Crafting
crafting, dollhouses, miniatures
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My Secret Snowflake: the Comic Premise
A question I sometimes get asked is how did I come up with the comic premise for my romantic comedy, in this case, My Secret Snowflake.
How did I come up with the premise for My Secret Snowflake?
The premise for My Secret Snowflake was inspired by a conversation with a close friend when we were discussing dating. The original premise was that the protagonist likes a guy (we’ll call him A). She pretends that she is the Secret Santa for A’s best friend (B for Best friend) and asks A what she should gift B. She uses this excuse to hang out with A.
Anyway, I pitched this idea for a Romantic Comedy in a Steve Kaplan comedy workshop in 2021. If you want to write a comedy, I highly recommend his workshop and books, including The Comic Hero’s Journey and The Hidden Tools of Comedy.
We had to pitch three different stories. Steve said he liked this one, but I should switch it so that she likes B, but as she hangs out with A trying to find out more about B, she falls for A. Then you have a triangle. I was very resistant at first (in my head). Didn’t he see the brilliance of the original idea that she had an excuse to hang out with the guy she liked?
But when it came time to actually write My Secret Snowflake, I realized that Steve was right. This is a much better approach because it creates more tension.
So in My Secret Snowflake, Iris, having caught her ex cheating, decides she wants to date a nice guy next time (no heart-melting gorgeous guys for her, thank you very much). She decides that her workplace colleague, Ernest, might fit the bill. In the company Secret Snowflake exchange, she gets her best friend’s crush, so she gives that one to her best friend. Her best friend received Ernest, so Iris gets Ernest. Ernest and Sebastian eat lunch together every day so Iris thinks that they’re close friends and asks Sebastian for gift suggestions for Ernest. Sebastian says, “Socks.” He continues:
“I’m not really friends with him. We just had a tight deadline on a joint project,” I say. “I have no idea what to get Ernest as a gift. Socks?” Ernest is very…earnest. When her face drops, I add, “But I’ll think about it.”
“Not if socks is your idea of a good gift,” Iris says.
Comic Premise
Steve Kaplan defines the comic premise as “a lie that allows the writer to tell a greater truth.” Steve Kaplan, The Comic Hero’s Journey at p. 38. What I particularly find helpful is his description of the comic premise as “the tool to excite your imagination.” Id. As he noted, once you have a great premise, the story basically writes itself. “The better the premise, the more the story writes itself in your head.” Id. at 39.
As for the lie, Steve Kaplan writes that “in the comic premise, we devise a lie, an impossible or implausible event.” Id. My books tend to be more realistic, but the lie in my comic premise is that Iris is lying to herself. Because of her bad breakup, she convinces herself that staid workaholic Ernest is now the type of guy she wants.
My premise above, unfortunately, didn’t have enough that the story wrote itself, but it did suggest a framework. There would have to be Secret Snowflake-related events and meetings with Sebastian to discuss gifts for Ernest. Similarly, it’s a holiday romantic comedy set in New York City. I had fun including some New York City holiday activities. As a result, Iris and Sebastian get stuck in a crowd near Rockefeller Center and can only inch along. 🙂
UK Romantic Novelists Association Conference
I just came back from the RNA Conference in London and it was so much fun. My critique partner, Giulia Skye, and I talked nonstop over dinner. I met another friend for lunch (where we discussed K-dramas). Then I was off for the three-day RNA conference at Royal Holloway.
It was way too short. I love discussing writing and publishing and meeting up with friends. It’s a very friendly conference, and at every conference, I make even more friends. Here’s a picture after a night of dancing, so I’ll leave you with this photo of RNA authors Victoria Walker, Sharon Ibbotson, Ruby Moone and me.
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Meet Author Jeevani Charika
I’m so excited for you to meet author Jeevani Charika.
Jeev is a fellow author in the U.K. Romantic Novelists Association with me, and I really enjoyed her book, Playing for Love, available here .
Playing for Love Playing for Love Blurb
When Sam’s not working on her fledgling business, she spends her time secretly video-gaming. Her crush is famous gamer Blaze, and she’s thrilled when she’s teamed up with him in a virtual tournament.
But what Sam doesn’t know is that Blaze is the alter ego of Luke, her shy colleague – and he has a secret crush too.
Luke has a crush on Sam.
Sam has a crush on Blaze.
How will this game of love play out?
My Review of Playing for Love
Loved this book! It was so good. The interplay between the game play between Bravura and Blaze and the deeply supportive, developing relationship at work between Luke and Sam was brilliantly done. And I also think someone needs to make Sam’s inserts idea a reality. I almost missed my subway stop because I was so engrossed in Playing for Love! My favorite read of 2022 so far! Highly recommend!
Meet Author Jeevani Charika and Let’s Talk about Playing for Love
Kathy: How did you come up with the idea of two gamers meeting each other in a game and also at work?
Jeevani: The story was inspired by a children’s TV show called Miraculous Ladybug and Cat Noir, which has a love square with only two people in it. I loved that dynamic, but I don’t write superhero stories, so I thought I’d move into online gamers who don’t talk about their gaming.Â
Kathy: I also love the purse insert idea. How did you come up with that?
Jeevani: There are people who sell purse inserts on Etsy! I was thinking about the amount of hassle it is to change purses and went poking around on Etsy to buy one. At the time, I was thinking about something for Sam to do as a business. Suddenly the puzzle pieces fell into place.
Kathy: The backstory of Samadhi with her mother and her current relationship with her father is so emotionally powerful. Do you have any advice on creating back stories?
Jeevani: My characters tend to just show up and start saying things, so I don’t often have elaborate characterisation sheets (some writers do, and I’m always impressed with how organised they are!). I mostly get the backstory by asking why. Why was Sam interested in handbag inserts? Because she has a lot of bags. Why does she have a lot of bags? Inherited them from her mum … etc. Once you find one aspect, you expand on it and see if you can tie it to some other aspect of her character. For example, why is her relationship with her father so strained? How can I link that to the death of her mother?
Kathy: I loved how you did the in-game interaction. It felt so real. Do you game?
Jeevani: I absolutely loved writing the in-game parts. I don’t get to write fantasy/adventure very often, so it was great fun for me. I haven’t played any computer games since Tombraider in the 90s. But I have a teenager, so I know a bit about gaming. I watched a lot of YouTube playthroughs as research and I spoke to my friend’s son who is studying the psychology of gaming about how online relationships feel real to people in generations who’ve grown up with the internet. (I’m Gen X. I remember when life was analog).
Kathy: Do you have any pets? What’s your favorite habit of your current pet?
Jeevani: I don’t personally, but my daughter has pet rats. They’re very cute and very friendly. I have an old jumper that I wear when I play with them – one of them likes to climb into the pocket and just hang out in there. The other one likes to sit in the hood.
Meet the Author Jeevani Charika and Her Thoughts on Writing
Kathy: Do you have a writing routine? If so, what is it?
Jeevani: I don’t really have a proper routine. Between the day job, eldercare and childcare my days are all over the place. I do try to do something to do with writing every day, though. I do my best work sitting in bed at night.
Kathy: Are you a pantser or a plotter?
Jeevani: I used to be a pantser. Then I had to write Christmas At The Palace in 8 weeks, so I HAD to plot. I didn’t like plotting, but it did make the whole thing more efficient. So now I do a half baked plot – just one side of A4 before I start. If I plot in too much detail, I end up losing the enthusiasm to write it. I’ve told myself what happens, so … why bother?
Jeevani Charika’s Tips on Comedy Writing
Kathy: You’ve also written a book on Writing the Romantic Comedy with Jane Lovering. Can you explain the “juxtaposition of thingy”?
Jeevani: It all started with a talk that we did for an RNA conference. We were trying to find the thing that all these funny techniques had in common. It turned out to be the juxtaposition of expected outcome vs comedy outcome. Except, it was wider than that. So we started referring to it as juxtaposing your thingies … which sounds a bit rude, so we changed it to juxtaposition of thingy instead.
Kathy: You also talk about the rule of threes in that book. What is that?
Jeevani: The rule of three is a well known thing in comedy. Things are funnier in threes. The first sets the scene, the second sets up a pattern and so an expectation of what comes next, the third subverts the expectation and makes you laugh. An awful lot of jokes are structured like this.
Three is a number we’re naturally drawn to, so having a list of three is more satisfying than having a list of four or more.
My Favorite Question: If you could choose five writers to join you for a dinner party, who would you invite?
Kathy: And my favorite question: if you could choose five authors to join you for a dinner, who would you choose?
Jeevani: Aah, I hate this question. I’m quite shy (I know I don’t seem it!) so I’d be properly tongue tied and sit there quietly if I met my heroes. But … Terry Pratchett (obvs), PG Wodehouse, Julie Cohen, Agatha Christie, the guys who wrote Asterix, Renee Goscinny (I assume I will magically be able to speak French at this party).
Kathy: That would be an amazing dinner party! And of course, you can magically speak French.
Thanks so much for taking the time to answer my questions. I’m looking forward to reading your next book too, called Picture Perfect, available October 2022, and you can preorder here. Sign up for her newsletter and get a free book at jeevanicharika.com. And you can also follow Jeevani on Twitter @rhodabaxter (her other pen name).
Picture Perfect -
Mini Scenes: Is This for Real?
Is This for Real? I made some mini scenes that match what Penelope made in Is This for Real?.
In Is This for Real?, the protagonist, Penelope, is a struggling writer and she sells miniatures to make money on Etsy. She also has a blog where she tells stories acted out with miniatures.
“In my blog storyline, Piper, a doll with curly, brown hair like mine, was dating Julian, a doll with blond curls like Jamie. But then Julian abruptly broke up with her. Followers are still upset. Many of them took that break up quite personally and shared their own personal stories of how they’ve been dumped. I definitely tapped into something; I think, in part, because the breakup was so unexpected. But once Jamie told me he wasn’t interested in me, I lost all desire to play with his doll avatar. And I used those feelings to write the opening chapter of Fake Dating Folly, where the protagonist, Piper, learns that her boyfriend, who dumped her a year ago, is now engaged.”
Is This for Real by Kathy Strobos at 13.Mini Scenes: Is This for Real?
Here’s Piper busying writing her novel. I particularly like the fat cat lying on the floor. And of course, I included some discarded scraps of writing on the floor.
Piper writing her novel And here are Piper and her new beau! They are on a date learning how to cook in a restaurant. I bought that miniature range from a miniature shop in Tokyo.
A date with a new beau cooking at a restaurant Chill with a Book Readers’ Award
Is this for Real? won a Chill with a Book Readers’ Award! I am so happy!
Let’s Talk
What are you reading or watching? I just finished Christina Lauren’s Something Wilder. I read it in one day!
And the countdown for the release of Caper Crush is on! I can’t wait to share it with you.
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Dollhouse Project for Kids
Wouldn’t you like to curl up and read here? You just need to be 1/12 size. If you are looking for a fun project to make with the kids while #stayingathome, building a dollhouse is a great project for ages 7 and up (or any age, depending on your kid). This Serendipity Shed is from the HBS/Miniatures site, but in the UK, there are many great online dollshouse stores as well, such as DollsHouse Emporium.
In New York City, parents volunteer to make an art project with their child’s class to sell at the school auction to benefit the public school. I volunteered to make this dollhouse library with my son’s third grade class. The class parents volunteered as well thankfully. And it sold!
Dollhouse Library from the Outside Making the Dollhouse Kit
What you will need:
- the dollhouse kit
- acrylic paint in your choice of colors
- wood glue
- door handles (if you decide you want to add those) (also from HBS/Miniatures)
- masking tape or painters tape
- sandpaper
- recommended glue to put in window panes
The kit comes with instructions. So first, read the instructions. Second, dry-fit the kit, so you know how it fits together before you glue it with wood glue. Then I recommend gluing together the walls and the floor. Then paint the partial structure and the various pieces (like the windows) in your chosen colors. For the class, we painted all the the pieces separately because I needed activities for around 25 kids. Then glue it together. And Voila! You have a little dollhouse.
Dollhouse Project for Kids
My son’s class made everything in this dollhouse except for the bookshelves. (And that metal lamp). I bought the back one at #HBS/Miniatures. And I made the side bookshelves with popsicle and stirrer sticks and carboard, and then painted it white. We xeroxed/reduced the covers of their chosen favorite books. As you can see, Harry Potter and 13stories are favorites. And they glued the books together (cut up magazines serve as the inside pages).
Dollhouse Library Project for Kids The kids painted the walls white and the windows blue. (I did have to sand the window openings because I forgot to tell them to paint lightly there, so that the window fit inside.) They made the couch using a cardboard tea box and covering it with cotton balls and fabric and and then gluing it with fabric glue. (No sewing required.) And they made the plants by painting twisty ties green and then putting those in air-dry clay (covered with tea for dirt). We used bottle caps as planters.
If you and/or your child really enjoy this project, it’s a whole new world. There are so many videos on Youtube to watch!
Let’s Talk
How are you doing? Hope you are all doing well and #stayingsafe! We are all fine. We have been inside for a month. I received back a developmental edit on Partner Pursuit, so I was busy this week revising my MS accordingly.
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Happy Valentine’s Day 2020!
Happy Valentine’s Day 2020!
Yes, these are dolls. My husband refused to model 🙂 I personally like spending Valentine’s Day reading or watching a good romcom. Although if some attractive guy wants to make me breakfast in bed, I’m all for that too!
Yummy! Plus all that unruly hair! Until I met my husband, I don’t think I ever had a date for Valentine’s Day. It was Galentine’s Day for me. When my daughter was due in February, I was really worried that she’d was going to be born on Valentine’s Day. A friend asked, “Why?” And I said, “I gather you’ve always had a date for Valentine’s Day!” (Thankfully, my daughter was not born on Valentine’s Day.)
Fallen Chocolate Cake Recipe for a Happy Valentine’s Day
Fallen Chocolate Cakes in Ramekins. Image from FamilyStyleFood (with another recipe I will have to try) Here’s my go-to recipe for Valentine’s Day: the fallen chocolate cake from Cooks Illustrated. In my draft MS, my protagonist Audrey makes this for Jake when she wants to impress him with her cooking. He is duly impressed. 🙂
Ingredients
8 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 stick), plus extra for ramekins
8 ounces bittersweet chocolate coarsely chopped;
4 large eggs plus 1 large egg yolk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
ÂĽ teaspoon table salt
½ cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons unbleached all-purpose flour plus extra for ramekins
Butter and flour (or use cocoa powder) eight 6-ounce ramekins.
Instructions:
Melt 8 tablespoons butter and chocolate in medium heatproof bowl set over a pan of almost simmering water, stirring until smooth; remove from heat.
Beat the eggs, yolk, vanilla, salt, and sugar until the ribbon stage – the color will be pale yellow and the volume is nearly tripled. The mixture will drop from the beaters in a heavy thick ribbon. This usually takes about 10 minutes with the hand held mixer.
Pour egg mixture over melted chocolate and butter; sprinkle flour over egg mixture. Gently fold egg and flour into chocolate until batter is completely mixed.
Pour batter into prepared ramekins. (At this stage, you can put them into the fridge for about 8 hours. They’ll need to come back to room temperature [about 30 minutes] before you bake them)
Bake in a 400 degree preheated oven for about 12 minutes or until the the cakes have risen over the rims. They’re done when they have a thin crust and the center jiggles when you tap ramekins.
Run a knife around the edges to loosen the cake (didn’t need to do that last night cuz Kellie had buttered so enthusiastically) and invert onto a plate. Let the cake cool for about a minute before removing the ramekin.
When Adam Met Evie
When Adam Met Evie by Giulia Skye And if you’re looking for a fun escape read, my friend Giulia Skye just published her book When Adam Met Evie. Woohoo! We met on the train to the Romantic Novelists Association conference in Leeds several years ago.
I highly recommend When Adam Met Evie. The characters are very believable and engaging, the story hooks, and the setting is the Australian outback–what more could you ask for?
Here’s the blurb:
“When former Olympic Swimmer, Michael Adams—now reluctantly Canada’s hottest reality TV star— insults his fake showbiz wife on social media, he escapes the ensuing scandal and jumps on the first flight to Australia. Desperate to experience ordinary life again—if only for a few weeks—he becomes “Adam”, just another tourist traveling through the Outback. But with a reward out for his safe return and his fame’s nasty habit of catching up with him when he least expects, he needs a disguise… and he’s just found it.
Sweet and scruffy British backpacker, Evie Blake, is taking a year out of her busy London life. Tired of lies and liars, she’s looking for adventure to heal her broken heart. So when the hot Canadian she meets at the campground offers to be her travel partner through Western Australia’s wild Kimberley region, she grabs the chance, unaware he’s got the world out looking for him. He’s just a down-on-his-luck traveler, right? ” From Goodreads.
Let’s Talk
What do you like to do on Valentine’s Day? Do you have any romcom or romance book recommendations? Any recent romcom movies you’d recommend? Happy Valentine’s Day 2020!
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“Everybody Reads” Week Diorama for Library
My son’s public school has an “Everybody Reads” week where authors come in to speak to the students, and so I created a library diorama for the library.
“Everybody Reads” Week Library Diorama
“Everybody Reads” Week diorama for public school library How I made it
Our local hardware store cut the plywood to my requested size. I made the bookcases out of Balsa wood and matte board.
I made the books with various miniature book printables from friends and from the internet. L’Eggo Waffles also has a free giveaway of books during the summer for points and the packages pictured many of the kids’ favorite books. I also Xeroxed the copies of some of their favorite books and shrunk them to 1/12 size. I then glued those around foamcore or the edges of magazines.
The floor is contact paper glued on top of the plywood. I bought the back white bookshelf and the rocking chair on eBay. The librarian usually sits in a rocking chair and reads them a story before the children search for books to take out. The banner is construction paper with handwritten letters on string.
Close-Up Pictures of the Library Diorama
Here’s a close-up of the books in the white bookcase on the rear wall.
For the left side, I made mostly filler books.
And here’s the right side of the library. It has some favorites like Charlotte’s Web, Dragon Masters, The School for Good and Evil, and of course, Harry Potter.
The Right Side. Can you find Harry Potter? I want to add mini books by the authors who are coming to give book talks, but I didn’t have time this year. I figure each year I can add a few more shelves and favorite books, so it keeps up with the times.
The kids really love it. They gather around looking at it. It’s fun overhearing them find some of their favorite books in mini, like Harry Potter or the Owl Diaries. I’ve explained how they can make their own mini books. As an example, sometimes even the Scholastic book flyer has pictures of books in the right size.
Let’s Talk
What are some of your favorite children’s books?