Writing emotional triggers, while optional, will take your writing to all-new levels of emotional connection for readers. This is a shortened sample lesson from my 5-week masterclass on writing in deep point of view.
In my book Method Acting For Writers, I talk about writing emotions in four layers: primary emotions (instinctive, knee-jerk, unthinking emotional responses), emotional triggers (optional), secondary emotions (thinking emotional responses to primary emotions), and behavior (what those emotions force the character to DO).
Don’t Google primary and secondary emotions—the clinical definitions are too nebulous to be a helpful template. In the context of fiction writing, whether an emotion is a primary or secondary emotion has more to do with what’s fueling the emotion.
Anger is almost always a secondary emotion—we’re angry because of/or in response to something.
But take attraction for instance; this can an instinctive response the character has no control over (a primary emotion), but it can also be a feeling that develops over time with familiarity (a secondary emotion). Thinking of emotions this way ensures the WHY is built-in for readers.
What Is An Emotional Trigger?
An emotional trigger, then, is a rehearsed or learned response to a known emotional scenario. Triggers skip the primary emotion phase and jump right to an over-the-top secondary emotion.
For example, your character spills mustard on their shirt. They may recall their dad berating them for having a stain on their shirt and shouting that they’re lazy. Instead of feeling frustrated or annoyed initially (which might be the case without an emotional trigger at play), they’re instantly over-the-top angry. The character’s response then may be to lash out at the hot-dog vendor, their secretary, or a passerby who startled them.
It isn’t that the primary emotions aren’t there; it’s that your character may not even be aware of WHY they’re reacting so strongly. The key to writing compelling emotional triggers is tiny bits of backstory dripped in. Over time, when a pattern is established in addition to the bits of backstory, the reader will be able to piece together what the trigger is. The reader will lean in, engage, participate in the story to figure out what’s going on with this character they care about.
Triggers Are Often Tied to Your Character’s Perceived Source of Identity
What does your character pride themselves on having, being, doing, possessing, needing, controlling, etc.? Do they rest their identity in any of these things? What does your character value most and fears having taken away?
Some common ones are: acceptance, respect, being liked, being needed, freedom, attention, being in control, autonomy, safety, etc.
How to Show and Not Tell an Emotional Trigger
Primary emotions are usually felt, and secondary emotions are usually seen. How does that work with emotional triggers when the character might not know what primary emotion is at play?
Eliza has shipped the kids off to Grandma’s for the night and gotten dressed up—as a surprise. But hubs is two hours later coming home than normal, without answering texts, emails, or phone calls to explain the delay.
By 7PM, Eliza has changed out of the sexy
outfit she’d been wearing into a terry bathrobe. Without an emotional trigger,
you might show primary emotions like frustration (feeling taken for granted), concern
(did something happen at work), fear (was he in an accident), and/or jealousy
(was there another woman).
But if Eliza had an emotional trigger of say … feeling taken for granted, once he arrived home and admitted he’d forgotten to text her and then forgotten his phone at his desk—she wouldn’t be aware of any of those primary emotions and instead be instantly angry (feeling taken for granted acts as the primary emotion in this case, though she might not be aware of it).
The secondary emotion triggered will be very strong; these emotions can’t simply be shaken off or soothed. She might rail or shout at him that he doesn’t love her. No one loves her. She might think that her marriage is over. She might level irrational or left-field accusations at him—"You think I’m ugly. "
Ahhhh—do you see what I did there? Either she says these things or thinks these things, but do you see the hints there at what the primary emotions involved are, what the threatened identity or fears involved might be? This is how you make triggers work in deep POV.
What Do Other Characters Observe?
These night-and-day emotional hairpin turns
are observable. They seem to come out of nowhere. One workaround, if the
character wouldn’t organically THINK of what the trigger is, is to have another
character point out the irrational behavior or inconsistent response.
The husband could put up his hands. “Hang on! What’s the big deal? I’m sorry I ruined your surprise, but it’s only seven o’clock. We can still have your romantic evening.”
Another character can observe that this behavior isn’t normal, it is over-the-top for that character, or their reaction isn’t fair or is irrational. The character themselves might be aware of those things, so you could use internal dialogue, even if they feel unable to stop or temper their emotional reaction.
Have you used emotional triggers in your fiction or has this post made you want to use them?
Make sure to visit Lisa’s free Facebook group Going Deeper Writing Emotions for tips, free content, and other goodies.
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.
In Indie Publishing 101 – Part I, we discussed the shifting paradigm of the publishing world, what it takes to be an independent publisher, and how we produce quality, publish-ready manuscripts. In Part II of the series, we looked at what is involved in the actual production of a quality indie book—layout, artwork, ISBNs, and copyright registration.
In both of those posts, we noted that the publishing world is shifting sands, as in a sandstorm. As if queued up to give us an example, the day after Indie Publishing 101 – Part II was published, the US Copyright Office sent me an email saying it is increasing its rates from $55 to $65 to register a manuscript.
Today, we review those final steps of independent publishing—actually publishing our books and sending them out into the world.
1. Publishing
We have our edited manuscript, our beautiful layout, our amazing cover, our required ISBNs, and our secured copyrights. Now, we’re ready to publish.
Holmes and I use both Amazon KDP and Draft2Digital for this. There are numerous other programs out there, and I encourage you to ask your author network about them. Entire books are written for that, but my purpose here today is to give you the lowdown on the things that are common to the platforms. I encourage all indie publishers to explore and do what works for them.
Descriptions, Categories, and Keywords
Descriptions: All publishers require a description of your book. That is what would be on that back cover of the book—the short teaser that makes people want more.
Categories: Categories are the sections of websites where people can locate your books.
For example, our categories at KDP for Spycraft: Essentials are “Nonfiction>Political Science>Intelligence & Espionage” and “Education & Reference>Reference>Writing Skills.” Someone going to any of those sections on a distribution website can find our book listed there. Some publishing venues allow only two categories, and others allow more.
Keywords: Keywords are words and phrases that people can type into the search bar of a website that pertain to your book.
For example, some keywords for Spycraft: Essentials are “CIA Books Nonfiction,” “Writing Craft Books,” and “Intelligence Agencies.” These are general words someone might use in a search bar to locate a book like ours.
Penny Sansevieri has some great articles here at Writers in the Storm on keywords:
The publishing venue will ask you to upload your book content and book cover. The program should then give a chance to review these.
If you hire someone to do the layout, they will often be willing to upload these things for you.
ProTip: If you are publishing in print, order a print copy and look through every page. You will spot things that you will not see on your computer.
Print options
If publishing in print, you will be asked if you prefer cream or white colored paper and whether you want your cover to be matte or glossy. You will also be asked what size you prefer your finished copy to be.
Rights & Pricing
You will be asked to verify that you own the rights to the book, and what price you would like to charge for your book. The program will supply a calculation of royalties on each sale.
To set pricing, look at other books in your genre, as well as reports on what price points are successful. Keep in mind that if your book isn’t selling at a certain price, you can always change that price.
ProTip: Pictures make books expensive. The more pictures a book has in it, the more it is going to cost to produce. Even digital formats can have so many pictures that production costs are increased. Use internal pictures sparingly.
Publish your work
If you are satisfied with everything you have done, hit publish.
Edit your work
One of the beauties of independent publishing is that if you are like me, and you always see a mistake just after you hit send, you can go in and change and it at will. You can also update your cover or your content at any time.
2. Marketing
There are books out there written by far better marketers than myself. I would recommend some, but marketing is another sandstorm. What works now might not work in six months, and vice versa. What works for one genre might not work for another. It’s best to research how various ads and marketing strategies are working at the time you are ready to publish.
However, a few things are standard support for any approach to marketing books:
Reviews
Honest reviews sell good books. We need them. Lots of them. One way to get them is to send out advance review copies (“ARCs”) in advance of publication. However, ARCs have some inherent issues.
Not everyone who agrees to leave a review will do so. That means you are out whatever the cost it is to send them.
If algorithms detect too close of a link between the reviewer and the author, the site won’t publish the review. That leaves the author caught in the paradox of needing to know someone to send them a review copy and having the review disallowed because it’s by a person they know. Amazon is particularly bad about this. One way to work around the problem is to put the book on sale for $0.99 as soon as it is published and purchase gift copies for reviewers. State in the comment section for the gift that it is a review copy. Then the reviewer can download the book and review it as a verified purchase. Another Amazon obstacle to a review is that it requires people to spend $50 on Amazon within the previous year to leave a review.
Website
Authors, as well as everyone else who has a business, is expected these days to keep up a website. If you don’t have one, you can either hire someone to build a website for you, or, if you have any aptitude for it, you can take a few days to learn to build your own. Study bestselling author websites in your genre and think about colors and themes that reflect your own image as an author. Even if you hire someone, they will want to know what you have in mind.
The Bayard & Holmes website is a WordPress.org site, and we used the Divi builder from ElegantThemes to create the site. Beyond saying those programs have done well for us, I can only recommend researching articles and reviews and consulting the authors in your author network about their experiences.
Alumni and Organization Magazines
Most colleges, universities, and social organizations have publications with sections reporting activities and accomplishments of their alums or members. Notifying them of book releases is a free and easy way to get publicity.
Local Newspapers, Magazines, and TV Channels
Most local newspapers and magazines and some TV news channels love to support local authors. Again, it’s free publicity that often takes no more than an email to an editor.
Social Media
A social media platform is a great way to communicate with fans, cultivate superfans, and connect with other authors to support our marketing. If we have been good friends and network supporters, many among our social media contacts will support our marketing efforts with blog posts, retweets, Facebook mentions, and other promotional efforts.
However, social media has its pitfalls. To begin with, it can be a dangerous place to hang out—sort of like the cyberverse equivalent of the Tenderloin District of San Francisco after dark. With swarms of trolls preying on every post or tweet, one misstep, and a career is over. To quote Kristen Lamb, “It takes years to build a social media platform. It takes seconds to destroy one.”
Another difficulty of the social media platform is the bubble effect. Algorithms at the major sites such as Facebook are calculated to push us into tiny social bubbles and force us to pay cash to reach even our own friends and followers.
That being said, social media is still a useful tool for cultivating support for our marketing efforts as long as we all remember two cardinal rules:
Don’t run down rabbit holes, or we will never have time to write our books.
Never forget why we are there. As in, if we are not political writers, we are not there to expound on politics! That’s the fastest way to lose readers, destroy a brand, and attract trolls.
I recommend developing an author brand and choosing no more than three platforms to maintain. Devote a few minutes of effort to building them every day. I also recommend Kristen Lamb’s book, Rise of the Machines: Human Authors in a Digital World, for learning to brand and build an author platform on social media platform.
Throughout this series, I have referred to the “author network.” Although writers are largely introverts, none of us can succeed in a vacuum. That’s where our author network comes in. Our network helps us find the tools and education we need for our craft, and it supports us in getting out the word about our books. We can build that network in several ways:
Conferences
Virtual reality may be cool and convenient, especially now, but nothing replaces face time. One of the best ways to meet other authors and develop an author network is to attend writers conferences. If you find that prospect daunting, see Socializing at Conferences—How to Come Out of the Box.
Actual Photo of Author Hiding at a Writers Conference
Writers Organizations
Another great way to build an author network is to join an active writers organization. I recommend finding one local to you or one specific to your genre.
Write Good Books
Ultimately, the best sales tool for our books is another one of our books. In other words, the more good books we publish, the more books we will sell.
This three-part series is by no means comprehensive. My purpose has been to inform about the basics of indie publishing and to get people thinking and sharing ideas so that each author can find what is right for them. We are all constantly learning in this sandstorm world of publishing, and with the exchange of experience and ideas, we can find our path.
I wish you all the best for successful publishing ventures. May your muse be generous.
What publishing platforms do you use? How do you find your keywords? What are your most successful marketing methods?
To help people endure the hoarding phenomenon and the boredom of social distancing, we are giving away a roll of toilet paper and the Bayard & Holmes book of choice to one of our Covert Briefing Newsletter subscribers. Click Here to subscribe and enter.
We also have the digital versions of our writing craft reference book for thrillers, Spycraft: Essentials, as well as two of our fiction books, The Spy Bride and Firelands, on sale for only $0.99. Paperbacks are also on deep discount. Let's pull together and get through this!
Piper Bayard and Jay Holmes of Bayard & Holmes are the authors of espionage tomes and international spy thrillers. SPYCRAFT: Essentials, is designed for writers. It addresses the functions and jurisdictions of the main US intelligence organizations, the spook personality and character, tradecraft techniques, surveillance, the most common foibles of spy fiction, and much more. It is available in digital format and print. See Bayard & Holmes Nonfiction.
Is there
any writer who actually likes asking
for blurbs? I suppose there is, but most
of us wish we didn’t have to do it. We understand that it’s necessary—and we
all like praise—but we cringe at having to ask for it. The question is how to
do that sensitively and intelligently.
Let’s
start with a few truths.
Truth #1: Endorsements matter. If we trust the person who recommends a product, especially when there are countless other options that could meet the same need, we’re much more likely to choose that particular shoe or car or coffee maker—or novel—from among the alternatives competing for our attention.
Truth #2: All blurbs aren’t necessarily equal. The question is whether a fantastic blurb (Best book I ever read) by someone relatively unknown is more or less “valuable” than a generic blurb (A well-crafted exploration) by someone famous. To a degree, it depends on an author’s goals and comfort level; it may also be a matter of what’s realistically attainable. In general, the more authority the blurber is perceived to have, the more others are likely to be swayed by what she has to say.
Truth #3: Unless you’ve been pegged as a
serious rising star by a major publisher who will get the blurbs for you, you
have to ask—even if it’s terrifying.
Truth #4: Everyone agrees that it’s important to be polite, start early, make it easy for the person to say yes—and to thank the person afterward. Not just privately, but publicly. As Sonja Yoerg suggests in her 2017 essay: “When I have all my endorsements in hand, I publicly thank the author on Facebook. This post is not about the blurb (i.e., me and my book) but about the author and his or her generosity. As part of my thanks, I tout their most recent book.”
So far, so
good.
I started
to reflect on all the advice I’d read about securing blurbs and to wonder how
well it mapped onto real experience. I thought about my own experience, and I
asked other people.
Turning to myself first, I was reminded of what I discovered, years ago, when my then-husband and I set out to adopt our first child. My thinking, when we started out, went something like this: “You, pregnant person, have something I want. What do I have to do to convince you to give me this thing I want?”
It didn’t
take long for me to feel the absolute wrongness of that attitude. Since we were
going to be adopting privately, it meant (back then) that potential birth
mothers would see our ads and call a special phone number we’d set up. Reality
quickly smacked me in the face when I spoke with the first woman who called.
She was a person. This wasn’t about being clever
enough to impress and persuade her. We were two women, each in a situation we
hadn’t expected and hadn’t chosen. Could we connect, trust each other, find our
common humanity?
I think
asking for blurbs is like that. We need to put ourselves in the shoes of a
potential blurber and ask ourselves:
Why would she want to this for me?
What might prevent her from saying yes?
What might inspire her to say yes?
Obviously it’s not a perfect analogy because, unlike a woman seeking an adoptive family for her child, a well-known author isn’t seeking manuscripts to endorse! However, many of these authors do, in fact, want to help new authors, just as they were helped when they were starting out. So if a Famous Author says she wishes she could help but is truly swamped right now—believe her. Thank her and let it go. “Following up” (i.e., pestering her) won’t bring a different answer. Trust me. I’ve tried.
What works best—as with adoption—is to abandon the sense of oneself as a salesperson in favor of that sense of common humanity.
Three
principles can help.
First, remember that you’re asking someone you don’t know for a huge favor.
You have
nothing to offer in return that would be an equivalent favor. Own that, without
apologizing for it. Besides, the Famous Author already knows.
Acknowledge the favor you’re hoping for, without groveling. Let her know your time frame—and make sure you’re giving her a reasonable amount of time. Give her options: a PDF, a spiral-bound copy, an ARC, sample chapters plus a detailed synopsis. But do not suggest what she might write or say, “I’m sure you won’t have time to read the whole thing.” Let her decide.
Second, you’re asking a favor for you, specifically.
The Famous
Author may have reasons for wanting to be generous—a wish to repay the help she
received, a strong belief in giving new authors a boost—but why should your particular book be the focus of
that generosity?
Do your homework. Explain what you love about her work (be specific) and why your believe yours might resonate with her. Follow her on social media, comment on her posts—long before you ask her to do something for you. Make her know that it’s her endorsement you would love, not just any endorsement by any Famous Author. As Sonja Yoerg points out, “Dare I say that if you are asking them to read your book, you should’ve read one of theirs? I’ve been approached for an endorsement by writers who didn’t appear to know my work at all!”
Third, you’re asking a favor of her, specifically, rather than some other Famous Author.
She needs
to understand why you’re asking her and not someone else.
Find the fit. Find other books she’s blurbed. That way, you can explain why you think yours is “her kind of book.” Again, it shows that you’ve paid attention and demonstrates why her blurb, in particular, would be meaningful to you. It’s worth taking the time to craft a really good appeal, heartfelt and specific. As Katrin Schumann notes: “Even though I'm just a no-name person hitting him up for a favor he doesn't even owe me, he agreed to read because he said it was the best request he'd ever received.”
…which brings us to the relationship between getting and giving.
I was curious
to talk with people who had been on both ends of the process—who had asked for
blurbs and also been the one asked. I wondered if their experience as the asker
affected their experience later, when they were in the other chair.
It seemed
to. People told me:
I
found the whole process of asking so nerve-wracking, I told myself that I’d
agree to blurb for anyone who asked me.
It's
been three years since I had to write my blurb requests for my debut novel, and
I can still vividly recall how sick I felt over the process.
When
I get blurb requests, I can't help but remember how vulnerable you feel when
you're sending your work out like that, hoping for an endorsement, and how much
you're hoping to land blurbs that will both pop on the cover and seem unique.
That didn’t mean they always said yes. But when they said
no, it was for a reason and with respect.
I
did also get a request I wasn’t able to help with. Originally I said okay, but
then I realized that the book was much too steamy for my brand. I wound up
saying that I unfortunately couldn’t help. But I wrote her back, because I’ve
had authors agree to blurb and then disappear. I didn’t want to do that to
someone else.
I replied frankly that I wasn't
involved in that world anymore and giving my name to the poet's work would
probably not have the clout any writer needs to impress prospective readers. I
hated doing it, having just received my own blurbs, but thought honesty was the
best policy.
I only
talked with a few people, none of whom were the sort of Famous Authors who
receive dozens of requests each week. But their thoughtful, sympathetic
responses indicate that that there’s a common cycle of anxiety, gratitude, and
the wish to give back.
That
means: one day it will be your turn, and you
will be the one being asked! That time
might come sooner than you think. After all, you don’t have to be an Famous
Author to help someone else!
Have you ever asked for a blurb? What was that like? Have you ever been asked?
About Barbara
Barbara Linn Probst is the author of Queen of the Owls, coming in April 2020 from the visionary, award-winning She Writes Press. Queen of the Owls has been chosen by Working Mother as one of the twenty most anticipated books for 2020 and will be the May 2020 selection of the Pulpwood Queens, a network of more than 780 book clubs throughout the U.S. To preorder or learn more, please visit http://www.barbaralinnprobst.com/.
A chance meeting with a charismatic photographer will forever change Elizabeth’s life. How much is Elizabeth willing to risk to be truly seen and known?
