Is Reading the Genre You're Currently Writing Dangerous?

Photo sent to me by the lovely Stephanie Haefner

There's this thought out there amongst writers that reading something too close to what you're writing poses danger. Why? Because you may lift some idea or concept from a book and incorporate it into your own writing without realizing it--subconscious absorption or something.

So many writers, if they're writing say fantasy YA may stay away from reading any fantasy while they are actively writing and stick to things a little further from home. I get that. It would suck to have someone else's story influence yours too much.

However, here's the thing, if that's the case, then it would be dangerous to read ANY fiction or watch a movie or TV show for that matter. By nature, our stories incorporate ideas we get from things we're exposed to. For instance, if I'm writing my erotic romance, but go see some action film set in Hawaii, it could inspire me to whisk my couple away to the island for a vacation there. There's a difference between inspiration and stealing an idea (whether subconsciously or not). And I think that's where you have to be aware.

But, having said all that, I still read heavily in my genre even when I'm writing it. Why?

1. I'm ALWAYS writing.

If you end up doing this for a career, there is very minimal non-writing time, if any. I write every day. I'm under deadlines at least through 2014. If I didn't read romance while I was writing it, I would NEVER get to read my absolute favorite genre. Not acceptable.

2. It's important to know what is going on in your genre and what is successful.

This industry is constantly shifting, tastes are perpetually changing. You want to write what you write and stay true to your style, BUT you also don't want to be stagnant or unaware of what is selling. For instance, if you write my genre, you probably should read 50 Shades. Regardless of whether you love/hate/feel indifferent about it, it's important to try to discern what about that book made it such a phenomenon when erotic BDSM romance has been around forever. Keep a thumb on the pulse of your business.

3. You learn what is cliche and overdone so you can avoid it.

If you don't read widely in your genre, you may not realize that your SUPER BRILLIANT IDEA has been done a thousand times or that SUPER CREATIVE SCENE is a big fat cliche. 

4. You have recommendations to share with your readers.

This is a small thing, but it really does come into play. Many of my readers are new to the genre and they want to know after reading my books, what else is out there that's like this? So if I'm well read in my genre, I can give them some of my favorites, which in turn, helps promote the genre and its authors as a whole.

So yes, be aware when you're reading that your mind may try to glom on to something from someone else's book, but don't deprive yourself of the books you love. You're writing this genre for a reason. If someone told me I'd have to give up reading romance if I wanted to write it, I would've found a different job. : )

What do you think? Do you steer clear of reading your own genre when you're writing a new book? Have you ever found yourself accidentally lifting some concept from another book?

Book Deal Squee-ing: More Loving on the Edge On the Way!

My awesome new stamp for bookplates

Every day I realize how lucky I am to do this whole writing thing for a living. But it's one of those jobs that's always a bit of a crap shoot. You never know how people are going to receive your stories or if they're going to be successful or if you're going to keep getting to do it.

Therefore, each time I get to sign on the dotted line to write more books, I don't take it for granted. So thank you to each and every one of you who have bought my books and enjoyed them. You're the reason I'm going to be writing more stories from The Ranch all the way through 2014. : )

Books five and six have sold! 

October 3, 2012
		Fiction: Women's/Romance		Roni Loren's next two books in her LOVING ON THE EDGE series, revolving around The Ranch - a private BDSM club in Texas, again to Kate Seaver at Berkley Heat, for publication in 2014, in a nice deal, in a two-book deal, by Sara Megibow of Nelson Literary Agency (World).

This means that 2014 will bring you the stories of both Kade Vandergriff (who you meet in STILL INTO YOU and get to see more of in FALL INTO YOU in January) and Colby Wilkes (who shows up subtly in almost every book and has a bigger role in FALL INTO YOU). I can't wait to write the stories for these two. Dates are still floating around but Kade's story will be first, most likely in the Spring of 2014 and Colby's story will be in the fall. (And to see what celebrities I imagine for Kade and Colby inspiration, check out the bottom of my Ranch page.)

AND for those of you who may not be in the States or Canada, rights to CRASH INTO YOU and MELT INTO YOU have sold in the UK and CRASH has sold in France. Woot! So hopefully those editions will be on shelves in the next year or two. : )

Also, big cover news is on the way. I've been talking about it on Twitter, but I'm hoping to share the new covers with y'all in the next few weeks!

That's all for now! 

7 Things That Make the Chronic Finisher Put Down a Book

Photo by Rennett Stowe

I spent the weekend in Vegas for my birthday and had a fabulous time. It was a short trip but a much needed mental break in the middle of my deadline hell. : ) But this also means I'm a back an older post. This problem I talk about in this post is ongoing for me as I find myself less and less forgiving of an opening that doesn't hook me. 

This year I'm doing the 50/50 Challenge (50 books and 50 movies in a year), and I've been doing decent on my pace--though I probably won't hit 50. But I definitely have put down at least ten books that I started and never went back to. So I'm updating this older post with this year's experience.

***

So up until about a year ago, I had this problem when I started reading a book. Once I peeled back the cover of one, I was compelled to finish it. No matter if I was fully enjoying the book or not. It felt like starting a book was like signing some contract. I bought this book. I've chosen to read it. And now I must read it all. I was the Chronic Finisher.

But then a lot changed in my life. I got a book deal and started writing on deadline. My then angelic two year old turned into an intense three year old. And my reading time shrunk to this minuscule sliver of time. So I found myself putting down books that didn't capture my interest. And then I wouldn't get any reading done because I felt like if I was going to read, I needed to finish whatever book I had started. But I wasn't into that book so didn't pick it up at all.

Well, finally, I came to the conclusion that I had to put the Chronic Finisher in rehab. I was missing out on good books by forcing myself to read ones I didn't love. My reading time is too short and my TBR pile too big to be doing that. So lately, I've been giving myself permission to give up on a book if it hasn't grabbed me by page 50 or so. (I know many of you are less forgiving than that, but three chapters or 50 pages feels about right for me. I give it a shot in case it's a slow starter.)

And each time I put down a book in the DNF (did not finish) pile, the writer in me wants to evaluate WHY I didn't feel compelled to finish it. What was bad enough to defeat the chronic finisher? Here's what I've discovered.

What Makes Even the Chronic Finisher Put Down a Book

1. Didn't connect with the characters

If I can't relate to the hero or heroine at all or if I don't like them, I find it next to impossible to get into the book. I must be emotionally connected by chapter 3 at the very latest. This is probably the most common reason I put a book down.

2. There was no chemistry or not enough build-up between the hero and heroine in a romance.

Obviously, I write sexy romance and enjoy reading it. But nothing will bore me quicker than throwing two people together when there hasn't been any tension or chemistry set up beforehand. This doesn't mean you can't have the characters get together quickly, but the author better have done a fabulous job building up that tension. (Liberating Lacey by Anne Calhoun comes to mind for a great example of how to do this right. The characters have a love scene very quickly, but the setup and chemistry are FABulous so it feels like the right time.)

3. This feels familiar...

Tired plots and clichés. Last year, this has happened most in the YA paranormal genre for me. If a book is going to have a girl meeting dangerous, mysterious new guy--there better be a helluva twist to make it different from all the other stories out there like that. 

4. The BIG secret is the only sense of tension in the book.

I am fine with a secret in a plot. That can be great. (And by secret, I don't mean twist we don't see coming. That's something different. I mean we, the readers, know there is a secret.) But what I will not put up with for long is a book that drags out revealing what the BIG secret is to the reader for no apparent reason but to pull you along. This is when characters keep almost revealing what the big, bad thing is, but then someone walks into the room and interrupts them. Gah! I'm much more a fan of where the reader may know the character's secret early on, but the hero or heroine is keeping it from another character for good reason.

5. Bad writing

I know I'm picky. I'm a writer so I'm going to see things now that I wouldn't have probably picked up when I was only a reader. For instance, an opening scene where the character is looking in a mirror and describing herself is cliche. Writer me groans. A reader may not care. Or if there is lots of telling and no showing, I'll get turned off by it. A few of these things here and there won't necessarily make me put down a book, but a consistent appearance of things like that will make me close the book. (And if it's exclamation points on every page, I'll close it regardless since it's a pet peeve of mine and usually indicates beginner writing.) With all the publishing options out there, I've grown a bit more careful and am reading sample pages. Because some books are edited and some you can tell are by a first time writer who let their Aunt Ruth "edit".

6. Nothing to get passionate about

This one is new for me and a little harder to define. I've started to read books that were...fine. The writing was good, the characters were interesting enough, there wasn't anything I could point to that was bad. BUT at the same time, when I put these books down, I didn't find myself thinking about the book or that desperate to get back to it. I didn't feel passionate about anything in the book. It's kind of a "I could take it or leave it" feeling. Like, if I had nothing better to do, I'd read it. In the past, these would've been books I'd make myself finish. Now I'm at the point that I just move on. The TBR pile is too big to waste time on something I'm ambivalent about. (This is also the one that drives me most crazy as a writer because I want to know WHY I'm ambivalent so that I don't make those mistakes in my own writing.)

7. *Yawn* Boring....

This one is obvious I'm sure, but I need a book to hook and excite me. If I'm at page fifty and I don't give a crap what happens, then you've bored me. You should have me by chapter one. If the book goes on and on with description and setting up characters and not giving me any true action or conflict, I'm bored. Maybe that's a result of our fast-moving culture, but it is what it is. A book is entertainment, so entertain me. Dance, monkey, dance. :)

All right, so those are my top reasons for putting down a book. What are some of yours? How long do you give a book to hook you? Are you a chronic finisher?

The New Adult Genre: Here To Stay This Time?

Image via CollegeDegrees360 (flickr cc)A while back, I think in late 2009, there were rumblings of this new genre called New Adult. This genre would cover an age group often ignored in fiction--the 18-25 year old protagonist. In theory, it was supposed to fill in the gap between Young Adult fiction and Adult fiction. St. Martin's even came out with a call for that type of book. It felt like it was going to be a "thing". I remember all this distinctly because my friend, Julie Cross, had written a book that had college-aged protags (Tempest) and ended up publishing with St. Martin's.

But after that initial buzz about the genre, I didn't hear too much more about it for a while. Personally, I was kind of disappointed because I really like the idea of stories about that age group. So much happens to us in those years--it's rife with the drama of transitioning from childhood to adulthood, figuring out who you are, who you want to be, etc. All the good angsty things that can create good fiction. Plus, you can be a little more flexible with your characters because you don't have to worry as much about the rules that apply to YA fiction. So I was hoping it would get more traction than it did at the time.

Then, just when I thought the idea has faded into the background, 50 Shades happened. 

Yes, most of the buzz about 50 Shades is about the "erotic" parts. But honestly, that part was nothing new. Erotic romance, and specifically BDSM erotic romance, has been around for a long, long time. And has been a thriving sub genre for at least a decade. What was different about 50 Shades was that it was basically erotic YA. Yes, yes, the heroine is in her 20s but it READS like a teen character. (And that makes sense considering it was originally Twilight fan fiction.)

So back in March when I was chatting with agent Sara and YA author Mari Mancusi about 50 Shades at a conference, I jokingly predicted that the next big thing was going to be erotic YA. That's what I thought the book was tapping into.

And holy crap, you know what? I was kind of right. (That never happens.) Except it's not YA, it's New Adult. In the past, it's kind of been a touchy area--18-20 somethings having smexy times in a book, but now it's everywhere. It's a "thing". Look at the books that have done really well post-50 Shades: Bared to You by Sylvia Day (heroine is fresh out of college, starting her first job), Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire (college student I believe), Beth Kery's Because You Are Mine (heroine is right out of college), On Dublin Street  by Samantha Young which I'm reading right now (heroine fresh out of college.) I also read Sheltered by Charlotte Stein earlier this year and it was in the same vein. I know there are many more, but that's just the ones off the top of my head.

Of course, these also have another theme in common--the older, more experienced guy. But that's nothing new to the romance genre. Most historical romances have that dynamic. And even in my books, I usually have a more experienced guy (usually meaning more experienced in BDSM) even if the age difference between the hero and the heroine may not be big. 

AND by total coincidence (seriously, I pitched this idea before this trend started rolling), my e-serial tentatively titled NOT UNTIL YOU falls into this category. The story starts on the day my heroine graduates from veterinary school. And my hero, her neighbor, definitely didn't plan to get involved with some "kid". : ) Of course, his plan doesn't go so well.

So I, for one, am excited about this trend. I always say that erotic romance and YA are my two favorite genres to read. I even started out writing YA. And it's one of the reasons I did a dual timeline in Crash Into You. Half the story is ten years earlier when she's in college, so it's actually half new adult, lol.

So this genre kind of blends what I love most about both adult romance and YA together. When it's well written, I really enjoy that coming-into-adulthood story where we get to see the insecurity and angst of being young and unsure mixed in with the ability to explore and take some risks, to act like an adult.

And with all this momentum, I'm hoping the genre is here to stay. Not just in the erotic subset but in general. Bring on the new adult!

So how do you feel about this genre? Have you read anything you'd consider New Adult? If so, what's been your favorite so far?

Read the First Chapter of FALL INTO YOU

Hi everyone, just wanted to let y'all know that FALL INTO YOU's first chapter is now posted. : ) For those who read this in the back of MELT INTO YOU, you'll notice a few slight changes from that version.

Click here to read Chapter One

He’ll do anything for you. But you’d better say please.

When tomboy sports reporter Charli Beaumonde loses a dream TV job because she’s not girly enough for primetime, she’s determined to land a big scoop and prove her boss made a mistake. But when she gets too close to a football scandal and finds her life threatened, Charli accepts an offer from family friend Grant Waters to hide out at his place—even if Grant predicts nothing but trouble from his buddy’s hard-headed, uncompromising, irrepressible, younger sister. There’s one more problem…

Grant’s “place” is The Ranch, a BDSM resort in Texas, and he’s used to being in charge —even if that means trying to keep Charli in line. But much to Grant’s surprise, she’s intrigued—even envious—of his trainees. They’re the epitome of what she’s never been: sexy, beguiling, and totally irresistible to a man. Still, Grant doesn’t believe for a minute that the sharp-tongued Charli has it in her to be anyone’s submissive. But Charli’s already on her knees vying for the chance to prove that even the Master can be wrong sometimes.

Releases January 2013

Available for pre-order from Amazon  and Barnes and Noble!