Tag Archive for: maria geraci

My In Between Writing Style

by Maria Geraci

There comes a time in every book’s life when the author sits back from her keyboard, scratches her head, and asks, “Now what?”

I really hate when this happens. And it happens every time. At least to me it does, and I imagine it happens to most other authors as well. For me, that time usually comes sometime after writing a “big” scene. And by big scene, I mean those pivotal scenes that usually act as sequence climaxes. Those scenes that bring us to the next phase of our story. The scenes that on the surface seem to almost write themselves, except we know that no scene truly writes itself. Writing is hard. I get that. And it should be, because nothing worth doing well is ever easy.

So how do I go from “Now what?” to “Oh, that’s what comes next!” I wish I had a magical answer, especially since I’m in that phase as I type this blog! I stayed up last night, thinking, pondering, wondering. I know how my story needs to end. I know the pivotal scenes I need to write to get to that end, I’m just now sure about some of the stuff that happens in between. You know, the important stuff that keeps your story together?

This is the time when I wish I was a plotter. But I’m not. I’ve tried pre-plotting, but I just can’t do it. I’ve written novels “pantser” style and it works better for me, but it also causes a lot of head banging moments (like now). So, I’ve created something that’s kind of in-between, a sort of plot-by-the-seat-of-your-pants method. I’m a very visual person, so I use a large three sided poster board that allows me to “see” my story as it progresses. It’s filled with lots of little post-it-notes scattered through out as you can see below. Pink is a scene already written. Blue are the emotional highlights of the scene or story “progressers” as I call them. And Orange is stuff I know I need to write. As you can see, there’s a lot of orange down there, which means it’s time to get back to work.

 
How do you create your stories? Plotter? Pantser? Or something in between?

Writing from my Happy Place

by Maria Geraci

Before you begin to snicker, I’m not talking about that happy place (mind out of the gutter, please!), I’m talking about writing from a place of internal happiness.

Happiness is something I’ve thought about a lot lately. We all strive to be happy. But how many of us can define what it is that makes us happy? Sure, we all want good health, a healthy family, financial security, success. These are the things we’ve programmed to think we need to make us whole. But those vague definitions aren’t enough to show us the way to happiness. How well do you need to feel to be healthy? Is the absence of disease enough? Or is it losing those last elusive twenty pounds? How much money do you need in the bank? How many possessions?

Once upon a time (eleven years ago, to be exact) I began writing on a lark. More an epiphany, to tell the truth. I never really expected to be a multi-published author. I dreamed about it, of course. But it seemed like a fairy tale. Something out of my reach. I was happy writing (as bad as those early stories were), and learning, and going to conferences. And yes, even rejection could make me happy. Because after a while, the rejections became better. And then some of those rejections became requests, and then finally offers, and I thought I had made it. I reached the pinnacle of writing happiness.

Are you shaking your head at my foolishness, yet?

By the time my first book came out I was a hot mess. Happy and hopeful one day. Shattered and depressed the next. I spoke in a language that was almost as foreign to me now as it was back then– Print runs, sales, reviews. I thought being a published author would make me happy. But it didn’t. Not really. Writing my stories is what made me happy. But everything else? It stressed me to the point that I hardly knew myself. And then came another book. And even though my sales were hardly impressive, I was fortunate enough to land a third book deal. The pressure was on me to produce. So I did the best I could and hoped beyond hope that this third book would be my break out novel. I wrote, but I wasn’t happy.

And then I waited. No more contracts until my numbers came in. Which probably meant no more contracts from my publisher (since I’d seen my previous sales numbers and they were dismal). My agent and I met and I told her I wanted to write a story in first person. And this time I wasn’t going to hide what it was. I didn’t care that chick lit was “dead”. I had a story I wanted to write and I was determined to write it my way. She told me to go for it. To write the kind of story I wanted to read with no expectation of ever getting it published.

So I did.

I went back to my early writing roots and wrote for the shear joy of writing. I poured my heart and soul in the story and half-way through the writing, my agent called. My publisher wanted to see what I was working on, so I reluctantly sent in the first 60 pages. Reluctantly, because those pages were rough, but I already loved them. I didn’t want anyone raining on my parade or discouraging me from finishing that novel. Miraculously, my editor loved it too and offered me a contract. And now that novel A GIRL LIKE YOU is nominated for a RITA, one of romance fiction’s highest awards. 

This is what I have written on the bulletin board above my writing desk:

If you don’t love what you write, then neither will anyone else.

Have I achieved a grand success in my writing? Certainly not from a business stand point. But I now know that I have achieved something more important to me, and that is personal success. I may not be a New York Times best selling author and I may never be. I might never receive six figure contracts or be even be able to live off my writing alone. But it doesn’t matter. Because writing makes me happy again.

Girl Scout Cookies and Ducks who Refuse to Die

by Maria Geraci

With a title like that I’m sure you’re going WHAT? Currently, I’m in full writer mode frantically typing away on a manuscript that was supposed to be due to my agent a few weeks ago. Granted, that deadline was one of my own making, but still. I hate getting behind on my writing but this winter has seen the death of my computer along with numerous other set backs including a lot of extra time spent on the day job (labor and delivery nurse) that just can’t be helped.

But the good news is that I am now on a roll. With the help of a genius husband who it seems can fix anything computer related (love my nerdy engineer!), the help of an old story, and a few boxes of Tagalongs I’m back in the proverbial saddle again.

Hemingway had his liquor. Me, I have my Girl Scout cookies. It seems there is nothing like a good old fashioned peanut butter and chocolate sugar high to keep my butt firmly planted in the chair in front of my desk. Of course, soon, my butt might not fit in said chair, but that’s another story. Inspiration is not something to be taken lightly. No matter where it comes from.

Speaking of which, my current wip has taken a little inspiration from a real life duck tale I blogged about a few years ago.

A duck (later nicknamed Perky) who had been shot by a hunter and presumed dead was found alive by the hunter’s wife in their refrigerator. The duck had been in the fridge for 2 days when the wife heard something strange, opened the fridge, and found the duck staring at her (I think I would have lost my Girl Scout cookies at this point). She took the duck to an emergency vet where the duck had surgery and was later adopted by the local wildlife sanctuary, giving Perky a happily ever after.

For some reason, I’ve always been intrigued by this story. Maybe it’s the sheer improbability of it all. Or the quirkiness of it. I’m not sure. All I will say is that whenever I think my story is dead in the water, something miraculously brings it back to life. Sort of like Perky. It just doesn’t want to die.

The point of all being is that when Inspiration comes, in no matter what form, jump on it.

A Heroine to Root For

by Maria Geraci

This Saturday, I’ll be giving a workshop for the Ancient City Romance Writers of America (great group, btw!) on Creating a Strong Romantic Heroine. It’s my contention that the heroine in your romance novel is the back bone of your entire story. If your readers don’t connect with her in a strong way, then your story is going to fall apart. No one likes a wimpy dumb heroine. Nor do they like a Perfect Polly either.

I put together a list of the qualities I most admire/like in a heroine and came up with the following.

Smart.
Capable.
Loyal.
Quirky.
Sense of Humor.
Kind.
Ambitious.

Who are some of my favorite heroines from literature/film? There’s lots to pick from but without a doubt my top favorites are:

 Kathleen Kelly (so wonderfully played by Meg Ryan)  in You’ve Got Mail
 Elizabeth Bennet in Pride and Prejudice

And last but not least, my personal Fave: Jo March in Little Women

Who are your favorite literary heroines? And what characteristics do you admire most in them?

Getting through the first draft

by Maria Geraci

You know how I know I’m excited about starting a new book? I begin writing at all sorts of strange hours. And by strange hours, I mean 2 a.m or 4 a.m or maybe even in the middle of cooking dinner which can create all sorts of problems if one wants their dinner to not be burned to a crackly crunch (as Mike Geraci and I generally prefer ours not to be).

I’ll be honest, this sort of shake up to my routine is not only expected, it’s highly desired. Nothing is worse to me as a writer than to sit at my computer forcing myself to come up with something to put on the page. I have plenty of stuff I could be doing instead.

Multi-pubbed and ultra-famous author Nora Roberts is generally credited with the quote “…just get the story down.” And that’s exactly what I do.I get that first draft done in snippets, sometimes writing for as little as five minutes because inspiration can come at the oddest moments (in the shower, while driving a car, standing in the grocery line) which means I have to be creative about the way I write.

The other day while I was waiting at the deli to order lunch meat, a brilliant (yes, brilliant!) line of dialogue came to me and I had no paper or pen. So I whipped out my iPhone and began typing dialogue in my Notes app. I was so engrossed that I completely missed hearing my number called. I mumbled a quick apology and the clerk took my order, but I have to wonder what she would have thought if I’d said, “Sorry, I was writing my novel!”  I’m sure that would have garnered me some strange looks but I wouldn’t have cared. Writing the first draft is like inching your way on your belly through the trenches. You get to the finish line any way you can.