Crit Groups

I'm in a crit group through ACFW comprised of 5 other individuals and myself. I'm having to edit between 50-60 pages every other week and around 30-40 pages every other week (on the week I submit). And I'm finding that this takes away from the precious little time I have to work on my own stuff! I feel obligated to edit and crit the other's work, of course. I also want to participate in the spirit of the crit group, as well as get an idea of what it's like to write/edit for a deadline, which is good practice. But in my writer's dreamlife, I'd have all this TIME to write and edit my own stuff and edit everyone else's. It's just not happening! Swamped doesn't begin to describe my thoughts. But I know crit groups are the way to go...so I'll plunge ahead and hope the schedule starts to sink in and become more routine.

On top of that, my new friend and fellow-writer, Katie Ganshert, and I will be swapping material soon to edit each other's work, as we have a lot in common in life - we figure this will transfer to the written page, as well. But we've already decided to be a bit more lax in our time requirements, as she also is in an ACFW crit group. Aren't we two peas in a pod, Katie? =)

Chapter Two Switcheroo

Okay...I was just reading over on Camy Tang's Story Sensei blog about writing your first page. (Read her post here.) AMAZING. What struck me was James Scott Bell's technique of switching your second chapter for the first chapter (with obvious tweaks needed to set the story and characters up). I had a crit partner actually suggest something similar, and I took her up on it - just to see if I woud like it. And I do! I think I was hitting my reader with too much backstory too soon...and now I really like the feel of my beginning.

Heck yeah. Love it when it comes together! So thanks to Camy and James Scott Bell!

Critiques

I've been getting back some fabulous comments from my critique group members! One ran spell check on me and said I was 30% passive voice. 10% is about all you want (even less is preferable). I had NO idea! So thanks, crit buddies!

I've been re-writing some scenes from my chick-lit/romantic suspense novel so that they are from the hero's POV. I'm liking what I'm coming up with so far! So maybe I'll forgo the traditional "chick lit" genre and do more with the hero. But when I write the heroine's POV, I'll use 1st person, so as to really involve my reader and make her identify (hopefully) with my main character (like in a chick lit book). So maybe the best of both worlds? Stay tuned, and we'll see.

Genre Discussion

I got on the ACFW website today and found out about their Genesis competition. It's for unpubbed authors to submit up to 15 pages of their manuscript for consideration. There isn't any publishing deal out of it, but the winner (who will be announced at the 2009 conference) will get first pick of editors/agents to meet with at the 2010 conference. So that's a big deal.

I started looking at the genres: Contemporary Fiction, Contemporary Romance; Historial Fiction, Historial Romance, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller, Romantic Suspense, Science Fiction/Fantasy/Allegory, Women's Fiction, and Young Adult.

The categories that interest me are Romantic Suspense, Women's Fiction and Contemporary Romance.

Women's Fiction is now supposed to incorporate the chick/mom/hen/lady lit subgenre. Apparently the industry is moving away from these terms, and the conference wants to reflect that. I write in first person, and probably 90% of my books are from the heroine's point of view. This makes me now a "Women's Fiction" writer, apparently. But here's the definition from ACFW for Women's Fiction.

Novels or sagas set in any location, in a contemporary setting, targeted toward women readers of any age. Issues are those women relate to, often involving relationships. Romance can be an element, but doesn't carry the story.

Hmm. Problem. Romance can be an element, but doesn't carry the story. Hmm.

Cathy Yardley's definition of Chick Lit is "generally a coming-of-age or 'coming-of-consciousness' story where a woman's life is transformed by the events of the story" and her choices." Usually the novels are typically funny and upbeat, with a distinctive type of author "voice" that lends itself to the genre. Now THIS fits me (at least I think so).

So how can Chick Lit be sucked up into women's fiction when romance doesn't carry the story?
Now I know why a pubbed author wrote me back and told me to classify my writing as "humorous women's fiction" instead of chick lit.

On to the other definitions.

Contemporary Fiction: The love story is set in any location in a contemporary setting, and is the main focus of the novel. The end of the book is emotionally satisfying. The stories in this category can be dramatic or comedic.

Romantic Suspense: A suspense plot is blended with a love story, which is the main focus of the novel, and the end of the book is emotionally satisfying. The story can be in any location, but the time frame should be a contemporary setting.

Now for the kicker. The disclaimer in the FAQ section for the contest says this: Please be aware that the industry expectations for contemporary romance and romantic suspense have a higher level of involvement of the hero than is usual in a typical chick lit novel. For example, most contemporary romance and romantic suspense novels have the hero and heroine meeting in the first chapter, whereas most chick lit novels have the hero appearing for the first time several chapters into the story. Also, most contemporary romance and romantic suspense novels novels have 40-50% of the scenes from the hero’s point of view, whereas chick lit is often only from the heroine’s point of view.

DID YOU READ THAT? My current WIP has the hero and heroine meeting in the first chapter. And after reading Gayle Roper's latest, I went back and added some POV from the hero. But certainly not 40-50%. But I could tweak it, of course, to do this. They are in several scenes together throughout the book, and I could re-write them from his POV.

So I'm thinking of submitting a portion of my current WIP (which I hope that I would actually finish before the conference should any one want to request the full manuscript) and making the hero's POV stronger. I technically could enter in both the Women's Fiction and Romantic Suspense if I do this.

Wish me luck!

Tags

I've been thinking about my tagline, and as promised, I've returned with some suggestions.

Since psychology and counseling is all about relationships and emotions within those relationships (this about the truth of this statement), maybe my tagline should have something to do with emotions.

I feel at a disadvantage, because my specialty as a counselor is mental disorders. It's what will set me apart from other Christian fiction writers. (at least I like to think so.) But who wants to read a tag about mental disorders? Or the psyche? So negative sounding.

What about this?

"Where Emotions - and Romance - Run Deep."

I thought about adding something about humor, but couldn't figure out where to put it so it didn't sound a) trite or b) like an afterthought. "Where Emotions - and Romance - Run Humorously Deep." It could be a bit off-putting to some - especially those who really suffer from the mental disorders mentioned. Wowzer. And isn't "humorously deep," like, an oxymoron?

Here are some others.

"Romance You Can Relate To."
(Catchy. Ends in a preposition, though....eww.)

"Where Romance, Laughter and Therapy Intersect."
(Too much emphasis on humor?)

"Therapeutically Funny Romance."
(I rather like this one now that I've actually typed it out. Maybe I should just drop the "funny" part altogether?)

"Where Romance Meets Therapy."
(Ooh! I like this one a lot, too!)

What do you think?

Part-Time Will Put A Hole In My Head

I suppose you could say that I'm a part-time writer, although I have not claimed this status for tax purposes. I write every spare chance I get, which isn't a lot somedays, as I'm taking care of an almost-one-year-old during most days.

I go absolutely bonkers when I'm in the middle of a scene and I get interrupted. This is why I imagine that being full-time will afford some luxuries like not being interrupted. But maybe I'm talking about something I don't know.

Currently, my little darling child is having a whining hissy fit. Nothing is wrong with her at all, she just wants all of mom's attention. She's got toys to play with on the floor, her belly's full, yet she just whines at my feet, upset because I won't let her slobbery hands grace my beautiful white MacBook keyboard or pull out my royal blue jump drive or unplug the power chord, which glows a tempting orange.

I was in the middle of writing a most prolific scene when my heroine encounters her ex-fiancé. Seriously gripping stuff. But I've had to forego the conclusion of said scene as the decibal on her whine steadily rises, in favor or ranting about it here on my blog.

I'll go for now, as she's reaching the point of no return. My scene will wait until her bedtime tonight around 8:30. Or maybe not, as my husband will probably want to finish the movie we started and had to also forego because of her. Hmm....see the problems inherit in this?

Tag Line

I've been subscribing to email loops through the American Christian Fiction Writers (click here for their website), and I've noticed a trend. Almost every author has some sort of tag line or catchy phrase that they close their emails with. I can only imagine that these phrases are found on their websites and blogs, as well.

Some of them are really cute, like Camy Tang's. "Camy Tang writes romance with a kick of wasabi." Of course, with her Asian background, this is really catchy! Janice Thompson's: "Love, Laughter and Happily Ever Afters!" Catherine West: "Stories that stir the soul and sooth the spirit." Kathleen Kovach: "Spiritual Truth...with a Giggle." The there's Karen Kingsbury's "Life Changing Fiction," Susan May Warren's "Soul Stirring Fiction," from which I derived the name of this blog, "Mind Healing Fiction" and later added "In Progress." :)

I thought about just "Inspirational Fiction from a Christian Counselor's Point of View," but this seems long to me. So the task at hand is to come up with something creative regarding counseling or therapy, humor, faith, and romance. Tall order! I'm going to be thinking about this some and I'll post my tag line later.