IT’S ALL IN THE PLACE (and Book Giveaway!)

By Dee Davis

When I read, one of the most important things to me about the novel is the setting. When I escape I like to go places I haven’t been. Whether it’s somewhere far away or somewhere created by an author’s imagination, part of the reading journey for me is all about the place. Whether it’s Tolkien’s Middle Earth, Mary Stewart’s Greece, C.S. Lewis’ Narnia, Austen’s Bath or WWII as seen through the eyes of Herman Wouk, I love the feeling of visiting some place I’ve never been before. And in many cases, the settings of favorite books have inspired trips to those locales--Scotland, England, Vienna, and Italy to name a few.

Not surprisingly, as a writer I also feel that setting is important. Often times for me the setting becomes a character. Almost as important as the hero and heroine. In A MATCH MADE ON MADISON, my romantic comedy set in Manhattan, the city is central to the story line. The places that Vanessa and her friends go are all actual places that I love, parts of the city I wanted to share with readers.

But setting can also be important in establishing the tone of a story. A hot steamy love story will work much better if it’s set in a similar local. Miami, New Orleans, or as is the case with my new release DANGEROUS DESIRES, the jungles of Colombia. The jungle provides not just a backdrop for the characters, but an integral component of the story line. It is because of the setting that things heat up in the way that they do. Conversely, sometimes it’s cold that makes a story work, when Annie Gallagher’s child (DARK DECEPTIONS) is kidnapped, it is the desolation of the mountain she lives on combined with the falling snow that lends an eerie tenor to the story.

Sometimes the type of tale drives the setting. A gothic set in a high rise in Manhattan doesn’t work as well as one set in a fog shrouded estate on the Cornish coast. TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD wouldn’t have had the same resonance if it had been set outside the deep south. Try to imagine any of Larry McMurtry’s books set in say Connecticut. Or Sex in the City in Peoria. Can you imagine Jack London’s books set in any urban area? Or a Regency set in the 1950’s? Setting is sometimes the defining element of a novel.

So when I begin a book, a lot of thought goes into where it should be set. Some books are easy to define—the setting practically demanding its place in the story. Others are harder to get a handle on. But always it’s important to match the setting to the tone and pacing of the story. And once the decision is made it’s equally important to work to bring that chosen setting to life. If you have the luxury of writing about somewhere you’ve lived or visited, it makes your job much easier. But just because you haven’t been to a place, doesn’t mean you can do the research and still bring it to life.

All three of my time travel novels were set in the past. Two in fourteenth century Scotland and on in the late 1880’s in Colorado. Of course I’ve never visited the past, and yet with the right research I still was able to write authoritatively about those specific times and places. The same is true of contemporary settings. One of the nicest compliments I’ve ever received concerned the setting of DARK OF THE NIGHT. The woman, a bookseller, wrote to say that she thought the book was so realistic she was certain that I was a native of Atlanta. I’ve never lived there at all. I just did my homework.

Part of a writer’s job is to carry the reader away. And one of the most useful tools in our arsenal is setting. There’s a reason “It was a dark and stormy night…” is the way Snoopy always begins his novels—it sets the tone and allows the reader to anticipate the coming ride. So choose your settings carefully—they have the potential to make or break your books. And when done right, they’ll provide intriguing portals to the world you’ve created for your readers. ♥



BOOK EXCERPT: Read a book excerpt from Dee’s latest thriller DANGEROUS DESIRES at http://www.deedavis.com/bookshelf/dangerousdesires


BOOK GIVEAWAY: Leave a comment for Dee and you will be entered to win a signed ARC of her third book, DESPERATE DEEDS.

On the brink of turning forty, award winning author Dee Davis realized that life only happens once. In total panic, she decided it was time to stop talking about writing a book and “just do it”. To that end she sat down at the computer and hasn’t left since. The transplanted Texan now lives in Manhattan. The time she doesn’t spend writing is spent with her husband, her daughter, her cat and her Cardigan Welsh Corgi. Visit her online at http://www.deedavis.com//.

WHY I WRITE ROMANCE

By Rosalie Brinn

The flower of blood blossomed crimson against Mariamne’s white dress. She looked down at the red haired man she cradled in her arms. For a brief instant she tried to comfort him. Then she started her battle against death.

This is the beginning of DARK OF THE MOON, my first attempt at a romance novel. I was in a literary writing group at the Bryant Library in Roslyn, New York. I was tired of writing literary short stories so decided to do something for fun. The group listened with interest and didn’t have too much in the way of critiques. The group leader did. “Rosalie,” she said. “Are you writing a romance?” The distain in her voice was unmistakable. But I continued. I had read romance off and on for years. I had read a number of books about Vikings, early Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Templer Knights, the first crusade and the massacre at York. I was ready to write my own…or so I thought.

As it turned out, I wasn’t, but I was hooked. I read hundreds of romances as research and found that they were fascinating. Much more so than the literary fiction I had been reading and attempting to write. The people in romance novels were allowed to have a life and goals. They were real people and written for real people. Even across the centuries they spoke to me. They didn’t have a cell phone or a Blackberry but they wanted what we all want -- connection to other people, a true love and most of all, a happy ending.

If I worked hard and was willing to pay my dues at the computer, I could provide this for my characters. Characters that at times became so real to me that I knew what they liked to wear, what food they preferred, and what their destiny would be.

At the time, I did not know about internal or external goals. But at the computer, I knew they wanted what everyone else did. And I tried to give them the semblance of reality. I talked each person’s dialogue under my breath as I wrote and somehow I was able to give each their own special vocabulary and voice.

But something else happened. I found RWA New York City. Out in the wilds of Nassau County, I could not attend too many meetings. But I did receive emails and encouragement via my computer. Then came on-line courses. Here I could be me-a romance writer. At the different courses and invitationals I was admitted to, I had to keep romance undercover. It remained my secret love, and it was made to feel like something that was not quite the thing. But e-mail from RWANYC clued me in to on-line courses that would help and give me the tools I needed.

I continued to read, but this time it was to find the origins of romance. Romance had a long tradition starting with the first novels that were written at the time of the Roman Empire. In them, lovers were separated and then reunited. Pirates might keep them apart instead of jobs in different parts of the world; disapproving parents could prevent their marrying instead of misunderstandings, but the ending was always the same. All difficulties were overcome and happiness ruled by the last page.

Then there are the RWANYC people I have met. The encouraging e-mails when, sob, rejection strikes. The outpouring of congratulations when the final goal of a published book or e-book is achieved. The generosity of helpful critiques from this chapter always results in better written work.

But okay, enough of this. Why do I write romance? For the same reason that I draw breath and eat and drink. Because I have to. There is something, something indefinable that leads me to write a hero, a heroine, a villain and breathless danger. Is it a reaction to the quiet of the suburbs? Maybe. But, what about my city cousins? They have the excitement of NYC at their fingertips, just outside their door and they still write. Whatever it is that brings me to the computer and to days of yore and now a more contemporary time in SWEPT AWAY I am glad that it is there. I don’t know what I would do without it. I hope my efforts will amuse others in the reading, as much as I had in the creating.♥

Rosalie Brinn lives in Long Island. She has been in invitationals at Bennington, Barnard, the 92nd Street Y (twice for poetry) and New York University (twice for poetry tutorial). She likes writing poetry because it sharpens her writing skills. Rosalie has been a social worker at a day care center and a management consultant to her husband's practice; she’s played the stock and commodity markets, and has been a principle in commercial real estate deals. Rosalie is a wife, mother of adult children, grandmother and former caretaker of all elderly relatives. She started writing as a child and now considers it her passion and true vocation.

THE LANGUAGE OF THE FASHIONABLE FAN ©

By Polly Guerin, RWA’s Fashion Historian



Fans were once the language of lovers, communicators of emotion, and declarations of approval, and most essential the dress of no fashionable lady’s attire in the 18th century would be complete with the addition of a fan. This little accessory takes its significant place in history as the instrument of intrigue, love and scandal that it was aptly termed “the woman’s scepter.” Poets have written prose to it and minstrels sang ditties of praise to its pleasurable interaction with the opposite sex. The fan therefore can be an appropriate accessory for writers of the Victorian or Belle Époque genre, as well as the Art Deco era.

THE PRETTY COOLER

Imagine the world without air conditioning. Be it made of lace, ivory, painted silk or gem encrusted, the fan was an essential accessory in a stuffy, crowded ballroom. The years 1880-1890 were the Golden Age of the fashionable fan and ladies of the court and other royal pretenders counted on their elegant fan to communicate their heart’s desire. The fan has a long and storied history. There were fans for every occasion, painted or printed with picturesque landscapes, romantic images and most effectively as instruments of advertising. During the second half of the 19th century, most fans were manufactured to promote the railroad, spas, restaurants, cabarets, and magnificent perfume fans appear around 1910. Thousands of fashionable fans were also manufactured between 1900 and 1940 declining slowly after WWII to become a trickle today.

FLUTTER, FLUTTER

The fluttering fan charmed and entertained, but much more elaborate was the etiquette of the fan, which was prescribed to describe a variety of emotional flutters: the angry flutter, the confused flutter, the angry flutter, the merry flutter and the amorous flutter to name a few. Young ladies were therefore instructed on the proper ways to handle their fan, and if they failed to do so they were looked upon as being gauche and of the most bourgeois sort. In the 18th century, ladies used the fan for more than keeping cool. Supposedly, there even existed a “language of the fan’ whereby ladies could send a message across the room without saying a word. It was essential therefore to be quite clear what message a lady wanted to convey.

A LADY’S BODY LANGUAGE

The fan became an essential part of a woman’s body language. It could reveal or conceal a host of female emotions. The fan had significance when placed in specific positions. Placed near the heart it meant: “You have won my love.” A closed fan touching the right eye: “When may I be allowed to see you?” The right hand in front of the face: “Follow me.” A half-opened fan pressed to the lips: “You may kiss me.” Hiding the eyes behind an open fan: “I love you.” Opening a fan wide: “Wait for me.” Twirling the fan in the left hand: “We are being watched.” Fanning slowing can deter a swain’s attentions. Fanning quickly indicated: “I am engaged. Fanning slowing meant: “I am married.” Woe is it to the woman who did not follow the rules of fan etiquette for the right position was essential to attract or disengage a suitor.

IF TRUTH BE TOLD WHEN THE FAN RULED OVER ROMANTIC ETIQUETTE THERE WAS HARDLLY ANY EMOTION IN THE MIND THAT DID NOT PRODUCE A SUITABLE AGITATION IN THE FAN.♥




Polly Guerin honed her skills as an Accessories Editor at the trade fashion bible, Women’s Wear Daily and later taught product knowledge as professor at The Fashion Institute of Technology, where her definitive textbook and video production, Creative Fashion Presentations, is used even today. In 2009 she was a vice-president of RWA/NYC and currently serves as a board liaison. Visit her at http://www.pollytalk.com/.

MOONBLOGGING

A lot of us do it, I am doing it right now...
In the blogosphere, one can assume so many identities, it is like being Wonder Woman. Spinning in circles and becoming one voice, and then another. Our chapter blog has seen many variations of me: the erotica aficionado, poet, interviewer and easily distracted writer.

Today I am posting my first post at The Four Horsewomen of Metropolis, and I am pretty excited because the thing is, I do not change who I am or how I write, but I am not the same. Come see for yourself. That is the thing about writing, as with any art. Writing to me is so much like acting--I used to want to be an actress when I was younger, and honestly I think writing was my lazy way of doing it. Hours have been spent researching or trying to understand the essence of a thing that I was going to write about, when in the end all of my stories are the same. There is a love story in everything that I write, because to me love is the thing that gets me out of bed in the morning, that takes me out of the door, walks me down the street, brings me back to bed, and makes me want to get up again.

It is why I am a member of RWANYC. No matter where I go or what I write, I am telling another love story. I am on my MacBook right now writing this post, having just finished watching The Apartment and wondering how I am able to watch the movie out of the corner of my eye and read the subtitles while working on this piece. Then again, I am not an easily distracted writer for nothing!

Another reason why it is so good to moonblog, like with anything that you love, you sometimes need a moment or more away from it; To not be what you are, to be something else. All writers, no matter how varied they believe they are, have the same themes in all of their pieces, because it is the same person no matter how many different names they put on it. That is the thing about being a member of RWANYC, the sense of camaraderie. We all write love stories we just package it differently. And with multiple blogs, you might present an image like a gibbous moon and on another a crescent, but it is still you. Just a different phase of you.

You can visit me if you like at my other post today, and tell me (on either blog) if I seem the same, or distinctly different....

WRITING GIRLS IN THE REGENCY WORLD (and Book Giveaway!)

By Maya Rodale

First, thanks for having me! Second—even better—I’ll be giving away a free copy of A GROOM OF ONE’S OWN to one lucky commenter.

My upcoming book is A GROOM OF ONE’S OWN —that’s groom as in husband, not stable boy, as one friend clarified to my amusement—and it’s the first book in my Writing Girl romance series. Inspired by the old adage “write what you know” I decided my new batch of heroines would be writers. They’re not novelists, because that’s such a solitary, time-consuming activity. No, these writings girls are newspaper reporters in the Regency Era—so it’s fast paced, it’s scandalous, and it gets them out and engaged with London in a way our heroines usually are not.

Take Sophie, the heroine of A GROOM OF ONE’S OWN. She writes a little column called "Miss Harlow’s Marriage In High Life" for the very popular newspaper, The London Weekly. Obviously, she writes about weddings. But while there is a certain glamour to her job, it’s not romantic or lovely at all because she hates weddings (anyone would after being jilted), and because her latest story is covering the wedding of Lady Clarissa to His Grace, The Duke of Hamilton and Brandon otherwise known as her hero. Heartbreaking, really.

There wasn’t really anything like the Writing Girls in Regency London, but that’s not to say there weren’t women actively involved in publishing. Mary de la Riviere Manley was the editor and founder of The Female Tatler (1709), and later of The Examiner (1711). Eliza Haywood launched The Female Spectator, the first magazine created by women, specifically for women in 1744. Mrs. Elizabeth Johnson, a printer, published the first Sunday paper, The British Gazette and Sunday Monitor in 1779. La Belle Assemblee, a Regency era women’s fashion periodical, employed women. Furthermore, virtually all articles in newspapers and periodicals were published anonymously, so who’s to say there weren’t women writing?

With these Writing Girl novels, I wanted to engage with heroines that did something, and something I could relate to. I imagined what it would be like if they were to exist and I loved coming up with the stories of how they defied conventions to become writers….and, in Sophie’s case, a duchess too!

In the coming weeks, I’ll be posting excerpts of "Miss Harlow’s Marriage In High Life" and other true tales From The London Weekly on my blog. I also have a deleted scene on the way showing just how Miss Harlow ended up a Regency-era newspaper writer.

So, heroines that are also writers—contemporary or historical—what do you think? Any favorites? ♥

Maya Rodale began reading romance novels in college at her mother’s insistence and it wasn’t long before she was writing her own. Maya is now the author of multiple Regency historical romances. She lives in New York City with her darling dog and a rogue of her own. Please visit her at http://www.mayarodale.com./

FATHERS, SONS & HEROES

By Maureen Osborne

Sons of interracial relationships during the 1800s faced difficult challenges, much like today. Like their sisters of color, their futures were influenced by their parents. Some would be remembered throughout history while others would only live a short time only hinting at their greatness. Yet others would enhance the very institution their fathers freed them from.

Boys stayed with their mothers until they were old enough to work or be educated. Often fathers were the ones to make these decisions. Some were sent to the back country to work on their father’s estates of given land of their own. Many were sent to Europe; France in particular due to the “supposed” tolerance for different races. Any subsequent marriages and relationships resulted in families with children of different hues.

His light coloring allowed Homer Plessy to board the East Louisiana Railroad with a first class ticket in New Orleans. Plessy the son of Joseph Adolphe and Rosa Debergue Plessy, both free people of color, was the grandson of Germain Plessy. Germain Plessy who was French and “married” Catherine Mathieu a free woman of color. Upon telling the conductor aboard the train that he was only 1/8 white (some reference 7/8), he was jailed and fined $500. This was not random act. Plessy had been approached by the Comitédes Citoyens (“Citizens’ Committee”) to state this ruse to attack segregation laws. Through his actions and subsequent court hearings, the groundbreaking trial of Plessy v. Ferguson was argued before the Supreme Court in 1896. Although it was ruled that “separate but equal” was the object of the 14th Amendment, it was this verdict that would be overturned at the conclusion of Brown v. Board of Education in 1954.

Although few of his paintings have been identified, Julien Hudson is recognized as one of the first artist of color. His father, John Thomas Hudson, was a British ship chandler and ironmonger. Suzanne Desiree Marcos a free woman of color was his mother. Hudson studied in Paris in 1827, and in 1831, opened a salon on Bienville Street in New Orleans. One of this paintings, which hangs in the Louisiana State Museum, is a self portrait painted in 1839. Regrettably he died in 1844 at the age of 33.

Not all found their place in American history. Norbert Rillieux was born free and raised as a Catholic. His father Vincent Rillieux was an engineer and inventor. His mother, Constance Vivant, may have been his father’s slave. After graduating from Catholic School in New Orleans, his father sent him to Paris and the L’Ecole Centrale. Like his father, he became an engineer and teacher. He successfully invented a process for evaporating excess moisture from cane sugar thereby producing a more refined sugar. The result was the democratization of sugar. It also resulted in the increased demand for slave labor. Though Rillieux returned to Louisiana to oversee the use of his invention, he would return to Paris 1854. Upon his death in 1894, he was buried in Père Lachaise Cemetery.

Dependent on their white fathers for their entry into freedom, these young men and others faced many challenges. Norbert Rillieux, who only now is receiving his proper due for his invention, could only watch while alive, as his ideas were stolen or ignored because he was not white. While I could not find the cause of his death, Julien Hudson’s early death leaves a large void in the artists of the time period, and Homer Plessy would be shocked to learn that even today, CNN carries a story about young black children choosing the drawing of a white child over that of a black one.

Historical research can often be frustrating and shocking. But it is never boring and often rewarding. As romance writers we have the unique opportunity to inform, educate and encourage. ♥


Book of interest:
CREOLE: THE HISTORY AND LEGACY OF LOUISIANA’S FREE PEOPLE OF COLOR edited by Sybil Kein, Louisiana State University Press.

Maureen Osborne continues to work on her historical romance that takes place at the conclusion of the Battle of New Orleans.

DREADED AUTHOR QUESTION: DO YOU GET WRITER’S BLOCK?

By Isabo Kelly

This is a tricky one. The answer depends on whether or not you believe in “writer’s block”. It sounds so…artistic to be able to claim writer’s block as the reason you don’t happen to be working on anything at any given moment. And when asked this question, it can be very easy to say, “Yes, I do” to lay the groundwork for future fits of non-productivity. But that’s the easy answer.

I used to be a staunch supporter of the “no such thing as writer’s block” crowd. I still basically believe this. But the definition of writer’s block can be fuzzy. It means different things to different authors. So to answer this question properly, you first have to decide what you consider to be writer’s block.

For some, the definition is a writer who suffers from the “inability to write”. The ideas aren’t coming, the words aren’t flowing, the story is stuck, they don’t know what happens next and no matter what they do, they can’t seem to get past a certain point in their current novel. Or worse, they can’t even start that new novel. They’ve finished their last project, it’s time to start the next, and they have no ideas. Nothing. They feel completely without inspiration. And without that elusive literary muse, they simply cannot write another word.

A good excuse. And there are some valid problems in there that all writers have to deal with—particularly the stuck story and non-flowing words. But my personal opinion is that if you let these things keep you from sticking your butt to the chair, putting your hand to the page and churning out words—even bad words—you’re making an excuse not to write.

Why would you need an excuse not to write? Aren’t most of us looking for more time to write, squeezing it in between day jobs, family, friends, life…? Well, yes, we are. But that doesn’t mean writing isn’t hard work. When things are flowing, there’s nothing better and no where we’d rather be. But when the story gets tough, when the characters are losing their direction, or you’ve taken a wrong turn in the plot somewhere and can’t figure it out, the real work part of writing begins. And you can muscle you way through these impasses if you just keep hammering away at the novel.

Unfortunately, no matter how much we love creating these stories, or how long we’ve been writing, it’s amazing how many of us come up with reasons to do something else, anything else rather than write when the writing gets tough. Calling it writer’s block is just one way to describe this procrastination. We can also call it stalling, boredom, and laziness, blame our busy schedules, use our families’ hectic lives as a buffer. There are a lot of good definitions.

But to me, blocks are not good enough reasons not to write. You have a problem with your story, you work through it. Talk to other writers about it, bounce ideas off of people who read in and out of your genre. Try out different directions to fix the problem. Ask yourself “what if” questions until you get an answer you can latch onto. Just keep your butt in the seat and keep writing. Eventually, the light bulb goes off, the words start flowing again, and the “block” is broken. But it won’t go away unless you keep working.

So, do I get writer’s block? No. I get procrastion-itis, or I have problems with my current work in progress. I don’t get anything as glamour as writer’s block. And I don’t do anything glamorous to get the writing going again. I just keep writing.♥

Isabo Kelly (aka Katrina Tipton) is the author of multiple science fiction, fantasy and paranormal romances. Her Prism Award Winning novel, SIREN SINGING, has just been released in paperback from Ellora’s Cave (http://www.ellorascave.com/). For more on Isabo’s books, visit her at http://www.isabokelly.com/


In this monthly series, Isabo talks about the often uncomfortable questions every author gets asked, and how to handle those dreaded inquiries. If you have gotten any of these “dreaded” questions, please share them with us here. If you have an answer, all the better.

THE ERICA KANE MUTINY

by Mala Bhattacharjee

Clinch covers. Shirtless hunks. Besmirched virgins. Things that heave and quiver. Smut. People hear romance novel and a few specific characteristics crop up. It's a phenomenon that I've not only encountered as a life-long romance reader, but also as a life-long fan of soap operas. You say soap and you garner an eye-roll, and a litany of things that people think make up the medium. Evil twins. People back from the dead. Secret babies. Multiple marriages. Amnesia. All of it is usually imparted with the lofty idea that these few things are the sum total of  Days of our Lives or As the World Turns… and the accompanying idea that anyone who enjoys it all must have a screw loose. Since I now work at Soap Opera Weekly magazine, I guess I must have several screws loose, and that's quite all right by me!

Soaps and romance novels have a lot in common -- and not just that ATWT's Ewa Da Cruz (Vienna) seems to be on the cover of every other book on the shelves these days. Genres geared towards women have long been cause for ridicule, for stigma. While male sports fans are given free license to paint their bare chests and dance around on TV in below freezing temperatures, women get funny looks on the subway for reading a novel with a scantily-clad heroine on the cover or talking about their "stories" at the water cooler. I can't tell you how many times I've actually gotten sympathetic looks when I tell people where I work, with people clicking their tongues and going, "Oh, this means you have to watch soaps every day?"  Why, yes. It does. And guess what?  I happen to like it!   Gasp. The horror.

So, what do you do when people take what you love, what you "do" and treat it like it's radioactive, just because it involves some over-the-top tropes and people falling in love?

Well, if you're me, you launch into a diatribe about how empowering it is for women to have this kind of creative outlet. You point out that romance novels are an expression of female sexuality and sensibility that doesn't really exist anywhere else… and that Kathleen Woodiwiss wrote the infamous and ground-breaking THE FLAME AND THE FLOWER years before The Tudors' Jonathan Rhys-Meyers was even born. (So much for Showtime cornering the market on trashy period drama, hmm?) And you also note that soap operas tackled difficult social issues like passing for white (Carla Gray on One Life to Live), the AIDS crisis (Cindy on All My Children and Robin and Stone on General Hospital) and abortion (Erica on AMC, The Young and the Restless' Ashley) when other TV shows were loath to touch such heavy material. And you say, "It's mine. This genre is for me… and it could be for you, too, if you actually gave it a chance."

Then, you crack open Tessa Dare's ONE DANCE WITH A DUKE, switch on The Bold and the Beautiful, and say…"Screw it!"♥



Mala Bhattacharjee is currently news editor, columnist and blogger for Soap Opera Weekly magazine. While not exactly young or restless, she's working on her first young adult novel. Some day soon she'll have a book out; for now, find her at her blogs at badnecklace.wordpress.com and soapoperaweekly.com, or pick up an issue of SOW her weekly column, The Soapbox, and the latest daytime dish!

E-PIRACY HURTS EVERYONE

By Maria Ferrer

I took an informal poll among the members of RWANYC on e-piracy and here are the results:

• 4 in 6 have downloaded e-books

• 1 in 6 own a Kindle/ Nook / other e-reader

• Everyone has heard of e-piracy.

According to Publishers Weekly, the publishing industry is losing over $3 billion a year due to e-piracy. E-piracy is when an e-book is copied and distributed without the author’s or publisher’s permission. This also affects paper books that are transcribed and uploaded as e-books and then illegally distributed.

$3 billion is a huge chunk of money. You may think e-piracy has nothing to do with you since you write “real” paper books (not my words) or write for the confessions market or you just sold your first book and you don’t have that many fans (yet), but that is not true. E-piracy affects everyone –the publisher, the author, the reader.

The Publisher: Publishers focus on the bottom line. If a publisher is losing money, that translates into budget cuts and layoffs. That translates into fewer editors available to read your work, buying less books, and taking chances on new authors, new ideas.

The Author:  Even New York Times bestselling authors are NOT rolling in the money. Lynn Veihl released her full royalty statement last year. She was #19 on the NYT list and made $50,000 on that book. That sounds like a lot, but it took years for her to receive that sum. Then there were author costs (agents, promotions, etc.). What I am getting at here is that the majority of authors are NOT rich and may never be. They need every sale to count. And, authors lose BIG when their books –any books– are pirated.

The Reader: Yes, readers, lose too with e-piracy. Readers downloading free books from illegal sites, passing along e-books to others or selling downloads on Ebay are stealing from the authors. If the author or publisher are not getting paid for those downloads, IT IS STEALING! And the penalty is jail and a fine.

The bad part about those illegal sites is that they are fan sites run by adoring fans who want to promote that author, that genre. Unfortunately, they are doing more harm than good. Writing is not free. It is how authors make their living and feed their families. If readers steal from them, then authors don’t get paid and have to stop writing. One example, author Shiloh Walker ended her Mythe Series early because of piracy.

The $64 million question is: What can authors do about e-piracy?

1) Start by educating the Readers. When Authors are speaking at readers groups, libraries, anywhere, talk about the bad effects of e-piracy. Let them know that writing is a business, that Authors are judged on their sales and that illegal sales DO NOT count. Let them know that e-books are the property of the AUTHOR not the reader even though they bought it. Let them know that authors can't write if they don't get paid, which means less books for them.  

2) Feed the Hunger. Often times, readers are just looking for more from their favorite authors. And let’s face it, it can be months, years, before the next book is out. Authors should think about offering “free” reads on their websites – deleted scenes, character sketches, proposal notes. This way the Author controls her material and the readers can still get something for free, and it’s legal. I know many authors are doing this already, and have chat rooms and yahoogroups. All good ways to keep readers’ interest and great places to mention that e-piracy is a no-no.

3) Boycott illegal distribution sites. E-piracy is not free promotion, is not a God-given right, is not free. E-piracy is a crime. (AUTHORS: you need to let your publisher know when you find these illegal sites so they can get the company lawyers on them.)

4) Let’s put the FBI Anti-Piracy Warning on ALL Author and Publisher websites and blogs. Paper books carry the copyright notice, but it’s lumped in with the publication data. Some paper books still carry the “stripped book” notice, about books without covers being stolen property. Maybe we also need to add the FBI warning in bold letters.  (See below.)


If anyone has any other ideas on how to stop e-piracy, please share your comments here. And, please respect an Author enough to buy her book.♥



                                FBI Anti-Piracy Warning


The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000.



Maria Ferrer is the editor of the RWANYC newsletter. She is working on several projects.

SATURATION POINT

I'm in Bryant Park sitting across from my friend, on her Google Droid is an app that helps you time Kegel exercises, I tease her that she is like Samantha from SATC. I am the one however who has a SATC Cosabella themed "Samantha" thong that I got on sale even though I am a "Carrie."

I am thinking also about what my friend Lisbeth Eng posted on our new collaborative blog, Sex in This City?

New York is a sexy city and not for any of the reasons listed above. It is a city where I can buy a film in foreign language with subtitles and try to look at them while I am writing a blog post. It is a city where I know it is going to be chaos and I crave all the peace and quiet that I can get in it, yet when I am away from it in quiet, it is the bustle that I run from that I miss so much.

New York is a city where a simple walk down the street makes you experience things that you would not have expected. A stop in Starbuck's starts a conversation about the Empire State Building, seen from where you are standing online for coffee, with your neighbor telling you she is from Ethiopia and recommending an Ethiopian restaurant nearby. I now have an obsession with Ethiopian food because of that encounter and am now craving doro wat. Sigh.

New York because it is the only city in the world where you live in it but it is the world--everyone is here. There is so much to see, feel, taste, hear and smell, but you cannot do it all. As a native, I have done a lot and have the enthusiasm of a tourist, but there is so much.

Writing in New York is hard thing to do. I am constantly being inspired, but there is either not enough time to write or something that distracts me. Sitting in a cafe is sensory overload--coffee, the feel of the MacBook or iPod Touch beneath my fingers, Facebook, Twitter, e-mail, people watching. I can sit in a cafe for hours, lose myself in all of the above. There is almost too much--or I just need to focus more. Thinking about Iyengar yoga because I want to think about holding a pose for a few minutes. New York minutes, as we all know, are faster than any others, but it might be possible to hold them like snapshots taken. To hold them and create.

WHAT DOES A HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATION AND A REJECTION LETTER HAVE IN COMMON?

By Karen Cino


It’s another journey in our lives.

While sitting through my daughter’s commencement ceremony, I saw many different emotions. Some girls were crying, while others were smiling. The past four years have been a journey of learning, and paved a road for their future. The same goes for writers.

Through our journey to get published, we will have laughter, and a hell of a lot of tears. The past few rejections letters I’ve received have been filled with words of wisdom, with constructive criticism. Now I had two choices. Do I blow off the criticism or go back into my manuscript and fix it? I choose to stop my current project, print out the whole manuscript, and make the changes that were suggested by the publisher.

Since the start of my journey to get published, through my critique partner and suggestions from agents and editors, I’ve improved my pacing, and I’m slowly working through the show/tell syndrome.

The key to a journey – whether life or publication – is not to give up. Keep pushing forward and realize that life is a learning process. No matter where we are in life or in our publishing career, we will always learn something new everyday.

I look at my daughter, ready to move onto the next phase of her life. Oh yes, to be eighteen again….never. The challenges that lay ahead of her will bring her both laughter and tears, just like us writers. We will always have milestones in our lives – be it a graduation, a big birthday, a publishing contract, a job promotion –, and there will always be sadness.

My advice to my daughter and to my fellow writers is to take each day one at a time. Don’t let anything come in the way of your dreams. Our dreams are what keeps us alive and helps us along the journeys we will encounter throughout our lives.

Congratulations to my daughter Nicole and to all the other graduates of 2010. May their lives be full of love and happiness.♥




Karen Cino is President of the RWA New York City Chapter. She keeps her muse alive by walking every morning down at the South Beach Boardwalk in Staten Island. Currently, she is shopping for a home for her novel, ROSES, and is working on her next novel, MYSTICAL WONDERS.

EMBRACE YOUR PROCESS

by Anne Mohr

I just finished reading “Once More Into the Mist,” by Jo Beverley, in April’s RWR, which got me thinking. She writes about “pre-plotting versus not-pre-plotting” from the point of view of the non-plotter, and I’d like to share my thoughts on the topic.

To plot or not to plot, or are you a plotter or a pantser? Pantser, by the way, is a term that I have never liked no matter how snappy it sounds, probably because pantsing (like pantser, not a word either) which is my writing style, just sounds weird. And, the last thing any writer needs is more weirdness. Enough that ideas come out of the blue, characters speak to you, not to mention the muse, along with a myriad of other peculiarities writers have been known to experience. Plotter, while it can sound sinister, is at least a real word.

Romance generally follows a consistent formula, woman and man meet, there has to be conflict of some sort, and somewhere toward the end of the story there is resolution that es brings them together. While the idea is the same, the millions of details that propel each story are different, and each writer’s method of telling it is also different. Regardless, whether or not a writer knows every detail before actually writing the book or dives right in and figures things out along the way is irrelevant. The average reader doesn’t wonder if the author charted out every detail beforehand or not. Also, if one cared to know, the only way would be to ask the writer.

However, writers need to find the right compass that works for them to help navigate their writing process and complete a manuscript. For instance, though I don’t pre-plot, I do have a general idea of the where and when. The why and how is something that comes after I start the actual writing. As for the details, I use note cards so I don’t change my characters’ eye color or other fine points as I go along. Also, I have found that researching as I get into the story is much better for me than researching beforehand. Even though I sometimes have to stop to look up some detail, I still tend to stay focused on my story using this method. The one time I started researching before really getting into a book that I planned to write simply because I was so unfamiliar with details that I needed to include, (is anyone thinking, write what you know?) I got so horribly caught up in the research that by the time I was ready to sit and work on the manuscript my characters and their story were completely lost. After ten years on and off, I’m still struggling to finish that book.

If it is not about the destination but about the journey, then we should be sure that the tools we choose to navigate the path are ones that will enable us to succeed. And, for writers, tools need to be more than the latest greatest super laptop. Each writer needs to find the method that works best for them. It should be a personal decision based on many factors none of which should be, if it works for (insert favorite famous author name here) it’ll work for me too. Certainly, listen to talks, and read about what works for others and how they work their craft. But, remember, whatever the method, make it your own, and make it one that fits you comfortably.♥




Anne Mohr has been a member of RWA/NYC since 1993. Having lived in Fort Lee, New Jersey most of her life, she recently relocated to California, just because. Currently she is a real estate agent in both California and New Jersey. Many of her colleagues ask her to help write property descriptions and all of her clients love her emails. She writes as Jacqueline Stewart, Helen St. James and Max St. James and is published in short fiction (magazines.) She continues her work on “the book.”

INTERVIEWS AT SEA (with book excerpt and contest)

By E.J. Rand

We were in a ship's lounge; cool inside and darker, with the gloriously bright day peeking in through large, square portholes. The young officer sitting across the table, snappy in her white uniform complete with shoulder boards and collar insignia, was Chief of the Hotel. On a small cruise ship, that's an important position: She's in charge of most everything to do with the rooms and the food.

She was helping to make our vacation memorable, and I felt paternal.

Her father had been a ship's officer, too. She was proud of him, and that she'd followed in his footsteps. Much came out in the half-hour interview she kindly granted this author as the ship floated along on a calm tropical sea. Most vacationers were stretched on lounges in the sun, finishing a lavish luncheon, or making new friends.

The officer expertly covered staffing, galley operation, food service, cleanup, and waste disposal, right down to the size, color, and movement of the plastic cans containing different kinds of waste. Trying not to lend it special weight, I slipped in: "So, your food waste disposal system is large enough for body parts."

She almost toppled the chair, pushing up and back. "Why not just throw the person overboard!" she shot at me, ending the session.

"Well, I've done that already," said I, to no effect.

Author interviews can be exciting.

"Of course you may ask a question," said the Captain, whom I'd caught on the starboard wing of the bridge, scanning the horizon.

I eased away from the rail as I spoke. "Well, what happens if, after a rough-weather night at sea, your First Officer is missing in the morning?"

Before he'd explode or I'd wind up in the brig, I added that I was an author, had no wish to harm anyone, and what I was seeking was the procedure he'd follow and the subsequent action that must take place.

Lucky I was a paying passenger. A few deep breaths, a troubling twist of the mouth, and he proved helpful. I stuck to procedure. For the balance of the cruise, I prayed that nothing bad would befall an officer.

Another day, as shadows lengthened after sundown, a security officer walked me to the stern, deserted at the moment, and, just as I feared I'd become one with the wake, he described the all-night fire watch, boarding security, and much more. It seemed I wasn't the one threatened: he felt he was, covering all that with an author.

I've done all this and more on two ships, so I'm keeping everyone's secrets.

All of it is indeed in DARK SEA. No, I wrote none of it off my taxes, and yes, during both cruises I ate and drank too much.

BOOK EXCERPT:

Wani Hartono recalled a scene from a movie--the killer feeding his victim, piece by piece, into a wood chipper. The crew had watched it months before, in the passenger lounge, between cruises.

He was concentrating, leaning over the sorting table and pressing the edge of the plastic sheet tight against the side of the eighteen-inch waste disposal intake. Then he lifted the final piece off the plastic. It was a man's arm, severed at the elbow, and he checked to be sure no rings remained on the hand.

Metal might jam the machine. Large bones could also pose a problem, but he'd operated the system for eight months and knew what it could do. He braced as the ship heeled to starboard--the sea was up--before sliding the arm into the loading chamber, elbow down, fingers reaching as if to escape.

For the next fifteen minutes the galley would be deserted. He and Irwan handled garbage detail, working different shifts on the 300-passenger vessel. If things ran smoothly, no one checked what they processed.

He locked the safety lid and switched on the machine. Seawater flooded in and he could hear the dull rumble as it began to chew the waste.

Curling the plastic so it would trap remaining blood, he stepped back to undress. He lay onto the sheet the white coat, trousers, and latex gloves he'd been wearing. On top of that, he set the five-pound dumbbell he'd taken from the fitness room--had to hold it steady through another roll of the ship--then he folded the bundle, fastening it with fishing line. After four years at sea, he knew knots. If the blood attracted deep-water predators, they'd mangle everything.

The sound of the machine changed and he tripped the lever that flushed it with fresh water. The waste had been expelled below the surface of the Caribbean.

He redressed. With the bundle under an arm, he locked up. He'd gone to sea for better pay. After tonight, he could go home.

Minutes later, on a lower deck throbbing from the propeller, he tossed the bundle over the stern. Its splash vanished in churning wake.♥





Ed Rand, writing as E. J. Rand, is a four-time award winner for his Reluctant Sleuth series, published by Deadly Ink Press. DARK SEA, the fourth book, is a winner in MWA/NY Chapter's 2008-2009 Mentor Program. Info on the series, with sample text, is at www.ejrand.com. (Photo of Ed by Ray Turkin.)


CONTEST:     LEAVE A COMMENT!  Ed will give away a free copy of DARK SEA to one lucky commentator.  Winner will be announced on June 15.