Five Tips for Writing Short

Now that Jackson and I have finished putting away the groceries, I'm to give tips and tricks on writing short - novellas and stories.

This is very easy: use fewer words.

:D

Okay, okay - David is forever assuring me that nobody thinks I'm as funny as I think I am. But hey, at least I amuse myself.

I suspect that most writers tend to be naturally good at either writing long or writing short. That's not to say you can't learn to be the other kind of writer (I did), but most of us start out with what comes naturally, in both length and genre.

Me? I'm naturally short.

And I 'm not saying this just because I'm 5'4", which is admittedly short by most standards. I tend to be fast and concise in most everything I do. I don't talk a whole lot. When asked to speak, I never run over time. I can clean the whole house in two hours - and I figure out the fastest way to do most everything. Even my Masters thesis was one of the shortest in the department.

My natural, out-of-the-gate writing form were essays. Particularly the 1500 word essay. Where other people in my essay-writing class were groaning over how to trim fat, I could whip out a complete essay that screeched its tires right up to the finish line. For me, the huge trauma was learning to write long. Even now I think I'll never be the writer who turns out the 500 page tome. SO not me. My CPs and editors are forever asking me to add scenes and write more explanation.

But that's my issue and an off-topic one.

Being able to write short is a great skill to have. Novellas and shorts are faster to write, enjoy a great market and can be a terrific way to build an audience.

So, tips from me, the Queen of Short in All Things.

1) Keep It Simple Stupid. Kiss kiss! No - really. This is the key component. When writing a short story or novella (I'm going to stick to fiction here), keep the idea behind it to one or two very basic things. The character transformation should be very clear and not necessarily earth-shattering. For example, in SAPPHIRE, I knew the story was about two things: whether she'd tell him her first name and whether she'd use her safe word.

2) Limit the time frame. Have all action occur over a few days or a week. This forces you to condense events too, so you're not tempted to add too many scenes. SAPPHIRE takes place, for the most part, over a weekend.

3) Limit the number of characters. For a romance, really you can keep this to only the two people involved in the love affair. I almost added or three, but I think adding a third person increases the level of difficulty in a number of ways, which you don't need. (See Number #1.) In PETALS AND THORNS, only the Beast and Amarantha are in 98% of it. Except for two cameos by her father and sisters, it's all about them.

4) Have part of the story occur "off-stage." In romance, a lot of writers like to short-cut the story by having the love interests already know each other - the reunion trope. I don't like this because the meeting/getting-to-know each other is my favorite part. But I'm adding it because I know it works for a lot of people.

5) Compress and Intensify! I think this is the crux of it all. Give the characters reasons to be thrown together in a compressed way and give them intense, passionate personalities. Make their motives urgent. The proverbial ticking clock is great for this. If someone is flying to the other side of the world the next day, things HAVE to happen fast. In PETALS AND THORNS, the Beast has one week to seduce Amarantha and break the curse.

Any tips you all have that I missed? Or questions?

My What Big Teeth You Have

http://buffy.wikia.com/wiki/Dracula

Vampires. Weres. I know they're popular, and in limited doses, I'm fine with them. I stress 'limited doses' especially in worlds where the vamps and weres coexist. In every case thus far, when vamps and weres live in the same world, the vampires are unquestionably at the top of the food chain and the weres seem curiously neutered. In the animal kingdom, the wolves and big cats know their places in the food chain, that's true, but they're always pushing, always challenging, always chipping away at the edges of their limitations. If they don't, they starve. In all the stories with vampires and weres living in the same world, aren't there massive wars and cross species heirarchy challenges?

One of the main reasons I'm luke-warm on vampires and weres is that they're often nothing more than a stand in for a human alpha hero. Unless there's a specific reason a hero must be a vampire or a weresomething, why not just write the human? The danger of alpha heroes is that <gasp!> they are so not PC. Yet readers love them. So writers disguise them as alien - other. Then we don't have to explain why they're such domineering a-holes. They just can be.

Laughing? Ah, you shouldn't, you kow. You may have noticed that Word Whore Jeffe had a new novella debut this week. She wrote an alpha hero. He's not a vampire. He's not a were. Human. Normal. Very alpha.

Initially, reviewers loathed him with mad passion. They hated him for presuming to know what the heroine needed. Hated him for using her strengths and weaknesses to take her to her limits. *That's* the danger of the alpha hero. Yet how many vampire books have you read where there hero does the exact same things, yet no one hates him because he can't be judged by human standards?

Sapphire does come to a happy ending. The first few reviews may have hated Jeffe's very alpha hero. Readers seem to love him. Sapphire was number one in popularity on the Carina Press site for a week.

Sapphire Fangs

by KAK 

In case you haven’t noticed, this week is release week for Monday Whore Jeffe Kennedy’s latest erotica novella, “Sapphire.”

If you haven’t entered the contest to win a digital copy, then hop back to yesterday’s post and leave a comment.

Jeffe, sweet Jeffe, dared me to interlace her contemporary erotica tale with the weekly topic of Vamps & Weres. I’m not certain that she completely understands the depth of my love for the Leeches & Lycans. ~evil laugh~

Let the spoofing begin:

Sapphire Fang:

The successful Mistress of the Bay Sanguinarium, M. Tastie Hangingfang is on track with her ten-century plan. Too bad her personal life consists of holding Sires accountable for their fledglings and cleaning up after they’ve screwed up. Enter the seductive werewolf Hotdamn Furliss. They have a tense yet cordial working relationship, but everything changes on a slayer hunt when he handcuffs her to the rail of a yacht just before dawn and makes her to howl at the moon.

Tastie writes the adventure off as too much bloodlust, until Hotdamn challenges her to the Harvest Moon hunt. She agrees to meet up with him. And follow his rules. They share a night of exquisite intimacy, brimming with both pain and pleasure. Afterwards, fearful her clan will smell the Dark Blood Exchange, Tastie goes to ground.

Hotdamn is determined to prove Tastie longs for the wild abandon of the predator only he can release within her – and the lust she feels is for more than just his blood. How can he make her see that he wants her, and not just the Vampire Mistress? 

Happy Pre-Halloween! 

If you'd like to buy the actual story of Taylor and Adam -- click here to head to Amazon.


If you'd like to buy Jeffe's post-apocalyptic Vampire story -- click here to head to Amazon.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SAPPHIRE!

by Laura Bickle

No vamps and weres here, either.

Today is release day for Jeffe Kennedy's SAPPHIRE! Here's the skinny:

A successful executive, M. Taylor Hamilton is on track with her ten-year plan. Too bad her personal life consists of hitting the gym and grocery shopping.Enter the seductive Adam Kirliss. They may have a working relationship, but everything changes at an office party when he handcuffs her to the rail of a yacht.


Taylor writes the adventure off as too much champagne, but when Adam challenges her to a date, she agrees to meet up with him. And follow his rules. They share a night of exquisite intimacy, brimming with both pain and pleasure. But afterwards, fearful of losing her heart, Taylor pulls back emotionally.


Adam is determined to prove that she longs for the loss of control he can give her – and the passionate release it provides. How can he make her see that he wants her, and not just her body? 

Sapphire is available on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Sapphire-ebook/dp/B005JSJXTM/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1316399593&sr=1-1

 Carina Press: http://ebooks.carinapress.com/8CF69E65-BC08-404D-A59B-EF889F1780F0/10/134/en/ContentDetails.htm?ID=D5FDD01D-263E-4345-A6B8-B63F90F1D913

 ...and All Romance E-Books: http://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-sapphire-603428-144.html

To celebrate, we have cake. It is, of course, decadent chocolate. Omnomnomnomnom:

And there are presents, of course!

Everyone gets a free excerpt of SAPPHIRE to tease their appetites, here: http://jeffekennedy.com/sapphire/?action=excerpt

And one lucky commenter will win the full e-book!

To enter, leave a comment below between now and 12:00 AM EST Sunday 10/30/11. The lovely Jeffe Kennedy will choose a winner after the closing of the contest, and deliver a digital copy of SAPPHIRE in the e-format of the winner's choosing. She's out of town now for her glamorous work as a superhero, but we'll lavish her with congrats and gifts for her happy return!

Start commenting, spread the word, and good luck!

SAPPHIRE! (Not Vampires and Weres)

So, when we first started this blog, we agreed that we could each punt on the topic when it comes to release day.

And tomorrow is release day for Sapphire.

It has nothing to with vampires, weres or even anything remotely paranormalish.

But still - YAY!

Should you be so inclined, you can get it at Carina (click here) or Amazon (click here) or All Romance eBooks (click here).

Or - I'm reliably informed that this might be a bad week for vampires and weres overall - and there may be contests and giveaways.

(My sister Word Whores might figure out a way to work the theme, in too...)

Playboy Bunnies and Grown-Ups

by Jeffe Kennedy People start asking little kids what they want to be when they grow up as soon as the kid can answer questions. I think it's a way to get a fix on the child's personality. What do you love? Which things are exciting and interesting to you? Who do you envision yourself becoming? Unfortunately the answers are usually prosaic - largely because little kids have no idea of the possibilities in the world. Even bigger kids don't. So they say things like fireman or teacher or movie star, because those are the roles they can easily see. It's really an enormous question, and many of us are still looking to find out the answer. Sometimes we run into people with really cool jobs and say, whoa, how did you get to be that? Other times we're strategizing ways to get someone to give us money to do something we'd really like to be doing. Mostly we'd like to become this amazing person we vaguely envision - and get paid really well to be that. When I was about seven, some guests at my parents' dinner party asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. My answer? "A Playboy Bunny." Not the answer they expected. It somewhat brought down the house. What I meant, in my young-girl way, was that I wanted to grow up to be a woman. I wanted to be curvy and lovely and sensual, like those women in the magazines. I wanted to be part of that world of sexual energy. Yesterday I gave a talk to the River City Romance Writers, about the industry, about Petals and Thorns and my upcoming release, Sapphire. As most up and coming writers do, they asked about my career path, specifically if my degrees are in English or Writing. I told them that I double-majored in biology and religious studies. They laughed, pointing out the irony that I now write erotica. But really - I can see the path that brought me here. Sex to me is about intimacy, powerful desires and fully expressing our inner selves. It's both carnal and spiritual. I love to explore that world. I particularly like finding a way to make a living that way, without actually baring all on the centerfold pages. I think I'm finding the thing that little girl had in mind.