Kendra’s Random Walk

Having a book published is a lot like scattering seeds in the wind. You never know where they will land and take root. I'm always surprised and thrilled when I get emails from readers telling me they're enjoying Kendra and her crazy adventures. But I'm even more surprised when I get emails from readers in other countries who enjoy my books, since except for my MySpace page, I don't do any promo to reach readers outside the USA. Yet, I've received email from readers in Canada, England, The Netherlands, Germany, and Japan!

One such email came from the fiction buyer for Random Walk, a bookstore chain in Japan, who discovered my books on MySpace. Not only is Random Walk now stocking my books in at least one of their stores, but I recently did a really cool interview for the website of Random Walk’s bookstore in Kobe Japan. Random Walk's owner is also the owner of the largest importer of foreign language books in Japan. So, if you’re ever in Japan, and need something to read, Random Walk has stores in Tokyo, Kobe, Osaka, and Kyoto. And if you find a copy of one of my books on the shelf, please send me a picture!

Later,
Angela

Manspeak

One of the workshops I especially enjoyed during the 2008 Romance Slam Jam was Harlequin Kimani author Wayne Jordan's Keep Your Hero from Sounding Like a Heroine: Writing Believable Male Characters.

Wayne shared several tips to remember when differentiating male and female dialogue.
1. Women use more words to express themselves than men.
2. Women rely more on their feelings - both emotional and sensory - in their communication and reactions. Ask yourself, what does she feel in the physical sense as well as how does she feel in the emotional sense?
3. Men rely more on their visual perceptions. Ask yourself, what does this character see? And remember, he's more inclined to believe what he can see.
4. Women express themselves with emotion; men are more physically demonstrative.

One movie that illustrates this communication difference very well is Speed starring Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock. I've watched that movie several times in part to study the way the writers used dialogue to enhance characterization. Have you ever seen it?

Sandra Bullock's character is very nurturing. When the danger of the moment is over, the first words out of her mouth are, "Is everyone OK?" She puts others before herself.

Keanu Reeves' character is an impulsive, action-oriented person. Words aren't important to him. Dialogue is an afterthought. When one of the male civilians asks him if what they're about to do will work, Keanu just stares at him.

Of course, this type of exchange is easier in film. It's not as though we can have our heroine share her deepest, darkest fears with the hero and have the hero's response be a blank page. The way I try to work around this is by having an especially alpha male character speak with the least amount of words possible.

What have you observed about the difference in the way men and women speak? And how do you show this difference in your writing?

Next week, I hope to tell you about either Donna Hill's promotion workshop or Kayla Perrin's plotting workshop.

Patricia

Nose--and Teeth--To the Grindstone

Sorry I've been such a bad blogger lately. I have a good excuse. I've been writing. I got some excellent feedback from my agent, and some outside readers, on the YA novel I've been attempting to write. The general consensus is that while I have a good story and characters, I'm not quite fitting what I've got into the right format for YA. ARGH! So, now I'm toying with whether to scrap the project altogether, or making the characters older, possibly eighteen, which would turn the book into an adult novel. I'm leaning towards the latter because I've fallen in love with these characters and really want to write about them.

Decisions Decisions.

I've also been working on Kendra book #5, which is a much easier process. I'm so comfortable writing about Kendra and co. that these books kind of write themselves. It's like putting on a comfy pair of shoes, while writing the YA novel is like trying to squeeze my feet into cute shoes that don't fit.

On the health front, I found out recently that at the ripe old age of 41, I have to have all my wisdom teeth pulled. All at once! One the same day! The date is set for next month. That means being sedated again and doing more weird stuff that I won't remember, and more funny stories for my family to tell me the day after. Fun! Fun!

Finally, for those of you who thought it might be fun to be an author's assistant, you may want to think twice after reading this man's story. Gee, I wonder who he could be talking about ; ).

Later,
Angela