April 14, 2014 · 8:24 am

How do you turn your characters into Real PEOPLE?

This sounds like a really dumb question, but consider this: think about the last book you began to read and then put down because you couldn’t get into it, couldn’t relate to the plot or the characters. If it was the characters, I would bet it was because they didn’t come across as believable. Or normal, if you will. They might have been caricatures, the kind of characters that are written as  overblown personalities: too dramatic, too boring, just not real people. Think of caricature drawings. They hint at looking like the real person, but in reality they are distortions. No reader will invest in  characters who are not fully developed on the page or who are so over written as to not be believable. And I don’t mean just the descriptions of blue eyed, brown haired, endomorph, long legged. What I’m referring to are characters who are really shells. No substance underneath. I heard this description of a character once and it fits perfectly here: she’s like an expensive car without an engine; beautiful on the  outside, but  hollow. Nice to look at, but that’s all.

So how do you make your characters into believable beings?

One way for me is to show consistency. If you say someone has been afflicted by nerves their entire life, show them being nervous, even at the slightest thing. Show them acting and reacting to events that take place in your story. Someone who has a morbid fear of snakes is not going to run into the herpetology exhibit at the zoo with anticipation and glee on their face. That’s just not believable with what we’ve been told about the character. If I tell you my hero is a brave warrior, and then show him running away from a cat, well, that just doesn’t fit. His reactions don’t match his description. Consistency in thoughts and actions is a key factor toward developing believable characters.

Now if the person suffering from Ophidiophobia  is placed in a situation where she has to save a loved one from – you got it – snakes, then you have to at least hint at the fact that this person would do anything for a loved one, be it  run into a burning building to save them, or jump into a snake den to pull the loved one to safety, despite their phobia. Consistency works in thoughts AND deeds.

We all have fears, foibles, and character traits that make us unique. No one – NO ONE – is perfect. If you write a character that has no flaws – even slight ones – the reader will probably be turned off. I know: who doesn’t want a perfect guy, right? But let’s face it, perfection is not all it’s cracked up to be.  A little temper, a little selfishness when used correctly, a little messiness – you figure it out – all makes the character seem more like a real person and not just someone you put on a page and have things happen to. I don’t know anyone who doesn’t have a little sumthin’ sumthin’ that doesn’t need improving or commenting on. This one is tightfisted and has the first penny ever earned. This one claims to care nothing about looks, but will only date guys she considers a 9 or 10. I can be shallow, I know, but it’s true. Think of your friends, loved ones, and even people you don’t like. I can guarantee there’s something you’d like to change or fix about them. Use that trait in one of your characters and don’t fix it! Believe me, it’s fun to do.

This is a very near and dear topic to me so I’ll be spending a few blogs on it.

Until next time, though, re-evaluate your character(s). Look for  flaws and if he doesn’t have any – give him some. Make sure whatever you write is consistent throughout the work, too. And if it’s not, make sure you foreshadow, or hint, that this is the reason why it’s not.

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April 12, 2014 · 7:47 am

Are your characters motivated?

We all know that fiction is propelled by conflict. Two people  who just sit on the page enamored with one another is a very boring story that no one will read. Throw in a little conflict and it makes the story move forward. The same can  be said for motivation. What makes your characters do what they do? What end game are they interested in? What’s the goal? What lead them to this thinking?

In a phrase: what motivates them?

My favorite adult fiction book of all time is Gone With the Wind I know: it’s dated, hard to read in some parts because of the way the dialect is written, and sometimes you just want to slap Scarlet O’Hara like she slapped poor Prissy.  Scarlet is a conniving, lying, spoiled  vixen of a woman. But you want to root for her because everything she does, everything she becomes, is motivated by two central truths in her life- she loves Ashley Wilkes and she loves Tara. She will do whatever she has to in order to accomplish her goal of having both. And she does. Her motivation is to prove to Ashley that he really loves her and not  Melly. When the war destroys her family and her home, she is motivated beyond reason to help Tara rise again to the splendor it was pre-war. She marries men she does not love for their money and for the security they bring to her. She cares for Melly when she is sick and dying only because she wants to be close to Ashley. She really is a bitch in every sense of the word, but still, you root for her because she fights for what she wants, and to hell with everyone and everything else.

That’s motivation in it’s sincerest form.

What motivates your characters? Is it a desire to save the family homestead despite not having the visible means to do it? Is it revenge on the person  your character thinks did them wrong? Is it greed? Lust? Love? Whatever your characters want you need to be clear about it, because the reader wants what they want FOR them, and wants to see them overcome obstacles to get it.

There’s no motivation in a boy meets girl-boy gets girl story. Now, a boy meets girl-boys loses girl- boy gets girl in the end story is the stuff of romantic dreams. This is what romance readers want. They want to know what motivates the two characters to fall in love. What obstacles must they overcome to wind up together? Are their motivations at cross purposes and it looks like they’ll never make it? All this drives the story and what drives the character is their motivation.

What motivation do you give your characters? Is it strong enough to sustain an entire novel about it? If not, how could you make it stronger? Sit back and re-evaluate what you want for you characters and what they want. It should be the same thing. Your goal is deciding how to effectively help them attain that goal without losing sight of their motivation.

 

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April 8, 2014 · 3:24 pm

How well do you know your characters?

This is an interesting question, and one I’ve asked other writers in the past. If asked, would you be able to state your hero’s favorite food or color? Your heroine’s favorite memory from childhood? The inciting event that helped mold each of their psyche’s? This is heady stuff and, I feel, very valuable to know.

In a tangential way, this goes back to whether you  are a pantser or a plotter. I’ve admitted I plot everything, and that includes having full disclosure from my characters before I start typing. I need to know what makes them tick, what they like, dislike, loathe. What turns them on in life and what turns them on sexually. I need to be able to think in their heads when they are speaking, know what their reactions to events and circumstances would be based on past behaviors and motivations. If they have the capacity to change, and why or why not. I never want a reader to say “he wouldn’t say that!” or “Where did that come from? She’s never said she feels that way.” That’s cheating the reader, and will ultimately disappoint them.

I’m nosey. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. I could talk to a rock and make it answer me. I’m that way with my characters, too. When I’m envisioning my heroine, I know what she looks like, who she got her upturned nose from, if her earlobes are attached or not. I can tell you how she felt when she wore braces and where she kept her diary hidden from her mother when she was 12. I know her secrets, her longings, her desires. With my hero, I can tell you how he felt when he was losing his virginity, who he resembles in his family tree, and how much money he has in his checking account. And I know the answer to this one very specific question for both of them: who would you die for. This sounds a little obsessive and believe me, it is. But the only way I know how to adequately show my characters to the readers  is by knowing what their actions and reactions will be, and why.

I heard someone say once that you should write up a series of questions for your characters as if you were going to be speed dating them. You can learn a great deal about people by asking just a few very well pointed questions. Like I said, I’m nosey. The more I know, the better I can draw the character.  The better the character is drawn, the more believable (s)he will be. And ultimately, the more believable your characters are, the better and more cohesive the story you can devise for them will be.

So, here’s to nosiness. In writing, it’s a good thing.

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April 6, 2014 · 9:47 am

Evil twins: Point of View and Head Hopping

I will admit this in all sincerity: I am a head hopping addict. I should really join a treatment program to cure myself of this addiction. When I write in third person the thoughts of the hero and heroine flow on the page equally. I find I want the reader to know every single thing the characters are thinking while the scene is taking place. While this works really well in visual media, where your attention is diverted from one character to another through their dialogue, not so much in written fiction.

In the olden days, publishers of romantic fiction dictated  the story be told only in the heroine’s point of view (POV). Every emotion, thought, sensation and occurrence was from her vantage point. We never knew what the hero was thinking until the climax of the story when he divulged his never ending love for our girl. Flash forward to the not too distant past and this changed. Now readers WANT to know what the hero is thinking and feeling as he is falling in love with our girl and much of romance fiction today is written from these two POV’s. Some really fabulous authors even include the secondary character’s POV as well just to give you a full rounded storyline.

I usually write in the two person scenario, and this works for me. Where it starts to come apart and be disjointed is when  I shift from one person’s head to another within a scene. For instance, I am writing this from Dylan’s POV:

He wished she’d just go away and leave him be. He was more than content, wallowing in his grief, enjoying the bottle of whiskey he’d stolen from the bar. 

Daisy wished he turn around and tell her what was bothering him so much. She couldn’t stand not knowing what she had done to make him so miserable.

Two sentences – and truthfully, not very well written ones – and I’ve hopped from Dylan’s head into Daisy’s. If the next line is back into Dylan’s again, it gets very confusing for the reader. I know who is speaking, because I’m writing the words. But the reader is jarred from one POV to the other. In a film you can do this easily because you have a visual clue to who is talking. On the page, it is difficult to keep tabs on.

My first drafts are chock full of head hopping scenes. The next read through I try to correct as many as I can find, but some do bleed through, so on the third edit I will print out a hard copy of the work and then take a blue and a pink magic marker and in the margins I will color code what character the scene is supposed to be told in. Pink – you got it – for the heroine and blue for the hero. Trite and a little sexist, but it works for me. If I’ve shifted into the hero’s head when the scene is written primarily from the heroine’s, I rework the head hopping part and try to show it from her viewpoint if I can.

Even with these safeguards I still have POV shifts, so that’s why it’s good to have someone fresh read your work when you feel it is ready to be put out there. I can read a scene 5o times and love the way it sounds, never realizing that I have subtly shifted back and forth between POVs.

My new work is being told from a first person viewpoint – something I’ve never attempted before. I must say, so far it has been liberating because I only need to be in one head at any time and if I feel the need to sneak in someone else’s  thoughts, I know it immediately. It should be interesting to see how this pans out.

MM Pollard is an amazing editor/author/teacher who is known as The Queen of English. Visiting her site will help all writers craft their work better. I learned more from her in one on-line class that I did after four years of english in college.

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April 5, 2014 · 9:28 am

Building your Author Platform

Until a year ago I’d never heard this term before. What the heck is an author platform? And more importantly, why was I being told I needed one if I wanted to be a successful author?

In the barest sense of the word, a platform is something you stand up high on – like a stage – to be heard by people surrounding you. An author platform, therefore, is how you get heard. Makes sense. In the not too distant past, editors at publishing houses and the houses themselves promoted your book. They did the advertising, arranged author book signings and tours, morning chat show visits to let the world know you had a new work out and arranged for you to be interviewed by trade and popular magazines. Not any more. The houses themselves now run very low budgets for all these things so it is basically up to the author to sell their book to the public, unless you hire a publicist, which can be costly. And let’s face it, you want more than just your family and friends to read your book. You want to reach a wide audience and build a fan base so that when your next book comes out, you’ve already got willing readers who will put down the dollars to buy your work.

And how do you do that? How do you generate the buzz needed to inform people about your book? How do you sell that book? How do you reach the multitudes of readers you want to reach? By having An Author Platform.

In a really good article by Ali Luke “Why You Need an Author Platform – And how to Get one, she outlines three key ingredients in how to accomplish this from your laptop:

  • build a website
  • get a really strong and involved email list
  • use social media to the fullest

By doing just these three cyberworld things you can potentially reach more people than by attending any number of author signings or speaking engagements. A quick internet search drummed up over 100 articles on how to use social media to build your platform and all of them say the basic  three things that Luke does.

So, if you’re a media virgin, get going. If you dabble a little on Twitter or use Facebook to catch up with friends, go deeper and use it for announcements. There is this saying I  heard a few weeks ago: “You have to realize if you are talking to one person on facebook, you are really talking to hundreds.” Unless you have unbelievably rigorous security settings, this statement is true. Pinterest, LinkedIn, any number of sites will get you coverage. And a website is an absolute must these days.

In today’s world we live and exist on our computers, laptops, smart phones and notebook devices. We do business on them, we keep in touch through them. Why not make that work for you by helping you build that much needed and wanted fan base.

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April 3, 2014 · 9:42 am

Finding your “Voice”

What makes your favorite author your, well,  favorite author? My answer has always been  the writer’s voice. By this I mean how the author structures the sentence, the story, the plot. About.com defines a writer’s voice like this:

  • Voice is the author’s style, the quality that makes his or her writing unique, and which conveys the author’s attitude, personality, and character; or
  • Voice is the characteristic speech and thought patterns of a first-person narrator; a persona. Because voice has so much to do with the reader’s experience of a work of literature, it is one of the most important elements of a piece of writing.

I can pick a book up off a shelf and read the first page and know instantly that it is a Nora Roberts work. Her descriptions of setting, the way her characters speak and engage with one another, even her backstories all define how she writes. The same is true for Jodi Picoult and JayneAnn Krentz.  Their writing styles define them for me and when they come out with new books I always know I am in for a literary treat.

When I write a first draft I free write it – which means I  have my story plotted out, but I write it as I would “tell” it to someone. In fact, many times I use my Dragon program and speak the book onto the page. The grammar is not perfect, the punctuation is disjointed, there are too many words for the same thing,  and I like to head hop, but this is how I “speak.” When I go through the editing process,  I fix the grammar, adjust the punctuation, delete a lot of wordy sentences, and try to fix the head hopping. This last thing is the hardest task for me for me, but I muddle through. What I’m left with is my way of telling the story. My voice. When I write in first person – with me as the narrator – you can really hear me. I’ve had people that know me personally tell me they actually heard my voice in their head when they were reading the story and boy, is that a major compliment! When I write in third person, I try to find the narrator/character’s voice through their descriptions of things, events, and emotions.  All this adds to my voice. Just as my real voice is very characteristic of me, my writing voice is as well.

Think about the authors you read and enjoy the most. I would bet the reason you like them – aside form the great stories they tell – is how they tell the story to you. Their voice.

 

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April 1, 2014 · 8:51 am

Panster? Plotter?

A few months ago I was asked at a writing meeting if I was a pantser or a plotter. The question threw me for a moment because I’d never heard the term panster before. The question meant, do I write using a designated plot line or do I wing it and write – literally – by the seat of my pants. After some thought I realized I do a little of both.

I’ve always been the kind of person that needs direction and focus.  Maybe it’s because I’m a nurse and have a scientific, logic based education. But when I look back over my life I see I’ve always been the type to want to know where we were going, when  were we going to get there, and then what were we going to do. I’m not an aimless ambler, walking about for the beauty of the walk. I like to know where I’m headed and have a course plotted. GPS was made for people like me.

It’s the same with my writing. When I have an idea for a story or a character, I imagine what will happen  and then decide how and where I want to take it/them. I write everything down, every plot point I can conceive, and I always know the ending before I begin. Now that’s easy with the romance stuff: the ending is always the happily ever after tag line. But when I write my mysteries, I always know “who-done-it,” why, and how before the words fly off my fingers and into the laptop. I do allow road stops and tours occasionally ( the pantser part of me) but I find I am more productive when I have an  end goal in sight.

I know the writers who are strictly pantser-prone will say that I take the fun out of the adventure. Not knowing where you are headed is half the fun, they will tell you,  because you get to navigate through twists and snares and struggles along with your characters. But I do that anyway because – hello! – I created those twists and snare and struggles! Sometimes, though, I will admit that the plot is revised when a point arises that I didn’t think of and should be dealt  with.

So, are you a pantser or a plotter or a combo like me?

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March 30, 2014 · 9:00 am

Ideas, Inspiration and Flashes of Brilliance!

Yesterday, I had a road trip to NYC from home, and then back last night. 400+ miles in less than 12 hours. I forgot to bring a book with me to pass the time, so I was forced to just stare off at the speeding cars around me and ponder. Great word, ponder. It means: to think about or consider.  Well, I was thinking about the fact that I had to clean my house from top to bottom on my weekend off, and I’d already lost a full day because of the trip. With an inward groan – because I don’t like having to clean my house – I asked my fairy godmother  to consider sending me a cleaning lady. Now, I knew one wasn’t going to magically appear and have my house all nice and tidy by the time I arrived home. I may be imaginative, but I’m not crazy! What did appear, though, was a full born story, in living color, complete with character names and conflicts.

Wowza!

For the rest of the drive, while the torrential rain poured down and the speed maniac NYC/Connecticut drivers flew by, I plotted out the story. And here’s the kicker: from out of the pages and plot line of that story, fell a sequel. Double Wowza!

I’ve mentioned before that my story lines usually start with a character. This was the first one EVER  that sprang up fully formed, and had the characters already tailored for it. I ‘m being truthful when I say I did not have to do one iota of character development in my head. I could actually see the characters standing in the front of my mind, heard their voices, and knew  what they were going to say, to whom, and how they were going to say it.

Is there such a thing as triple wowza??!!

Maybe when I go back to NYC in two weeks I’ll forget to bring a book again. Who knows? Quadruple wowza, maybe??

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March 27, 2014 · 12:05 pm

Contests, finalists, and hope

Yesterday, the results of  the Romance Writers Of America annual RITA and Golden Heart finalists were announced. One of my writing group ladies referred to this is “The Oscars to romance writers.” It is an apt and accurate description. For the first time I entered this year, and no, I didn’t make the finals. I actually didn’t expect to, but the hope is always there. I entered because I have come to realize that though I call myself a writer, and have been writing for most of my life, it means nothing if I hoard the work on my laptop and keep it to myself. I need to put myself out there. This was  a way of getting over my fear of people – strangers – reading my words. I can truthfully admit I don’t even let my husband read what I write. Is it fear of being judged? Of being considered frivolous?  Or is it just that I am selfish with my words and my ideas? I don’t know the answer to any of those; maybe a shrink could help! But I do know that at this stage in my life I have nothing to fear. I am old enough and – God help me!-  wise enough to know that you can show something to ten different people and get ten different reactions and opinions to it. So, if I like my work there is no reason to think others might not like it as well. And if they don’t, well, this is still America and everyone of us has the freedom to like or not like something.

I am already at work on my next book.  I don’t think I could stop writing if I truly even wanted to.

Maybe, next year when I enter the Golden Heart, I just may do better. Like I said, the hope is always there.

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March 18, 2014 · 11:34 am

Criticism vs. Critique

I entered a romance-writing contest several months ago and received  my results back today via email. The contest was the first 10 pages of your WIP (work in progress) and a brief synopsis of the overall plot. I hate writing a synopsis and avoid it whenever I can. Unfortunately, for this contest, one was required, but the rules stated it would not be part of the overall judging.

Three judges and their scores combined gave you your overall score. One of the judges was a professional/published writer in romantic fiction, one a beta reader, and one an unpublished writer, but a retired teacher and editor. This last judge was the harshest, and I’ll say meanest of the three. He tore my work apart, and I mean  TORE it apart. He critiqued where I put commas, my dialogue – which he called “trite”, my heroine, which he said he didn’t like and nothing would convince him to, and my sentence structure.  And he said my synopsis sucked. He really did! The published author gave me very constructive criticism NICELY, and pointed out a few things that needed improvement. The beta reader wrote how much she loved the story, the characters and the setting, and also, nicely, pointed out a few things for improvement. She gave me the highest scores of all three. You can guess who graded me the lowest – and I mean low.

Now my ego is as strong as an ox. People who know me know that. I can take criticism, constructive or otherwise, and pull out the parts of it that will help me in the future. I did this with all three of these judges, because they all had valid points.  But I wondered why the editor/teacher judge was so harsh in his delivery. He didn’t know me, knew nothing about me except for the pages being judged, and he sincerely could have made his points succinctly without all the nastiness.

This hasn’t turned me off to entering contests at all, because with each one I do enter, I learn something valuable. What I learned from this contest was that the beta reader, a lover of romantic fiction such as I am, is the person I write for, not the judge. The reader wrote comments all over the entry, such as “Aww!” when she read something touching, and “I love that he said that,” to a dialogue for my hero.

This is the person I write for. Plus myself, of course.

And here’s the best part of this story: I entered the same 10pages in another contest and two editors from publishing houses notified me they liked what they’d read so much they wanted to see the entire manuscript.

So THERE! Mr. Smarty-pants judge!

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