You're the Voice

by Christine Wells

When you watch music videos on television or listen to the radio and you hear a song you haven't heard before--what makes you decide whether you like it? If it's by a band that's familiar to you, how do you know who's playing? Think of all the songs you know by almost as many artists. How can you tell a Coldplay song from REM? Shania Twain from Pink?

There are twenty of us Banditas in the lair, yet I'm pretty sure I could tell who wrote the day's post without looking at the byline. How do I know? Choice of subject matter, for one. The personal philosophy that underpins the post. The rhythm of the sentences, the tone of the jokes, how much it makes me cry (yes, that would be you, Cassondra!) Pet words, use of language and metaphor, even the structure and layout. In all these details, a writer leaves her mark, just like a signature or a thumb print.

In the book biz, we call the distinctive sum of all those parts voice.

As writers, we are often frustrated and baffled by the way editors and agents stress voice above all else as the most important factor in their decision to buy a new author's work. It's so unquantifiable, so inexplicable. But ask yourself--what sort of song do you want to hear from a band you've yet to come across? Can you describe the essential ingredients that will guarantee your enjoyment? Or is it really a 'know it when you hear it' kind of thing? I think, if you're honest, you'd say the latter.

I've never been a huge fan of reality television shows (other than my strange fascination with Project Runway) but occasionally, I catch a glimpse of American Idol. The thing that often strikes me is that many of these people have talent but often it's not a distinctive talent (yet). They don't have the whole package that sets them apart from the rest. Sometimes, it's because a thin slip of a girl chooses a gutsy, raw song that doesn't suit her voice or her look. Let's face it, someone who looks and sings like a pixie isn't likely to carry off a heavy metal song, no matter how hard she tries. Sometimes, it's that the contestant is trying too hard to be technically perfect and that polished technical perfection doesn't show us their soul or their heart. They've polished all their rough, interesting edges away.

Unfortunately, a distinctive voice isn't something you can easily or deliberately acquire. Some people have it from the start. For others, it takes practice and experimentation to find what kind of story and style fits their personality. And for some, voice is something they have to recapture after critique groups and contests have ironed it out of their work. Whatever the case, a unique voice is worth striving for, nurturing and protecting, because it's the most valuable asset an artist can have.

Now, to get your hands on some Bandit booty--if you're a writer, pick three words to describe your voice. If you're a reader, pick three words to describe the voice of your favourite author, or one of the Banditas on the blog.

For fun, I've grabbed a few books from my keeper shelf and typed out some lines. First of all, can you tell me who wrote it and the title (bonus points for the title!) how you think the voices in the paragraphs differ, what similarities you see. What is it about these paragraphs that show the writer's distinctive voice?

And if you can't be bothered doing any of that, hit me with your favourite quote from your favourite romance and I'll see if I can tell you why that voice is distinctive! Hmm, this is just like Mrs Davidson's English class. But more fun! And there are prizes! C'mon, work with me here, people!

A Dangerous Duke diary goes to one lucky reader and a signed copy of Scandal's Daughter to the first to get all the quotes right.

#1 Bucolic peace is not my ambience, and the giving of tea parties is by no means my favourite amusement. In fact, I would prefer to be pursued across the desert by a band of savage Dervishes brandishing spears and howling for my blood...Emerson once remarked that if I should encounter a band of Dervishes, five minutes of my nagging would unquestionably inspire even the mildest of them to massacre me. Emerson considers this sort of remark humorous.

#2 Once, there were more of us.

Once we roamed the skies unfettered, masters of the four winds. We chased the sun and devoured the moon, sprinkled across the heavens like fierce, relentless stars.

#3 Dr Iannis had enjoyed a satisfactory day in which none of his patients had died or got any worse. He had attended a surprisingly easy calving, lanced one abscess, extracted a molar, dosed one lady of easy virtue with Salvarsan, performed an unpleasant but spectacularly fruitful enema...

#4 Sir Walter Elliot, of Kellynch-hall, in Somersetshire, was a man who, for his own amusement, never took up any book but the Baronetage...

#5 As I slid into my chair at the breakfast table and started to deal with the toothsome eggs and bacon which Jeeves had given of his plenty, I was conscious of a strange exhilaration, if I've got the word right.

#6 A hot wind was blowing around my head, the strands of my hair lifting and swirling in it, like ink spilled in water.

Malapropism Maven

by Jo Robertson

A malapropism is a word that is used incorrectly in place of another similar sounding word. In fact, the word comes from Richard Sheridan’s Eighteenth Century play The Rivals, in which Mrs. Malaprop constantly misuses words with a comic effect.

My daughters have a game they play where they try to make up malapropisms in their everyday conversation. The trick is to slip the word into the discussion as if you weren’t aware of the error and wait for someone to catch it. You get a point for inventing the malapropism and two points if no one catches it.

Now you have to understand that my youngest daughter Megan often uses malapropisms accidentally, but we never know which ones are intended and which ones aren't.

For example, she is talking to a neighbor who reveals that her husband enjoys playing guitar and keyboards. “Oh,” Megan cries, “my husband’s a magician too.” A little brain fart there. Of course, she meant musician.

Another example: At a party Megan joins a group of other women clustered around the couch. “Are we all conjugating here?” she asks. Uh, congregating?

So, wanna play the Malapropism Game? I’m giving away a fifteen-dollar Target gift certificate to the commenter who wins the award as the Malapropism Maven, the one who comes up with the most clever malapropism. You have to create a sentence using the word in context like the two examples I've given above. Ready, set, go!

My husband will be the judge and YES, Banditas can play! Have at it!

Redeeming the Dark Hero

by Christine Wells

Dark, tortured heroes--don't we love them? Heathcliff, Rochester, Jervaulx, Anna Campbell's Kylemore, any of Anne Stuart's bad, beautiful boys. The worse our hero is, the more we love it when a good woman brings him to his knees.

I've learned a lot from screenwriting experts lately. There was that lightbulb moment from Debra Williamson, who swung by the lair recently and talked about irony, among other things. And today, while listening to a lecture about character arc from Michael Hauge, all my vague ideas about redeeming the dark hero clicked into place.

Have you ever heard someone disparage a redemption story because 'people just don't change'? That attitude was one I struggled with when writing Scandal's Daughter. I had an irresponsible rake as a hero and I had to redeem him by the end. But I, also, believe that people don't change.

It got me thinking, if I believe people can't change, why, then, do redemption stories work for me? How do we, as writers, make them believable?

Michael Hauge talks about a character's identity, the mask he or she shows the world, as opposed to his essence, who he really is, or who he could be if he lived up to his potential. It's that essence which the heroine sees and it's that essence the author sets about exhuming, step by step, throughout the book. When he is redeemed at the end, the hero has not changed fundamentally. He has become the man he was always meant to be.

So, who is your favourite tortured hero? What made you like him, despite his bad boy attitude?

We Don't Need No Steeenkin' Revisions...

...Or do we?

by Aunty Cindy

As I anxiously await my very first revision letter from My Editor (yes, I still get a thrill from typing those words), I've been listening to books on tape. My current selection is Lawrence Block's quintessential handbook for fiction writers, Telling Lies for Fun and Profit. I have read this book before and if you haven't, I highly recommend it. But half the fun is listening to the author read his own work, because it's almost like sitting down and having a conversation with him, or attending an extended workshop by him without the annoying person in front of you asking endless questions.

The other day, something Mr. Block said about revisions really resonated with me. Though he was being a bit facetious, he made an argument against doing revisions, or more accurately, to write as if you weren't going to revise.

Revisions, he argued, take away the freshness and spontaneity from writing. He likened a piece of writing to a jazz riff. Do it once, go with the flow of the moment, then let it go.

Polishing away the freshness seems to be an occupational hazard with many romance writers. I've heard more than one editor and agent say they've read partials polished to the point that the author's voice is gone. And I think we've all heard the stories of contest entries that were polished to perfection, but the rest of the manuscript (IF it was ever written) was slap-dashed together.

His other big argument against revisions is that sloppy first drafts encourage poor writing techniques. If you know you're switching POV too many times, dumping in back story, or writing pages of talking heads, then DO NOT DO IT! Train yourself to do it correctly in the first draft.

Here again, moderation is the key. I am probably more painstaking than most in crafting my first drafts, but sometimes just getting down words... ANY WORDS are the best I can do. Worrying so much about getting it right is pointless if you get nothing. (Can you tell I'm trying to refrain from quoting Nora about not being able to fix a blank page?)

So while it would be nice to have my first draft also be my final draft, I'm not kidding myself about revisions. They will always be there, as inevitable as that other famous quote about death and taxes. I only hope that they won't be too extensive.

Here's your chance to share some writing advice. If you're a writer, what unusual piece of writing advice has helped (or maybe hindered) you? And if you are a reader, what one piece of advice would you like to pass along to all us writers?

Lucius Vorenus, Titus Pullo and YOU!

posted by Aunty Cindy

Last night, I finished watching the DVDs of the HBO series Rome including the “Bonus Features.” During the latter, a comment made by one of the show’s creators really resonated with me. He said that people were attracted to the show because of the characters. One minute, viewers would say, “Wow! Those people are just like me!” Then five minutes later they would say, “Wow! Those people are nothing like me!”

I couldn’t agree more, and I believe the same duality is true of all fictional characters. The audience needs to be able to identify with a character’s traits and actions, but at the same time, the character must go far beyond most ordinary human beings.

In Rome, it’s easy to identify with and like the character Lucius Vorenus. He is honorable, courageous, and highly moral in all his deeds. We would all like to think we too could be as noble and upstanding, and we love watching his character.

However, I know I’m not the only one who finds myself even more intrigued by Vorenus’ comrade and nearly polar opposite, Titus Pullo. Most of the time, Pullo is ultra-violent, killing and maiming anyone with seemingly no conscience. He is an amoral, drunken, whoring brute who never seems to think about his actions beyond how he can be instantly gratified. His character is exaggerated to the extreme, and he is not like someone you would ever hope to be! And yet… he is infinitely fascinating to watch! The few moments within the series when Pullo showed his sensitive, caring nature, or when he actually understood something beyond his own immediate need were my favorites.

Am I alone in my weirdness?

Think about some of your favorite characters. Were you drawn to them because they were just like you? Or did the attraction lay in them being nothing like you?

Your inquiring Aunty wants to know!

A Race Car Driver By Any Other Name...

posted by Aunty Cindy


Since my DH is a lifelong auto racing enthusiast, I've become a fan through osmosis. This Memorial Day weekend, we were actually home for a change, and watched avidly as Dario Franchitti slid across the yard of bricks to win the soggy Indy 500. Then, after calling the top finishers, the announcer said something about Franchitti being only the second Scot to win the Indy 500...

SAY WHAT?!?! Dario Franchitti is a SCOT?!?!

Yet another example of real life that would never work in fiction! As all novelists know, readers presume a lot about characters based on their names, ethnicity being one of the major things. I know, I know it doesn't necessarily work that way in "real life." Nevertheless, if you are writing a novel with a Scottish character his/her name better be McSomethingOrOther or you risk alienating your readers!

So where DO writers find all those wonderfully fitting character names? Thanks to the internet and Google, first names are easy. You can find just about any ethnicity. I know because I wanted some typical Croatian names for one of my books which has a half-Croatian hero. And I found 'em, NO PROBLEM! (along with Serbian, Russian, Arabic and MORE ) Not only can you find any ethnic first name, but you can also find out which names were the most popular in any particular decade. VERY handy not just for historical settings but naming secondary characters like Great Aunt Bertha and Grandpa Edgar.

Last names can be a bit trickier. I stumbled across some great census data from Ireland by county while researching names for my latest novel set in Northern Ireland. I also like to thumb through the phone book (luckily I live in a large metropolitan area and there are LOTS of names), and there are a treasure-trove of last names in the closing credits of most movies. Some writers use names of friends for minor characters. Another writer I know says she uses the names on the spam emails she gets! Talk about recycling!

So what about YOU? If you are a writer, how do you select names for your characters? And if you're a reader, would YOU believe a Scot named Dario Franchitti?

And the WINNAH is... shari c. You are the lucky winner of Susan Grant's book How to Lose An Extraterrestrial in 10 Days. Please email your info to Joan at JKayse413 AT aol DOT com
And THANX A BUNCH for hanging out with us in the Bandit lair.

The Single Traveler and Diverging Roads

posted by Jo Lewis-Robertson

When I first began writing narration, as opposed to the analytical writing we teachers foist on our students, I wasn’t sure if I were in love with writing fiction, or in love with the idea of being a fiction writer.

Surprise! I adore the narrative writing process. I like everything about it: the drafting, the dump (what I call my first raw draft), the rewriting, and even the revising. Conversely, I abhor almost anything that takes me away from it.

But there’s one thing I don’t like: the decision-making. The stories and voices and characters that run through my writer’s head leave behind a hefty dose of schizophrenia.

My stories feel like Robert Frost’s “roads that diverge[d] in a yellow wood.” I want to take both paths, but “be[ing] one traveler,” can only follow a single trail. Each decision on the turn of a word or phrase, a single paragraph or minute description, every nuance of verb or adjective can steer my characters into an entirely new world with different texture and significance.

Did you know that Charles Dickens wrote two endings to Great Expectations? The novel was serialized in a magazine, a common practice at that time. When Dickens wrote the ending most often anthologized, he kept Pip and Estelle apart; they have that poignant meeting at the end and walk away from one another – forever. But his contemporary readers were so outraged with it that Dickens wrote an alternative ending. One where there’s a happily ever after, or at least the hope of a HEA.

It’s an awesome and frightening sensation, this power writers have to alter what essentially is fiction, a made-up and (wo)man-constructed falsity, but is so often stark reality in the minds of readers.

Sometimes you know that poetic justice has to prevail and the ending is literarily perfect, but still you oh-so-wish it were different. That Scarlett got Rhett back (and maybe she did!), that Heathcliff found his “soul,” that Juliet woke up before Romeo took the damned poison!

What about you? What book, story, or movie ending would you change if you could? Which ones were perfect just as written or filmed?

Life Gets In The Way

by Suzanne Welsh

About two months ago a situation occurred in my other career that set in motion a series of events that changed my life this past month. My beta reader, (the person who reads my manuscripts strictly as a reader), took a new job with greater responsibility at a new hospital. She in turn offered me a position with this new staff. Taking a leap of faith in her and my own skills, I switched hospitals.

This new position had me doing what I love, delivering babies, but it also meant a greater commitment of my time. Translation, I went from working twelve-hour nights for nineteen years, to one solid month of eight-hour days. For a confirmed vampire, this has been a shock to my system. And as a writer the whole ordeal limited my available writing time.

This month of working days gave me a new appreciation for those writers who do it on a daily basis and still find time to write. I must confess, that not all of my home time has been wasted with mundane chores or sleeping. I did manage to work on a nursing article I hope to get published in a professional journal, and I taught a continuing education course to the other nurses this month. But sadly I felt like my romance writing, in particular my current work in progress (WIP), took a backseat to everything else.

When working night shift, on my days off I am up by eight and write at least until noon, with at least one hour during that time to blog or answer e-mails or work on my local RWA chapter’s concerns. Then about one in the afternoon it’s nap time. If I work that night, then I’m good to go. If I have the night off, the nap allows me to write again later at night. This day shift gig has my system all out of whack.

The other thing I noticed was how down I felt. The creative process must feed into some mental endorphins I need to keep my mood and mind balanced. Putting aside something I enjoy to focus intently on some other part of my life seems to put everything else off the axis in which I move on a daily basis.

One positive thing that happened was during the extra half-hour it takes me to drive to and from work my mind would work like a sledgehammer on certain points I still need to write in order to finish my WIP. And one particularly disturbing morning a character from a Regency Historical I’ve played with suddenly started talking to me. Literally. The heroine sat in the passenger seat and told me her back-story and how it affected her actions in the beginning of the book. (Yeah, it freaked me out, too!)

Thank goodness I return to nights next week!

Have you ever had a situation in your life where you couldn’t concentrate on writing so you had to just tuck it away for a while? Did you find your mind gravitating towards it at odd times? How did you handle the added stress?

The X-factor

by Christine Wells

When I started writing novels (which wasn't so very long ago), I owned a tiny Toshiba Libretto the size of a Trade Paperback. I wasn't connected to the internet, didn't know there was a market for Regency historicals, which was what I was writing, hadn't heard of Romance Writers of America. Basically, I was writing in a vacuum.

Then I discovered RWA, critique groups, contests, self-help books--you get the picture. I learned the 'rules'. I discovered and studied wonderful books by Regency historical writers (who were still alive and selling!) and I applied all of this knowledge to my writing. And at some point, I felt my own voice about to slip away.

Romance writers are incredibly lucky. I can't think of any other genre that has such institutional support for its writers, nurturing them and guiding them and paving the way to publication. But there can be a downside to all this wonderful support. You can pay so much attention to 'rules' and other people's opinions and what the market's doing, that you lose the one thing that will make your novel stand out from the crowd: your voice.

As a new writer, you need to listen and take advice that you judge to be sound. But there comes a time when you really need to shut everyone else out and do your own thing. Every writer needs that small amount of arrogance that says, No one can tell this story as well as I can. Even if you never say it aloud, you have to believe it, or you'll end writing the same book as everyone else. It's your very uniqueness that will give your story universal appeal.

The X-factor, the thing that is going to sell your book, is you.

So now, imagine you're a future bestseller with your debut book in the pipeline. Your favourite author (living or dead) writes a cover blurb--that quote on the front of the book that sums up the wonderful appeal of this masterpiece you've written, in 10 words or less. What would it be?

My favourite answer wins a $25 gift voucher from Amazon.com!

OH, AND DON'T FORGET OUR BANDITAS CONTEST BELOW! WE HAVE LOTS OF COMMENTS TO CHOOSE FROM, SO MAKE YOURS A GOOD ONE!

Learning New Skills

This past weekend the Dallas Area Romance Authors featured author/psychologist Margie Lawson, who presented her workshop, EMPOWERING CHARACTERS' EMOTIONS.

It was an all day event and the hours flew by as we worked on our current Works In Progress, (WIP). We learned about showing visceral responses of our characters to critical events in the story. We learned to use writing techniques such as anaphora, onomatopoeia, and opposite imagery to evoke emotions in our readers. We learned to read our work aloud to find examples of beat and rhythm.

Margie taught us about back-loading a paragraph or sentence to give it more emphasis and clue the reader to its importance.

Then Margie had us get out the many colored highlighters we brought and she gave us a brief overview of her EDITS system. Using different colors to denote different things in our WIPs, such as dialogue and description. Margie showed us how to get a visual assessment of our work. This would help us edit more deeply. Margie runs a month-long workshop on this and her teaching schedule, as well as lecture packets for both ECE and EDITS, is available through Pay Pal on her web site at www.margielawson.com.

The entire day empowered me. I came home after sharing a drink in the bar with friends, totally overwhelmed, but stoked. That evening I took out a proposal I'd planned to send to an editor and found I could use the techniques to really make my opening scene full of energy. It was a rush! These new skills took words I'd looked at a thousand times and made them new and exciting again.

It goes to show we're never too old or too experienced to learn something new. Have you ever taken this workshop? Have you ever come across something in writing or working that totally changed how you approached things? Have you ever stumbled upon a new author and thought, "Wow, I have to go buy everyone of her/his books?"