Writing process – Amy Vastine

Two weeks in a row! Romance Weekly #lovechatwrite

Posted on June 17, 2014June 17, 2014 by vastine7

Do you like to read romance novels? Wouldn’t you like to know more about your favorite authors? Well you came to the right place! Join the writers of Romance Weekly as we go behind the scenes of our books and tell all….. About our writing of course! Every week we’ll answer questions and after you’ve enjoyed the blog on this site we’ll direct you to another. So come back often for a thrilling ride!

The sweet Jami Denise is the author of this week’s questions:

1.When writing your novel, do you know how it’s going to end before you write, or do you write from start to finish?
I always know where I am going when starting a new project. The end is always my favorite part – when love finally conquers all. The middle is what constantly changes for me. My beginning and end usually stay consistent from the start.

2. How do the people you know impact your writing? Are you influenced by friends and family for your characters?
Sometimes little parts of people make their way into my stories. I have a friend who is kind of a health nut and loves to eat …KALE. Kale makes me want to throw up but she is determined to get me to try it. I took her health food habits and gave them to one of the sisters in my new Chicago Sisters series coming out in September. Lucy is a fanatic and loves to pass on her healthy habits to everyone around her. Her sisters, on the other hand, still love to munch on the occasional Cheeto.

3. Describe the hero in your current WIP in three words.

This is hard! Charlie Fletcher is my current WIP hero for the second book in the Chicago Sisters series. Charlie could be described as big-hearted, good-humored, and optimistic. I kind of love Charlie. So. Yeah.

There you have it! Check out what J.J. Devine had to say about this over at her blog. Thanks so much for stopping by!!

xoxo,
Amy

Romance Weekly – #lovechatwrite

Posted on June 10, 2014June 10, 2014 by vastine7

I’m emerging from the dark depths of a writing deadline to join this week’s blog hop. Thanks to Susan Peterson Wisnewski for sending some of you my way. Today’s questions come from the lovely Kim Handysides.

1.What’s your ideal: alpha or beta and why?

Well, I’m not sure what anyone would find appealing about a beta. I need my hero to have some charisma and physical presence. That doesn’t mean they can’t be sweet guys. Men with personality and charm win me over every time. Good looks don’t hurt, but attitude and confidence play a big part in attraction. I tend to write about guys who have hearts of gold and don’t hide it. On the flip side, I like to read about guys who seem a little heartless until the love of their life shows the world there’s more to him than a face and some ego. I guess I like to write about those alphas as well, they just haven’t been published … yet.

2.Do you have a male buddy or mate you use for confirmation or inspiration when crafting your heroes?

I have a husband, but I do not usually consult him when it comes to my heroes because he would say something outrageous just to be funny. I do steal things from him without him knowing. His sense of humor is his greatest strength and I have used some of his lines in my writing. I figure if he cracks me up, he’ll make others laugh as well.

3.What does any hero have to do to win your heart?

I like my heroes confident on the outside and just a little bit vulnerable on the inside. I need a hero who shows up like he owns the place but worries the heroine is going to figure him out any minute (which she usually does!) I need someone with a sense of humor, especially about himself. I can’t be all ego – he needs to be intent on doing somethings for others. There needs to be that part of him that wants to better the world he’s in, even if it’s only for the woman he loves. I like a man to be capable of being selfless.

There you have it. That’s what I look for in my heroes. Follow the link to see how J.J. Devine answered these questions.

Thanks for stopping by!

xoxo,
Amy

Love, Write, Chat

Posted on March 4, 2014March 27, 2014 by vastine7

This week’s questions come from Meggan Connors…

Do you have a recurring theme in your work, either intentional or unintentional? What is it and why do you think you chose that particular theme?

I don’t think I have an intentional theme in my stories, but I do tend to write about heroes who have issues with their fathers for some reason. I have no personal history with this or anything. I have two brothers who get along quite well with my dad and my husband and his father were very close when his dad was alive. I guess I think the father/son dynamic is a powerful thing. Whether it’s living up to dear old dad’s expectations or trying to prove he can be better than his own deadbeat dad, my heroes tend to have daddy issues. The story I just finished writing has strong father/son themes. In The Better Man, my hero, Max, had a father who left his mother before Max was born. Max thought he’d have no trouble being a better father than his own, but he learned the hard way that being a dad is more than paying the bills and giving your name. He has a lot to learn about sacrifice and knowing the difference between what he wants and what his child needs.

Do you carefully plot your stories, or do you plot as you write?

Why do you think this particular ethos works for you?

I do both. I plot out the entire thing before I start writing. However, as I write, things can take me in another direction. Sometimes it’s because I discover something new about the characters as I get to know them and sometimes it’s because something doesn’t play out the way I thought it would and it needs to be reworked. I jot down a lot of notes on plain old paper – scenes, dialogue, themes, things I want to make sure come full circle. I usually have a beginning, climax, and end figured out and don’t change much. It’s the middle part that’s always more fluid.

I can’t write without knowing where I’m headed. I have to see the end and work toward it. Sometimes the path changes up on me, but at least I still know where I’m going. I think it helps me keep things consistent.

Is there a particular genre (within romance) you could never write? Why?

I guess I should never say never but there are probably a few I don’t think I will ever write. A friend of mine googled romance genres and there is quite an extensive list. I don’t think I would ever write historical. There would be way too much research involved because I would be so worried about getting something wrong. They didn’t have cell phones in the 1600’s, right?

Mystery is another tough one for me. I have a hard time thinking up enough twists and turns to make a mystery interesting. I give writers that write mystery a lot of credit. It amazes me when they create this puzzle and slowly give us piece by piece until we see the whole picture at the end.

Lastly, I chose Heartwarming/clean romance for a reason – writing explicit sex scenes makes me super uncomfortable. I can do it, but it is painful. There are words that make me blush simply by typing them out. I also like that I can share what I write with my entire family. I would not be able to leave erotica sitting around the house!

Alright, that’s it for me. Please head over HERE to author Jo Richardson’s blog to see how she answered.

THE 2014 OUR WRITING PROCESS BLOG HOP

Posted on February 21, 2014March 27, 2014 by vastine7

Writer’s write, that’s what we do. Find out why and how in this new Blog Hop for 2014:

Thanks so much to J.R. Richardson for inviting me to join this blog hop. I have never done anything like this before so bear with me. I was supposed to find three people to tag at the end of this but didn’t manage that many. I did get two, though! The hop hops on!

1) What am I working on right now?

I actually just sent in the manuscript for my next book, The Better Man. The story centers on a widow and mother, Kendall Montgomery, who is not only dealing with the death of her husband but her son’s difficulty coping with it. Simon is a selective mute. His anxiety makes it impossible for him to speak in front of anyone other than his mother. That is until he meets Max Jordan.

This is my Max

Max has moved to Chicago to be closer to his son, Aidan. Max hasn’t been the father he wants to be and his ex doesn’t believe he’s capable of caring about anything but himself and his career. When Max meets Simon and Kendall, he’s surprised the little boy finds him so interesting and his mother looks at him like he has a third head. That may have something to do with the fact that … he looks exactly like Simon’s father/Kendall’s husband. Let the drama begin!
With that off to my editor, I am beginning the second book in this series of three I am writing for Harlequin Heartwarming. The second book is tentatively titled The Better Plan. The series follows Kendall and her two sisters, each dealing with their own drama and finding love where they never expected to find it. I am so very excited to share these new characters with the world!

2) How does my work differ from others of its genre?
That’s a great question. I have been writing for Harlequin Heartwarming, which is their clean romance line. I think what I bring to clean romances is a good mix of humor and drama. I’ve been told my sense of humor is a strength and hopefully that comes through in my writing.

3) Why do I write what I do?
I often ask myself this considering that erotica seems to be the thing to write right now. Throw some sex in there and the book sells like hotcakes. I’ve chosen this genre because it was important to me that I could share what I write with everyone in my family, from my seventy-eight year old mother-in-law to my eleven-year-old daughter. I wanted something that my children could feel proud about showing their friends and teachers. One of my proudest moments was when my youngest son brought a copy of THE WEATHER GIRL to school to show his whole 4th grade class because he thinks it is so cool his mom wrote a book.

I write romance because I love putting my characters through all this drama only to find their happily ever after in the midst of all the darkness. I’m a sucker for a HEA.

4) How does my writing process work?

I love technology and I use a writing program called Scrivener. It is a fantastic tool that allows me to plot out the whole story on virtual note cards and move chapters and scenes around easily. But at the very beginning of any story, I always use an old-fashioned notebook and pen. I start out by writing an outline that simply consists of a sentence or two about the overall idea I want to get across chapter by chapter. Then, I write out more detailed notes on some key scenes and general character traits. What are the emotional stakes? Where is the hero/heroine at the beginning of the book and where do I want him or her by the end? Why are they the way they are? What drives them? Sometimes those things end up in the story and sometimes they are just for me to better understand my character’s motivations. I even write out little bits of dialogue that I hear in my head so I don’t forget. Once I do all that, I transfer the info into my writing program and start writing. Things usually (always) change once I start writing. I love how things evolve when you get into the heart of a story. Sometimes the characters take me in another direction once I get to know them a little better.

Well, that’s it for me. Thanks so much for stopping by my blog. Don’t be a stranger!

xoxo,
Amy

For next week’s entry, I’ve tagged two lovely ladies to find out how they answer the same questions. You won’t want to miss it.

Jennifer Garcia’s lifelong love for reading and writing was put aside for many years while she made her way in the world and nurtured her young family. Originally from Boston, she currently resides in Los Angeles with her husband, two sons, and two dogs. Even though she is older, and life never seems to settle, she’s finding her way while attending college full-time in pursuit of a B.A. in English Literature. She also runs a business, and is still caring for her family. Believing she can do it all, with the help of her family, she worked on her first novel during the late hours of the night while balancing the rest of her life during the day. Her hard work paid off, as her first novel, My Mr. Manny, was released August 2013 and her first novella, In My Mother’s Footsteps, was released July 2013.

Jennifer’s website: http://jenniferfgarcia.com

Elks lives near London, England and writes contemporary romance with a dash of intrigue.

Carrie Elks lives near London, England and writes contemporary romance with a dash of intrigue. At the age of twenty-one she left college with a political science degree, a healthy overdraft and a soon-to-be husband. She loves to travel and meet new people, and has lived in the USA and Switzerland as well as the UK. An avid social networker, she tries to limit her Facebook and Twitter time to stolen moments between writing chapters. When she isn’t reading or writing, she can usually be found baking, drinking wine or working out how to combine the two.

Carrie’s website:owww.carrieelks.com/blogn, England and writes contemporary romance with a dash of int