Case of the Inadvertent Interview?

After Kimberly Loomis left some really good questions in the comments to my post on novella niggles (sounds like a character from some British kid's book, doesn't it?) I thought the answers deserved a post of their own.

I have been giving the matter some serious thought and the novella probably will happen. Though I have been looking at some back burner projects that might fit the bill, right now I think I would rather move forward and try something new. There are vague ideas but nothing concrete yet.

I like the idea of starting something where I can get from "once upon a time" to "happily ever after" in a quicker fashion than the 100k word monsters I normally produce. Which format do I prefer? Normally, novels. Ever since I knew writing novels could be a job, I knew that was the job I wanted. Still, there are times when I want to try something different and a smaller canvas (somebody stop me if I get too far into visual arts references) suits that idea better. Since I think in big, sprawling stories with angst and adventure if at all possible, the novel gives me room to do that. I do think, however, that "Never Too Late" and "Queen of the Ocean" have their share of sprawl, even though they are sold as novel bytes, so that's probably part of my core story.

Forming the novella isn't that different from forming the novel; the characters usually come first, they give me a glimpse of their predicament, often the beginning and the end (not necessarily in that order) and I work from both ends toward the middle. The big difference is that the story has to be more compact and/or concentrated. Less room to wander keeps the focus tight. Which can be a good or bad thing depending on what stage of the game I am in when asked.

How do I go about researching the places into which I put my characters? If it's choosing where the setting should be, I usually observe the characters doing their thing for a while and see what their story will involve, and then the time and place of that presents itself. When I do know the time and place, the research process starts. I've had some really good courses on historical research, but the details that stick with me the most are sensory/intuitive. Since I'm a talker, my favorite research tool is people; find me someone who is an expert in Thing I Need To Know and I will pick their brains. I also love living history museums, even if they aren't in the exact time or place of my story.

Thinking about thinking about stuff

I've had the niggle for a while of possibly wanting to work on another novella. Nothing as long as a novel; working on two of those to begin with and more in sight. Novellas, or novel bytes as my titles with Uncial Press are termed, are a nice size, very do-able, and the author can cross that THE END finish line quite a bit sooner. I've published two so far and I think the itch may be returning.

Historical romances are what I love, and that's what I'd be sticking with, but historicals can be tricky to handle in a shorter format. Maybe that's why some anthology entries are connected to well known series? Seeing as how I don't have any series myself at the moment, nor am I yet running with the big dogs, we'll put that aside for later. Besides, I like the unconnected stories best of all, so it would be new people.

Setting, though, would be something to consider. Normally, I start with characters and then find the best setting for them, which I could still probably do. Maybe characters with a history? Hmm, both Queen of the Ocean and Never Too Late have h/hs with a history already, so I could go with that sort of lost love found relationship again. Certainly, in ages past, there were plenty of opportunities for even the truest of lovers to be separated for a time. Alternatively, there could be strangers with a powerful connection, bridenapping, marriage of convenience, possibly a few other scenarios. I don't need to commit to one at the moment, but the wheels will probably start turning soon. Likely something fairly familiar to most readers; in the novella, space is at a premium and I want to keep the focus on the characters.

Historical setting, h/h, HEA, those are the only must haves for me, so everything else is up for grabs.

Thirteen Random Thoughts I Have Had Today

1. It totally stinks that Ryan Kasprzak got cut from Vegas on SYTYCD
2. Blythe Gifford writes amazing medieval romances.
3. I hate when Rhapsody crashes.
4. Finding ten pages I thought I'd lost, hiding in a different file is wonderful.
5. Every time I watch SYTYCD or Dancing With the Stars, I want to be a twentysomething ballroom dancer
6. Since I am old enough to be two twentysomething ballroom dancers, I will do it vicariously through my heroine, Summer, in my time travel.
7. I had a good writing morning and greatly appreciate that.
8. Really need to make more icons.
9. The trial download of Photoshop Elements 8 taunts me by not downloading.
10. Visiting Maria Louisa on Saturday, so lots of romance novel related gab ahead.
11. Bones tonight.
12. How long until new Lost?
13. Not entirely sure what they put in the new diet cherry 7Up to make it antioxidant but it tastes good.

Outside looking in is a good thing...

For those who haven't met her yet, the image here is my favorite Sim model, Jacqueline. I put this poor Sim through about as much angst as I do my characters, and this shot is one of my favorites, as well as appropriate for the day's post.

Normally, when I do a Simmy photoshoot, I'll go through a series of poses that capture the mood and effect I'm after for that project. Sometimes, though, the same old same old won't do and what's needed is a fresh perspective. For this image, I shot a posed Jacqueline through a window - same pose, same set, different perspective. Which, as things turn out, is a very useful thing to remember when writing.

When I've been away from a project for whatever reason, there's always that phase of feeling each other out when I resume work on it. We need to get to know each other again, and the best way to do that is to read what's there, be it a single page or a few hundred of them. The trick is to read as a reader, not a writer. That will come later. It's like meeting the book for coffee (tea in my case; I like the smell of coffee but not the taste) to feel each other out and see how we'll get along as we are now. Since I'm the one writing the book, the good news is that we most likely can do quite well together.

This is the time to see the extant pages for what they are, not what I wanted them to be. What are they now? Is there anything that needs to change in order for me to move forward? How would I look at this if I'd plunked down my hard earned cash for it in the bookstore? In most cases, by the time I've read through, I'm eager to do the work that will take the project from partial to full. That's when the butt in chair, fingers on keyboard part kicks in and writing buddies are called upon to crack their whips and keep me on track. Handing any questionable passages off to said friends for their input also helps keep the wheels turning. That, and my ironclad rule that I can't do any Simmy photoshoots until I've written.

The (Guiding) Light goes out

I haven't watched Guiding Light in years. In college, though, it was a different story, and one of the reasons I loved my nanny job in my freshman year was that it allowed me to watch GL without interruption during my three-year-old charge's nap. His infant sister learned to recognize Josh and Reva when they were on screen. They were my favorite couple on the show and long after I stopped watching, through all the breakups, reconciliations, other spouses, amnesia, kidnappings, misunderstandings and such I gleaned from the world at large, still held out for their happily ever after. Yep, definetly a supercouple in my book. Today is the last episode of GL ever, after several decades of scandal, trauma and over the top weddings. Even though I haven't watched in years, I will miss it, but no matter what happens according to that final script, I'm going to believe Josh and Reva are living happily ever after in the locale of their choice.

Below, perhaps *the* iconic Josh/Reva scene, and below that, a few brain droppings of my own.

Why this scene sticks with me: It's raw, honest, emotional and risky. At this point in the story, Reva and Josh, though they do love each other, have a lot of baggage. Reva has already married and divorced Josh's brother and is now married to his father. Josh has some attitude issues and we have two alpha characters with big chips on their shoulders and things are going to come to a head.

This is definitely something I want to bottle and learn how to use in my own writing, and I would love to see more scenes of this impact in historical romances. Passion doesn't only occur during love scenes, but is at the core of both characters and that depth and intensity of feeling will spill over into everything they do.

Heroes and heroines do make mistakes and bad choices and they will have to live with the consequences, but for my money, that's part of what makes the ride to the HEA that much fun. For a supercouple, ramp that up another notch or two.

Other soap supercouples I have loved:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bo_Brady_and_Hope_Williams

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Deveraux_and_Jennifer_Horton

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Black_and_Marlena_Evans

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shane_Donovan_and_Kimberly_Brady

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Johnson_and_Kayla_Brady

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_Newman_and_Nikki_Reed (I didn't actually follow this one by watching the show, but still enjoy the dynamic)

and the classic that started it all:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luke_Spencer_and_Laura_Webber

(though I do maintain heroes do not rape and rapists are not heroes)

There are others, which I will explore later. What couples would you put on your supercouples list?