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This past July I made my first trip to RWA National.
Here are some impressions and tips I'd like to
share.
To start off, I was afraid I'd feel intimidated
by the sheer number of women. I mean, I like women
but I don't like crowds and this was definitely
a huge crowd. However, I told myself to stay cool
and just envision it as a bunch of separate workshops,
lunch tables, etc. And my strategy worked. The
only thing that truly did intimidate me was trying
to get an elevator. Imagine approximately 1700
women all wanting to move from one place to another
at the same time. You could wait 15 minutes for
an elevator—knowing that the session you
were trying to get to was scheduled to start in
15 minutes.
I've been to lots of writing conferences by now,
and I wouldn't say that the sessions at National
were particularly better than ones at other conferences,
but on the whole I was very impressed with the
quality and variety. The speakers did a wonderful
job. And thank heavens for the security blanket
of being able to buy tapes; it certainly helps
relieve the panic when you realize that two fabulous
sessions are on at the same time.
Now, here are some of the odds and ends of knowledge
and opinions I came away with.
For those who write, or want to write, category
suspense: Remember that the heroine and hero must
have something more at stake than just solving
the mystery; they must have something at stake
emotionally. You need to have two kinds of tension—suspense/mystery
and romantic/sexual—and both need to build
and keep getting faster, to keep the reader on
the edge of her seat. Resolve the suspense conflict
first, but not too far ahead of the romantic conflict—and
make sure both resolutions have a high impact.
For those who are interested in Harlequin's new
Blaze line: The key phrase is "sexy premise."
These are more than just highly sexual romances,
the premise/plot/story hook should be sexy. Often,
Blaze plots play on fantasies. The heroine should
be sexually adventuresome and strong; sex shouldn't
be scary for her. It's okay if she's emotionally
vulnerable, however. As compared to Temptation,
Blaze is somewhat more edgy and dangerous, versus
playful. There's often a dose of the forbidden.
And often the heroine and hero make love near
the beginning, and then see where the relationship
goes. There are generally 3-4 sex scenes and the
build-up to them is important; by the time the
heroine and hero make love they should be desperate
for it, and so should the reader. Editor Brenda
Chin advised authors: "Don't play it safe."
About sex: In romance, sex isn't about sex, it's
about conflict and growth and change. Sex scenes
must advance the plot; for example, use them to
show change or to drive the heroine and hero apart.
And more on sex: According to one presenter,
real women often don't like to talk during sex.
(Is that your experience, gals?) However, women
often find that a heroine's "verbal sexual
behaviour" is a turn-on—and empowering,
in that they may decide to try it themselves.
If you have trouble structuring your book and
maintaining conflict, tension etc., try listening
to Nancy Lynn McLane's session on "The Story
Arc."
If you're too gentle on your characters and your
books lack passion, try Lynn Kerstan and Alicia
Rasley on "The Fearless Writer."
If you've been wondering whether you need an
agent: I attended two sessions featuring agents,
plus went to a group interview with an agent.
It seems there are different philosophies of
"agenting." Some agents talk of it as
rather like a marriage. It's a partnership—aimed
at furthering your career—and because it's
a partnership, you don't have to know everything
yourself, solve every problem yourself, always
be tough, etc.
You've got a shoulder to cry on (even if it's
only via the phone or email), a brain to brainstorm
with, an advocate who's fighting for you, and
a subject-area expert in a field that's getting
increasingly complex.
On the other hand, one agent scoffed at the whole
"marriage" concept and I got the impression
all he/she (to preserve anonymity!) wanted to
do was sell books—and you could take care
of providing your own tissues if you were having
a bad day. This same agent said it was pointless
having an agent if all your books were category,
as there was nothing an agent could really do
for you—so why waste your money. It does
seem that there's relatively little that can be
negotiated with Harlequin/Silhouette contracts,
and that an agent is not necessarily going to
get these publishers to look at your manuscript
any more quickly or favourably. However, if you
really hate the business end of things, you may
consider it money well spent to shift all of this
responsibility to an agent. And, if you're looking
to publish mainstream women's fiction, you will
find that a number of publishers only look at
agented submissions, and that more of the contract
terms are negotiable.
One agent (and I will name Ethan Ellenberg, because
I found his comments so useful) mentioned several
reasons why you may want an agent now, even if
you haven't had one in the past:
(1) in general, publishers do less editing, so
your agent can be helpful in ensuring that you
maintain the quality of your work;
(2) editors move around a lot these days, and
your relationship with your agent is likely to
be more stable; and
(3) the business is getting more complicated (e.g.,
with issues like electronic rights) and your agent
has the specialized knowledge (or has lawyers
on tap to provide it) that you lack. If you do
go looking for an agent, make sure your philosophy
of agenting and hers/his are a good match.
For those pubs who may sign multi-book contracts
(and us unpubs who harbour secret dreams): If
you get a multi-book contract, try to get each
book accounted separately. If they're accounted
together, both will have to earn through before
you get any royalties. Given that you don't usually
see royalties until two or more years after publication,
you don't want to wait any longer than you have
to.
A general note: People remember what comes last.
So, when structuring a sentence, paragraph or
chapter, end with the most important point.
And so, what shall I end with? That's easy. I'll
end with the way National ended: the awards ceremony.
I'll own up right now; I expected it to be truly
hokey. Instead, it was professionally done (with
far fewer glitches than the Oscars) and surprisingly
moving, as it honored and celebrated our profession.
The whole experience became even more meaningful
when Jo Beverley won her RITA. So, congratulations
to Jo, to all the winners and the talented nominees
who didn't win, and to all of us—pub and
unpub—who are caught up in this glorious
and painful business called writing.
Susan Lyons is a member of GVC.
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