So, you know that feeling you get when you wished you’d never asked, right? Huh?
Yeah, you know what I mean…
Well, my post on Kindleboards went something like this: “Hi guys, I have a few spaces on my blog coming up, anyone interested can email me at…”
O-M-effing-G!
I spent the next 5 days emptying my inbox and politely declining some lovely people a slot on SMoD&L! Apologies to those who didn’t get a response – I did post on KB that I had too many and wouldn’t be answering because I just couldn’t keep up.
Well, I could have, but our next two books would have taken as long to publish as a trad pub!
Anyway, needless to say, I now have enough material to keep my musings over darkness and light blog fully illuminated (and dimmed) until Christmas! I will open it up again after that.
So, the theme was as above. Darkness & light.
I wanted to continue my co-writer’s ‘Girls just wanna have fun/Summer of fun’ and fill the remainder of the sunshine days with lovely, sweet and light-hearted posts from fellow scribes on their writing journeys, their books and generally anything they wanted to gush about.
The plan is to then hit low beam as the summer wanes and we move into a more mystical and fantastical time of the year (my favourite months) and post some darker, more sinister stuff from those less luminary – just in time for the release of Equilibrium: First blood, closely follwed by Book Two of The Rose Red series; Rapunzel.
I think you’re going to enjoy the messing around with the dimmer switch!
My first guest wrote me the perfect post to kick us off with: short and very sweet.
Just what I was looking for – and she just oozes sweetness and light!
Meet Lisa Scott:
Here’s her Facebook page.
And here’s her post about writing the very cheeky shorts: Flirts!
On Writing Light
People who know I used to be a TV news anchor might be surprised to learn I’m now writing sweet, funny romances. Flirts! instead of the more likely Perps! or something a bit darker. (Although, I was the morning news host who brought her grandmother on the show to share her peanut butter pie recipe, so it’s not a huge stretch.) And while some might think a sweet, fluffy romance is the equivalent of the water-skiing squirrel at the end of the broadcast, it can be a challenge to get those stories just right, especially in the short story form I’m writing.
I also write middle grade fiction, and the tone is much different from my romances. Shocking, right? The manuscript my agent is shopping around right now is moody and thoughtful. Getting in the right frame of mind to write light is crucial for me.
I certainly don’t want my mini-romances to be like the sickly sweet birthday cake that makes your teeth ache. Humor helps balance things out, the same way darker moments or details in the story can. Yes, you can squeeze in illness, arrest records and death to bring a sense of balance and reality even to the funniest, lightest stories.
However, my first drafts aren’t funny and light. They tend to be flat, with me making notes to the effect of (add something funny here!) Sometimes, my first drafts are so pathetic, that it’s hard to carry on. (That’s why I love to nail a great first page, so I can go back and fall in love with my story again.) But I’ve also found reading or watching something funny puts me in a funny mood and helps me channel the humor just waiting to infuse my writing.
Similarly, if I’m watching something sad, say Hoarders, or Addiction, or the last Harry Potter movie, it’s going to show in my writing. The fingerprints of what’s going on in my life appear in my work. Use that to your benefit. Want to lighten up your writing? Read something funny. You won’t be copying that author’s humor, it’ll just help you find our own funny.
And a slice of peanut butter pie can put you in a nice, sweet mood, too. I just happen to have the perfect recipe…
For her secret pie recipe and her books, here’s the links to Lisa’s works on Amazon:
Writer, dreamer, pantser.
Saffi's musings over darkness & light 
Middle grade fiction and romance? That’s an interesting genre range!
Time was the gatekeepers were obsessive about authors sticking to their genre, but the e-pub Revolution is breaking down all these artificial barriers to expression.
Bring on the New Renaissance when all writers can feel free to write what they want, not what the gatekeepers want.
I know, what a combination, right? Like nuts and gum, together at last. 🙂 But those two feelings–entering middle school and falling in love–left very strong impressions on me. I’ll be interested to see if the publisher wants a different pen name if the middle grade novel sells.
And truly, the peanut butter pie was exquisite. How could it not be?
Well, Lisa, we both expect a piece (or the recipe at least!).
Mark is right, we have all but tossed the rule book out of a moving car’s window when it comes to writing within genre. OK, we have opted for a ‘middle of the road approach’ with Equilibrium, as we will be publishing under Saffina Desforges writing as…but it will be VERY different to Sugar & Spice and The Rose Red series.
We might even do something completely insane in the distant future by mixing genres (I can feel the chunks of nut in my gum as we speak) who knows?
Please keep us updated on your progress with the publisher and good luck!