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For more daily writing tips, check out Liz's blog!
EVEN MORE...
Liz's favourite
"How To" Books
Solutions for Writers Sol Stein
The Writer’s Journey Christopher Vogler
Story Robert McKee
The Art of Romance Writing Valerie Parv
Dangerous Men & Adventurous Women Ed: Jayne Ann Krentz
Kate Walker’s 12 Points Guide to Writing Romance Kate Walker
Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook Donald Maass
The Romance Fiction of Mills & Boon 1909-1990s Jay Dixon
The Pocket
Muse
Monica
Wood
Liz's Favourite Online Writing Articles
Liz's Favourite Quotes
Our hours in love have wings; in absence, crutches. ... Colley Cibber
Chumps always make the best husbands. When you marry, Sally, grab a chump. Tap his forehead first, and if it rings solid, don’t hesitate. All the unhappy marriages come from the husbands having brains. ... P G Wodehouse
Love-thirty, love-forty, oh! weakness of joy, The speed of a swallow, the grace of a boy, With carefullest carelessness, gaily you won, I am weak from your loveliness, Joan Hunter Dunn. ... John Betjeman
Love is not the dying moan of a distant violin – it’s the triumphant twang of the bedspring. .... S J Perelman
Nobody on this planet ever chooses each other. I mean, it’s all a question of quantum physics, molecular attraction and timing. ... Ron Shelton
Why is it no one ever sent me yet One perfect limousine, do you suppose? Ah no, it’s always just my luck to get One perfect rose. ... Dorothy Parker
Let me not to the marriage of true minds Admit impediments. Love is not love Which alters when it alteration finds, Or bends with the remover to remove, O, no! it is an ever-fixèd mark, That looks on tempests and is never shaken. ,,, William Shakespeare
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(Or, Where do you get your ideas from?)
Writers get asked this question all the time and to be honest it embarrasses them a little. The answer is we don't really know and we're not keen to examine the process too closely in case the plot fairies don't like being stared at and fly away. Basically, I suspect, writers have a slightly different way of looking at the world. We all have images, conversations, memories - the ingredients of Story -- swilling around inside our heads. It's why we all think we have a story inside us. Inside the writer's brain, however, incidents and memory combine, mingle with overheard comments and gather momentum, finally becoming someone else's story. Someone more interesting than the writer who, after all, just sits at a computer all day writing down the words. I have to confess, however, that sometimes the "magic" needs a bit of a prompt. Chocolate, obviously is essential at times like this, but is probably best used in fairly small quantities. A lot of writers walk. If you like to walk, well, go for it. I live in a place where it rains a lot and getting wet doesn't inspire me; it just makes me wish I'd stayed indoors. So what else can you do? You could phone a friend or maybe your sister or cousin. A major session of "remember when" with someone who's known you from infancy will probably throw up a number of incidents you'd much rather gloss over. You can bet your heroine would feel the same way. Go fifty/fifty and brainstorm with a writing friend. I once tried this with my husband but romantic man that he is, he just doesn't get "romance". We stopped before I murdered him. And that's just given me an idea for a story ... but it's not a romance... Ask the audience. Ask visitors to your website, or your librarian, or friends who read as voraciously as you to tell you what kind of books they like most. And what they haven't been able to find. Closer to home, try opening your wardrobe, get down on your knees and dig out something that's fallen from its hanger. When did you last wear it? At work? On a beach? In the supermarket? Lying on damp grass? And were you happy or sad? Go and sit in a café, burger bar, wine bar... Watch the other customers. Who are they? Harassed mothers, illicit lovers, business contacts? Look for the details that mark them as individuals, make up their life stories. Or imagine that you're waiting for someone ... a blind date, or the married man who you know is never going to leave his wife for you. Who turns up? We've all got a cupboard in our home that we wouldn't want anyone to open. Who, in your worst nightmare, opens yours and what falls at his or her feet? You're waiting for a train, suitcase at your feet. The train pulls up. The door in front of you opens. Who is standing there? The person you most want to see? The person to least want to see? Someone you thought you'd never see again? We've all been woken by a noise that we can't place. Cat? Burglar? Cat burglar? If you can find a copy of my book His Little Girl check out what my heroine found... How often have you found a note tucked under your windscreen wipers. Was it the telephone number of someone who's scratched your car? A letter from a secret admirer? A poison pen letter? Or just another advertising flyer that promises to "change your life"?
THE OPENING CHAPTER … A great opening to a romance sets up questions in the reader's mind; questions that only the writer can answer. To achieve this the writer has to:
The start of any book is a make or break minute. It is the minute when the writer has to convince the reader to buy the book. Not the reader in the bookstore, but the first reader. The acquiring editor at the publishing house where your manuscript will be just one among the thousands sent to them every year. It will not have a glossy cover or a teasing blurb written by a marketing department skilled in selling fantasy to tempt her. It will be a simple typescript, exactly like dozens of others awaiting her attention. Typed on white paper, double spaced, with an elastic band around it to hold it together. You have two pages, or maybe three if she's feeling generous, to convince her that your book is worth more than a minute of her time. Asked, when giving a talk to hopeful authors, if she could really decide whether a book was worth publishing after reading the first chapter, the editor of a well known publishing house replied - 'Sometimes all it takes is the first line.' A great opening to chapter four with a crisis of heart-rending proportions won't help if the reader doesn't get that far.
More, the opening must raise expectations in the reader, set the mood, the style of the book.
IS IT SHARP AND DIRECT? 'Blackmail,' Faith muttered for perhaps the tenth time that day. Her aunt was an expert in the technique. The reader of a romance will not be fooled by that word "blackmail". The word "aunt" qualifies it and promises a book in which the heroine is being manipulated by a strong willed female relative. The fact that she has allowed herself to be manipulated suggests any irritation will be firmly underpinned by affection. But she is still being manipulated. Why? IS THERE A MYSTERY? 'Something woke Dora. One minute she was sleeping, the next wide awake, her ears straining through all the familiar night noises of the countryside for the out-of-place sound that had woken her.' Here the opening suggests that something unexpected, maybe frightening, is about to happen. The danger may be unseen but the potential victim is right there, on the page, focussing the reader's attention, attracting her concern. Whatever happens is going to happen to Dora WILL IT WRENCH THE READER'S HEARTSTRINGS? 'Lizzie French jumped involuntarily as the church door clanged noisily behind a latecomer. Had he come? She had almost given up hope, but now, heart-in-mouth, she turned.' Lizzie is jumpy, waiting for someone special to arrive. Is it him? And will he be the hero? No. The hero is standing next to her and the reader is introduced to him before she can give the tardy wedding guest more than a passing thought. Having informed Lizzie that the late arrival is the vicar's wife -- '... Noah Jordan's dark brows were lifted just a fraction, his mouth turned down slightly at the corners in a mocking expression that might just have been an apology that he was the bearer of such disappointing news. But somehow she didn't think so.' The latecomer is important. But the reader recognises the hero. He's right there on the first page.
IS THIS YOU?
Go to the library, grab an armful of modern bestsellers and check out your beliefs against the opening paragraphs. START WITH SOMETHING HAPPENING The defining moment of a story is a point of crisis. For the romance writer there are certain major life changing moments which offer great opening moments. Death, birth, marriage, divorce. The beginning of a book is a moment of change, the unexpected. Consider the wedding. The expected, is that the bride and groom will say 'I do' and live happily ever after. The unexpected is --
There is clearly a crisis that has brought the heroine to this point, but given sufficient incentive to read on, the reader will be content to wait for the details. Think of a major newspaper story. It doesn't start with ten years of backstory. It starts with a big headline.
These are stories everyone will want to read. Does your story start with a headline?
GET THE HERO AND HEROINE ON THE PAGE In each of the wedding scenarios the heroine is front and centre of the action, the star of her own story. Her co-star, with equal billing, is the hero. These are the most important characters in a short romance. The sooner you can introduce them the better. On the first page is good. In the first paragraph is better. In the first line if at all possible. 'Lukas?' Georgette Bainbridge felt her mouth go dry at her father's suggestion. 'You want me to work for Lukas?' The day which had begun so badly suddenly became a disaster. Lukas, the hero, does not appear in person until the end of the first chapter. But his presence is there from the opening line of the book and the reader will recognise his status instantly. 'Got you, Chay Buchanan!' Sophie Nash's triumphant exclamation was a tightly contained whisper. Chay Buchanan is being watched through the viewfinder of a camera. The reader is there, looking through it, along with the heroine. Seeing what she's seeing, feeling the same emotional turmoil. There is no doubt whose story this is. The reader is like a newly hatched chick, programmed to bond with the first likely character she meets. Ensure that it is the hero or heroine.
And keep the action moving during that important first scene. Novice writers always use too much description. Characters come alive on the page through their actions, not through a detailed inventory of their looks, or their clothes.
Read the first page of any volume of popular fiction and see just how much information the writer has crammed into those twenty or so lines. Not description, but set-up; the information that will draw the reader into the book and make her want to read on. This is the first page of my Mills & Boon romance, A POINT OF PRIDE. 'Smile, sweetheart ... this is supposed to be the happiest day of your life.' What is the most important word in that line? '… supposed …' 'Not by one flicker of her lashes did Casey O'Connor acknowledge that she had heard the words murmured by the tall grey-clad figure of Gil Blake, as he took her right hand firmly in his own. 'She stared resolutely ahead, her face almost the colour of her exquisitely simple ivory silk dress. The vicar smiled reassuringly and then turned to Gil. The wedding service moved inexorably on.' He is wearing a morning coat, she is in ivory silk. Those few words inform the reader that this is not some ramshackle, hole-in-wall wedding. It is a full-dress occasion. A major social event. He takes her hand firmly in his. He is in control. 'The wedding service moved inexorably on.' The words are doom laden, reinforcing the conviction that this wedding is not the normal happy-ever-event. Happy people do not make for exciting reading. 'I Gilliam Edward Blake take thee Catherine Mary O'Connor ...' Gil's firm voice rang firmly through the church, every word clearly heard by the congregation come to witness the shockingly sudden marriage of Casey O'Connor to the tall, tanned stranger who had snatched her from under the very nose of the most eligible bachelor in Melchester.' Shockingly sudden. Stranger. Snatched. Those words hammer home the message. But there is a lot more information in that paragraph. Casey may not be happy, but Gil Blake's 'firm voice' tells the reader that he's well satisfied with events. Tall, tanned stranger. Where has he come from? The tan suggests somewhere warm. And he's snatched her from '... under the very nose of the most eligible bachelor in Melchester.' What hold does he have over her, that she would desert such a man and agree to a marriage that she clearly does not want? 'The minister, satisfied with the groom's response, turned to her. "I Catherine Mary O'Connor take thee Gilliam ...' he prompted. As she heard the words that would bind them together the temptation to flee was so strong that she was uncertain whether she had in fact stepped back, or if it was just her imagination that Gil's fingers tightened possessively over hers. She glanced nervously at him from under her lashes. His grey eyes regarded her steadily, but there was no warmth to encourage her response. He was demanding her total surrender.' The way characters are feeling is more important than what they are wearing. He is in control and knows it. She is unhappy and that raises a question. He knows she's unhappy and he doesn't appear to care. That makes it a story. One page in and the reader knows a lot about these characters. The least important things are their names and the colour of Gil Blake's eyes. GRAB THE READER'S ATTENTION
Consider how they do it in the movies. First they show you the character. Walking down the street in her neighbourhood, maybe.
Or working in her office.
Perhaps having dinner in a restaurant with her husband, celebrating their first wedding anniversary.
Then they introduce action.
A story has begun. What happens next? Next comes the point on which the story turns.
At this point anything can happen. What you see is not necessarily what you get but in each case, Grace has been tossed into the maelstrom of her story. The beginning is written. The reader is hooked. For further guidelines on writing romance for Harlequin and for Harlequin Mills & Boon, surf to www.millsandboon.co.uk and click on "Help for Aspiring Authors" All extracts are taken from books written by Liz Fielding and published by Harlequin Mills & Boon Ltd. Writer Groups wishing to reproduce this article should ensure that Liz Fielding is acknowledged as the author and her copyright notice clearly affixed.
MY sins caught up with me outside the deli, on one of those January afternoons we hardly ever get in London. Fair Game, Elizabeth Young ONE hot August Thursday afternoon, Maddie Farraday reached under the front seat of her husband's Cadillac and pulled out a pair of black lace underpants. They weren't hers. Tell Me Lies, Jennifer Crusie IT was the egret, flying out of the lemon-grove, that started it. The Moon-Spinners, Mary Stewart "PROMISE!' The dying man grabbed her arm in a hard-fingered grip. "Promise me, damn you, girl!" An Honourable Thief, Anne Gracie THE day Kevin Tucker nearly killed her, Molly Somerville swore off unrequited love forever. This Heart of Mine, Susan Elizabeth Phillips "IT'S Cinderella, all over again. Who says fairy tales don't come true? The only difference is, I'm a mite short of fairy godmothers." A Penniless Prospect, Joanna Maitland DAISY Deveraux had forgotten her bridegroom's name. Kiss An Angel, Susan Elizabeth Phillips OKAY, so here's the thing. My mother's worst fear has come true. I'm a nymphomaniac. Hot Six, Janet Evanovitch THE last of Rachel Stone's luck ran out in front of the Pride of Caroline Drive-In. Dream a Little Dream, Susan Elizabeth Phillips ON a gloomy March afternoon, sitting in the same high school classroom she'd been sitting in for thirteen years, gritting her teeth as she told her significant other for the seventy-second time since they'd met that she'd be home at six because it was Wednesday and she was always home on six on Wednesdays, Quinn McKenzie lifted her eyes from the watercolour assignments on the desk in front of her and met her destiny. Crazy For You, Jennifer Crusie PHOEBE Somerville outraged everyone by bringing a French poodle and a Hungarian lover to her father's funeral. It Had To Be You, Susan Elizabeth Phillips THE man behind the cluttered desk looked like the devil, and Nell Dysart figured that was par for her course since she'd been going to hell for a year and a half anyway. Fast Women, Jennifer Crusie
The Sheikh, as hero, burst onto feminine consciousness when, in 1919, E M Hull’s bestselling novel, The Sheik seized the imagination of a generation of women.
What then, for the millions of women who were swept away by Hull’s book, could possibly be the attraction in this character? What was the power of The Sheik?
At the beginning of the twenty century society deemed that sex was something that “nice” women did out of duty, on their back, with their eyes closed and the light off. In The Sheik, Hull gave them – without ever lifting the tent flap -- the fantasy of the forbidden; guiltless, white-hot sex. Diana struggles, screams, declares she would kill herself if Sheik Ahmed had not taken her pistol and, having resisted with every fibre of her being, she is morally off the hook, free from the censure of society. And what happens next, of course, is that the stunningly virile Sheik Ahmed awakens the sensuality in this almost asexual young woman, but awakens it for him alone.
Sheik Ahmed never admits to feeling anything for Diana. Only when she is kidnapped by his enemy does he reveal the strength of his passion, putting his life on the line to save her. Only in delirium, hovering between life and death, are his feelings revealed and, all but destroyed by what he’s done to her, it is Diana who redeems him with her love.
It’s a powerful story and one that romance writers have been revisiting ever since; the Greek ship owner, the ruthless Sicilian, the Italian count are versions of “The Sheik” in an Armani suit. Powerful men brought to their knees by love. Yet of all these mythic heroes, the Sheikh alone carries an air of mystery and romance that was once the prerogative of royalty, the rich.
He is different. Exotic in manner and in dress. Unfathomable. Not just able to live in the desert, but most happy in its empty spaces. Even though the Sheikh may own a penthouse, wear fine broadcloth when the occasion demands, he retains the aura of man not just in command of, but at one with his environment. He is the cowboy in robes and when danger threatens, his strength and protection are absolute.
These are the characteristics that make him, still, a powerful, a compelling hero in the romance genre.
I have had two Sheikh stories published – with two more in production. In my first, HIS DESERT ROSE, published in 2000, I took as my model the classic story. When Prince Hassan al Rachid kidnaps beautiful international journalist Rose Fenton, she shows all the spirit of Diana Mayo, even attempts escape. But Prince Hassan’s motives are political, and Rose has her own agenda. It’s his story that she wants and by kidnapping her, concealing her at his desert oasis, he has played straight into her hands. Despite the fact that this is a complete switch on E M Hull’s The Sheik, as with the beginning, the end has echoes of the original. Hassan kidnaps her, but then Rose, in enslaving him, becomes the hero of her own story.
Sheikh Hanif al-Khatib, a man mired in guilt and grief, who has put himself out of society, exiling himself in the desert, rescues her in a classic “sheikh” moment, lifting her onto his horse, carrying her away from danger. But this is the twenty-first century and he’s still holding her, keeping her safe, on the helicopter he summons to ferry her to the nearest hospital. At this point he should be able to walk away, hero stuff done. Except that she’s alone, with no one to take care of her and honour demands more.
The hero is, once again, held captive by the heroine, who as her wounds heal, sets about healing his soul.
And, yes, she enslaves him. All articles copyright © Liz Fielding 2001-2007, and are not to be reproduced without permission. |
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home | liz's books | about Liz | about wales | about writing | blog | links | contact
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lizfielding.com
sparkling, emotional, feel-good
romance
Sheik
Ahmed ben Hassan is portrayed as the archetypal alpha male. Commanding,
driven, set apart from society by his role as leader. Putting himself
outside of civilisation when he kidnaps the boyish, aristocratic English
girl, Diana Mayo – a symbol of everything he most hates -- raping her,
keeping her his prisoner.
And that,
I suspect, is the secret of the Sheikh romance. The heroine has to be as
strong as the hero. Not necessarily one of those feisty females, who
gives as good as she gets, but a woman who is strong to the core. Lucy
Forrester, the heroine of