From a roller coaster to a mountain road (with Klingons)
by Julie Cohen
Though you wouldn’t know it from the state of my desk, I’m a pretty methodical sort of person. When I first started writing to get published, I realised that writing a 100,000+ word book was way, way too scary. Those were far too many words. Sixty thousand, I figured I could handle. And so I began to train myself to write the kind of category romances I’ve always loved to read.
Girl from Mars
It’s hard to do. Short category romances require an incredibly tight focus on the romantic relationship, to the exclusion of lots of other things. At the same time, you have to provide enough setting, external plot and world-building to satisfy the reader’s sense of reality. Category romance writers have to create intense emotional conflict, fast. Every single word matters, and whenever possible, the heroine and hero have to be on the page together.
I love doing it. For me, writing category romance is a bit like building a roller coaster. You know where it’s going to begin, and you know where it’s going to end, and within those two extremes you have to construct something beautiful and exciting. The pace is fast, the space is limited, and the rules are strict—but within those rules, you have artistic freedom. I like rules. I like roller coasters.
But I’ve always wanted to write bigger books, too. My secondary characters always kept on taking over. And then there were these settings and backstories I wanted to explore, these family relationships I wanted to develop, and then I kept on coming up with stories that just wouldn’t fit in my category line, like the one with a fake psychic as a heroine. Or the one about the alcoholic ex-rock star.
So, after six category novels, I’ve started writing different kinds of stories. And I feel so naughty when I break one of the rules I’ve taught myself. Like…writing a story where the hero doesn’t even turn up until chapter four! Then, another when the hero doesn’t turn up until halfway through the book! Yikes!
Or how about a sex scene between the heroine and someone who’s not the hero? Where the sex is actually good?
Or some flashbacks? Or deaths of major characters? Or having the dark moment a third of the way through the book, and the rest of it’s a redemption story involving corned beef and graveyards? Or a little diversion into the way that comic books work? Or a bit of Klingon and an entire sub-plot about a fictional Martian?
His for the Taking
Now before my romance-loving friends object, I’m not saying you can’t have these things in a category romance. I’m sure Klingons are totally welcome in Harlequin Presents (though possibly they have to be Mediterranean billionaire Klingons). I’m just saying that I couldn’t pull them off myself, because for me, writing category romance is all about immersing yourself in the heroine and hero’s relationship.
The thing is, writing a book that’s exactly twice as long as my category romances, that isn’t even strictly a romance, is quite a frightening thing to do. It’s like building a road through the mountains, and you can’t see where it will end, and by the way while you’re building that road you might as well build a little path here, a village there, and try to weave everything together while you’re at it. Right now I’m at the beginning of a bigger book, at the foot of that mountain, thinking: where do I go from here? And knowing there are almost infinite directions to choose from.
But it’s a thrilling ride, just the same.
A bit about Julie…
Julie Cohen lives in the UK and writes fun, sexy romantic stories for Harlequin Mills & Boon and Headline Little Black Dress. Her next book, Girl from Mars (May 09) is about a female comic book artist who takes a vow not to get a boyfriend. She’s currently working on a mainstream women’s fiction novel for Headline Review, due out in 2010. Her website is http://www.julie-cohen.com
March 12th, 2009
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March 12th, 2009
Hi Julie! It does sound scary to when you picture writing a longer storyline. I think your characters that are out of the ordinary are what separates your books from other authors. It isn’t everytime you’ll come across a fake pyschic as a heroine and although it’s a little disheartening to know that she’s fake, it’s actually really nice to read about her. :) keep writing!
p.s. can i ask u something? hv u always wanted to be a writer since young? if yes, did u always write stories?
March 12th, 2009
Hey Julie
Great reading your thoughts on writing category and ST. I totally relate to the fear of writing something bigger but not quite fitting into the delicious mould of category. My CP is constantly telling me my characters are more ST and I think she’s right BUT… I’ve been training my brain towards category the last few years and breaking out is SCARY STUFF!! Good luck with your women’s fiction! It’ll be on my shelf as soon as it’s published!
March 12th, 2009
Hey Julie.
If it helps, do you want company? In a few weeks I’m going to be at the bottom of that mountain with you. :-)
March 12th, 2009
Hi Caron! Thank you for stopping by and saying such nice things about my weird characters. :-)
I’ve wanted to be a writer for as long as I can remember. I always wrote stories when I was a kid and wrote my first “novel” when I was 11–a 100-page fantasy opus with illustrations and everything. My best friend, Kathy Love, and I were writing buddies in high school.
I stopped creative writing for a little while when I was doing my degree and starting my teaching career, but then I started up again once I’d got myself a bit more settled. That’s when I started training myself to write category romance.
March 12th, 2009
Hi Rachael! Thanks for coming over.
I’ve been telling myself for a while that being scared is a GOOD thing. Of course, I’ve had plenty of terrified moments whilst writing category romance, too. This whole writing thing is pretty scary in general.
But it’s difficult to get a handle on where you “fit” sometimes. Some stories could go either way. And though the longer word count doesn’t bother me any more–in fact I love it now–a longer book requires a different kind of pacing, different kinds of plots, and different development. I’ve found my revision process has changed, too.
I really admire people who can alternate writing a category romance, then a longer book, then a category…for me, it’s different ways of thinking about story and I would have trouble making the switch instantaneously.
March 12th, 2009
Donna…really? Yay! I’ll happily share the bottom of my mountain with you. (Though I’ll be 30-40K in by then hopefully, so a bit up the lowest slope and ready for some hot chocolate.)
March 12th, 2009
Morning, Julie! I just love your cover for Girl from Mars, by the way. How are you going to balance your career between the Presents and the single titles now? will you focus more on one than the other?
March 12th, 2009
Julie,
I love your Presents. I’ve always found that just because I like an author in the smaller books doesn’t necessarily mean that I will in the longer ones. Do you think your writing style is different for those?
March 12th, 2009
Pretty cover for His for the Taking!
March 12th, 2009
I like the idea of Klingons but not reading about them…but I love Greeks, pretty much all Mediterranean boys, and those lovely Brits when they aren’t so pompous!
March 12th, 2009
I like hearing about breaking the rules, but a hero who doesn’t show up until halfway through the book? Aren’t you afraid the reader won’t stay tuned in?
I’m an avid romance reader, and I’ll give books the benefit of the doubt, but if the relationship isn’t at least touched on right away I’m already doubting whether or not the book is worth reading.
Am I alone in this?
March 12th, 2009
Good morning Heather! Thank you for inviting me here to your gorgeous blog!
Right now, I’m focusing entirely on single titles/women’s fiction. I’ve got a young toddler and a husband who’s often away working, and so my writing time is pretty limited. I just can’t produce the word count necessary to write a 100K book and two or three 50K ones in a year. But I’m definitely keeping the door open with Harlequin because I do love those books.
March 12th, 2009
Hi Marissa! I’m so glad you’ve enjoyed my Harlequin Presents. I wouldn’t say my writing style is different in my bigger books; there’s still a lot of humour and sensual tension, I hope, and I really do try my best to keep up emotional intensity, though perhaps in different ways and concerning other things than just the romantic relationship.
Most of my single titles are written in first person, though, which does cause some changes. I like it, because it lets me really get into the heroine’s head and feelings.
March 12th, 2009
Lilly, thank you! I have been such a lucky, lucky girl with my covers…
March 12th, 2009
Nancy, I’m married to a Brit myself so I must confess a weakness. :-) All my heroes are British or American, generally, though I just wrote a half-Russian. I do love reading about those Mediterranean alpha male Presents heroes though!
I don’t actually have Klingons in Girl from Mars…the heroine’s best friend is pretty fluent in the language, though. I did sneakily put in some Daleks and Stormtroopers. But the book itself is contemporary romance/women’s fiction, and not science fiction. The sci-fi comes in because the heroine is a comic book artist on a title called Girl from Mars, and all of her friends are sci-fi-loving geeks (like many of my friends, actually!).
March 12th, 2009
I like hearing about breaking the rules, but a hero who doesn’t show up until halfway through the book? Aren’t you afraid the reader won’t stay tuned in?
Rachelle, that’s a really good question. And with my category-romance-writing hat on, I have to say yes…I had some fears about that when I wrote the book. (The one where the hero doesn’t turn up until halfway through is my next next book, which is called NINA JONES AND THE TEMPLE OF GLOOM.)
I think, though, that like anything, it has to do with reader expectations. If I picked up a romance where the hero wasn’t apparent, I’d be annoyed. But the book I wrote isn’t a romance. The focus is on the heroine’s journey, not who the hero is. She needs to grow and change a lot before she even meets him, for there to be any chance for it to work out. And he’s only one of several issues she has to try to resolve by the end of the book. (There are other romantic sub-plots, with other men, so romance is always on the agenda.)
One of the revisions I had to do on Girl from Mars was to try to make it less obvious from the beginning, who the heroine was going to end up with. For much of the book, she could actually have a choice (if she got a clue and realised it). As a Harlequin Presents author, that was pretty difficult for me to achieve!
Of course, a lot of a reader’s expectations are shaped by the way the book is presented. If you’re looking for a romance, you might be frustrated not to get that emotional payoff right away. If you’re looking for a broader type of novel, on the other hand, you might be disappointed if the book ended up focusing entirely on the romance. I guess that’s why romances tend to be packaged so similarly, so that the reader can guess at what she’s getting.
What do you think?
March 12th, 2009
Hi Julie,
Love your cover for Girl On Mars!! And with a one year old myself, I applaud you for all the writing you do. I think I would go crazy if hubby didn’t come and take her off my hands for at least an hour.
I do have a question. After writing Presents, didn’t you find it hard to think of plots outside the box? How did you make that decision where you had to figure out what plots would work, how much to focus on one relationship and how much on other sub plots?
I guess, my question is, didn’t you find it hard to come up with something different after following a set of rules for writing category?
Sorry for all the questions. :-)
Sri.
March 12th, 2009
Hey Julie, great post.
Do you find it hard to pace a longer novel when you’ve been writing shorter stories? I’ve been writing novellas–less than 35k–for a few years, and when I actually wrote something full-length, I let myself off the leash and ran a little too far, winding up with 130k instead of about 100. Ironically, I ended up cutting everything that didn’t focus on the romance: so the opposite of you!
March 12th, 2009
Hi Sri! I know, it’s hard to find time to write around kids. But actually I think I would go crazy if I didn’t do it. I’m the sort of girl who needs to escape into her own little world every now and then and the writing keeps me sane(ish), I think. What about you?
Ideas have never really been a problem for me. With the category romances it was often a case of simplifying things and really keeping focused, and when I started writing bigger books I could just let things get…well, bigger. It’s been more of a case of letting myself go, rather than coming up with totally new types of ideas, if that makes sense.
That said, I do tend to analyse my novels during and after writing them, and do things like colour-code the scenes so that I can see instantly what balance I’m striking between different subplots and characters. This is something I did when I was training myself to write category, and then didn’t have to after awhile, and now I’m using the same technique but in a different way.
For the past couple of books I’ve actually overplotted, and have had to simplify things all over again (although obviously not as much as would have done for a 50,000-word book). So I’m still on a pretty steep learning curve.
I’m also extremely lucky in that my editors are awesome and thoroughly know their stuff. So if I’m going in the wrong direction at any time, they can help me.
March 12th, 2009
Do you find it hard to pace a longer novel when you’ve been writing shorter stories?
Aaaaagh, Kate, you know I do. This is why I’ve been doing all this colour-coding stuff, and I’ve also got my Plotting Door, where I stick all my index cards with plot points etc. everywhere. I could hold a whole category novel in my head, but for a bigger book, I need visual aids. (Or maybe I’m just getting older and dumber.)
I would find it really hard to write a novella, I think—never having written one, I can’t picture how much story-space it would require. I think people who can write different length stories pretty much one after the other are amazing!
March 12th, 2009
(Sorry, everybody…it seems I’m so wordy that my replies are much longer than my actual blog! Thanks so much for your comments and questions, and thanks to the WWR team for having me. I’m going to bed—UK time zone y’see—but will be back in the morning to carry on the discussion if anyone wants to.)
March 13th, 2009
Hi, Julie! I too am a fan of your Presents. I’m a little sorry to hear that you won’t be focusing on those!
I’ve got Girl from Mars on my wish list at Amazon. I’ll be interested to read about Daleks and Stormtroopers.
March 13th, 2009
I love Brits too! ;-)
I’ve often wondered why authors write in first person. I like seeing the other view points because it adds more to the story for me.
March 13th, 2009
Hi Zoie! I’m glad you’ve enjoyed my Presents. And I hope you enjoy Girl from Mars, too. Although some of the elements of the story are a bit unusual, it’s still an emotional story about a slightly oddball heroine trying to find love.
March 13th, 2009
Max, there is just something about those British guys, eh? ;-)
I personally like writing in first person because it really makes the heroine very immediate for me. I can climb right inside her skin and I hope the reader can, too. For lots of my heroines so much depends on their viewpoint, how they see the world and themselves. Quite often this isn’t how other characters see them and so you have to really understand how the heroine thinks.
I also love the challenge of writing in first person. Because only one person can tell the story, you have to figure out ways of letting the reader maybe know some of the things the heroine doesn’t know herself, like when she’s making a mistake, or what the other characters know and think. In GIRL FROM MARS, one of the other characters has a secret right from the beginning, and I had a lot of fun putting in clues so that hopefully the reader guesses it, though the heroine doesn’t.
I really like 3rd person too, getting in other characters’ heads. It all depends on what the story needs—some need multiple viewpoints, and some are stronger for staying with one. I love a good multi-viewpoint novel—I’m reading one now, where half the novel is told from a modern character’s point of view, and the other half from a historical character, with various other characters speaking at other points. It’s great piecing the story together.
February 18th, 2010
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