Jenny Haddon: Planning With Other Writers

We welcome Jenny Haddon to the RNA blog today to tell us about her exciting project.

Last year Tule Publishing invited me, together with Liz Fielding and Jessica Hart (Pamela

Hartshorne) of the RNA together with Montana-resident Anne McAllister, who has spoken at the RNA Conference, to write a four book series. We had all written for Harlequin Mills & Boon, though both Jessica/Pam and I hadn't done so for some time. We knew each other

Imagine delighted. The drawback was that I'd never written one of a series before. I'd written a couple of novels which turned out to have sequels sitting inside them. But I'd never planned a Book 1 of 4 from the get-go. Jessica, however, was firm. An overall plan was essential. We concluded that we needed four key resources, held in common on Dropbox and Pinterest.

The story that emerged was built around a Royal Wedding, to be held in a classic English village church. So the world of the series required the invention of a royal principality and an English village.

RESOURCE 1 - Royal Seat

I mostly invented the principality, since my hero was the royal in question – His Serene Highness Prince Jonas of San Michele. I could show you place on the Slovenian coast where I imagined the capital. I prepared notes on the principality's history from the middle ages to the present day, economy, geography and language.

OK, I'm a bit of a nerd on things like that. But it did mean that we weren't suddenly going to be throwing up history or traditions which were different from one book to the next.

RESOURCE 2 - English Village

In the spring Anne came to stay in England and we all visited Castle Combe which inspired the village, the manor house in which my heroine and Jessica's hero were born and the church where the royal wedding took place. We inhaled the atmosphere. We lodged notes, maps and photographs in our resource centre.

RESOURCE 3 - Backstory, ages and appearance of characters

We'd agreed most of the details before we started writing, especially during our girls' day out in Wiltshire. We kept facts in documents held at Dropbox. Though we still had to negotiate sometimes, by email of course, when we suddenly found something we wanted to add. It was astonishingly harmonious. On Pinterest we pinned photographs of people who inspired our characters. (My Jonas, to my surprise, turned out be a David Tennant lookalike.) Liz found the wedding dress, too.

RESOURCE 4- Timeline Spread Sheet

We started with the earliest action that occurred on the page in any of our books. Backstory and ages

were for individual characters were we set up spread sheet showing the timeline of serious plot points, where the characters were, which books certain scenes occurred in and ended with the latest.

There was one killer weekend where nearly every key character in everybody's book was in one place at the same time. We had to break the timeline down almost by the hour for that!

I have learned an enormous amount during this return to category romance, in the company of some of the best in the business - including our editor, author Kelly Hunter. Planning, and then keeping readily accessible records of decisions on time and place, are lessons now well and truly learned. About time!

PUBLICATION DAYS

Charmingly, the publisher has co-ordinated the launch of our books as closely as we tracked our plot encounters.

13 October      The Prince's Bride, Sophie Weston

16 October      The Baronet's Wedding Engagement,  Jessica Hart

18 October      The Bridesmaid's Royal Bodyguard,  Liz Fielding

20 October      The Best Man's Bride, Anne McAllister

Series link        https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B075SJ561Y/

Thank you for your interesting piece, Jenny and good luck to you and your fellow authors.

If you would like to write for the RNA blog please contact us on elaineeverest@aol.com

FOCUS ON: London and South-East Chapter

After a gap of more than three years the RNS blog is revisiting the London and South-East Chapter. Juliet Archer tells us how the chapter has evolved.

We last had the pleasure of talking to Jean Fullerton about the London and South-East Chapter way back in January 2014. Since then it has undergone many changes, including venue. Could you give us a pocket history?

Down in the Cellar
with Jenny Haddon

It’s lovely to have this opportunity to talk about our Chapter – thank you! Yes, we’ve seen plenty of changes since 2014 – new faces at our meetings (one of them even rashly volunteered to be our new organiser!), new speakers, and a new venue. We also have plenty of familiar faces, especially at our Christmas lunch, which provides a sense of continuity. The most obvious change is the venue. We used to meet in The Lamb in Lamb Conduit Street, but moved to the Sir John Balcombe for our 2015 Christmas lunch and have stayed there ever since. It’s a pub with historic cricketing connections – for anyone who’s interested! – near Marylebone Station, and we monopolise the Cellar Bar downstairs.

How many members attend your meetings and is your chapter open to non-members of the RNA?

We welcome all writers, published and non-published, RNA/NWS members and non-members, on a ‘pay as you go’ basis (£4 each meeting, to cover expenses). We cover a wide age range, represent several writing genres, offer lots of friendly support, and even see occasional males at our meetings! We attract attendees from all over South and East England because of London’s great transport links. Typically we get around 20 people at our meetings and nearer 40 at our annual Christmas lunch and bi-annual workshops. Our mailing list has over 200 contacts, and we’ve recently set up a Facebook group for sharing news in between meetings.

You’ve had many outstanding speakers and presenters but not all of your meetings follow this format. At your more informal get togethers how do you promote discussions and exchanges among those attending?

Anita Chapman & Juliet Archer

We meet every 4-6 weeks, which means 8-9 meetings per year. 3 of these don’t usually involve a speaker – July, December (the Christmas lunch) and January – but we still tend to have a theme where everyone can contribute. Our January meeting is usually an informal chat about our best reads from the previous year, and our July meeting often focuses on ideas for next year’s programme or the future direction of our Chapter – but we’re always open to other suggestions!

While we’re on the subject, can you give an outline of speakers/guests you've had in the past year?

Organising speakers is a time-consuming task and our Chapter has a great track record here – thanks to the dedication of people like Jean Fullerton, Linda Chamberlain and currently Lucinda Lee. Our speakers are often drawn from the RNA’s ranks, continuing its tradition of generosity and support. So far this year we’ve had Jenny Haddon on getting our manuscripts to sparkle, Anita Chapman on social media for writers, and a double act from Liam Livings and Sue Merritt on characterisation and conflict. In the last 4 years, we’ve also run a couple of workshops mixing industry views with interactive sessions, and both very well received.

Lynne Shelby & Fiona Harper

What do you have planned for the second half of 2017?

Our July meeting was an informal chat to share our best writing tips, September will feature R.J. Gould on ‘The man in roMANce’, in October Liz Harris will talk about plotting, and the year will end with our Christmas lunch on 9^th December. We may even have a little baby in our midst – if Lucinda, who is due to give birth in November, can make it! 

What would you say makes your chapter of the RNA so special?

Sheer variety – of attendees, speakers, and topics for discussion. Whatever your question or problem, there’s bound to be someone in our Chapter who can help. And we are always keen to welcome new faces at our meetings!

Does your chapter have a website, Facebook page or Twitter account?

We have a Facebook group called ‘RNA London and South-East Chapter’, and send out regular emails to our mailing list.

Who is the contact for new members?

Please email juliet@julietarcher.com, or phone 07814 173779.

It’s always a pleasure to hear about our Chapters, be they long-standing or recently set up. Thank you for joining us today, Juliet

About Natalie:

Natalie Kleinman writes contemporary and historical romantic novels. Her latest Escape to the Cotswolds, is set in the beautiful English countryside and was published by HarperCollins HQ Digital in July 2017. 

If you would like to write for the blog please contact us on elaineeverest@aol.com

Jenny Haddon: The Importance of Readers

Today we welcome Jenny Haddon, aka Sophie Weston, who writes about her exciting new venture, Liberta Books.

Every author understands the importance of readers. They nurture our visions, buy our books, keep us creating. You might say, they're our raison d'être. But how much do we know about how or why or even what they do, when they read? Especially when they read fiction.

When I say they, of course I mean we. All authors were readers before we started to write. Most of us stay readers (some, voracious) throughout our lives. Sometimes though, we don't read the way we used to, need to, if we're to fulfil the purist job description. HINT: if you're reading with a pencil in your hand you're not leaving room for what Ursula Le Guin calls 'acts of the spirit'. Dancing on the edge of the World: Thoughts on Words, Women, Places, Harper Perennial, February 1990. Put the pencil down, lie on the floor and get a mug of tea.

Le Guin, if you don't already know her, is a wonderful, award-winning writer of primarily science fiction fantasy, for adults and children. Her stories are thoughtful, strange, evocative, unforgettable and her ideas about writing are both profound and crisply practical. But what I want to concentrate on here is what she says about reading:  'The writer cannot do it alone. The unread story is not a story; it is little black marks on wood pulp. The reader, reading it, makes it alive: a live thing, a story.' loc.cit.

Strange science
The science of it is up there with atomic physics.  A writer, like a spider, weaves a story out her guts, and then throws the golden crafted thing out into the world, not knowing where it will travel.

A reader opens the door to her imagination and says, 'Come in. I embrace you.' This writer and reader will most likely never meet. They may well live in different countries and centuries. And yet their imaginations interact, independent of their intellect, physical presence or even will. Memorable encounters happen in theta space.

Social or Solitary

These days we mostly think of reading as a solitary pursuit. But it has a social aspect – the church bells pealing for 'virtuous Pamela, wed at last'; the man who turned to me on a snow-halted train and raved about The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo; the international and deliciously Woosterian Wodehouse Appreciation Society all give evidence of this. And some people still receive great pleasure from being read to by means of audio books, radio or even in person. Maybe more of us should try the latter.

LibertaBooks.com

All of this was what historical author Joanna Maitland and I had in mind when we set up our new website. We call it a place for writers and readers to meet. It is very new and ideas will develop. But the focus, even when we are trying to help other writers, is on remembering those readers.

Love Letter to a Favourite Novel

Specifically, we have dedicated a page for readers to offer their own Love Letter to a Favourite Novel. This will include authors - as long as they put their pencils down first! We don't want it to feel intimidating, though, so we'll probably invite a few non-writers to kick us off. Some readers think authors know an awful lot more than we do and are in unjustified awe as a result. We're looking for Love Letters that are a spontaneous, heartfelt response to a favourite novel, not a high end critique. And we're hoping for lots of new recommendations. Nothing persuades you to read a book like an enthusiast.

Link to Liberta Books

Good luck with your new venture, Jenny and Joanna, we look forward to reading those love letters.

The RNA blog is brought to you by

Elaine Everest & Natalie Kleinman

If you would like to write for the blog or have a forthcoming book publication please get in touch on elaineeverest@aol.com

On the Ninth Day of Christmas...Jenny Haddon

On the ninth day of Christmas Jenny Haddon decorates the RNA Christmas Tree...

My favourite is a Very Old Friend. She is four years younger than I am. I remember her arrival.

My parents were a) a whole generation older than most people's parents and b) hard up. The first time either of them made Christmas it was for me and they did it on a shoestring. My father hacked a branch off a major conifer in our garden and my mother anchored it upright, somehow.  They made decorations, bought lights. But there was no money for a Fairy, they explained. I went to bed on Christmas Eve and there was a workmanlike star on the top of the tree.

But when I came down in the morning there was -  a Fairy.

I can still taste that feeling of not daring to believe because you are so much luckier than you deserve or thought possible. (Didn't feel that again until my first book was published, now I come to think of it.) I adored her. 

My mother had acquired a sub Barbie from a bring-and-buy sale and dressed her out of floaty white scraps, with starched muslin wings and a wand made of glittering milk bottle tops wrapped round a matchstick.

Mind you, that fairy was always a free spirit. When he thought I was listening my father said, 'That fairy has been on the toot.'  It was her expression. It still is.

Over the years she has been Roman (toga made out of a silk handkerchief) a hippy (tinfoil and doilies) and, these days, at the behest of a Shakespearian actor friend, the Duchess of Malfi (remnant box). But she still leans unto the wind with That Look in her eye. Way Hey!

Jenny's latest book... To Marry a Prince by Sophie Page, published by Arrow