Writers in the Storm

by Jenny Hansen

Over the last few years, I've shared "Top 10" lists from several amazing people on the topics of writing and success but I haven't branched out into musicians. In my humble opinion, there's no one better to talk about creative success than Prince. (Yes, that Prince. aka Prince Rogers Nelson.)

This massively talented genius, who died in 2016 at age 57, left behind millions of devastated fans. He also left behind a locked vault reputed to hold 1,000+ unpublished or unfinished works. The contents of the vault are unknown as no one can get into it.

Prince wrote scores of hits under his own name, and others you might not have known were his songs, like:

• The Bangles’ “Manic Monday”
• Chaka Khan’s “I Feel for You”
• Sinead O’Connor’s “Nothing Compares 2 U”
• Shiela E.’s “The Glamorous Life”

Rather than examine boring things like his estate plan (which was so non-existent, they're still duking things out in court almost five years later), I'd like to focus on Prince's own inspiring words about how he built his phenomenal success.

Here are some of my favorite quotes from Prince on what success looks like for creatives:

1. Create from the heart.

Prince believed music should be inspirational. To him this meant: "Music that falls from the heart..[by] people who really feel what they're doing." He thought our creative gifts should be guided by something something beyond ourselves.

This brings to mind writing teachers like Julia Cameron or Elizabeth Gilbert who encourage writers to "show up and let the words move through you."

To me, this sort of trust is an act of faith. To show up to the page and bang out our words, good or bad, trusting that the words will come if we just show up to receive them. I said in my last post that this simple decision can move mountains (and get books finished) if you do it often enough.

2. Keep growing.

He said in an interview: "I don't know how any of us grow if we just tread water."

Challenge yourself. Grow. Don't do the same thing you always did. Surprise yourself. Showing up is always the first step. If you're showing up and challenging yourself to try new things, I am proud of you.

3. Don't criticize.

"I don't look at myself through other people's eyes," said Prince. He believed "if you're a true artist, you're using a gift you were given from God..to criticize your gift is to criticize God."

Whether you share that belief in the divine or not, I hope you can be kind to yourself and your beautiful gift. You have the power to lift up others through story, which is nothing to sneeze at.

And yet...most writers speak to themselves in a way they would never speak to a friend or fellow writer. Why do we do that?

4. Learn from the best.

Part of why we started WITS was so we could keep learning from all the smart writers, editors and teachers who post here. We are enlightened every month by the contributors here are Writers in the Storm.

Prince loved to watch band leaders like Bruce Springsteen and James Brown. Like them, he would switch things up once he got on the stage. He was known to have a 300 song playlist whereas other musicians I've spoken to might have thirty. Talk about a very fluid performer!

5. Love

His life and career was focused around faith. Larry King asked him what he did when bad things happen. He answered, "I learn from it, and I don't wallow in it.. I let myself move on."

Prince's original label (Warner Bros) had the rights to his music tied up for years in what was widely considered to be an unfair contract. He says he was able to let go of the anger, see their side of things and move on. He wrote a letter filled with love to them, while they still owned the rights.

Personally, I think what he did next was genius - he completely rebranded himself until the contract expired, and the rights reverted to him. The symbol was all about, these songs are mine and I own them.

6. Uplift others.

Like every great romance writer I've ever met, Prince believed his work should uplift. He believed in happily ever after. "There's enough things to bring you down, we don't need to jack our music up that way too. There's still a way to get anger and even hate across in [your work] but you still have to resolve [these emotions]."

Since he died, stories of how much good Prince did in the world have come out. He was a secret philanthropist. Whether if the secrecy was because he was a Jehovah's Witness, or because he was very private, but he gave millions to charities, particularly those that benefitted children.

7. Don't care what others say.

Prince didn't want to be like everyone else. For example, he stopped cursing in his songs once everyone else started. "Sexiness was in the mind, it was in your imagination. When you lose that, then it's just old skin."

8. Have role models.

Stevie Wonder was a major role model for him. He is why Prince learned to play all the instruments. He looked up to Stevie for "the way he crafted music and his connection to the spirit."

Basically, Stevie Wonder inspired Prince to dig deep and learn his craft. Once he did that, opportunities began to come to him, rather than him having to chase them down. While some of that was luck, a lot of it was just him expanding the boundaries of his talent and abilities.

9. Create true art.

Prince felt that "the record industry tends to promote things that are more salacious and hit-driven..It's a reality show." Many authors feel this way about the publishing industry, that the publishing professionals aren't taking chances on anyone new or anything different.

My opinion: we will never feel like we've "arrived" as authors if we don't push ourselves to write the stories that only we can write.

Sure, sometimes we'll write things purely for the money, but as Neil Gaiman recommended, "Don’t chase money. Just do your ideas when they come. If you do work that you’re proud of, even if you don’t get the money, you still have the work." There's a lot of satisfaction in doing work that you're proud of.

10. Be yourself.

One of my blogging friends, Natalie Hartford, had the best motto: "Be yourself. Everyone else is taken." I love that! Dr. Seuss said it a different way: "There is no one alive who is Youer than You."

Being himself certainly worked for Prince. Rolling Stone ranked him #27 on the list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. At every stage of his career, there was no one else like him. And we liked it like that.

Did you see as many parallels as I did between the music and publishing industries? Which of his Top 10 tips was your favorite? What Top 10 tip of your own do wish you'd learned earlier? Please share it down in the comments!

Sources:

https://youtu.be/BKr5NlwgYdw

• 21 Strange Facts You Didn't Know About Prince
• 11 Surprising Facts About Prince
• Prince Keeps His Fans Guessing
• Prince's countless charitable activities come to light after his death
• Prince: The Philanthropist

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About Jenny

By day, Jenny provides corporate communications and LinkedIn advice for professional services firms. By night she writes humor, memoir, women’s fiction, and short stories. After 20 years as a corporate trainer, she’s delighted to sit down while she works.

When she’s not at her personal blog, More Cowbell, Jenny can be found on Facebook at JennyHansenAuthor or at Writers In The Storm.

By Ellen Buikema

Secondary characters add depth and interest to the world your main character inhabits, helping to make the tale more memorable. They play a significant role in your story, but aren’t necessarily integral to the plot. These characters may be protagonists or antagonists of their own subplots.

Strong secondary characters reveal more about your primary character by, motivating, creating stumbling blocks, or helping define the setting by use of cultural clues. He or she may goad the protagonist into doing something out of character to the benefit or detriment of either of them.

These ancillary characters may become more popular than your protagonists. This happened to me in my children’s chapter books as Frankie, Charlie Chameleon’s obnoxious pet fish, became the favorite of many readers, adults as well as children. There is something about Frankie, maybe his naughtiness, that makes him relatable.

5 Tips for Secondary Characters

Help advance the plot

The subplots develop these characters’ relationships and contribute texture to the story. They need to be well rounded without extraneous details so the story doesn’t become mired and confusing.

Make them multi-dimensional

Supporting characters don’t need as much detail as you’d give to primary characters. Consider using the same character building blocks you use for the protagonist: personality, backstory, mindset, relationships . . .

Not everything you create about the secondary characters will end up in the story. But it’s better to have more than you need than not enough.

The best characters are flawed

These characters are not all good or all bad, but a combination of both. Characters that live within the shades of gray are more interesting. Consider allowing them to be self-serving to a degree. Secondary characters have needs, too.

Sometimes they're too much of a good thing

Secondary characters are a lot of fun to write. But sometimes they are so interesting that they might become overdeveloped and overtake the main character. If this happens, you can always set aside some of the story highlighting this particular character as notes for another tale. This secondary character may become a future protagonist.

If you find that you’ve created too many secondary characters, you can always combine the essences of a few of them and create a stronger, unique character with multiple dimensions.

Make them location or vocation specific

Remember when you were very young and thought the grocer lived at the grocery store or the teacher lived at school?

Connect your secondary character to one locale when possible. This will make it easier for your reader to keep track of who is who and what their relationship is to the main character. It’s no fun having to page through the book to remember who a character is. The tie between location and character helps firm that piece of information in the memory of the reader.

Other Useful Secondary Character Tips

Supporting Characters vs Minor Characters

Secondary characters can make a short appearance, sometimes only in one chapter. This individual still moves the story forward, but makes a minor impact.

Supporting characters exist to illuminate your protagonist, and through their subplots, affect the main character’s decisions. Without supporting characters, the main characters can’t achieve their goals.

Exercise to evaluate secondary characters

Choose some of your favorite novels.

Choose two or three secondary characters and analyze their roles in each novel.

• Are the characters autonomous? How?
• Are their names unique?
• Do they add tension in the story? How?
• Are they relatable? In what way?
• Do they help move the story forward? How?

5 Secondary character types

Mentor

Mentors instructs, offers words of wisdom, encourages and supports the main character. They are often the impetus for the protagonist’s internal growth. In Carlos Casteneda’s Journey to Ixtlan: The Lessons of Don Juan, the Yaqui sorcerer and shaman, don Juan Matus, teaches Carlos how to perceive reality in a unique way.

Adversary

The adversary creates conflict. They stand in the protagonist’s way and interfere with their goals. They create an opportunity for the reader to see the protagonist under pressure as they deal with conflict. Most of the Lannisters in A Song of Ice And Fire by George R. R. Martin are adversaries. They provide plenty of interference. 

Comic relief

Oscar Wilde said, “If you want to tell people the truth, make them laugh, otherwise they’ll kill you.”

The bringers of comic relief compare or contrast the protagonist’s lighter side. They add a dash of brightness and humor, highlighting how the protagonist handles funny situations, for good or ill. Bob “the skull” is a wickedly funny spirit of intellect who advises Harry, the protagonist, in Jim Butcher’s The Dresden Files. Bob has multiple roles of instructor, lab assistant, and provider of comic relief.

Love interest

The love interest helps the main character to grow romantically. They can also create as well as provide openings for humor. They show how the protagonist deals with love, intimacy, sexuality and conflict in both negative and positive ways. Edward Cullen is the love interest of Bella Swan in Stephanie Meyers’ Twilight. What to do when in love with the undead?

Best friend

The best friend brings out the main character’s feelings that might otherwise remain hidden. They show the protagonist in a close but not necessarily sexual relationship. Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger are Harry’s two best friends in J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series. Each provides a close friendship of a different type.

As you can see, secondary characters are anything but minor.

What type of secondary characters do you enjoy most? What do you feel is the most important role of supporting characters?

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About Ellen

Author, speaker, and former teacher, Ellen L. Buikema has written non-fiction for parents and a series of chapter books for children with stories encouraging the development of empathy—sprinkling humor wherever possible. Her Works In Progress are, The Hobo Code, YA historical fiction and Crystal Memories, YA fantasy.

Find her at http://ellenbuikema.com or on Amazon.

Image by Sasin Tipchai from Pixabay

by Karen DeBonis

I’ll soon have my second Covid vaccine, and I’m already making my TJ Maxx shopping list, planning lunch dates with equally-immunized friends, and looking at flights to…anywhere. One thing I dread about venturing out in the world again, though, is running into acquaintances who may ask, “So, how’s that book coming along?”

Perhaps I had run into these casual friends in pre-Covid days when I declared my manuscript accomplit. Perhaps last year, they saw a social media post where I shared my excitement and trepidation about querying literary agents. Or, they might know me from 20 years ago, when I first started writing my memoir.

My short answer would be, “It’s coming along.” (For my long answer, keep reading.)

My Bout of Imposter Syndrome

Last December, I sat hunched over my laptop at my dining room table, glowering at sentences and paragraphs that would not gel. I was attempting to write a piece for this site—the award-winning, chock-full-of-wisdom Writers in the Storm blog—and it was clear to me I was an imposter. It was clear, at least to me, that I did not belong.

What could I, an emerging author, possibly offer to readers that the many seasoned, published authors who write here could not say a hundred times better? What could I possibly add to the conversation when I didn’t know what the heck I was doing?

Before chucking my laptop out the window, I reached out to Jenny Hansen to ask her to remind me why, exactly, she had invited me to write here. 

A Surprising Perspective

As usual, Jenny knew just what to say:

“I firmly believe that your perspective of ‘becoming’ is extraordinarily valuable.”

It was like sitting in the pre-dawn quiet and awakening to the realization of birds chirping. I didn’t connect the dots yet, but I had already identified for myself the worth of “becoming.” And I didn’t know it yet, but “becoming” would be integral to my emerging author brand.

Jenny’s words were so powerful, I posted them on my “bulletin board.”

The focus of my memoir and most of my writing is the destructive consequences of people-pleasing. In 2016, when I tiptoed into the public spaces of blogging and social media, I noticed  that most people who use hashtags like #peoplepleasing, #peoplepleaser. and #peoplepleasernomore were therapists or life coaches. If I posted that I lacked the wherewithal to ask the grocery store bagger to put the tomatoes on top, a half-dozen people replied with suggestions on how to do it next time, or to ask me how I felt about the outcome, or what I could have done differently.

I believe we all need a place to vent and express ourselves without someone trying to solve our problem. The intent of my social media posts was to say, “Look how silly I’m being. Can you relate?” It’s the same reason we post “life’s a bi***" photos of spilled coffee, flat tires, and cats dragging toilet paper throughout the house. Do you feel my pain? we want to know. Often, a “yes” gives us permission to smile and get back on the day's merry-go-round.

When I share a personal story of vulnerability on my website or on social media my intent is to be heard, not to be fixed. I can call my therapist for that. And when the roles are reversed—when I read a personal story by a kindred spirit—their vulnerability gives me a lens through which to view my own behavior, which heightens my self-understanding.

In her book, The Disease to Please (truly the bible of people-pleasing), the late  Harriet B. Braiker, Ph.D. writes, “Sometimes we can see in others what we can’t see clearly in ourselves.”

Society endorses the value of having arrived with thousands of books, articles, and posts espousing helpful (and sometimes unhelpful) ways to accomplish X, Y, or Z. But the value in becoming is the support we provide our traveling companions as we move toward our common destination. Support from the trenches feels different—more immediate, more real—than advice coming from those already there.

Clearly we all need advice from experts. I need all the advice I can get, and I take advantage of every webinar, article, and post that is relevant to my writing and stage of becoming.

A Personal Turning Point

In February, I made a long-overdue decision to update my website. I hired a web designer to do the heavy IT lifting, but I had to decide the content and write the copy. And I had to figure out what my site was all about.

*gulp*

In our strategy calls, we talked through messaging. My web guru suggested common headings like “Ten ways to…” and “Five steps to….” None of it felt right. Although I’d started to recover from my disease to please, I still relapsed, and I wasn’t ready to impart “how-to” wisdom.

Plus, I’d discovered when I posted embarrassing failures—like not texting my friend to see if she got the gift I’d left in her mailbox because I didn’t want to bug her—people reached out to me privately to share their own weak moments. They knew I wouldn't judge them. How could I when I still walked in their shoes?

In her best-selling book, Daring Greatly, Brene Brown says, “If you’re not in the arena getting your ass kicked, I’m not interested in your feedback.”

Being in the arena—being a work in process—was the gem I had to offer. And because I had shown up online day after day when I had a success to share—for example, telling my hairstylist that, no, I could not move my appointment up—followers could imagine themselves having success, too.

My website needed to convey that I was approachable, that I understood, that I was in the process of fighting my way out of the arena, but I wasn’t there yet. I wasn’t ready to proselytize on “how-to” overcome people-pleasing, but I was an expert in “how I grew more assertive."

That’s when I realized becoming is an end in itself.

The phrase “becoming emboldened” popped into my head seemingly from nowhere, but really, it was Jenny’s comment, right there on my bulletin board, coming to life. It was early morning birdsong all over again.

You can see the end results on my website here and here.

Final Thoughts

Someday, I’ll arrive at a place where assertiveness comes more easily to me, and I’ll know I have arrived. I’ll need to update my website and change my taglines, and I might even write a “how-to” book. For now, becoming fulfills me.

Someday, I’ll look forward to running into acquaintances, hoping they’ll ask about my book so I can reply with those three coveted words: It is published. I know I’ll have arrived as an author.

In the meantime, I’ll continue to show up here from time to time, embracing all I have to learn, and all I have to share in the process of becoming.

Where are you in the process of becoming and when will you know you’ve arrived? Please share your thoughts down in the comments.

About Karen

Karen began writing twenty years ago after her eleven-year-old son was diagnosed with a brain tumor. Those early pages are now a real-life medical mystery about a mother who must overcome her toxic agreeability if she's to save herself and her son. The manuscript is currently available for representation.

A happy empty-nester with her husband of thirty-nine years, Karen lives and writes in upstate New York. You can find out more about her journey at www.KarenDeBonis.com.

Top Image from Depositphotos. Middle image by John Hain from Pixabay.