Romance Writers Weekly – Finding the right spot.

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Welcome to the romance Writers Weekly blog hop, where every week a great group of romance writers answer questions and accept challenges. Diverse in what we write, we are unified in the quest to bring you, the romance reader, a very happy ever after.

You can join us daily on our Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/RomanceWritersWeekly/

Dream Dancer

If you’ve just hopped over from Leslie Hachtel’s blog or are starting your hop here, welcome.

And check out Leslie’s wonderful historical fantasy novel, Dream Dancer:

Broken Chords

 

Today’s topic comes from the wonderful Carrie Elks – How do you choose the location for you books? Do you pick somewhere you’ve already been, or do you research creatively, using Google and other methods to find the perfect spot?

Location, location, location.

Well, in my writing many times I’m making up my locations. In my new Hearts in Orbit series I have a whole galaxy (2 galaxies actually) to populate with planets, star bases, and futuristic cities. I do research astronomical terms to help in the naming, but the rest comes from Science Fiction movies and books, and the craziness that is my imagination.

I do much more research for my Heavenly Wars series. All the Norse mythological realms and the aspects of other mythology I use. I was happy to stumble across the Parthenon in Nashville, which I’ve used as a gateway to Mount Olympus. I also did a search to find information on the Atlanta Airport, which I later had Jord Thorson tear up a bit.

Sometimes my locations are based on places I’ve been, but often I rely on the internet, mostly Google search, to find me that perfect spot to set my stories.

And speaking of location, Brenda Margriet’s blog is the next location on our Romance Writers Weekly blog hop – http://www.brendamargriet.com/blog

If you’re looking for something tasty to read, check out Brenda’s wonderful Chef d’Amour:

Chef d'Amour

 

Romance Weekly – TSTL

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Welcome to the romance Writers Weekly blog hop, where every week a great group of romance writers answer questions and accept challenges. Diverse in what we write, we are unified in the quest to bring you, the romance reader, a very happy ever after.

You can join us daily on our Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/RomanceWritersWeekly/

If you’ve just hopped over from Dani Jace’s blog, or are starting your hop here, welcome.

Hot as Blazes

 

And be sure to check out Dani’s blazing hot novel, Hot as Blazes.

 

 

Our topic for today: Good reviews, we love them! Bad reviews, we hate them…but some of them are helpful. What was your favorite negative review?

While researching for today’s blog, I went back and looked at my reviews. The good news is, I don’t have any reviews I would call bad. The bad news, I don’t have all that many reviews. So I have to take a bit of license with today’s topic.

The one time that really stands out to me as a negative comment influencing me is quite a few years ago while writing Son of Thunder. I submitted the first 2,500 words of my unfinished manuscript to a regional romance writers contest expecting glowing comments and (of course) a first place prize.

I didn’t even place. What I got instead were judges comments on how the start of my novel wasn’t very good. One judge in particular really took me to task on Meghan, my heroine, stating that she was TSTL.

I had to Google that: Too Stupid To Live

Businesswoman making a crazy gesture over white background

Whoa! Was she that bad?

I read over the chapter and yeah, that judge had it right. She was wimpy and two-dimensional, needing to be saved by the hero a number of times in only the first few pages. That one comment made me go back and completely re-imagine my heroine. Meghan became a strong, kick-ass hero in her own right, and a ton more fun to write. Since then this one little comment has colored the creation of all my heroines. No more TSTL for me.

So, what has Leslie Hachtel learned from her negative reviews? (Does she really have any?) Find out by following this link: http://lesliehachtelwriter.wordpress.com

And  be sure to check out Leslie’s wonderful novel, The Defiant Bride: DefiantBride_140x210