Once an aspiring author has achieved their dream of no longer aspiring to writing there are a handful of obligations each must undertake before they can consider a follow-up novel to their under-whelming debut. Since they have become a player on a fiercely competitive global stage it is imperative they become indistinguishable from their thousands of contemporaries. No author is truly an author unless they are liked on Facebook, followed on Twitter and represented online by both a poorly-designed website and an infrequently updated blog. Here they can share what is distracting them from considering a follow-up novel and post daily word-count numbers, cheesecake recipes and essays on what they have learned for the aspiring authors who stumble distractedly onto their pages while searching for photographs of Hugh Jackman.
One such novelist is the Australian Ally Blake, who offered the internet the advice she gave at the Williamstown Literary Festival of 2006. Much of the focus of the article is skewed towards writers Down Under, and the majority of the more universal assistance sheds no new light on the subject at hand, but she does briefly touch upon one topic Mills & Boon has been somewhat evasive on, even as they constantly stress its importance. This topic is uniqueness, or individuality, to use an actual word. By now Bewildered Heart obsessives should have learned the necessary skills for strong characters, original scenarios, witty dialogue, compelling emotional conflict and sizzling sex scenes, but they should have also noticed how quality is rarely enough for their publishing house of choice and so we turn to Ally for inspiration on how to turn ourselves from Nora Nobodies into Nora Robertsies.
According to Blake, novelist and speed-reader, it is as simple as unifying the extraordinary with the realistic to create a believable combination that is no way contradictory. 'When choosing to use two to three precious hours out of your day to read a novel, you’re not looking to fill in your time reading about Jane and Joe making tea, tending the garden and watching the telly.' While this does sound suspiciously like a challenge, or a dig at literary authors, the sentiment is sensible. Don't gloss over the courtship and skip directly to married life. After all, this is romance fiction, and whether the emphasis is on romance or fiction every day tasks simply will not suffice. 'The hero and heroine in your tale go through something extraordinary. Their problems are deeper, their romance brighter, their falls bigger - they live their lives that little bit harder and faster and more spectacularly than the rest of us.' This is naturally so, as the rest of us are stuck indoors writing and reading vicariously through manifestations of our idealised selves, and at our most desirable would never dream of hot beverages, flowers, entertainment, dull relationships and short drops into shallow conundrums.
Nevertheless, as Ally goes onto point out, the extraordinary is not necessarily extraordinary unless someone relatable notices and reacts suitably. 'Romance readers have been around long enough to recognise literary devices such as forced intimacy, black moments, happily ever afters.' The naïve might believe such canny romance readers deserve to be rewarded with something superior, but these conventions are part of the genre's appeal, offering that warm buzz of familiarity. Yet all this experience affords readers a discerning eye when it comes to character. 'A vulnerable heroine who is afraid of spiders but still walks around a corner in a dark spooky house to see what that strange noise was will be deemed too stupid to live and that book will never be finished.' Why a romantic protagonist is wandering alone around a dark spooky house that makes peculiar sounds is not something Blake seems willing to deal with in this article, but perhaps the hero is a giant spider or a billionaire spider collector, thus suggesting the emotional conflict at the centre of the concept.
This is the critical concoction of grounded fantasy that Blake alludes to. A charming, albeit nervous, heroine allows for a down-to-earth viewpoint into larger-than-life tale of an innocent house-keeper plunged into a sordid battle of sexual politics with a haughty, albeit handsome, arachnoid internet tycoon. There the author has found the perfect balance of dramatic adventure beyond the ken of their readers, while maintaining a footing in the real world through how Jane deals with her predicament, her soft hands shaking violently as she stirs milk into his tea. 'Romantic literature is about keeping it real with just a touch of fairy dust.' This final insight appears to amount to a satisfactory conclusion, with Ally Blake moving onto other things, safe in the knowledge she has not let slip any useful information that might be used by others to threaten her career.
The absence of perceptive comment suggests that there is no secret ingredient to make a novel stand out from the others in the slush pile, and the likes of Blake and Bewildered Heart are deceiving struggling authors by claiming to be able to help. Ally's essay ends up making two patently obvious statements, firstly it is essential that you write an interesting story, and secondly your characters must respond to experiences as humans would. Still, adhering to these two rules would hardly mark a manuscript out as unique, rather competent. Furthermore, these comments are not particular to Blake's chosen genre. Unpredictable character reactions can be strongly utilised, and therefore none of this expert opinion is worthwhile or even accurate. Still, when scouring an author's social networking, online diaries or advice columns it does not appear as if anyone has specified exactly what to fill those empty spaces with. Nobody has learned anything and nobody has anything to pass on, and so nonsense is regurgitated endlessly, with the latest updates. 'Today romance fiction is whatever it wants to be. Within the constraints of the genre the possibilities are endless.' If anything is possible why are there constraints, and if romance cannot be defined, why are there all these articles?
One such novelist is the Australian Ally Blake, who offered the internet the advice she gave at the Williamstown Literary Festival of 2006. Much of the focus of the article is skewed towards writers Down Under, and the majority of the more universal assistance sheds no new light on the subject at hand, but she does briefly touch upon one topic Mills & Boon has been somewhat evasive on, even as they constantly stress its importance. This topic is uniqueness, or individuality, to use an actual word. By now Bewildered Heart obsessives should have learned the necessary skills for strong characters, original scenarios, witty dialogue, compelling emotional conflict and sizzling sex scenes, but they should have also noticed how quality is rarely enough for their publishing house of choice and so we turn to Ally for inspiration on how to turn ourselves from Nora Nobodies into Nora Robertsies.
According to Blake, novelist and speed-reader, it is as simple as unifying the extraordinary with the realistic to create a believable combination that is no way contradictory. 'When choosing to use two to three precious hours out of your day to read a novel, you’re not looking to fill in your time reading about Jane and Joe making tea, tending the garden and watching the telly.' While this does sound suspiciously like a challenge, or a dig at literary authors, the sentiment is sensible. Don't gloss over the courtship and skip directly to married life. After all, this is romance fiction, and whether the emphasis is on romance or fiction every day tasks simply will not suffice. 'The hero and heroine in your tale go through something extraordinary. Their problems are deeper, their romance brighter, their falls bigger - they live their lives that little bit harder and faster and more spectacularly than the rest of us.' This is naturally so, as the rest of us are stuck indoors writing and reading vicariously through manifestations of our idealised selves, and at our most desirable would never dream of hot beverages, flowers, entertainment, dull relationships and short drops into shallow conundrums.
Nevertheless, as Ally goes onto point out, the extraordinary is not necessarily extraordinary unless someone relatable notices and reacts suitably. 'Romance readers have been around long enough to recognise literary devices such as forced intimacy, black moments, happily ever afters.' The naïve might believe such canny romance readers deserve to be rewarded with something superior, but these conventions are part of the genre's appeal, offering that warm buzz of familiarity. Yet all this experience affords readers a discerning eye when it comes to character. 'A vulnerable heroine who is afraid of spiders but still walks around a corner in a dark spooky house to see what that strange noise was will be deemed too stupid to live and that book will never be finished.' Why a romantic protagonist is wandering alone around a dark spooky house that makes peculiar sounds is not something Blake seems willing to deal with in this article, but perhaps the hero is a giant spider or a billionaire spider collector, thus suggesting the emotional conflict at the centre of the concept.
This is the critical concoction of grounded fantasy that Blake alludes to. A charming, albeit nervous, heroine allows for a down-to-earth viewpoint into larger-than-life tale of an innocent house-keeper plunged into a sordid battle of sexual politics with a haughty, albeit handsome, arachnoid internet tycoon. There the author has found the perfect balance of dramatic adventure beyond the ken of their readers, while maintaining a footing in the real world through how Jane deals with her predicament, her soft hands shaking violently as she stirs milk into his tea. 'Romantic literature is about keeping it real with just a touch of fairy dust.' This final insight appears to amount to a satisfactory conclusion, with Ally Blake moving onto other things, safe in the knowledge she has not let slip any useful information that might be used by others to threaten her career.
The absence of perceptive comment suggests that there is no secret ingredient to make a novel stand out from the others in the slush pile, and the likes of Blake and Bewildered Heart are deceiving struggling authors by claiming to be able to help. Ally's essay ends up making two patently obvious statements, firstly it is essential that you write an interesting story, and secondly your characters must respond to experiences as humans would. Still, adhering to these two rules would hardly mark a manuscript out as unique, rather competent. Furthermore, these comments are not particular to Blake's chosen genre. Unpredictable character reactions can be strongly utilised, and therefore none of this expert opinion is worthwhile or even accurate. Still, when scouring an author's social networking, online diaries or advice columns it does not appear as if anyone has specified exactly what to fill those empty spaces with. Nobody has learned anything and nobody has anything to pass on, and so nonsense is regurgitated endlessly, with the latest updates. 'Today romance fiction is whatever it wants to be. Within the constraints of the genre the possibilities are endless.' If anything is possible why are there constraints, and if romance cannot be defined, why are there all these articles?
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