Sigh. Figured out that I have too many things going on for my heroine. I have two major problems with her and really, I should just have one and go a bit deeper with it. I should have realised a couple of weeks ago when I was writing a major scene for her, where her conflict starts to get resolved, and I could not seem to make it so that the two issues were dealt with at once. I ended up dealing with one and leaving the other for the black moment. But the other one is a biggie and…it’s just not going to happen in the word count! So, I need to get rid of it. Of course this brings me to the main point of this post: the trouble with Riva.

It’s a feel-good, fun, flirty line. Contemporary, with a ‘young’ voice. But the problem with feel-good, fun and flirty is that it’s very hard then to get conflict that’s deep and yet isn’t too depressing or dark. Groan. My feeling is that the most emotional storylines come from tough conflict but how you do that and still make it feel-good and fun?? Double groan. And it doesn’t help that I like angst but my voice is Riva (my secret love would be Presents/Modern conflict with a Riva voice).

The big thing is that I don’t know if my conflict is too dark or not. My poor old bad boy has had a pretty dark, depressing past and I wonder if that’s too much. But then, if he’s a bad boy, he HAS to have had bad stuff in his past, right? I’ve tried to keep this out of the present as much as possible but now I’m getting into the later stages of the book, it’s feeling pretty angsty. The pay off will be an emotional ending but have I gone too far? Same with my poor old heroine. She’s got two problems now – physical scars and guilt. But I have to choose one. Which one? Scars or guilt? And are they too dark? Too real life? The other sub I have in at the moment – the soldier story – again, there’s some depressing stuff in both my characters’ lives. Not in the present, in the past, but still, it’s there. Will that be a problem? Is it worth even writing the rest of that one?

I don’t know And the only way to know is when I hear from the ed. But I’m beginning to think that this is another thing that’s all in the execution. Some conflicts, no matter what you do with them, will always be too depressing otherwise you risk making light of them. Yet with others, maybe it’s possible if you don’t dwell too much on the depressing parts. Like if it’s death, you don’t dwell on the grief and loss, or you make it happen in the distant past so it’s not an issue in the present. Fundamentally though, who knows? I’ll find out eventually about mine when I hear back. Until then…not sure what to do really.

Maybe I’ll just give up the present WIPs for my new idea which was inspired – don’t laugh please – by the song One Night in Bangkok (oh, okay, you can laugh). Hehe. Can anyone say cheesy? I’m aiming to bring the sexy back to chess!!

So, what do you reckon about conflict that is light and happy, fun, feel-good, and flirty, and yet is deep enough and emotinal enough to last 50k? Any ideas?

PS. If you don’t know the song, here it is. Go Murray Head!

So why now? I think it’s the old craft thing kicking in. I know more about craft now that I ever did and that has made me aware of the things I need to know before I can start the book – before I used to dive right in and never worry about it. Conflict being the main one. For example, the couple I’m writing now have a painful past and I thought I knew what that past was but as I was writing chapter 2, I realised that in fact I didn’t. Nor did I know what their most basic conflict was, the one that made their relationship fail the first time round. Or at least, I had an idea but then realised I hadn’t thought about it deeply enough. Oh, yes, and of course I’d made it unnecessarily complicated again so I had to simplify it. Simple but deep.

And then there’s the question about how to get across all that past, that sense of what their initial relationship was like, when they meet up again. It’s tricky because the conflict that they have must happen in the present, not the past, so you can’t put too much past in there. Argh!!

So, here I am, stuck in chapter 3, having rewritten the past couple of chapters 2 or 3 times and I’m still not sure I’ve got it right. Groan.

Anyone have any handy hints or tips for reunion stories??

This story has been a nightmare to rewrite actually. It’s currently in its 5th iteration and I’m so close to the characters, that whole gentle reveal thing has been really hard. Plus the fact that having no external conflict at all, the reason the two stay together in the book is all down to their choice and if they realise they’re falling for each other they would run a mile! So I have to keep them lying to themselves about what they’re feeling which makes for a slow build book. They don’t know they’re falling for each other and keep telling themselves everything’s okay – until right at the end when it blows up in their faces. Don’t know if that’s right but that’s the way it’s played out. And I’ve realised I’ve got quite a few love scenes in there. Ah well, the attraction between them is the excuse they use to stay together so it’s a large part of the story. And each scene does forward the conflict – I hope!

Good news for the first edit though is that I cried a little at the end. Always a sign that you’ve written something emotional! I didn’t in the first draft – first time ever – so I knew I’d have to go back and ramp everything up. So big yays for tears! Anyone else cry when they write their happy endings?

Right, nothing to do now but wait until I hear back from the ed – whenever that will be. Oh and I’m doing a writing tip on the Sisters’ blog today too. Will go up UK time. I’m thinking I might do a little something on dialogue…

The other thing to bear in mind is that although I may have three finished mss, it doesn’t mean that they are, in fact, any good! They could all be complete crap! If and when I finally do get to submit any of them, I could be soundly rejected or be told to completely rewrite them. In which case it’s back to the old drawing board.

However, I’m fully of the belief that it actually doesn’t matter if they are all complete crapola. They were all great practise. Old Coot (mountain climbing hero) is one that I wrote the start of, realised I had no conflict to speak of, and then completely rewrote. Kate and Alex is my Feel the Heat entry, minus the stereotypes and with added internal conflict. And Panic Attack…well, actually that was the latest one I started and the only one where I felt I actually knew what I was doing when I began it – meaning I had the internal conflict worked out first. So even if they are all rejected, I figure that each ms was a great learning experience. Nothing is ever wasted!

And now the fun really begins. Editing! So now I have to contemplate which one to start editing first (and finding titles for since I can’t really submit something called Old Coot!) . While I do that, the other thing I’m wondering about is whether to pitch to an agent at the RWNZ conference. Sadly we’re not getting an HMB editor this year but we are getting an agent from the Knight Agency who is actively seeking category projects. I don’t know whether to pitch or not. I’m thinking not, because you don’t really need an agent to write for HMB. What does everyone else reckon? To agent or not to agent?

Talk about suffering for my art! Anyway, as you can see, the helicopter was tiny! It was a Robinson R22 for those who know/care about such things (and no, my daughter did not go with us – I could barely fit me and my jersey in there!).

However, I am pleased to report that despite little wobbles about how the wretched thing stays in the air and a few ‘oh look, is that plane coming directly at us??’ moments, it was fantastic! Flew right over Auckland and over our house (the roof is in dire need of a paint), and it’s definitely a trip a heroine in need of getting over her fear of flying requires.

Have decided for my next WIP, my hero shall fly helicopters. Actually scrub that. The heroine can fly the damn helicopter.