These days, with the publishing industry in flux, it’s hard to know what to expect with traditional publishing. I recently announced my sale of a 1920s erotic romance collection to Berkley Books, set to release in January 2013. For new writers or those who aren’t familiar with what it’s like to work with one of the Big Six traditional publishers, I thought I’d share the process from (nearly) start to finish.

The first part was having my agent, the lovely Jennifer Schober of Spencerhill Associates, submit my proposal for me. The next part was a modest bidding war when more than one NY editor was enticed by my work. Then there was the contract negotiations and a brief call with my editor, Cindy Hwang, about the direction that the collection should take. (I submitted two of the three intertwined stories in the collection, leaving the last one up in the air.)

As it’s April, some of you may be surprised to learn that a publication date of January/February 2013 is very quick in terms of a traditional publishing schedule. It is almost a rush job. So perhaps I ought not have been surprised when, last week, when I was in Chicago for the Romantic Times Bookseller’s Convention, I received an email from my editor requesting that I look over the back cover copy that had been drafted for my book and get it back to her ASAP.

The problem? I hadn’t even started writing the last story of the collection and although I had some vague notion how it ought to go, the idea had been squirming around in my writer brain and taking different shapes. I had two competing versions that were still warring for ascendancy and whatever I put on the back of the book would lock me in.

I had two choices: I could either write such a vague summary of the story that it would fit almost anything or I could write my way out of the problem. I chose the latter. Writing like a fiend, I quickly began to draft both stories at the same time until one emerged as the clear winner. But then what? Berkley’s copywriters had taken the original wording of my proposal–in which I always include a brief summary of the written stories–but I still had to write one for the last story of the collection.

The steps I use in this are as follows:

1. Identify a punchy description of your characters. My heroine in the last story is a plucky social reformer, and that would have been a good identifier for her. However, as the other two heroines in the book are both from different social classes, I chose a working class shop-girl. This contrasted nicely with the little punchy description I had for the hero, her boss, the wealthy heir to the Aster family fortune.
2. Summarize the inciting incident. This is really the premise of your story–the event that’s going to lead to the dominant conflict. In the case of this book, the inciting incident is when the hero confronts our plucky working class shop girl with her diary of fantasies. It’s come into his possession under circumstances that should surely lead to her dismissal…but her handsome boss has other ideas about what to do with her.
3. Wind it up with what’s at stake. In this story, my heroine isn’t sure that her self-respect is compatible with the kind of depraved fantasies she’s living out with her boss. She’s very aware of how her relationship compromises her, that they’re from different social worlds and any lasting relationship is doomed, not to mention the fact that she feels preyed upon. But when she discovers that she has all the power, will it change her idea about the relationship?

The first iteration for the cover copy looked something like this:

It vibrated with incendiary Jazz. It teemed with sexual abandon. The Twenties were roaring and the women—young, open, rebellious, and willing—set the pace and pushed the limits with every man they met…

Love Me or Leave Me

Society girl Nora Richardson’s passionate nature has always been a challenge to her ever-patient husband. Now he wants out of the marriage, and Nora has only one night to win him back. The catch? He wants to punish her for her bad behavior. Nora is offended by her husband’s increasingly depraved demands, but as the night unfolds, she discovers her own true nature and that the line between pain and pleasure is very thin indeed.

When I’m Bad, I’m Better

If Clara Cartwright, sultry siren of the silent screen and darling of the scandal sheets, knows anything, it’s men. And she’s known plenty. But none of them push her boundaries like WWI Flying Ace Leo Vanderberg. When he lures her into a ménage with a stranger in a darkened cinema, she feels like a virgin again. This time, though, she stands to lose more than her innocence. Clara may just lose her jaded heart in the bargain.

Let’s Misbehave

Working class shop-girl Sophie O’Brien has more important things on her mind than pleasures of the flesh. But when her boss, the wealthy heir to the Aster family fortune, confronts her with her diary of secret sex fantasies, she could die of shame. To her surprise, he doesn’t fire her; instead, he dares her to live out her boldest fantasies and Sophie is utterly seduced. She aches to obey the man, but struggles against being drawn deeper under his control. Is her lover a wicked predator with designs to ruin her, or does Sophie have all the power?

However, the more I looked at this I realized that my red hot and risqué stories from the Roaring Twenties all had a through line. These stories are all intertwined with characters re-appearing in each and I wanted the whole thing to flow more smoothly. And so what we end up with is this:

They vibrated with incendiary Jazz. They teemed with sexual abandon. The Twenties were roaring and the women—young, open, rebellious, and willing—set the pace and pushed the limits with every man they met…

In the aftermath of a wild, liquor-soaked party, three women from very different social classes are about to live out their forbidden desires.

Society girl, Nora Richardson’s passionate nature has always been a challenge to her ever-patient husband. Now he wants out of the marriage and she has just this one night to win him back. The catch? He wants to punish her for her bad behavior. Nora is offended by her husband’s increasingly depraved demands, but as the night unfolds, she discovers her own true nature and that the line between pain and pleasure is very thin indeed.

Meanwhile, Clara Cartwright, sultry siren of the silent screen, is introduced to a mysterious WWI Flying Ace. If Clara, darling of the scandal sheets, knows anything, it’s men. And she’s known plenty. But none of them push her boundaries like the aviator, who lures her into a ménage with a stranger in a darkened cinema… then steals her jaded heart.

Working class girl Sophie O’Brien has more important things on her mind than pleasures of the flesh. But when her playboy boss, the wealthy heir to the Aster family fortune, confronts her with her diary of secret sex fantasies, she could die of shame. To her surprise, he doesn’t fire her; instead, he dares her to re-enact her boldest fantasies and Sophie is utterly seduced.

One party serves as a catalyst of sexual awakening. And in an age when anything goes, three women discover that anything is possible…

It’s never wise to write to a trend simply because it’s a trend. However, if you already have an interest in writing something that’s just starting to be popular, it’s often a wise idea to jump on that bandwagon before everyone else does. To that end I keep my eye out for trends.

I never suspected that Regency Romance would be the enduring historical love affair of the romance genre until everyone else in the world already knew it. I did predict the rise of Steampunk before it happened; it just wasn’t something I felt that I was well-suited to write.

However, I think my own interests and a trend may be on a collision course at last. After a modest but thrilling bidding war, I recently accepted an offer from Berkley Books to publish my new collection of 1920s erotic romance novellas. The anchor story, WHEN I’M BAD I’M BETTER, is based loosely on silent screen siren Clara Bow and a fictional bdsm love affair with a dashing American aviator. I expect the collection to release from Berkley Sensation in January 2013–which, for traditional publishing–is downright speedy! The first novella in the collection may be released digitally in anticipation of the release of the collection. (And yes, I’m dancing a jig over here!)

I wrote about my crazy serendipitous writing discovery here. So, now I’m going to make another prediction and we’ll see how it bears out. I’m going to predict the rise of early 20th century romances. In specific, the Roaring Twenties. Why? Well, here’s a list.

1. Money. These have been hard economic times–so having plenty is a potent fantasy. The Roaring Twenties were a time of plenty. Folks were realizing the American dream, making money hand over fist, and using that money to experience all the joys that life had to offer.
2. Sex. The twenties were sexy. Let’s face it. Dancing. Drinking. Music. Excess. Sexploration. Flouting authority. The decade has it all wrapped up in a feather boa and the slang of the era was almost all sexual innuendo.
3. Gender Roles. In the 1920s women had just got the vote and were starting to come into their own. There’s a certain tension in all the literature about how women should behave as liberated human beings as well as mothers and keepers of family values. That tension hasn’t ever gone away and there’s a certain appeal to a more genteel era when men may have been less ambivalent about their own roles.
4. Fashion. There’s a certain elegance to clothing in the early 20th century that we haven’t recaptured. From the lovely Edwardian dresses to the wild glitter of the flappers, it’s pretty–and it’s over the top. These have been hard economic times for the world; thinking back to a time of elegance and glamour is a pretty fantasy.
5. Politics. There is a certain cyclical nature to history. I’m pretty sure that Margaret Sanger suspected that we’d still be talking about birth control almost 100 years after she was arrested for advocating family planning, but I admit, I’m a little stunned that it’s a hot topic again in 2012. It seems like almost everything that was a matter of political debate in the 1920s is back again with the exception of Prohibition.
6. Collective Consciousness. I’ve argued before that things get into the minds of lots of people at the same time. You can see the evidence of it in media. First, take the surprise success of Oscar Winner, “The Artist” about silent films in the 1920s. It’s the first silent film to have won the prize since the very first prize went to Clara Bow’s WINGS. Then consider that the smash-success, DOWNTON ABBEY will return for its third season set firmly in the 1920s. We can expect all manner of beautiful sets and inspiring costuming. That new season will air within weeks of the re-make of THE GREAT GATSBY, starring Leo DiCaprio. Last, but not least, there’s HBO’s marvelous BOARDWALK EMPIRE, set during Prohibition. It will return this coming fall and, in combination with Gatsby, should create a snowball effect. Anyone else have any other 1920s trends they’ve spotted in media?

Is your writing a little bland? Need to add a little spice to the soup? It’s my honor to welcome friend and fellow author Christi Barth. Let’s get cooking!

My mother is not an adventurous cook – and that is putting it very politely.  Growing up, a standard dinner consisted of chicken breast poached in water (which gives it no flavor whatsoever) and over boiled zucchini (which leaches out all of the flavor).  Give me a second to shudder at the memory.  It’s a wonder I grew up to be such an adventurous foodie.

I’m sharing my childhood trauma with you because writing is similar to cooking.  As a contest judge, I’ve read more than my fair share of flavorless entries.  Even with correct grammar and a forward moving plot, a book can still fall flatter than a whisper-thin crepe.  That is the difference between a simple narrative/dialogue exposition and a full fledged story.  Details are the seasoning.  What is spaghetti sauce without herbs and spices?  Ketchup!  Who wants to eat a plate of pasta covered in that?  But once you add oregano, fennel, salt, pepper and red wine, now you have a sauce.

Just adding in a little color isn’t enough.  Identifying each speaker as they enter a scene by describing their clothes leaves the distinct impression a writer worked off a checklist.  In addition to stark details like a blue shirt or blond hair, you want to add in finer points that transmit the feel of the character.  Let’s compare and contrast some descriptions from my recent release Cruising Toward Love:

Mrs. P. was an old lady who liked to gossip.

Or……

With a smack of her loose dentures, Mrs. P. leaned across the counter.  She had a reputation for twisting and squeezing to extract every last drop of gossip, leaving her victims as raw and wrung out as an over juiced orange.
Another example:

Zoe was hungover.

Or……

“My tongue feels like the fuzzy green mold on month-old leftovers.” Zoe slid bonelessly into a chair.

One more choice for you to ponder:

A man who must be a photographer stepped forward.  He wore a blue polo shirt that matched his eyes and was heavily muscled.

Or……

A tall man with a camera around his neck, one in his hands and another in a pouch at his waist stepped forward.  His biceps strained against the confines of his aquamarine polo shirt identifying him as crew.  Eyes almost the same color as his shirt twinkled from behind horn rimmed glasses.

If you have trouble with this, don’t panic! I recommend pounding out your first draft.  Squeeze out your plot, and toss in the basic dialogue.  Once you finish – either a chapter or the entire thing – go back and, only by using the cues in what you’ve written, try to actually draw a picture of the scene (no real drawing talent required).  If all you have are two naked stick figures on a blank page with maybe one doorway, then you’ve left out some vastly important minutiae.

This process can help you identify the holes where you need to work in descriptions.  Does this mean you have to describe every item on a desk from the keyboard to the post-it notes to a legal pad?  Of course not.  Mention a cluttered desk, buried under listing stacks of paper.  Or a chrome and glass desk with every item lined up with military precision.  You’re picturing two very different people in different rooms at this point, aren’t you?  And therein lies the fun.

A story with depth and richness resonates with readers.  It gives them an emotional buy in, and transports them away from their everyday lives into the multi-layered world you’ve created.  Think about it:  would you rather have a five course meal, or a sandwich of lettuce and mayo on white bread?  If anyone is stuck, put your problem lines in the comments section, and I’ll help flesh them out.

For information on all my books, please visit www.christibarth.com or swing by my blog at http://christibarth.blogspot.com .

Blurb:  Can an unexplained breakup and ten years of heartache be cured by the romance – and endless buffets – of a tropical cruise?  When her sister is left at the altar, small town librarian Zoe Balis jumps at the chance to take the bride’s unused ticket for the honeymoon cruise.  But she didn’t count on sharing a cabin with the man who broke her heart ten years ago!

Army medic Nate Hyatt never told Zoe goodbye when he enlisted – or the real reason why he dumped her on prom night after a year as high school sweethearts.  And he never stopped dreaming about the girl he left behind.  Could this voyage be his chance to fix the worst mistake he ever made?  After all, a Caribbean cruise should be romantic… if he can convince her to move past ten years of bitterness and hurt.

Once aboard the luxury liner, Zoe befriends a bored Internet mogul with more heart than tact.  Nate vents his problems to a ship’s photographer battling PTSD.  The four team up on an island hopping treasure hunt.  The stakes grow higher with each of Zoe’s mysterious brushes with death.  They race to discover why she’s a target and who’s behind it, while still competing in the treasure hunt. Zoe’s never gotten over her first love, and is tempted to let Nate back into her life.  But she already lost him once.  She’s not willing to risk loving a man whose career keeps him in a combat zone.  Can Nate breach her defenses and suture her broken heart?  Grab a deck chair and see if they survive the stormy relationship seas as they cruise toward love!

Remember the year two major studios both put out movies about an astroid hitting the earth? Remember the year every book in the B&N was about Anne Boleyn? Remember the year a certain author *cough* published a book about Cleopatra’s daughter and so did everybody else?

I’ve always assumed this kind of thing happens because there’s a sort of collective conscious at work. Creative people are influenced by their times to be fascinated by certain subjects, so maybe it’s not so strange that ideas happen in clusters.

But I’m also certain that there’s a bit of serendipitous magic at work. And when you’re a writer, it feels like destiny. Case in point? The recent historical erotica story that I’ve been writing like a maniac, night and day, for the past week.

The setting? The 1920s. The heroine? A silent film screen siren loosely based on Clara Bow. The hero? An American aviator. They fall in love while trying to make a hollywood movie about WWI fighter pilots.

I’m thirty-five thousand words into this novella. It’s almost done. I’m putting the frosting on the cake now and pulling it to a conclusion, so I decide, on a whim, to look up the popular films of 1927.

And what do I find? But Wings, the first film, and the only silent film, to win the Academy Award for Best Picture. It starred none other than Clara Bow. If that weren’t freaktastic enough, this historic film–which was believed to be lost–is going to be released in its restored version THIS MONTH!

If only I could write and publish this in time for the January 24th release of the film, I’d be a happy girl. In the meantime, I’m going to have to settle for the mystical sense of satisfaction that maybe I’m writing something I was meant to be writing.