Here’s the roundup of things I said elsewhere around the release of my second book, A Gentleman Undone.
At Romance at Random I talk about non-romance reading that primed me to love romance.
At Romance Reader at Heart’s Novel Thoughts I celebrate the non-rake, non-rogue, non-scoundrel, straight-up good guy.
At The Dashing Duchesses I answer questions about A Lady Awakened, A Gentleman Undone, and why I love writing bad sex.
At author Theresa Romain’s blog I play favorites with my characters and tell about the tiny piece of research that saved the book when I thought I would have to give it up.
At Bookworm2Bookworm blog I share a deleted scene and talk about why it hit the cutting-room floor.
Thanks for posting this. I just popped down the list and read every entry on it.
I loved the deleted scene, especially. It’s got a few really gorgeous moments. Lydia’s crying was not, as you said later in the post, in keeping with the character she turned out to be — but Will offering to leave and then standing back because he wanted her to feel private but couldn’t leave her alone? That was just wonderful.
But also because I enjoyed the breakdown of why you ended up having to jettison the scene. It’s always interesting to see how other authors, especially ones I admire, distinguish the flaws in their own work.
Thanks, Erin. Having a good editor is extremely helpful when it comes to distinguishing flaws. Sometimes it all looks like flaws; other times a flaw is staring you in the face and you can’t see it. (Though in this case I made the cut before anyone else had yet read any of the MS.)
Speaking of which, I saw on Twitter that you’re getting set to send something out to beta readers. Or was it critique partners? Either way, good luck! Did you enter the Golden Heart contest this year?
I’m getting closer every day. And thanks for the good wishes. I know how I feel about the book but that tells me nothing about how other people will react.
I decided against the golden heart. I entered a lot of contests last year (finaled in one & won another) & ended up deciding it was fun but not really worth the expense. I entered the Golden Heart last year with a book that was a much more straightforward, by-the-books sort of historical & the sample ended on a fairly romantic scene, but it didn’t final.
The book I’m finishing now is much less by-the-books & if I sent a sample, it would end on a scene where the hero does something terrible and unromantic to the heroine. I couldn’t imagine a scenario where at least one of the judges didn’t give me a low score for writing opening chapters that weren’t romantic enough.
Yeah, I’m not sure how valuable the Golden Heart (or the RITA, for published books) really is in terms of assessing your work, because of the fact that you only have five judges. Presuming your book is generally competent, a lot of it comes down to whether you get five people whose sensibilities mesh with yours. I suppose the real benefit is that it makes agents/editors sit up and take notice when you get around to submitting your MS. Also, you get to go to special events at the national conference and walk around with an extra ribbon on your nametag :)
Plenty of people have sold, and gone on to good careers, without ever entering contests, and also I’ve heard agents and editors say that contest credentials don’t mean that much to them, so who knows?
I enjoyed reading all these posts, and I especially liked the one in which you discussed why you deleted that one specific scene. Editing like that is a chore for me and knowing how other authors (published ones ;>) identify their ‘disposable scenes’ is helpful.
Thanks for posting the links. Looking forward to your next book.
As a reader, I wish more writers would post deleted scenes and talk about why they deleted them. Personally I find that stuff fascinating – but maybe it’s a lot more fascinating to readers who are also writers than to readers who don’t write.
Yeah, editing is a chore. The only part of writing that really feels easy to me is reviewing galleys. There, you’re just looking for typos and other mechanical errors, and it doesn’t require a lot of creative energy. I’m good at that part :)