Live to Love on the Edge Blog

Hi Irene:

Great questions. I’m glad you threw them all out at once. The questions were how do I cultivate my relationships with different editors, where do I meet them, how do I contact them and stay in touch?
Continue reading “Relationships with Editors”

I’ve always had a rocky relationship with historical romance; there are some that make me gnash my teeth and want to throw the book at the wall. First, historical romance better be accurate. It drives me crazy when me (a so-so history student at best) spots inaccuracies. Second, there are social mores and cultural practices (arranged marriages, compromised virtue) that I have a hard time dealing with, feminist that I am. While I’m aware that these things are very real parts of history, that doesn’t mean I want to read about them in romance novels. There are others that I adore (Catherine Coulter, Amanda Quick anyone?)

I want high concept historical romance. I’d like to avoid virgins b/c they play into a lot of the cultural practices that turn me off. What I’d really like are well written, well-researched stories about intriguing periods of history that feature characters caught up in the thick of events. Susan Carroll does this with her brilliant book The Dark Queen. I devoured it b/c the writing was brilliant, the story exciting and the characters memorable. I’ve been reading Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series as well. I’m about ten years behind the curve, but those books are amazing. I’m currently reading a narrative non fiction about the Medici’s called Medici money. It’s about how the Medici family made their money in trade (gasp) as a banking family before they were patrons of the arts. I’m sure that would be a brilliant historical romance topic.

Hope this gives everyone some insight.

C.

Hi guys:

I got your question Cynthia. What would it take for a romantic suspence query to peak my interest enough to ask for more?

Well that’s a two part question that you’re asking. The reason I say this is because I look for content first, meaning what your story is about. But in finding out what your story is about I also pay attention to how you pitch it. I swoon when I find someone who not only knows how to tell a good story, but can explain it well. Too many times I get letters from people comparing themself to multi-published, best selling authors. The trouble with that is it doesn’t give me a fair overview of your work. Then they give me a ho-hum plot that I’ve read before many times.

Now to brass tacks: I’d like to see romantic suspense that are heavier on the suspense side with a strong romance vein running through it. The main focus of the story would be suspense with strong romantic elements. I’m open to a number of topics, but to give you some idea about what I’m into these days, I’ve been addicted to shows like 24 and Prison Break, The Shield and The Closer. Of course they’re mostly suspense with lots of action, but if I had my way, Jack and Audrey would find a way to be together, Michael and Sarah would have some hot and heavy on-the-run sex, Dutch would find someone other than Vic’s wife to date and Brenda would dump the FBI guy and have a hot fling with an actor. And if you have no idea what I’m talking about, my apologies for launching into geek-speak.

Also note: I’m not looking for romantic suspense authors at the moment b/c I have some fabulous ones on my list already. But if a query comes in that is really fresh and exciting, I will take a look.

Hope this helps and keep those questions coming.

C.

We’ve got something special this week! Literary Agent Caren Johnson (my agent FYI), will be blogging with us all this week. Here’s a chance for all you pre-published authors or anyone who has wondered how this publishing biz works to ask.

Here’s some info about Caren:

Caren Johnson recently began her own literary agency, Caren Johnson Literary Agency. She began her agenting career four and a half years ago when she started an internship at Peter Rubie Literary Agency. She stayed at the agency for three years, the first year as an intern and two years as an agent. She then left to join Nadia Cornier at Firebrand Literary where she stayed for a year. She recently made the switch to agenting on her own so she could work more closely with her authors in building their careers. She would like well organized, well crafted stories in the areas of romance (particularly romantic comedy in the vein of Susan Elizabeth Phillips, Jenny Cruisie and Kelley St. John; and historical in the vein of Susan Carroll, Diana Gabaldon, and Lauren Willig—high concept only please!), Teen fiction (in the vein of Caridad Ferrer/ Adios to My Old Life, Scott Westerfeld/ Uglies Trilogy) and commercial fiction (in the vein of Christopher Moore/A Dirty Job, Carl Hiaassen/ Nature Girl). For the moment she’s full up with wonderful paranormal romance (Caridad Pineiro, Lee Roland) and romantic suspense (Caridad Pineiro, Dianna Love Snell) authors so if an author submits in this genre, she will be more critical than she normally is. She is only accepting queries via email so send to caren@carenjohnson.com.

FYI — We’ll have Stacy Boyd, my editor at Harlequin, guest blogging the week of Feb 5! More on Stacy to follow.

I’m also lining up some other editors and agents to join us during the rest of the year.