 |
| Veronica Lake |
Breakfast at Chloe’s this morning finds Kim Basinger in a Veronica
Lake-do nibbling on toast. Russell Crowe and Kevin Spacey are working on their
bangers (That would be sausage-links… Head
out of the gutter all you non Brit-speakers, *winks*).
In other words, “L.A. Confidential” is playing in the background while
I blog at you this fine Monday morning.
With the dreaded Chapter One of Writhe now all complete and
pretty just waiting on a ride to the publishing house, it’s on to Chapters Two
and Three today (neither of which should be the bear One was, *fingers crossed and glued together*.
Before I leave One in the dust, I’d like to point out the particulars I
got accomplished in those first 6K words.
Now, this is only how Chloe does it. As you should know by now, Chloe
is not everyone. Plus, this checklist is specifically for your basic 50K
romance novel. All other genres and lengths are treated way differently.
Hope you can pick out something useful. Here we go:
-Both the main characters are introduced… With only 50K to work with
and romance your main game, you need to get both protagonists out there
immediately so the audience can start bonding with them.
-The main characters meet… Again, this is a matter of a limited
amount of space to do a whole bunch of loving.
-Use only one point of view… This may be completely peculiar to me,
but with all the introductions being made, I don’t want to add further to the
readers’ job by making them adjust to point of view swaps. Besides, this gives
the audience time to really connect with one of the protagonists, while leaving
some mystery attached to the second (whom they only see through the eyes of
Protagonist One). Of course, two points of view can be used, but I’d only make
that swap once in the first chapter, and make it a clear one.
-Establish the atmosphere… Your characters, no matter how strong, do
not exist in a vacuum. The time and the place affects not only the decisions
the protagonists will be making in the novel, it will color how the readers
react to them. I think a lot of times this is overlooked. I always try to pay
particular attention to it.
-Offer the readers a taste of what’s to come… Since excerpts are often from this first
chapter, it’s important to hook the reader here. Whether your novel is going to
be fiery hot erotica with a dash of romance tossed into the sexual flames, or
if you’re aiming for an angst-ridden, epic love story with sex included only as
party favors to those who attend, establish that now. Then, give them a taste
of it. (My novels always seem to be a 50/50 cocktail of these two styles. So I
either give them a taste of both, or let them lay lip to one while promising
the second.)
Ok, I believe I have lectured enough for this morning. Ms. Basinger has
graciously left me some toast to nibble on, so I will leave you to your day.
Until tonight…
Chloe
No comments:
Post a Comment