Shelley Munro Blog

Author Kaye Manro had a good post at her blog last week about opening lines in novels. As authors we’re told first lines are important, and we should work at making them perfect.

While I go along with this advice and try to make my first line intriguing, it made me wonder. I used to finish reading every book I started. I’ll admit there might have been times when I skimmed toward the end of the book, but I finished reading it.

These days my personal reading time is valuable. Heck, if I’m truthful, I don’t have personal reading time because I’m always analyzing how other writers do things. When I pick up a new book to read, I tend to give the author one to three chapters to grab my attention. If I’m not interested by then, the book goes and I move onto the next. I’m not that faithful reader any more. LOL - I guess I tend toward the slutty kind. If I’m not hooked I move on to the next and the next until I find one that satisfies my needs.

I’d also like to say that we’re all different. There’s one author everyone seems to like. I find her here. I find her there. I find her everywhere. On blogs, that is. Yet her books just don’t grab me. What works for one reader doesn’t necessarily work for another.

What about you? How long do you give an author to make an impression on you, the reader? Do you give them the first line? The first paragraph? The first chapter? How forgiving are you as a reader if the first line doesn’t hook you in?

I saw this ad on TV the other day. It’s from my favorite New Zealand store, Whitcoulls, and it made me laugh because this name problem has been me for the last three weeks. Today, I sat down and toughed it out, choosing names in much the way this couple did. In fact, I used the very same baby naming book to work out character names for my new work in progress.

How do you choose names for your characters? How did you name your kids?

I wrote during the weekend. I wrote lots, and I’m pleased to announce I finished writing my first draft. Now it’s time for the polishing to begin. The timing was great because I’ve received edits on my latest Middlemarch book, Leticia’s Lovers. I worked on those today and tomorrow should see them completed as well. All is right in my world.

During the weekend I went to the mall. While at Borders, I saw Sir Roger Moore. He’s in New Zealand at present signing his book. I think Roger Moore is my favorite Bond, although Daniel Craig does a pretty good job. In truth, Mr. Moore is looking a bit craggy these days. I guess we all get old eventually.

It hit me the other day that Mr. Munro is turning 50 in January. I’m still shaking my head over that one since he doesn’t look like a 50 year old. Or maybe it’s that neither of us feel old. Anyway, after some discussion we decided we’re doing something special and spending a couple of days at The Chateau on Mount Ruapehu. We’ve talked about staying there for years, and Mr. Munro’s birthday sounds like the ideal time. I, of course, am no where near 50.

If you’re a James Bond fan, which one do you like most? If you’re not a Bond fan, how was your weekend?

Fringe Benefits is out today!! Readers have been asking me about this book ever since I put it up on my coming soon page. Buy your copy at Ellora’s Cave today. I need every penny or cent you want to spend because that’s the only way I’ll get another trip to the US in the near future.

I’m blogging at Access Romance All-A-Blog today. There’s a chance to win a download of either Lovers at Last or Price of Love. Come over and say hello.

JERR asked to interview me recently, and my interview appears in the 16 Nov issue of their newsletter. If you write or read erotic romance and don’t know about JERR’s newsletter you’re missing out! Here’s the link to their website. Details of how to join the newsletter are on their site.

After an anxious wait, I received a review for Tea For Two this week. The reviewer said, “This is the perfect story to curl up with on a cold winter’s night, add a glass of wine, some music, and lose yourself in the ups and downs as star crossed lovers discover their soul mates. This is such a fabulous story, and I look forward to reading more stories written by this amazing author. Kudos, Ms. Munro!”
Here’s the link to the full review.

And finally, the writing is going really well. I’ve cranked out a lot of words this week, and all going well, I should have my first draft done at the end of next week. This is the first time I’ve worked to a synopsis for ages, and it’s certainly a good way of keeping on track. I enjoy writing the first draft. I think it’s the creating and allowing my imagination to wander wherever it likes. Sometimes plotting too much freezes my brain, but this time, it’s all good, and I’ve even done a few fancy steps that aren’t in the synopsis.

How has your week gone? If you’re working on NaNo, how are you going?

I hope my Monday isn’t indicative of the week to come because I didn’t enjoy it. Nothing really bad happened, just lots of little things that on their own would have been okay, but together made me grumpy. I’m going to have a late night trying to get my word total done for the day. Sigh…

Good luck to everyone who is taking part in NaNoWriMo this month. I see another Sweat with Sven challenge is about to start as well.

I’ve tried these types of writing challenges and have found they don’t work for me. I write at a fairly steady pace anyway and something formal like the above mentioned or a book in a month challenge seems to play with my head. I work better on my own. That said, I am pushing fairly hard for the next month to complete a 90,000 word manuscript. Apart from today I’ve been going pretty well, and if everything continues this way, I should have my first draft done by the start of the month.

Do writing challenges like National Novel Writing Month, Book in a Month or Sweat With Sven work for you, and if so why? Why not? Are you doing NaNo this year?

Here’s a question for all you writers out there - both aspiring and published. How do you keep track of a character’s physical attributes, their quirks and baggage? Their family history?

I’m forever forgetting what color eyes I’ve given my characters and little things like that. It’s becoming even more difficult now that I’m thinking about writing book eight in my Middlemarch Mates series.

So, how do you keep track of your characters? Spreadsheets? Notebooks? File cards? An incredible memory? A software program? How do you do it?

PS - Don’t forget to check out Christina Phillips post (just down the page a couple of posts) about how her witchy heroine came to her in a dream. Post a comment and go into a draw to win a download of her debut release.

I’ve read two great posts about characters/heroes over the last two days. At Romancing the Blog Heather Massey talks about a hero’s appearance versus his personality.

Over at The Novelty Girls Jennifer Leeland talks about celebrities and how she uses their pictures for character inspiration.

When it comes to characters I do the less is more thing. My character descriptions are very sparse, and often I need to go back and “color them in” a bit more. I never use pictures. My characters pop fully formed from inside my head. Heck, they’re probably pleased to leave because it’s so crowded in there! 99% of my heroes come from the tall, dark and sexy group. I think I’ve written one blond hero in ten years.

When I’m reading a book, I never like to know too much. The hero is tall, dark and sexy inside my head, no matter what the author writes. And the heroine - well, heck - funnily enough, she looks just like me.

Do you like the author to write lots of detail so the hero is easy to visualize? Or do you belong to the less is more category? Does the character’s personality count more than his appearance to you, the reader? Do you like to have a picture or photo - a visual - when you’re writing?

Final note: Tea For Two is out at Samhain Publishing today. Woohoo!!

I’m blogging at the Samhain blog today about Tasseomancy (tea leaf reading) and I’m at Jennifer’s Random Musings again.

Promo is something that always weighs heavy on my mind. Am I doing enough? Am I doing the right thing or am I making prospective readers run in the opposite direction? That’s the difficulty with promo. It’s hard to quantify and decide what actually works.

I have a few promo rules I adhere to:

1. I never spend more than I earn or think I’m going to earn.

2. When I do promo I tend to promote my brand as a whole rather than focusing on a particular book. (there are a few exceptions to this rule but now that I have a backlist I tend to promo me)

3. When it comes to a choice of promo or writing, the writing wins every time. I figure if I don’t have the product then there isn’t any need for promo.

4. I have a rule I call the rule of three where I try to do three things every day to promote my name or books. This makes the whole promo beast seem more manageable because I’m breaking it down. Today I answered the questions for an interview, I posted two excerpts on the Romance Excerpts Only loop and requested a book review.

My promo consists of:

I like to blog hop as much as I can. Some days I have more time than others, but I think this is a way of getting my name out. I tend to steer clear of contentious blogs because I don’t believe anyone wins in an online war. When I blog hop I also find books to add to my to-read list and it helps me keep up on market info.

I like forums. I belong to the Romance Divas forum and the Coffee Time forum. I don’t manage to get there every day but I enjoy the contact with other writers and readers. Both places are extremely friendly and make newbies welcome.

I take advantage of guest blogging and interviews whenever possible. I join my publisher loops and post as often as I can.

I joined The Romance Studio when I was first published and have kept up my membership. It’s very reasonable and offers many opportunities for advertising and promotion.

I’m not sure that print advertising is good value for money. It can be very expensive and it’s difficult to quantify the results. If I have a print book I always consider print advertising since this makes sense, but once again I think it’s very expensive.

Take advantage of free offers. Manic Readers (see the button in my sidebar) has free author pages. It doesn’t take long to set up a page. Author’s Den also has free author pages. (A fee is charged for the Featured Author pages)

Bookmarks - I don’t believe it’s necessary to have bookmarks. Yes, it’s nice to have them. Yes, I have bookmarks at the moment, but I don’t think you’ll lose sales because you don’t have them.

Online Banner advertising - I’m not convinced banner ads work as a method of advertising. Others might disagree, but they haven’t worked for me.

A good website, kept up-to-date, is the best thing you can do to promote yourself. Look at other authors’ websites. Features and designs that attract your eye will probably attract the attention of readers as well.

Bottom Line: I think any promotion you do should be enjoyable. It shouldn’t stress you out or make you crabby because it’s taking you away from family or your writing. If you get to this stage, concentrate on your writing because that’s the most important thing.

If you’re a writer, how do you approach promotion? What do you do? What are your favorite methods of promotion? What things do you enjoy? If you’re a reader, what sort of things make you pay attention to a writer? What makes you pick up a book or order a book online from a new author or an author unfamiliar to you?

My guest today is the wonderful Nina Pierce who writes for Liquid Silver Books. She’s talking about a subject that strikes fear into all our hearts - rejection.

You’ve done it. Finished your first novel and sent it off to the editor or agent of your dreams. And now you wait. Since this one will be such a best seller you don’t want to waste precious time and you get started on your next novel. The words are just flying onto the page when the letter or email arrives. “Sorry, but this isn’t for us …”
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When I first started writing, I learned there were specific rules to follow. This puzzled me because I couldn’t find a definitive list of these rules anywhere, yet fellow writers and contest judges were quick to fill me in.

No Rock Stars: I learned this one after I’d completed a story called Follow That Dream. I couldn’t understand why I couldn’t have a rock star hero. No sports settings. Hmm, I had one of those, too. Evidently there are several occupations on the no-no list. Politicians and artists, please step this way.

The hero and heroine should meet in the first few pages. This one made a little more sense if the book was a short story or category romance, because we want the hero and heroine center stage. But what about a 100,000 word novel? Surely it wouldn’t matter if they didn’t meet straight away?
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