Oh No, My Books Are Going to the Dogs!

with guest Kate James.

Now that I (hopefully) have your attention, I would like to say that I’m honored to be visiting Seekerville today. The ladies behind this blog are fantastic, and I’d like to give a special shout-out to Tina Radcliffe for inviting me.

To clear up any misconception, let’s agree on what “go to the dogs” really means. According to The Free Dictionary, it means “to become worse in quality or character” or whatever is being referred to “is becoming less successful than it was in the past.” An example provided by The Free Dictionary is: “It is sad to report that this once first-class hotel has gone to the dogs.”

Hopefully, this is NOT the case with my books or my writing, so let me offer a different perspective. I have yet to write a book that doesn’t include a dog in at least a supporting role. In many of my books, dogs are central to the story. Why do I consistently include furry, four-legged characters? If you know me personally or have connected with me on social media, the obvious answer might be because I love dogs (all critters actually, but dogs hold a special place in my heart). You wouldn’t be wrong and, admittedly, most of our dogs have made their way into my stories. But that’s not the only reason and not even the main reason. So why do I do it?

Let me answer another question first. Why do I write? I love to write and I get enjoyment and satisfaction from writing, but what motivates me is to write stories that readers find both emotionally and intellectually satisfying, with characters that are relatable and likable. If that’s the case, how do dogs factor into it? In a nutshell, I believe that four-legged characters can enrich my stories. Note that I italicized the word “can,” because if an animal is going to become a character in a story, there has to be a purpose beyond the “sweet factor.”

If done effectively, animals can draw readers in, enhance stories and help define two-legged characters. Irrespective of whether you are an animal lover or not, don’t you draw inferences about a person’s character from the way they treat animals? How do you feel when you see a firefighter rappel down a steep cliff to rescue a stranded cat? Or a woman who stops her vehicle in the middle of the road to allow safe passage for a goose and her babies? Or the man who raises a stick to strike a cowering puppy?

I might be at the extreme end of the spectrum, but if I see a severely injured person, my first-aid training kicks in and I’m able to assist with calm determination. But if I see an injured animal? I become a sniveling mess. This concerned me to a degree. Surely, I have as much or more compassion for another human being than I do for animals. If not, what’s wrong with me? I put the question to a psychologist friend. His response was that my reactions are more common than one would suspect. Many of us make an immediate emotional connection with animals. 

How do I believe this connection can be used to enrich stories? Here are a few points for consideration:

• animals can be used to influence reader perception of the human characters, evoke emotion, add dimension, and help create conflict or resolution;
• animals can be characters in their own right: central or supportive, heroes or villains;
• animals can have a point of view (as examples, consider wildly successful books such as The Art of Racing in the Rain and A Dog’s Purpose); and
• where animals are used, how they are introduced and characterized can make them endearing, comedic or emotionally charged.

Another reason I include animal characters in my books is that I receive consistent and favorable feedback from readers about my animal characters and the stories that they inhabit. Here is one more reason. Publishing is a business, after all, and are people prepared to put their money where their heart is? Are readers more likely to purchase books that feature animals? I don’t have empirical data to answer this, but I can illustrate anecdotally. 

In 2014, I submitted a proposal to Harlequin for a trilogy featuring three San Diego K-9 Unit officers, their dogs and, naturally, their love interests. The books did well, were recognized with a variety of awards (thank you very much readers/judges!) and reader response was terrific. Here is a bookplate for the trilogy . . .

When I sent back the manuscript for When I Found You, the final book in the trilogy, I have to admit to a degree of sadness. It felt as if I was saying goodbye to a number of close friends, of both the two- and four-legged variety.

When I submitted my next proposal, my editor—the incomparable Paula Eykelhof—and I had a chat about how terrific it would have been for me to write the story of rookie K-9 cop, Shannon Clemens, and her police service dog, Darwin, both introduced as supporting characters in When I Found You. Imagine my surprise and elation when the contract came back with the addition of a book I did not include in my proposal: Shannon’s story!

To repeat, publishing is a business. My publisher would not have added an extra book to my contract (how often does that happen?!), turning my K-9 trilogy into a series, if the books weren’t performing well from a commercial perspective. Readers were buying the books!

Here is an image of my new bookplate . . .

And because I couldn’t decide which dog looked cuter (yes, an example of my emotional reaction to dogs), I had to have two different styles printed!

Now it’s your turn! Do you feel animal characters enrich a story? Can you recall an animal who stole the show in a book?

To celebrate the July 1st (Happy 150th birthday Canada!) release of Home to Stay, book four in the San Diego K-9 Unit series, I will give away to one person selected randomly from everyone leaving a comment in response to this post, a K-9 Trilogy tote bag (now a collector’s item! 😉), a signed copy of the first book in the series, When the Right One Comes Along, signed copies of The Truth About Hope and Sanctuary Cove (also featuring canine characters), and an assortment of bookmarks and bookplates. 

In addition, if anyone would like signed San Diego K-9 Unit series bookplates, please register for my newsletter here: http://www.kate-james.com/contact/, or just e-mail me at readers@kate–james.com with your mailing address and I will send one of each to you. 

Let me leave you with a picture of the canine characters from some of my books. 

The pictures of “Einstein” and “Sniff” are actually our beloved labs Logan and (sadly departed) Buster. As a final giveaway, I would love to have you post a picture on my Facebook page (www.facebook.com/katejamesbooks) of your favorite furry, four-legged pal who you think should be in a book. Post by end of day, Friday, July 7th. I will give away a signed copy of the second book in the San Diego K-9 Unit series, When Love Matters Most to one person selected randomly. Seekerville has generously offered to match my giveaway with a copy of Home to Stay to a second Villager who posts an animal picture on my Facebook page. You never know, your pal might make it into a book, too. A reader generously let me use her pup, Einstein, in The Truth About Hope! 😊 

All three winners will be announced in the Weekend Edition of Seekerville.

Thank you for joining me today at Seekerville. 

You can connect with me by e-mail (readers@kate-james.com), through my website (www.kate-james.com), my Facebook page (www.facebook.com/katejamesbooks), Twitter (@katejamesbooks) or regular mail at PO Box 446, Schomberg, ON, L0G 1T0, Canada. 

I would love to hear from you. Happy reading and writing, as the case might be!

Kate

Kate spent much of her childhood abroad before attending university in Canada. She built a successful business career, but her passion has always been literature. As a result, Kate turned her energy to her love of the written word. Kate's goal is to entertain her readers with engaging stories featuring strong, likable characters. Kate has been honored with numerous awards for her writing. 

She and her husband, Ken, enjoy traveling and the outdoors, with their beloved Labrador Retrievers, Harley and Logan.

Home to Stay (book four in the San Diego K-9 Unit series) – releasing July 1, 2017

She's bringing his son home 

A missing little boy triggers San Diego K-9 officer Shannon Clemens and her canine search-and-rescue partner into instant action. For the rookie cop haunted by a childhood tragedy, bringing Sawyer Evans's son safely home is more than a job. It's a mission she can't fail… But forging a friendship with the father is a tactical error that could compromise her first solo assignment. Yet the deepening bond between them is almost impossible to resist.

Purchase Links:

Harlequin  

Amazon  

Barnes & Noble   

iTunes  


Indigo-Chapters (Kobo)  

A Branding Primer

with guest Laurie Tomlinson.

Thank you so much, Seekers, for inviting this self-professed marketing geek to talk about one of my favorite subjects. Let’s get to it, shall we?

What is Branding and Why Is It Important?

I love marketing guru Seth Godin’s definition:

 “A brand is the set of expectations, memories, stories, and relationships that, taken together, account for a consumer’s decision to choose one product or service over another.” 

Many people mistake a cohesive style for brand, and while it’s an important component, it’s only a small part of it.

Branding is the collective story you tell industry professionals and readers about you and your work. It’s what sets you apart from other authors, not in a dog-eat-dog kind of way, but in a way that represents the unique aspects that make you *you*. It’s how, when readers are scrolling through their social media, they can tell a post is from you even before they see your name.

Identifying the Vision and Mission of Your Brand

While an author tagline is great because it tells the audience what they can expect up front, knowing the vision and mission behind your work is most crucial. Everything we write, from the pages of our books, to our query letters, to the tone and content of our social media should tell that for us.

Vision answers the question: What do I write?
Mission answers the question: Why do I write?

So if, for example, you write authentic women’s fiction (what) to give readers hope through relatable characters (why), your blog posts will be hope-filled, your voice authentic, and your content primarily centered around women.

Many of us who are doing our heart’s work have huge heart-dreams and run into a snag when trying to be succinct in the themes/topics we cover, but inconsistency will only confuse readers and detract from our message. To create a more defined brand vision and mission, we should go with our strongest values and the characteristics we can see being most cohesive across our unique body of work.

Identifying Our Audience

A huge key to brand is identifying our audience. This is the person who will benefit the most from our work. One thing I’ve always encouraged clients to do is to name the person they’re writing for. Mine is Meg. It may sound kind of weird—especially if you talk about this pretend person in a pitch appointment (cough, or so I’ve been told)—but we all create and talk to imaginary people, so let’s go with it.

Just as we research and profile characters before beginning a new project, it’s important to know and identify as much as possible about our ideal audience. Of course, our work will naturally appeal to a broader range of people, but if we write for anyone and everyone who will listen, our message as a whole will be watered down, and our potential for impact will suffer.

At the very least, identifying age, gender, and what makes this person click a link or pick up a book can be helpful. If you write for more than one genre, then look for the common denominators in your audience and refine from there.

But most importantly, research what your audience needs the most from you. Is it hope? Entertainment? Solidarity? Authenticity? Hopefully, this lines up with the why of your vision and what you uniquely have to offer.

Once you've determined your ideal audience, every branding decision should consider that person. I know it sounds like a lot of work, but you will soon develop an instinct for what (and where) you write, the tones you use, and the messages you send. And your intentionality with your brand will result in the reward of a more meaningful conversation between you and your audience.

A Case Study:

In my debut novel, With No Reservations, my heroine Sloane is a popular food blogger who knows a lot about branding and reaching her ideal audience. Her website is called Mise en Place, a French culinary term for assembling ingredients prior to cooking. The photos she uses have distinctive color contrast and always feature shots of the recipe ingredients neatly (and appetizingly!) arranged.

All of her design decisions and word choices reflect an approachable, organized, and beautiful cooking experience because that’s what her audience needs for recipe inspiration.

Sloane writes to give accessible, step-by-step recipes to home cooks who want to mix up their rotation. Her ideal reader, a busy 30-year-old housewife named Michelle who found her on Pinterest, is attracted to a recipe post because of its beautiful pictures, knows it’s from Sloane because of her unique style of photos, and comes back to the website because the step-by-step format of the recipes makes her feel like she can try anything.

While Sloane’s recipe posts naturally attract a broader audience—men who love to cook, 20-year-olds who are getting their first apartments, and other cooking enthusiasts—the style and content decisions she makes stay true to her vision and what’s accessible and appealing to Michelle. Sloane regularly gauges this, and may shift and adapt things according to the conversation and reader feedback her content generates.

So, to sum things up, it's simple. Once you’ve refined the vision and message for your author brand, the more you will know about your ideal audience. And the more you know about your person, the easier your decisions will be and the more your content will resonate.

What and who are you writing for? Is there an author you can think of with a distinctive brand?

About With No Reservations: There can be more than comfort in food…

What could well-known and wealthy Graham Cooper Jr. have in common with a blogger like Sloane Bradley, a woman with secrets she's kept firmly out of the public eye? That is, besides a love of food. Sloane still can't believe Cooper's the chef at the restaurant she's been assigned to promote. But she's boiling to prove to him that her "little blog" can put his place on the map. She can also fall head over heels for the guy, who has secrets of his own, it turns out…except for one thing. She can't get past the post-traumatic stress disorder that keeps her walled up in her home studio.

Now Available: Amazon | Kindle | Barnes & Noble | Harlequin.com | Google Play

Leave a comment today for an opportunity to win a copy of With No Reservations. Winner announced in the Weekend Edition. Seekerville is tossing in two more copies. print or ebook.

About the Author: Laurie Tomlinson is an award-winning contemporary romance author and cheerleader for creatives. Previously a full-time book publicist, she now runs an editing and PR consulting business, 1624 Communications.

Her novella That’s When I Knew was featured in the Love at First Laugh collection, and her debut novel, With No Reservations, is now available from Harlequin Heartwarming. You can connect with Laurie on her website, Facebook page, and Instagram.

One Editor's Top 7 Revision Notes by Harlequin Senior Editor Victoria Curran

Happy seventh birthday, Seekervillians (if I may call you that)! I’m delighted to be here to help celebrate the occasion. I was pleased to see one of our Harlequin Heartwarming authors, Roz Denny Fox, here a month or two ago, and she discussed a lot of the specifics about our series. Me, I’m thinking in sevens, so I’ve decided to share my top seven recurring revision notes, which are the same whether I’m editing sweet romances, inspirational or something a little hotter.

Disclaimer: I’m deeply aware that I have never written a novel and I have a huge respect for those of you who can create a story that’s thousands of words long and has a beginning, a middle and an end…let alone obstacle and romantic tension and self-motivated characters who take an unpredictable journey to that predictable happy ending!

Heartwarming Romance, October Release

In my 11-plus years at Harlequin, I have some advice I seem to repeat and it relies heavily on seven resources (see how I worked that in again?):

     Robert McKee, STORY

     Renni Browne and Dave King, Self-Editing for Fiction Writers

     Strunk & White’s The Elements of Style (which one of my copy editing colleagues tells me is out of date but I refuse to believe her)

     Donald Maas, Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook

     Stephen King, On Writing

     Christopher Vogler, The Writer’s Journey

     EL James, Fifty Shades of Gray

#1 Resist the Urge to Explain (RUE).

Thank you Renni Browne and Dave King for this invaluable acronym. Trust readers to get the point faster and say what you’re trying to say in much less. It’s more satisfying to get from A to Z without hitting the entire alphabet.

However, I think this is probably a case of not having the time to go back over the books and pare the words and ideas…or to gain objectivity from the work…enough to see the instances where you’ve shown something well and don’t need the accompanying internalization that explains it, or when a scene seems to be active, opening in the middle of something, but then stops to provide the backstory that led to this moment. (I’m big on need-to-know only, please.)

Credenza Pete, one of Victoria's cats...  How much do you love this picture????  How cute is it?
Stinkin' cute!

Stephen King wrote in his book On Writing that it wasn’t until he was finished writing a story that he knew what it was about and then he rewrote it based on the discovery he made by the end of his first draft. At the pace of romance publishing, I’d love to meet the author who has that kind of time!

#2 Never use tummy when stomach will do.

In this Strunk & White rule, the idea is cute word choice can call attention to itself. I am a huge advocate of using words that serve the story rather than pull us out of it to think about the words. (A little brogue goes a long way, as they say in Historicals!) And while we’re at it, I confess I don’t even know what a cliché is anymore. As long as the words and ideas don’t pull me out of the story, they work well.

Heartwarming Romance October release 

#3: Let’s rough your characters up more.

From tracking research our readers have told us: “If you know from the first page the lovers will end up together it spoils the story. There has to be conflict, not too much sweetness…. I hate predictable reads that are flat, lacking in highs and lows.”

Rules #2 and #3 seem to go arm and arm. My authors know I don’t like the term “sweet romance” since, even though it’s recognized in the industry as meaning a romance without sex, in practice it propels writers toward kitten and puppy dog plotting, flowers and sunshine: a polite journey to a predictable happy ending…when we’re looking for stories that make readers wonder how on earth the pair will ever get together. Clean stories need to be as exciting as edgier sexy ones.

I am one of the biggest animal lovers out there, proud caregiver to four cats, but as an editor, I like to see stray kittens or puppies when they have a reason to be in the story beyond their sweet factor.

Will Feral 

A former Superromance author of mine also wrote for Love Inspired and they were some of the darkest, redemptive romances I’ve ever had the pleasure to edit. Yes, please: go there!

#4 Let’s find ways to eliminate the coincidence.

Find the misunderstandings and coincidences and imposed plotting and turn them around so they’re driven by the leads. For instance:

*What if, instead of the ex-boyfriend entering the story near the end to ratchet up the tension (predictable external device usually because inner obstacle is gone), why not let the heroine call him in? Instead of imposing plot on characters, motivate them to provoke the action.

*Currently the hero’s faced with falling off the wagon, thinks about the heroine and how good she is and how much she has changed him…and doesn’t drink. But the heroine sees him in the bar and thinks he drank. This leads to hero not confronting her but leaving town in a petulant reaction to her misunderstanding.  Well, what if the hero did take the drink, and then we cut to the heroine finding him over the empty bottle and him seeing the disappointment in her eyes before she walks out. Then her concerns are real, and the hero must redeem himself in her eyes. Motivation that was surface becomes deeper.

#5 Motivate your characters and then let them act based on those motivations.

Most writers create fresh, interesting characters and an intriguing premise to launch a story…but too often the characters soon cast off the constraints of their motivation and act in ways that are mysterious to them based on their “unexpected” attraction to the other. Well, it may be unexpected to them, but it’s clichéd and predictable to the reader. If a story stays true to the rich characterization, the characters will drive the action and I probably won’t be able to predict each step, which is fantastic!

From our tracking research: “Characters with strong identities/personalities save a story from cliché every time… I prefer it when characters grow through action and reaction rather than too much deep soul searching… “

#6 Is this scene really about what it appears to be about or is there something else going on here?

As McKee tells us, “‘If the scene is about what the scene is about, you’re in deep [trouble].’"…

Writing this, for example: Two attractive people sit opposite each other at the candlelit table, the light glinting off the crystal wineglasses and the dewy eyes of the lovers. Soft breezes billow the curtain. A Chopin nocturne plays in the background. The lovers reach across the table, touch hands, look longingly in each others’ eyes, say, ‘I love you, I love you,”…and actually mean it. This scene…will die like a rat in the road.”

There’s a section in Donald Maas’s book about the tea scene and how, if it’s only there for BFF support and for the heroine to rehash the romance, cut it. But if there’s something else going on between the two characters in that scene, really flesh out what each wants from the other. Because even the BFF needs to want something.

#7 How can we raise the stakes in the romance?

The highest stakes, according to McKee is that by choosing love the hero and heroine stand to lose that one thing they want more than life itself.

I can usually tell what the hero and heroine have to gain in choosing love. It’s much less often I see a strong obstacle to love that takes the entire book to get past. And that’s sometimes when the villain steps in to mess with the hero and heroine, providing the tension and stakes. That’s traditional storytelling. But contemporary romance readers want the tension and stakes to come from between the hero and heroine as much as from the external plotting. They want love to cost the leads and for them to have to struggle to earn the happy ending.

I can’t resist quoting McKee: “Pressure is essential. Choices made when nothing is at risk mean little. If a character chooses to tell the truth in a situation where telling a lie would gain him nothing, the choice is trivial, the moment expresses nothing. But if the same character insists on telling the truth when a lie would save his life, then we sense that honesty is at the core of his nature.”

We all know this, right? But that’s where Fifty Shades of Grey taught me a lesson in stakes. In choosing love, the heroine risked death at the hands of a man who warned her he would hurt her, and she has no idea how far he’ll carry that threat. How much harder is it for a contemporary clean romance writer to achieve that level of high stakes!

I’d love to find out from the authors on this blog if you have any advice on how to ratchet up the romantic tension when sex is not an option. And to readers checking in, please tell me if you agree with my editing advice or whether I should read some more how-to-edit books because you want those kitten and puppy dog tummies!

Best wishes,

Victoria

Ruthy here! 

Victoria, thank you for this gold mine of straightforward information... I love it! 

Folks, feel free to pepper Victoria with questions and/or toss your ideas out there! She's cute, funny and very approachable! This is your chance to explore a fun, different, fresh form of fiction for today's reader... and even though I'm excising KITTENS from all stories, (that's totally untrue, I just wrote some barn kittens into a book... SIGH...) 

"Lucy"

I think you'd love working with this woman! 

Coffee's inside, maple cakes and apple fritters, too, and we've got BOOKS
to tempt you into examining Heartwarming more closely! 

Victoria has brought 2 4-packs of Heartwarming Romance's October releases....

and we're offering SEVEN FREE HEARTWARMING E-BOOKS of your choice! Leave a comment (and yes, ask questions!) to have your name thrown into the very clean cat dish!!!  :)

And Victoria, thanks so much for being with us today, and giving us a great look at "Heartwarming" and one of the wonderful editors behind it!