Bronwyn Stuart - Romance Author
  • Home
  • Contemporary and Historical Romance
  • About Me
  • The Good, The Bad, The Ugly
  • Erotic Romance

A rambling post to usher in the new year...

12/28/2009

0 Comments

 


Have you ever read that book that broke all the rules? You know the one that wasn’t very well written, had all the –ly and –ing words that we're constantly told are taboo and will see your baby stuck in a slush pile forever? I just did and let me tell you I loved it! Once I got over the passive sentence endings and contractions that seemed out of place and weird dialogue of teenagers too cool for school, I really enjoyed the storyline and the general premise and mood of the book.

Lauren Kate’s ‘Fallen’ is a story that I thought would be about vampires or something paranormal since the blurb talks about Luce’s former lives and does she really want to know about her past.

‘Some Angels are destined to fall’ (You’d think I would have read the first line of the blurb but I didn’t even see it…)

‘Instant. Intense. Weirdly Familiar…

The moment Luce looks at Daniel she knows that she has never felt like this before. Except she can’t shake the feeling that she has… and with him – a boy she doesn’t remember setting eyes on.

Will her attempt to find out why enlighten her – or destroy her?’

Let me tell you that I really enjoyed reading this story but again, it had everything that I’ve been told lately in one form or another that publishers don’t want. It had parts in it that just seemed to hover for no reason, parts the story could have done without. Until the pieces of the puzzle started to fall and jam into place.

Anyway this post isn’t about good reads. Not really. Something else I’ve seen a lot of lately has been the ‘my work doesn’t seem to fit’. Fit what? Is there a mold for writers among the genres that your story has to follow a certain set of rules? Even the Harlequin lines don’t contain specific sets of ‘rules’ that are written in blood and concrete. Sure they have guidelines and each has its own kind of 'prerequisites' but they aren’t rules. I’m guilty of the same thing so many other new writers are and that is writing to a line. I’m not saying you should go off on your own and write down everything the way you see it. Blaze still needs sex, Presents still needs the sexy-as-sin Alpha and Historical still needs the facts and history.

I’m saying that maybe we need to write what we want first and foremost and then find a home for it once that baby is finished. It’s all well and good to want to get published and the quicker the better, I’m in the same boat, but what happens when you submit or enter a competition and the answer comes back ‘We already have stories like this’ or ‘We already have writers with voices similar to yours’.

Is it because I wrote to the ‘rules’? Who knows. So for 2010, my resolution is to write what feels good for me. I’m going to go with my gut and see where I end up. Now, I’m not one for making resolutions. Generally, I think they suck. Most people make their resolutions and goals with unrealistic expectations and don’t take into account outside forces. So I’m setting myself the goal of pleasing myself this year (you can stop chuckling and get out of the gutter now). My need and want to be published is as strong as it was in 2009, it’s even stronger. I really thought 2009 was going to be my year to shine but now, with only three days to go till another year ticks over, I’m not disillusioned enough to think the phone is going to ring with that ever elusive ‘call’ in the next 72 hours. But it won’t get me down. 2010 I’m going to work harder and work smarter and write the way I want to write. I’m going to be happy about my writing and my characters and my prose. But most of all, I'm going to enjoy every minute of it. I'm going to enter the Clendon, Little Gems, maybe Fire and Ice. I'm even working on a cover for the Little Gems cover comp. It's going to be a great year with lots of fun to be had.

What will you do? What are your resolutions and how do you plan to stick to them?

Till 2010, be merry and safe =)

  

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    RSS Feed

    Disclaimer

    I'm a published author but I'm still mostly stumbling about in the dark looking for the right paths so this blog is about that, though sometimes something will give the me the shits and I'll have a bit of a rant. I'll try not to be offensive but occasionally my mouth opens without asking my brain's permission so I'll apologise in advance.

    Archives

    September 2018
    November 2017
    October 2016
    September 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    November 2014
    September 2014
    July 2014
    May 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    June 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    September 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    March 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    October 2010
    September 2010
    August 2010
    July 2010
    June 2010
    May 2010
    April 2010
    March 2010
    February 2010
    January 2010
    December 2009
    November 2009
    October 2009
    September 2009
    August 2009
    July 2009
    June 2009
    May 2009
    April 2009

    Categories

    All
    Adelaide Roadshow
    Anglea James
    Anna Campbell
    Australian Women Writers 2012
    Award Of Excellence
    Blaze
    Call Story
    Carina
    Carina Press
    Chicago North
    Conference
    Contest
    Deep Pov
    Don\'t Know\'s
    Dot Com
    Emerald
    Envy
    Fallen
    Favourites
    Final
    Fire And Ice
    Freedom
    Gmc
    Jealousy
    Kinetic
    Lauren Kate
    Linda Howard
    Little Gems
    Margie Lawson
    Me
    Momentum
    National Reading Challenge 2012
    New Year's Eve
    Opinions
    Pitching
    Practice
    Query
    Rejection
    Resolutions
    Reviews
    Romancing The Novel
    Rwa
    Sarah Mayberry
    Scandal's Mistress
    Sizzle
    Stereotypes
    Sun
    Surf
    Thanks!
    The Cull
    Tolerance
    Update
    What Works Versus What Doesn\'t
    Win
    Work Space
    Yvonne Lindsay

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
  • Home
  • Contemporary and Historical Romance
  • About Me
  • The Good, The Bad, The Ugly
  • Erotic Romance