As a young girl my friends and I used to pinky-swear that we wouldn’t share each other’s secrets. It became a sign of loyalty if you could keep the secrets of others, but a sign of a traitor if you could not. The adult world also has a large interest in secrets as well. Tabloids, spies, politicians, journalistic sources, countries and even pleading the Fifth Amendment in court centers around the secrets we keep. We all have secrets and usually they are something that we hold close to our heart. We keep these secrets for a variety or reasons like embarrassment or vulnerability. With our characters secrets can be a way to show their inner self and the level of trust they have built with their friends […]
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Brainstorming Strategy # 2: Villains
Have you ever known someone who would put you down in any way that they could? Then you have met with a villain. It is easy to think that a villain is just for suspense or thriller type novels, but they are a great source of conflict in all genres. To figure out the best type of villain for your novel, start with figuring out the end of the book goal for your characters. These would be things like love, safety, freedom, security, etc. Then look for the type villain that would make reaching that goal difficult. Also, at this preliminary stage you should consider the competence of the character, or what they are especially good at. You want the villain to oppose this as well. Romantic Suspense: *Sarah is […]
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Fast Notes On Why Characters Matter
Hey all, I’m on a deadline but didn’t want to ask our handy-dandy David, assistant extraordinaire, to repurpose another old blog for me so, I found some notes I’d taken during a Donald Maass seminar and thought I’d pass them onto you. Nothing earth shattering here. Nothing we’ve not talked about already here in MBT Land but it’s good to be reminded. I sometimes like bullet points, don’t you? Or maybe an esoteric, eclectic gathering of ideas and thoughts that might jog a creative, off-the-beaten-path part of my brain. If we’re too linear, too sequential, we run the same worn path of our creative brain and forget their might be other less traveled paths to take and just might lead us to something extraordinary. So here’s my non-sequential, out-of-context, come […]
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Brainstorming Strategies: #1 Layers
Every story has a basic story line or plot that is central to the book. Without it, there would be no story. But to create a deeper story you need to add layers. What are layers? Layers are the different pieces or story threads that run along side your plot to make it more interesting. Often these layers are added by subplot or other POV characters besides the hero and heroine. For example, in the movie White Christmas there are several layers, here are a few: *The two sisters agreed that they won’t let a man come between them Deepening Layer: The youngest pretends that Danny Kaye is her sweetheart so that her sister will feel free to fall in love. Deepening Layer: It works so well that when the […]
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