Christina Dodd asks WHAT IS HELL?I’m really here to talk about my new paranormal series, Darkness Chosen, is a big, dramatic chain of stories linked by a family who signed an ancient pact with the devil, and the one branch chosen to break the pact. The consequences of failure are dire — when their beloved father dies, he’ll be condemned to hell. In this story, hell is a very traditional place of fire and eternal torment. But my college-age daughter said no, that’s not hell. She claims her chem professor is the devil, and he showed her a hell made up of simpler things. She said we all get a taste of hell every day. Sometimes, I think she’s right. For instance, in my work hell:
In the next check stand, there’s that guy who talks loudly because he wants to entertain everyone — and he’s boring. In my hell bathroom:
In my hell restaurant:
At the next table, there’s that guy who talks loudly because he wants to entertain everyone — and he’s boring. In my vacation hell: They serve Pepsi. The beach is filled with thin, toned people, especially That Girl in a string bikini. There’s a fabulous Olympic-sized lap swimming pool, and as I swim through the limpid blue waters … I swim through a warm spot. When I fly:
In my everyday hell life: At my gym, all the women put on makeup and jewelry to exercise. Except me.
So what about your hell? Is your hell going to be full of people who automatically deduct 10 points from your IQ when you speak with a Southern accent? Teachers who think everyone should belong to the same political party as them? Bad losers? Will there be elevator music everywhere? In hell, do all the bridesmaids’ dresses have a gigantic bow on the butt? Tell us all. While you’re planning your perfect day in hell, don’t forget to enjoy SCENT OF DARKNESS and TOUCH OF DARKNESS, the first two books in my New York Times bestselling series, Darkness Chosen. Posted: 10/01/2007
First AnniversaryBack on April 22, 2005, we started Squawk Radio and no one has ever been the same. Actually, I’m talking about you guys. Lisa, Liz, Teresa, Connie, Eloisa, and I (Christina Dodd) are all pretty much the same loud, obnoxious, arguing, irksome, opinionated women we always were. On that first day, all of us took a stab at explaining why we six writers were doing such an unique thing as blogging together. Here’s mine. By the way, there’s no use looking back at the comments — at that time, for fear of spammers, we didn’t allow comments. Who are we at Squawk Radio and why are we blogging together? Those are questions we often ask ourselves. Actually, we're six published writers of various genres — Lisa Kleypas, Teresa Medeiros, Connie Brockway and I write historical and contemporary, and I also write paranormal. Elizabeth Bevarly writes contemporary series romance and mainstream romance. Eloisa James writes historical romance. Between us we’ve written over a hundred books, we’ve got a lot of awards, and we’re all familiar with the bestseller lists. We email everyday, amusing ourselves and each other. Or at least amusing ourselves. We share our woes and our triumphs. The best part about this group? When one of us surges ahead in publishing, the others are comfortable enough to whine, "But what about me? When do I get to win?" Occasionally if there's too much triumph for one person, the emails will start coming in, "Who are you and why are you emailing me?" or even the succinct, un-subtle, "Bitch." Sometimes the threat will come across email "I'm going to lapse into a sullen silence." That never happens because nobody notices. The rest of us are too busy being entertaining. The truth is, if someone really wants to make everyone cranky, all she has to say is something like, "I've been bicycling and it really works! The weight is just melting away!" I don't want to mention her initials (Teresa Medeiros) but considering some of us have a deadline and are doing nothing but sit in front of the computer (initials Christina Dodd), that is just mean. How close are we? We talk about our periods. THAT'S the ultimate female bonding. As you can see, we haven’t changed a lot. We’ve written a few more books, hit a few more bestseller lists, and been nominated for a few more awards (at least — they have, and I wish them the best of luck whenever I think of it, usually with a heartfelt, "Bite me.") One thing is for sure — we live to amuse each other and now you. Thank you for being here through our tumultuous first year. Posted: 10/08/2007
Published 15 YearsCHRISTINA DODD CELEBRATES THE FIRST FIFTEEN YEARS OF HER WRITING CAREER Yes, it’s true. In March 1991, my first book, CANDLE IN THE WINDOW, was published. CANDLE IN THE WINDOW won Romance Writers of America’s Golden Heart and RITA awards and has never been out of print. Around my house, we call it THE BOOK THAT WILL NOT DIE. I have Some Thoughts About Publishing I wish to share. Warning — this is Serious. (Christina waits for the dust from the stampede to settle, looks around at the empty room, and shows the qualities that have helped her survive so long —an immense ego and a willingness to talk into a vacuum.) MY TOP TEN POINTS OF WISDOM 10. After ten years in the business, an author has A Well Established Career. After fifteen, an author is an Expert, a Venerable Institution … a Crone. Pardon me while I go to pluck the stiff white hairs off the chin of my current manuscript. 9. From my vantage point, everyone in publishing is doing better than I am. From everyone else’s vantage point, I’m doing better than they are. The truth is somewhere in between — and an author who’s published is not going to get any sympathy at all from an unpublished author who’s written for ten years, finished three manuscripts and has twenty-five rejection letters. Believe me. I know. I was that author. 8. Editors are sometimes right. 7. How well an autographing goes is not an indicator of how well your career is going. Thank God. 6. I’ve published twenty-nine full length novels and contributed six stories to anthologies. Some books are hard to write. Some books are easy. Some books are beloved by many. Some books are reviled by the vile. And as the author I never have an idea which books will be my most popular. Never. I have to give up trying. Soon. 5. Some people write mean reviews. I don’t read them. What mean people think of me and my writing is none of my business. 4. Some readers just don’t like my writing. That’s okay, everyone has their right to their own taste. As long as they don’t write mean reviews about my books. 3. Some readers love my books. Some of them write good reviews. Some of them write me heartfelt letters of appreciation. Some of them come to meet me and say wonderful things, sometimes with tears in their eyes. Some of them buy my books and never let me know. God bless them every one. 2. I can’t remember my characters’ names, and I live with them day and night for months while I write their books. So I apologize in advance, but I’m hopeless and I’m never going to remember your name, either. 1. I am never going to understand what people mean when they say I write funny books. I write serious, meaningful, emotional, sexy books that somehow get translated into funny. AND THE NUMBER ONE POINT OF WISDOM CHRISTINA DODD HAS TO SHARE IS: 1. When a Writer/Crone lies about having ten points to make but there are actually more, it’s not a lie. It’s, "Fiction." MORE NUMBER ONE POINTS: 1. Nine out of ten people in the U. S. want to write a book. One out of that nine thinks she’ll do it "when she has a free weekend." In many states, it’s a misdemeanor to kill this person. 1. Publishing is divided into two distinct occupations — Writing Books and Being an Author. Writing Books consists of being alone for months on end, creating imaginary people who converse, face challenges, and make love. Being an Author consists of introducing yourself to sometimes incredulous booksellers, talking to total strangers as they enter Wal-mart in the hopes of selling them a book, and interacting with publishers and editors in a manner that will convince them you’re sane enough to write twenty-nine more books. This is why all authors are schizophrenic. 1. It’s well worth pondering that most people don’t have a cool job that consists of being alone for months on end while creating imaginary people who converse, face challenges, and make love. It’s worth the schizophrenia. 1. The more you write, the faster you write, the more skilled you become. 1. Spend every last dime of your first advance taking your family to DisneyWorld. Especially if you’re poor. It’s an event worth celebrating. 1. The best thing a writer can have if she wants to be successful is a mother who believes she’s wonderful. A husband who believes she’s wonderful and supports her for ten years while she tries to get published helps, too. Failing those things, the most important thing an author can have is an absolutely brutish belief in herself and her talent, and she can never ever allow the facts to change that faith. THE NUMBER ONE NUMBER ONE POINT: 1. The Girl Scouts have a song with the lyrics that go, "Make new friends, but keep the old. One is silver and the other gold." The Girl Scouts know a lot about publishing. And people. And my friends. Thank you for a great fifteen years. Posted: 10/15/2007
Confessions of a Historical ... er, a Contemporary ... ah, I Mean, a Romance WriterBefore I was published I wrote both contemporary and historical. My first book was a historical, probably 200,000 words long (my current books are 90,000 words – honey, I was writing GONE WITH THE WIND) set in … um, never mind. Anyway, it featured dramatic unveilings and volcanoes and an earthquake and a smallpox epidemic and a Spanish landowning hero tortured by the inequities of the Colonial system. It took me six years, but I learned to write on that book. I could never sell it mostly because it was set in … um, never mind. But after finishing that tome, I wrote a contemporary series book (like a Silhouette Desire about 55,000 words) which took me six months. I could never sell that one, either. Then I wrote my second historical (set in Medieval England, by God!), sent it to an agent who said she could sell it, and started a contemporary because by then I’d been writing for ten years, wracked up enough rejection letters to paper my office, and believed publication would happen about the time it snowed in hell. Apparently Satan was wearing an overcoat because the agent sold CANDLE IN THE WINDOW in two weeks (on Friday February 2, 1990 at 3:30pm, not that I noticed). While I was waiting for the contracts to come through, I finished the contemporary and sold LADY IN BLACK to Kismet, a short-lived but very profitable mail order publishing company. There are still copies of LADY IN BLACK floating around, and while it’s dated (it features a dot-matrix printer) some things are eternal – like the sex in the shower. Very steamy. My point is that while I concentrated on historicals to build my name in one field, I always read both historicals and contemporaries, I always wrote both, and I always intended to write more contemporaries. When I got the idea for the Lost Texas Hearts Series (JUST THE WAY YOU ARE, ALMOST LIKE BEING IN LOVE and CLOSE TO YOU), I knew I had the perfect vehicle and my contemporary career was off and running. Both parts of my career, historical and contemporary, are doing very well, thankyouverymuch, and I’m having a great time. Next up — the start of my new contemporary series, TROUBLE IN HIGH HEELS in August 2006. I also love paranormals (yum on the heroes!) and have sold my great idea for a four-book series. The first two paranormals will be out in fall 2007! Posted: 10/22/2007
Christina Explains How to Dissect a SynopsisI start with a concept. For instance (and this is a real concept I have jotted down) — There’s a chapter in the book THE GHOST AND MRS. MUIR where Mrs. Muir is destitute and the ghost of the sea captain dictates his memoirs to her and they’re so shocking and scandalous the book becomes a bestseller, thus saving her house. For a historical — what if our heroine receives a trunk from a sea captain (reason unknown) who is presumed dead. His journal’s inside, she needs money, she publishes it — and he shows up alive and steamed at having his personal life published. Okay, so I have a lot of concepts floating around. They’re short, I have nothing invested in them except a few brain cells, and most go nowhere. If I’m in love with the idea and my mind starts working, I write a synopsis. It starts with a couple of pages which outlines the backstory and the hero and heroine’s characterizations … and usually peters out. I let it sit and more comes either from my mind or from plot group (yes, we’ll talk about that later, too.) I end up with probably a 12 page synopsis. I love my synopsizes. Because I’ve finished a few books now, I don’t have to turn in perfect synopsizes — but I used to. I can do it, and it’s such a useful skill. So my first synopsis is usually clean and I make sure I get in all the elements of plot — first turning point, midpoint, climax, black moment, emotional conflict, blah blah. If (when) I run into a problem while I’m writing the book, I can go back to the plot and see if it’s missing an essential element. (Note to self: do that sometime.) Anyway, I take the clean synopsis, make a separate file for it so it stays pristine. Then (rubbing my hands) I generate my own personal synopsis using a copy of the clean synopsis. With my personal synopsis, I do whatever I want to create insight into the story. I put in pithy asides, go off with bits of dialogue, make snotty comments about the characters, and flesh out and suggest scenes. I chop the finished product up into chapters (separate files on the computer) to produce a layout of the whole book. Mind you, the finished chapters never land in the spots I think they will, but who cares? It doesn’t have to be right, it has to be written. The problem with all this? I don’t follow the synopsis. My midpoint never turns out where I think my midpoint should be and sometimes I have way too much plot left over for the number of pages I can write so I’m slicing like crazy. Worse, sometimes I just veer off in a new direction. The good part? You know the freezing fear you get when you open a blank page and you have no idea what to do? Presto, it’s gone! Every chapter starts with some information or dialogue or snappy comment. Posted: 10/29/2007 Back to Previous Page | Back to Blog Home |
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