Beyond the Sparks in Romance - ~~PLUS BOOK GIVEAWAY!~

When I sat down to write a book all about "love" (because the title was, A Side of Love...) I struggled a little bit.

I mean, I write ROMANCE y'all.

ALL my books are about love, right?

But love is about more than romance.

It's about more than the first flutters of attraction, that heat that swirls in your belly when his hand grazes yours for the first time. The thud of your heart beat when he slips his hand behind your neck and pulls your lips to his.

I've had more than one reader tell me lately that one of the things that discourages them about romance is that it is full of the superficial. Full of the things that make us attracted in the first place but fade when those initial sparks of heat have faded.

Now, I fully believe that those sparks of heat need to be fanned regularly, even in married couples. I say this as a woman who will celebrate her 17th anniversary this year, well past the normal time when the spark dies out. That spark can definitely be reignited with some work on both ends, and can be kept burning. It's not easy, but oh-so-worth it.

But those readers are right.

There is more to love, and really more to romance, than just spark.

I encourage your romance writers out there -- definitely have the spark. But also go deeper. Find out what they are attracted to beside just the passion between them.

In A Side of Love, Garrett gives up his dream job to take care of his elderly mother, moving from the bustling city of Chicago to the small town of Sandwich, IL. That sacrificial love is oh-so-attractive to Beth. It points to his character being one of quality.

So let's chat.

What "deeper than sparks" attraction does your hero/heroine have for each other? Even if you don't have romance, your characters still need a deep character "win" that attracts them to the READER? (and yes, they still need flaws. But flaws without a "win" is, well, probably more like the villain!)

And if you're a reader, what book have you read recently that did a GOOD job of going beyond just the sparks in romance?

AND GUESS WHAT!!!!????

   

I'm doing a doing a GIVEAWAY today! Everyone who comments gets their choice of a copy of my novel, Sandwich, with a Side of Romance, OR  a copy of my newest novella, A Side of Love.  

These are paperback copies and will come with a special little extra gift with it! 

(Giveaway ends Sunday night 3/20/16, then I'll post winner in the comments and update here!)

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Krista is a follower of Jesus, a wife, a mother, and writes romantic comedy. Her latest book A Side of Love, released February 29, 2016.  She blogs about finding JOY in the journey of LIFE at http://www.kristaphillips.com. She is represented by Sarah Freese of Wordserve Literary.

Making your Words Count

My sweet, sweet 9 year old has inherited her Momma's love of writing gene.

She's also inherited my tendency to use the love of words for slightly-nefarious purposes.

I remember when I was in the 7th grade, I had to write a paper on the Civil War. I can't remember how long it was supposed to be, but it was the longest paper I'd ever been asked to write. Like 10 written pages long or something like that. And that was before we had typewriters/computers, so this was all long hand.

I loved to write papers --- much more than I loved studying history.

So I did what any girl would do in that situation.

I tried to write smart. Not like, history smart. Nope. I used pretty adverbs and big words. "The esteemed Abraham Lincoln presided boldly over the United States of America as president of this great nation during time of chaos and war." versus "Abraham Lincoln was president during the Civil War."

That's 23 words versus 8 people. (I don't have the paper anymore. I'm sure the words were even worse than that. But you get the point...)

Imagine a WHOLE paper filled with that, that only had minor facts and lists that I could easily come up with by looking at the history book's timeline (so I didn't have to, like, actually study it, you know.)

I'll have you know I got an A on that paper with a note about my great writing.

I was so proud of that.

Looking back.... I'm not sure if I actually fooled the teacher or if he was like, "Eh, she won't be a history major when she grows up, but she'll be able to write at least!"

Now I get to witness my sweet 9 year old trying to pull the same stunt. She has a presentation she has to do on Wednesday and is writing out what she will say. It has to be 3-5 minutes long. She is VERY concerned about the timing because she tends to talk fast when she is nervous.

Her presentation is on "How to make make a healthy smoothie."

Her introduction went a little like....

"Being healthy is super important, but how do you be healthy on the go? I have a solution! This smoothie is the perfect thing. It's a delicious and nutritious lean green smoothie. I know what you're thinking. How do you make such a thing? I'll tell you."

Sigh.

I know. She's 9. It isn't THAT bad. But when I asked her about it, she proudly told me she was trying to write as many words as possible in the introduction so it would meet her 3-5 minute time frame.

She and I chatted about making sure all our words have VALUE. That adding words that have zero impact or worth just to meet a timeline or a word count is NOT how we write well. It's called LAZY writing.

Here is her rewrite:

"Being healthy is super important, but how do you be healthy on the go? My solution is my delicious and nutritious, lean green smoothie. It may look gross at first, but I promise you, it is very tasty (and luscious--but I made her take out this word for OBVIOUS reasons.) Just try it. It might surprise you."

It's actually only two less words. But she added information that has value to what she's presenting. She knows this smoothie she is holding looks like someone vomited in it. It is green and pretty horrific looking to most 9 year olds. So it is a MUCH better way to "sell" her presentation by addressing that assumption than "I know what you're thinking, how do you make it? I'll tell you."

While these are silly examples, the message is the same. We as writers need to remember our words should COUNT. Every single one of them. Adding fluff deludes our message and bores readers. I've deleted whole paragraphs, whole chapters, whole POINTS OF VIEW before when I realized it added nothing to the story.

Cutting out our precious words is difficult sometimes. We worked hard on them. Sometimes they even SOUND really pretty. And yes, sometimes we really like those scenes too. But if it isn't integral to the story, if it doesn't move the plot ahead, if it doesn't add depth and meaning for your reader, then you need to let it go.

Don't make me break out in that Frozen song..... (sorry, I KNOW that is in your head now! You're welcome!)

Let's Chat! Are you good at chopping off the unneeded parts? DO you tend to overwrite like me???

And SHAMELESS PLUG!!! My latest book, A Side of Love, just released on MONDAY!! I'd love for you to check it out!!

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Krista is a follower of Jesus, a wife, a mother, and writes romantic comedy. Her latest book A Side of Love, released February 29, 2016.  She blogs about finding JOY in the journey of LIFE at http://www.kristaphillips.com. She is represented by Sarah Freese of Wordserve Literary.

It's all about Love, Love, Love, Love LOVE!

We all come into the New Year, usually, with something stirring in our brain.


Maybe it is a few resolutions (that statistics show we will renege on fairly quickly) or one word or just some goals you'd like to achieve this year. Maybe it's a special trip you'll go on this year for the first time (last year, we were looking forward to our FIRST trip to Disney!) or a milestone you'll look forward to.

Last year, I decided on the word HOPE. My book, A Side of Hope, was releasing that spring, and I just had a LOT to look forward too. New releases, ALLEYCAT new releases, trip to Disney, trip to SEE my alleycats, and my youngest who had been on a feeding tube since birth was---hopefully--- going to get her feeding tube taken out.

All of that happened, too!!!

But this year, I was contemplating the year and just really had no clue. I had no big plans (aside from book releases) and have a few really big writing decisions to make that I was (read: am) stressing over a little.

"Indecision" seemed to be the right word, but BOOOOOOOO on making THAT the word of the year.

Then it hit me.

Last year, A Side of Hope was releasing, and HOPE was my word. And while the correlation hadn't hit me until after the word felt spoken to my heart, it was like confirmation that it was supposed to be my word.

So this year, my next book to release will be A Side of Love, planned for February.

So could Love be my word?

The more I thought about it, the more right it felt.

It encompasses everything I really want to strive for this year.

I want to WRITE about the Love of God and the beautiful dance that is romantic love.
I want to LOVE OTHERS more, getting outside of my own comfort zone and desires.
I want to LOVE GOD more, maybe not MORE, but better, but putting him in priority over my life, instead of letting things of the world crowd in.
I want to LOVE MYSELF more, by taking care of my body, not eating so much junk.
I want to LOVE MY FAMILY more, be on my phone less and present more, to help make our home a cheerful place more where they feel loved and cherished (while still having important rules and boundaries.)

Maybe this doesn't seem super writing related. I'm sorry if not. But love is wrapped up SO much in my writing, and the theme is going to be a HUGE part of my books releasing this year.

So what about you? Do you have any themes of your year God is impressing on you for your writing this year?

Hometown Inspiration

I remember the moment I came up with my Sandwich book idea.

I was sitting around the table at my in-law's house, talking about writing. I'd recently finished writing my FIRST book and was dipping my toe into what I needed to do to actually, like, you know, publish the darn thing.

And one thing became very clear. Writing one, solitary book does not a long-term author make.

So we were talking about books and where to set them at. Since the only piece of writing "advice" I'd ever heard up until that point was "Write what you know" I began to go through locations that I *knew*.

Starting with my hometown, the place I was born.

The moment the thought entered my brain, my breath hitched.

It was perfect. I write romantic comedy. I was BORN in the city of SANDWICH.

What if I write a book set there???

My family thought it was a hilariously fun idea.

So over the next few months, I brainstormed the idea--to feature a book with a "sandwich" theme based in the town of Sandwich, Illinois.

My hero would own a sandwich shop. Since that sounded a little too cliche, I thought I'd change it up and make it a nice restaurant that specialized in fancy sandwiches verses a deli type thing.

And my hero and heroine would have a bit of a "sandwich" plot. My hero would already have a girlfriend who was OH-SO-WRONG for him but the heroine would work for him and constantly be put in the middle of the two, feeling like a smushed piece of bologna in between two feuding pieces of bread.

That book went on to be my DEBUT novel, Sandwich, with a Side of Romance, from Abingdon Press.

I also decided to make the whole series be a bit of a 3-layer novella sandwich on novel bread---

 

Novel

Novella

Novella

Novella

Novel

So far, A Side of Faith released in August, 2014, A Side of Hope released in March 2015, and A Side of Love will release December 2015.

The last piece of the Sandwich will release in 2016, a novel called The Greatest is Love.

It's the topping on the sandwich!

It was SUCH FUN using my hometown for inspiration. I used some liberties and inserted businesses from my childhood that have since closed down. But I used a few that are still there and are iconic to the town's history. It's SUPER fun to have someone contact me and be like, "Oh my goodness, I live in Sandwich! I know exactly what you're talking about!"


So what about you? Where were you born, or what town do you consider your 'hometown"? Have you ever considered setting your books in that town?

Major props if you town has a name crazier than Sandwich!