Five Ways To Beat WB--By J.S. Wayne

Odds are, with a few seconds' thought, you can work out what WB is. No, it's NOT Warner Brothers! (Please don't sue me, mmm-kay? Thanks , , ,) It's the bane of every author out there, and statements I've made in the past to the contrary, in recent months I've actually had a couple of fairly nasty but mercifully brief interludes with it. But this whole Lesbians Vs. Zombies project got me to thinking about ways to take WB and make it work for you. After all, without the thoroughly outrageous premise and conditions our own Ruby Green attached to this project, "Dead Means Dead" wouldn't even exist . . . and it certainly wouldn't have been the sexy, scary romp it turned into! So, with that in mind, here are five ways to kick WB to the curb!

5) The jumble

When you're really stuck for something to write about, take a bunch of concepts and throw them into a hat or a bowl. Write down a list of possible twosomes, threesomes, or moresomes. Then do another list of occupations or mythical creatures. (Or do one list for each. Hey, go for broke!) Then do a list of times or places you'd like to visit. (Again, you can do this for each if you like.) If you want to get really deep into this (and completely surrender to the hand of Fate to create your plotline) you can also add lists of body characteristics, hair and length, eye color and shape, favorite kinds of clothing, and so on.

An example: I just did this for myself. I came up with an FFM pairing concerning a firefighter in Dublin, Ireland, who's fallen in love with a Siren marine biologist from Ancient Greece and now based out of Columbia University. The complication is her girlfriend, who's a mermaid stripper from Brooklyn. They all wind up going back in time to the Civil War and having to survive traveling the Underground Railroad to Canada. If they make it to Canada, there's a shaman waiting for them to send them back, with (moral lesson here) learned.

Would I actually attempt to write this story? Well . . . at some point, maybe. Right now, the idea of the sheer volume of research involved in learning everything I would need to about Dublin, the Civil War, the Underground Railroad, and marine biology is far too daunting for me to even consider. But, hey, one night I might get bored and find myself with a couple hours to kill, right?

4) Ask a friend

There's nothing saying you can't ask somebody to give you something to write about. In the writing world, we call that a "prompt." You may use any, all, or none of the ideas given, or their ideas may spark some of your own. "What if" followed by "what then?" at its finest. But if you do this, make sure they're not planning to use it in the future, and DO be sure to give them a nod in the acknowledgements! ;)

3) Go to the mall.

Yeah. A card-carrying member of the straight male persuasion just told you to go to the mall. Or the park. Or a busy downtown street. Anywhere you can sit with a pad of paper and a cold beer or a hot cup of coffee and watch the people go by. See that geeky, slightly balding businessman in the two-thousand-dollar suit and the wingtips that cost more than your last car payment? Watch his eyes and his face. What kind of woman does he react to? Or what kind of guy? How does he react? Or how about the woman who walks by him with an upturned nose and a look of disgust. Maybe she knows him. Maybe they had an affair at one point and she still loves him, but doesn't know how to try to get him back.
People-watching is a great way to get ideas, folks! If you're really, truly stuck, getting out of your comfort zone and finding an environment that serves your story while not putting you at personal risk is a good way to shake some of those words loose.

2) Just do it.

A lot of people use programs like "Write Or Die." The entire point of these programs is, you've got to be thinking ten to fifteen words ahead of the cursor. Especially if you use the sprint mode, which prevents you from going back and editing unless you want to watch a half page or more of fresh writing vanish into the Blue Nowhere because you realized you used "lippenschnitzen" fifteen times in three paragraphs and tried to fix it. Your first draft with Write or Die and its clones is likely to look like utter crap, no matter how polished you think you are. But if you can mine out the good stuff and fix the bad, you're going to find you've got a lot more usable material than you think!

1) The Internet

Of course, the Internet! Where else would you look for the entire sum of human knowledge? Find something that's trending on Twitter or blowing up Facebook and write about that!
When doing this, choose your topic carefully. I would suggest, if you're going to attempt something like this, you take your overarching inspiration story and mash up the elements as in #5. This will help you create a story that's uniquely your own, and offers an almost unlimited source of fresh material.

Because we all know truth is always stranger than fiction, right?

Until next time,

Best,

J.S. Wayne

364 Days Later . . . By J.S. Wayne

Twenty-four hours from now marks the one-year anniversary of the email that started this wild ride you and I have shared this year. It was from Rebecca Dampier, Noble's acquisitions editor, and started with the word "Congratulations!" Looking back, it's hard to believe that in just one short year, I've gone from a hopeful writer to a multi-published author with a small but fiercely loyal following.

Like most writers, I've had my moments of doubt about the wisdom of my chosen path. I've had stories I thought were sure things come to naught, and stories I didn't give a chance in Hell of doing anything receive amazing reviews and praise from all sides.

I've explored my boundaries, and so far, the only thing that has proven to be utterly beyond me is "sweet" romance. I have been fortunate to win fans, make some new and wonderful friends, and had many people entrust me with their secrets, fears, and confidences. For this, I am profoundly and deeply grateful.

So, let's talk about the year ahead, rather than the one just behind us.

First up: On February 13th, my entry for the Lesbians Vs. Zombies line, "Dead Means Dead," will be available from Noble. This dark, apocalyptic tale is an exploration of the resilience of the human heart and our need for love, perhaps most of all when all hope seems to be lost. I'm particularly excited about this because once again, I'm getting to share stage time with the infamous KevaD. Joining us on this jaunt are XCognito, Jadette Paige, Amber Green, Dana Dye, and a host of other great authors, so I hope you'll check them out!

Second: I'm currently putting the finishing touches on the second book in The Wildsworn series. I was shocked by the wonderful response "Dancing On Flames" achieved;" as I write this, "DOF" remains in the Top 10 Noble Romance offerings on All Romance Ebooks, making it by far the best-selling work I've ever written. Not bad for a work I honestly didn't expect to go anywhere at all! So I'm hoping to have Silver and Air, a full-length novel following the aftermath of Russell and Ion's forbidden passion, sent out to beta readers by the weekend and submitted by the end of next week. Cross your fingers, folks, and keep watching for updates!

Third: I'm very proud to say that one of my "side projects" is coming to fruition. Although I don't make a point of "plugging" those projects here, this is one I think my readers will be particularly interested in. As of this writing, three of a projected seven stories for a forthcoming anthology to benefit Writing Out Child Abuse have been completed, and I expect to have the last four shortly. Again, this is in no way associated or affiliated with Noble Romance, so I hope y'all don't mind me bragging this up a little. :)

If you like this button, PLEASE post it on your blog or website, and show that YOU believe children everywhere have the right to feel and be safe.

Amber Green, R. Renee Vickers, Gillian Colbert, and a couple of others (whose names I don't know yet or I'd shout them out too!) have all contributed tales to this anthology. ALL proceeds from this anthology are going to benefit charities to provide hope, aid, safety, and comfort to survivors of child abuse all over the world. So far, the stories are looking wonderful, and I'm both very proud and deeply humbled at the number and quality of the authors who've answered this call. If you'd like to know more about WOCA or our work, simply go to http://wix.com/writingoutchildabuse/intro, and PLEASE follow us on Twitter @WOCH2. And, just in case you didn't know: I'm donating 20% of all author profits from my ENTIRE backlist to the cause as well.

I've gotta say, folks, it's been a wild ride. I've done things I never expected to do, learned a lot about myself, and all in all, I'm looking at this coming year with a lot of hope and a very strong feeling it's going to be a great year. And I owe a lot of that to my friends at Noble and to you, my readers and fans.

Let's give 2012 Hell, y'all.

Until next time,

Best,

J.S. Wayne