Before January comes to its frigid conclusion
(snow or ice, anyone??? I’ve got lots!) let me wish all our TWRP authors, readers and
staff a very happy new year!
One of the things I’m most excited about as we
begin another fantastic year in the garden is that we can now consider stories
that don’t necessarily fit the typical romance mold. Over the years in historical we’ve seen many
family sagas, or stories that were more women’s fiction than romance, and with
heavy hearts we’ve had to inform those authors that we simply could not accept
their submission because it wasn’t technically a romance.
For many of us, myself included, change can be
a little unsettling. But rest assured, you
devoted readers and writers of historical, this is a good thing! (Yep, I’m
channeling my inner Martha Stewart today!)
Not only have many of our established authors already approached us with
story ideas and submissions, but we’ve been absolutely inundated with queries
from new authors, too.
So with all this talk of change, are you
wondering what your favorite historical editor is hoping to find in her submission inbox
this year? Well we still love romance,
of course, but let’s ask the editing team that very question.
Allison Byers, what would you most like to see from our authors—established
and new—in 2013?
I love historical
fiction, especially those set before 1900. I love a story in which the author
has taken pieces from the past and woven them into a story that helps the
reader see the past through a character’s hardships and happiness. The novel
should be plot-driven and richly constructed. When writing, the author should
make sure the plot excites, inflames, and inspires the reader.
But let me caution
that the story should pay close attention to historical details. There is a new
historical fiction entitled alternative historical fiction which is
written with a “What if? premise. For example, what if the South had won the
war? I’m not interested in this type of historical fiction.
Nan Swanson is sort of our Queen of Vintage Rose. She loves this line and handles the majority of
the submissions that come in for Vintage.
Nan, what are you hoping to see for Vintage Rose this year?
The Vintage Rose line is looking for stories
about the 1900s, set anywhere in the world. So much happened during the
twentieth century, and so much of it changed the life of every ordinary person,
or, as they said back then, “the man on the street” (pre-women’s lib). What
better way to learn history than by immersing yourself in someone else’s story
as they experience wars, new inventions, social and economic changes, climate
extremes, and the widening of their window on the world? Such broad subjects
can have intimate stories behind the scenes… The shipyard worker who helped
build the Titanic. The woman who cleaned at an inventor’s house, or the
gardener or cook there. The family who endured the Dust Bowl and did not pick up and go to California. The
half-American orphan in Korea in the 1950s. The family who left everything to
come to America but were late getting to the dock so took the next boat and
helped rescue survivors from the torpedoed ship they had meant to be on.
Anywhere, doing anything, they each have a story that can be told, Edwardians
to doughboys to flappers to G.I.s to
rock’n’rollers to women’s libbers to hippies to all the labels of the last few
decades before 2000. And Vintage Rose wants those stories!
Susan Yates, how about you?
In the spirit of New Year’s resolutions, a book review website
recently featured a Romance Novel Reader Workout. The plan encouraged readers
to read a romance novel (always a good thing!) and do exercises when certain
things happened in the novel. For instance, when “A tingle or spark goes up the
arm of one or both characters if they touch” do ten jumping jacks, or, when “A
character looks in the mirror and describes herself” do ten dumbbell curls. The
list is not meant to be taken seriously, of course, but it’s a good
illustration of how easy it is for authors—and editors too!—to fall into
romance-novel clichés. That’s why as a reader and an editor, I’m always looking
to be surprised. I love a romance that takes me in a new direction, or that
transcends the genre in some way. Whether it’s an under-represented era or a
traditional era presented in a new way, I want a story that immerses me in
history and that makes me trust the author knows it cold. I love characters
that have dimension and feeling, and a plot that throws them into an impossible
situation and makes me care about how they resolve it. I love dialog that goes
beyond the superficial, that perfectly illuminates the characters. And most of
all, I want stories with depth and emotion that sweep me along with them. And
of course, I want stories that avoid anything that might turn a reader on the
Romance Novel Workout plan into a body-builder!
Cindy Davis, what kind of stories are you hoping to see?
I would love to see quirky characters, unique
new settings, unusual careers. Stretch your imagination. Stay away from the
familiar. Research if you have to but go beyond what you read. Go beyond your
emotions. Make the story memorable.
And as for me, Nicole D'Arienzo...
Whether it’s
romance or not, I want conflict, conflict and more conflict. Now mind you I don’t mean misunderstanding—I don’t want to see
lame or watery conflicts that can easily be resolved with a little
explanation. Nope. I want angst and emotion. I want those characters to feel that there’s
simply no way to make this work.
Many authors worry if their conflict is too
deep or too complicated, they won’t be able to resolve it, but you know
what? You don’t have to. It’s okay for your characters to decide that
being apart is far more painful than their differences and they can agree to
disagree. (Now obviously I don’t mean that one of them is married and the other
chooses to accept it, or that one is a serial killer and the other chalks it up to a minor character flaw.)
Neither should you short change your readers (or
editor!) by resolving things too easily simply because you’re nearing maximum
word count. Having your heroine suddenly shrug her shoulders on the last page and
say “you were right, I was wrong” does not
an emotionally satisfying ending make.
Take your characters on an emotional journey. Make me feel their inner struggle, torture
them just a little …and you have the kind of story I’d love to find in my
inbox!
Happy Writing!
