I’ve been working on characters. Still.

I’m the Kind of Person Who. . .

One suggestion I’ve seen lately is the idea of embracing emotion. For example, suppose a character is angry at someone, but they need to have an ongoing relationship.

A character might be tempted to say, No, it’s not possible. When I’m insulted like that, I’m the kind of person who can’t forgive and forget.

“I’m not the kind of person. . . “ By focusing on the negative, what the character would NOT do, you are shutting off a lot of potential emotion, creating a dead zone.

What happens if instead, you acknowledge that the offending person is still loved, but the source of hurt. Then, you have a more nuanced character relationship.

“I’m the kind of person who . . .” won’t let go of a relationship, no matter how painful. That leads to stronger conflict! Just what we want. Major conflict to keep the reader glued to the page.

You know–it’s exactly what makes romances work. The girl falls in love, but immediately has reasons why she can’t love this jerk. But of course, in the end, he’s redeemed as not a jerk and she does love him.

Try to find the positive side of a character relationship and embrace the pain of continuing in the relationship. Find the paradoxical emotions that exist and use them to create deeper relationships.

It's Here.

Using a Character Bible to Deepen Conflict

One item I keep returning to as I struggle with plotting and writing the opening of this new novel is my Character Bible.

My WIP is a complex novel with a dozen characters, all of whom need to stay straight in my reader’s mind. Which means I need to keep them straight. I created a “Bible” for the characters and keep adding to it, realigning relationships, tweaking descriptions, etc. as I work.

Here’s what’s in my Character Bible:

• Name
• Family
• Description
• Relationships
• Back Story
• Age
• Unique Qualities
• Attitudes about things related to the story

Some days I just work on the Character Bible, trying to add conflict among characters.

Love Conflict. For example, my main character is a teen girl and she meets a teen guy. One day, I just worked on how they relate to one another. I decided to give the guy a false bravado, so he’s always trying to pick up the girl. I looked up cheesy one-liners online and found some real gems:

• You look cold. Want to use me as a blanket?
• If I had a star for every time you brightened my day, I’d have a galaxy in my hand.
• I was wondering if you had an extra heart, mine seems to be stolen.
• Me without you is like a nerd without braces, a shoes without laces, aSentenceWithoutSpaces.

Whoa! What fun this will be to find/create/use the cheesiest ones possible.

Attitudes about Athletics. Another conflict that needs to occur is between three characters about the topic of what makes a person an athlete. There’s a former ballet star (male) now turned overweight chef, a high school senior cheerleader, and a chip-on-the-shoulder, about to be the big 4-0 years old tennis coach (female).

What makes the conflict between them work is the conflicting back story and their different stages of life. This is one of the minor conflicts in the story, not something major. But it has potential to add humor if done right.

I like sharpening the conflict while working with the Character Bible before I ever put it into the story itself. It’s helping me clarify the characters and get fixed in my mind the conflicts that should come out as I write.

It's Here.

My first draft writing is a messy process. I know–my DH tells me all the time–that I sound very left-brained about writing. Organized. Logical. Structured.

And I am.

BUT once I have that structure, I’m VERY right-brained.

Unexpected. Once I know the direction that I need to go, I don’t mind letting go and doing the unexpected. When I understand the function of a particular scene, then I’m free to be creative about how I accomplish that. One librarian recently told me that The Wayfinder (now available for Kindle, Nook, iPad/iPhone) continually surprised her; the actions/plot took unexpected turns and kept her reading. (WOW! I like THAT librarian.)

I like doing the unexpected and telling the story in a surprising way. I can only do that when I’m structured to an extent.

Uneasy. Sometimes, though, I’m uneasy about a section. Or a quick read by a friend points out a weakness. Then, the process gets very messy. I try writing something, then think, oh, this or that reference book says something about this, so I find the book and read a bit until–something strikes me and I’m off writing again. The rhythms of writing at this point are anything but smooth: staccato, jerky, speeding up or slowing down. I usually find that by the end of the day I’ve solved the problem(s). But I have no idea how I got to that point. It’s an uneasy process sometimes, but it’s the only process I have and I have to trust it.

I like the structure and organization at the beginning of the process, at the beginning of the day. But after I’ve set up the structure, I very much trust the messy right brain to pull through for me.

What does YOUR process look like? Do you organize first, then write messy? Or are you organized all the way? Or messy all the way?

It's Here.

First Drafts are Uncertain, by Nature

I’m at that fragile stage of the first draft when I’m not totally committed to this story. I’m still feeling my way and haven’t yet gained confidence that I will like the story, or that my readers will like it. I’m walking on eggshells.

What can I do to GET committed?

Play with voice.

The main thing I’m doing is to continue to play with voice, making sure that I’m not tied into one way of telling this story yet. I’m doing first person, third person, omniscient. Different narrators are popping up. I’m trying a loose collection of short scenes and trying longer, more connected things. Playing.

Keep writing.

Though it feels like I’m swimming upstream against a heavy curtain, I’m still writing. Just bits and pieces each day, but pages are starting to accumulate so that I can start to see the shape of things. I’m writing.

Embrace uncertainty.

Hardest for me personally is to embrace the uncertainty of this stage of a first draft of a novel. I’m liking the main event and the characters and even most of the plot (so far). But I’ve found that there are two things I need to know. First, what is the story that I want to tell. Second, what is the best way to tell that story.

I’ve found the story, at least I’ve caught it and am wrestling with it. What this draft will tell me is whether I’ve found the best way to tell that story.

It's Here.

Guest Post by Joelle Anthony
Here you go. http://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/5228-restoring-harmony

Giveaway on GoodReads.com

Last week, we talked about book giveaways in general. Today, we have a case study on book giveaways on Goodreads.com. Thanks to Joelle Anthony for this guest post.

On Your Site OR On GoodReads?

Book giveaways have become a great way for authors to draw people to their websites, and almost every day, several new announcements for contests pop up on Twitter and Facebook. There are usually more giveaways going than a person can keep up with though. Also, giveaways through blogs are often complicated and/or demanding for the person who wants to enter and can be time consuming for the author too.

It seems like many authors only want to give books away if you become a follower of their blog, retweet, fill in a form, or post about the contest on your site. If this works for them, and people don’t mind doing it, then I think that’s fine, but I personally like the ease of doing a book giveaway on Goodreads.

Goodreads Makes it Easy

For the author, Goodreads handles almost everything. There are a few requirements though. For example, your book has to either be coming out, or has only been out for six months or less. You can give away ARCs (advance reading copies) or actual books, but you do need to say exactly what you’re giving away, and ebooks are not allowed. You can read all their terms and conditions on their site. http://www.goodreads.com

It’s also easy for people to enter, which increases the entries. If you have a Goodreads account, and you see a giveaway you’d like to enter, all you have to do is click one button. If you’re chosen as the winner, you’ll get an email from the author asking for a mailing address. That’s all there is to it.

The nice thing about giveaways at Goodreads is that the site promotes them, they pick the winner, and they simply email you the winner’s information at the end.

Get Results at GoodReads

Also, the sheer numbers of entries can’t be beat. I’ve seen bloggers give away my book and have as few as twelve or thirteen entries and other more popular bloggers garner maybe as many as two hundred, but my first giveaway on Goodreads netted two thousand and seven entries.

In conjunction with this guest post, I listed a giveaway for my book Restoring Harmony on Goodreads one month ago. After ten days, I had over six hundred entries. Many of these people who entered also added my book to their To Be Read lists. I doubt all of them will actually read/buy it, but even if only a few do, those are probably readers I wouldn’t have reached.

Cross Promote

You can increase your entries, and thus your exposure (the more entries you get, the more actively Goodreads promotes your giveaway) by posting links on your own website, Facebook, or tweeting about it on Twitter. I do a reminder on Twitter and FB once a week during the contest, and the number of entries definitely jump when I do this.
So if you have a recent or upcoming release, I urge you to try listing a contest. Publishers can do the giveaway too, so you may be able to get your publicist to provide the book so you don’t even incur any expenses. One last thing I want to suggest is make sure you let your contest run at least a month. It gives it a chance to build momentum and interest and for plenty of people to enter. Speaking of entering, you can still enter to win Restoring Harmony through today, September 10th, 2010.

It's Here.

Give Readers a Larger Than Life Protagonist

In my new novel, I’ve written about a dozen different openings, looking for a voice that works. I’m settling in on one, but the first chapter is still unsteady.

One thing I’m looking at today is how to make the main character, the protagonist, larger-than-life. In Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook, Donald Maass emphasizes the need for characters who rise above the ordinary and do it right away, in chapter one.

Maass suggests, for example, that you think of things your protagonist would never ever say, think or do; then find a situation in which they MUST say, think or do that very thing.

Maass says, “What qualifies as larger-than-life action? Winking at a stranger is easy for a flirt; to a shy person it is huge. Taking a swing at someone is no big deal for a boxer; for me, it would be life changing. Whatever it is, it is a surprise. It feels big. It feels outrageous.” (p.31)

Use Placeholders for Zingers

Also, use placeholders for dialogue, description, etc. Mark these clearly as placeholders, so you remember to come back and put in some type of Zinger! Make that bit of your novel memorable in some way.

I like this idea a lot because I don’t think fast on my feet. I’d be terrible at public debates. I can however, with time, think of a great retort. That’s what this is. Thinking of that great way of saying something and adding it later. It’s nice to know that I can write the basics of a novel and go back later to add in the good stuff.

Turn Up the Volume

Another way to say this is to turn up the volume. Or turn it down. In other words, use a range of characterization that provides quiet spots and gloriously large spots. A wide dynamic range. Don’t forget about the quiet spots, they are needed for contrast.

Random Acts of Publicity Week September 7-10

Have you joined The Random Acts of Publicity Week event page on Facebook?

It's Here.

Today, I’m just contemplating these wise words:

The function of the overwhelming majority of your artwork (including writing) is simply to teach you how to make the small fraction of your artwork that soars. — David Bayles & Ted Orland, Art and Fear: Observations on the Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking

Before the gates of excellence, the gods have placed sweat. –
Katherine Paterson

It's Here.

More on Starting a Novel

Reading a wide variety of mss, I find this to be one of the weakest areas: openings. Striking just the right note is difficult. What do you include just as the curtain opens on your novel?

Typical advice:

• Start with something exciting.
• Grab the reader by the throat and never let them go
• Jump right in.

Yes, yes. I know.
But what’s missing in many openings is a character to care about. And I am confused about where I am in the story.

Why Should the Reader Care?

A helpful book in this regard is Reading Like a Writer, by Francine Prose. She encourages writers to consider the appropriateness of each and every word. With a class, she’ll often read a novel’s opening and the class considers alternatives to almost every word.

Taking a page from her, here’s a couple openings of my WIP.

“Eliot Winston! Come here.”
That Mrs. Lopez, her voice cut through even the jumpy music from the loudspeakers. I was sure her voice could cut through anything, even concrete. “Yes, ma’am,” I said and steered Marj toward The Voice.

In this opening, we know the main character right away. We assume that Mrs. Lopez is also a main character (incorrect: she’s only a supporting character). We’re in a place with loud music and there’s another character named Marj there, but we have no idea who she is. From the sentence construction (That Mrs. Lopez, her voice. . . ) we get a touch of the character’s voice and understand that maybe he’s jumpy. Jumpy, concrete–these two words are perhaps setting up the emotional context of the story.

The main problem with this opening is that Mrs. Lopez is highlighted too much and it’s unclear where we are. It’s confusing with three characters introduced so rapidly. Where should the reader focus? In spite of the demanding tone of Mrs. Lopez and the questions raised, mostly, the reader is confused.

Ba-boom, ba-boom, ba-boom.
Standing outside the gymnasium doors, a drum beat throbbed. Yellow light streamed from the second story windows, the ones Toby and I looked out of when we sat at the top of the bleachers. I couldn’t hear the music’s melody, just the drum beat: ba-boom, ba-boom.
The Back-to-School party at Wilma Rudolph Elementary School had already started.

Tension is set up right away with the drumbeats; perhaps the character’s heart is also beating hard, an implication that certainly works. It’s very clear that we are outside a gymnasium at a back-to-school party. There’s a sense of anticipation, of wanting to know what will happen when this character steps into the gymnasium and this party.

It’s a quieter opening in some ways, but the anticipation of entering the party will carry the reader a few more paragraphs. So, I have those paragraphs to make the reader CARE about what will happen.

Toby is mentioned now, and he’s the character’s best friend. It’s better to introduce him indirectly at the beginning than to introduce Mrs. Lopez.

Where Does the Engine Start?

Sol Stein, in Stein on Writing has another hint at what works in writing openings to novels. He asks, where does the engine get started? By this he means where does the reader’s interest sit up and take notice, the point at which “the reader decides not to put the book down.” And often, it’s with a single word or phrase.

On Friday noon, July the twentieth, 1714, the finest bridge in all Peru broke and precipitated five travelers into the gulf below. — opening of The Bridge of San Luis Rey by Thornton Wilder.

Wow, what a lot gets accomplished in this snippet. Time, location and conflict. It’s the contrast between finest bridge and precipitated that catches my interest. Why did the finest bridge break?

Write the Opening Last

It’s said that Richard Peck, the great YA writer, works on his whole novel, then circles back to write the first chapter last. By the time you finish writing a whole novel, it’s often true that the opening that please you so much at the beginning is no longer appropriate. Sometimes, you need to write or rewrite extensively the opening to match the what the novel has become. Either way, the opening is extremely important and worth several looks before the novel mss is sent off to an agent or editor.

It's Here.

It’s official: The Book Trailer Manual has just been released!

Dear Fellow Author:

THE DREAM OF PUBLISHING MEETS THE REALITY OF PROMOTION

OFFICIAL KICKOFF DISCOUNT
Limited Time : Buy now for 25% Off
Expires at midnight 8/20/2010.

You’ve just sold a book and are facing the task of book promotion and publicity. Like all of us, you hope that your book will gain a wide readership. You want appreciation for your literary work, you want your career to jump-start, so you can write more books, not just this one. You’re hoping your name will soon be a household name and fans will anxiously be waiting for your next title.

But your publisher has a low budget for promotion and publicity for your book. Maybe you’re a mid-lister and you feel ignored. You understand that it’s hard to break through the cluttered media and capture the attention of readers. Really, all you want is to be able to explain your book, to tell the story behind your writing it, so the reader will understand it better.

No, what you really want is to forget all the publicity stuff and just write.

Wouldn’t it be nice if there was one, simple, easy way to get word-of-mouth started? Let your readers spread the word for you. Readers telling readers about your book, until they turn it into a best-seller, a classic. Fans telling fans about your book until there are enough fans they even start anticipating your next book.

In this uncertain world of publishing, there are no guarantees. But the online world has given us possibilities, especially book videos or book trailers. Think about how many times you’ve gotten email from a friend with a link to an exciting video. You watch it, right? Give people something to talk about with a great book trailer!

Read more at The Book Trailer Manual website and blog.

Book Trailer Manual Blog

I’ve also added a blog to the Book Trailer Manual site and plan to post weekly updates, such as new sites to submit trailers to, hints/tips on how to create better trailers and how to use it in marketing.

To subscribe to it you can do one of two things:
If you already subscribe to Fiction Notes through email, then click at the bottom of the message to update your profile. Add the Book Trailer Manual newsletter to your subscription.

If you don’t subscribe to any of our newsletters, you can do that here.
You’ll receive emails whenever the blog(s) are updated, with a copy of that posting. So convenient!

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