by Theresa Kovian

Save The Cat! By Blake Snyder is not your typical “how-to” book on writing a screenplay.  It’s more an approach at grabbing the attention of a would-be buyer of your screenplay that can also be applied to writing a fiction novel.  Each chapter, except the last one, ends with a Summary and a series of Exercises.

He delves into his four points one must remember in telling what the story is about, being keen on doing so in less than 10 minutes. These are irony, visualization, audience/cost  awareness, and title.

This screenwriter characterizes movies into 10 types or genres, so your story line isn’t presented in absurd wordiness.  He provides examples of each that can be applied by a novelist pitching a book idea to an editor or agent. 

As a result of seeing movies and reading screenwriting books, this author created “The Blake Snyder Beat Sheet.” It lists the 15 beats or structure points of his screenplays that he always filled out and brought to his pitch meetings. His own screenplays Blank Check and Miss Congeniality are used to exemplify these beats: Opening Image, Theme Stated, The Set-up, Catalyst, Debate, Break into Two, Fun and Games, B Story, Midpoint, Bad Guys Close In, All is Lost, Dark Night of the Soul, Break into Three and Finale. He not only breaks down these two screenplays by beat, he also cites page numbers on his script.

Snyder considers The Board as a respected means of re-working a script; a time-consuming task that is worth every moment since it permits a story to mull in the subconscious mind. It can be written on blackboards, corkboards or pads of paper.  His use of The Board, or writing the screenplay in Acts, was completed with a certain number of “cards” per act.  Along with considering page number, he specifies breaks in the screenplay based on major turning points. This is not unlike what a novelist considers in a story’s structure.   Although a novelist weaves back story through the novel, according to Snyder a screenwriter should present it up front or the Opening Set-Piece on page one.  This is included in Act One that breaks at page 25 or the section where Break into (Act) 2 occurs.  The first Act Two breaks at page 55 or the Midpoint.  The second Act Two has two significant breaking points.  One is on page 75 with All is Lost, which is in direct opposition to what happens to the hero in Midpoint, and then again at page 85 or the Break into (Act) 3.  Act Three ends by page 110. Each is comprehensively explained. 

Snyder spells out the seven laws or terms used by screenwriters; citing examples on those to use and others to use with caution.

He builds the book so that when read there will be no doubt of what makes a screenplay work. Credit is given to his fellow co-screenwriters with whom he has sold scripts, Colby Carr, and his mentor Mike Cheda. Should you wish to learn more about this legendary icon of screenplay writing and other invaluable advice, go to www.blakesnyder.com where I bought this book.

A big shout out to Bonnie Hazard and her crew for putting together this year’s CR-RWA Conference. We were a little nervous moving to a new venue, but the people at The Hilton Gardens were amazing. The food was top notch and the conference center was very professional and clean. No worries on plugs for the old laptops at this conference center! Everyone had their own. And as a techie girl, that was a plus, believe me!

Here’s a few pictures from our luncheon. I’ll add more when I get the pix of Caridad and Jenna and the panel.

by Heather Rosman

Allowing myself to entertain the fantasy of becoming a published author was a huge decision for me. I’d been in denial for years, working in academe, secretly reading mass market fiction behind closed doors. At the time I was in graduate school, working toward my PhD in Psychology. I thought the course of my life was determined. I’d do research and teach; a respectable career. It took my father becoming deathly ill for me to realize life was too short to give up on my dreams. In the middle of my misery I turned to my first passion for comfort and rediscovered myself.

So I was going to do it. I was going to tell the stories that had been boiling deep inside my creative gut. The excitement was there. The drive was there. I sat down in front of my computer to a blank page and thought, ‘now what?’ I knew then I needed to know how others had done this so successfully. I knew I couldn’t do it alone. Oh, I could probably do something alone—it just wouldn’t be any shade of good.

I’d known Romance Writers of America existed since the age of 13 when my passion for reading romance was born with Julie Garwood’s The Prize. Finding me sprawled indelicately on the couch for six hours at a time, devouring a paperback, my parents would just roll their eyes. In the end I think they were just happy I was reading something. Of course, they didn’t realize I was staying up all night, skipping school to stay home and read. Shh…don’t tell!

Finding out about CRRWA wasn’t hard, showing up for a meeting was. I thought it would be like an AA meeting, everyone standing up, ‘my name is Heather and I’m hopelessly addicted to romance novels.’ If my LGBT friends will forgive me, it felt like I was coming out of the closet. As if I were exposing my deepest darkest secret to the world. I expected fingers pointed at me and snide remarks, ‘you want to be a what?’

These fears were based on two incorrect cognitions. One, I wasn’t going to be good enough. All romance writers have this feeling. In fact, it’s almost a prerequisite to actually becoming an author. Two, I still held the belief that the romance genre wasn’t one that held respect in the literary world and because this was the genre I wanted to write, I would never be respected. Which I know now is complete bull-honkey. Did you know that 30% of all books sold are romance novels? That 25% of all romance readers are men? That the majority of romance readers are married and hold college degrees? Romance fans aren’t sex-starved spinsters and romance writers are hardly oversexed divas i.e. Meryl Streep in Shedevil. The romance genre has a lot to be proud of—we are the biggest foothold in the market!

So I finally got myself to a meeting, excited and nervous about who I was going to meet. I think I had a secret fantasy that Julie Garwood was a member of my local RWA. Never mind she lives in Kansas—it could happen, right? I arrived at the East Greenbush Public Library, stood in a corner, and hoped I’d be able to sneak quietly into the meeting. But Thomasine, the group’s librarian, walked up to me very friendly and asked ‘you’re here for the romance writers’ group?’ I just swallowed hard and nodded. Mind you, Thomasine is very tall and beautiful. Oh boy, I thought, all romance writers were gorgeous. I should run away now and not embarrass myself.  Frumpy old Heather would never look like a romance writer *gasp*. My mind shot back to memories of Meryl Streep, wrapped in gossamer gowns with her mansion by the sea.

But oddly, Thomasine treated me like I belonged there. Like of course, I’m a writer. I sat down and the next I knew Roberta DeCaprio pulled herself right next to me, talked to me and got to know me. She took the time to welcome me, answer my questions—and boy, did I have a ton of them.

Within the first twenty minutes of the meeting, I realized writing romance wasn’t about looks or lifestyle or even gender. It was about love of the genre, the battle between good and evil and the happily ever after (HEA) ending. The need to drag our characters through all sorts of muck, knowing they’ll come out with a smile on their face. That is what unites all romance readers and writers. That is what brings us to the East Greenbush Library once a month.

It’s a scary proposition, changing one’s life. Romance has a way of doing that for us. Though they won’t write your book for you, the CRRWA has been my foothold on the business. I’ve finally found a home where I could be the person I’ve always been, the writer who hid inside the shell of another personality. You do know that all writers have a little crazy, right?

As of now, I’ve left graduate school to fulfill my dreams. I have no regrets. I’m not free of the manacles of life, mind you. Like most others of the group, I have a day job which allows me to write when I can. Very few writers are able to leave their jobs to write full time—we wish! Quitting the day job to write full time is a dream many of us have, but not many can fulfill. Don’t let that stop you from living your dreams in the stolen moments between family, jobs and other responsibilities. When I come home at night I’m no longer up to my ears in dreaded academe, I’m reading romance novels as ‘research’ or writing blogs for my good friends at CRRWA. That is my dream. I’m living it and loving it! 

K.A. Mitchell

I was in the middle of working on Collision Course, excited about this amazing gift from the muse, when my spouse Steve came into the room. In my desire to share this wonderful experience, I asked, “Did I tell you what Joey said?” referring to one of my much-beloved characters.

With a resigned but frustrated sigh, Steve said, “Honey, Joey isn’t someone locked up in the basement. He’s not real. He’s just a character in your head. You said it.”

Blasphemy! Joey is totally real. I saw his car on I-90 yesterday, and I absolutely would  never have said what Joey just said.

Do you know who understands that? Other writers. Other writers know that you can’t just make a character do something. Other writers know that the characters “in your head” are real people with real (and sometimes really loud) voices. Other writers know that you don’t
really need medication because of those voices in your head.

If I didn’t talk to other writers, I might need that medication. So where I find these people? The ones who know that even when I’m staring out the window or playing with my Sims, I’m really working out a plot issue and no, now is not a good time to bother me. People who know that just getting that one scene, one paragraph, or one line exactly the most perfect and precise way it was destined to be is cause for a celebratory, “Let’s go out to dinner.” That getting to the end of your first or your fifth or your fiftieth manuscript is cause for champagne, flowers, and possibly jewelry?

I find them once a month at the East Greenbush Library.  If it weren’t for the support of my local chapter I’d have long since decided that there are other easier and more lucrative ways of being publicly insane. And that would be a shame. Because then I never would have met Joey or Aaron or Sean or Kyle or Cam or Noah or….

by Karen Rappleyea, CR-RWA Treasurer

The week before Christmas, my very conservative, no-nonsense attorney  brother-in-law forwarded a “viral marketing” link to my husband.

Knowing that my husband had lost his touch in the gift-giving department, he was frightened what might become of the man who gave me a gift certificate for shoes for my 40th birthday.

This e-commercial from JC Penney was hilarious and properly titled “The DogHouse”.

http://bewareofthedoghouse.com/VideoPage.aspx

Needless to say, my husband more than made up for it this past holiday.

But tell me, what is the most UN-romantic gift you ever got from your significant other?

By Elizabeth Lyon, available from Penguin books.
ISBN 978–0–399–53395–2 $14.95

Reviewed by Nanci Race, Pro Liaison

Manuscript Makeover is a comprehensive book that offers revision techniques for writers whether beginning or multi-published. According to Lyon, revising fiction involves skills apart from writing. By learning and applying the techniques found in Manuscript Makeover, novels will be greatly improved. The revisions skills can be used on future stories to break into fiction or increase sales. Lyon says the book is designed to help the writer develop a system for finding and correcting errors.

Lyon has created a significant resource for fiction writers. She begins with the basics of preparing to revise, sentence structure and types of sentences and moves forward in the revision process until the last chapter, which deals with copyediting, synopsis preparation, query letters, and polishing one’s work for marketing.

The format is easy to follow and one need not read the book from cover to cover to take advantage of the tips and techniques. Manuscript Makeover is broken down into Four parts; Style Speaks, Craft Works, Characterization Endures, and Marketing Pays. Each of those sections has separate chapters pertaining to that particular topic. It’s easy to pick a section and its subsequent chapters and target specific aspects of a manuscript whether it’s completed or a work in progress.

I applied many of Lyon’s techniques to my own work in progress. I found the manuscript revision checklists at the end of each chapter to be particularly helpful. Using them helped me pinpoint weaknesses in my book and fix them. Lyon uses examples of published works for emphasis of her techniques. This helped to see how well known authors used power words for greater impact and imagery to evoke emotion, setting or deepen the meaning of their work. There are many practical suggestions, which are useful in guiding writers to writing a stronger more marketable book. I highly recommend this book for established as well as beginning writers. For beginners it offers a no-nonsense approach to a polished piece of work. For published authors Manuscript Makeover is a handy refresher to make their work even better. Manuscript Makeover contains revision techniques no writer can afford to ignore.

Kudos to Glen Ebisch on his reviews for Grace Justice:

Grave Justice by Glen Ebisch “Ebisch is fun to read.readers will look forward to the next mysterious tale from New England.” — Nina C. Davis, Booklist, April 1, 2008   Read the review “…this fine mystery…will capture most readers’ imaginations.” — Library Journal, April 1, 2008   Read the review

by Thomasine Rappold

This month marks my 10-year membership in RWA.  While I’d prefer to be acknowledging this milestone as a published author, unless I get “the call” in the next few weeks, celebrating a first sale before my ten-year mark is highly unlikely.  

Although I didn’t start writing seriously (with any real discipline) until my youngest headed off to college in 2005, when I’d realized ten years had passed since I’d joined RWA and decided to try my hand at writing romance, I couldn’t believe it.   I didn’t want to believe it.  How could I be working so hard for so long and still be unpublished?  The answer is simple.  Getting published is difficult.  More difficult than I had imagined years ago when I completed my first manuscript and received my first rejection letter. 

Understanding and accepting that the romance market is tight and fiercely competitive doesn’t make me feel better.  However, after looking back to those early days in which I knew nothing about writing and publishing, I’ve managed to find consolation in all that I’ve learned and accomplished during the ten-years-and-counting pursuit of my dream. 

The road to publication is littered with obstacles.  Look past them and you’ll see that this same road is also lined with crumbs of encouragement—little bits of validation that whet your appetite to succeed and keep you moving forward.  With each step of this journey, I’ve snatched up and stashed in my pockets all I could along the way.  Although these rewards don’t come in the form of advances and royalties, I’ve earned and value them just the same.  

• Charter membership with CRRWA
• PRO Membership with RWA
• Completed three full-length manuscripts
• Finaled twice in the Golden Heart
• Won and finaled in several other RWA contests
• Attended 15 Writing Conferences and 5 Writing Retreats
• Joined a wonderful Critique Group
• Met dozens of talented writers and many of my idols, including Eloisa James who judged my work in a contest, chose it as the winner, and was sweet enough to tell me that my writing reminded her of LaVyrle Spencer’s.  (One of my all-time favorite crumbs)
• Met several editors and agents and survived pitching my work to them at conferences
• Learned a lot about the craft of writing
• Learned almost as much about the business of writing
• Receiving “good” rejections—but that’s a subject for another blog

But most importantly, to me, anyway, I’ve learned that I love it.  All of it.  (Okay, except for the dreaded and hugely disappointing “Dear Author” rejections, but as I mentioned above, the topic of rejections is a blog for later.)  Writing is the most challenging work I’ve ever done.  I can’t quit.  My drive and my stubbornness won’t let me.  My family gave me a plaque that reads, “The world is waiting to hear your story.”  Until then, I’ll keep trudging along, collecting crumbs as I go.  And if it happens to take another ten years to get published…My pockets runneth over.

by Roberta C.M. DeCaprio

In my travels, I’ve accumulated lots of web sites for writers. Since I believe passing on helpful tips and supporting other writer’s in their craft is good karma, I’d like to share a few I found in the June issue of Writer’s Digest magazine that writer Brian A. Kelms was so nice to include in an article.

Happy Surfing:

www.brainyquote.com – Is a list of famous quotes and words of wisdom.

www.dictionary.reference.com/translate – Will help you change an English phrase into Spanish.

www.thestorystarter.com – Will give you random sentences from 340 million choices to help you start your story.

www.agentquery.com – Is a free agent database to help you find the agent that fits your genre.

www.duotrope.com – Is a list of 200 markets for short fiction, poetry, novels and collections.

www.firstwriter.com – Is a list of 750 literary agents and 900 book publishers.

www.forwriter.com – Is an online source for market, event listings and writer organization groups that span the world.

www.publicityhound.com – Consultant Joan Stewart shares tips on self-promotion and free publicity.

www.sharingwithwriters.blogspot.com – Carolyn Howard-Johnson shares cheap ways to promote your book.

www.writing.showguides.com – Is a database of writing conferences near you.

www.editorandpublisherjobs.com – Classifieds of writing-related jobs.

www.freelancewritinggigs.com – Is a list of available freelance writing and blogging jobs.

www.mediabistro.com – Publishing news and networking opportunities with other writers around the globe.

www.publishersmarketplace.com – Job board filled with writing positions.

www.groups.msn.com/RomanceWritingTips - This site showcases tips for romance writers and other related links.

www.mywritingcircle.com – Job board, resource center, writing games and an active critique section are on this site.

www.oncewritten.com – Book reviews, contests and other features for newly published and aspiring authors.

www.wordtrip.com – Is a writer’s forum.

www.writing.com – Welcomes writers of all levels to network with other writers.

www.erotica-readers.com – Tips, stories and other randy stuff for erotic readers and writers.

www.fictionfactor.com – Tips on improving your writing, getting published and promotion.

www.jakonrath.blogspot.com – This site provides publishing information, links and writing-related resources.

www.fundsforwriters.com – Jobs, contests, fellowships, grants and markets that pay are on this site.

“Empowering Charaters’ Emotions by Margie Lawson, Central New York Romance Writers, March 28 and 29.

Patty Otto, Heather Rosman, and Jo Piraneo.

Chris D’Allaird, President, Linda Bleser, in back between Patty and Jo, Bonnie Hazard, Past President, and Colleen Reilly, Secretary.