Wednesday is Novella Day...

Wednesday's have become the day I get on with writing my Nottinghamshire novella.

(This was originally going to be written for the My Weekly Pocket Novel market, but as we now know the My Weekly Pocket Novels have not only undergone a change in cover design, they're now gained different categories - see my blog post from August with useful links.
There's also a good article in the current edition of Writers' Forum (October) which has an interview with MW's Maggie Seed discussing the pocket novel changes and what she's hoping for.)

So, my novella's progress to date.

I did 600 words today, which added another scene to my third chapter.

I think it was a little bit of a struggle because I was dealing with a scene I'd written before- a couple of years ago- and it was much better than what I wrote today (at least that's what my memory tells me).

It's probably saved on one of my floppy disks, so I'll have to plug in my floppy reader and search through my box of disks.

This scene today also had one of the secondary characters, who isn't very pleasant, in it.

In fact this chapter doesn't actually have my hero present, except in thought, which is important.

At some point in a romance the hero and heroine will be apart; unless they're trapped somewhere together, they each have their own daily lives to lead so can't be together all the time.

Yet their love interest still needs to be there in some way so the reader doesn't lose interest. After all it is meant to be a romance.

With a contemporary story contact between hero and heroine can continue - a mobile phone, skype, e-mail or text message. They could even send a message with a picture of themselves...

But in an historical romance you're limited by when the story is set, and what technology is available- if any.

In 1802, there were conventions of everyday behaviour to begin with, so messages going back and forth would be difficult to keep quiet unless you can be sure your messenger is trustworthy and not going to turn to blackmail- that's another plot entirely.

As my story is set in a village in the early part of the 19th century there's no opportunity to use the language of flowers or fans to pass a message.

(For flowers have a look here and here, and for fans there's this silent British Pathé film from
1932- see http://www.britishpathe.com - The Language of a Fan.)

So for winter I'm aiming for every free Wednesday to be Novella writing day, just to get the main body of the story down. I have it planned out chapter by chapter so I know where I'm going. I just have to work hard to get to the end.

Then the revisions start...

Short Story Competition List and Erotica Opportunities...

Over the weekend I started the search for a new potential home for my short story, and I made some interesting discoveries along the way which I intend to share with you today.

Starting out with Sally Quilford's Writing Calendar I clicked onto the heading Other Writing Comp Listings and from there another link reached the website for the Booktrust ( they have a lot of interesting pages that are worth spending some time with). They have a list of organisations running short story competitions, and include a clickable link to find out more.

So with 3 clicks of my mouse I found a couple of potential competitions that might suit my story. And others to inspire the creation of more stories. :-)

Hope you find something to interest you too...

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Erotica is now mainstream. The big name publishers have embraced the genre with relish. (This does relate to short stories too.)


If you've never attempted erotica, or you're developing your style within the genre, an article from yesterday's  Mail on Sunday, You Magazine may be of interest. (Thanks to Viv on the Writers News/Writing Magazine, Talkback Forum, for sharing the information).

(The article also contains the booking information for the workshop, and the competition details mentioned. See link to article below.)

"Gillian Green, Eden Bradley and Rachel Blowes. Gillian is editorial director for commercial fiction at Ebury Publishing, which this month is relaunching its erotic imprint Black Lace, with five sexy titles, including The Dark Garden written by Eden. Rachel is a member of a book group at one of Ebury’s sister companies, which is asked to read and comment on books pre-publication, including erotic novels." (John Koski, You Magazine)

They share their 10 basic rules.

There's details of a workshop being held on the 6th November, from 6 to 8.45pm - at Ebury Publishing in London- there's only 35 places and you need to book tickets asap; They cost £10 per person, but you do get "drinks and canapés and a goody bag to take home."

Phone number and times for booking by phone are given in the article.

Finally, there is also a a short story competition.

The winning entry will be published by Black Lace Books as part of an e-book collection.

The judges are: Gillian Green, Editorial Director, and authors Portia Da Costa and Kristina Lloyd.

Closing date for receipt of entries (of approximately 4,000 words) is 31st October. Include your name, address and full contact details with your entry, whether you send by e-mail, or by post.

(Details of where to send your competition entry is included in the article- see the link above.)

IMPORTANT: Do read the terms and condition at the bottom of the article as there are specific word counts boundaries for the story, and for the synopsis.

 A shortlist of 10 entrants will be contacted by the Publisher by the 1st December, and the winner announced by the 14th January.

Even if you don't win and only get into the shortlist, the T&C's state "shortlisted entrants may also be offered publishing deals with the Publisher."

If you enter, fingers crossed for your story to be successful.

Updated to add some information: The current edition of Writers' Forum magazine (October) has an article 'How To Break Into Erotica', and talks to three writers, Fran Tracey, Elizabeth Coldwell and Eden Bradley who share their insights.