By Lori Freeland

There are many crucial parts to putting a story together. But most writing teachers will tell you the key to catching and keeping readers is to build an emotional connection. One way to make  that happen is through authenticity—of your characters, their arcs and relationships, and how they react to the world around them. Write characters who feel like real people. This includes who they are, the way they interact with others, and how they handle relationships and events.

3 Quick Tips to Create Authenticity:

1. Keep your character in character, or give them a reason not to be.

Once we’ve gotten to know someone, we expect them to act certain ways. It’s the same with characters. If they do stray from what a reader expects, show us why. Your character can do almost anything—as long as you give them believable and credible motivations. Readers go along with what they understand and see for themselves. 

Example

Setup: Sue’s neighbor John asks her to watch his dog. The reader knows Sue dislikes John and believes she’ll say no to anything he asks.

Instead, she says, “Of course, I’ll watch your dog.”

Without motivation, it feels like the writer made a mistake in not being consistent with Sue’s character. In this case, a little internal thought from her goes a long way.

Try this easy fix:

“Of course, I’ll watch your dog.” The dog wasn’t the problem.

Remember to limit internal thought to your POV character. The reader can only be “in the head” of the character telling the story in that scene. For more on POV, see P-O-What? Understanding Point of View.

How do we believably show a non-POV character acting out of character?

We can go back to Sue (the POV character) and her perception of what’s happening with John (our non-POV) by giving him actions, expressions, or voice cues to help her and the reader figure out that more is going on behind his words. This is called subtext. For more information, see Margie Lawson’s post Know Subtext? Got Subtext on the Page?

Setup: John asks Sue to watch his dog. The reader knows John hates Sue. His ask feels off unless we see that things aren’t normal.  

Try this fix:

Sue looked up from the book she’d been reading on her front porch to find her annoying neighbor John standing in her yard.

“I have to go out of town tonight. Last-minute.” The words rushed, he glanced down. Back up. Shoved his hands into his pockets. “Could you possibly keep my dog?”

Her response should be a dismissive no. Except, he looked haggard. Worn down. Totally unlike his usual, annoying, whatever-happens self. The fact that he was even in her yard felt off.  

So the word that came out of her mouth instead was a soft “yes.”  

2. Keep your character credible.  

Ask yourself this question. If my character was a real person in a real situation, how would they respond? Be careful not to just throw in how you would respond. It’s not about you. 

Example: If a man comes home and finds his wife dead, he isn’t going to shower and have dinner like nothing happened.

Unless… he paid someone to kill her, and he’s planning to admire the handiwork before he disposes of the body.

Example: If Tina’s house burns down and her family dies, she’s not going to be at a coffee shop the next day laughing with friends.

Unless... she set the fire and has a major mental illness.

3. Keep your character in the moment.

Sometimes writers are absorbed in moving the story along, and they don’t stop to think about how someone would appropriately react to events, triggers, words, or turning points in a story.

For the most part, people react in this order:

• they feel emotions/visceral reactions/physical sensations (sinking feeling/pain)
• they act (fall into a chair/lash out at someone/step back)
• they think (this is not happening/what am I going to do)

Depending on what a character’s reacting to, you might only need one of these. But if it’s important news, a trigger, a major event, or a turning point, you might have all three. Using the correct order helps the reaction feel less “clinical” and more real.

Example

Here’s an unrealistic reaction.

Set-up: Shy teen Jess wrote a love story that went viral even though she’s never been kissed. When an escalator in a hotel lobby dumps her into desperate TV heartthrob Gabe—and his spotlight—he decides she’ll be the perfect escape from his fans.

Heat from his palms sizzle through my dress. He leans so close his mouth grazes my ear. “Do a desperate guy a favor?”

“W-what?” The smell of fresh laundry and the hotel shower gel combine into kryptonite that buckles my knees.

His hands hold me up, but he pulls back, and I can see his face. His fifty-watt grin comes with its very own set of to-die-for dimples. “Baby,” he says. “I’ve missed you.” Then tilts his head, closes his eyes, and presses his mouth to mine.

And hijacks my very first kiss.

The last line (in bold) skips her reaction entirely and disappoints the reader. This kiss is a big deal. It won’t be a big deal to the reader if we don’t show it being a big deal to Jess. The way she feels, what she does, and what she thinks will depend on who she is as a person.

Try this instead:

My world slips sideways, and I know I’ve written Sara and Dante’s first kiss in Haunted all wrong. I never mentioned the shivers that pour over Sara’s skin at the same time her body flushes. I didn’t describe the flutter in her stomach as Dante’s lips brush hers. I left out the very real urge for her toes to curl when he flattens his palms against her back. I’d given their kiss a paltry paragraph when it deserved an entire freaking page.

Because up until now, Jessica Thorne—the girl who’s penned thousands of words and hundreds of pages of romance—has never, ever been kissed. Not even once.

Writing authentic characters that connect with readers doesn’t have to be hard. It just takes thought and practice. Being aware that there may be an issue is the first step.

Take out your work in progress and find a place where your characters should react. Are they believable? Credible? Do they feel real? If yes, way to go! If no, here’s your chance to sharpen your writing skills and make that interaction stronger.

Let me know if you think writing authentic is hard or easy. Do you have any tips or tricks? I’d love to know. Leave me a comment.  

About Lori

Lori Freeland wrote her first story at age five. It wasn’t good. But it left her with a firm belief that everyone has a story to tell. An author, editor, and writing coach, she holds a BA in psychology from The University of Wisconsin and lives in the Dallas area. She’s presented multiple workshops at conferences across the country and writes articles, novels, and everything in between. When she’s not curled up with her husband and dogs drinking too much coffee and worrying about her adult kids, she loves to mess with the lives of the imaginary people living in her head. You can visit her at lorifreeland.com or lafreeland.com.  

---

Some accidents were meant to be. 

Gabe isn’t a werewolf. He just plays one on TV. 

Jess isn’t a guy magnet. She just writes about teen romance. 

TV heartthrob Gabriel Wade has never met a party he couldn’t rock, a problem he couldn’t dodge, or a crowd he couldn’t play. Homeschooled Jessica Thorne has never met a party she couldn’t wallflower, a problem she couldn’t stress over, or a crowd she couldn’t escape. But they both know what it’s like to lose someone—someone who’s still here. 

After a hotel escalator dumps Jess into Gabe’s spotlight and he unknowingly hijacks her first kiss, he decides she’ll be the perfect decoy for the paparazzi—if he can convince her to play his “girlfriend of the week.” Jess wants nothing to do with TV’s Hottest Hairball or his Hollywood ego. And by the time she figures out he isn’t who she thought, it might be too late to admit she needs him as much as he needs her. Even if he wants her for real. 

Buy it on Amazon today

Lori Freeland author/editor/writing coach   lorifreeland.com (young adult & contemporary romance fiction)  lafreeland.com (inspirational blog & resources for writers)  Buy Now | Amazon Author Page

---

Top image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

by Lisa Norman

This is part 3 of my series on sharable newsletters, an expanded answer to questions from part 1 and part 2.

This marketing thing has been the hardest part of writing for me, and I’ve met a lot of writers who have had the same experience. Some indie publish because they get tired of trying to market to agents and publishers, only to discover that now they must market to readers. Even traditionally published authors now need to market directly to readers. Seriously? After sweating blood, often for years, to write the thing, now you have to go find your own audience?!?

Yep. Welcome to writing in the twenty-first century.

How Do I Find My People?

The most common question I get asked related to book marketing is: "How do I find my fans (readers, subscribers, etc.)?"

And the answer is: there is no magic wand. I don’t have an easy answer. But I’ve been studying authors and watching their careers for years and I can tell you, there IS an answer.

It begins with something only you can truly know: Who are you? What do you want to be known for as a writer?

The Most Important Part of Marketing (with my apologies to Socrates)

It was Socrates who said, “Know thyself.” That advice can be so stress inducing, there’s no wonder they killed the poor man.

Some of us, me included, were raised to think that it was absolutely rude and the height of hubris to say, "This is what makes me special.” And just having to answer the question, “What makes you special?" is almost impossible for me. I get all twitchy.

I ask my students this question, and I’ve heard “Me? There’s nothing special about me!” too many times.

Some of us have heard too many times that we are not special. We've experienced failures and disappointments. Even looking at that question is painful. Secretly (and some openly) they believe that they are not special.

Traditional marketing starts with, "What do you give to those who buy your product?" (Marketers call this your value proposition.) And in the creative writing world, that translates largely to: "Who are you and what makes you special?" When professionals ask this, they aren’t trying to be mean. They’re looking for the magic wand that will give you success, because that answer is the most important part of marketing.

Ouch. No wonder so many writers have trouble with marketing!

But I promise you, you ARE special. You’re a writer, and that is magic.

Pro Advice on Marketing for Writers: Learn Your Value

I cornered a big-name marketing guru and asked for suggestions on marketing for writers and he blinked. This man makes millions of dollars in marketing. He works for some of the biggest corporations, and this stopped him cold.

After a very long pause, he reiterated everything we've always heard: write great books, get them out wide, share lists, create your own list, know your value, and lean into what makes your work special.

Later he came back to me and made another point that I thought proved what a pro he is. He said, “Writers are in the entertainment industry. Their value is in the stories they tell and the entertainment they offer. Learn your value, and then use that.”

I’ve heard this from the pros more than once. They aren’t trying to be vague. They’re actually trying to help.

Building Your List: You Are the Key to Success

During the research for this series of articles, I looked for hints and tips on getting started building that all-important list, and there wasn't a magic method. Oh, sure, you could buy a list. (Don't.) Or you could join in newsletter swaps (those actually work SOMETIMES, if you are in a good group, but I've seen them result in very weak lists if you're not extremely careful, and it is hard to know how solid a list is before you participate).

The only thing more useless than a small list is a big, weak one. Once you’ve got to a big list, you’re paying to send emails, and now you’re paying to send out things no one cares about. Small and powerful is better.

Remember: I work with authors with lists of many different sizes. I’ve had to talk more than one writer with a huge list out of deleting the whole thing because it was weak. They’d participated in swaps and contests and now their list was full of people who wanted a Kindle or a free book from someone else.

I want to encourage you: You are not alone.

The sad fact is that no one, no post, no expert is going to be able to give you the key to instantly growing your list. BUT — I can give you insight into how to find it. You are the key to your own success:

The magic is in you.

The Magic Wand of Marketing Is Your Joy

Get away from writers and hang out with avid readers for a while, and you'll quickly discover that they think writers are amazing. Why? Because writers have entire worlds in their heads! We have stories, characters, and magic, all going on behind our eyes! Your true fans are going to love the unique magic that is you, the unique stories that live in your head. The unique things that make you … you! And so, to connect with them, you need to connect with yourself.

Let's get started!

First, dig deep into what you enjoy. What can you write about with joy? How does that show up in your writing? For some people, it is mystery, romance, adventure, quirky stuff... it can be anything. And it will be uniquely you. I can't tell you who you are when you are having the most fun. But I can tell you that when you find it, THAT is the most important piece of the marketing puzzle.

• Why do you write?
• What keeps you up at night?
• What makes you laugh?
• What is so important to you that you’d defend it to the death?

The answer is your unique magic.

The List and Your Unique Magic

Once you’ve found it, I want you to look at your existing list as an experiment. Don't judge it by quantity. It is your research pool.* Try posting something fun, something that makes you happy. DO make sure that you're using all the best practices: a catchy subject line, a punchy hook. But be genuinely you. And make sure that you are giving something to your people.

Then watch.

* If your list is zero, then start chatting on social media, blogging, or just go hang out where there are people and find a chance to talk about… that amazing thing. For one person I know, it was a particular fandom. When she found herself in a room with others who felt the same, she turned to me and said, “My people! I found them!”

Now understand: we often can't judge if something is working or not right away. Sometimes the best sign that you have that it has worked is if someone emails and asks a question. If they respond to a newsletter or a blog, take note. I once had a mentor tell me that if one person asks a question, 9 others probably had the same question and didn’t ask. If someone in our modern world takes the time to email you, call it a win.

Look at this blog! Writers in the Storm is known for engagement. We ask questions! And we have some fascinating discussions in the comments. Why? Because we’re all here to talk about the same general topics, and they fascinate us! For WITS, the ideal audience is writers. But for your blog and your newsletter, you want to appeal to readers.

The List: Your Open Rate

More important than how many people are on your list, I want you to look at a statistic called your “open rate.” This means how many people opened your email. If you sent out emails to 100 people and 10 opened them, your open rate would be 10%. Your email system will try to track this, but with all the modern privacy protections, your actual rate will likely be higher than what you see in your statistics. 10-20% is pretty good. Consider anything higher a win.

You want to treat statistics like this as a trend, so don’t worry about if there were 41 or 42 people who opened the email.

Let’s say that you send something out every two weeks. Fun pictures of your cat or your fish. If 10 people opened the first one and 3 people opened the second, that’s going in the wrong direction. Either your list has the wrong people on it or they wanted something else from you. They see something else magic about you. Then you need to decide: are cats central to your stories? Or have you wandered from the heart of who you are? (I mean, seriously, who doesn’t like cat pictures???)

You may also want to ask your people a question and see how many answer. Or put a hook to a blog post in there and let them click through to read it. If they clicked to read more, you know they are interested!

Understand: people are busy. If they give you 30 seconds, that means they like you. More than that and you are doing great!

If it looks like people are reading your messages, lean into that topic. Post more about it, do something similar. But remember: it must always be fun for you!

Going Viral vs. Growing Slow

Let’s say 10 people opened that first email with the cat. Then let’s say that you noticed a couple of new people signing up to your list. The gold standard in our modern world will be when you see that picture going viral (being shared), but don’t hold your breath. It happens. I’ve seen it happen to some of my clients, and it is amazing when it does. But most of the time… you’ll get 12 people to open the next newsletter. That’s a win.

Want to know how one of my clients went viral? He posted 3 times a week for 3 years. He studied his statistics and he found out what his true fans loved. And then, he posted more of that. The post that went viral (and launched a career) had been posted 6 months previously. It took that long to catch on and get shared around. Truth: he wanted to quit after a month. He’s not quitting now.

Silly side note: someone recently shared that exact blog post with me as an example of something truly amazing. The person who shared it didn’t know that he was my client, didn’t know how powerful that post was. They just knew it was amazing and wanted to share.

Too Fast

Another student I had went viral with his very first post. Blew me away. He had so much potential! Sadly, when his next post didn’t have the same success, he stopped posting. The first post had been fun. The second was work, because he thought he had to replicate that success. After that, he thought writing articles was just too hard.

This should not be painful, because it should be coming from your center of fun and things that you truly enjoy. If you don’t love it, you’ll never have the energy to keep it up, so don’t try to do what works for someone else. There’s a sign outside a church near me: “Be you. Everyone else is taken.”

Give your content a cycle or two (weekly, monthly... whatever). And then maybe try something else. See what is happening. Watch your statistics. Slow growth is GOOD growth.

There’s a saying that the first 10 subscribers are the hardest to get. The next hardest will be getting to 50. It'll be a little easier to get to 100. From what I've seen watching a bunch of authors build their lists, it seems to get a lot easier after 300. (Note: this does not apply if someone has bought or swapped for that first set of subscribers.)

I can’t count how many writers I’ve seen give up between 20 and 50. Almost always, they say that it is too hard to keep generating content. If it is hard, you aren’t working from the core of your joy.

Best Marketing Strategy: Be You

I asked my husband (he teaches firefighters and EMTs) how to lift something heavy. “Lift with your legs! Keep the thing as close to your body as possible. Don’t twist. Don’t bend. Don’t lift it over your head.”

Do you see the analogy here? If you aren’t using your core strength, you’re going to hurt yourself and you won’t be able to keep going. Stay close to your core truth. Be you.

When you get the feeling that you are starting to connect, that people are starting to share your posts, lean into that topic. Give them more of that. If they are engaged, ask them what they want... what do they like most about what you have to offer?

Once you know that you have true fans, people who love what you create, people who see your stories as uniquely entertaining, then you can ask them what they want more of!

Especially if you’ve bought your list or if you don’t know your value, don’t ask someone else to tell you what it is. That can lead you in the wrong direction.

Being You Enables Powerful Reader Engagement

This type of experiment can take years, and I haven't found a reliable shortcut. But when you find your unique magical signature, your style, you'll recognize it. You’ll feel it. Your fans will become more interested. And this knowledge will inform your writing career and all your marketing.

When you find it, everything becomes easier. Even writing.

Have you ever talked to someone who isn’t listening? They’re looking at their phone and offering vague encouragement like, “Yeah. Uh huh.” You know, the conversation where you have to fight to stop yourself from saying, “And then an elephant walked in and crushed the waiter, so we decided to leave.”

You know that feeling… you haven’t connected. Readers can be like that.

Now contrast this conversation with a moment you remember talking to your best friend about something you both are interested in. You’re finishing each other’s sentences. You’re playing off each other. One time a friend and I got laughing so hard we couldn’t breathe. She happened to have an oxygen tank handy and we both started taking puffs off of it so we could keep laughing! That is “engagement.” Find it with a reader and you have a fan. It won’t always be laughter. Sometimes there are tears. Sometimes you give them nightmares. The key is, you make them feel something.

Small Can Be Beautiful

A small, engaged list is much more powerful than a large, oblivious one. As an example, I was working with an author who had about 30 people on his list. One of those people happened to be a book reviewer in his genre who was committed to seeing this author succeed. So committed that he connected with other reviewers to help set up a series of interviews for the author about their new book. That 30-person list could sell more books than some lists I know with thousands on them.

Experiment. Test. Play. You CAN find your secret magic.

I wish that I could give each author that magic piece, but I've found that each author’s answer is unique. I teach classes in this stuff, and each student finds their own answer.

Some authors work with solid creative coaches to help them find that core of their purpose and their joy. If you really don't know what gives you joy, and you can't find it, connecting with a professional creative coach may be a place to start. Here's a post on WITS from my favorite coach for creatives.

Now: What resonated with you from this post? What inspired you to try it with your readers? What would you like to learn more about? Let me know in the comments!

About Lisa

Lisa Norman's passion has been writing since she could hold a pencil. While that is a cliché, she is unique in that her first novel was written on gum wrappers. As a young woman, she learned to program and discovered she has a talent for helping people and computers learn to work together and play nice. When she's not playing with her daughter, writing, or designing for the web, she can be found wandering the local beaches.

Lisa writes as Deleyna Marr and is the owner of Deleyna's Dynamic Designs, a web development company focused on helping writers, and Heart Ally Books, LLC, an indie publishing firm.

Interested in learning more from Lisa? Sign up for her newsletter or check out her brand new classroom where she teaches social media, organization skills, and marketing for authors!

Top image from Depositphotos.

By Eldred "Bob" Bird

Besides writing, music is one of my passions. So much so that I volunteer at the Musical Instrument Museum here in Phoenix as a gallery guide. While working my shift recently, I had a thought—there are a lot of people in music that I can learn from when it comes to writing short stories.

The music industry is full of amazing storytellers, especially folk and country music. Somehow these singer-songwriters manage to pack interesting characters, compelling storylines, and tons of emotion into only a minutes long performance. True, the music lifts their tales to a higher level, but the right words still do the heavy lifting.

So, how can we as writers learn from these poets and troubadours? Let’s take a look at some lyrics from a few of my favorite singer-songwriters and see what we can discover.

Characters

If you want to hook a reader right away, a compelling character goes a long way toward doing the job. The problem is how to accomplish the task with only a few lines. Country storyteller Tom T. Hall was a master at this. This is the beginning of his song Faster Horses:

He was an old-time cowboy, don't you understand
His eyes were sharp as razor blades his face was leather tan
His toes were pointed inward from a-hangin' on a horse
He was an old philosopher, of course
He was so thin I swear you could have used him for a whip
He had to drink a beer to keep his britches on his hips
I knew I had to ask him about the mysteries of life
He spit between his boots and he replied

Building the Story

In the first ten or fifteen seconds of the song he manages to create a character we can immediately picture and makes us want to know more about him. He does this by using familiar images such as an “old-time cowboy” and colorful descriptions like “eyes as sharp as razor blades” and “so thin you could have used him as a whip.” The “spit between his boots” puts an exclamation point on the description.

A couple other Tom T. Hall songs that feature wonderful character portraits worth studying are “Old Dogs and Children and Watermelon Wine” and “The Year that Clayton Delaney Died.”

Compelling Storylines

No matter how fascinating your characters are, if they don’t have a story to tell then they’re not going to hold the reader’s interest. This is where we can learn from the story-song writers. These performers manage to pack a full story into such a compact space. It’s like flash fiction set to music.

One of my all-time favorite practitioners of the story-song was Harry Chapin. No one could spin a tale like Harry. Most of his songs were too long for radio play, but a few managed to sneak onto the charts. The most famous of those was Cat’s in the Cradle, the story of the relationship between a father and son. Every verse is a snapshot of how their relationship develops over the years. The first verse creates the foundation and sets an expectation for where the relationship might go:

My child arrived just the other day
He came to the world in the usual way
But there were planes to catch, and bills to pay
He learned to walk while I was away
And he was talking 'fore I knew it, and as he grew
He'd say "I'm gonna be like you, dad"
"You know I'm gonna be like you"

Building the Story

Each new verse builds on the theme until the final revelation. In less than four minutes we see a whole generation pass and a complete cautionary tale unfolds. The fact that the story is told in first person adds to the emotional impact, making the moral of the story even more poignant, as shown by the last couple of lines:

And as I hung up the phone, it occurred to me
He'd grown up just like me
My boy was just like me

Other examples from the Chapin catalogue I highly recommend include WOLD, Taxi, Mr. Tanner, and Story of a Life. Take the time to listen not just to the words but how they are put together to paint the landscape of each of these lives.

Emotional Impact

As writers, we’re all aware of the importance of an emotional hook, especially when you’re trying to capture the reader’s attention right away. Musical storytelling is no different. In both short stories and story-songs we have limited time and space to accomplish this task, so it’s a good idea to set that stage immediately.

A perfect example of a fast emotional hook comes from Operator by Jim Croce. The whole song is just dialogue—one side of a telephone conversation. Within the first few lines we know what is motivating the singer.

Operator, well could you help me place this call?
See, the number on the matchbook is old and faded
She's living in L.A. with my best old ex-friend Ray
A guy she said she knew well and sometimes hated

Building the Story

With the line “the number on the matchbook is old and faded” we get a sense that whatever he’s dealing with isn’t recent, but something from his past that he’s still holding on to. In the very next lines, we find out what he’s dealing with is heartbreak and betrayal. The chorus shows how he’s trying to deal with these feelings:

Isn't that the way they say it goes? Well, let's forget all that
And give me the number if you can find it
So I can call just to tell 'em I'm fine and to show
I've overcome the blow, I've learned to take it well
I only wish my words could just convince myself
That it just wasn't real, but that's not the way it feels

He sees forgiveness as the path to his healing, but we get the feeling that the scars are too deep. After getting the number, he still begs the operator for help. In the last verse we see his real motivation for attempting to make the call:

Operator, well let's forget about this call
There's no one there I really wanted to talk to
Thank you for your time, ah, you've been so much more than kind
And you can keep the dime

In the end we realize that he’s so lonely and heartbroken that he’s just looking for someone to talk to. That’s his whole reason for dialing the operator—just to hear a friendly voice.

If you’d like to hear more of this artist and his ability to evoke strong emotions, I would suggest listening to Time in a Bottle, Another of his most famous songs.

Final Thoughts

These artists are more than just musicians and entertainers, they’re poets, philosophers, and writers as well. Their songs give a window into so many different aspects of life, while managing to accomplish it with an economy of words. This article just scratches the surface. There’s so much more we can learn from their examples.

Your Assignment

Pick some of your favorite artists, dig deep into their catalogues, and really listen to their words. You’re sure to find some hidden gems you can learn from and incorporate into your own writer voice.

Who are some of your favorite songwriters? What have you learned from their lyrics and what kind of effect have they had on your writing? Let us know in the comments below.

About Bob

Eldred Bird writes contemporary fiction, short stories, and personal essays. He has spent a great deal of time exploring the deserts, forests, and deep canyons inside his home state of Arizona. His James McCarthy adventures, Killing Karma, Catching Karma, and Cold Karma, reflect this love of the Grand Canyon State even as his character solves mysteries amidst danger. Eldred explores the boundaries of short fiction in his stories, The Waking Room, Treble in Paradise: A Tale of Sax and Violins, and The Smell of Fear.

When he’s not writing, Eldred spends time cycling, hiking, and juggling (yes, juggling…bowling balls and 21-inch knives).

His passion for photography allows him to record his travels. He can be found on Twitter or Facebook, or at his website.

Top Image by 3422763 via Pixabay