With the nickname of The Evil Editor (TEE) – said with affection, remember! –I bet you think I’m all about editing. Not true. I’m also a writer. Which means I’m also about writing. But even before the writing, which comes before the editing, I’m about planning. I can see all you seat-of-the-pantsers (SOTPs) out there in the blog-o-sphere rolling your eyes. Thinking: Not another writer who chains herself to scripting out every last word of her novel, detail by infinitesimal detail. You think there’s nothing better than letting your story run away with you, surprising you with unexpected twists and turns as a character kisses someone unexpected – or maybe kills them. But even a SOTP has to plot something. Beginning, middle, end. The Disappointments (Ds). Maybe resist putting hands to keyboard and […]
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Quick Skills: Make your Hero/Heroine unique
How do you make your hero or heroine unique? Have you ever written a hero or heroine and thought…oh, they seem just like the last character I created? It’s easy to do – you can only pick so many creative combinations for your character…UNLESS… …Unless you go about character creation from the inside out. I’ve talked at length about finding an identity for your character unique to him, and then building the “outside” to match that inside identity. However, I have a quick trick to help make him even more unique. To make him stand out on the page without going over the top. Yes, we’re going to start with identity again, but this time we’re going to focus in on his greatest fear. We’ve asked him about his dark […]
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Quick skills: Character and Plotting
I’ve heard it said that the harder a book is to write, the easier it is to read. I’m not sure I agree. Yes, a book should cost the author pieces of their heart, but I’ve found that the more tangled my plot, the more complicated my character, the less popular my stories. As I’ve grown as an author and learned how to create simple yet powerful storylines and characters, the popularity of my books has also grown. As I’ve streamlined the process of plotting and characterization, the writing process has become easier, also. Sure, it’s still hard work, and still costs me pieces of my heart as I write emotion onto the page, but I know where I’m going and the plot is less tangled as I get there. The […]
Read the RestConversations: Dark Moment Plotting and how to build a story outline
“My hero lost his best friend in the war, in the bombing of Pearl Harbor. He also lost part of his leg.” My aspiring writer, Sally, slapped down the open page of a spiral notebook onto the table at the coffee shop, and slid into her chair, unwinding her scarf. Outside, the sun shone bright in a cloudless sky, adding heat to an otherwise arctic day. I picked up her notebook. “I see you’ve done your homework and discovered a dark moment in your character’s past, and then journalled about it.” “I did that. It was fun – I did the research and saw Pearl Harbor through his eyes. In his own words, he told me everything about the attack, and how his buddy died protecting him, and how he […]
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