Happy New Year!

I think we can all agree that 2012 was a roller coaster ride. We survived the Mayan Apocalypse, unspeakable tragedy, and a presidential election. It was really just too much for a single year, but we got through it for better or worse, and now it’s time to do it all over again.

Why not start with the cliché list of New Years Resolutions? My list is horrendously long, as always, so I’m only going to share a few with you.

1. Get last years manuscript published.

I’ve heard back from one agent and a few indie publishers. It needs revisions, and I’m not that surprised to hear that, it’s just a matter of sitting down, doing the work and getting it sent back out.

2. Get my Design Business up and running efficiently.

I have a lot to do here, so I won’t even bother with the details. however, I do have the website up and running. It’s bare bones, but my portfolio is up, so go check it out.

3. Finish Shadow Dancers.

Shadow Dancers is the first real manuscript I tackled. I started it back in 2008, and I have rewritten it 5 times. I’m so passionate about this manuscript, and yet it always misses the mark somehow. So I’m going to try again this year, and I really hope I get it right because this story just keeps haunting me.

Saturday Six: Your Hero Should Never…

1. Cheat on the heroine/hero(M/M) – You would think this was a given, but apparently it isn’t. While the acts of infidelity are usually small, in a romance novel they’re ALWAYS unforgivable. A hero never comes back from that. NOTHING can erase it. Prime example, Cabal from Bengal’s Heart (Breed Series).
    
   He spends years whoring around while he knows she’s suffering without him. YEARS. Cabal knows Cassie cannot bear anyone else’s touch. But he goes on with his life like she doesn’t exist. He even considers  getting serious with another girl. Even worse, he does it because he blames her for the actions of her dead husband. It wouldn’t have been so bad if he’d just abandoned her, but no, he leaves her in PAIN while he spends his days screwing every other woman he meets.

 

2. Leave the heroine for her own good – This one really irks me. To make matters worse, it’s usually accompanied by some big misunderstanding. But we’ve already discussed that pitfall.
    
   When the hero abandons the heroine because he wants to protect her or save her from himself, I tune out.  My first thought is, Oh no, another soap opera melodrama. I’ve seen this plot scheme a million times. I’m tired of it. It’s lost its appeal—not that it ever had much.
    
   While many authors have used this trite device, I’ll use one that everyone is familiar with, The Twilight Saga. While Edward’s I’m scared I’ll eat you angst was bearable in the first novel, it completely got out of hand in New Moon. Don’t these authors know that heroes who are assertive and go after what they want are so much more appealing?
    
   As much as I love Lora Leigh, she’s really bad about using this one.

 

3. Be a bad/virgin lover – While I’ll admit this one can have some exceptions, 98% of the time it should be a law of nature. These are a romancenovels people, and we like our heroes good in bed. If we wanted to be left unsatisfied or be forced to teach our lovers then we wouldn’t need romance novels, reality would do.
    
   Right now, the only author guilty of this that comes to mind is Sherrilyn Kenyon. Although, I really hate to use her because most of the time she fits into the other 2% that actually make it work.  Born of Night is one of her novels that she didn’t do as good of a job with making the inexperienced lover thing work out. While Born of Night is one of my all-time favorite novels, I just couldn’t get comfortable with Nik being such an inexperienced lover. And if I’m being honest, when I fantasize about him I always change that about him.  (As a side note, Born of Night is also guilty of #2)

 

4. Be ugly – Shallow, I know, but it’s a fact. He’s the HERO. This means better than the average man. This means that the heroine should find him attractive. I’m not saying he should supermodel hot, but he should be sexually appealing. Women have to want him.
    
   I’m Sorry Phantom of the Opera fans, but I just can’t jump on board with this. When I read books with these horribly disfigured heroes, I just pretend like they’re good looking.  I can’t picture them any other way, and I don’t even want to try. I know that’s awful, but it’s the truth.

 

5. Have a small penis – Thankfully, I’ve never seen an author do this, but I don’t want it to become a trend. Heroes should be, at the very least, a millimeter larger than the average man. ALWAYS! NO EXCEPTIONS! They shouldn’t all have monster cocks either, but I’ll take that over the a tinie wenie any day.

 

6. Be perfect – While your hero should be better than the average guy, he shouldn’t be good at everything. He can’t be independently wealthy, good looking, well endowed, extraordinarily fast/strong/intelligent, quick with words, moral, etc. He has to be flawed.
    
   I love paranormal romances. I love my alpha males. But let’s face it, the genre is bad about this. Some of my favorite heroes are guilty of this one—Barrons and Bones. While they may be a little too perfect, they too have their flaws. Bones—jealously. Barrons—lack of morality.

Writers’ Toolbox: Word Tracker Spreadsheets

I stumbled across two really impressive word tracker excel sheets created by Svenja. The first word tracker is used to record your yearly word count goals and progress (AMAZING!), Word Tracker 2012. The second spreadsheet is used for editing, Edit Tracker.

Writers’ Toolbox: Urban Dictionary

Before you use that word or phrase, check it out on urbandictionary.com.  You never know just what the kids are using it for these days, and you definitely want to avoid uncomfortable misinterpretations.

Example: She was carrying two large jugs with her.

(if you can’t figure out what’s wrong with that sentence, you might need to visit the urbandictionary–but please use with caution)

Writers’ Toolbox: Duotrope’s Digest

I have to thank Caszie for introducing me to Duotrope’s Digest. It’s the go to place if you’re looking to get published in the fiction or poetry market. They have the most comprehensive list of publishers that I’ve come across, and they have a detailed search engine. You just type in all the details of your manuscript, and tada, you have a suitable list of publishers to submit to. Better yet, they have response time stats and acceptance rate stats, and they gather this information through their submission tracker; which could be highly beneficial to you if you’re looking for a way to keep up with all of your outgoing submissions, and publishers you’re interested in.