Romancing the Book - Novelist's Boot Camp Helps Make Romance Authors' Dreams Come True

Naperville, IL, January 11, 2007 --(PR.com)-- There may not be much romance at boot camp, but at there will be a Novelist’s Boot Camp at this year’s Romantic Times Book Lovers Convention April 25-29 in Houston, Texas.

Former Army Infantry Airborne Ranger, West Point Assistant Professor, and award-winning novelist Todd A. Stone will conduct an intensive two-day Novelist’s Boot Camp workshop to provide a book-writing battle plan, strategy, tactics, and kick-in-the-pants to both aspiring and experienced romance authors.

“Many people dream of writing a novel,” says Todd A. Stone, author of “Novelist’s Boot Camp: 101 Ways to Take Your Fiction from Boring to Bestseller” (Writers Digest Books, ISBN 1582973601), “but that’s all they do—dream. The way to turn your dream into reality is to change the way you think about writing a novel. Don’t think of your novel as some magical creative thing that will just happen—or it just won’t happen. Make it a campaign, mission, a long-term project.” More information on Stone’s book, along with the table of contents and two free writing drills, is available at www.storytellerroad.com.

The Novelist’s Boot Camp workshop is a headlining event at the Romantic Times Book Lovers Convention, which features over 125 workshops and 250 best-selling authors, along with agents, editors, reviewers, publishers, buyers, and other key people from the romance genre and publishing industry. Activities include Stone’s workshop where participants can “earn their dog tags” and receive a complimentary, personalized Battle Plan for Novel Writing Success, panels, presentations, formal balls, costume competitions, cover models, parties, and other activities for readers and writers. More information is available at www.romantictimes.com.

Published authors clearly see the value in attending Stone’s workshop. "Novelist's Boot Camp is the one workshop you must do at RT! I earned my dog tags in it in 2006, and it's full of stuff you can really use,” said Elizabeth Sinclair, author of "Baptism In Fire" (Silhouette Intimate Moments) and "Eye of the Dream" (Medallion). “Todd tells it like it is,” she went on, “and for both aspiring writers and multi-published authors, this is the best use of your workshop time. Forward march yourself into this workshop right now!"

“If you are serious about being published, then get Novelist’s Boot Camp now!” added Melody Thomas, author of “Angel in My Bed” (Avon/Harper Collins) and “A Match Made in Scotland ” (Avon/Harper Collins).

“Novelist’s Boot Camp helps you discipline your creativity,” Stone said. “The book de-mystifies writing a novel by providing strategies and specific techniques. These drills are tools, not rules, and are very accessible and easily adaptable to an individual’s style and personality.”

The boot-camp-in-a-book includes 101 carefully crafted drills designed to show you how to:

• Identify and develop story ideas—Comprehensive Concepts--with laser-like perception
• Create realistic "alpha" characters who can take charge of any scene
• Know what motivates a protagonist’s enemy so you can amp up the conflict
• Develop a Master Story Summary to avoid sneak attacks from flawed plot twists
• Dodge the land mines of bad writing like Deadly Modifier Buildup (DMBU)
• Triage scenes to ensure a thorough and precise revision process

Plus, there’s a twelve-week boot camp battle plan that writers can use to maintain momentum and finish their novels.

“The Romantic Times Book Lovers Convention is a major industry event,” said Stone. “We’re honored to again be a part of RT and to bring our workshop to aspiring and published authors. This book is helping people achieve their dream—they’ve made writing a novel a mission and they’re making real progress towards accomplishing that mission.”

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