Today's Friday, so that means that the Faith Fiction Friday prompt is up @ Faith Filled Fiction... and the 5 minute Friday prompt is up at Lisa-Jo Baker's Gypsy Mama.
5 Minute Friday is simple. Lisa-Jo gives a prompt and you promptly (hehe) write on it for 5 minutes. No backsies, no edits (though I will spell check... because I just have too... )
Today's word is: Dance
GO
There is a dance going on inside of me, maybe inside of you too. It's a delicate tango between the "I want too" and "I can't... "
As I glide on the dance floor of life, these two dancers glide around inside of me, twirling until I am dizzy and run down.
The "I want too" is strong. I WANT to do a lot of things. Sometimes those things seem so big they will never happen. And sometimes they seem selfish.
The "I can't" is always there, following the "I want too", matching every step. I can't do... because I'm just me. Seems to be the typical dip. It seems logical enough. I'm just... me.
There is a dance inside of me, maybe inside of you too. A delicate tango between "I want too" and "I can't". Maybe it's time to find a new dance partner...
Tracy from My Daily walk in His Grace has graciously awarded me with the...
Award. I'd like to take a minute to thank her SO much for not only giving me this, but for taking time to read my posts... on both sites! Ya'll Tracy is an awesome lady :) There are some conditions I have to meet to fully be awarded this award, however... "According to the directions, I am to share 7 things about myself. Then I pass the award on to blogger friends who in turn, will link back to me and follow the instructions again." (from Tracy's site)... Ok... so 7 things about me: 1. I'm 30 years old, married, with 3 little ladies. 2. I'm a teacher. 3. I LOVE to write. 4. Judges is one of my favorite Books of the Bible (but my sister knew that... I tell her alot) 5. My 'big dream' that I always talk about over at http://www.encourage365.com/ is to write an actual book... More specifically, I'd really like to write Bible Studies. That's why we are doing one in Sept. on here. The Bible is full of interesting stories that I'd love to investigate and share with others :) 6. My top 5 movies are probably not from this decade (or even last decade). 7. Technology and I don't get along. My technological understanding stopped at the CD. One of my supervisors told me that they were thinking of going from laptops to iPads, and I might have blacked out for a second... Now, on the second part. I have the honor of listing other bloggers who inspire me. Well, if I listed all of the blogs I follow and what they mean to me, we'd be here all day. Check out the 'Blogs I love' and the buttons to the right for a listing of which blogs I really love.
I decided to name 5 here. If you aren't listed, it's not because I don't love you:
1. Jennifer from Imitation by design
2. Kathi-Ann from studentmamacook
3. Laura from BeholdingGlory
4. Brenda from Triple Braided
5. Cyndi from cyndispivey.com
and one more...
Lisa from A Moment with God
And...
Cara from carebear and Co.
And...
Jenifer from ~Sweet Blessings~
(**Don't think any of you have to link back if you don't want. Just know that I love, admire, and respect all of you... INCLUDING ones that I didn't mention. I have learned so much from reading each of you :) )
Again, Tracy, thank you so much for thinking of me and my little piece of the internet. :)
For the first week of "Countdown to Crossing... ", I wanted to talk about character names.
Do you find character names hard to come up with?
Usually... USUALLY I don't. I try to think of the character's personality, look, style, geological location (which for me is usually southern), etc. when I think of a name. And normally, I like to have at least one character have a biblical name. It's just my cup of tea.
For CROSSING THE DEEP, I had a bit of a problem... naming my characters.
My leading guy is named Asher Jenkins. I love his name. Truthfully, if I had a son, I'd name him Asher (well, if my husband went for it... ). Asher is, of course, a tribe of Israel (which is mentioned in the book actually). And I thought the name 'fit' him.
Asher is a seventeen year old skeptic who only goes on the camping trip in the Smokies to get away from home for the weekend. His home life isn't the best in the world (to put it mildly), but he is extremely loyal. I do believe Asher suits him. So far, it's my favorite character name of anything I've written.
*My leading girl is named Rachel Harker. Now, this name took FOREVER to come up with (my sister probably laughed as she readed that line lol). Rachel's original name was Ruth. Through the entire first draft she was Ruth. Somewhere along the way, she became Rebecca.
In one way or another, her names have ranged from: Catherine Bethany Hannah Kate Plus more that I can't remember right off hand. The point is, Miss Harker had an identity crisis. Finally... FINALLY I prayed about it and Rachel stuck and I do believe it suits her. Rachel is a sixteen year old church member who goes on the hike mainly because her mom *forces* her too. Two years ago, something tragic happened at home and caused Rachel to withdraw from the world. Her mom thought the trip would be a way to heal the wound of the past... she had no idea that those wounds would be the least of her worries! *Other characters in the story practically named themselves: Sidney (Sid) Andrews-- Asher's best friend, ex of... Carly Jones-- Rachel's best friend David Andrews-- Sid's brother/youth pastor/leader of the hiking trip
And of course, we meet many other characters.I'm so excited for you all to be able to read this book! The feedback I've gotten so far from people who have read it has been amazing. One said it was a very emotional read (very glad to hear that :) ).10 more weeks! ~Kelly
I've been following the horrible Batman Movie Killings and have a lot of thoughts on it. I won't get into all of them except to say that I'm praying for the families of the victims and for the survivors and their families. It was senseless and terrible :(
It did get me thinking about lasting legacies, though. One of the first victims identified was Jessica Ghawi, 24. Her twitter handle was her professional name, Jessica Redfield. Her last text was sent to her friend has been all over the news and internet. It said, MOVIE DOESN'T START FOR 20 MINUTES.
In this ever changing technological world, our tweets/fb statuses are our 'last written words' like David in the OT had his last written words, so, sadly do we... only our last written words aren't in the form of grand speeches-- they are made up of 140 characters or less or a facebook message over what we ate for supper.
I don't go around daily expecting to die. I'm pretty sure none of the twelve in that theater did either. Ms. Redfield had no idea that would be her last tweet, her 'last words'.
Thinking over my tweets/facebook messages, I'd be embarrassed if some of them were my last words:
I've had such gems as: So weird! Everlee's potty has been singing for 30 minutes straight. I finally got tired of it and went to put it in a closet. I noticed I didn't put Ever's side up on her bed, so I did that. Potty still sang. I went in to pick it up... it stopped singing! I walked away... it started singing. I went back, it stopped... and has stopped for good. Kinda freakin me out. lol
The 2 yr old is rockin' out to Milli Vanilli-- We are full of taste at this house ;)
Left over cake and spinach dip for supper. :)
***I am not lying! Those are some of my facebook messages!
If something had of happened to me and the news got a hold of my messages, well... they might think I was a little nutty lol (and maybe they'd be right).
My twitter is a *little* better:
There is a point to all of this...
None of us know when our time is up and we go to meet our Maker-- NONE of us. One second we can be facebooking about something silly our kid did, the next we could be staring at Saint Peter.
We could be tweeting about some exciting movie or tv show, and the next we're staring at the Pearly Gates.
Would you be proud of your posts or tweets if the news got them after you died? Would you like your last tweet thrown up on MSN or Yahoo (or some random girl's blog) for the world to see?
Let's make our Tweets COUNT. Let's make our Facebook posts COUNT! I'm not saying that we should be serious all the time and only post bible verses-- and I'm definitely not saying that Ms. Redfield did anything wrong with her tweet... I thought it was cute and told of her excitement at the moment :( (I feel so bad for her and all the victims).
What I am saying is to watch what we Tweet/facebook.
*Try to show God in them even if you aren't talking about Him.
*Don't yell or fuss or cuss or belittle someone. (Do you want your last post where you called your husband a bad word displayed on the web if something happened to you?)
*Show respect to everyone.
*Think, "If this is it for me, would I be ashamed of this post/tweet?"
Folks, we have no idea when our "last words" will occur, but know that even if they aren't your last-- people are reading them, and they are forming an opinion of you (right or wrong). Never post anything you are ashamed of. Never hurt others through your comments. It's not worth it.
The growing popularity of New Adult books (most of which are self published) recently had me contemplating the name of this so-called genre. I mean, who the heck came up with it? But then, who came up with the term Young Adult? My son turns thirteen next month. That’s right, the boy who defied odds when he was born three months premature is going to be a teenager. But is he an adult who happens to be young? Hell, no! He’s still a boy.
Okay, so back to the term New Adult. How come after you’re a Young Adult, you hit college and are reborn into something ‘new? I mean, if you think about it, shouldn’t you be a New Adult for maybe a year or two and then graduate to Young Adult status? Wouldn’t that chronologically make sense?
And it’s not just New Adult and Young Adult terminology that seem screwed up. What about Middle Grade? Most kids who start reading Middle Grade books are in elementary school, not middle school. So, where the heck did that name come from?
Now technically none of this really matters. Many people (including agents) don’t consider MG, YA, and NA to be genres. They are nothing more than guidelines so publishers and readers know for what age range these books are intended. When we see the term Young Adult, we know the protagonist is going to be between 12-18 years old, and is dealing with issues different from those of younger kids and adults. When we see the term New Adult, we know the protagonist is going to between 18-25 years old, in college, and things might get pretty steamy between the guy and the girl. And in some books, ultra steamy.
Do you consider MG, YA, and NA to be genres? Do you agree that the terms for YA and NA are a little mixed up?
As you know, I love craft books on writing. I’ve decided to showcase some of them by sharing quotes that deals with a particular element. Today I’m focusing on emotion.
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Emotional Elements: Wind as a sexiness all its own. It can ring the wind chime. It can lift the hem of a filmy skirt. It can comb her long locks in a convertible. It can wave the flag. It can carry rain and drive snow. It can push the curtains aside in a boudoir window. It can dance with autumn leaves. And it can whistle through the high country pines with a song so magical I get goose bumps. And that’s what we want from any of these elements—goose bumps.
Emotional Structure: Creating the Story Beneath the Plot by Peter Dunne
Pay special attention to the events leading up to an emotional response. If the plotting feels contrived, the character’s reaction will seem contrived as well.
The Emotion Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to Character Expression by Angela Ackerman & Becca Puglisi (love love love this resource)
Showing your reader an emotion is far stronger than telling your reader that emotion. You tell the emotion by naming it. You show the emotion by showing the character’s physiological reactions at moments of high tension. Keep asking yourself, “How does my character feel? What does my character feel?” If you can answer those questions with a physiological response, then you have a potent way to give your reader a powerful emotional experience.
Writing Fiction for Dummies by Randy Ingermanson (this is where the Emotion Thesaurus is helpful)
Think of each scene as a mini-movie. It must have a beginning, middle, and an end. And it must also have something happen that causes the emotional tone to change drastically.
Save the Cat by Blake Synder
Extended Metaphors: In this technique, you refer to the same metaphor at two, three, or four different points in a single scene; each mention adds another layer of emotion meaning . . . . I you use the extended metaphor to convey emotion in a scene, the guidelines are the same as for a single metaphor: aptness, moderation, and congruity with setting.
To celebrate the release of her Novella Dies Irae, I asked author Christine Fonseca if she would talk about one of her strengths: using setting to set the mood. Not only does she do a great job with this in her story (which I'm currently reading), she wrote an AWESOME post on the topic.
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Thanks, Stina, for hosting a leg of the blog tour for DIES IRAE. I am excited to be here today talking about setting. As most of you may know, I love writing dark and creepy stories. Whether they are gothic, romance, or psychological, one thing unites my stories—they’re dark.
One of the ways I achieve the “dark” tone to my stories is through the use of setting.
I view setting as a “character” of sorts—something that can enhance and enrich the story; the vehicle by which character emotions and plot themes can be revealed or embellished.
Specifically speaking, setting is comprised of the following elements of a story:
* Location – WHEN is the story set? * Time – WHEN is the story set, both in terms of era and time of day * Climate – WHAT is the season and/or the weather like during your story
Correctly identifying these things, as well as describing them in ways that work towards the overall tone and mood of the book can help an author create a memorable experience for the reader.
So, how do I do that? How do I use setting in that way? For me, it is always about placing myself in the scene and looking around. Using my five senses, what do I see, hear, smell? And how do these details help to create or push the emotional content of the story? Then I filter that experience into words.
Now, this is not always an easy thing to do. Most of the time, I put too much or too little into the story. My early drafts are often filled with purple prose, some passive language, and too many sensory references that I then need to rework. But eventually, after I’ve reworked and rewritten a scene, after I’ve taken the time to judiciously put in setting references without dragging down the plot, I come up with a scene that is powerful and rich.
Take this tiny excerpt from DIES IRAE:
“The mouth of the cave is complete in its darkness. A cold wind wafts up from the earth’s depths, carrying the scent of death. “Yep, this has got to be it,” I whisper.
Mikayel draws his sword and walks in. The descent is steep and narrow, giving way to an even floor littered with rocks and bones. Too many bones.
Everything is quiet. Stalactites line the cave’s ceiling like teeth meant to consume us. Small crevices recede into the walls.
And still, everything is quiet.”
My goal in this tiny snippet was to establish the setting in such a way as to build the tension the character is feeling. You will have to be the judge as to whether or not that was accomplished, but I would like to think it was.
Setting is a powerful tool in a writer’s arsenal. Sadly, it is one that is not always utilized. Is it one you are comfortable using?
For me, becoming more adept at using setting to establish tone and mood, as well as mirror the emotions, has been one of the best, most useful skills I’ve learned—a skill I am constantly working to develop through writing exercises that include practicing writing different descriptions of places, all to evoke specific feelings or moods.
Try this:
Pick a familiar setting—a beach or mountain landscape for example. Write a detailed description of that place. Now, make it scary and write that description. Make it romantic. Make it foreboding. Keep rewriting the basic description within different emotional contexts. The more you practice this, the more natural incorporating setting will become.
Once upon I time, I queried a big time agent and landed a partial request*. A month later, a rejection landed in my inbox. My characterizations were weak. After bawling into a box of Kleenexes After deciding the agent was the most wonderful person alive (because not only did she not send me a form rejection, she was right), I searched for ways to make my characterizations kickass strong.
During that time, I fell in love with several craft books on the topic:
Getting Into Character: Seven Secrets a Novelist Can Learn from Actors by Brandilyn Collins.
I’ve blogged about this book before. My favorite chapter (the first one) contains an exercise to help you get to know your characters better. Better than by simply filling in a questionnaire or conducting an interview. It’s not a quick exercise, and you really have to think. But it will help you delve deeper into your characterizations. It’s a technique used by award winning actors when preparing for a role. And for those of you who aren’t plotters, you can do the exercise after your first draft.
Breathing Life Into Your Characters: How to Give Your Characters Emotional & Psychological Depth by Rachel Ballon
This is another book I’ve blogged about. It, too, is filled with advice and exercises to help you create rich characters (including the bad guys).
Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook by Donald Mass.
The first part of the workbook contains twelve through-provoking chapters with exercises to ensure all your characters are dimensional. They can be done either before you start the first draft or afterwards. Check out thispost for an example of the type of exercises you can expect from the book.
There isn’t one book I prefer over the others. I use all three when creating my characters. I truly do believe they made a huge difference.
(*this book was eventually shelved for good reason)
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On the fourth day of Christmas my true love gave to me . . .
Three books for kickass characterizations, Tons of yummy chocolate, AquaNotes, so you can brainstorm in the shower, And Margie Lawson’s awesome lecture notes.
*Cringes at how awful that would sound when sung*
Do you have a favorite technique for creating characters?
Yeah, yeah, I know. There are more than twelve days till Christmas. But The Twelve Blogging Days of Christmas for Writers (According to Stina’s Schedule) was way too long a title.
Anyhow, I’m going to be blogging about awesome gifts ideas you might want to start hinting heavily for from your significant others, friends, family. Or if they don’t get the hint, then you reward yourself with them.
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Back in September, members of one chapter of the Romance Writers of America started singing the praises for the online courses by Margie Lawson. Always on the lookout for anything that will take my writing to the next level, I couldn’t wait to check them out.
And I’m so glad I did.
But the best part was I didn’t have to wait until the next course to learn from her brilliance. Her course notes are available, and for much less than the online courses.
The following three I highly recommend to help you write fresh instead of stale or clichéd (the descriptions are from her website):
1. Empowering Characters’ Emotions
Want to add a psychological punch to your writing and editing?
Want to learn how to capture the full range of body language on the page?
Want to turn your work into a page-turner by powering up emotion and hooking the reader viscerally?
(Trust me, you do!!!!)
2. Writing Body Language and Dialogue Cues Like a Psychologist
3. Deep Editing: The EDITS System, Rhetorical Devices, and More
DEEP EDITING is for the writer who wants to psychologically impact the unconscious of the reader. For the writer who wants to learn fresh editing techniques. For the writer who wants to edit for power. (I blogged about rhetorical devices not long ago on the QueryTracker.net blog. That was nothing compared to what Margie will teach you.)
Her course notes are FILLED with examples from New York Times bestsellers. By the time you’ve finished studying them, you won’t be able to look at your writing the same way again. You’ll cringe every time you write (or read) the same old tired phrases that everyone leans on—except for the bestsellers. If you’re looking for a way to strengthen your voice, these courses will help you as well.
If I were to give them a rating out of five stars, they would definitely be worth six stars.
Is there anything writing related that you would like Santa to bring you this year?
One of my favourite sessions at the RWA Nationals in New York City last June was on world building by best-selling author Jessica Andersen. Although she writes paranormal novels, her five questions are applicable to other genres, including contemporary (hence the title of her session).
1. What are some major factors that underlie your world? These are big picture items.
2. What are some minor factors that will be focused on in the book? You don’t have to highlight everything. Just what’s relevant to character, plot, emotion, etc. If you’re planning a series, then save some minor elements for later. Too much and your reader might feel overwhelmed.
3. Any cool controversies in your world?
4. Where will your world deviate from reality? You also want to give readers something they are familiar with. It helps them relate to your story world.
5. Why are the events in your story believable? Why is it logical?
Her recommendation is that once you’ve created your world, think how it will impact each character individually.
Question: Do you take into consideration world building when planning your story? Or is this something you thought only fantasy writers had to worry about?
Are you hot? Not right now. It’s kind of chilly in my room. Oh, you mean the other kind of hot? Nah. I’ve never been hot. Cute maybe, but never hot. (My hubby burst out laughing when I asked him. Hmmm)
Upload a picture or wallpaper you are using at the moment. Until I got tagged, I had the most unimaginative wallpaper available on my computer. So I changed it to this . . .
. . . which I took on vacation in SF last year. My husband and kids love the new wallpaper, so I guess it’s staying. When was the last time you ate chicken meat? I can’t remember. Maybe a few weeks ago (we don’t eat a lot of meat). I made spicy chicken breasts with mangos and coconut milk. It’s yummy. The Song(s) you listened to recently? What the Hell by Avril Lavigne Born This Way by Lady GaGa Just Can’t Get Enough by The Black Eye Peas My eleven-year-old thinks I’m the coolest mom because I listen to the same music as him (which means I buy the music without complaint). What were you thinking as you were doing this? I was thinking about an email that I need to send after dinner. One which I’ll be blogging about on Wednesday (not to keep you in suspense or anything). Do you have nicknames? Technically, Stina is my nickname. It’s short for Kristina. Apparently my parents were going to call me Stina but forgot. Seriously? How can you forget what name you were going to call your first born?
Tag eight Blogger friends. (You are it!)
1. Lenny Lee 2. Matt MacNish 3. Christina Lee 4. Laura Pauling 5. Heather McCorkle 6. Steena Holmes (writes erotica romance short stories as Anya Winter) 7. Angela Ackerman (from the awesome Bookshelf Muse) 8. Deb Marshall
Who's listed as number one? Lenny Lee is the coolest kid in the blogosphere, who has the heart and strength to rival most adults. Not to mention, he comes with an awesome fan club. :) (Hugs, Lenny. We're all cheering for you!)
Say something about number 5. Heather posts cool Twitter publishing industry links on Tuesdays, and describes a mythological creature every Friday.
How did you get to know number 3? Christina and I got to know each to know each through blogging, and quickly became friends. She’s an awesome friend, CP, and jewellery designer, and I feel extremely lucky to call her my friend. Plus, her writing seriously rocks.
How about number 4? Like Christina, I meet Laura through blogging. Her posts frequently makes it to Cool Links Friday, for good reason. And she’s one helluva great beta reader and writer.
Leave a message for number 6. I can’t wait to read your upcoming guest post. ;)
Leave a lovey-dovey message for number 2. ROFL. I don’t know how to write lovey-dovey messages (and my hubby might get jealous if I sent one to Matt). So I’ll just say, “Hi!” Do number 7 and number 8 have any similarities? Angela and Deb both live in Calgary (like me), and they both crack me up (usually while I’m eating). And if that’s not enough, we love hanging out together (with a group of other kidlit writers) at The Cheesecake Café.
(Dear Taggees: You're under no obligation to play the tag game, but I just wanted people to know just how awesomesauce you are.)
How many times have you read a story in which the characters are boring stereotypes? You can guarantee agents’ and editors’ slush piles are filled with these individuals. And we all know what happens to manuscripts containing them.
Author Mary Buckham recently conducted a workshop through my local RWA (Romance Writers of America) chapter. Her exercise had us (including the published authors) salivating at the chance to try this with our own characters.
First, list five character traits associated with your major characters’ careers. If you write YA or MG (middle grade), then pick an activity/interest that’s important to them (e.g. football player, cheerleader, musician, Goth). I’m going to use the examples from the class.
• Outgoing • Likes to be the center of attention • Driven • Easy going • Mysterious
As you might have noticed, these traits are subjective. Your perception of a cop might be different than someone else’s.
Now switch things around. Take the career title and move it to a different list. For example:
The cop is now:
• Outgoing • Likes to be the center of attention • Driven • Easy going • Mysterious
Your cop is no longer a stereotype, and how he deals with a given situation will be different than the cop from the original list. And this will make your characters and story less predictable.
Cool trick, huh?
(Note: The Bookshelf Muse announced yesterday their newest thesaurus: Character traits).
If I were to pick one book that’s made an epic change in my writing in the past few months, I’d have to go with Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook by Donald Maass.
Like everyone else, I’d heard how awesome his workshops are, and how great his Writing the Breakout Novel book is, so I borrow the book (not the workbook) from the library—and was disappointed. It didn’t tell me anything I didn’t already know. What I wanted was something to help me translate the stuff in the book into my novel. Was that too much to ask for?
Apparently not. The workbook is now part of an intensive workout my WIP is currently undergoing. And so far, it’s definitely been worth it.
But as the word “workout” implies, it’s not easy. There are times when you’re going to be sweating. Times when you’re tempted to skip portions of it. But as Donald says in his workbook, “The investment of time to complete this work is huge . . . but then your ambition is huge, too, isn’t it? I thought so.”
The workbook is divided into three general topics (character development, plot development, and general story techniques). These are further divided into 34 chapters (total). Although I’ve been using the workbook during revisions, a number of chapters are perfect for planning your novel. The section on plot development ties in nicely with the plotting book, Save the Cat.
Each chapter has a brief explanation with examples taken from novels, followed by a series of steps to help you improve this aspect of your book (see example below). While I didn’t find the examples very helpful, the exercises are definitely priceless. Now I see why his workshops are so popular.
Are you ready to try one of them out?
In chapter six (Character Turnabouts and Surprises), Donald asks you to:
1. Pick a scene from your novel with your protagonist. Actually you can do this with any scene, even if the protagonist isn’t the POV character. And in my opinion, you should. Okay, now write down what her main action is in the scene. What is she trying to accomplish, obtain, or avoid?
2. Write a list of the reasons why your protagonist is doing what she is doing. Write down as many of her motive as you can. You’re not supposed to look at the next step until you are finished—according to Donald. But I know that’s not going to happen right now (you’ve got other blogs to check out), so let’s continue.
3. Circle the last reason on your list.
4. Rewrite your opening of the scene, only this time, send you protagonist into action (or avoidance) for the reason you circled.
Now, if you’re like most writers, the first reason you wrote down will be the same one used in your novel. According to Donald, this is often the easiest choice. The first one that popped to mind when you were planning or writing the scene. And the one that made sense and felt the safest. “But safe choices make a scene predictable. Reversing motives shakes up a scene. It makes its course less expected, yet no less logical since the action still comes from your character’s true, deep motives.”
I tried this out and was instantly I was sold on the exercise. As Donald points out, the beginning of your scene might be perfect the way it is. But there will be scenes that are stronger with the new beginning. Try it out. See for yourself.
So do I think the workbook is worth it? Hell yes. If my copy went missing, I wouldn’t hesitate to buy a replacement. It’s that good.
Question: Is there a writerly book you couldn’t live without?
Characters are the core of your story. There’s no doubt about that. Even if you write plot-based fiction, you still need dimensional characters. You also want to create characters who feel (i.e. show emotions) so that your reader can connect with them. And if the reader connects with the main character within the first page, she’s going to keep reading. Right?
This is why you want to check out the non-fiction book, Breathing Life Into Your Characters: How To Give Your Characters Emotional & Psychological Depth, by Rachel Ballon. Whew! Say that five times fast.
In it you’ll learn how to create your characters both inside and out, and I mean beyond the typical interviews you see in most books on writing fiction. You’ll know your characters so well, they’ll become real to you, and that will make it easier to for you to make them real for your reader. You’ll learn through explanations, examples, and exercises to:
• create character backstories and motivations • infuse feelings into your characters • determine how they deal with conflict • work with dysfunctional families • make your villains believable and non-cartoonish • create believable characters who have personality or behavior disorders • convey emotions through imagery, dialogue, and subtext
This is one of the best books I’ve read on the subject of characterization and emotion (the other two I’ve discussed here and here).
Any questions?
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I have some contest news. Enter Kate Walton’s contest and you have a chance to win some awesome prizes, including a first chapter critique by agent Sarah LaPolla.
But then again, if you don't enter, if increases my odds of winning. Of course, if one of you wins, I'll be really excited for you . . . so please enter. I'd love to see one of my friends win.
Two weeks ago, I started querying my YA contemporary novel, Still. Things started off well. Within two days, I landed a partial request (I already had a full out).
Naturally, I did this:
But I'd also submitted my query to Agent Mailbox on a website for YA writers.
If your query and first 250 words are accepted, it goes to a panel of ten agents. It’s faster than going the regular channels, plus you get feedback from the site administer and her assistant. The assistant had already given me her feedback so I confidently fired off the query that landed me the request.
But the site administer felt the query could be improved. I worked on it, and took it to my local RWA meeting (Romance Writers of America) for query night. And boy did I get some bad advice, as well as a few good suggestions. After that, one of my friends had a go at it. As did someone else. Before I knew it, I'd completely lost confidence in my query because it never seemed to be right. And it didn’t help that during this, it had lost my main character’s voice. The thing that’s vital in your query.
I was ready to give up. I had become paralyzed by fear. Fear that agents would find something wrong with it. Fear that I would send it out, only for someone to come up with a better version which might garner me a request instead of a rejection.
A few days later, after reposting the shiny new query on Agent Mailbox, the site administer critted it but there was one major problem based on my hook (which was pretty much the same hook as before):
Most seventeen-year-olds struggle to keep secrets, but if Calleigh screws up, her best friend is dead.
According to the individual, the death of the best friend wasn’t a big enough stake. It should be a family member. Huh? I was positive this line indicated the type of person Calleigh is and the strength of the friendship. Alejandra’s like a sister to Calleigh.
Several hours after this, I landed a request from my old query. I send out the new one, and landed another request.
Apparently, four agents didn’t share the individual’s opinion. Why? Because they didn’t read it using adult logic (like the critter did). They used teen logic. Plus, what's important to a teen, might not be as important to an adult. If the book was about a forty year old, then the potential death of the wife and kids would be a better choice.
Well, let’s just say I'm now cured of Querying Paralysis (I just have to drag myself from my new WIP to send out more queries).
Has anyone else had to deal with Querying Paralysis, and what did you do to overcome it (or maybe you haven’t)?
The premise behind The Writer’s Guide to Psychology by Carolyn Kaufman is brilliant. I don’t know about you, but my psychology background consists of three university courses: introduction to psychology, abnormal psychology, and social psychology. And when I took them, it wasn’t because I wanted to be a writer. I might have taken better notes had I know I’d eventually be one.
As the second part of the super long title indicates (How to Write Accurately About Psychological Disorders, Clinical Treatment and Human Behavior), this book is perfect for anyone who’s writing a novel. Okay, maybe the title doesn’t actually show that, but it’s true. In chapter two (Why People Do What They Do), Carolyn discusses the different therapist stereotypes portrayed in films and novels. She then goes into the five different therapy orientations (e.g. psychodynamic therapy) and describes how each would be used to help a client overcome whatever issues he’s dealing with. But she takes it one step further by explaining how each therapy can help you understand your character (even if your character doesn’t require therapy).
Another benefit of the book is that Carolyn explains the realities of therapy, and helps you create realistic scenes in which your main character is either receiving therapy or conducting a therapy session. Again, novels, TV shows, and movies often misrepresent this, so it’s not a good idea to use them as a guide when you write your story.
Carolyn also describes the difference between someone who needs therapy to help them deal with some aspect of their life verses someone who has a diagnosable disorder. A large chunk of the book then covers the different disorders, including:
And let’s not forget the chapter on psychopaths and villains. Here you get insights into what makes a psychopath and how to makes yours believable. This also includes the corporate psychopath, the individual who’s hungry for power. And finally, there’s a chapter on drugs and treatments, such as electroconvulsive therapy, and one on emergencies in psychotherapy (suicidality, homicidality, and hospitalization).
The idea behind the book is to help you avoid making the same mistakes so many lay writers make when writing a novel that requires some insight into psychology or therapy. Throughout the book, there are little tidbits called “Don’t Let This Happen To You” that will help you avoid the mistakes that will weaken the credibility of your writing. Plus, Carolyn has a great suggestion in chapter one for coming up with plot ideas. I’m not going to tell you what it is, though. You have to read the book.
Overall, I’m thrilled that I bought the book. It’s open me to a huge range of plot ideas for future projects. You’ve got to love a book that can do that.
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I’m blogging today on the Query Tracker blog on Deepening Your Character’s Needs
During the holiday season, I realized I have A LOT of books about writing fiction. And of course, I added a few more titles to my shelves last month. So, I’ve decided to start a fairly regular feature where I review non-fiction books on writing that I either own or have borrowed from the library. These posts will occur either on a Monday (in lieu of that week’s photography tips) or on Wednesdays. They won’t, though, be weekly.
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In addition to writing YA, I’m now venturing into the world of romantic suspense. Face it, I’m a sucker for anything filled with romance and danger (which also describes the YA novels I write). This is why I decided to check out Writing the Thriller by T. Macdonald Skillman.
This is an advance writing book. After exploring the different categories of suspense, the requirements for writing them, and reader expectations for each, she focuses on the important elements of fiction and the considerations you need to be aware of when writing the different types of suspense. However, she already expects you to have a good understanding of these elements beforehand, which include:
Characterization
Plot
Setting and atmosphere
Point of view
Backstory
Goals and motivation
Dialogue
Pacing
Theme
Style
For example, under characterization, she talks about the specific character types you would expect to find in the different categories of suspense and how to make these characters work in the type of suspense you choose to write. These categories include:
Action-adventure
Legal thrillers
Medical thrillers
Political thrillers
Psychological suspense
Romantic suspense
Women-in-jeopardy suspense
Techo-thrillers
In Part II of the book, experts (i.e. bestselling authors) further discuss their particular category of suspense and provide additional suggestions and hints to help you. Overall, I thought the book was good, especially since it isn’t rehashing the basics that you can learn elsewhere. The first part of the book was definitely the strongest part. I did, though, find the information on romantic suspense slightly lacking (as well as for a few of the other subgenres) in the second part. I actually learned more about romantic suspense from reading The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Writing Erotic Romance. Go figure!
Last week, I talked about how teen logic and adult logic are not the same. This is an important distinction to make when you write for teens, as two of my commenters pointed out.
Riv Re: As a teen myself, I hate reading a book written about an adult in a teen's body. You're totally right, about the logic and emotions of it.
Alyssa Kirk: Also, you're right about teen logic. Myself (and all teens) can spot an unauthentic teen voice immediately and those are the books I usually don't finish.
In the book Inside the Teenage Brain, Sheryl Feinstein describes the remodelling the brain undergoes during adolescence. I’m not going to go into the neuroscience of it, though I do recommend reading the book. Sheryl does a great job explaining it in layman’s terms, and it really is fascinating.
When it comes to making decisions, teens use a different part of their brains compared to adults. Teens rely on the amygdale, which is the emotional center of the brain. Adults use their frontal lobes, which is the last part of the brain to be developed during adolescence. This is the logical part of the brain. The part that knows the difference between a good decision and a bad one.
A few other points to remember:
• There’s a huge difference between the brain of a twelve year old and the brain of a seventeen year old.
• "The teenage brain is designed for misunderstandings and misinterpretations" (page 19). Perfect for YA writers, not so great for parents.
• Impulse control develops with age. So a twelve-year-old’s self-control is going to be less than that for an older teen.
• Younger teens say one thing and then do something else, instead.
• "Teens believe they are indestructible" (page 31). Don’t believe me. Think teenage boys and cars.
• The teenage brain has the delightful (not) way of making teens feel like they’re the only ones to experience something. When a girl says to her mother: “You don’t understand. You’ve never been in love.” She actually believes it. Again, great for YA writers.
• "Older teens can better logically follow an argument than can younger teens" (page 51).
• "The emotional part of the brain doesn’t reach maturation until the person is about twenty years old" (page 51). Personally, I don’t think I’ve even reached this point. Maybe that’s why I can write YA.
Does this mean you can’t have a character who is logical? No, it doesn’t. Everyone is different. Our experiences, personalities, interests all play a role in who we are and our ability to solve problems. The point is to remain true to your characters and don’t treat them like they're mini-adults. They aren’t. Even a teen who is forced to take over the adult roles in the family, for whatever reason, is still not an adult. Her emotions will still play a role in the decision-making process, though maybe not to the same extent as for another teen.
Remember, teens want to read about believable teen characters. They don’t want to read about adults masquerading as teens. And they know when something feels real and when something's contrived.
Any additional thoughts, suggestions, or comments?
(And yes, parents, I highly recommended the book. There’s some great advice on how to make to most of the developing brain and to help your teen through those rough years. It’s the best book I’ve seen on the topic.)
I recently entered my query for Lost in a Heartbeat (YA thriller or romantic suspense—still trying to figure which one it is) in the Adventures of Children’s Publishing query contest. Our queries (which could be only 175 words max) would be assigned a mentor, and we would crit five other entries. We would then have a chance to fix them up for the final round—the judging.
During WriteOnCon, I received some great feedback on my query. I entered this contest to see if there were some things that needed further tweaking. Okay, the prize was pretty cool, too.
To my surprise, it was attacked. Some critters told me that my main character’s behavior wasn’t logical, and that I wasn’t setting a good example for other teenage girls in who are in a similar situation.
Three problems with their comments:
1. Not every survivor of rape reports it. Not every teen age girl who is raped tells her parents and/or the police.
2. If I did what the critters wanted me to do, then there would be no story, no consequence. And there’re definitely consequences. I just can’t tell what they are in the query because it’s a query not a one page synopsis.
3. These critters were using ADULT logic not TEEN logic.
During WriteOnCon, nineteen-year-old author, Kody Keplinger (her book THE DUFF was released yesterday—I can’t wait to read it!!!), talked about writing authentic teen novels. Check out the link for the full article, but here’s the main point:
What
Would
Teens
Do?
Scary question for some, I know. But that’s what you have to ask yourself when writing YA fiction. You have to think like a teenager when you write.
Not like a parent – even if you are one.
Not like a teacher – even if you are one.
Not like a big sister or brother or aunt or uncle worrying about the lessons you are teaching today’s youth and what not.
No, you have to think like a teenager. Plain and simple.
According to Inside The Teenage Brain by Sheryl Feinstein (I’ll be discussing this book in a future post), teenagers and adults rely on different parts of the brain. "Teen brains are ruled by emotion and adult brains by logic".
So for you YA writers out there, my question to you is (and you don’t have to answer here): are your teenage characters using adult logic or teen logic?
And my question to everyone, what are your query woes? Do you have any?
(note: since my query is now 217 words--thanks to all the suggested changes--I am no longer eligible for the contest. But that's okay. Hopefully I now have a kick-ass query. *grins*)
