Novel Review

REYES GOLD
Author: Ruthie Robinson
2010 Indigo Spectrum
An imprint of Genesis Press, Inc
Genre: Multicultural, Contemporary Romance
Sensuality: Sizzling

Back flap blurb
Stephen Stuart and Reye Jackson are in their final year of University, when she stumbled upon him while waiting in first class check in line at the airport and was immediately attracted to Stephen , from the get go Reye had few mishaps Stephen was a gentleman and offered her a helping hand, and then him offering her an empty seat next to him made Reye developed a spark for Stephen. (I will not give away the spoiler what happened next it was perfect)

In Austen, Texas they meet up and Stephen decided to date Reye but made it clear it was stictly sex until they graduated, after graduation as promised he broke it off with Reye this shattered Reye who at this point was in love with Stephen.

So the story of how I got this book is not strange typical Saturday run to library to stack up on new books to read and research, last-minute before I checked out my books I noticed this cute little book, the cover did nothing for me, I wasn’t enticed by the white attractive male and a pretty black female, but it wasn’t hard to formulate what the book would be about an interracial couple struggling to be together. (I was right.)

Stephen was wealthy and at a very young age it was drilled to him by his parent’s to study law , Reye on the other hand had always struggled with school but her parents drilled in her as well the importance of education and she wanted to become a teacher so she could help other students who struggled throughout school, here are the reasons I was hooked.

The love interest had the same name of my love interest in my novel ECLIPTIC DREAMS *Stephen*
They have the same issues he is wealthy and his parents want him to study business and later run the family business
Although my book is a YA paranormal romance it tackled the same issues such as Elizabeth my main character not feeling secure in her relationship with Stephen because she feared the world would judge them because he is white and she is biracial
There is a break up also in my book in which my main character Elizabeth knows that she is better off with Stephen but didn’t want to take the risk which is what Reye experienced as well.
So that was the hook for me reading a book that had similar plot and conflict as my own which made me learn a lot I read this book from 11p.m.-3a.m. I rarely do that the last book I read all night was Mockingjay by the phenomenal Suzanne Collins. The book I wouldn’t consider it erotica, I interpreted the sex scenes as two people needing each other like a magnetic current and creatively expressed that via their romps in many places.

I have never read erotica but the scenes was tastefully written ( I would never do half of the positions or techniques that was described in the book but that’s why fiction is so amazing it transfers readers into that fantasy.)

I felt the two characters in love from the moment the writer introduced them, the plot was easy to figure out and I never got the sense it was the type of romance story in which the author wanted to keep her readers on the edge of thinking whether or not these two would get back together it was so easy to figure that out she gave very obvious clues for example the love interest missing Reye.

The POV was done in third person which was perfect because it enabled me to get in the mindset of Stephen and the other minor characters in the novel, but I would’ve liked first person POV to see the experience solely through Reyes eyes because I loved her personality, she was fearless, smart, witty and down to earth and I liked the contrast between her and Stephen; he on the other hand was conceited, somewhat arrogant and knew he was all that and more, but with Reye she softened him he could be himself he didn’t have to put on a front to prove anything to her and I really like that the author did that.

Rating: *****

Motivation

Last week I went into a dark zone, my new editor had giving me back chapter 1 and the first thing that I had to do was slow down because my scenes were too rushed, the realization hit me my former editor wasted my time and when money is involved that time wasted continues to haunt me. So what did I do yes it took a while a whole twenty-four hours for me to snap out of my self-pity and utilize my editor expertise and ask for help. She did more than what I asked for she gave me examples and a positive kick in the… I want to become published, I want to write until my fingers ache and even then I will likely still find a way to write, everyday I think of new things to write and I enjoy the escape, that’s the best part for me.

Its been almost two years since I decided to stop pushing aside my dream and the fact that it’s a painful journey so far means I am not giving in to defeat, nothing in life in my opinion is easy without sacrifice, and I also know some people will have better fate than me but I have come to the conclusion this is the way it will be for me and even though I am at the beginning I will be at the finish line one day.



What motivation do you tell yourself to keep going?

Validation

The week of February 22-25 2011 had been a horrible at week, conflicts with a coworker is never fun and feeling like no one gets me or that when I seek out support from my superiors they don’t offer me the support I wanted.

The reality is I can’t change others I have to work on myself to be the best person I can be and appreciating my family who should never soak in my negative energy . I overcame my issue by working out which is challenging I want the results of a leaner body but don’t want to work for it refer to my previous post about this goal and writing. As an aspiring writer I think getting an agent/publisher will validate me but I had an awakening I don’t need that validation I AM A WRITER! I struggle to write no matter what I endure in the real world even if I don’t accomplish my writing goal of 1000-1200 words a day,I still write something which most of the time will be revised or deleted. Being a Child and Youth Worker is difficult giving so much yet at times I feel I don’t get anything back but then a client will come to me and let me know how much they appreciate what I have done for them and that makes me get happy that even though I may not hear it, often I do make a difference. That’s similar to writing it takes a lot of hard work for me to gain knowledge about the craft putting myself out in the literary world knowing many rejections will occur before I get a validation but I know that if I dedicate time, effort that is my validation.

Feeling Complete

Remember that thou art dust, and to dust thou shalt return.
—Genesis 3:19
As a Christian I reflect a lot on the person I am now and the person I would like to aim to be in the future, which is to be the best parent I can; by working hard to secure a future for my children, being a good spouse which lately has meant taking a break from writing to remember I have to offer my attention to my relationship. Showing compassion, respect for others which has been difficult because I have come to terms that not everyone will be nice to me, not everyone will say positive words to me I have to feel complete about who I am and what it means to be me.
While I am in reflection mode I really want to strive to let things go not doing so inhibits me from growing or keep me stuck and I get all stressed.

My reflection will never feel complete without discussing my path towards getting an agent/published most people in my close circle of family and friends know that I write it is my passion that I ignored for a few years mainly because I was scared to take the leap the other thing about telling others about what your passionate about is they don’t take you serious and think it’s a hobby they don’t really understand that it’s not but an investment in my dream and confident that if I don’t give up especially when things will get hard my goal will see fruition.

What do you reflect about to aim for your complete self?

Going back to the beginningPosted

About two weeks ago my editor suggested a new way for me to start my novel, I had originally had the novel set up in which my MC grew up in the town but the plot kept getting confusing and difficult for me to show certain aspects such as the secondary important character treatment towards the MC. I gave myself the goal of page 200 in which it would enable me to kick-start the novel with as much momentum my muse can give me, but rewriting has also helped me not rush the story, even though my mind is at a much faster pace than what’s on the computer I am savouring the journey of my MC situations and my editor also has taught me something on her lovely blog , is that the main character journey should not be so easy because truthfully who wants to read that, readers want a character that can achieve many hurdles, they want also a character that they can relate to. Wrinting for the young adult market is not an easy feat I have to literally go into the mindset of when I was a teen . Writing is not easy its a lot of giving and I seem to always come back to the same point that I want it so much but I have to put immense motivation and take my time learning as much as I can about the craft. Few days ago I chatted with a good friend on twitter, I was in the zone of feeling like a failure, I felt defeated and at the time I really thought I was going to wave the white flag and announce that I will be in the category of writers that gave up on their dream but then I started feeling better and I realized that there is no shame in needing someone’s ear to vent, the key is finding the right person that will be positive but realistic.

Rewriting/outlines oh my Gawd SOS!!!!

I have 220 more pages to go until I am done my rewrite of my first novel, and each time I think I am on the ball something always snags my momentum, for example this week I realized I don't have a freaking outline all I have been doing was writing quick notes of ideas so on my desk I had so many papers and after a while yep you guessed it I was overwhelmed.

I was confused and didn't know where the quick notes fit into the story, therefore I stopped writing and completed a chapter outline, and added notes on the side of my notebook that will remind me about something later that I might come back to, this has alleviated plenty of stress but then I went on twitter because that is my other obsession and while talking about Dawson Creek with a few awesome tweeps it dawned on me I had not thought about my character arc?

I know her, so I should know how she changes, because all characters must have a change whether that change is good or bad its still a change so back I went into the thinking vault which helped me but yet again I came up with something else.

I am pursueing an agent so I have to write my book as a stand alone and so awesome, but by tieing up all the loose ends to resolve my story, and even though I am done my second novel I cannot think about it, because if I do get an agent, and published and able to continue the story the plot in the second will be totally different so basically to give my first book enough stamina I am cutting and pasting a few climatic scenes.

Slow, steady, race to the mountain

I always complete my query the same time I start a new novel, presently for my first novel query, which I'd revised so many times I honestly have lost count, week ago I figured another revision for ECLIPTIC DREAMS. Writing a great query is hard, I have books, internet research about the said topic, and I have concluded its part luck, right moment etc if a agent/publisher request to see more. However,I believe following the query formula will make the chances much better, now this is the info I have researched from a variety of sources that I basically mushed into one so that I can understand it it may be different for each aspiring writer but for me this helps me out when structuring my query and since I am a visual learner I will show the formula.

Constructing a Query Letter

The 5 parts of a query letter are as follows:
1. A Tag line/Headline whatever you call it basically you want to grab the attention of the agent/publisher
2. The concept Don't tell agents you'll be the next big author first of all that's conceited and your going in bull shit territory and likely they'll delete your query and send you a nice email rejection or if its a hard copy query letter they'll toss it so fast in the recycling bin
your headline/tag line should be the continuation of your concept

lets use Harry Potter for example.

Headline: How can an 11 year -old wizard defeat a powerful dark lord...when he doesn't know that he's a wizard?


I don't think agents and publishers want to know that you'll sell the same amount of books as J.K Rowling, James Patterson or Stephenie Meyer. They want to make that judgement for themselves that your novel will sell period. Its the same as writing show them don't tell them. For my paranormal romance I took the advice of the various research and remember my query is still in rough shape but for demonstration purpose's here is the rough draft of my tag line, (which I am still debating whether I should use in my query.)

Seventeen year-old Elizabeth McKenzie must conquer a sadistic faceless figure in her dreams but how can she do that when she can't accept its real?



Insert agents name

My query should look something like this when I start to draft it

After Elizabeth McKenzie Grandmother Mary tells her she is moving to Cove, Arkansas she begins to get nightmares involving a faceless figure, Elizabeth theory concludes the dreams only started because she's stressed about moving but the figure tells her she's not dreaming and divulges about an vague impending fate and that she is part of a royal linage.

So working with this rough concept idea I will continue to pack the image so to speak of my MC and the conflict of the faceless figure and the mystery surrounding her impending fate and the consequences that will happen due to her choosing to deny her dreams are in fact real.

3.Bio

Be very brief they don't want to know that all your immediate families love your book or how many contest you entered and came close to winning unless you came first place don't ever mention that. What you can mention is obviously any other books that were published or any writing credentials that will show them that you have experience as writer, dedicated to the business etc and the obvious never lie, the literary world seems big when you are querying but its quite small agents, interns, editors and other authors talk and you never know if someone might catch on to that lie that will blow up in your face and ruin your chances as a credible writer so if you have no experience that's cool we all have to start from somewhere.

4.The pitch

Keep it short and identify the target market that will buy your book for me I have mentioned two authors that fans of their series may appreciate my novel.

5.Close your Query Letter I never write thank you for your time honestly my time is just as important as their time I work full time and a Mom so I value my time as well. I reiterate that I had followed their submission guidelines i.e enclosed is the first three chapters, synopsis whatever they asked for is what they'll get, or I'll say something on the lines at your request I can forward the full manuscript or chapters etc and of course my contact info like email, website agents are big on an writers having a blog/website. I don't do a lot of SASE for me its expensive since I am mailing from Canada to the US so the email submissions are perfect but if I do send one or two SASE I make sure that I follow the guidelines close to perfection and make sure as well it will be no cost to the agent.


Final note

I have seen a lot of bestsellers get a ego that is the size of the earth, those authors I don't support because as easy as someone rises they may come crashing down just as fast so be humble and don't lose who you are, in the early stage keep in mind you want an agent/publisher as a partner that will support you throughout your long term writing career it is about all the parties involved benefiting from the partnership.