Writers in the Storm

By Janice Hardy (@Janice_Hardy)

When your technical writing skills are at a professional level, but you're still not getting bites from agents, editors (or readers if you self-publish), it's time to look at the story itself.

One of the more frustrating aspects of being an author is the sheer unfairness of publishing. There’s a strange and unfathomable ratio between good writing and good storytelling that sends some manuscripts to the reject pile and others to the bestseller list.

And nobody knows what that ratio is—worse, it’s different for each person, and even each genre.

“Great writing” isn’t enough, and we’ve all read books that aren't well written but still sold millions of copies.

Now, I'm certainly NOT saying that good writing skill isn't something to worry about or work toward. Just that these “badly written best sellers” resonated with readers on such a deep level that they didn't care about the technical craft of the text. They didn't read them to marvel at the skills of the authors, they read them for the stories.

A beautifully written, technically perfect, yet boring story will not grab readers.

A generically written, technically average, yet amazing and gripping story will grab readers.

If your writing skill is clearly not the reason your manuscript is getting rejected (for example, you’re getting "while this is well-written it’s not for me" type letters or reviews) shift your focus to the story. Odds are high that's what's holding you back.

5 possible ways the story is hurting your novel

There’s little to no conflict.

Conflict is at the heart of every great story. A good protagonist needs an equally good antagonist to struggle against, be it a person, inner demon, society, or force of nature. The challenge that needs to be overcome should be worthy of the person trying to overcome it. If the struggle isn't worth fighting for (either literally or metaphorically) readers probably won't care.

Questions to ask:

• Is there a problem your protagonist has to resolve or their life comes to a screeching halt (again, literally or metaphorically)?
• Do challenges (conflicts) get harder to overcome as the story unfolds?
• Do the problems and conflicts of the overall novel tug the protagonist in different directions?
• Does the protagonist have to make tough choices or is the path always clear (and thus predictable)?

A strong conflict will draw readers into the story and make them want to know what happens next and how the protagonist will solve this problem. This problem is probably why they picked up the book in the first place.

There are no real stakes.

Without consequences for failure, it's hard to care about the conflict. For example, a character might have their heart set on getting a job developing computer games, and they might have huge competition for the position, but if nothing happens to them beyond the usual disappointment if they don’t get the job, readers won't care.

This is even more problematic if there’s a lack of conflict, and the protagonist gets everything they wanted without really trying. It’s no longer a story, but a lengthy description of how a character was rewarded for not doing much to get that reward.

Questions to ask:

• Are there consequences for both failure and success that fundamentally change the life of the protagonist?
• Do the stakes escalate as the protagonist struggles to overcome their challenges?
• Are these stakes personal to the protagonist or could they apply to anyone in the book?

Stakes make readers care about the outcome of the story. If there's no prize for winning or punishment for losing, what happens between page one and the end of the book doesn't really matter.

There’s a reactive protagonist.

When there’s a lack of conflict (nothing preventing the protagonist from getting what they want) and no stakes (no consequences for failure), you often wind up with a reactive protagonist, because they have no reason to act in the novel.

The protagonist should be the person driving the plot. They should make it happen through their choices and the results of those choices. If all they do is react to what's happening around them, they can feel pointless as a character. Since they never do anything for personal reasons, the story feels aimless at best, contrived at worst. You can take a reactive protagonist out of the story and nothing really changes, because they weren’t making the story happen anyway.

Quick note here: Reacting is different from reactive. All protagonists react to what happens to them, as those reactions drive the plot. But a reactive protagonist has no motivation or agency to act. They have no goal, and don’t actually care about what they’re doing. They often have no reason to act besides from “plot says do this now.”

Questions to ask:

• Does the protagonist make choices that affect how the story unfolds?
• Do these choices cause events or situations to happen that would not have happened had they not made that choice?
• Is the protagonist planning and acting on plans to achieve a desired result?
• Does the protagonist have goals or do they just deal with whatever problem is in front of them at the time?

The choices the protagonist makes and the actions they take are what create the plot for the novel. Without those choices, the protagonist is just along for the ride.

There’s little to no character motivation.

This is frequently found with a reactive protagonist, because the character has no actual reason to pursue the goal of the book. Their decisions are made solely because the author needs the scene to unfold that way.

The protagonist needs to make decisions for plausible reasons that make sense to that character and that problem. Their motivation for why they’re willing to do whatever the story requires them to do needs to be believable, or they’ll feel like actors in a stage spouting lines, not characters faced with a real problem they must solve.

For example, in Die Hard, would John McClane have risked his life to stop the bad guys if his wife hadn't been held hostage in the building? Probably not.

If your protagonist is risking their life for no plausible reason, readers will call you on it.

Questions to ask:

• Are there personal reasons for your protagonist to do what they need to do in the story?
• Do they have a personal stake in what happens?
• Do they care about the outcome or are they doing it because plot says so?
• Do their motivations hold up under questioning or do they fall apart after one or two questions about why they’re doing this?

Characters need good reasons to risk themselves for the plot or they can feel like cardboard cutouts just acting out a script. Give them solid reasons to act.

And the final kicker holding your manuscript back (and one that takes an honest, subjective eye to see):

It’s not very original.

Sometimes a writer has done everything right and the book still gets rejected, because the story is one agents, editors, and readers have seen dozens of times before. This is probably the hardest snag to fix since the novel is working—it's just not fresh enough to stand out in a crowded marketplace.

A “common story” novel feels predictable since readers have seen it before. It needs a fresh twist or different angle to capture a unique aspect of a familiar tale.

Questions to ask:

• What's unique about this story vs. others like it?
• Does the plot unfold in predictable ways that readers can see coming?
• How many books like it can you name?
• Is the fresh angle just a twist at the very end or is it woven through the entire book?

Being unique doesn't mean the entire book needs to be unique—it just means one (or more) aspects of the story should handle the tropes or elements in a different way so readers view the story from a new perspective.

Novels are all about stories, and sometimes in our pursuit of publication we forget how important those stories are. It's easy to get scope-locked on craft and let the story flounder. If you're feeling stuck, try taking a hard look at your story and see if you can make it stronger.

Are you working on your writing skills, your storytelling skills, or both right now? What do you feel your weak areas are? Your strengths? Please share your answers with us down in the comments!

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About Janice

Janice Hardy is the award-winning author of the teen fantasy trilogy The Healing Wars, including The Shifter, Blue Fire, and Darkfall from Balzer+Bray/Harper Collins. She also writes the Grace Harper urban fantasy series for adults under the name, J.T. Hardy. When she's not writing fiction, she runs the popular writing site Fiction University, and has written multiple books on writing, including Understanding Show, Don't Tell (And Really Getting It), Plotting Your Novel: Ideas and Structure, and the Revising Your Novel: First Draft to Finished Draft series. Sign up for her newsletter and receive 25 ways to Strengthen Your Writing Right Now free.

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Top Image by TimKvonEnd from Pixabay

Since the beginning here at Writers in the Storm, we've been all about spreading the love. And every so often, we throw the doors open for some shameless self-promotion opportunities for our readers. Our only requirement for those glorious days -- formerly called "Pimp & Promote" -- is that they double the love and promote someone else's work alongside their own.

New Name - Same Awesomeness

As of now, we're officially changing the name of this event from "Pimp & Promote" to "Double The Love." First of all, it has a nice ring. Also, the world could use a whole lot more love these days so why not rebrand one of our favorite things here at WITS?

Today's event will give us all the opportunity to share great resources and celebrate our own successes. So get ready to double the love!

How DO you "Double the Love?"

For many in the States, school is back in session. In that same spirit, let's get out our pom-poms and cheer for ourselves and other writers! Down in the comments section, we ask that you:

• Heap love on somebody else’s work – a favorite author, blogger, post or book you’ve read, a wonderful teacher or just someone who had profound influence on you as a writer or a person. Please limit your comments to one work.
  AND
• Promote one of your projects that you’re excited about – a hobby, a blog, a book, or a new direction your writing is taking you. You decide. Just tell us about it in the comments! (Please restrain your enthusiasm to just one of your WIPs.)

The rest of us will shake those pom-poms, and “ooooh and ahh” (with a side of rah-rah). Full disclosure: our to-be-read piles and our resource lists double in size on days like these, which is always a cause for both celebration and nail-biting.

We'll lead off the love fest with some of the WITS Team!

Ellen Buikema

New Love:

Thomas Davis has written a fantastic, epic poem in blank verse, The Weirding Storm. The story contains magic, dragons, witches, dire wolves, malicious spirits, community unrest, and some interesting transformations, all woven into a dance of words.

A wonderful Young Adult Fantasy.

Self-love:

If you are looking for a young readers chapter book series, take a look at The Adventures of Charlie Chameleon. I wrote these stories to help encourage empathy and cultivate insight into children’s lives.

These multicultural stories cover situations children typically encounter like getting lost, moving, starting a new school, making friends, family vacations, working in a team, and dealing with bullies using positive methods. Each chapter ends with one or more activities for children and parents or teachers to do together, related to the actions in the stories. These books are filled with humor to make the stories more engaging for children (and more fun for parents to read to their kids).

The first three chapter books in The Adventures of Charlie Chameleon Series are New Beginnings, School Days, and Summertime.

Jenny Hansen

New Love:

If you've been around WITS for a while, you've seen some of the gorgeous posts by Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi, the co-authors of the Emotion Thesaurus series of books. Perhaps you know about the labor of love they created called "One Stop" for writers.

They've kicked it up a notch recently with the Storyteller's Roadmap. Frankly, I love it. I love that it meets you where you are as a writer, and that there are three different paths you can take, based on your own writing challenges. For example, I have friends who get hives at the thought of plotting so they happily write away like the pantsers they are. Then they get stuck or get lost in revisions. There are roadmaps for all these scenarios!

Below is a screen capture of the main page.

And here is a snippet of the Planning Roadmap:

So, to summarize, if you haven't checked out One Stop for Writers with their thesaurus cheat-sheets, character builders, checklists, timelines, and now, their Storyteller's Roadmap...why not?

Self-love:

Writers in the Storm is looking for new blog hosts and contributors. We like to change it up every few years and hear from some new voices and viewpoints. And we like to spread out the hosting over 4-6 people so no one has to do more than a dozen hours of work throughout the year.

Let us know in the comments if that's something you'd be interested in or send an email to writersinthestorm(at)gmail(dot)com!

Okay, now it's your turn!

What do you think of "Double the Love?" Do you like the new name? Spread the love all around the comment section, and we'll chime in and cheer you on!

Top Photo by Frantisek Duris on Unsplash

by Laurie Schnebly Campbell

What is it about trios that works so well?

For starters, three creates a pattern which isn’t feasible with just one or two.

Books that feature only two people are enjoyable, sure. But when you add a third character, like a loyal sidekick or a rival or a mysterious neighbor, the trio is all the more entertaining.

Two stories -- say, an original and its sequel -- are perfectly all right. But when you add a third book and make it a trilogy, sales rise far higher.

A two-act play can be pleasurable to watch. But a three-act play, which forms the essence of most story structures, feels more integrated…more complete.

The Romans had a saying, “Omne trium perfectum,” meaning essentially “whatever comes in threes is perfect.”

That might explain popular groupings like:

• Good, better, best
• Past, present, future
• Gold, silver, bronze
• Small, medium, large
• Oldest, middle, youngest
• Mind, body, spirit

Triads feel natural. Triads feel satisfying.

We see that in stories from our earliest years of childhood: 

• Three blind mice
• The three little pigs
• Goldilocks and the three bears

Such storytelling continues into adulthood with stories (turned into movies) like:

• The Three Musketeers
• Three Coins in the Fountain
• Three Men and a Baby
• The Three Faces of Eve, and so many more

You see the rule of three in other art forms, as well. Photographers divide their image into three horizontal or three vertical segments. Comedians talk about how an X, a Y and a Z walk into a bar. Orators treasure the power of phrases like “Friends, Romans, countrymen” and “blood, sweat and tears” and “of the people, by the people, and for the people.”

So, it makes perfect sense that:

Three is a valuable number for writers.

Right off the bat, we have the beginning and middle and end. And we have narrative, dialogue and description. And we have thesis, antithesis and synthesis.

All of which can be useful in storytelling.

But even more useful than any of those trios, as far as I’m concerned, is something incredibly simple:  the basic braid.

I’ll bet you know already what the first two strands of that braid are. (No, you romance writers, they’re not Hero and Heroine. No, you mystery writers, they’re not Cop and Criminal. No, you literary writers, they’re not Protagonist and Antagonist.)

They’re the good old timeless classics of any story...Plot and Character.

In theory you could probably get a pretty decent book out of just those two strands, but adding the third is what gives you a really strong strand. Or a really strong story, as the case may be.

And the third strand is...Genre.

Now of course, some writers prefer to avoid what booksellers refer to as genre fiction. Instead, they’re busy writing what might be called mainstream, or literary, or philosophical novels.

But even so, their readers have certain expectations -- same as other readers have certain expectations of what constitutes a great crime, dystopian, fantasy, historical, horror, inspirational, mystery, paranormal, scifi, suspense/thriller, Western or women’s fiction novel.

EVERY reader expects certain things of a book. Even if they picked up a title at random, vowing not to look at the cover or blurb or reviews but to just dive in and start reading, within the first few chapters they’ll have an idea about what kind of story they’re in for.

And while surprises along the way are just fine, your reader doesn’t want to feel confused throughout the entire book. They want you to deliver the kind of experience they feel like they’ve been promised.

So it’s important to know what these readers expect when they pick up your book -- and THAT’s why genre is the third strand of your braid.

Do all three strands need to be equal?

Absolutely not. We’ve all seen decorative braids with two similar strands plus a more sparkly one adding some extra glitz.

Some books direct far more time and attention to the plot than the characters or the genre, and that works just fine. Some devote most of their attention to character development, which also works fine. And some focus primarily on the genre highlights that draw readers to this particular type of story, which also...yep.

Each of those blends can result in a fabulous book.

But a book that weaves all three strands together from beginning to end, regardless of how big each strand is, will likely be a more complete, more natural, more satisfying read.

That’s the magic of braiding.

We’ll go into more detail on what shapes your particular book during the September 6-30 class on “Your Plot-Character-Story Braid,” but while you’re thinking about tremendous, terrible and triumphant threesomes, I’ve got a question for you:

What trio comes to mind when you think of a story you loved?

It might be people, it might be settings, it might be titles, it might be something not even mentioned here. Just recall some story you’d happily read (or view, or listen to) again, and what triad in it you especially like.

And that’s our prize-drawing question.

If at least 25 people post an answer, one of ‘em will win free registration to the Braid class coming up a week from Monday. So I can’t wait to see what comes in before this weekend’s drawing.

In fact, I’m getting more and more eager…more excited…more enthusiastic…by the minute. By the hour. By the day. (Okay, enough with the trios.)

Somebody stop me. Call a halt. Cue the band.

Quickly. Right away. Lickety-split — Aaaaack!

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About Laurie

Laurie Schnebly Campbell (BookLaurie.com) always loves creating a class, so when a writer asked about “braiding” she was delighted at the chance to explore an untouched subject. Although she enjoyed braiding her own books, including one that beat out Nora Roberts for “Best Special Edition of the Year,” she enjoys teaching even more. That’s why she now has 51 first-sale novels on her bookshelf from authors inspired by her classes.

Top Image by Mabel Amber, who will one day from Pixabay