My battle with Facebook

 Since "Look Inside" was missing from my Amazon account for almost a month for Cinnamon & Sugar, I felt I needed to reboot. So I invested a small amount of money in a Facebook ad. They shot back that they objected to my focus on body parts. Maybe it was the cover, probably it was the shot of the young man in a bathing suit.

I know that's not what the book is all about but it is partially. So many romances are about attraction on a physical, mental, and spiritual level. It's very hard to show anything else on a cover. In fact, for years the romance industry was and is focused on beautiful people. I have noticed that production companies, such as Hallmark, are opening it up to various body types and sizes. ABC's Bachelor series has dived into interracial but the contestants are nearly all physically gifted. Singing shows focus on singing talent, no matter what the contestant looks like. Regarding romance and an audience for it, it won't be any time soon you'll hear the hero or heroine say, "he/she's ugly, but I'm attracted to her/him." Perhaps romance is confusing physical attraction for love. That's why at least for now, as writers, make sure to develop the WHY. Why are they together. And it had better be more than he has nice abs, much more.

If ever you have a choice on covers, choose the dramatic one over the pretty people one.

I have a chaste photo to try for prissy Facebook.

Time travel

We had just finished watching the classic film, The Time Machine (1960) with my two teenage grandsons on a Saturday night. That’s right. They haven’t been going out (at all). Everybody loved it, even though the graphic representations weren’t comparable to the 2002 version. It didn’t matter. Like any good story whether a book or on the big screen (or TV), it’s character development is what makes the story work. That secures the characters in the hearts of the reader/watcher. The structure of the novel/movie should grab the audience viscerally, engaging the heart. If it’s premise, in this case, time travel, intrigues and stands up to some logic, all the better and necessary. All elements should be tended to when penning the work. Roger Ebert gave the 2002 version 1.5 stars, need I say more. 1960's version did much better.

If done right, the story should have a reflection or more of alternative points of view. In the case of The Time Machine, subtle. As a child I didn’t worry about whether it was right that Wells wanted to change the future. But as an adult, it engrossed me. I’m going to ask my grandsons what they thought at breakfast today.

Fan fiction etc.

Some professional authors are so intrigued by someone else’s novel that they feel compelled to write a sequel. Of course, legally, you can’t do that unless you get permission. One way around this is through fan fiction, once again, only if permitted. Fan fiction doesn’t pay last I checked!

Another way around this is through public domain, that is, the work is free to use. This is very complicated. You can visit https://copyright.cornel.edu/publicdomain or other sites to learn more.

The other way might feel like cheating. You tell a story different enough not to infringe. It’s not cheating. Authors do this all the time especially in pieces. They’re called tropes. Sometimes the work is a whole cloth rendering. For instance, my story, The Wolf of Sherwood Forest, is all about new adults, Robin and Marion. Toss in real wolves, Richard the Lionhearted etc. simmer until the story is fully cooked.

For a more current story you need look no further than the Hollywood remakes. Of course, the studio lawyers tend to that. Let’s use a book as an example. Name any book, you can change the names, the town(s), the adventures, and produce something with the same emotive force. It has been said that all the (basic) stories have been told. You are just borrowing, some more, some less. For instance, in my new release through The Wild Rose Press, Cinnamon & Sugar, I was inspired by, and used the road trip and the walls of Jericho as shown in It Happened One Night. Except, my couple are on the run for different reasons, and travel, spooning, on one Harley Davidson.

Don’t feel bad if you can’t think of anything unique. Forget unique, there is no unique. Only your style is unique.