April1999

~^*^~+~^*^~+~^*^~+~^*^~+~^*^~+~^*^~+~^*^~+~^*^~+~^*^~+~

Y E A R N I N G
(To learn, to earn, to reach your goal)

April 1, 2022
Volume I, Issue 3

~^*^~+~^*^~+~^*^~+~^*^~+~^*^~+~^*^~+~^*^~+~^*^~+~^*^~+~
Copyright 1999 (C) Tracy Cooper-Posey
http://www.sashaproductions.com
~^*^~+~^*^~+~^*^~+~^*^~+~^*^~+~^*^~+~^*^~+~^*^~+~^*^~+~

This issue's contents:

1. WHAT ARE YOU WRITING? And why?
2. SPOT CHECK: What do you really want to write?
3. WOW! ... REALLY? Incredible fiction facts
4. FREE WRITING WORKSHOPS. What do you want?
5.. INTERESTING LINKS Weird and wonderful websites.
6. FIRST RITES A celebration of successes.
7. FEEDBACK AND SUGGESTIONS Your say.

~^*^~+~^*^~+~^*^~+~^*^~+~^*^~+~^*^~+~^*^~+~^*^~+~^*^~+~

Editor's notes:

April already!

We're now one-quarter of the way through 1999. Are you one-quarter of the way closer to your goals for this year? Do you have goals?

Yearly goals are something I always figured it wasn't worth having -- for a writer, that is. Why spend all that time selecting and fine tuning your goals, then sell a book, and ooops! -- suddenly you've got a three book contract, with two more books to write, and there goes your year.

The writer's life can be unpredictable, which is why I think it is important to have goals, plans, orderliness. Writers are notoriously prone to procrastination, and without that structure there, one can float for weeks trying to decide what writing project to tackle next. True, my goals may be turned on their head with a single sale ( or a single rejection!), but that's one of the hidden bonuses: I get to dream and plan all over again.

Tracy

~^*^~+~^*^~+~^*^~+~^*^~+~^*^~+~^*^~+~^*^~+~^*^~+~^*^~+~

WHAT ARE YOU WRITING, AND WHY?

Do you long to write books like Diana Gabaldon? Jane Anne Krentz? Kathleen Woodiwiss? Or do you have your very own type of romance that you've been nuturing in secret for years?

Are you currently writing a category romance? Why?

After a long, intense conversation with a student of mine, recently, I have become even more intimately acquainted with a calumny of romance writing: that category romances are the easy way to break into the business.

"Easy" is relative.

From a statistical point of view, yes, category romances are more numerous, and because hundreds of them are released *each month* there is an unfailing demand for new novels.

Also, category romance markets never require agented submissions, which removes that huge intermediate step the writer of any other genre is forced to go through.

But that's where the ease ceases and the hard work begins.

There are thousands, possibly millions, of would-be writers out there, trying their hand at category romances, and submitting that work. And often selling. That's a lot of competition to work against.

These huge numbers mean that editors can afford to be very, very picky. Your book has to be close to perfect (that is, exactly what they're looking for) before they'll buy it. No editor has the time these days to "bring up" a promising writer to market standard. Which means you have to spend a lot of time researching the market, narrowing your choice of sub-category down to one, possibly two, markets. Writing for that market. Editing that writing. And, realistically, possibly throwing two or three books in the garbage before you really begin to understand what the market wants.

Then you have to wait six months to get feedback on your submission. And you may not get any feedback at all. You stand a good chance of getting a standard rejection slip that tells you naught about your book's suitability for that market and that editor.

Worse still: once that book is rejected, and the editor has declined to reconsider it at a later stage, you have nowhere else to submit the book UNLESS you spend a lot of time researching a new category market, learning its peculiarities, and then reworking your book to suit that market. And don't forget the six months' wait for an answer....

Depressing, isn't it?

Now, consider the mainstream market -- or that market that you long to write for but haven't because it looks too difficult ... or just too BIG to take on right now.

What's so hard about it? Here's the reality:

There are thousands (not millions) of would-be writers out there, trying their hand at mainstream and single title romances, and submitting that work. And often selling. That's a lot of competition to work against.

However: once that book is rejected, and the editor has declined to reconsider it at a later stage, you have dozens of other markets to submit your book to.

Does this sound vaguely familiar?

It should, because writing for category markets is just as difficult and time consuming as writing for any other romance market. The problems are a little different for each (you'll have to face finding an agent if you don't write categories, for instance), but each has hurdles to overcome.

If you don't read category romances, if you don't adore them and don't want to have a writing career just like Naomi Horton, Patricia Neals, Emma Darcy, and other category role models, then *why are you writing category romances*???

Because, well ... because ... you're *scared* to try writing the other stuff!

Of course you're scared!!!

It's scary to tackle writing projects that mean a lot to you because if you *fail* by your definition (whatever that is), it means so much more than failing to sell a category novel. Actually, I think *selling* a category novel is much more of a tragedy, if what you really want to write is historical romances that keep a reader up 'til 3.00am, with their heart in their throat. That initial success will keep you writing categories -- which is exactly what you don't want to do, if you were being honest with yourself.

Besides, you've only truly failed when you stop trying.

Other reasons for being scared to tackle what you *really* want to write include:

* It looks so much more harder to write than category romances. Most non-category books are longer, but that's just length. And that length gives you the room to tell a first-rate story. The story is probably a lot stronger, but that's what draws you to them in the first place. Research ... well, you adore this era/paradigm/setting, don't you? You probably know a lot about the subject already, and imagine how much fun you're going to have researching a subject that is near and dear to you.

* You'll *never* be able to write as well as Gabaldon, Krentz, Woodiwiss, etc, etc, etc. Well, you'll never be able to write just like them, and you should probably never want to. Writing as well as them, however, is totally within your reach. Why wouldn't it be? They started out where you are right now. The reason it seems so daunting to you is because you like and respect these writers, and love their writing. That means to a certain degree you're blind to their weaknesses (if, indeed, they have any). And again, the haunting possibility of failure makes you reluctant to try.

---

The learning curve is just as big for category and non-category. You have to wire yourself into a separate network of writing friends, authors, agents, publishers, contacts, reviewers, critique partners for both category and non-category. You have to learn a different editor mind-set for each. Both category and non-category writing are going to demand from you a huge investment in time, effort and even money.

Why go to all that effort for a style of book you don't want to spend the rest of your life writing?

~^*^~+~^*^~+~^*^~+~^*^~+~^*^~+~^*^~+~^*^~+~^*^~+~^*^~+~

SPOT CHECK -- what do you really want to write?

Grab a pen and paper -- or open a new file in your word processor.

Write down all your favorite books. Consult your keeper shelf, if you have one, to remind yourself of those you've forgotten.

You'll end up with a list of writers whose stories and writing you admire. But it's probably not a good idea to pick out a single author for whom you have every book they've ever written, and decide that that is what you want to write. You don't want to end up a pale imitation, after all.

You have to analyse all of the books you've written down -- the books, not the authors. You can do this with a spreadsheet, cluster chart, whatever tool your analytical preferences lean towards. The intention here is to figure out what all these books have in common.

Here's one way to do it:

Start with the first book on your list. What is it about that book that you like? Write down the elements that appeal to you, no matter how petty or intangible they seem. The hero has black hair, the heroine is a virgin, the book is about pirates, there's an amnesia subplot, you just love the style of dresses they wore in that era, the book has wonderful descriptions of settings, the author has a really neat sense of humour that comes across in the narrative at times -- whatever it is that you like about the book, jot it down.

Go onto the next book. Compare the elements you liked in the first book with this one. Do any of them apply to the second book, too? Check those elements off. If there are new elements in this second book that strongly appeal to you, write them at the bottom of the list.

Do the same for the third book, looking at the elements for both the first and second book, and checking off those that apply to the third book, and work your way through your list.

At the end of the analysis you will have a long list of elements that you like. Rearrange those elements so that the ones with the most check marks are at the top of the list, and the ones with the least are at the bottom.

This is a workable ideas list for your next book. It is also a structured breakdown of the sort of books you should be writing, if you write what you really want to write.

~^*^~+~^*^~+~^*^~+~^*^~+~^*^~+~^*^~+~^*^~+~^*^~+~^*^~+~

WOW! ... REALLY?

Diana Gabaldon's book *Outlander* is now considered a classic time-travel romance, and spawned a whole new subgenre: the Scottish historical. It has sold millions of copies and been re-issued many times over.

Gabaldon worked at the book for three years before spending the next year or so looking for an agent to sell it. She battled editorial prejudice against the setting, the length of the book, the subject matter, the long opening and set-up, the point of view (first person).

*Outlander* was the first book Gabaldon wrote.

~^*^~+~^*^~+~^*^~+~^*^~+~^*^~+~^*^~+~^*^~+~^*^~+~^*^~+~

FREE WRITING WORKSHOPS

In the next few months before summer begins in earnest, I will be offering a series of one-off workshops, classes, and discussions. All of them will be free, and held via the internet.

What would you like to see offered? Write to me with your preferences, and I will shape the program to suit the current demands. Here is your chance to suggest exactly the sort of class you've been looking for, no matter how unique or narrow its niche.

You can reach me at mailto:tracy@sashaproductions.com

~^*^~+~^*^~+~^*^~+~^*^~+~^*^~+~^*^~+~^*^~+~^*^~+~^*^~+~

INTERESTING LINKS

Research it!
http://www.itools.com/research-it/research-it.html
If your research is getting bogged down, or you can't be bothered combing through a thousand hit results your search engine of choice produces, this site may cut through the chaff for you.

Romance Foretold
http://www.romfort.org/
For anything but category romance novels.

Orpheus Romance
http://www.orpheusromance.com/
For category romances on-line.

The Rocket e-book
http://www.rocket-ebook.com/enter.html
Just one of the new e-book readers, for reading all those on-line novels.

~^*^~+~^*^~+~^*^~+~^*^~+~^*^~+~^*^~+~^*^~+~^*^~+~^*^~+~

FIRST RITES

Aimee and David Thurlo. Harlequin Intrigue (amongst others).

Aimee and David have been married for twenty-seven years and have been writing together for nearly that long. David was raised on the Navajo Indian Reservation and left Shiprock after seventeen years to complete his education at the University of New Mexico. Aimee has lived in New Mexico for twenty seven years. They have published thirty-four novels, which have appeared under Aimee's name as well as pseudonyms, and have been published in more than twenty countries. They have repeatedly made both Waldenbook's and B. Dalton's bestseller lists.

Aimee said:

"We took 68 rejections with our first book. The 69th we got published. We went into romance publishing because that's what I liked, and that's where the market was at the time. I needed to do something with my time while David taught, so I wrote. I couldn't take "no" even when there was a mountain of rejection slips because I'd gotten fired out of every conceivable job on the planet. It was either succeed writing or label myself a dismal failure".

~^*^~+~^*^~+~^*^~+~^*^~+~^*^~+~^*^~+~^*^~+~^*^~+~^*^~+~

FEEDBACK AND SUGGESTIONS

Is there anything you would like to see in this newsletter? Do you have an inspirational story regarding romance writing that you'd like to share?

Email me at mailto:tracy@sashaproductions.com with your ideas and suggestions.

Keep any stories to 250 words, and cut and paste it into the body of your email.

~^*^~+~^*^~+~^*^~+~^*^~+~^*^~+~^*^~+~^*^~+~^*^~+~^*^~+~

YEARNINGS is a free monthly newsletter for romance writers. To subscribe or unsubscribe, send email to: mailto:tracy@sashaproductions.com

Subscribers are free to copy this newsletter to friends and fellow writers who may also benefit from a monthly boost, so long as *all* text, including copyright notices and information about contacting the editor, is attached.

The editor is Tracy Cooper-Posey, who can be reached at mailto:tracy@sashaproductions.com, or you can visit the website at http://www.sashaproductions.com

~^*^~+~^*^~+~^*^~+~^*^~+~^*^~+~^*^~+~^*^~+~^*^~+~^*^~+~