My guest this month. . . by Victoria Chatham

I am so pleased to introduce to you this month author A.M. Westerling. Not only is she a very good friend of mine, she is also one of my eagle-eyed critique partners.

We first met at a Calgary Association of Romance Writers of America (CaRWA) information evening, held at the Memorial Park Library in Calgary. Both of us had attended in the hopes of finding out more about the craft and business of writing romance. It was shortly before CaRWA hosted its first conference, Crossing the Publishing Threshold, in November 2004. Much has flowed beneath the bridge since then and, as well as I thought I knew Astrid, some of her answers surprised me!

1.     When and why did you start writing? What is it about writing that satisfies you the most?

Unlike a lot of authors, I never had a burning desire to write. I was quite happy to be a reader and I read one or two books a week. I discovered historical romance and I devoured every one I could get my hands on. The genre was popular at the time and publishers were pumping them out as fast as they could which meant the quality got diluted and some of them were so bad, I couldn’t even finish them. In fact, some of them were so bad, it occurred to me I could do better! But life was busy and I never pursued it any further.

Then in the early nineties, my husband and I started an engineering company which meant I was in the office with time on my hands as we didn’t have a lot of work in those early days. That was when I started to write. Our company became successful so I put that book aside and didn’t pick it up again until 2001, when we sold the company and retired. I did sub that book to a couple of editors but it didn’t sell and it’s my proverbial “manuscript under the bed.”

The thing that satisfies me the most is creating a new world and bringing new characters to life. If I do my job properly, they take over the story and what happens depends on them.

2.     What is one subject or genre you would never write about and why?

Erotica. Quite honestly, I don’t see the appeal. That’s not to say I don’t write sex scenes, I do, but I would consider my work as sexy historical romance and you could skip the scenes and not lose the thread of the story.

3.     Have you had a defining moment in your writing life that changed everything for you?

I had the opportunity to work one on one with author and writing instructor Mary Buckham (www.marybuckham.com) on my third manuscript. I learned so much from her about the craft of writing and she pointed out mistakes in my own work that I never noticed. ie: passive voice, raising story questions and who knew my characters actually needed goals?! My work improved leaps and bounds after that and this exercise turned into The Countess’ Lucky Charm.

4.     How did you feel when you held your first book in your hands?

A feeling of disbelief, as in, is this really happening to me?! Also pride in what I had accomplished.

5.     Do you read your reviews? If so, how do you celebrate the good and get over the bad?

I absolutely read my reviews and I’ll tweet or FB about it if I get a good one. I use the comments as learning tools, even the poor ones. Bad reviews don’t bother me at all because I don’t like everything I read either. As Jo Beverley said in one of the first workshops I ever attended, “not everyone will get my magic.”

6.     Have you ever judged any writing competitions? If you have, what about the process surprised you the most?

I judged the Emerald City Openers for a few years. What surprised me the most is how much I enjoyed the opportunity to provide helpful (I hope!) feedback and encouragement on what I had read. I could tell some of the entries came from beginning authors and I liked the feeling of being a mentor.  

FUN QUESTIONS:

1.     What keys on a keyboard do you not use?

The Function keys.

2.     Are you a glass half full or half empty kind of person? Or is the glass just malformed?

Definitely the glass is half full. Life is an adventure - try something new, follow your dream, smile at a stranger, make time for friends and family. Yes, I have my down days but every dark cloud has a silver lining. J

3. Which of the four seasons do you like/dislike the most and why?

I love spring. I love the feeling of renewal and the soft green of new growth. I love spending time out in the garden and getting dirt under my nails after a long Canadian winter. I love planning what I’m going to plant this year and deciding what little yard project to tackle. Besides, summer follows it and then I can enjoy the fruits of my labour!

4.     What is your idea of perfect happiness?

Camping with my sweetie. Anywhere, but particularly in northern British Columbia.

SPEED QUESTIONS: Straight YES/NO answers, unless you want to add a few words to qualify the answer. Have you ever:

1.     Lied about your age? No

2.     Won a contest? Yes. Earlier this year I won sideline passes for a Calgary Stampeders home game in the upcoming season.

3.     Ridden a motorcycle? Yes, as a passenger. Scared me silly, especially going around the corners!

4.     Watched the stars at night? Definitely yes! J See my above answer re: camping.

Please join me tomorrow, May 16th,  to check out some of Astrid's title. I promise you won't be disappointed!

Prologue and Epilogue: To Use Them or Not?

Our Round Robin topic this month is on the use (or not) of a prologue and epilogue in a novel.

pro·logue ˈprōˌlôɡ/

noun

1.     a separate introductory section of a literary or musical work.

"this idea is outlined in the prologue"

synonyms:		introduction, foreword, preface, preamble, prelude; More

o   an event or action that leads to another event or situation.

"civil unrest in a few isolated villages became the prologue to widespread rebellion"

Authors have often been told that agents and editors do not like prologues, nor do readers bother to read them. If that is the case, why do some authors (holding my hand up here) use them?

At best they can depict an important clue to an inciting incident, character or plot, at worst they become the dreaded ‘info dump’. They should be shorter rather than longer. A Regency romance by a New York Times best-selling author that I read recently had a prologue that ran over several pages. By the time I reached Chapter 1, I felt cheated of my reading time because by then I was well into a story that seemed to be starting all over again. The epilogue in the same book, on the other hand, was barely three pages long.

When I wrote His Dark Enchantress, I chose to use a prologue to show the incident that made my heroine want to remain something of a recluse. In the epilogue, that incident is resolved. In both instances, there is a marked time-frame of three years between the incident and the start of Chapter 1 and several months between the end of the last chapter and the epilogue.

I had considered working the information into my text with flashbacks, but there’s another issue. Flashbacks, if not introduced with some circumspection, can be clumsy and obtrusive and slow the pace of a book. If I were writing that book today, I might choose to exclude the prologue and epilogue entirely and find another way to introduce that same information, probably through dialogue.

When I wrote that prologue I wanted my character’s strength and loyalty to be immediately evident, so that the reader would understand her actions as they got into the story. In that book I used the epilogue to not only give closure to the story, but to also set up for a sequel. I think that using a prologue and epilogue is really determined by the story.

As an instance, I have read several thrillers where the prologue inevitably shows some past murder which is then solved in the body of the book. These types of books need not necessarily have an epilogue. There is no rule that I can discover that says if you have a prologue you have to have an epilogue. In the romance genre, many books will have both. In a romance, an epilogue is often a handy vehicle to get a pregnancy out of the way without suffering the heroine’s pangs of morning sickness, stomach cramps and food cravings.

ep·i·logueˈepəˌlôɡ,ˈepəˌläɡ/

noun

1.     a section or speech at the end of a book or play that serves as a comment on or a conclusion to what has happened.

synonyms:	afterword, postscript, PS, coda, codicil, appendix, tailpiece, supplement, addendum,postlude, rider, back matter;  conclusion "the book is summarized in the epilogue"

So there you have it! Now visit these authors for their take on the subject.

Participants:
Margaret Fieland http://margaretfieland.wordpress.com
Skye Taylor http://www.skye-writer.com/blogging_by_the_sea
Dr. Bob Rich http://wp.me/p3Xihq-QS
Marci Baun http://www.marcibaun.com/blog/
A.J. Maguire http://ajmaguire.wordpress.com/
Anne Stenhouse http://annestenhousenovelist.wordpress.com/
Helena Fairfax http://www.helenafairfax.com
Beverley Bateman http://beverleybateman.blogspot.ca/
Connie Vines http://connievines.blogspot.com/
Rachael Kosinski http://rachaelkosinski.weebly.com/
Kay Sisk http://kaysisk.blogspot.com
Rhobin Courtright http://www.rhobinleecourtright.com