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It’s bad…very very bad. (aka: Crafting the Black Moment!)

By on May 5, 2010 in How to write a Romance, Story Crafting, The Hero's Journey Simplified, What is the Black Moment and how do I create it?

  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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The Essence of Hero and Heroine

By on April 29, 2010 in Editing Basics, Hero, Heroine

Early on we learn conflict makes a great story. Conflict elicits emotion. Tension is necessary to keep the story flowing and the readers turning pages. In romance, it’s easy to put the hero and heroine in conflict with each other. They are the main players, the key figures on the stage and well, why not have them at opposite goals, fighting, arguing, hating one another. Donald Maass says, “He’s hot, she’s hot, but they can’t stand each other.” Well, true, that does make for a good story. But in our ameturish hands, a fighting hero and heroine can come across snarky, mean, petty and well, too stupid to live. What we need to demonstrate is WHY the hero and heroine belong together. What is it about her that he loves? […]

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How to “undress” your character!

By on April 22, 2010 in Editing Basics

I’m on my way to Portland today – going to teach at Chip MacGregor’s Master Seminar on How to Write Best-selling Fiction.    So, I’m sitting on a plane.    Next to people.    They may talk to me.    The thing is…sometimes they tell me more than I need to know.  Have you ever been on a plane where the seatmate begins to talk to you…and suddenly they are going into their life history, and their recent divorce, and their children’s problems, and the house she’s trying to sell and how she’s on her way to visit their mother who has shingles and….   So, already, I know way too much about her.    This is why you want to reveal your character slowly, layer by layer.  You don’t […]

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Building the right backstory

By on April 21, 2010 in Backstory, How to write a Romance, Protagonists: The Basics

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 […]

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