Jennifer Archer's Blog

Some stories should be retold; that’s how I feel about the stories in my Make A Little Magic Romantic Comedy series that’s soon-to-be-released on Amazon in both ebook and paperback. I wrote these stories early in my career, and they went on to be published traditionally with Dorchester Publishing. Because I was a brand new author writing quirky, offbeat books that didn’t fit nicely into any succinct genre, these books did not receive a lot of publisher push; in short, my publisher didn’t quite know how to market my novels. Because of that fact, the covers and the story descriptions on the back weren’t quite right and were sometimes misleading. My little darlings found an audience that loved them, but it took time and the audience was small. It wasn’t all my publisher’s fault. As I said, I was a newbie author, and I made many mistakes typical of new authors. Which brings me to now…the new and improved, updated and revised versions of these novels are now my new Make A Little Magic Romantic Comedy series, and Book #1 — Spark A Little Flame — will be available to purchase on Amazon on Monday of next week, March 16! (And possibly earlier! Check and see here!) These books have new covers, new titles, and new descriptions that fit them perfectly. And the stories inside have been updated and polished, too. When it comes to remakes, my stories are in good company. Films, especially, are often remade. So what makes someone decide to remake a story that’s already been told? When I asked myself this question, four remakes I love came to mind.

Three Men & A Baby: You might be familiar with the 1987 version of this movie. It’s an American retelling of a 1985 French comedy. The American film stars Tom Selleck, Ted Danson, and Steve Guttenberg. Only two years separated the original version from the remake. Obviously, the producers of version two wanted to bring the story to a new audience — an American audience. It was a good decision — the remake was a hit!
Enchanted April: The 1992 adaptation of the original 1935 film stars Josie Lawrence and Miranda Richardson. The 1992 remake has a much faster pace than the original. My take on the reasons for the retelling is that those involved in the remake loved the story told in the 1935 movie and wanted others to experience it and love it too. But they understood that modern audiences were not as patient with drawn-out storytelling as audiences were almost sixty years before. If the movie was going to capture the hearts of viewers in 1992, the moviemakers knew that the story would need to unfold at a less leisurely pace. Thus, the remake.
The Parent Trap: The 1961 original of this movie is excellent, although it lost much of its relatability as time went by. So that viewers could appreciate it near the beginning of a new century, the movie was remade in 1998 and starred Lindsay Lohan, Dennis Quaid, and Natasha Richardson.
A Star Is Born: Some stories are so relevant that they bear telling more than twice! A Star is Born, for instance. The original of this heartbreaker was made in 1937, version #2 was made in 1954, version #3 in 1976, and the most recent version in 2018. Each version has taken the same premise and made it more relatable to the viewers of the time period. I can’t imagine a future remake outdoing the most recent one starring Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper, but I suppose only time will tell! (If  you  haven’t  seen  it  and are wondering what’s so great about it. I’ll just leave this here for you to watch while you go get some tissues. After watching the video, dry your eyes and scroll down to finish this post!)

So…these are some of the reasons for remaking a beloved story — in order to tell it to people of a different country who speak a different language, to appeal to the changing expectations of an audience regarding storytelling (i.e. pacing), to make it more relatable and relevant to modern viewers. Changing audience expectations, relatability, and relevance are among my reasons for remaking my book series, too. And I must admit that revisiting the stories and characters in Spark A Little Flame, Dream A Little Dream, and Make A Little Wish was a lot of fun! I hope you’ll check them out, and that you’ll enjoy them as much as I enjoyed writing them!

**Note: Each book in the Make A Little Magic Romantic Comedy series about love & magic stands alone & can be read in any order. Spark A Little Flame is a revised, updated version of Shocking Behavior, Dream A Little Dream is a revised, updated version of Once Upon A Dream, and Make A Little Wish is a revised, updated version of Body and Soul, all by Jennifer Archer and originally published by Dorchester Publishing Company.
You can purchase Spark A Little Flame in ebook or paperback here on Monday, March 16 (and possibly earlier…take a look & see!) at Amazon. If you read it, please go back to Amazon and leave a review! Reviews help my Amazon rankings and help readers find my books. I appreciate you! Happy Reading!
Jennifer

 

I’ve been hard at work on a project that’s so much fun. I’m reworking my early romantic comedies — breathing fresh life into the characters for a new audience of readers. The process has made me remember how much I love reading and writing romantic comedies. I’ve been away from the genre for a while, and I’m glad to be back! We live in such a serious world that it’s nice to take a break on occasion with stories that celebrate the best things in life – love and laughter and fun. And what’s more fun than falling in love?!

So here’s a first glimpse of what I’ve been up to — the brand new cover of the first novel in my Make A Little Magic Romantic Comedy Series. These are lighthearted, somewhat zany just-for-fun stories. This first book in the series is called Spark A Little Flame. I adore this pop art cover that Sarah Hansen at Okay Creations designed. She captured the essence of the story’s heroine, Rosy, perfectly!

Spark A Little Flame will be available in paperback and on Kindle in February. Stay tuned for the exact date and for more about J.T. and Rosy!

Previously, I’ve talked about the importance of conflict in a novel. (See post here.) Conflict keeps readers engaged. But what creates conflict, and how can you be sure yours keeps readers turning the pages of your book? When I scan bestseller lists and read the blurbs of the books on them, I get a sense that one element is included in most novels that many readers love. That element is tension.

How can a writer add tension to a story? In my earlier post about conflict, I suggested three questions to ask yourself as you write:

1. What does my protagonist want more than anything?

2. What obstacles stand in the way of her/him getting what she/he wants?

3. What is at stake if she/he doesn’t get it?

Once you’ve answered those questions, you can add tension by raising the stakes for your main character(s) throughout the middle of the book. Make whatever your protagonist faces get worse. One way to do this is to have a ticking clock. A ticking clock is a plot device that adds the pressure of time to your story. As your protagonist works to overcome the obstacles preventing her from getting what she wants, now there’s a reason that she has to solve them within a specified time frame.

Here’s a simple example:

More than anything, Sarah wants to buy her dream house. It has been on the market for over a year (#1 above – what she wants). But although she’s been setting aside money out of every paycheck, she doesn’t yet have enough cash for a downpayment. Besides that, she doesn’t have an excellent credit history (# 2 above – obstacles). If she can’t come up with the money and straighten out her credit, she won’t be able to buy the house and will have to keep living in the dump she rents that smells like mold, has a leaky roof, and drafty windows. And she’ll have to continue dealing with her negligent landlord (# 3 above – what’s at stake).

Okay, this story has conflict, but how can we up the stakes with a ticking clock to add more tension?

What if Sarah’s landlord announces that she must vacate her rental in a month because he sold it and the buyers are going to live there? Or what if Sarah finds out that someone who works in her office is also interested in purchasing the house of her dreams and that they plan to make an offer in six weeks? To make the situation even more tense and interesting, both scenarios could also come into play at the same time. Now Sarah has a specific deadline in place to overcome her obstacles and get what she wants more than anything – her dream house; she has only four to six weeks to work things out . A ticking clock has been set in place and the stakes have been raised.

Although adding a ticking clock to the situation faced by your protagonist is an effective way to raise the stakes and add more tension to the story, it isn’t the only way. But that’s a discussion for another blog post. Stay tuned!

Just a quick post, and I’ll keep it simple…

I was text-talking with a writer recently. This amazing writer is working on her first novel. The story plays out around a real-life iconic place, and she has managed to create characters that seem as real to me as my family members and a setting so vivid I can hear the chaotic clatter of a large, busy household, smell the scents of dinner cooking, see the trendy 80’s outfits the teenagers wear. This author has captured a by-gone time period in a vibrant city and brought it to life on the page.

But even the most interesting, realistic characters and settings can only take a reader so far and keep them turning the page. What else is needed? Conflict.

So I posed a few questions to this writer and offered some suggestions to help her find her story’s conflict.

Following is what I said to my writer friend in our text conversation:

Have these questions in the back of your mind as you write:

What does (your protagonist) want more than anything?
What obstacles stand in the way of her getting what she wants?
What is at stake if she doesn’t get it?

What she wants doesn’t have to be a huge thing (although it can be). It can be as simple as “fitting in.” Story is conflict. It can be big or small conflict, but conflict. Don’t worry if you don’t know the answers yet. Keep writing with these questions in the back of your mind, and the answers will reveal themselves.

My writer-friend spent a little time thinking about her protagonist and answering the above questions. She told me it was a “valuable exercise.” Try asking your characters these questions, even if you think you’ve already nailed down your story’s conflict. You might be surprised that the answers make the conflict even more clear or take it to a deeper level.

But don’t stop there! As I told the writer I was texting, “You should also think about adding a ticking clock to your story.”

We’ll talk about that next time! Until then…

Happy Writing,

Jennifer

In addition to writing my own stories, I own a writing and editing business, Archer Editing & Writing Services, with my son. As the name of our business implies, we offer a variety of editing and writing services for clients. Take a look at our website to see what we do. In recent months, we’ve also started coaching writers on a limited basis — so limited that you won’t find that service (yet!) on our website. We mainly coach on a referral basis. But it has been such a successful undertaking for me and for my clients — and one I really enjoy — that I’ve decided to take on more clients.

So who can benefit from hiring a writing coach? Someone who has a story to tell, but who doesn’t have the confidence, skill, or knowledge to begin to write it. Someone already working on a book who needs guidance or encouragement to move forward. Someone who wants regular feedback on their writing from an experienced writer and editor. Someone who needs help planning a writing project and setting goals. Someone who needs to be held accountable in order to meet their writing goals.

If one or all of these sound like you, I’d love to visit with you about your writing needs. Here’s what my client, Rachel, has to say about her coaching experience with me:

“Jennifer is an extremely knowledgeable and supportive writing coach. During our time of working together, Jennifer provided me with helpful tools and techniques to improve my writing. She also supported me through weekly accountability check-ins and emails to focus on meeting my personalized writing objectives.

I highly recommend hiring Jennifer as a writing coach, whether it is to gain further confidence in your writing, establish consistent writing habits, polish your writing style, or are in the process of writing a book!” -Rachel Yolland

I love my clients! If you’re serious about your writing and coaching sounds like something you’d like to explore, I would love to hear about your writing project and see if we might be a good fit to work together. You can contact me at about coaching at archerediting.writing@gmail.com

Happy Writing!

Jennifer

My oldest son is getting married in less than two weeks. That and the romantic comedy novella I’m currently at work on have me thinking about how people meet and fall in love. One of my favorite romantic comedy movies is the classic When Harry Met Sally, and one of my favorite parts of the film shows clips of elderly couples telling stories about the first time they met. The stories are sweet and funny, and it just makes me feel good to watch them. (And they make me laugh!)  It’s nice to know that in an age when divorce is more the norm than the exception, love can last and does for some people. (See a video of the film clips of the couple stories at the bottom of this post.)

My husband, Jeff, and I met in the spring of our senior year of high school. We were both seventeen. We attended different schools in the same city. One of my best friends dated a guy on Jeff’s golf team. My friend thought we’d be a good match, so she gave Jeff my number. He called one night, and we talked for maybe an hour – an hour I still vividly remember. I was in my bedroom, lying on my orange vinyl beanbag chair, twisting the phone cord around my wrist. (Yes, this was in the days of bean bags and landline phones with spiral cords!) I don’t recall everything we talked about, but I do remember thinking he was funny and maybe a little bit spoiled. And I remember that he said he’d come by my house after his golf practice the next day. I told him I had to work a shift (at Taco Bell!) after school, so he asked what time it ended and said he’d come by after that.

The next day, I freaked out! I’d never even seen this guy before, and he’d never seen me. A million “what ifs” ran through my mind – none of them good. So, immature seventeen-year-old that I was, I didn’t go home after work. Instead, I went over to my friend’s house – the girl who’d given Jeff my number. In the meantime, Jeff showed up at my house, and my younger sister answered the door and had to tell him I wasn’t home. To this day, she talks about how skinny he was in his cut-off jean shorts.

If you look closely, you might see a tear on my office Buddha’s cheek. I warned him that The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry is one of the saddest, most touching novels I’ve ever read, while at the same time it is filled with humor and hope. It begins: “The letter that would change everything arrived on a Tuesday. It was an ordinary morning in mid-April that smelled of clean washing and grass cuttings. Harold Fry sat at the breakfast table, freshly shaved, in a clean shirt and tie, with a slice of toast that he wasn’t eating.” And from there, Harold takes off on an insane and incredible journey that kept me glued to the page and rooting for him, even though it’s a very quiet story that seems simple on the surface (but is so much more beneath). I loved Harold. I loved Queenie and Maureen and David. I loved this book. In fact, I’ve read it twice because it has so much to say, and I wanted to make sure I didn’t miss anything. As the story unfolds, some of what is revealed hit me like a punch in the gut and some of it made me laugh out loud.

Here’s a description of the story from the back cover:

Meet Harold Fry, recently retired. He lives in a small English village with his wife, Maureen, who seems irritated by almost everything he does. Little differentiates one day from the next. Then one morning a letter arrives, addressed to Harold in a shaky scrawl, from a woman he hasn’t heard from in twenty years. Queenie Hennessy is in hospice and is writing to say goodbye. But before Harold mails off a quick reply, a chance encounter convinces him that he absolutely must deliver his message to Queenie in person. In his yachting shoes and light coat, Harold Fry embarks on an urgent quest. Determined to walk six hundred miles to the hospice, Harold believes that as long as he walks, Queenie will live. A novel of charm, humor, and profound insight into the thoughts and feelings we all bury deep within our hearts, The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry introduces Rachel Joyce as a wise — and utterly irresistible–storyteller. 

You can read more about The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry  (and buy it) here on Amazon. But while you’re here, why not subscribe to my soon-to-be launched Newsletter? If you do, you’ll get a FREE download of my romantic comedy novella Take A Little Risk  to read on your Kindle, your phone, or your computer. And you’ll be the first to hear about other FREE offers as well as news about my book releases and about other great reads. I won’t flood your inbox! You will receive at least four Newsletters per year, and no more than one per month. Subscribe here!

 

“Everybody walks past a thousand story ideas every day. The good writers are the ones who see five or six of them. Most people don’t see any.”

– Orson Scott

“Where do you get your ideas?” That, my reader and writer friends, is the question fiction writers are asked more than any other. At least, that is the case with this fiction writer. I’m pretty sure that the answer to that question varies from writer-to-writer. For me, it also varies novel-to-novel. Typically it involves a seed or a spark and a lot of imagination. Take the series of romantic comedy remakes I’m working on at the moment. By “remakes,” I mean the romantic comedies that I released in the past that I’m reworking and will publish again with new titles and new covers. (I figured, if movies can be remade, why not novels? The original “A Star Is Born” movie was released in 1937 and starred Janet Gaynor and Frederic March. It has been remade three times – in 1954 with Judy Garland and James Mason, in 1976 with Barbra Streisand and Kris Kristofferson, and in 2018 with Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper. All three remakes received at least four Academy Awards. Sounds good to me!)

My novella TAKE A LITTLE RISK (a.k.a. BREAKING THE RULES) grew from a seed that was planted in my brain while on vacation in Cozumel, Mexico with my husband and our friends Mollie and Don way back when we were in our twenties and didn’t yet have children. One night after dark, the four of us were out walking, and we wandered quite a ways from our hotel to a stretch of beach lined only by neat little bungalows. We were out close to the water, splashing in the waves when the entire island experienced an electrical blackout. A storm had blown through earlier in the day, and it was still cloudy out; in fact, cloud cover obscured any moonlight or stars. I would’ve never believed it could be so dark! I literally couldn’t see my hand when I held it up close to my face. While a similar island blackout occurs in TAKE A LITTLE RISK, every other event that takes place in the novella is my creation. You could say this story is 1% truth and 99% imagination!

Then there’s my novel DREAM A LITTLE DREAM (formerly ONCE UPON A DREAM). My sons and my nephew sparked the idea for this novel when they were small and would make up stories about an adventurous imaginary character they called “Johnny Amigo.” In DREAM A LITTLE DREAM, Johnny Amigo is the “rogue gambler” protagonist of a series of Western novels that my story’s hero, Alex Simon, reads every night before he goes to sleep. In his dreams, he becomes Johnny Amigo. Hilarity ensues. This book, I would have to say, is 100% imagination – my sons’, my nephew’s, and mine.

On to SPARK A LITTLE FLAME (originally called SHOCKING BEHAVIOR). I have no idea what generated this idea. Zero. Zilch. It’s about an invisible man and the female scientist who falls in love with him sight unseen while trying to figure out how to make him materialize. This story came 100% from my warped mind, and it was so much fun to write!

And then we come to MAKE A LITTLE WISH (otherwise known as BODY AND SOUL), the story of two women – one in her mid-thirties, the other in her early twenties – whose souls switch bodies. This story grew from a day when I picked up my children after school when they were not yet teenagers. We went from school to the bank and were sitting in the drive-up lane when a gorgeous young woman pulled into the lane beside us in a little red Volkswagen. My kids were arguing and swiping at each other in the back seat, and my nerves were frazzled. I looked across at Miss Twenty-Something, who was be-bopping to the song that was blaring from her radio, and I wished for a moment that I had her life. This exact scene takes place in MAKE A LITTLE WISH, but when my counterpart character, Lisa, makes that wish…it comes true. Mayhem follows as she lives Tory Beecham’s life (Miss Twenty-Something) while trying to get her real life – and her husband – back. So, once again, 1% reality, 99% imagination.

Last but not least, my novella BE MY LITTLE BABY (previous title: BLAME IT ON THE BABY). In this sequel to MAKE A LITTLE WISH, Miss Twenty-Something, Tory, is married to Dillon Todd and they’re expecting a baby. Through a series of mishaps, Tory and Dillon switch bodies. He gets to experience her life (and pregnancy!) firsthand, and she gets to experience his life as well. This is a story about learning to appreciate your partner. I can’t think of a specific incident in my life that manifested this story…except, what woman who has ever experienced pregnancy hasn’t wished that her husband could really get what she’s going through – both the good and the bad? Right?

So there you have it . . . my inspiration for each of the stories in this series. By the way, I’m going to call the series Love In Disguise, because, in each story, one or both of the main characters are not quite themselves. I hope you’ll watch for it! I’ll be posting more about it here at my blog as things develop.

Happy Reading,

Jennifer

P.S. Sign up for my newsletter (coming soon!) here, and you’ll get my novella TAKE A LITTLE RISK absolutely free when it is released! (As an ebook for your Kindle or a download to your phone or computer.) I won’t flood your inbox. You’ll typically only receive my newsletter 4 times per year, and never more than once per month. And by being a subscriber, you’ll get access to other freebies and news about books (mine and other authors’) before it is posted on my blog. I hope you’ll sign up!

Hey you guys. I read recently that Romantic Comedy novels are making a comeback. Yay! I love Romantic Comedies. No big surprise, since I’ve written a few of my own. I just finished reading one that I absolutely LOVED. It’s called THE HATING GAME, and the author is an Australian writer by the name of Sally Thorne. Don’t judge this book by its (terrible) cover. THE HATING GAME is not the same old Rom Com. It’s almost totally character-driven, and what engaging characters they are! I loved Lucy and Joshua. They’re funny, witty, smart, complex, sexy, and fun, and their story is all of those things too. The novel is written entirely in Lucy’s point of view. There’s a lot of dialogue going on throughout between Lucy and Joshua, and listening to their banter put a smile on my face. And can’t we all use a smile? Seriously, I think that’s just what’s needed during these turbulent times — books like this that are light-hearted and irresistible. At times, I felt like I was reading an updated version of the old Hepburn-Tracy movies.

As you can probably tell, I’m not great at writing reviews so I’ll just sum it up by saying that Lucy and Joshua are co-workers who’ve invented an assortment of games they play to try to one-up each other. Lucy hates Joshua, and the feeling is mutual. (Or so she thinks.) If you want to know more, go here and read the reviews. This book kept me awake at night turning pages and trying not to laugh and wake up my husband. I like sleep, so that’s saying a LOT about this book. BONUS: It’s going to be a movie starring Lucy Hale and Robbie Arnell!

In other news… I’ve hired a cover designer for the new versions of my own Romantic Comedies that I’m re-releasing in the coming months. Stay tuned — I’m going to be asking for opinions about some things and also doing a giveaway!

Happy Reading,

Jennifer

My earliest novels were romantic comedies with a paranormal twist. I loved writing those books! They were lighthearted and fun, but packed with emotion. Which is why I’m excited that they will soon be re-released as a series with new covers and titles! There will be three novels and two novellas in the series. Following their release, I will also reissue three of my women’s fiction novels that were previously published with Harlequin NeXt, also with new covers and titles. The NeXt line had a devoted readership who were as sad as I was to see that line close. I’m so happy to be able to breathe new life into these books!

The first book scheduled for reissue is pictured here with its original title and cover. After its first release, ONCE UPON A DREAM spent several weeks on Borders Book’s bestseller list for Paranormal Romance, was chosen by Amazon.com as one of the “Best New Romances” for the month, and was a P.E.A.R.L. Finalist. (Paranormal Excellence Award in Romantic Literature).

Stay tuned for a first look at the new cover, title, and synopsis of ONCE UPON A DREAM, as well as the release date. Until then, here are what some readers had to say about the original.

ONCE UPON A DREAM is an amusing, witty, and entertaining paranormal romance that will provide vast pleasure to sub-genre fans as well as lovers of contemporary tales. The story line is fun whether it occurs in the mundane realm or the subconscious dream world. The lead couple is a deserving duo who readers will hope attain lasting happiness while the secondary cast cements the tale with humor and depth. Jennifer Archer hits a bulls-eye with this sensational story.~ An Amazon Reader

This story evokes images akin to the Cary Grant movies of old! The premise is original, and the paranormal plot is well blended with passion, humor, and rich characterization. Guaranteed to keep a reader turning pages long past bedtime!~ Crazy For Words (Reviewer)