ROCK ‘EM SOCK ‘EM ROMANCE!

Whew! Let’s hope my post lives up to all the hype.

Someone just asked me a question about romance, and since my last post was about edgy, I figured this would fit here just fine.

Here you go, here’s my fave contemporary romance EVER!

And I haven’t read the book yet, but it’s in the to do chute.

THAT BEING SAID, I saw the movie, which I’m told holds true to the book. SUZANNE’S DIARY FOR NICHOLAS, by James Patterson. Yes, Patterson, and no woman was raped, tortured, or anything as equally disturbing. Just a wonderful, albeit, a bit out of the box, romance.

Christina Applegate, Johnathon Schaech, and Kathleen Rose Perkins bring to life a sweet, touching, never to forget story of lost love and love found again.

So, for anyone out there who wants to know what I like in a romance, it’s the boy meets girl with a lot of problems to fend off. Not just a small situation that thwarts the romance for a time, but something so big, it sends heads reeling until the love can find a way to “make it all better.”

In Diaries, you have a romance that you feel is doomed right from the start. And yet, you are unable to stop watching(reading) because you just know it has to have a good ending. Then…

WHAM, it socks you in the gut and you wonder “Whuhappened?”

Only then do the characters warm your heart again before the next, “Huh? Where did that come from?”

If you see only one movie this year, rent the 2005 TV movie based on James Patterson’s book. You will not be sorry. Oh, yeah, and to make it that much sweeter, the story is about a publishing editor. How great is that? Just bring a huge box of tissues and be prepared to watch it right to the end.

Ahh, love sweet love!

EDGY FICTION or SIMPLY MORE SECULAR?

The words edgy fiction are being tossed about like a marble on a teeter totter. I was recently given a work to proofread and was told I would enjoy it because it was “edgy fiction”. I read it; it was a wonderful romance, albeit formulaic. So where was the edgy?

Ah hah! I finally figured out what the author and publisher thought was edgy.

A lot more sex filled the pages. Is that edgy or is that just plain old secular?

Don’t panic. There’s no right or wrong answer to that question. You won’t be given a test. But think about it. Are we in the inspy market simply leaning more toward secular when we call our work edgy or are we jumping on the secular wagon and riding off into the sunset, guns drawn, bustiers showing, and kisses as well as other body parts flying here and there.

Okay, a bit melodramatic, but you get my point.

What defines edgy for you?

For me, it’s an author willing to push the limits of his/her genre. Takes steps no one else has. For romance, it means stepping outside the traditional formula and bringing a wonderful romance that might or might not have a happy ending.

Love Story anyone? There’s hardly a woman who lived in the seventies who didn’t read/watch that romance. I can’t tell you all that I read back then, but I can tell you almost scene for scene what happened to Ryan O’Neal and Ali McGraw’s love. For the story’s time, IT WAS EDGY!

As an inspy writer, do you merely throw in a bit more sex, violence, or **shudder** a couple obscenities and call that edgy? Or do you dare delve into difficult topics that might bring thought-provoking interest to your work?

This is an issue very dear to my heart.

You will hear more on it.

In Your Deepest Heart of Hearts

In your very deepest heart of hearts where you only allow a select few friends and family, what do you truly want? As a writer…


As an inspy writer, just what is it you want?

Is it your intention to bring Christ to those who don’t know Him?


As a writer in any genre…

Do you want to be a bestseller?

Is it your goal to make boatloads of money? (my youngest would say craploads, but I’m feeling particularly ladylike today—almost!)

Would you like to reach into someone’s life and bring entertainment?


These are all logical questions. At any other job in life, we have goals, we have reasons for knocking on a door saying “Let me in. I’ll be your best employee.”

Are you being your own best employee?


Have you outlined your goals? Organized your time? Do you treat this writing career as a career or as a hobby?


Only you can answer, but your responses may make the difference between being pubbed and not being pubbed.


Editors and agents will want to be able to envision your goals as clearly as you should. They want to know you’re in it for the right reasons and for the long haul.


What is in your deepest heart of hearts for this career called writing?

How do YOU do evil?

How do you create evil characters in your writing? Let's look at Harrison's Laura:


The officer’s car halted, nearly morphing into a night silhouette but for the lightbar across the top; she slowed her vehicle, removing her foot from the gas without braking. Laura choked on the heaviness in the air. She wanted to strangle Harrison.


A quick glance from the patrolman, and she smiled and nodded. One second passed in time as they locked eyes, but in that second, she read his face as clearly as a divine vision. He didn’t know. Didn’t have an inkling. He revved the engine and sped past her toward some unknown target as her heart steadied to a semi-normal thumping.


And suddenly it came to mind why she suffered these hair-raising moments. This was all Harrison’s fault. She let out the suffocating breath. She wanted to kill him for the misery he caused.


Not now. Stay focused on the prize. Soon they’d be living like the millionaires they already were. She bit the inside of her cheek so she could feel. She was sick of middle-class living, of small towns, hicks, and doing without. Gimme the good life, the rich, rich, rich life.


One positive thing, she no longer had a carload of snivelers and whiners to haul into the wilderness. The girls awaited new families courtesy of Ernest. Good families? Who cared. She snorted. Too bad if they weren’t. Yeah, life could be tough. What was it the Good Book said? Everyone had a cross to bear.



She jeered as the tension of the last few seconds erupted from within her. All those five-year-olds trudging along in ashes and sackcloth with tiny white crosses slung on their backs. Winding their way to utter devastation.



Laura exploded with laughter.


Swing by Hartline's blog on Monday for another sample and let us all know how YOU do evil. http://hartlineliteraryagency.blogspot.com/

Faithwriters Conference

Hey all, the Faithwriters' Conference in Livonia, MI is just around the corner. Hope to see a lot of you there. We'll have a great time meeting and greeting new folks. If you're there, please drop by and say "Hi!"

Swing by Hartline for a Fun Exercise

Hey, folks. Swing by the Hartline Blog for a fun

post about telling and showing. Do the exercise.

It's tons of fun!


http://hartlineliteraryagency.blogspot.com/

Do the exercise and wow us with your genius!!!


OH WOW! THERE ARE SOME AMAZING EXAMPLES!

Swing by and leave one of your own. What

great "short" descriptions...

What Moves You to Write?

When writing inspirational fiction, where does your passion come from?

Paul said that his heart broke for his people, so much so that he could be cut off from Christ-cursed-so that his people would come to know Jesus Christ.
Romans 9:2-3

Does our writing reflect that kind of passion? Do our hearts break for the one reading our stories in the hope that one of our words will reach out and touch a life? Paul, after having it all, after knowing the best life had to offer, followed Christ. Gave all he had to further the lives of others in the kingdom of Christ.

What is the goal of your inspirational writing? To makes loads of money or to touch just one life?