What Our Bootcampers write.... Alison and Jacqueline

Alison

Alison Leake writes paranormal historical romance. She loves the distance of history, the magic of paranormal and the freedom of the fantasy worlds she creates. She likes big juicy plots, heroes with dark tormented souls and heroines with soft hearts made just for her heroes. Her current hero is a vampire who would sell his soul, if he had one, to be as human  as the girl he loves. And he just happens to look a lot like this gorgeous fellow *g*

Source: BBC Three

Jacqueline

Jacqueline started writing plays as a kid and she and her friends acted them out on the homestead verandah. Later, writing poetry released emotion and temporarily satisfied the muse. A serious writing apprenticeship commenced with joining the Romance Writers of Australia Inc. She writes category romance and has received positive comments on submissions, one request for full manuscript (turned down) and has several manuscripts in the pipeline. She also writes mainstream and has a First World War manuscript, fiction based on fact, being assessed by an agent. This was the one requested at the last RWA Conference. Jacqueline also has a portfolio of War poems and others in her personal collection. 

The Torch is Passing....

Dana has passed the torch onto Anne to become the new Chat Mum.

From all of the Bootcampers, we would like to thank Dana for the fantastic job she did in this role. She organised chat times, authors, and topics.   Always upbeat, friendly, enthusiastic and patient. 

We salute you!!

 

And welcome to Anne. We're sure you will do a fantastic job and thank you for taking on the role. We promise to behave ;)

The Windy Road to Publication with Christina Phillips

Thank you Eleni, Hannah and the rest of the Bootcampers for inviting me over to the Bootcampers Blog to chat about my writer’s journey and first release! I’m thrilled to be here.

 In June 2008, I sold my short erotic romance with paranormal elements, Foretaste of Forever, to The Wild Rose Press. I was ecstatic! But it's been a long rocky road to publication. Nine years in fact!

 The first time an editor took an interest in my writing way back when I first started, I was over the moon. She loved the concept and worked hard with me to polish that story until it glittered. I went through three rounds of extensive edits over an 18 month time frame. We got to contract stage – and then the company went into liquidation.

Devastated but not defeated I picked myself up and began to sub to Harlequin Mills and Boon. Over the following year or so I received several form rejection letters (lacks Emotional Punch and Excitement. Oh. Um, so what is Emotional Punch…?)

Then I discovered the eHarlequin boards, my first CP and the mysteries of what, exactly, EP was!!!

A few months later my writing caught the eye of an editor at Harlequin Mills & Boon. She said how much she loved the set up and requested the full. Within a month she rejected it, but with very specific reasons, and asked me to send her ‘several’ proposals so she could pick the strongest one for us to work on together.

Squeee!!!

I sent her two partials and three other outlines. Months passed and I heard nothing.  I’d finished those two stories and was half way through another, so contacted M&B only to discover this editor had left the company. 

Sigh.  My work was passed onto another editor. She also left the company.

Sometime during this period I subbed a short story to Arabella, a US romance magazine. Within weeks, they went into liquidation.

It was about this time I started to feel just a bit paranoid. Was somebody trying to tell me something here?!

My work was passed to a third editor who requested the full, spoke to me on the phone about my writing and then requested revisions. Ten months later I received a rejection on completely different aspects of the manuscript. Argh!!!

I thought I would try something different and wrote a couple of first person chic lits. They turned into first person romances, and writing hot sex scenes from the first person perspective was quite an… eye opener… ! Unfortunately that was just as the slump hit chic lit and my babies were without a home.

So I decided to go back to my first love of paranormal romance, shifted back to third person and received positive feedback from agents but still no offer! 

At the beginning of 2008 I was seriously fed up with the whole writing business. I didn’t know whether to go back to my beloved category romances, or pursue my paranormals. A lot of the time I just procrastinated around the web and if it hadn’t been for my fantastic CPs who encouraged me to try something new – erotic romance – I’m honestly not sure I’d ever have got my act together again. 

Then, in May 2008, the Romance Writers of Australia held their inaugural Romance Roadshow in Perth. I found out Hannah would be travelling up on the same train as me, so arranged to meet up with her.   

The Roadshow was an amazing experience. I met so many local writers I'd only known online before and the overall buzz and atmosphere was so friendly and encouraging it completely revitalised me. I was so inspired, I queried The Wild Rose Press the following Wednesday with my first erotic romance. On Saturday, the editor emailed and said my synopsis intrigued her and could I send her the full.

I sent her the full. And a week later she offered me a contract!

It really is the truth when they say the only writer who doesn't get published is the one who gives up. I've come close to giving up so many times, and only the encouragement of my fellow witches (and the fact I go slightly insane when I DON'T write!!) has kept me going. As they say in Galaxy Quest: Never Give Up! Never Surrender!

Christina’s first book, FORETASTE OF FOREVER is a dark erotic romance with paranormal elements, published by the Scarlet line of the Wild Rose Press.  It's about a heroine who is prepared to do anything to be with the man she loves, and an alpha hero who is so blinded by his sense of honour that he can't see his destiny when she is standing right in front of him.     

 Blurb: 

Elyesha, last surviving descendant of a line of powerful witches, finally finds the only man she's ever loved, the man who deserted her countless years before. But Ben is torn between desire and despair when Elyesha, his only love, eventually penetrates his
protective retreat. He knows what she wants, but the price of their love is too high. At midnight, on the beach, a battle of wills and erotic seduction ensues as each confronts the other's darkest fears.

Thanks Christina for your journey to publication.  Glad you stuck it out! Please visit Christina's website and blog.

News flash:  Christina has been offered a contract for her Scarlet Rosette, 'Touch of the Demon'  by The Wild Rose Press. Congratulations Christina!!!

~ Eleni

BOOT-I-CON - The Bootcamp Reunion

One year on, the 2007 Bootcampers (sadly missing four integral members) came together in the hills of Queensland for a Bootcamp reunion workshop called Boot-i-Con (or, later after some drinks, Booty-Camp).

We laughed and we ate and we drank and we worked our butts off in between going over each other's work, brainstorming new ideas, building worlds and squeezing in some writing and reading where we could. We all spent two days being young women again - for some that journey was longer than others, but we all got there. Really, years on this planet change nothing.

There were some practical outcomes between the chocolate binges and the gin'n'tonics...

CONFLICT BEETWEEN CAMPERS

One thing we all seem to do is leap into our stories character- and plot-first. Because that's the fun part. Conflict, particularly internal, was universal stumbling block. We all KNOW i's a priority but not one of us was prioritising it (except Rachel, of course, and guess who's published...? Yep, do the math).  As Rachel so eloquantly put it "What keeps your hero & heroine apart if they're alone in a cave. If there is no other woman, if there is no cyclone on the oil rig, if there is no great war between vampire factions. What is it about them that keeps them apart?" That's internal conflict and it seems easy enough to come up with a few but every time we did it was external.  The first thing we s hould be jotting down on our blank planning pages is the Hero & heroing internal conflict. Then GMC. Then characters and plots.  Most of us are guilty of retro-fitting the internal conflicts.

WHAT IF...?
No idea was too crazy, no twist too unexpected. We worked to get FIVE THINGS each that mean the heroine and hero couldn't be together (conflict development). We worked to mind-pop TWENTY plot ideas for manuscripts that had sagged in the middle. "What if..." became the catch-cry of the "Plotting in the Wild" sessions where we had one hour each to outline our story and then brainstorm our hearts out.

Anne and Alison were firing on all six what-if-cylinders, chucking ideas in with the same enthusiasm (and possibly more) that they tackled their own work.  Good ideas. Crazy ideas. Useable ideas.  Janine, patient to the 'nth degree within the ideas stampeed, always the one to drop a quiet but diverting 'what if' into the mix that had us changing tack and roaring off in a different direction.

And the invaluable digi-recorder that captured the fiction-gold for our later dissection. And just as well! The ideas fly by in formation so quickly and changed tack so unexpectedly that we wouldn't have had a prayer catching it all on paper.

BOOTPOLISH
This was Janine's brilliant suggestion for the most practical of the excercises. Autopsies on our own work.  One page each, that was enough. Across the weekend the group tightly examined a single page from each of us. We pulled three things out that could be improved. Three style or structure or tech issues that we could all then have a crack at correcting. It was hard to endure but so necessary and so instructive. It meant a list of about twenty things to watch in our own work (and each others). For editing, re-editing and the polishing to a fine shine.

SOME FLAWS ARE MORE EQUAL THAN OTHERS
It's important that your characters are flawed, but some flaws lead to growth and others lead to reader impasse when they can't get past the flaw. Can't forgive it. And its not a clearly defined line, sadly. For instance, the hero can't be 'unheroic' and particularly not against the heroine. So he can harbour resentment, bunt not against the heroine, he can be bitter and twisted but not cruel to animals, he can be clever and cunning but not manipulative. It's a long, wobbly, grey line that most of us didn't know we'd crossed until we had.

 All in all a sensational weekend and a wonderful opportunity to get face-to-face with people we'd only met online. Conversation in person flew as fast as text in the chatroom. The accomodations were luxurious and 'camp-like' all at the same time. The company excellent.  It would be good to think that it could be an annual thing but, really, who other than Rachel is going to be able to accomodate eight guests and give them a bathroom between two?? Thanks Rachel & John, thanks dogs, and thanks Bootcampers.  Worth every penny of the airfare from WA.

~ Hannah Wride

You say it's your birthday....

Yep, that's right we are ONE year old today. A year ago we embarked on RWAustralia's Bootcamp 101 course. And we've been going strong ever since. In fact, this weekend most of the Bootcampers had a Boot-i-Con (basically a face to face get together to do writing exercises, have a chin wag and eat fab food and have a drink or two). 

So sing it with me....

"You say it's your Birthday

It's my birthday too - yeah

We're gonna have a good time

I'm glad it's your birthday

Happy Birthday to you" (The Beatles)

So Happy Birthday to us!!!