Sincerest Apologies

Mandy has just pointed out that the Avon Romance contest is only open to US residents. My apologies for not reading all the rules before I posted!

In the meantime, 28th February is just around the corner, so I hope you're polishing your entries for the Essentials magazine Voice of Africa contest.

Avon Romance's Regency Contest

This contest is a little different. You don't get to submit your own work, but rather you suggest the plot or theme and a seasoned writer will write the winning story. The four authors include Mary Balogh and Stephanie Laurens so this is really great amazing to keeping!

The deadline is Valentine's Day, so hurry over to check out the site, It Happened One Season, for more information and let your inspiration start flowing.

New Year's Resolution or Boer Maak 'n Plan?

New beginnings! Yup every January 1st we get that wonderful buzz in knowing that whatever happened during the year before can be put behind us and forgiven. But let's not forget! Why you ask yourself? Sure it's easier to just pretend that all those fabulous ideals we had at the beginning of last year ... well ... maybe they were just a little too lofty, or the timing just wasn't right, or it just wasn't meant to be? No, no my friend! I'm not going to let you get away with that one! No sirree. OK enough self flagellation, let's move on shall we ...

Here in South Africa we have a powerful saying ... 'n boer maak 'n plan. If you think about it logically, have you ever met a farmer who doesn't have a plan? If you want to harvest a crop of potatoes you must first plant the seed, water it, nurture it, wait for it to grow (farmers would probably add in the ... pray like the dickens) and eventually you'll have a crop you can be proud of. But it doesn't just happen all by itself. So how can we expect this year to be any different if we don't make plans?

Does the farmer have his plan in his head, or does he actually put it down on paper, take action by ordering the seed, prepare his fields and so forth? See where I'm going with this?

Commit to yourself this year. Make all those ideals, goals, resolutions - whatever you want to call them - achievable by truly showing your conviction. Apply pen to paper or fingers to keyboard and make your list. Once you've written it down put it somewhere you can see it every single day. Then learn to visualise it happening, feel that burst of glee within you when you have the vision and hold on to that! That's what's going to get you there - your driving force. And if that all sounds like too much effort for you then you don't really have the courage to do it, do you?

So, what are you waiting for? You're reading this which means you're at your computer ... open up that clean document, type heading "Goals for 2010" then start ...

1. Me first. As a mother, wife and everything else which I consider to be my "responsibilities" I will now consider why I'm doing things. Does doing it make me happy or am I simply trying to keep the peace? If it doesn't make me happy then I shouldn't be doing it.

2. Don't sweat the small stuff. Instead of panicking about everything I'm just going to tackle each problem as it crops up. Once dealt with I'm going to let it go and not dwell upon it. Time is too precious to waste like that.

3. Finish, edit and polish at least two completed manuscripts and submit them to the publishers they are targeted at. Different genres of writing allow me to express myself in diverse ways. Instead of trying to force myself to be either one or the other, I'm going to let myself explore both avenues.

So those are my main three for this year. Now that I've shared them with you I've put it out there. My intentions are clear. Failure is not an option.

Are you ready? Would you like to share yours?

Writing Contests

There are a few contests open at the moment for Romance writers, for those of you into entering contests.

Local is lekker, so we'll start with two home-grown South African contests. First up is the second short story contest run by Essentials Magazine in conjunction with Mills & Boon. Deadline is 28th February and the details are available here. This year's prize is awesome so you really should give it a go!

Next is Penguin Books' Prize for African Writing. The deadline is 30th January and the contest criteria can be found here. This contest is for full-length adult contemporary novels out of Africa. Again, an awesome prize - but if you want to enter you'll either need a completed manuscript ready and waiting or be an awesomely fast writer.

Further afield, the Washington DC Romance Writers (a chapter of the RWA) is running its annual Marlene contest, open to entrants word-wide. The deadline is 15th January and you can find more information here. This contest does have an entry fee so I'd recommend it only if you want to get your work in front of these specific contest judges, all editors from top romance publishers.

Then there's the Chase the Dream contest. This annual contest for the opening 1,000 words of a novel, runs from 1st January to 3rd March. Details can be found here. It's great fun, easy to enter, completely free, and can also get your work in front of some top editors and agents.

If you know of any other contests for writers, and specifically for romance writers, open to South African residents, then please drop us a line in the comments section.

Happy Christmas and Hanukkah

Best wishes to all from sunny Johannesburg. Wherever you are, whether you're enjoying sun or snow, we wish you all the best for this season and for the coming year.

External Conflict vs Internal Conflict

For romance writers, this is a biggie.

You need to know the line you want to write for and whether the emphasis is on internal or external conflict. So if you're writing single title, external might predominate, but if you're writing category romance aimed at Mills & Boon your focus should be on internal conflict, and if you're targeting a romantic suspense line, you'll need to find a fine balance between the two.

But do you understand the difference?

Disney's "Beauty and the Beast" provides the perfect example.
* Spoiler alert below *

Pretty Belle is a dreamer, a hopeless romantic. Gaston, the town's most eligible - and most self-centred - bachelor, decides that he wants Belle as his wife. Meanwhile, living alone in a nearby castle, is the Beast, a prince transfigured by an enchantress because of his selfishness and his inability to love. The spell will only be broken when he learns to love and is loved in return. But as the years pass and no-one can see past his hideousness, the Beast grows more angry and more reclusive.

Belle and the Beast are thrown together (watch the movie for the details I'm skipping over). Slowly, despite the obvious obstacles, they become friends and attraction grows between them. She learns to see past his hideous face to the man within and he learns to control his anger and find hope and joy once again.

Just as it seems they are going to come together, Belle looks in a magic mirror and sees that her father is ill and needs help. The Beast lets her go, even though he knows it means giving up his only chance to break the spell and transform back into a prince.

In trying to help her father, Belle tells the townsfolk about the Beast. Led by the jealous Gaston, the townsfolk storm the Beast's castle. The Beast is injured in the fight and Belle finds him. She reveals her love for him in his dying moments and so he is saved and transformed back into a handsome prince. Happy Ever After.

Now the external conflict is clear: the enchantress' spell, her father's illness, Gaston's jealousy, the excited mob. A certain amount of external conflict is always necessary, but it is the less obvious internal conflicts that add depth to any story and which keep the reader hooked.

Internal conflict stems from who they are as people, their beliefs, their experiences. In Belle's case, this is her romantic idealism. She dreams of living the fantasy she reads about, and yearns for a hero like those in her books. She knows she doesn't want Gaston, but she still has to learn to look beneath the Beast's hideous features to love the man within.

In the Beast's case, he needs to learn to love and to put someone else's needs above his own.

Even when all the external conflicts have been resolved, and the battle with the townsfolk has been won, Belle and her Beast cannot find their Happy Ever After without overcoming their own prejudices and issues. And it is important that they are the only ones who can help each other overcome these issues. No-one else but Belle can draw the Beast out of the anger he has withdrawn into and bring him to the point where he is able to put her needs before his own. No-one but the Beast is able to show Belle that true beauty is within.

Having a clear idea of what your characters' conflicts are and how they're going to overcome them is the basis of your character arcs. In resolving their internal conflicts, your characters learn and grow. This gives them depth, makes them real people as opposed to two-dimensional characters, and makes your reader care about them.

Can you see how you can apply this in your own writing? Do you have any questions regarding internal and eternal conflict? Please feel free to leave a comment ...

Publishing as a business

Just how badly do you want to be a paid, professional writer?
If you are serious about being published, here are a few basic suggestions to follow:

1. Write! Don't just talk about it or plan how you're going to do it, or dream about the life you'll lead when you are published.

2. Write Regularly. Ask any published writer and they'll tell you that writing is about discipline way more than it is about inspiration. Don't wait for those rare moments when the muse strikes. Write every day, even if it is only an hour a day. Put yourself in the right place for the muse to come find you.

3. Develop your craft. Published writers often talk about how they never stop learning. For me, that's part of the fun of this journey toward publication, that I'm always learning new things. Never rest on your laurels; always keep improving your skills.

4. Treat this as a career, not as a hobby. This is more important than it sounds. You cannot expect other people (editors, agents etc) to take you seriously as a writer if you don't take yourself seriously.

5. Learn the business. Yes, you're an artist, but it still helps to know the business end of the industry you're trying to break into. And I don't just mean reading the types of books published by the publishers you're targeting (though that goes without saying). Learn about how royalties work, what trends are developing in publishing, which imprints are opening/closing, what the agents are saying on their blogs. Learn, learn, learn.

6. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, behave like a published writer. You can start small by printing business cards, starting a blog, developing a web presence. But even if you are not yet in the public eye, remember that everything you say and do in the public arena should be professional. In every correspondence with editors or agents, no matter how hurt or rejected you feel, stay courteous. In everything you do and say, be polite. And that includes Facebook. One day you plan to be a public icon - and you don't want to be remembered as a person who bad-mouthed a certain agent or editor or writer. You want to be remembered as that incredible writer who is also a really nice person. At least I do!

Is there anything else you can think of to add to this list? All comments welcome.