The Truth Journey (or Inner Journey, or Spiritual Journey) for your character Part 3 Okay, I’m just going to say it, and I’m using my Mom tone. The Black Moment is the POINT of your story. Because without the Black Moment, there is no epiphany and no character change, and if you are writing a romance, it is Absolutely Required. If you don’t have a black moment in your story, then you don’t have a story. Sorry if that hurts…BUT, we’re going to fix it, right? Last week, I talked about building the black moment. Today, let’s revisit that a moment, and talk about how to weave in the lie for effective character change! Step Five: The Black Moment In this step, the lie rears its […]
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I have a lie, really?
The Truth Journey (or Inner Journey, or Spiritual Journey) for your character Part 2 Yesterday we started our charcter’s spirutal journey by asking: What lie do they believe? (by the way, I often use this when chatting with children, or eve myself when confronted with behaviors that might not be healthy…it’s a good exercise!) Anyway…Armed with the lie, the first thing you want to do on the journey, probably in that first scene is PROVE IT. Step Two: Confirmation of the Lie – Proof What can you do to convince the hero that his lie is true? You want to do something at the beginning of the book that will cement him into this lie – of course, it needs to be something that only pushes him deeper in […]
Read the RestWhat I learned in ’08
As writers, we should never stop learning the craft. The more we write, the more we learn. I’m very fortunate to work with a brilliant editor who sees the art beneath all my mistakes and gently guides me in the right direction. Haven recently rewritten a book with my editors guidance, here are three things I’ve added to my arsenal. Dialog. Yes, of course, I’ve always used dialog. I consider it one of the most important factors of fiction writing, but dialog must count. In 2008, I honed the idea that dialog creates momentum, moves the story forward. Don’t slow it down with paragraphs of description or internal thought. Keep action tags and speaker attributes behind the dialog as much as possible. Of course, the “rule” can be bent, but […]
Read the RestHe’s a new man
So, now that our hero has confronted his Darkest Moment, and seen the light, we’ve come to the last step of character change…the New Man. The changed person he/she has become, complete with new skills, new beliefs, and new courage. New Man usually happens before the finale – before the final storming of the castle, so we can see our New Man using his newfound skills/character change. Sometimes they are even tested… For example, remember the scene in the Hunt for Red October where, after they’re on the submarine, and AFTER Sean Connery says (in his terrible Russian, I might add), to Jack Ryan “Oh, I remember you – you wrote that book, and got it all wrong” – jack has a mini black moment there. A realization that he’s […]
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