Wednesday Writing Tip 4/25 ~ Breathing Life Into Characters

Continuing along with last week's tip dealing with character, I decided to go in that same category this week.  How do you keep from having cardboard, one-dimensional, boring characters?  What brings a character to life and causes readers to fall in love with them beyond what the characters think and feel?

As a writer, it is our job to fully flesh out our characters, to make them real people.  This isn't an easy task.  I've spent some time reading reviews of books on goodreads and I'm not surprised that one- and two-star reviews often say something negative about character creation and how "fake" the characters seem.

Honestly, in the course of my writing journey I have met many different types of writers.  One of my friends doesn't plan anything at all - he just sits at the computer and waits for the words to come to him.  Another friend plots out everything meticulously on note cards and knows from start to finish exactly what will happen every second of her book.  In fact, she worlds builds and includes much more stuff than she will ever use.

Me? I'm mostly fly by the seat of my pants and let my characters tell me what they want to do.  They usually speak to me at night before I fall asleep, and if the idea is a good one it sticks and I write it the next day.  This is how I work with one exception.  I know my characters inside and out, backward and forward before I ever type a word.

And what things do I need to know about my characters?  It's a simple list really.

I ask them what they value most.  Basically, what things would they give up anything for.  What kind of things do they look for in other people.  Honesty, family, love, money, power, their children.  Whatever they would sacrifice almost anything to have.  Then, I have to know what they wouldn't sacrifice.  What is so important to them that they wouldn't even give it up for their most valued things?  This will be their one value that can't change throughout the book, which can sometimes make things tricky in writing, but will help you stay true to your character without any convenient changes of heart.

I then move on to asking them their beliefs.  This is anything they believe beyond a shadow of a doubt.  These beliefs do not have to make sense, they don't even have to be true.  As long as the character believes it to be true, I write it down.  Lilly's beliefs were:  I can only trust myself.  No one will love me if they know my secrets.  I will be a horrible mother.  Zach's beliefs were:  I will never find my soul mate.  My family is most important. There is nothing worse than a liar.

Next comes secrets.  This is where the magic happens for me.  Whatever my characters are hiding from the rest of the world, whatever happened to them to make them bury the secret and never share with others, that is where all of my best ideas for my novel come from.  I can't share my characters' secrets with you, as I hope one day you will consider reading Always and Forever, but let's just say this category is for the really important stuff.  Did your character kill someone?  Did they cheat on an old girlfriend?  Have they been cheated on?  Do they long for a family even though they say they don't want one? Whatever their deep dark secret is, hold it close to you and spend your book exploiting that knowledge!

Now, your character needs a skill. This can be anything, but it has to be something that helps your reader connect with the character.  Lilly loves to cook.  Zach loves to dance.

From all of this information, you will be able to figure out your character's strength and flaw, and after all, every character needs a fatal flaw to overcome.  Lilly's strength is self-reliance.  Her flaw is that she can't trust others.  Zach's strength is bravery.  His flaw is arrogance.

Lastly, I want to know what they look like - body build, age, hair color, eye color.  This includes any special characteristics.  Lilly has an injured leg, walks with a limp, and uses a cane, which is a very important part of the story.  Zach has a habit of running his hand through his hair and messing it up.  I never really thought about the special characteristic.  Lilly's was a plot element, Zach's just kind of happened.  However, I've heard the advice from many places that a special characteristic will help readers feel like they are reading about real people.  That might even be true :-)  I haven't planned anything for my new characters yet in this regard, but something might pop up as I'm writing.

There are, of course, as many different ways to go about building a character as there are characters and writers.  The method I use is a mixture of methods suggested in two different classes I attended and blogs I've read.  I've merged them into a format that works for me.

Here is a quick recap of what I learn about my characters before writing:
1.  Values.
- Include what they absolutely will not give up; i.e., they would die for this thing.
2.  Beliefs.
3.  Secrets.
4.  Skill.
5.  Strength and fatal flaw.
6.  Physical description.
- Include any special characteristic.

I know my way will not work for everyone.  For more methods, check out the following blogs:
Anthologies Online
Holly Lisle How to Create a Character
Create a Fictional Character From Scratch

Good luck, and happy writing!!

Kreativ Blogger Award Nominee

I'm so honored! I was nominated for the Kreativ Blogger Award from some awesome bloggers, and I truly do thank them for thinking of me.  I was nominated by both Kimberly Sullivan and Melinda Dozier.  Thanks so much ladies!  Please check out their blogs.  Kimberly has a writing/travel blog, and she posts fabulous pictures of all of her travels.  She writes Women's Literature.  Melinda posts writing-related material and funnies and books she is reading.  She writes Harlequin-type romance. 

According to the rules for those nominated, I have to:

1. Thank the blogger who nominated me for the award and provide a link.
2. List 7 things about myself that readers might find interesting.
3. Nominate 7 other bloggers, provide links and let them know

7 things about me:

• My favorite vacation spot is the beach.  Also, I love exploring lighthouses and I have been whale watching on a little ship! 
• In high school I played the flute, and I was first chair all through my senior year.  Sophomore and junior year I teetered between second and third chair depending on chair challenges, but we won't talk about that :-) I loved being first chair because I got to play all the solos at concerts and festivals. 
• I love bowling.  It is a sport my entire family enjoys.  My daughter bowls on a youth league and is one of the top girl bowlers in our city.
• I love to ride horses, though on my 15th birthday my horse bolted on me, throwing me off, and giving me a concussion as my birthday present.  I lost my memory for the rest of that day!
• My favorite animal is the dolphin because they are so smart and friendly.  My greatest wish is to one day swim with dolphins.  I did feed them once at Sea World and pet them on the nose. 
• I don't really like to watch TV all that much, but I love the show House.   Besides loving the medical mysteries, I think Hugh Laurie, the actor who plays House, is a very good looking man. ;-) 
• I have a terrific son who is going to be a police officer, and a beautiful daughter who is going to be a forensic scientist. 

7 other bloggers I’d like to nominate:

• Rachelle's Window ~ Rachelle posts a lot of book reviews, helping readers find great new books by Indie authors.  She also posts a lot of helpful information for the author exploring the world of self-publishing. 
• Travis' Trail of the Tale ~ Travis writes hilarious stories about his life and his writing journey.  He posts for both entertainment and some writing tips. 
• Author Tonya Kappes ~ Tonya is a cozy mystery writer.  Her blog is great, including writing tips and reviews/interviews.  She often has funny things posted as well. 
• MOODY WRITING ~ Moody posts a lot of interesting tips on writing, from character creation and plot line all the way up to publishing.  Always great information here. 
• J. A. Beard's Unnecessary Musings ~ J.A. Beard does a lot of author interviews.  If you are looking for a new author, this is the place to go. 
• Angela Quarles ~ Angela participates in Six Sentence Sunday.  She also does one of my favorite blog spots... Monday Hunks Who Read! Nice pictures here!
• Lorraine Paton ~ Lorraine participates in Six Sentence Sunday.  She posts other blogs about different aspects of her writing journey. 

Books I Love 4/23 ~ Think Fast Die Last

This is the first self-published/Indie book I have offered up on this blog. I read this book last week, and I tore through it in only a few days. It's a very fast paced and enjoyable book. I have Elliston's other book, Tick Tock Run, downloaded to my computer, and I can't wait until I have a chance to read it!

From the opening line, H.C. Elliston's Think Fast Die Last is a non-stop, can't put it down thriller. I found the characters to be engaging and likable, and I quickly grew attached to them. I fearfully read through the situations the main character, Jenna, finds herself trapped in, caught up in the story and concerned for her well-being. I thought Elliston's villains were convincingly portrayed as well.

I don't want to give too much away, but situation after situation arises in this book. Elliston's weaves a complex, fast-paced plot. Just when I thought surely the tension must slow, that things would settle down a bit, something else would happen to leave me breathless and quickly turning pages.

Just for clarification, I see this has been tagged as a romantic suspense. While there are some romantic elements, to me this book is better classified as a action/thriller/suspense with some romantic themes.

If you are looking for something that you can read in just a few sittings, and you enjoy books with a lot of action, this is the book for you. It is great!

What are you reading? Happy Monday!

Six Sentence Sunday ~ 4/22

It's time for Six Sentence Sunday again.  This week I decided to let you all know what happened after Lilly answered the door last week.  Poor Zach, he really needs to work on his charm!

“You might as well bring those things into the kitchen,” Lilly said.

Zach stepped into the house and kicked the door closed behind him, following as Lilly led the way through her tiny living room.  She leaned heavily onto a cane with every step she took, her limp more pronounced than usual.  He hadn’t meant to startle her earlier.  He had only wanted to be near her, to be helpful.  Nearly knocking her down hadn’t been part of his plan for seduction. 

***

Thanks so much for reading! To read other people's six sentences or join in on the fun for yourself, visit www.sixsunday.com. Have a great week!

Publishing?

Well, as many of you know, I finally made a decision.  It was not an easy one!  I must have changed my mind thirty-seven times.

Ever since this idea of writing entered my head, I always assumed I would write the next Great American Novel, it would magically be wonderful, and I would send it off to a publisher, land an agent, and the rest would be history.  Okay, that's really never what I expected.  Though I did expect I would one day be published, I never imagined it would be an easy process.  And I know it isn't!  I have nothing but admiration for all the traditionally published writers out there.  It is a hard world to break into.  Many terrific books are passed over in favor of other books, as publishers try to guess which fad will catch on, what book will catch the attention of millions of readers.  Self-publishing is an entirely different ball game.  You can make this a very easy process in which you put forth no effort, and most likely will end up with a product that will not sell and will hurt your reputation.  Or you can go about it the correct way, professionally, just like a traditionally published author, and build a brand for your name that will eventually lead readers to you *crosses fingers and takes a deep breath*

Now there is the new  world of E-books and the publishing venture offered through Amazon Kindle, Barnes & Noble Nook, Smashwords, Google Books, and many others.  Suddenly, anyone who strings a few lines of text together can slap a book up on the internet and attempt to sell their work.

Honestly, I didn't view these as "real" books.  Please don't come after me with the pitchforks and burning torches.  In fairness, the only self-published book I had ever read was absolutely horrible.  I downloaded it for 99 cents, thinking that for the price it was worth taking a chance.  Boy, was that a horrible assumption.  Spelling errors, basic grammar structure problems, and the plot ... let's just say it was not well thought out.  I swore I would never buy another self-published book.

Enter Critique Circle.  Suddenly, I'm reading works in progress (WIPs) by awesome authors and I'm excitedly sharing my work, getting great help, perfecting my craft.  Everyone is talking about their editors, and I'm so naive and clueless about this new way of publishing, I think they must have publishing deals.  I was amazed that all of these people seemed to so easily land a deal, and wondered what the heck the secret was! :-)  When I realized they were self-publish authors, who actually hired editors just like traditional authors, my brain suddenly started wondering what world of possibilities could be opened by this new development.

I gave self-published work another chance, and I have to say, it's unfortunate I happened upon that first book.  The majority of these self-published novels really deserve to be published, as much as any other book I've read.  There is something a little sad about reading digital books, but I'm slowly getting used to this new way of reading--I love the feel, smell, and experience of holding a book in my hands, turning the pages.  I've told my family I want a Kindle for my birthday this year.  We'll see how that compares to a paperback.  It has to be better than reading at my laptop.

My plan is to publish Always and Forever on Amazon.  I'm learning a lot about promotion, Facebook, Twitter (I'll have more on my experiences with this later).  It's a scary world, but also fabulously exciting.

My editor, Stephanie, sent the first 5000 words of Always and Forever back to me this evening.  She has some great ideas and some great catches.  In fact, Chapter One listed on this site is not going to make it to the final edit--well, parts of it will, as far as information given about Lilly, but the chapter itself will undergo a radical change.  I will update the website in the future and put the final Chapter One up.  Stephanie made a suggestion for an alternate first chapter.  Interestingly, it's the same suggestion my good critique buddy and fellow aspiring author, Travis Casey, made.  It was a good idea when he made it, and it's still a good idea.  I'm going to run with it.  She had a lot of other great suggestions.  I can already see the benefit of hiring an editor.  I'm very, very excited to embark on the next phase of editing.

Here are some of my favorite blogs that have information about self-publishing, what authors are doing about promotion, and just some general guidelines:
Rachelle's Window
Victorine Writes

Good luck to everyone, in whatever dreams you pursue! Anything is possible!

Wednesday Writing Tip ~ Character ~ 4/18

Connecting with the Reader

Ah, characters.  The people who make your book go 'round.  Let's face it, without engaging characters that your readers fall in love with, your book is going nowhere, doing nothing.  I can't tell you the number of books I've started and quickly set aside, never to finish.  In the past, I never understood why I didn't like these books, what element was missing.

When I started posting my novel on Critique Circle, I received a critique that greatly perplexed me.  The critic told me my characters had too many internal thoughts, and I shouldn't spend so much time living in the heads of the characters.  We ended up starting a discussion about this with others, and it seemed to be split on what people believed was the correct way to go about writing.  Most men, it seems, don't like to write a lot of internal thoughts and feelings.  Women spend more time in the heads and hearts of their characters.  And, of course, this is a total generalization--it was a woman who told me I had too much! :-)

I didn't change the way I wrote after this discussion, however, but continued with the internal thoughts of the people in my little world.  After all, my argument was this:  how can I possibly care about someone I know nothing about?

I recently took a class on mystery writing and this subject popped up again.  Boy was I happy to learn that the expert teaching the class agreed with me.  Steve Alcorn says plot is events that happen in your novel to move the action forward.  But the real heart of the matter, the thing the reader cares about, is the story.  And that, my friends, is what is going on within your characters.  The emotional part of your novel.  What your MC thinks and feels, his hopes and fears.  The effects situations have on him personally.

I finally understood why some books I just couldn't care about.  It is this missing element of internal thoughts.  Of actually knowing the character, being invested in what is going to happen to her.  Caring about the things she cares about.

Take the following snippet from Always and Forever.  If I were taking out Lilly's internal thoughts, I would basically remove everything that is underlined.  Try reading it both ways, and see what you think.  This scene includes Lilly, Zach, and Zach's grandmother, Leticia:

Lilly exited the elevator at the top floor and knocked on Mrs. Woodbridge’s door. She opened it and backed into the room, dragging the food cart with her.

“Lilly, you should have had one of the orderlies bring that up.” Zach’s voice filled the room all at once and sent a shiver down her spine.

She had always been a sucker for a deep, seductive voice. Unfortunately, experience with Charles taught her a sexy voice and the face of an angel could hide the heart of a sadist. She didn’t get the sadist vibe from Zach, but how well could she really know a person she only saw once a week? Charles fooled her for almost a year. 

Lilly turned the cart in the small space and pushed the door closed. “Don’t worry about it, Mr. Woodbridge. It’s my job, after all. I’ll have dinner set out for the two of you in a moment.”

“You’ve known us three months now.” Leticia wagged a finger in Lilly’s direction. “I’ve told you there’s no need to be so formal. This is Zach, and you must start calling me Leticia.”

“Of course, Leticia.”

At night, during her most secret fantasies, Lilly always called him Zach.

***

As a reader, I want to understand characters--know their thoughts and hopes and dreams. 

One caution, however.  Make sure the characters don't experience the same thought over and over, or that they don't go on to tell another character about the thoughts they just had.  I did have a teensy little problem with this in a few chapters.  In one chapter, Lilly thought about her skills at cooking, looked at/smelled her cake, then Zach arrived and they talked about her cake, and then she explained how she loved cooking while thinking about the cake.  Overkill!  WE ALREADY KNOW LILLY LIKES COOKING!!! my crit partners screamed, and rightly so. 

Here are some more blogs dealing with this topic:

My struggles with interior monologue

Paranormal Point of View

How to Make Your Book Play Out Like a Movie - see #4

Game Changer: Create An Inner Dialogue Within Your Hero and Your Villain
Mystery Writing is Murder

Breathe life into your characters with internal dialogue, and your readers will think about them long after they put your book down!

Enjoy your Wednesday, everyone! Have a terrific week, and happy writing! 

Books I Love ~ 4/16

First off, I must apologize for missing last week's pick.  Time slipped away from me and before I knew it, Monday had passed.  However, this week's pick more than makes up for missing a week:

"Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again."

The haunting first line of this book often plays through my mind at random moments.  We were required to read Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier senior year in high school.  I was determined to not enjoy it.  After all, who likes required reading?

It's impossible not to become intrigued by this story, however.  I soon went from reading only the required pages every night to racing through the entire book in a few evenings.  Even my other classmates got into it.  Most of us finished long before our time limit was up.  That had never happened to me before with required reading.  Sure, I was a bookworm, so I often finished the books early.  But to have my classmates also read it that quickly? That proves this is a great book!

I have read Rebecca many more times since that long-ago day in high school, and it still grips me and excites me every time I read it. My heart breaks for the main character all over again while she tries to understand the relationship between Max, a man she loves more than anything, and his dead wife, Rebecca, who died in a boating accident.  The mystery continues to spin, as the sinister Mrs. Danvers convinces the MC that she will never live up to Rebecca's memory.

I love this story!  Definitely a timeless classic that I will never tire of reading.

What are you reading today?  Have a great  week everyone!