Jenna Harte

Category: Writing

  • Rockstar Writers

    Rockstar Writers

    I recently discovered the TV show Castle. It has all the elements I love; attraction between characters, mystery and in this case, it involves a writer. I haven’t caught up on all episodes, but TNT was showing a few last night.  In one of the episodes, Castle’s new series of books featuring Nikki Heat (based on Beckett the detective he follows around), is being made into a movie. The actress hired to play Nikki joins the group to follow Beckett around as part of her researching of the role. The actress is thrilled to meet Beckett, but barely acknowledges Castle. He introduces himself again, telling her wrote Heat Wave, she’s still not impressed. “I’m your creator,” he mutters in the endearing way Castle pouts.

    What’s interesting about this show is that in many ways Castle is the rockstar of mystery writers. He’s rich, famous and handsome. But if you think about it, in real life there aren’t many celebrity writers…at least writers that have the same problems that television and movie celebrities have. In many cases, people may not even recognize their favorite authors if they passed them on the street. And very few authors are invited on television unless they are super-rockstars. I recently saw E.L. James on Katie. J.k. Rowling was on the Daily Show. I’ve seen Stephanie Meyer on two talk shows. But I’ve never seen Grisham, Nora Roberts or even Susanne Collins on TV, except for clips from local news stations posted on YouTube.

    I guess because writers aren’t seen very much, the best they can hope for is getting on the bestsellers list. If they’re lucky, their books will become a phenomena and garner a movie deal and then maybe they’ll be a celebrity. Of course, authors never go into writing to become a celebrity. But it’s got to be a happy bonus when the public and media create buzz that propels a book’s success.

  • Taking a Risk and Stepping Into the Unknown

    Taking a Risk and Stepping Into the Unknown

    About two weeks ago, I came a across a Tweet that said Harlequin was having a pitch challenge for its Blaze line. If you don’t know Harlequin, it’s a company that publishes category romance books every month. One of its lines is Blaze, which according to Harlequin is its sexiest line. I have a draft of a romance that I thought I might pitch to Harlequin (at the time I was thinking of its Desire line…one hot notch down from Blaze), but Harlequin submission rules still require snail mail and I hadn’t gotten myself organized to put together a complete package with SASE. But the Blaze Pitch Challenge said to email a one-page synopsis and first five pages, so I thought, why not. Actually, my thinking process was something like:

    “I should do that”
    “But my manuscript is only a rough draft. Maybe it’s not ready to pitch”
    “What the heck, you can’t win if you don’t try”
    “Ugh, I have to write a synopsis, which are 100 times harder than writing a novel”
    “It’s just one page. Give it a go.”

    Whew. So on the last day for submissions, I sent a one-page synopsis and first five pages of “Southern Comfort”, a straight forward romance about a sassy, feisty southern gal and brooding, but hot New York guy.

    I’ve never done anything like this before, and while I’ve read many Harlequin books, I don’t know much about its editors or writers. And yet, I felt pretty good about what I submitted. Perhaps it was the universe rewarding me for taking a risk, because on Friday afternoon I got an email saying my submission was one of five selected to participate in the pitch. Whoop!

    But then I thought, “I don’t know how to pitch through conversation.” The Harlequin Pitch Challenge uses online chat to converse with editors. I’m nervous mostly because I don’t know what to expect? What questions will be asked? How much of the book actually needs to be done? (Only about 1/3 of it I’d feel comfortable letting someone else read. The rest is just too rough and some scenes aren’t written yet). What will the editor want to know about the characters and plot. Will I be able to convey plot succinctly? How are pen names managed (I submitted using my real name, but let the reviewers know that I used a pen name). The email I received on Friday indicated that I’d get further details this week and I hope that means I’ll be able to prepare.

    So now I’m editing two books, “Old Flames Never Die”, book two in the Valentine series, and “Southern Comfort” so I have something to send should the editor ask for it on Wednesday. And because it’s the Blaze line, I have to up the hot factor, which is harder than you might think. But I’m up for the challenge.

    I feel a little stressed out with so much going on, but then I think, “Hey, this must be what it’s like to be a real writer!”

  • NaNoWriMo Day One

    NaNoWriMo Day One

    It’s November 1st and that means it’s time for NaNoWriMo — National Novel Writing Month. The goal of NaNoWriMo is to write 50,000 words in 30 days. It sounds daunting, except that it’s only 1,677 words a day. That’s not difficult to achieve if you know what you want to say. To help me stay on pace, I created a daily word count chart using a graphic from NaNoWrimo. You are welcome to share or pin the graphic, but please let your followers know where you got it!

  • How Much Do Writers Write in a Day?

    How Much Do Writers Write in a Day?

    There is an interview with George R. R. Martin in this month’s Writers Digest. If you don’t know George, he’s the author of the A Song of Ice and Fire series, the first book of which is A Game of Thrones. Currently there are five books in the series with two more planned. What non-fans probably don’t know is that the first book was published in 1996 and the last three books were published about 5 years apart. Some fans don’t like this. It’s a long time to wait for an installment.

    My husband has become a fan and after reading the article he said, “He only writes four or five pages a day.” For the tomes that George writes, four or five pages a day means it will take five years to finish. At the same time, I told my husband that four or five pages was pretty good. I’ve read many author interviews who have goals of four or five pages a day. Or sometimes it’s a word count like 1000 words a day. That doesn’t seem like a lot, until you try and write that much.

    November is National Novel Writing Month — NANOWRIMO. The goal is to write 50,000 words in 30 days. That comes to an average of 1,667 words a day. I know that I can write that number of words in just over an hour IF I know what I want to say. I’ve participated in NANOWRIMO every year for the last five years, and only once did I hit the 50K mark (with Old Flames Never Die, which I hope to publish soon). It’s harder than you think to write several pages a day, especially if you have a job or other work to do, a family, daily duties etc.

    I am curious about Nora Roberts’ daily work or page count. She’s reputed to write eight hours a day everyday, even on vacation. I figure that has to be at least 10,000 words a day (which I guess is about 40 pages — 250 words a page). This may be why she’s so prolific.

    So how much do I write a day? When I can write, I average about 1,800 words. The problem is that I may only write one day a week. I’m working to change that. Now that Deadly Valentine and Endangered are published, I’m eager to get more work out there. Especially since two Valentine books are completed drafts that only need edits. Who knows, maybe this time next year, I’ll be writing four or five pages a day which would mean a new book release every three months or so.

  • So Much to Write, So Little Time

    So Much to Write, So Little Time

    I’m very excited about the initial interest in Deadly Valentine and Endangered. Feedback has been positive, especially for Endangered, which is a different kind of romantic mystery. Instead of coming together during the story or rediscovering their love, the Delecoeurs are 100% in love and committed. I was wondering if readers would find a story in which the conflict rests completely on the circumstances — someone is out to kill Madeleine — and not on what will happen to the relationship interesting. So far, people have found it “refreshing” and are asking for the next story.

    This brings a new, yet welcome problem…what to focus on publishing next. I’m eager for Microsoft or Apple or some other tech company to invent a gadget that will allow me to plug my brain directly into my computer. This gadget would make it fast to get my ideas downs and first drafts written. I have no shortage of stories for Max and Madeleine, Tess and Jack, and even new characters that aren’t published. But there is only so much time in the day and currently, my fiction writing is second to my ‘making  a living writing’. Then there is the question of what do I work on first? Do I write the new Delecoeur mystery or do I edit the next Valentine books, which are on their fourth edits? Can I do both? These are questions I’m grappling with as move from a writing hobbiest to professional writer. Perhaps I need to ask you the reader…which story do you want to see next? Delecoeur or Old Flames Never Die – Valentine Book 2?