Writers in the Storm

By Lisa Hall-Wilson

So, you’ve got a first (or second or third) draft, but you’re still trying to get at the heart of what motivates your character. You’re still trying to unearth the variety of emotions, the intensity, the complexities of the emotions your character experiences at different points in the story.

But you’re stuck.

Those generic characterization quizzes and questionnaires only seem to hit surface level stuff for me. It’s too easy to skim those answers just to get it done.

I have a character like that right now. I KNOW this character. I’ve been working on this story for far longer than I care to admit, but she’s a tough nut. She doesn’t want to talk about it. She clams up. It’s beyond frustrating!

Do you know what I’m talking about?

Whether you’re just getting to know this character, or it’s a character you’ve known for a while and need to make fresh again, this post offers some ideas to kickstart those creative juices.

The point of these exercises isn’t necessarily to use any of the writing (although, if you do that’s a happy side-benefit). The point is to open up your creativity and to let the character take you in a direction you hadn’t thought of, to point out a thread you hadn’t noticed, to surprise yourself with where this story and this character could go.

Swing For The Fences

I’ve watched and re-watched multiple times this interview Johnny Depp did with Graham Norton. Graham asks where do these giant characters (Jack Sparrow, Willy Wonka, Mad Hatter, etc) come from and Depp gives this vague they’re born out of ideas answer. He just shows up and starts swinging and hopes it’ll be alright.

Note: It's the first 60-90 seconds of the linked interview that I'm talking about.

Probably there’s more to Depp's process, but the idea of "no-holds-barred, nothing is too big or too weird or too fantastic" is one writers can use. Just see where this idea, this character, this problem, takes you. How would this character (not you) react?

I’ve seen so many writers hold back on the emotions in their fiction.

Can you overwrite and have your drama turn into melodrama? Of course. But, many writers – out of fear of that outcome – pull up far too short of where they need to be. Go big or go home, baby! :D

Just the practice of really letting loose with the emotion frees up your creativeness in a way that has always surprised me. The first draft is for you, it’s not for anyone else. No one can read anything until you give it to them. Swing for the fences!

Get In Touch With Your Own Emotions

Those who are more analytical in their thinking, I’ve found, seem to struggle with capturing emotions in their fiction. The temptation to label emotions, to tell, to summarize is very strong because that’s their natural tendency in real life.

For those who use intellectualization of emotion as a coping mechanism (like me), there’s a long and dedicated practice of ignoring how emotions feel and analyzing why I should or shouldn’t feel something.

You need to put that aside when writing.

This is sometimes helpful in real life, and it’s fine if that’s how your character handles things too initially – but the reader still wants to know how it feels, they want to be in the scene with the character. You’ll need to do a lot of research into how different emotions feel, or become more self-aware of your own emotions.

Some exercises to dive deeper

Write A Letter To/From Your Character

I’ve not tried this, but many writers like to write a letter either to or from their character. It may take a bit of back and forth to delve deep enough into the emotions going on, it requires some honesty and a willingness to let the character surprise you. To share a secret that seems “out there” or unreasonable. Don’t settle for the first idea that comes to mind.

Write A Journal

I’m currently experimenting with writing a journal for one character whose thoughts and emotions continue to elude me. Maybe because this character’s emotions continue to elude her?

I’m writing a journal for her as she goes through the story. The behind-the-scenes stuff you don’t tell your siblings or mom and dad. It’s a very personal no-one-else-will-see-this journal.

It’s fun digging deeper into what she wants, what she thinks she wants, what she doesn’t want others to know. What is she afraid of – and why? What she should have done? What she wished someone had said to her? What she wishes for but doesn’t think she deserves. These are all good places to start.

Have Shocking Coffee With Your Main Character

James Scott Bell shared an exercise he uses where he has writers sit down to have a conversation over coffee with their main character. He writes on The Killzone Blog: “I do an exercise called ‘Shocking Coffee.’ You, the author, imagine you are seated with your main character over a cup of coffee. She tells you she doesn’t think you’ve quite captured her. That surprises you a bit. I mean, after all, you created her.

“So you ask, ‘In what way?’ And your character tells you something that shocks you.”

Manage Your Expectations

These exercises probably won’t be a one-and-done thing. This is a process. You have to keep digging to find the gold, it likely won’t be sitting there partly exposed to the sun.

Each journal entry, each sip of coffee – it’s the back and forth that gets the creative juices flowing. You’re looking for new connections, new directions, to see new threads or possibilities that you missed before.

What about you? What’s your process for getting unstuck, or for diving deeper into a character’s emotions?

About Lisa

Lisa Hall-Wilson is a national award-winning freelance journalist and author who loves mentoring writers. Fascinated by history, fantasy, romance, and faith, Lisa blends those passions into historical and historical-fantasy novels. Find Lisa’s blog, Beyond Basics for intermediate writers,  at www.lisahallwilson.com.

Top Image by DanaTentis from Pixabay / Other images purchased from DepositPhotos.

by Laurie Schnebly Campbell

If you're committed to writing a series, congratulations. If you're committed to writing stand-alones, good for you. If you could see yourself doing either a series or a stand-alone, welcome to the club! There are so many advantages, and so many disadvantages, to writing a series that it can be hard to decide how you'd rather tell your stories.

Stand-Alone vs. Series

Let’s look at some of the up-sides and down-sides for each option:

Readers who enjoy one book in a series are likely to stay loyal and keep reading the rest as long as you keep writing ‘em. You’re pretty well guaranteed a Repeat Buyer (or at least a Repeat Reader) all the way through to the end of the series.

On the other hand, that can be confining. You might have a story idea you’re dying to write, but it doesn’t fit in with the characters or setting or genre of your series in progress. When will you ever find a break from your current project for creating the next?

Then again, it could be easier to write faster because you don’t need to come up with completely new people and places for each book in the series -- you already know how your main characters think and talk and feel; you already know where they live and work and play.

Although, that kind of knowledge might be considered boring. If you stay focused on the same leading character/s in the same setting, it means you’re missing out on the fun of creating new people, new situations, and new worlds for any stand-alone stories you might want to tell.

How Can You Decide?

One way to determine whether you’ll be more satisfied as a series writer or a stand-alone writer (although nothing says you can’t do some of each):

Think about the authors whose books you’ve enjoyed most. It’s a pretty safe bet that some of those books were single-titles, and others were part of a series. But when you think about your top five or ten favorite writers, which category do their books appear in more often?

Sure, some authors are wonderfully prolific in both areas. Nora Roberts’ romantic stand-alones and trilogies appear as often as her alter-ego J.D. Robb’s suspense titles in the Eve Dallas series.

Michael Connolly alternates between two criminal-justice series and books that stand on their own. But most of the world’s celebrated writers are known more for their work in one neighborhood or the other.

Mostly series:

• J.K. Rowling
• Robert Ludlum
• Agatha Christie
• George R.R. Martin
• Debbie Macomber
• Walter Mosely
• Philippa Gregory
• James Patterson

Mostly stand-alone:

• Stephen King
• Danielle Steel
• John Grisham
• Elizabeth Berg
• Michael Crichton
• Jane Austen
• Ken Follett
• Gillian Flynn
• F. Scott Fitzgerald

Choosing Your Preference

If your taste in reading leans more heavily toward one side or the other, that may be a good clue to which storytelling style you find most appealing.

You can also look at other areas of your life for clues to that same question.

Would you rather stay at the same tried-and-true hotel when you visit a familiar city, or choose a new location each time?

Do you prefer binge-watching favorite shows straight through, or watching several different shows in the same week?

When you find the Best Shoes Ever, do you buy more pairs in different colors or treat them as a one-of-a-kind delight?

There’s no wrong answer to any of those questions, nor to the question of whether you’re better off writing stand-alone books or series.

Series Considerations

If you opt for a series, there are a few things to keep in mind about the biggest bugaboo:

The Story Arc

Of course, every story has its own arc. A single book has its arc. So does each book in your series. And so does the series as a whole.

You already know how to figure out the story arc in a single novel, right? (If you don’t, ask me about my class, Plotting via Motivation.) But as important as that individual arc is to every book in your series, you also need an arc that spans from Book One to the final novel.

How do you know which book is the final novel?

If you’re happy to continue writing an open-ended series, like those featuring Nancy Drew or Sherlock Holmes or Stephanie Plum, that can be whenever you decide to call it quits.

If you’re planning a trilogy, or an opening-plus-sequel, or a five-book series about five siblings each finding their own success, it’s likely you know what the last one will contain. And you also know how important it is to wrap up with a satisfying arc that concludes not just that final book, but your series as a whole.

Wrapping It Up

How to "wrap things up" is one of the important topics covered in my “Writing A Series” workshop that starts next Monday. One lucky commenter will win a free registration to that two-week class!

Here is my question:

When you think about the author whose books have most consistently delighted you, at any time during your life as a reader, do you think of someone whose books are primarily grouped into a series or whose books primarily stand alone?

Is it someone you discovered as a child or as an adult?

And if you remember this compelling writer’s name (plus the name of their series if that’s applicable), please mention that as well!

Many thanks,
Laurie

Note: We'll announce the free-class winner TONIGHT. (If it’s someone who’s already registered, your $40 will be refunded.)

About Laurie

After winning Romantic Times' “Best Special Edition of the Year” over Nora Roberts, Laurie Schnebly Campbell discovered she loved teaching every bit as much as writing...if not more. Since then she’s taught online and live workshops for writers from London and Los Angeles to New Zealand and New York, and keeps a special section of her bookshelves for people who’ve developed that particular novel in her classes. So far there are 48 titles -- will yours be next?

Top Image by PatternPictures from Pixabay

by Kris Maze

I don’t know about you, dear writer, but coming to terms with quarantine has been a challenge for me.  Yes, I had extra time at home for the crucible of creativity, but not without a steep learning curve. Writing inspiration has been hard to come by.

During quarantine, my family pushed pause on activities and the daily grind.  We found some comfort in the slower pace of life, dealing with the negative impact as best as we could. As many parts of the world begin reopening, let’s not forget the writing we have accomplished so far.

As always, I am inspired by history. There have been other pandemics, and great works have come from them.

Historical figures can inspire us with their great pandemic creations.

Sir Isaac Newton left Cambridge college when an outbreak of the Plague closed all schools.  His year of uninterrupted self-study and exploration led him to write his theories on early calculus, on optics as he played with prisms at home, and of course, on gravity.

William Shakespeare wrote some of his best poems and plays when the plague forced a closure of London’s theatres. According to Scientific American, "plague was a near-constant presence in the England of Elizabeth I and her successor, James I. When the death toll exceeded 30 per week, London’s theatres were ordered to close, forcing theatrical troupes to take a break or perform in the country. When a particularly nasty outbreak struck in 1606, Shakespeare used his time well, penning King Lear, Macbeth and Antony and Cleopatra."

Edvard Munch, famous expressionist painter of The Scream, painted during the time of the Spanish Flu. Having contracted the disease himself, he recovered to create many more works.

Bram Stoker wrote Dracula in 1897, inspiring over a century of gothic writing. That same year, “The 1897 Epidemic Diseases Act” was put into place and Stoker’s native Ireland suffered high numbers of typhoid fever and the lingering Bubonic Plague.

Mary Shelley began writing Frankenstein during a failed vacation with writer friends. It was 1817, and a volcanic explosion of Mt. Tambora had caused an endless winter throughout the world.  The atmosphere was choked with ash and dust, keeping essential sunlight from crops and leading to famine, epidemics, and a cholera pandemic. Mary’s personal life suffered as well when her poet husband, Percy, drowned in an accident five years later. Her friend, Lord Byron, died of a fever two years after that.

The earth in 1817 was literally dark, cold and uninviting, but was fertile for writing the first science fiction novel.  One thing is for sure: centuries later, Frankenstein lives on, evoking philosophical debate.

Final Thoughts

The hurdles of 2020 are undeniable but perhaps framing your ideas in literature can provide solutions. As society adjusts to the coronavirus outbreak, our stories, our insights, our projects can help bring hope and healing. Even if it isn't Dracula or Frankenstein, every story matters. Yours might just be the one that helps a reader hang on while they wait for the world to right itself.

How has the pandemic of 2020 affected your writing so far? Do you know of other historical figures who took solace in creativity during a world emergency? Please share their story down in the comments!

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About Kris

Kris Maze has worked in education for 25  years and writes for various publications including Practical Advice for Teachers of Heritage Learners of Spanish and Writers in the Storm. Her first YA Science fiction book, IMPACT, arrives in June 2020 and is published through Aurelia Leo.

A recovering grammarian and hopeless wanderer, Kris enjoys reading, playing violin and piano, and spending time outdoors with her family. She also ponders the wisdom of Bob Ross.  

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To find out more about IMPACT, click here.