBIE ANDREWS, MICHAEL MEESKE, ONA BUSTOS, and many more. The two hours went fast, and over $55,000 was raised for adult literacy.
Allison Chase at Booksigning
Joan Schulhafer, Kristen Wallace, Kathleen Pickering, Ona Bustos
Kathleen Pickering, Nancy Cohen, Sharon HartleySharon Hartley and Traci HallSharon Hartley and Nancy Cohen
Coming Next: Day 2 with keynote luncheon and workshops.
Prize Drawing from all my blog commenters in August for signed book from my personal backlist collection.
If you’d like to escape for several days to a beach haven away from it all, visit Marco Island. There’s as much or as little as you want to do here, with expansive sandy beaches, boat rides, fine dining, shopping, water sports, and more. Driving onto the island, a two-hour drive west from Fort Lauderdale and just south of Naples, we stopped at the Snook Inn for lunch. Located on a waterway, this rustic restaurant offers a scenic view along with outdoor dining. I had Baked Stuffed Shrimp while my husband had Conch Chowder and Crab Cake Sliders. Then we went for cocktails later to Quinn’s on the Beach at the Marriott. Again, we chose outdoor seating so we could watch the sun descend on the horizon.
Snook Inn
We spent two nights at the Hilton with its lovely pool area, big wide beach, three dining places, plus a lounge. The food in Sandpipers and the Paradise Café was excellent, better than many other restaurants we’ve experienced, with an artistic presentation worthy of the best worldwide establishments. For dinner in the Paradise Café, I ordered Coconut Crusted Tilapia that was absolutely delish. My husband ordered Salmon Oscar, and we shared a Key Lime Pie for dessert. Here you have a choice of eating outside on a screened patio with a view of the sunset and beach or inside in the air-cooled restaurant.
The last night found us at Capri Fish House where we ate outside under the chickee hut facing a waterway. While we waited for our food (I ordered grilled grouper), a thunderstorm struck, and lightning flashed all around. Rain poured down, necessitating our moving to another table to avoid getting wet.
View from Snook Inn
Other than the food, we enjoyed the beach. The lounge chairs and towels are free at the Hilton. If you want an umbrella, it costs $19 per day. We hunted for seashells, splashed in the sea foam, sniffed the salty sea air, and floated in the bathtub warm water. This mini vacation came with its comedic moments, such as when the spouse spilled ketchup all over himself or got lost walking on the beach looking for the hotel entrance. I tried to unlock someone else’s room until I realized I was at the wrong door. Good thing our daughter came along to laugh at our mishaps. Family vacations, however short, are treasures to be stored away with memories and photos.
Quinn’s on the BeachHilton Hotel viewMarco Island BeachNancy in the oceanCapri Fish HouseCapri Fish HouseKey Lime PieNancy at Capri Fish HouseSunsetSunset
The Lake County Library System holds a week-long reading festival each year. It must be the best attended library event in the state. Friday night, March 19, found my husband and I along with 20 other authors at a delightful Author’s Reception in Leesburg Library. Leesburg doesn’t seem like a big town, but the library is a two-story modern building with a café. While waiters circulated with canapes, we met library patrons, readers, staff members, and fellow writers. We had the opportunity to schmooze and hand out promo materials. It was a great event for mingling and getting to know everyone. I knew many faces: Agent and author Lucienne Diver from the Knight Agency, Authors Cynthia Thomason, Julie Compton, Dara Edmonson, Catherine Kean, Michelle Young, Dolores Wilson, Elizabeth Sinclair, Elaine Viets, Mark Schweizer, and more.
Nancy Cohen & Lucienne Diver
Nancy at Reception
Cynthia Thomason, Elizabeth Sinclair, Delores WilsonDara Edmonson & Nancy Cohen
Mystery Author Elaine Viets
Julie Compton & Dara Edmonson
We crashed later that evening at the Holiday Inn Express in Tavares located on the tranquil Dead River. A quaint seafood restaurant, Fin’s, is nearby. It was about fifteen minutes away on 441 which was good, because my workshop started in the morning at nine o’clock back in Leesburg.
I spoke on How to Get Published: The Business of Writing. My talk covered the basics on manuscript preparation, query letters, synopsis, how to get an agent, the value of networking, contests and critique groups, self-editing, and more. We had about forty people in the audience, and they asked good questions. I enjoyed speaking to such an enthusiastic crowd.
Nancy presents workshop
For a lunch break, my husband and I cruised 441 and settled on the Red Lobster. Then we headed back to the library for my afternoon session, a panel entitled “Murder, Love, and Laughter” with mystery authors Elaine Viets, Mark Schweizer, Elizabeth Sinclair, Delores Wilson, and Nancy J. Cohen.
Nancy, Mark, Elizabeth, Elaine, DeloresNancy enjoys speaking to group
Kudos to Judy Buckland, Lake Co. Library System’s Program Coordinator, for a terrific turnout and a great event. Thanks, also, to Raintree Booksfor selling our work.
And now for the plug: Support your local libraries! Take out books and DVDs, join Friends of the Libraries, attend their events. I can’t tell you how many readers have written to me to say they first discovered my mysteries on the library shelves. Libraries are more like media centers these days with videos, computers, even digital downloads. Take advantage of this public service and visit your local library. Hugs to all librarians!
