Terescia’s thoughts and such on writing romantic fiction for publication.

I must say, reading makes me want to write so bad I can taste the words in my mouth. I get this sensation in my stomach that feels like nerves but has more in common with a heart attack than an upset stomach. My chest feels tight and my breathing turns shallow. It’s a very physical sensation and I love it and I hate it. The spring winds up and I’m torn between the desire to keep reading or to just set my book aside and go at it on my own computer with my own work. I know some authors say that they avoid reading other people’s work when they’re writing but if I did that, I might lose some of my best motivation for creating my own worlds. Read the rest of this entry »

To keep from littering the blog with reviews while I’m in a heavy reading phase, I’m just going to offer a link to the review I wrote this morning for The Prince’s Virgin Bride. Now that ebooks are around, it’s amazing how easy it is to get hold of out-of-print series books, like this Harlequin Presents. It turned out to be a great read. If you enjoy series romance, I suggest you read it and see what you think about it. My review is here.

Review of My Favorite Marquess, reviewed by Terescia Harvey, also posted at WeWriteRomance.com (because I share the love!) Read the rest of this entry »

I just finished reading The Footprints of God by Greg Iles. Although not a romance by category, the book contained romantic elements so I’m going to talk about it here.

Dr. David Tennant is a member of the secret government agency working on Project Trinity. He doesn’t exactly believe in God, but after a Super MRI he’s developed narcolepsy and he has vivid dreams that he’s begun to believe are rememberances–of Jesus. A tragic event in his past connected him with psychiatrist Rachel Weiss. Now they’re on the run together as they try to figure out the connection between David’s dreams and the future of mankind.

Writers –> If you’re looking for advice on how to create opening hooks, read the opening of this book. It was strong enough to push me into an impulse buy in my local Walmart. Read the rest of this entry »

It just came to my attention earlier today that Madeleine L’Engle passed away late last week. Maybe this is old news to some, but I couldn’t help myself in writing this.

Madeleine L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time is one of the books that started my interest in reading and writing. I remember sitting in the floor at my grandmother’s house, listening to a cassette tape of The Police while I read A Wrinkle in Time. I don’t know why but the music seemed to suit the mood of the story for me. It seems like a crazy combination, but I was a kid.

Reading of Ms. L’Engle’s passing has left me feeling strangely reflective.

Links of interest:

Madeleine L’Engle’s website - http://www.madeleinelengle.com

A Wrinkle in Time website - http://www.awrinkleintime.net

Madeleine L’Engle at Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madeleine_L’Engle

Hmm. You see that list over to the side of the page? You know, the one in the right-hand sidebar column? It says “Books to Read.”

Well, I still haven’t read any of them. In fact, I’ve spent most of my time of late reading non-fiction, such as Blink, The Power of Thinking Without Thinking by Malcolm Gladwell. (Aside: I love Malcolm, but not that Malcolm. It just so happens that my sweetheart of a husband shares the name.)

I’m on page 10 of this particular book. I thought it might give me some insights as to how–oh, get over it–I just thought it sounded interesting. Sometimes there’s no better reason to read a book than that.

Moving on, I should also say that I have been in a dire fiction funk for way too long now. The very idea of reading anything that doesn’t grab my attention before I’ve even read the first word bores me. I wish it weren’t so, because I’ve always loved reading, but maybe it’s a normal thing to go through a funk like this.

Isn’t it?

(Reassurance desperately needed here, since it has been almost a year and I can count the number of fiction titles I’ve read during that time on one hand.)

You would tell me if I were wrong wouldn’t you?

LIE BY MOONLIGHT

By Amanda Quick

I don’t know if I’m mentioned it here before (but if you’ve seen my website, you know this bit of trivia, oh yes, you do), but I adore Amanda Quick novels. :-)

I read the excerpt for Lie By Moonlight in the back of The Paid Companion and I’ve had the almost uncontrollable urge to go out and buy the hardback. There was a day when I would have, no doubt, but these days, with the new house on the rise, I can’t afford hardbacks. I’m lucky I can afford paperback right now! No joke.

Anyway, I received the email from Jayne Ann Krentz’s newsletter that Lie By Moonlight was out in paperback a couple of days ago, so the next time I hit Wal-Mart (or it hits me), I intend to pick up a copy of the book.

Reading is supposed to be a good way to deal with stress, right?

I read another post over on Romancing the Blog today (another old one that caught my eye!), in which the author discusses the use of soul mates in romance.

“…the concept that everyone has a “soul mate” is terribly romantic, but it has a tendency to perpetuate what I call “lazy romance.” Instead of showing two people learning to love and understand each other, the author so often just whips out the concept of soul mates and voila! Instant romance!

I’d go along with that, but I would trade the “instant romance” for “instant conflict”. These soul mate stories have an above average chance of having much more conflict to sustain the story and the romantic tension that most other kinds, if written correctly.

Regardless of their soul mate status, the characters still have to fall in love in a way that makes me care about their relationship and what happens to them. Otherwise, I’ve wasted my time reading a mediocre story, and who wants to leave a reader with that opinion of their book?

So, take the soul mate plot and make it work by focusing on the conflict that the characters have to overcome. Give them common goals, even if those goals don’t seem all that similar on the surface. Dig deeper and you might find that the core beliefs, wants, and needs of your characters fit together much better than they appear to do on the surface.

Personally, I like well-written soul mate stories. :-) Along with marriages of convenience, sham engagements, pretend boyfriends/girlfriends…

I recently had the pleasure of reading Sylvia Day’s new book Bad Boys Ahoy! so I could interview her about the book. I was excited to realize this was a historical entry into the Bad Boys anthology series from Brava.

I don’t usually recommend books on my blog, but I thought I would recommend this one. I really enjoyed reading the book and I think a lot of people are going to like this one. Especially those who enjoyed the earlier Bad Boys anthologies but grew tired of them. This isn’t the same old thing. It’s the first historical Bad Boys anthology from Brava.

I read an interesting post on Romancing the Blog today. It was my first real visit to the site and the word spreadsheet in the first sentence caught my interest. (Yes, I’m addicted to spreadsheets.) The post was When do you say when? by Yap Away Jay.

The post poses the question of when do you quit giving new authors the chance to impress you with their books. (Trust me, I’m paraphrasing here. If it sounds intriguing, I suggest you read the post.)

Although I agreed in principle with most of the stuff she said, I’ve found that with new authors I rarely remember their names, unless I just happen to love–and I mean LOVE–their books.

Read the rest of this entry »