CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS from Pelican Book Group

November 14, 2012 / Dora Hiers / 2 Comments

Permission to forward granted

Passport to Romance™

Let’s take a trip and fall in love! Passport to Romance™ titles are contemporary romances that are set in specific locales and feature a special set of objects. ( Check out the Location/Object table for specifics).

Passport to Romance™ feature chic heroines who are sparkling, confident, open for adventure—and who are a perfect match for a contemporary alpha male who has a zest for life, a thirst for God, and who likes an intelligent woman who can hold her own.

Set in exotic locations around the world, these stories offer the contemporary Christian reader adventure, vivacity, romance and faith.

Passport to Romance™ key elements:

· Heroines must be between the ages of 22 and 35.

· Heroes must be between the ages of 22 and 39.

· Settings and objects must be chosen from within the Passport to Romance™ guidelines.

· Hero or Heroine (or both) must’ve traveled to the location of the story (He/She must’ve needed a passport to arrive at the story setting)

· Regular guidelines for White Rose Publishing also apply

· Word length: 30,000-35,000 words

· Please submit only completed stories

An Important Tip:

We created the Passport to Romance™ series to for a two-fold reason: to give readers a taste of overseas and to stir the creative juices of authors. We encourage authors to research the chosen location so that the cultural flavor of the location can be infused into the story. Also, we want to encourage authors to think outside the box when considering ways to incorporate the object prompts. If the location is the Arctic Circle and one of the objects is Hibiscus in Winter, don’t be discouraged! Rather, consider alternatives to the conventional bush blooming in the garden. Hibiscus in Winter might be the name of the heroine’s favourite musical band or book—or poem. A hibiscus could arrive in winter when a plane carrying hibiscus bushes crashes or dumps its cargo for some reason, or because the hero knows a the hibiscus is the heroine’s favourite flower and so carries one with him as he arrives from Hawaii.

When ready to submit, please use the regular submission form found on the www.pelicanbookgroup.com website.

Build it right!

October 18, 2012March 24, 2016 / Dora Hiers / 2 Comments

A firm foundation: Start with a Premise, Create strong characters, Proportion.

“They are like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built.” (Luke 6:48 NIV)

Last week we talked about clearing the land and preparing ourselves for our writing journey. This week we’ll discuss building our story on a firm foundation.

Concrete footers provide a strong foundation for a structure, making a house less vulnerable to attacks from wind, tornadoes, or floods.

Just like houses must be built on strong foundations, your book requires a sturdy anchor or it won’t stand. Readers will feel tossed about and confused. As the author, you will lose focus and momentum.

So how do you give your book a strong foundation?

Start with a Premise.
Whether you tend to be a plotter (you outline a detailed synopsis before you actually start writing) or a pantser (you sit down at your computer and start typing with just a few rough ideas floating around in your head), every writer must create a premise.

The premise is the basic footprint of your house, whether it’s two-story or one, rectangular or square. It’s the basic idea, the main purpose or reason for writing your story. Without a purpose, a foundation for writing, your story won’t be able to withstand the elements. It will sag, maybe even collapse.

Create strong characters.
Your characters should be men and women readers want to hang out with for a while, someone they could be friends with, someone they like. Know more about your characters than just hair or eye color, how tall they are, or what they do for a living. Why do they do what they do? What are they afraid of? What do they want most out of life? Whether you use a character chart or another method to flesh them out, dig deep to create dimensional characters readers will like.

Proportion.
Cement alone isn’t enough for a sturdy foundation. Sand, gravel and water must be mixed in proportionally to add strength and volume. The same goes for your story. Mix in bits and pieces about your hero and heroine’s past so that we can understand their decisions and behavior. Would you keep reading a book with long clumps of past events dragging things out and slowing the pace? Probably not. So, give your story a great foundation by offering tidbits tucked in the right spots and at appropriate times.

What elements do you use to give your story a firm foundation?

I’ll be taking a blogging break for a couple weeks. Join us in November as we discuss adding cohesive elements by installing walls, windows & doors.

Who said research was boring?

October 13, 2012March 24, 2016 / Dora Hiers / 2 Comments

My current wip, Rori’s Healing, features llamas, and I thought it might be fun and informative to get some hands-on experience. So Hubby and I loaded Little Man into the car and took a ride to Four Ladies & Me llama farm where owner Michael West was kind enough to show us around their family’s lovely farm. He probably felt like he answered a gazillion questions. He would be right.

The beautiful animals were curious from the moment we drove up. Llamas tend to be social, and you can’t have just one.

I am so glad we visited. Michael shattered some misconceptions I had from earlier research. Like llamas hum when they’re happy. Not. We heard them hum, but it wasn’t because they were content. He’d called them over, and they came running, expecting food. When he didn’t deliver, they hummed, much like a cow’s moo but softer. Aren’t they handsome fellas?

I came prepared with an extra set of clothes for everybody because my research also revealed that llamas spit. Some do, but mostly at other llamas. They usually only spit at people if they were raised with extensive human handling, like in a petting zoo. These guys behaved themselves, but I did witness an alpaca spitting at a llama.

Llama mamas aren’t typically protective or nurturing, but Peaches here hardly let us get close to her two-day-old baby, which is called a cria. What a doll, right?