Hello everybody, new here!

Hi everyone I just wanted to type a quick hello. My name is Diana, and I just found these boards.
I am currently writing a romance genre novel, I suppose. I guess it is kind of a romance/mystery/sci-fi type novel, lol.
I will go back to reading your informative posts! :thumbs

Diana

Howdy. Welcome. The more the merrier. :jump

~Jen

Hello Everybody, new here!

Thanks Jen! I am so glad I found this board. It's really helping me out. arty

Diana

Re: Hello Everybody, new here!

I am currently writing a romance genre novel, I suppose. I guess it is kind of a romance/mystery/sci-fi type novel

Click to expand...

Now that sounds like fun.

Re: Hello Everybody, new here!

Now that sounds like fun--quoted (sorry I have NO idea how to quote yet.)

It is actually a blast. I have many ideas for novels such as this. They will all be primarly in the romance genre however will have a couple other genre influences as well. Helps for lots of twists and curves...:rollin

Re: Hello Everybody, new here!

(sorry I have NO idea how to quote yet.)

Click to expand...

If you know how to copy / paste it is easy.

First right select text you want to copy by dragging your cursor over it with the right mouse button depressed. This may take a bit of practice.

Second right click your mouse. A box will appear with several options. Click on "copy." This will put the selected text into the computer clip board.

Third click on reply in the normal manner.

Once the reply box pops up look to its left. You will see 7 rectangles. Click on the one that says "quote."

A new box will appear that says, "enter text to be quoted." Center your cursor where the text is to be entered and right click.

Now left click. The same box will appear as in step #2. This time select paste.

Clikc OK on the new box and the quoted text will appear in your reply box incased between the two quote markers.

All done.

Re: Hello Everybody, new here!

I think that romance, "That which draws two human beings together" is much neglected in standard, especially mainstream and genre, fiction to its own detriment.

Humans need certain things. They need a place to find safety and comfort. They need the have some adventure in their lives. They need people to love and enemies to hate.

All too often, especially when men write, danger and enemies are all that are in evidence: as tho the desire for love, saftey and comfort were somehow obscene.

Good fiction should reflect all of those and more besides.

Re: Hello Everybody, new here!

Hello.
Yeah I am another newbie too. I have been writing for only a year now and can't believe how much I love it. Who would have known I could find a new talent at 45. I am Currently writing for my own gratification. But have had many friends tell me to that I am good (what do they know?).
So here I am seeking advice and knowledge where I can find it. I am writing a historical/who know where it will go, and went looking for a name for the lead male character. Wow so many English names that are so over used, Any suggestions?
Becca

Names, Yikes

I like making up names, but not within a historical setting where you might be looking a period name.

In many older settings, last names were the forefront, "Sir Lancelot" as opposed to Edward Lancelot.

I'm not particular to a common name, "Edward"

I'd prefer something a little unusual, like "Roth Covington"

Perhaps "Morgan Waddington"?

Or go with something out of the norm altogether, in having their grandmother written into the story as an Indian Princess, who married an English Lord, and the name is not European at all, "Januel" or "Taysha"

Re: Names, Yikes

Guess I didn't poke around here for a while. Sorry.

Finding a new talent at any age is great.

Not sure what I can contribute about names though.

Welcome aboard.

Re: Names, Yikes

Thanks for the suggestions. My next dilemma is the setting I had my heart set on a certain location in Scotland. How true do have to stay to the history of the location? Would it be better just to make an imaginary town rather than find out that there is no chapel in Perth with a slate roof? There is the possibility for so many mistakes. Does one research and find an actual estate that existed in that time period? But then would the characters have to be actual owners? Ok that is a bit much. It is just an example.
Thanks for the help!
Walks
8o

Re: Names, Yikes

Funny you should mention that. I was just in Edinburgh this past fall. Scotland is rather a nice place, although the dollar wasn't doing very well when I was there.

If you can find a chapel without turrets and a slate roof, let me know. And also alot of soot from the peat.

Re: Names, Yikes

Ok thanks I am glad to know there are slate roofs on chaples in Scotland. But the real question was how close do we stay to reality or is it just better to use fictitious towns and estates?

It depends upon your objective

I prefer making up the name of a town for a variety of reasons.

Having a setting like London, Paris, New York or L.A can work for a variety of reasons, because you can use famous places as a backdrop. In Sleepless in Seattle, the Empire State Building was very convenient.

But I prefer "Hole in the wall" settings, like "Smallville" or "Metropolis", places that could exist somewhere.

You may wonder why I prefer the nameless "Anywhere". It's for convenience and it is part of the creative process. The church can be anywhere I want it to be. I can give it trees, or rip them out. It can be down the street next to the park, or sandwiched between two dilapidated brownstones. If I want St Stephen's Episcopal church in Chicago, I'd better now exactly where that is, and the landscape, and I don't.

Re: It depends upon your objective

I agree that an invented place gives flexibility but I like it to feel like is is a specific town as much as possible... although going very generic sometimes help sell to foreign markets.

Sometimes only a real place will give the right feel, but when this happens I always use a place I know. Nothing is worse that reading a book set in my home country where everything is a gross steroetype of reality, or feels like the author dressing their neighbours in 'exotic' fancy dress.

(p.s. living in Ropslin, Scotland myself at the moment)

Re: It depends upon your objective

Well, that goes to show there is no right or wrong answer to the question.

It's a personal preference thing, and how you make it work.

I could do a story and set it in my hometown in New Jersey, where I grew up, but what if I wanted to add a rowdy bar? People would say, "Hey, there's no bar there like that!"

My preference doesn't mean that my way is right. It just works for me.

I also like composites. Something happened in Red Bank, another thing in Asbury park, another in Ocean Grove.

In a book, it may serve my purposes better to have one town, and take bits from all three. The reality is that I may be drawing on natural experiences, "The places where I grew up", but the more spread out you make this, the less warmth you have. It's like Peyton Place- It all happens there.

Re: It depends upon your objective

From a reviewer's perspective:
If you are writing an historical novel and you have your characters act in a way that is inconsistent with the cultural beliefs at the time, you had better do it well and tread carefully. It really burns my biscuits when I am asked to review a novel that butchers a culture, or worse yet "Americanizes" a culture ad nauseam.
Kinley MacGregor does a fabulous job with her historical novels. I recommend you check her out and see how to have fun, without bugging the history buffs (too much!).

~Kate