{"id":807,"date":"2010-06-01T23:28:00","date_gmt":"2010-06-01T13:28:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/the-romance-of-writing-or-why-i-didnt-write-twilight\/"},"modified":"2020-11-26T09:59:54","modified_gmt":"2020-11-25T22:59:54","slug":"the-romance-of-writing-or-why-i-didnt-write-twilight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/2010\/06\/the-romance-of-writing-or-why-i-didnt-write-twilight\/","title":{"rendered":"The romance of writing (or why I didn’t write Twilight)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Don\u2019t you love it when something arrives in the post that makes you smile? Not only smile, but motivates and inspires you to action? No, I\u2019m not talking about the Aldi catalogue (colour TV and a garden fork, anyone?), rather my copy of the RWA newsletter.<\/p>\n

For the uninitiated, RWA stands for Romance Writers of Australia<\/a>. I\u2019ve been a member since before Mr6 was born. I joined up when I thought that writing romance novels would be a fun way to work from home. To supplement my freelance income.<\/p>\n

In short, when I was deluded. (And it was before I was pregnant, so I can\u2019t even blame the hormones responsible for scrapbooking<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

I went along to my first Romance Writers of Australia conference, at Sydney\u2019s Kings Cross, with no real idea what to expect. I found a bunch of warm, welcoming, encouraging women (and two men) \u2013 one of whom was wearing a \u2018Just Finish The Damn Book\u2019 t-shirt. It\u2019s a slogan I\u2019ve tried to live by ever since.<\/p>\n

I confess I was somewhat overwhelmed by it all. Everybody was so friendly, so approachable, so not up themselves. The published authors \u2013 many of whom have incredibly successful careers \u2013 were happy to mingle with the plebs (which is the word I prefer to the currently fashionable \u2018pre-published\u2019, which is, frankly, awful), and it was all very jolly. Enid Blyton jolly.<\/p>\n

I left with a few new friends and the impetus to write my first romance novel. Which sucked. My heroine, named Celeste, wore a Winter White suit. Enough said.<\/p>\n

Between babies, and halfway through a second book, I managed to make it to my second conference. It was here that I met my beloved friend A. She was, in fact, witness to my uttering, sotto voce, the immortal line: \u201cDon\u2019t you think sex with the undead might be a little, er, icky?\u201d<\/p>\n

In my defence, a woman who looked like the worst clich\u00e9 of a librarian had stood to put several pressing questions about Vampire sex to the presenter. In public. Out loud. She may well have been Stephanie Meyer.<\/p>\n

All I know is that I have no prescience when it comes to publishing trends. And I still think that if people thought about the actual reality of horizontal folkdancing with someone who\u2019s been dead a century or two, they might rethink the whole Twilight phenomenon.<\/p>\n

But I digress.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a real art to romance writing. It\u2019s all about character. It\u2019s all about the relationship. It’s all about emotion. The middle of the book can be a very long place when that\u2019s your focus (think about the couch and dvd phase of most relationships and that\u2019s about where you\u2019re at in the very long middle section).<\/p>\n

My second novel was rejected as being too complicated. I\u2019m not sure if it was the late-night DJ sub-plot, the elusive ingredient sub-plot, the wicked uncle sub-plot or the random trip to Paris, but I came undone.<\/p>\n

I went on to something different after I won a competition to secure a mentor who kept repeating (ad nauseum now that I think about it) that she felt that I might need to try something different. It seems I was trying to stuff too much into 60,000 words. It\u2019s amazing how few 60,000 words can be.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m still a paid-up member of RWA though. I don\u2019t think there\u2019s a more inclusive, more accessible writers\u2019 association around. I\u2019ve met some amazing people through the group and am looking forward to sharing cocktails with them all at my third conference in August.<\/p>\n

All I need to do now is to track down a \u2018just finish the damn book\u2019 t-shirt. Either that, or just finish a damn book.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Don\u2019t you love it when something arrives in the post that makes you smile? Not only smile, but motivates and inspires you to action? No, I\u2019m not talking about the Aldi catalogue (colour TV and a garden fork, anyone?), rather my copy of the RWA newsletter. For the uninitiated, RWA stands for Romance Writers of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6295,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[714,716],"class_list":["post-807","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-writing","tag-author-life","tag-tips-for-writers"],"yoast_head":"\nThe romance of writing<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"One author's experience at a Romance Writers of Australia conference. Why joining Romance Writers of Australia is a great help!\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/2010\/06\/the-romance-of-writing-or-why-i-didnt-write-twilight\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The romance of writing\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"One author's experience at a Romance Writers of Australia conference. Why joining Romance Writers of Australia is a great help!\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/2010\/06\/the-romance-of-writing-or-why-i-didnt-write-twilight\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Allison Tait Author\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AllisonTaitWriter\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-06-01T13:28:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-11-25T22:59:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/Allison-Tait-Logo.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"286\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Allison Tait\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Allison Tait\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/2010\/06\/the-romance-of-writing-or-why-i-didnt-write-twilight\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/2010\/06\/the-romance-of-writing-or-why-i-didnt-write-twilight\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Allison Tait\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/#\/schema\/person\/277afd61b41e1b23d976e1ae2f09cf46\"},\"headline\":\"The romance of writing (or why I didn’t write Twilight)\",\"datePublished\":\"2010-06-01T13:28:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-11-25T22:59:54+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/2010\/06\/the-romance-of-writing-or-why-i-didnt-write-twilight\/\"},\"wordCount\":648,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/2010\/06\/the-romance-of-writing-or-why-i-didnt-write-twilight\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/Allison-Tait-Logo.png\",\"keywords\":[\"author life\",\"tips for writers\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Writing\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/2010\/06\/the-romance-of-writing-or-why-i-didnt-write-twilight\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/2010\/06\/the-romance-of-writing-or-why-i-didnt-write-twilight\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/2010\/06\/the-romance-of-writing-or-why-i-didnt-write-twilight\/\",\"name\":\"The romance of writing\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/2010\/06\/the-romance-of-writing-or-why-i-didnt-write-twilight\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/2010\/06\/the-romance-of-writing-or-why-i-didnt-write-twilight\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/Allison-Tait-Logo.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2010-06-01T13:28:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-11-25T22:59:54+00:00\",\"description\":\"One author's experience at a Romance Writers of Australia conference. Why joining Romance Writers of Australia is a great help!\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/2010\/06\/the-romance-of-writing-or-why-i-didnt-write-twilight\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/2010\/06\/the-romance-of-writing-or-why-i-didnt-write-twilight\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/2010\/06\/the-romance-of-writing-or-why-i-didnt-write-twilight\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/Allison-Tait-Logo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/Allison-Tait-Logo.png\",\"width\":600,\"height\":286,\"caption\":\"Allison Tait blog\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/2010\/06\/the-romance-of-writing-or-why-i-didnt-write-twilight\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The romance of writing (or why I didn’t write Twilight)\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/\",\"name\":\"Allison Tait Author\",\"description\":\"Adventure, Mystery, Almost History\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Allison Tait | Author\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/logo_sm1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/logo_sm1.png\",\"width\":600,\"height\":286,\"caption\":\"Allison Tait | Author\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AllisonTaitWriter\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/allisontaitwriter\/\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/#\/schema\/person\/277afd61b41e1b23d976e1ae2f09cf46\",\"name\":\"Allison Tait\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e4dfb414ad67df8aa68d6a62bc02c6ba2a7f718fd8f98b9b00f49451ae17f246?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e4dfb414ad67df8aa68d6a62bc02c6ba2a7f718fd8f98b9b00f49451ae17f246?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Allison Tait\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/allisontait.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/author\/altait\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The romance of writing","description":"One author's experience at a Romance Writers of Australia conference. Why joining Romance Writers of Australia is a great help!","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/2010\/06\/the-romance-of-writing-or-why-i-didnt-write-twilight\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The romance of writing","og_description":"One author's experience at a Romance Writers of Australia conference. Why joining Romance Writers of Australia is a great help!","og_url":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/2010\/06\/the-romance-of-writing-or-why-i-didnt-write-twilight\/","og_site_name":"Allison Tait Author","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AllisonTaitWriter","article_published_time":"2010-06-01T13:28:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-11-25T22:59:54+00:00","og_image":[{"width":600,"height":286,"url":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/Allison-Tait-Logo.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Allison Tait","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Allison Tait","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/2010\/06\/the-romance-of-writing-or-why-i-didnt-write-twilight\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/2010\/06\/the-romance-of-writing-or-why-i-didnt-write-twilight\/"},"author":{"name":"Allison Tait","@id":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/#\/schema\/person\/277afd61b41e1b23d976e1ae2f09cf46"},"headline":"The romance of writing (or why I didn’t write Twilight)","datePublished":"2010-06-01T13:28:00+00:00","dateModified":"2020-11-25T22:59:54+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/2010\/06\/the-romance-of-writing-or-why-i-didnt-write-twilight\/"},"wordCount":648,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/2010\/06\/the-romance-of-writing-or-why-i-didnt-write-twilight\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/Allison-Tait-Logo.png","keywords":["author life","tips for writers"],"articleSection":["Writing"],"inLanguage":"en-AU","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/allisontait.com\/2010\/06\/the-romance-of-writing-or-why-i-didnt-write-twilight\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/2010\/06\/the-romance-of-writing-or-why-i-didnt-write-twilight\/","url":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/2010\/06\/the-romance-of-writing-or-why-i-didnt-write-twilight\/","name":"The romance of writing","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/2010\/06\/the-romance-of-writing-or-why-i-didnt-write-twilight\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/2010\/06\/the-romance-of-writing-or-why-i-didnt-write-twilight\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/Allison-Tait-Logo.png","datePublished":"2010-06-01T13:28:00+00:00","dateModified":"2020-11-25T22:59:54+00:00","description":"One author's experience at a Romance Writers of Australia conference. Why joining Romance Writers of Australia is a great help!","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/2010\/06\/the-romance-of-writing-or-why-i-didnt-write-twilight\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-AU","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/allisontait.com\/2010\/06\/the-romance-of-writing-or-why-i-didnt-write-twilight\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-AU","@id":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/2010\/06\/the-romance-of-writing-or-why-i-didnt-write-twilight\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/Allison-Tait-Logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/Allison-Tait-Logo.png","width":600,"height":286,"caption":"Allison Tait blog"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/2010\/06\/the-romance-of-writing-or-why-i-didnt-write-twilight\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The romance of writing (or why I didn’t write Twilight)"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/","name":"Allison Tait Author","description":"Adventure, Mystery, Almost History","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-AU"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/#organization","name":"Allison Tait | Author","url":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-AU","@id":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/logo_sm1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/logo_sm1.png","width":600,"height":286,"caption":"Allison Tait | Author"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AllisonTaitWriter","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/allisontaitwriter\/"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/#\/schema\/person\/277afd61b41e1b23d976e1ae2f09cf46","name":"Allison Tait","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-AU","@id":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e4dfb414ad67df8aa68d6a62bc02c6ba2a7f718fd8f98b9b00f49451ae17f246?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e4dfb414ad67df8aa68d6a62bc02c6ba2a7f718fd8f98b9b00f49451ae17f246?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Allison Tait"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/allisontait.com"],"url":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/author\/altait\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/807","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=807"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/807\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6295"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=807"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=807"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=807"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}