Sealed with a kiss

Are you overwhelmed by emotions, crazy about the opposite sex, plagued with needs, hormonally driven, in love desperately? Well maybe you’re a teenager, young or new adult.

For the rest of us: do you collect social security, babysit grandchildren or are now raising children? Have you forgotten or are your feelings diminished?

We forget and for many of us we do not either feel love or our love has matured. Less hormones equals less passion, right? Also, the culture has changed from when we were dating. So, avoid summary thought while writing our characters if it is just because we can't generate the entire thought process.

Do you need to be under thirty to write a good romance? Or will research carry you through? Recalling (partially) how you felt is not enough. Listening to kids speak isn’t enough either. I recommend allowing their song and culture to overwhelm your heart. Dedicate a little time each week to immersing yourself in the culture of the age group you are writing about. Being flexible is being real and therefore believable. Dig deep.

When you listen to an old favorite song of yours, do you think your granddaughter would appreciate it as much as the latest from Taylor Swift (who, IMO, is great)? Does that old song speak to your babies? Do you get the Big Bang Theory or the like on TV? Invest a little time. I promise you’ll stay younger (more with it) and produce a better romance. Hey, maybe, if you are single, you’ll fall head over heals.

Try Brian Hyland's 1962 hit, Sealed With a Kiss on your babies. Will they get it? Do people still mope if separated when there is all this social media? Skype? I think a kiss carries the same impact, even if it is only to seal a letter. Obviously,  it's emails etc. not letters. So do kids sign off with SWAK?

Kissing for any purpose needs practice.

Write what you feel not what you know

If you feel strongly about something and can express it in story, you have a great start.

If you can feel your characters vicariously, you can’t lose.

If you feel you are saying something that will uplift, inform, scare, inspire and your heart is in it you’re on your way to the great American novel.

I know many of us see writing as a business and/or are driven by what the publisher’s vision of what the readers’ preferences are. Fine. Do that. Feeding one’s family is important. But ask yourself will your novel stand the test of time. If that isn’t practical and you need to make a living consider engaging your heart, baring your soul, opening a vein and pour out that one story that you feel will contribute to the human race. and be known forever. Make it your To Kill a Mockingbird.

If you must hide this manuscript from your agent or publisher, do so. We want to know the real you. We want to feel something outrageously special when we read your masterpiece.

IMO, most midlist authors are listening to what their publishers know rather than that which burns within. If nothing burns within, that’s okay, you are a professional. I have read many an enjoyable novel full of all the right tropes, fatal flaws, plot twists etc. and have thanked the novelist/friend for it.

If you love to write about cowboys, or rom coms with cute meets, or vampires with toothaches and a fear of dentists, then that’s very okay. Because it is you and that’s all I ask for. Because you feel.

You might ask how can I write what I don't know. Aside from pointing out that that's what the publishers ask of you the real answer is we learn. We can learn almost anything.

Next week as a follow up I'll suggest you stay tuned into popular culture if you want to write about romance, because the times, they are a changin'.

Sometimes it's as simple as blocking out a little time for what you love. Raining on Sunday, 2003 sung by Keith Urban:

Wired for Story

Last month, Lisa Cron lectured at the RWASD meeting on discoveries she presented in her book, Wired for Story. I bought the book and found her presentation and the actual book unique in its approach to the craft of writing.

I’m writing about one idea that was very hard for me, an ex-engineer, to wrap my head around.

“Cognitive secret: Emotion determines the meaning of everything…”

If I design a widget, I expect it to work because I had invested logic and know-how in building it. Ms. Cron, using well-researched materials, shows that one can’t or won’t do [design] anything if there is no emotion permeating whatever you are doing. Her research boldly states, you will do nothing or find yourself incapable of making a decision.

I’ll add a corollary to that by saying a guy is never devoid of emotional reasons when he tries to “hook-up” even for so-called casual sex. It’s for the writer to discover and present the guy’s hidden intentions, even if minimal.

I highly recommend her book, as it covers writing from head to toe and doesn’t ignore the heart for either male or female characters.

Can you think of a case of someone doing something that is only based on logic?

Have you written a heartless antagonist?

The movie, The Martian, 2015, is a great example of emotion trumping logic (and all us smart-ass engineers). 3 minutes.

 

I'm sorry

I watched a retrospective about Saturday Night Live last night.

Lorne Michaels stated his methodology, which can be applied to romantic comedies or any light moment in your novel.

1. When constructing a skit, if it is about things unsaid by the object of your humor and you* say it, it is funny.
2. Humor is truth. Sometimes telling the obvious lie illuminates the truth.
*You = the character who says or thinks something funny.

Would anybody like to supply a humorous exchange or monologue from his or her novel?

If you don’t have a funny bone in your body or you have no clue what I’m talking about…well, then, I’m Sorry, (so sorry), by Brenda Lee 1960. She belts this number one hit out at the age of 15.

Okay, what's so funny about I'm Sorry? Or how does this song apply to the subject of this post? Or am I pulling your leg? Or is this haunting melody, something I just couldn't get out of my head when I heard it again recently?

Coincidently, I'm sorry my romantic comedy, Double Happiness, doesn't have a bigger audience. If you too lament your sales numbers join me in feeling forlorn.

DO ONTO OTHERS

Pope Francis carried a briefcase on his trip. He kept a toothbrush, novel and other things in it. I couldn’t find out the name of this novel but I do know his favorite sitting-on-the-beach summer read (as if he had the time) is Late Have I Loved Thee by Ethel Mannin. Ethel was a non-Catholic anarchist (some say atheist).

We do not have to write inspirational novels to inspire. Whether we tell or show (better to show) our hero and heroine practicing the golden rule we are doing what readers want. They want their heroes to be good or struggle to become good. The reader identifies best with characters she could aspire to be, in some small way.

Many writers pen a hero or heroine subconsciously acting in a loving way. Because love attracts love. Love tears down barriers to that happily-ever-after.

In my WIP (work in progress), Seven Boyfriends, I show the heroine inviting an elderly man with walker into her lobby and out of sweltering heat, for a cool glass of water. Waving his cane at her, he refused, “I’m fine.” This little side step from the plot came out of my subconscious mind. Showing off the hero or heroine’s good qualities should be second nature to us and is certainly a sign of not only a good writer but of a good story. To me, being capable of love, includes an attitude to thy brothers and sisters, i.e. every person. Sure, the story and character arcs should carry this preferably hidden subtlety throughout the book.

Is your hero heroic?

Here's a 14:31 minute piece on 60 Minutes about the Pope.

Below are some things about this Pope that will forever impress me. They might not impress my more conservative friends, but that's okay because I respect and love you:
The Pope asked for our prayers and for those who didn't believe or could not pray to send good wishes.
Francis tied climate change to the deaths of the poor and insisted we act because that is a tenant of Christianity.
When asked about gays he said who is he to judge.
 

Bobby Fischer

At our RWASD meeting, Lisa Cron, author of Wired for Story, made an excellent presentation. One of her points is the subject of this post along with a personal remembrance that ties it into a neat bow.


The hero or heroine's misbeliefs can change over the arc of the story or scene. If the author writes well enough, we root for this change or changes.


Not many of you know that I'm a U.S. chess master. I knew Bobby Fischer. We analyzed games together along with a group of his friends. Yes, he had friends, and always had time from his rigorous ascent to the World Championship to kibitz. He was witty but never veered far from the point, chess, our chess and how we could improve.


A young Bobby's mom was the subject of constant surveillance by J. Edgar Hoover's overly zealous FBI during the McCarthy and blacklist era. A young Bobby internalized this justified paranoia and with no father and desperately wanting to both love and run from his mom—his mind cracked under the strain, IMO.


The movie, Pawn Sacrifice, simplified the story and stayed on point. I want to present a lighter side of Bobby, the side I knew. I abhor his anti-Semitism but find his cold war instincts compelling. Bobby was Jewish but when you see his backstory and understand his need to be loved by someone Jewish (his mom) the U.S. government harassed (and perhaps rightly, I don't know) you may at least understand him a little better. If you see these signs of abandonment in a child try to find a way to help. All Bobby knew well was chess, even though his IQ was a 210. This genius made it easy for him to quickly jump to conclusions without missing any proofs along the way. Unfortunately, chess is a closed system and the world is not.


Here's the great Bob Hope versus Bobby Fischer, 1972:

Can you write a character like this? Would you want to?

Ex's and Oh's

We all agree that if your heart isn’t into it, don’t write it, whether it be prose or poetry (or song). Sometimes our creative energy is low. In that case, there’s nothing wrong with working on an idea, which in my case is a sequel based on another artist’s/writer’s work ,as long as you don’t publish it without permission or you are collaborating.

Hit songs are like well-written novels because their emotional content is well drawn. Has to be. In 3 minutes you must get your points across, starting with emotion, then story. Because nobody follows a flat character no matter how compelling the plot.

Rarely, hit songs can be reprieved as a sequel. That’s why the following creativity challenge I gave myself is probably just an exercise.

The original number 1 hit starts this way:

Call Me Maybe

By Carly Rae Jepsen

I threw a wish in the well
Don't ask me I'll never tell
I looked at you as it fell
And now you're in my way
I'd trade my soul for a wish
Pennies and dimes for a kiss
I wasn't looking for this
But now you're in my way

Your stare was holding…

Here’s the beginning of my offered sequel:

Kiss Me Maybe

I know I asked for your love
I promised I’d never tell
But your friends knew I fell
Then you threw your heart away
I'd trade my soul for a wish
I’d settle for a kiss
I’d wake up your soul with this
But you threw your heart away…[if you’d like to see the whole song, write me.]

So Carly can call me maybe, no definitely. Call Me Maybe was written about and for a new adult or teenage girl looking for love with a certain guy and not knowing how to go about it. You might not be a listener/reader for this song/story but it was huge. Kiss Me Maybe is written about the same girl who doesn’t quite get what she asked for when with the same guy.

I use songs to inspire scenes or themes in my stories.

Here’s a fun song called Ex’s and Oh’s, which has already found a home in my WIP, Seven Boyfriends. Ex’s and Oh’s was recently released and will (I bet) rise quickly on the alternative and pop charts. Nice to have your cake and eat it too and Elle King (the artist) does just that with her boys. Ever notice titles with double entendres? No, it’s not a reference to the start of the football season. Ex’s and Oh’s can be about hugs and kisses just as much as ex-boyfriends and oh so good experiences! I think the ladies in this blog’s audience will enjoy Elle’s take on eye-candy. I think the ones who ain’t no ladies will enjoy it even more.

 
Ex’s and Oh’s by Elle King, 2015: