Accidentally in Love (Triangles)

Ugh, love triangles, right? Sometimes, it seems like they’re everywhere. Team Edward! No, Jacob! Team Peeta! No, Gale!*  

As a reader, I don’t mind them—they’re kinda fun, though I think they can get way overblown—and as a writer, I honestly hadn’t given them much thought. None of my stories feature a love triangle…or so I thought.

Then, I discovered that one snuck in there, and I was shocked at how much it actually drives my plot! My MCs aren’t even directly involved, but it has a huge influence on them.

Here’s the basic set up:

Conniving Mountain Lady --> loves Mountain King, who --> loves Sea Queen

The CML turns to dark forces to slake her jealousy and get revenge against the SQ. That action destroys the sea dynasty, shatters the alliance between the two nations (mountain and sea), and tears a rift in the heavens.

Hundreds of years later, my two MCs live in a world that’s still dealing with the fallout of CML’s actions. It affects how they interact with each other, how they perceive certain threats (or non-threats), the decisions they make and the actions they take—even my villain is influenced by it.

Personally, I love this little subplot. It really fuels the novel's backstory, but I never thought of it as a love triangle until reading it for the umpteenth time during edits.

As mystery writers might say, there are only two basic motivations in the end: love and money. Guess those dang love triangles are useful for something other than selling t-shirts and causing good-natured feuds among friends.

Any sneaky ones in your stories? 

*For the record, I'm moderately Team Edward and whole-heartedly Team Peeta!

Power Couples

Let’s have some fun, shall we? Who are your favorite “Power Couples” in literature?
You know, those couples who are just perfect for each other, whose love can move mountains, defeat hordes of undead or stop the unraveling of the universe, who are oh-so-awesome together! They can come from any genre—Darcy and Elizabeth, Aragorn and Arwen. You pick!

Here are mine: FYI – I like couples who will stand back-to-back and face down an army together. That kinda love kicks so much ass!

Ash & AnjuliThe Far Pavilions
Lessa & F’LarDragonriders of Pern series
Rohan & SionedDragon Prince
Perrin & FaileWheel of Time
Tal & MillaThe Seventh Tower
Beatrice & BenedickMuch Ado About Nothing

*Bonus TV mention (because I just finished the season): Go Minam and Taekyung from "You're Beautiful." I adore their love story!

This Crazy Business

Publishing is a business. We hear this from agents, editors and writer friends all the time, cautioning us to approach it with that attitude and level of professionalism. This is absolutely true.

However.

There are several instances where publishing DOESN’T operate like any other business (querying in particular), and if you’re not aware of these important differences, you may find yourself in a tricky situation.

Attachments are a No-No
This is like a foreign concept for most business folks. In many other avenues of business, email attachments are a common, necessary part of communicating. Not so in publishing. When you’re submitting your query, for example, EVERYTHING must go in the body of the email.

Phone Follow-ups are Taboo
If I haven’t heard from a work contact in response to a message or email I’ve sent them, I often pick up the phone and check in. It’s no big deal and it’s amazing how many things can be solved with a simple call. DO NOT DO THIS IN PUBLISHING! The exception is if you’re already represented and are communicating with your own agent, editor, etc.

Responses are SLOOOW
I work in PR, where project deadlines are sometimes a matter of hours. With most forms of business, a response time of several weeks or months is a signal that the other party just isn’t interested enough to move forward, so you move on. You can’t afford to invest more time and energy in that possibility.

Publishing is just the opposite. Long waits can mean anything. Expect them, don’t overanalyze and try not to freak out.

Don’t Expect Feedback
Whether we’re getting edits from a client or a review from our boss, chances are we get some type of specific feedback almost daily in our work. Not true while querying. Again, don’t expect any kind of feedback or additional comments unless an agent decides to take you on.

There are, of course, exceptions to all of these rules but, in general, I’ve found them to be good reminders in my own publishing journey. What differences have you noticed between publishing and other businesses?

The Dangers of "The Matrix Zone"

All right, I’m probably going to rile some people with this one, but it must be said. There is no faster way to make me stop reading and throw your book across the room screaming than by falling into what I like to call The Matrix Zone.

What is this horrific author faux-pas, you ask?

An ending (or scene) that destroys your story so completely it makes all the wonderful, brilliant stuff that came before it absolutely meaningless.

I really liked the first two Matrix movies…and that’s where my love stops. The trilogy ends – literally – with the hero dead, blind and being dragged off unceremoniously by enemy robots. This isn’t some genius twist or the set-up for a big come-back — that’s really how it ends. Oh, and they compromise with the evil bad guys.

Please, friends, do NOT do this in your novels. Here’s why:

1. Readers want to see the main character get knocked down. A lot. This is what makes a story great. But only because readers believe the MC will get back up in the end. It’s about overcoming obstacles – if the MC doesn’t do that, more often than not, readers are disappointed. In multiple MC stories, you have a few more options, but the basic principle applies.

2. We like it when the good guys win. It’s really that simple. Imagine the reaction if, after 7 books, Voldemort beat Harry. Waaa? Readers have an innate sense that this is NOT how things are supposed to work. There are, of course, some books with very gray good vs. bad, where this might not apply as directly. And the good guys don’t need an absolute victory. Actually, they probably shouldn’t have one. However, I urge you to look VERY carefully at your novel before deciding you can break this rule.

3. The Matrix Zone makes everything that came before feel irrelevant. If readers get to the end of your book or series and suddenly feel like they’ve wasted their time (and money)…that’s a bad thing. For me, this is the exact feeling I have at the end of the third Matrix movie. I have similar issues with Mockingjay.

Why did I travel through all these highs and lows with Neo (or Katniss) just to have him (or Prim) killed at the end? Why should I watch the first two movies now? I know how it ends and all the struggle in between sort of seems pointless. Maybe Neo would have been better choosing the other pill. Again, these are NOT questions you want readers to have about your books!

Some people will say “But he saved Zion. That’s what really matters.” True, but here’s another writing lesson for you. See, I didn’t really care about Zion to begin with. If you’re planning to sacrifice an MC, you better have the rest of your cast fleshed out enough that your reader accepts it as a worthy sacrifice to save friends.

So, there you have it. My take on one of the biggest mistakes I think writers can make. What say you?

From the Lion’s Mouth


Greetings fellow Disney fans! I thought it would be fun to share a writing lesson from the King of Beasts himself.

Mufasa tells us, in a voice only James Earl Jones could master, to: Remember who we are.

I adore this speech, and more importantly, I think it has a lot of relevance for us as writers. It’s all too easy to get so caught up in industry details, query woes and deadlines that we lose sight of who we are.

Storytellers. We love stories. It’s that simple.

When you first decided to write, was it to get an agent or be on the NYT bestsellers list? Probably not. (Those dreams started after you finished your first chapter, remember?) I bet most of us first picked up the pen because we had an idea for a story. A great story! And we wanted to share it with the world.

THAT’s what we have to remember. In the end, it all comes back to our stories. That’s where we find our joy.

Here’s a challenge for you: Watch Mufasa’s speech. Now, imagine it’s your muse talking to you, asking if you remember, really, why you first found the love to write. Have you forgotten? My guess is that it won’t take long to find renewed inspiration!

To kickstart your musical muse, also check out the amazing Broadway song.

Lessons fom my Day Job: Building a Platform through Relationships


Many of us are out there hitting the pavement and the blogosphere to build a following prior to publication. There’s been a significant push lately for authors to pro-actively make connections before an agent will seriously consider taking them on.

Today, I wanted to share a few insights from the PR world that might help us determine if our efforts to-date have been successful. If nothing else, these are important measures to keep in mind when connecting with readers, fellow writers and publishing contacts.

What’s your relationship status?
We often talk with clients about two main categories of relationships.

An exchange relationship: Person A does something for Person B only because B has provided benefits in the past or will do so in the future. It’s an exchange of something, for something.

A shared relationship: Person A and Person B both act out of genuine concern for the welfare of the other and value the relationship without expecting anything in return.

Exchange relationships are the most common, but shared are the strongest. You probably have a mix of both. Crit partners operate on an exchange basis, for example. You critique my stuff, I’ll critique yours.

Readers and authors have more of a shared relationship (besides the initial purchase of the book). Your readers give you reviews without expecting you to give them anything in return – they’ll join fan clubs and talk you up with their friends just because they think you’re great. And you, as the author, value reader relationships enough to offer free excerpts. You’ll probably “pay each other back” down the road, but in the meantime, you’re happy to interact with other simply because it’s fun.

For most of us at this stage, our blog readers might be our largest audience. A good goal for building that audience is to move steadily from exchange relationships to shared relationships.

Get to the Action Already!
There’s a scale we often use at work to build momentum among a given audience. It has four steps: 1) Awareness, 2) Understanding, 3) Engagement, 4) Action.

In writing terms:

Awareness
I maybe think I’ve heard you have a book.
Oh, yeah, I kinda sorta stumbled across your blog once.

Understanding
You write fantasy and I know you have a new book coming out soon.
I know what you’ve blogged about because I occasionally lurk there.

Engagement
I’ve talked to my friends about your book.
I once posted a comment on your blog.

Action
I bought your book.
I’m a blog follower and comment regularly.

The goal is to move people from Awareness to Action. You might have 1,000 people who are peripherally aware of your book or blog, but those numbers don’t matter much until you can convince your audience to go out and spend money on your book or actively support your efforts to build a larger following. The volume isn’t as important as the level of engagement.

Hope these tips are helpful!

Take a look at your audience so far. What stage in the spectrum do they fall into? And how can you move them closer to Action?

Chase What You Love



A few years ago, I did an alumni panel for incoming communications students at my dear old alma mater. The soon-to-be students and their parents asked us all sorts of questions about our backgrounds, degrees, career experiences after graduation, etc.

Since the panel was focused on the College of Communication, I mostly talked about my job and real-world experiences in Public Relations. But one father stopped me on my way out.

Worried Father: “You mentioned you double-majored in history. Can I ask why? My daughter wants to do the same thing, and I’m just not sure there’s any application for it. Do you use your history degree day-to-day?”

Me: “Not necessarily every day as part of my career. I pursued history as a passion – it was fun and kept me sane between other, more boring classes.”

*Pause, in which I suddenly feel the urge to say more.*

“Actually, I have found it very useful in my own writing. I’m working on several fantasy novels, and history provides great context for world-building and character development. I continue to draw inspiration from some of my old classes, so yes, in that sense, my degree is definitely applicable for my future publishing career.”

Worried Father: *With a look of dawning horror* Oh, this was SO not the right girl to ask about this topic. Why, oh, why didn’t I stop someone else?

Daughter: “See, Dad!” *hits Dad on arm and turns to me* “That’s exactly what I want to do!”

Me: *Wicked grin at finding a fellow writer* “I would highly recommend sticking with your plan. I loved history and, honestly, you’ll get a lot of use out of it in your own writing. By the way, here’s the info for the amazing studio where my crit group meets. We always welcome new writers!”

Never be afraid to pursue something you love simply because you don’t know if it’ll pay off. You owe it to yourself to try, and you’ll probably have tons of fun along the way!