I love the black moment in a novel. (or a movie!) I just saw Avatar…(so, spoiler alert!!)) The black moment is when the humans come after the blue people in the tree and take it down despite his efforts to stop it. Of course, he’s lost the girl, he’s lost all hope of getting his legs back, and all hope of being a blue person, too. He’s a nobody. Just like he was when he started. This is a great black moment, and one where we are fully invested to root for him as he tries to save the day. A great black moment is Personal and Overwhelming. It’s also Plausible and sets up the Epiphany of the novel. We’ll talk about the components of the black moment […]
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Building the right backstory
We’re trying to help our readers fall in love with our characters this week at MBT….and one way you do this is through “Character Layering” – or slowly revealing the heart of your character—to your other characters in the story and, ultimately, to your reader. But doesn’t my reader need to know about my character in order to love them? I hear this a lot from people who might pour in all the great reasons why our hero and heroine are the way they are – their hurts and their triumphs – onto the first page. Think back—if you knew everything about your spouse or significant other when you met them, would you still go forward? Perhaps it’s best if we fall in love layer by layer. More […]
Read the RestGive her a Backbone!
Yesterday here at MBT we talked about your heroine’s fears and flaws and how they work together to create a heroine that becomes heroic. Today, let’s touch on another element that a heroine needs — Confidence. Just like we don’t like wimpy heroes, we don’t like flimsy heroines. Give her a sense of self that is confident, despite her flaws. It’s easy for a heroine to have flaws – mostly because we write about ourselves, and we all have flaws. So you need to work at putting confidence into your heroine, and giving her something she’s good at, that makes us applaud her. Often, that confidence rises in the end to allow her to do something that she has never done before. However, we need to […]
Read the RestI have my reasons…
Part two of of Creating a Heroic Heroine. Yesterday, we talked about how every heroine needs to have a goal – something tangible and specific that they are shooting for in the story. A goal is your target, and give you a place to aim for in the story. But, of course, we can’t let her get there, at least not without a struggle. Which means our heroine also needs a FLAW. We know women aren’t perfect. But we try, oh, we try. And the key to a great flaw is something that can be overcome – with the help of a good hero. It doesn’t have to be a huge flaw, maybe it’s a tendency to run away from her problems, or better, a tendency to push men out […]
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