My very first title with Heartsong Presents in 1997. See below on how you can win a copy
Wow, what a heavy heart. I just received word that the house which published my very first title, Mountaintop, is closing its doors. Heartsong Presents, a division of Barbour Publishing. Another casualty to a dwindling economy and the need to downsize, and one near and dear to my heart.
Heartsong Presents was one of the few publishing houses back in the early days that took on brand new authors like me and without an agent. They had a neat little book club that put out several books a month, so they were looking for writers. I joined the club first to see what books they published and met such popular authors now as Wanda Brunstetter, Colleen Coble, Loree Lough, Kristin Billerbeck, Donita Paul, even Tracie Peterson, all who began their now highly successful publishing careers with titles published by Heartsong Presents.
I developed a story I thought might go - a story of two hikers (imagine that!) who meet in the unforgiving White Mountains of New Hampshire and who learn to lean on each other and God when the going gets rough. I submitted it and anxiously waited. I didn't hear anything for a good long time and contemplated quitting the writing business (I had very little patience back then). I talked to a good friend of mine who said - "Hey, Lauralee, did God tell you to quit?" Well, no. And a few days later, the editor of the line, Rebecca Germany, called me on the phone to discuss my book and a contract. I was ecstatic! About a year later Mountaintop was born. And so too followed many other titles with this company, including my first ever historical book line.
The editors at Heartsong Presents gave me a chance with my work and alllowed me to grow in my writing.
Now sadly they are closing their doors. But I will never forget what they have done for me and the books they published to help launch me in my writing ministry. To my editors, line editors, copy editors, marketing, everyone in Heartsong Presents, thank you for 15 great years. I will miss you very much.
**Special Giveaway!! - I only have a few special copies left of my very first release, Mountaintop. I will be giving away one copy of this book near and dear to my heart. Leave a comment and your name and e-mail to enter. For anyone who signs up to receive this blog via e-mail or by Feedblitz, I will put your name in again for 2 chances to win (be sure to let me know). One name will be picked Wed, August 17th.
Odds at winning depends on number of entries received. Void where prohibited.
On August 15 I am blessed to have an old Heartsong friend, Donita K Paul, now a successful fantasy author, as my special guest blogger. Don't miss visiting with her!
These are the two-tone roses my husband gave me for Valentine's Day. The red is for love, the white, he said, for purity.
On this day of love, celebrated on Valentine's Day, I'd like to reflect on my writing. Why I chose to write Christian romance. You see, writing about romance and love is not a new idea. Or an idea only some have and others do not. Love is really God's idea. He created love. Love is all throughout the Bible. We can love others because He first loved us. And every day God instructs me on the purpose of love.Which is why the chapter on love, found in 1 Corinthians 13 is very much magnified in day to day living. Of love being patient in adversity. Kind when it may be easier to be unkind. To not hold a grudge when it can be difficult to forgive. Is long suffering. Has many attributes to it that I, as a writer, have seen with others and want to portray in my books. How love believes, bears up, hopes, and endures. I have written stories where love is patient. Long suffering. Can forgive. Leads to lasting relationships and marriage. But yes, can have its rocky times. Can be severely tested. Can be thrown into the midst of battle to see if love prevails. But in the end, love always wins. Just as the Bible paints so vividly, that love conquers all, to an everlasting love we will celebrate with God and His Son in heaven. That we can love because God first loved us. I pray that God will allow me to continue writing about love in books. That He will refresh me with new ideas on how to express that love so that I and others might continue in it, as long as we live.
Happy Valentines Day!
Feel free to visit my web site to learn more about my romance novels.
My guest this month is the successful and talented historical romance author, Laurie Alice Eakes, who will share some fascinating ideas on making your minor characters stand out in your novels. And if you leave a comment, you will be entered for a chance to receive one of Laurie's books!
Many years ago, I attended my first writer’s conference. The workshop leaders ranged throughout the genre spectrum, and did I ever learn—about the market, about point of view, and that my characters were two-dimensional.
Ouch!
As little as I knew about the craft, I understood that was bad. So I set out to learn. I read psychology books and self-help books and books on creating characters. Yet the one point that sticks in my mind above all when talking characterization, which I learned at that conference in less than five minutes. I learned enough that when I asked writer friends what topic I should cover here, they suggested I discuss creating three-dimensional secondary characters because it was a definite strength of mine.
At that conference, a presenter talked about another author, Martin Cruz Smith. I knew Smith’s work, had read his wonderful Russian detective novels, so I sat up and listened. The teacher pointed out how Smith had something this simple to say about a one-time character, “She had a red slash for a mouth.” That’s all we got about that woman. Though out of context, the image struck me in vivid detail. I knew the sort of person who would have a red slash for a mouth—cruel, bitter, angry, hard. Surely writing three-dimensional minor characters couldn’t be that easy.
Let me insert here that I’m not talking about the supporting cast to the hero and heroine, the best friend or mom, boss or mentor, who show up in numerous scenes throughout the book, the major secondary characters. Creating those characters goes right along with creating your primary characters—with full goal, motivation, and conflict charts, require the hours of filling out a 36 part questionnaire, and the other accessories of character building.
What I’m referring to here are those characters who have small roles that are crucial to the story, despite their small stage presence.
As I began to develop my craft, I discovered creating realistic characters, who may have no more than a hundred words of dialogue and often less, takes some thought. There are few words to reach a stage where even those people who walk on, deliver a line, and walk off again come to life with a trait—a one-line description that is unique and vivid.
A unique, yet vivid characteristic is one technique. We can’t copy the red slash for a mouth, and the world abounds in descriptive phrases. The man who looks like he stepped off of the pages of an Eddie Bauer catalog. The hostess in a purple satin ball gown and matching turban. Make it fit your time period and setting and the image you wish to convey. What would you think of a guy who dressed all Eddie Bauer? Or a woman who would wear purple satin?
Physical description is only one way to present a secondary character. In my first book, Family Guardian, where my heroine is a perfumer and into scents, she recognizes an odd person by his mildewy odor. What kind a person smells like mildew? Does it evoke an image in your mind?
Then people have a manner of speaking. In Lady of the Mist, my release out next year from Revell, a character mentioned periodically throughout the story finally has on-stage presence for about two pages at the most.
“So this is the brave young lady.” A hearty British voice rang through the room.
In one of my favorite Georgette Heyer novels, Devil’s Cub, the hero’s valet goes into a monologue about the physical flaws of all his previous employers. After about three lines, one knows just the sort of person he is and is in hysterics over his fussiness and perfectionism. We know him, though he really plays no other role in the story beyond that scene.
Do you see a pattern here?
Let me give you a
hint—five senses. Employ them to make a minor character work as a real person. Though if any of you can figure out how to use taste in this regard, I’d love to hear it.
A further way to make minor characters human is through their actions. Again in Lady of the Mist, the heroine meets the hero’s uncle for the first time and is so nervous she forgets where to place her feet so as not to topple over when she curtsies.
In most fiction, the characters drive the story. That means every person who walks across the stage needs to be three-dimensional,regardless of how small the role. Pinpointing the impression you want to evoke in the reader and then using the senses and/or actions to convey that impression, will give you minor characters who nonetheless stand up and proclaim their right to live amongst the major players of the story and set your manuscript apart from the hordes.
Award-winning author Laurie Alice Eakes does not remember a time when books did not play a part in her life; thus, no one was surprised when she decided to be a writer. Her first hardcover was an October, 2006 Regency historical from Avalon Books and won the National Readers Choice Award for Best Regency, as well as being a finalist for Best First Book. After selling her first book in the inspirational market, she also wrote articles and essays for Christian publications. A brief hiatus in publishing climaxed with her selling thirteen books in thirteen months, to publishers such as Barbour, Avalon, and Baker/Revell.
She is an active member of RWA and ACFW, and started the Avalon Authors group blog. A graduate of the Seton Hill University Master of Arts Degree in Writing Popular Fiction, And a Bachelor of Arts graduate in English and French from AsburyCollege, she is an experienced speaker, and has made presentations at local and national RWA conferences, as well as local universities and libraries.
Until recently, she lived in Northern Virginia, then her husband’s law career took them and their dogs and cats, to southern Texas, where she writes full-time and enjoys the beach whenever possible.
Leave a comment for a chance to win one of her novels. Void where prohibited. US residents only, please. Chance of winning depends on number of entries received.
It's interesting to see how love is created in life and how as a romance writer, I can reflect that kind of love in my books. Today I spend time in reflection of an engagement as twenty years ago, my husband called me up at work for our first date and later that next night, on May 18th, 1989, asked for my hand in marriage. We had not done the typical thing of shopping around with lots of dates and kissing to see if we were compatible. Ours was a simple story of waiting on God Who knew us both very well and Who would bring us together after seeking the godly counsel of the elders in our church. We then sought each other at a dinner one night and there committed our lives to one another. And here we are, twenty years later, still enjoying that same love God birthed long ago.
It is that kind of love I seek to write about in in my books. When my characters are giving loving glances, embracing and kissing, they are doing it as part of a lifelong commitment. They are not shopping around looking for the prize. They are waiting on God for Him to bring that perfect person into their lives. And so I like to portray godly romance in my stories. And reflect His idea of love and marriage in my books. After all, God designed it. He ordained it. He wants love to come to pass in His perfect timing. And He wants me as a writer to put such commitment into perfect words that speak of a lifelong love that never fades with the passage of time.
So here's to twenty years of marital bliss. And many more to come.
Ah, the week of love. Valentine's week. And a week also when I want to share about some of my upcoming romance titles I'm writing - one historical and one contemporary, east and west.
The first is Love Finds You in Bethlehem, New Hampshire. This book was recently contracted by Summerside Press, a brand new publisher out on the market. Their vision is to bring to life real towns with interesting names. I picked the town of Bethlehem as I love the setting - a quaint town nestled near the awesome splendor of the White Mountains. But I had no idea what kind of fascinating history Bethlehem has until I looked further. It was, for instance, the place in the late 1800s where people from the cities came to relax and enjoy the fresh air and mountain scenery.
The town boasted numerous hotels and guest houses to accommodate the influx of holiday travelers (such as the famous hotel pictured above called The Maplewood). The town also held a "Coaching Parade" every August to showcase elaborately decorated coaches for curious onlookers. Little did I know that the romantic tale I wished to weave in a far off New England town also had plenty of interesting history to bring to life. Look for updates to this book in the coming months, with its scheduled release slated for October, 2009.
The second book I'm working on is the first in a series of contemporary romances for Heartsong Presents, set in the scenic state of Utah. I'm writing a version of the prodigal son where the son of a successful Virginia peanut farmer decides life is not what its cracked up to be. He leaves farm and family to head for Utah. There he joins a rafting company in Moab in the hopes of finding adventure, love, and a purpose in life. But what he learns is lessons in humility and what real life is all about on his own personal island. Look for Cast Away coming in late 2009 or early 2010.
To learn more about these and other books, sign up for my newsletter via my web sitewhere I share about my upcoming releases and giveaways as well!
