Today Christine Withholn from the Book Cents Literary Agency visited with our local chapter to offer critiques of the first three pages of any person brave enough to read their work out loud.
Was IT fun!!
We heard all sorts of stories, and even got into some debate as to which genre certain stories were. What did I learn?
If one wants to tell a love story between a man and a woman who are not married, it is called "romance". If one wants to tell a love story between a man and woman who ARE married, it is called "women's fiction".
Do you see the irony of this? That love between a husband and wife is known as WOMEN'S FICTION???!!!!
Okay. I just thought I needed to point that out to you and the world and the sad commentary that is on a) marriage and b) women's fiction. The "b" is a joke, by the way.
We met; we ate; we critiqued.
We got kicked out by Hannah Montana. Apparently, the library thought showing a tweenie idol movie was more important than any of us in the group having a publishable manuscript. The very idea!!!
So, we retired to the patio.
Here we are retired on the patio. Note those who came prepared with sunglasses.
Here I am whispering to Christine after she has informed me my hero needs to meet my heroine earlier. Otherwise, it's women's fiction. And, apparently there's no romance in that (according to the industry).
I so beg do differ with the industry. Which may very well be why you won't be able to buy my awesome stories in any and every bookstore near you (unless you define that bookstore as the one you get to via the internet).
At least,you won't be able to buy my stories in those bookstores YET.