Hey, it’s Tuesday, Release Day at Loose Id, so drop by to see us!

What I want to talk about today is your core story.  This is a topic very near and dear to my heart because I truly believe it matters.  Some authors have never thought about what their core story is, and they seem to do very well, and that’s fine.  But for me, the core story to an author’s work is what draws me back again and again as a reader.  And it’s what keeps me writing.

Every writer, heck everyone, has a core story. Your core story is made up of all of the experiences and joys and sorrows you’ve lived through, and with each one your core story is narrowed down more and more, honed until it’s sharp and clear. That core story is who you are, what story you have to tell the world, your voice, your vision.

If you look at any author’s books, they sometimes tell the same story over and over without sounding the same. That’s because they almost always have the same core story to tell. Some authors write about acceptance, some write about rescue, or finding a protector, some write about second chances, but every writer has something they, perhaps subconsciously, want to tell the world.

Knowing your core story, what it is that keeps you writing, what idea or concept or belief it is that you want to impart, is what gives you as an author a unique voice and style and meaning. And as you grow to learn more about that core story, to consciously use it rather than subconsciously letting it push you willy-nilly, to understand yourself more and become more “true” to it, you will find your writing will flow better and you’ll recognize when you get off track and why.

If you don’t yet know, or more accurately recognize, your core story, look at your books, or your daydreams, those stories floating around in your head. In your stories, what are the goals of the characters? What motivates them? What are the conflicts and by what means do they resolve them? Look at each story carefully and you’ll begin to see a common thread running through each one. Look very carefully because sometimes the core story may be masquerading as another core, but overall it should be apparent. If you can’t figure it out, ask your editor or critique partner or a good friend you trust. Figuring out what that common thread is can be huge in learning who you are as a writer, where you want to go, and what it is you want to say.

Even if you are writing formula romance, with a determined theme, expected content like erotica or sweet, and a HEA or HFN ending, you still can rearrange that story to fit your core story. For example, say your publisher asks you to contribute to a holiday-themed set of stories, and you must write about a soldier with a happy ever after ending. One writer might choose to write a story about a soldier who goes off to war and almost gets killed, and thus realizes the girl he left behind is the one for him – second chance story. One author might write a story about a soldier who is wounded and loses a leg, comes home and has pretty much written himself off and fallen into a deep depression. Then he meets someone he falls in love with, but he has to clean his life up and woo them, become the person worthy of their love – transformation. And another writer might choose to write a story about a soldier who comes home and while he’s trying to decide whether to stay in or get out of the military, he becomes embroiled in a neighbor’s dispute with her ex-husband and ends up saving her life, falling in love with her, and they live happily ever after – rescue story. The framework of the publisher assigned series gives you the characters and the ending, but it says nothing about what route you choose to get there – your unique core story, your voice, will make those choices.

Some might say that over-analysis isn’t necessary, that it’s okay to go merrily along writing stories without thinking too much about why your write and where you are going. Even if that works for some, I find it does not work for me, and for many authors I know. Your voice, your core story, is what makes you who you are as a writer. Your fans, your readers, will come to expect certain things of you, and revealing that core story is how they know your writing from all the other writers out there. Just because you write rescue stories doesn’t mean your stories are going to be like any other author who writes rescue stories. Every single author writing rescue stories has their own unique view of the world, their own unique spin, and that uniqueness is what will draw their fans to them. If you aren’t aware of what you are giving to your readers, how will you continue to satisfy them?

Also think of this – say you are going merrily along, about halfway through your story, and all of a sudden you are stopped dead in your tracks by a plot issue or character issue – this character simply will not do what you want them to do no matter what you try,o r no matter which way you twist the plot, it’s just not right. How do you fix it? What tells you what is right and what is wrong? I think every single writer has a story or two they just can’t seem to finish – nothing fits and it just won’t work out. I believe that’s because we are trying to write outside of our core story – we aren’t being true to ourselves and our brain knows it. In most circumstances, your core story will tell you what is wrong, where you got off course, what you need to fix. When you lose touch with that core story is when things normally go wrong, and when you figure out where you lost touch with it is where you can figure you got off track and fix it.

Here are a few examples of core stories:

Acceptance stories are stories where the characters are trying to find their place in life, their “home.” They usually end up having to leave where, or what, or even who they know to be safe and secure, and go out into the dangerous world and find their own path, forge new goals and a new destination.

Second chance stories are stories in which one or both of the characters get the chance to go back and fix or address a situation they failed at, or ignored, in the past, like finally telling someone at a high school reunion you had a crush on them all those years ago and finding out they had one on you too, and ending up together.

In transformation stories, two people meet and fall in love, but either one of them, or both, have some changing to do in order to make the romance work, so there comes a point where they realize a change must be made, then they make it. Many of the most popular erotic romance stories are ones where the hero introduces the heroine to some form of erotic play she’s not familiar with, and brings out needs she wasn’t aware she had, or wouldn’t admit – these are great transformation stories.

In a crusade or quest story, the story is about the journey the character(s) go on to find something of value to them, like the Indiana Jones stories. Or maybe the journey is a spiritual one, a journey to discover themselves or their needs. And sometimes they don’t have to actually go anywhere – sometimes in the end they discover what or who they needed all along is right next to them.

In a healing story, you have one or more wounded characters who find their healing within in the story, either with a person or place or job or whatever. The story is their journey from wounded to healed, and their conflict is usually their own stubbornness, maybe an inability to admit to weakness, or even their own fears of being less than whole.

Protector stories are those in which someone assumes responsibility for something or someone else, and they can also be a story where a mentor teaches someone to stand on their own and then accepts the fact they no longer need protection. These stories, along with rescue stories, are very popular with romance authors because almost every little girl has dreamed of the knight on a white horse who comes to save her from the big bad world. Well, almost every little girl.

If you think about it, you will recognize your most beloved authors have/had a core story. Some authors are known for writing flawed and tortured and wounded heroes – those authors write healing stories and Laura Kinsale is a good example. Some authors are known for writing great stories where the alpha male swoops in and saves the heroine – author Kathleen Woodiwiss wrote terrific rescue stories that are still all-time favorite stories for many readers, and Linda Howard still writes them but with a bit more contemporary viewpoint.

For the most part, those authors who are successful and develop huge followings are authors who have figured out their core story, what it is about that core story that appeals to their fans the most, and they stick with it so the fans keep coming back. That builds a career.

Now sometimes just the idea you are telling your core story to the world can be uncomfortable. Few like to share their personal feelings and/or information in public, and once you know what story it is you are trying to share, it can sometimes hit too close to home, feel a bit like having your protective layers pulled back. But remember – that core story may have absolutely nothing to do with your own story, but simply be a theme that resonates with you and that you feel worthy of repeating. Just because a story touches our emotions doesn’t mean we’ve ever experienced it, and any intelligent reader knows that.

Do I believe a writer can tell a story that is not their core? Can an author whose core story is acceptance write a quest story? Absolutely. But I also believe there will be themes of acceptance in that story, too – that core is what is true to you, what “lesson” you feel the driving inner need to teach the world. I also believe some authors can go merrily along, writing and selling, and build a career, and may never need to think that deeply about why they are writing, and what it is they are telling the world, and that’s just fine. But I think other authors may need to understand, to dive deep into their own heart, and fully recognize what it is they need to say. I especially think this is true for authors who are burned out or who find themselves stuck or stagnant in their career, or who may find their readership changing and the market changing in ways they didn’t expect.

I think every author has something they want to tell the world, a story or a lesson to teach, and figuring out what it is you want to say is critical to being happy as a writer for the long haul. If you never seem to be able to tell the story your heart yearns for, how happy will you be in the end? And if you do figure out what it is you are trying to say, it becomes much easier to plot out and tell that tale every time. Every story can be totally different in theme and character and plot, but the underlying core will remain strong as long as you remain true to that core inside you that makes you write.

What is your core story?

Georgia

Yay!  It’s Release Day at Loose Id – check out the new selections:  Visit Loose Id

Wow new blog, new project, new readers… New beginnings are great, don’t you think? They are a second chance to make something happen, fix an error, take advantage of a missed opportunity.

So many times when opportunities come along, we let them pass us by. Sometimes we think they aren’t meant for us, or we feel unprepared or undeserving. And sometimes we make a deliberate choice to ignore them. Why is that? Why is it authors feel so undeserving of any success they attain?

When we think of successful authors, we may look at how we feel about the authors we love, and they seem so much bigger and better than we could ever be. We are so enamored of what they do for us that we can’t fathom having those same abilities ourselves. That hero worship may skew our ability to see our own efforts clearly.

We should not be holding ourselves up against our favorite authors, our author friends, or against the measuring stick of anyone else’s ruler. Your measuring stick as an author should first be your own sense of accomplishment – how do you feel when you finish that story? Do you see progress and improvement in your writing with each story? And second of all your readers – what is it that you offer them? If you are happy with what you write, and if your readers are getting from your books what they need and what you want to give, then you are a success already.

Georgia’s Rules for Success:

Develop a can do attitude. Success means perseverance and determination. And it also means you must decide ahead of time that you can rise to meet the challenges – you can do it.  You may get rejected by ten or more publishers before you find the one that loves your story. Don’t allow anyone to sway you from your goal, even yourself. Lack of confidence and fear of failure, or even fear of success, can cripple your career before it even gets off the ground.

Being rejected is part of the game. It isn’t personal, it’s about your book, which is a product. Like it or not, you have to learn how to see your book as a product and find ways to improve that product until publishing companies want to acquire it. Look at it this way – a publisher is basically a storefront – they choose the books they want to publish by what looks good in the window and draws sales – what will attract more shoppers to their store, sell the most copies, and make the customer so happy they return next week for another purchase. It’s a lot like a restaurant – once you find a recipe that all the customers like, you want to keep satisfying them, so you look for other recipes that have the same ingredients or are complimentary. It’s all about money, like it or not.

You as a writer have to learn to see your book not as being part of you, but being something you created. Just like if you made curtains for your friend – if they are too short, you raise the hem, if they are too plain, add a bit of lace, change colors, whatever it is you need to do to make them work. It’s the same with a book. Sometimes you just need to find another store that will be interested in your product, and sometimes your product needs fixing – it’s up to you to decide when and where and how to make those decisions.

From the very beginning, have a plan. Know where you want to go with your career, and know yourself. Know what will work for you and what won’t, what you are willing to give up and what you aren’t, where you are willing to bend and where you aren’t. Your plan is your road map – how are you going to get to your goal otherwise? Take the time to sit down and plan it out – it takes twice as long to get anywhere if you don’t know the route.

Make yourself a schedule and stick to it. Write something every day – imagination is like a muscle, the more you use it, the stronger it will get, and your writing skills are the same. If you write only when “the muse” feels like it, you’ll always be at the whim of that muse. Teach the muse you want it working all the time, and it will.

Understand that every piece of feedback is a gift. All critique, whether a rejection letter with revision suggestions, the letter of praise from a reader, or a nasty review is a gift. It is valuable feedback which you will use to evaluate your product. It is also an opportunity to learn, to improve, to hone those skills that build your product. Look at it as research and development, earn to accept it well, and see it for the opportunity to improve that it is.

Keep in mind you are now a public person, whether you like it or not. What you do will be scrutinized and evaluated, and the higher you climb, the more intense it will get. If you don’t want your words splashed across the Internet in the most embarrassing way possible, don’t say them, don’t write them. The Internet is not secure – your emails will be seen by the person you are gossiping about, that snarky piece of commentary you just posted on someone’s blog, that ugly letter you just wrote to an editor or publisher you feel didn’t treat you fairly could and probably will be read by someone who could have been important to you, a prospective agent, editor, or publisher. What you might lose will never be worth the satisfaction you got of telling someone off – don’t burn your bridges before you even get to them.

Take advantage of any opportunity that comes your way. There’s a saying about a wise person being ready and waiting for opportunity, and that is totally correct. Prepare yourself for opportunity – learn your craft, work at it hard, build a network of friends and acquaintances in the industry you can call on, then when the door opens in front of you, walk through it.

Don’t quit – every writer has had rejections, and how you treat those rejections will mean failure or success to you. If you allow your feelings of failure to stop you, then your career dreams will never happen. But if you keep trying, you will improve, you will grow, you will learn, and you will succeed.

The wise writer knows their audience and learns to give them what they want. They also learn what not to give them, and they don’t let others sway them into writing a book that is not true to them as an author and what their audience expects. Once you lose a fan, it is very difficult to get them back. Burn them more than once, and it may be impossible. This is why many authors, even big names, have multiple pen names – they have readers who expect a certain type of story and they don’t like change. It’s just the facts of the market.

Surround yourself with support, supporting people, post encouraging sayings and comments on your desk and monitor, set realistic goals and then celebrate them. Celebrate even small successes like reaching your page goal every day for a whole week. And get rid of the negatives in your life, those who say your dreams are too big, those thoughts that cause you to second guess yourself or make self-defeating decisions. Life is too short to waste it catering to those who do not have your best interests in mind, and if they don’t want your dreams to come true, they aren’t on your side.

Take time for you. Take care of yourself – your health is important. And take vacations, take time to get away and just be with family and friends and relax. Then come back to your desk refreshed, full of new ideas, and ready to work.

Meanwhile, take a moment to sit down and think about why you don’t take advantage of opportunities. Write down all the reasons. Then think about each one. Are they justified? Do you fear things that haven’t even happened yet and may not come to pass? Figuring out why you avoid and thus miss out on opportunities may help you to stop this self-defeating practice. And if there’s anything we all need, it’s to learn to be winners.

Go get ‘em!

Georgia

I’m Georgia, and I’m an editor.  Sounds like one of those 12-step programs, doesn’t it?  Well truthfully I’m sure my husband has occasionally wondered if there was a 12-step program to wean me away from books.  But  it’s too late – I’m addicted and there’s no turning back now.  My fancy title is Senior Editor for Author Development at Loose Id, which means I’m the biggest mother hen in the bunch.

So maybe you’re a new author and you want to get published.  Or maybe you’re already published, and you want to further or broaden your career by contracting a book with Loose Id.  Whatever your reason, I hope to be able to help.

A little background – I’ve been reading romance books since about 1973.  My first romance was Katherine Woodiwiss’ The Flame and the Flower, quickly followed by The Wolf and the Dove, and Sweet Savage Love.  I’ve been hooked ever since.  I started reading ebooks about 2004, and I’ve been editing for authors and one or the other of the bigger epubs since late 2005.  Now you’ll rarely find me without my Kindle, and I buy most of my books in digital format – saves on buying bookcases.

I’ll admit I’m one of “those” people who can spell and remember the details of my high school and college grammar classes.  My husband calls me a walking thesaurus and says he has no need for spell check as long as I’m around.  I can remember character traits and plot twists from books I read 20 years ago.  I don’t know why those things stick in my head but other important things like people’s names and my three-item grocery list don’t.  And I can’t walk across a room without tripping on something.  *sigh*  It’s a gift – what can I say?

On this blog I will post craft help, tips and tricks, things editors look for or hate to see, in hopes of giving you an inside track.  I will answer questions, share information, and in general see if I can help you reach your goals.  No, I can’t teach you how to write from scratch, and I certainly can’t guarantee your book’s going to sell.  But I can tell you how to improve your writing and maybe share some resources you’ll find helpful.  It’ll be up to you to practice, to sit down and apply what I’ve shared with you, to build on what you already know.  Writing is a craft that can be learned as long as you have what it takes to keep trying and never give up.

If you have questions, feel free to drop me a line – georgiawoods at loose-id dot com. Who knows?  Maybe someday I’ll be YOUR editor.