Writers in the Storm

For those of you who have followed my posts over the years, you know I joke a lot about being queen of the troll introverts. I’m happy in my writing cave, it’s comfy there. I have my espresso machine and my fat cats for company. And I have awesome WiFi which means I can chat with all the writers I want via social media and email and FaceTime/Skype. Why would I ever want to leave?

Well, over the last few months, I did leave. I went to three vastly different writer’s events: In May, I participated in the Gaithersburg Book Festival (GBF). Then in August, I went to New York for the Writer’s Digest Conference. And September was the Women’s Fiction Writers Association retreat.

My thoughts on the different types of events:

The Book Festival

GBF is my home town book festival. They’ve brought in some amazing authors over the years so when I got the letter that my application had been accepted, I was equal parts ecstatic and terrified. Plus, the event was taking place a week after my debut released. I’d never – NEVER – done a book event before.

What I did right:

Since it was my very first event, I asked a couple of other debut authors I’d become friendly with and who lived in striking distance, if they wanted to submit applications with me. It was much easier getting onto the stage with others who shared some of the same fears and excitement.

What I learned:

Knowing your book and talking about your book are not necessarily the same. In the couple of months leading up to my debut, I wrote a lot of guest posts for various blogs and responded to many of the same interview questions in each. I thought I was ready to answer almost any question that came my way. Until I was asked those questions live.

Why it’s worth going:

Aside from the fun of getting to talk about your book, I loved the opportunity of interacting with readers and getting to meet a few favorite authors who, until that day, I’d only interacted with via social media. It also gave me the confidence to know I could do it. I may not have been brilliant that first time, I may not ever be brilliant at this type of event, but I can do it nonetheless (and I’m already looking at other opportunities for when my second book releases next year).

If you’re not published yet, go meet authors and support the event. One of the first years I went, I fan-girled over a favorite author. I bought her book from the indie selling on site even though I already had a copy at home and asked her to sign. There weren’t a lot of people at the signing tables which gave us the opportunity to talk. She ended up blurbing my debut.

 

The Large Conference

I’m not a large conference kinda gal. I find them overwhelming and underwhelming. But since this was my debut year, I was pushing myself to take on things I haven’t done or would usually steer clear of, so not only did I register to attend, I signed up to present.

What I did right:

I told my inner doubter to shut it and submitted those speaker proposals. And then agreed to not only do a solo presentation, but participate in two panels. Hey, if you’re pushing past your comfort zone, jump straight into the deep end. And to reward myself for being so brave, I went up for the conference a day early to meet my editor and attend a workshop I’ve been wanting to do for ages but never had the opportunity.

What I learned:

It actually is possible to put lipstick on a troll and make her somewhat presentable. :-)  In all seriousness though, the experience was a great reminder that you can do whatever you want once you believe in yourself. I may never become a highly sought-after speaker, but I didn’t completely embarrass myself and I was able to help a few people with the information I presented. And you know what else? It was fun.

Why it’s worth going:

You never know who will be in the audience. A number of folks approached me after the various sessions to ask questions about the topics addressed. I had the pleasure of bringing up the Women’s Fiction Writers Association and, as a result, the group lucked out with a few new members.

Another audience member picked up my book at the onsite bookstore. Turns out she’s local to my area and runs a radio program discussing books. She contacted me and I got to check one more first off my list – the program will air later this month.

And, of course, if you’re unpublished, these events are a gold mine for meeting and pitching agents and connecting with other writers.

 

The Writer’s Retreat

The WFWA retreat is a bit of a hybrid event. We have a presenter give two half-days of a craft workshop, and there are discussion groups on marketing and the business of writing and writer’s life. But there’s also writing time and plenty of socializing time.

What I did right:

This one is a bit harder for me since I’m the retreat organizer, so my time during this event is mostly spent running around making sure things are running smoothly. That said, I did two things differently this year: (1) I made myself sit and write on a new project, and (2) I took off the organizer hat long enough to socialize and relax.

What I learned:

It doesn’t matter how comfortable you are in your writing cave, every writer needs to connect with other writers from time to time. Even – especially – during those times when you think you’d rather hide in the darkest part of the cave.

Why it’s worth going:

The energy and creativity in a room of writers, particularly those who write the same genre, is better than a giant pot of coffee. I was pretty worn down by the time I got to Albuquerque for the retreat and, to be honest, my thought in the days leading up to the event was to get through it and regroup after. But once I was there with my writing tribe, I was swept up in the creativity and the bonding over our shared experiences, and I left with an optimism that I hadn’t had days before.

The more relaxed atmosphere of retreats allows everyone to be themselves, to share their experiences, ask questions, let their guard down, be writers.

 

There are, of course, plenty of other types of events – writer’s cruises; small group retreats that are only focused on writing and reading your work; pitch events; local meet-ups, etc. Depending on your available resources (time and money), some may be more doable than others. But all have value. You’ll get from any event what you want to gain from it. From someone who didn’t attend a writer’s event for years when I first started, this introvert is a convert.

What type of writer events do you enjoy most? What’s something you learned about yourself from attending a writer event? What’s held you back from attending or participating?

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About Orly

 

Orly Konig is an escapee from the corporate world. Now she spends her days chatting up imaginary friends, drinking entirely too much coffee, and negotiating writing space around two over-fed cats. She is the founding president of the Women’s Fiction Writers Association, a quarterly contributor to Thinking Through Our Fingers blog and Writers In The Storm blog, and an active member of the Tall Poppy Writers. Her debut women’s fiction, The Distance Home, released from Forge in May 2017, and Carousel Beach will be releasing May 2018.

You can find her online at http://www.orlykonig.com or on Goodreads, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest

Angela Ackerman

Writers are encouraged to dig into their hero or heroine’s past to understand what factors (including wounding events) are steering their behavior and motivation in the story. By doing this we can ensure our protagonist’s goal aligns with the unmet need driving them, tailor challenges that will force them to face specific fears, and raise their awareness of destructive emotional shielding (flaws, biases, dysfunctional behaviors) that is holding them back. Internal growth, after all, is what character arc is all about!

Putting time into backstory is a no-brainer for the protagonist…but there’s another character often overlooked who also needs this type of development: the villain.

The villain (if your story has one) plays a crucial role. He’s the main source of conflict, making the hero’s success that much more difficult to achieve.

Few things disappoint readers more than a cardboard villain who is “evil for evil’s sake.” Yet, we see this portrayal countless times, which steals the power from an otherwise incredible tale.

Compelling characters have real motivations…villains included.

Just like the protagonist, we should always know what is driving the villain in the story. Here are three key areas to brainstorm to help you build a credible antagonist that readers will love to hate.

Negative Life Lessons

All characters enter the story with a suitcase of past pain, including your villain. The fear of being hurt again motivates him just as it does the protagonist, but how this manifests through behavior will be darker. Uncovering the wounds of the past is a must because to write the villain’s dysfunctional behavior well, we need to know what caused it.

To find the wound, ask yourself, who hurt him, and how? What negative life lessons did other people or circumstances teach him that led to his current jaded worldview? Someone, or something, caused him to become the person he is now, and his past trauma, whether it involved a significant loss, a humiliation that can’t be forgotten, or a betrayal that locked his emotional shielding into place, is at the root of it.

Moral Beliefs

Another area to examine is the villain’s moral center. Core beliefs shape our actions, but in fiction, the villain’s code of conduct will change significantly due to the skewed way he views the world.

Imagine two people who suffer the same devastating circumstance—say, one of their children dying in a hit-and-run accident. Though they end up with the same missing need of safety and security, depending on personality, support system, mental state, and a slew of other factors, they could go about filling this need in different ways. One might pursue a career in law enforcement, seek to change the law regarding drunk-driving offenses, or open a rehab center to make it easier for alcoholics to receive treatment. Goals like these are inherently positive pursuits and make sense for someone seeking security.

Another person could go a completely different direction: stalking and ultimately murdering his child’s killer or going on an arson spree and burning down bars around town. He thinks that eradicating the responsible person or establishments from his neighborhood will make the world safer. But because he refuses to work through grief and instead allows fear to dictate his behavior, these goals are ultimately dissatisfying, leading him to commit bigger offenses in a desperate effort to find peace.

Morality is often the biggest difference between protagonists and villains. His do-not-cross line, if he has one at all, is set much farther back than the protagonist’s, enabling him to do unthinkable things to get what he wants.

Coping With Unmet Needs

Unmet needs are also the result of a wounding event. Being hurt in such a deep, psychological way leaves the character in a protective state: he’d rather go without something (love, pursuing a dream, freedom, etc.) than risk having it stolen from him again. The longer this need goes unsatisfied though, the unhappier a person becomes. In a change arc story, the protagonist will eventually reach a tipping point where he’s no longer willing to live without his unmet need, but the villain doesn’t always get to this place. Why is that?

One possibility is that the antagonist once made an attempt to work through his wounding experience and that attempt was unsuccessful, reinforcing the same pain he first felt. As a result, he became hardened and unwilling to risk that kind of hurt again.

Another likelihood is that the villain refuses to revisit the wound and heal because it’s too painful and so simply muffles the gnawing void by pursuing whatever temporarily eases the hurt. This may result in him rejecting his emotions so he feels nothing for himself or anyone else, thereby enabling him to seek revenge (Howard Payne, Speed) or do truly horrific things without remorse (Jigsaw, Saw franchise).

Or maybe the villain’s dysfunctional behavior is personally satisfying to the extent that he’s not willing to give it up. Vices are ultimately destructive, but on a base level they’re enjoyable; for someone who is in denial or is mentally imbalanced, these activities can act as motivators that make it difficult to sacrifice them in favor of lifelong changes for the better. Understanding how your villain copes with his unmet need will help you write his actions in a way that rings true.

A villain’s motives will have deep roots.

Villains are products of their past, just like everyone else. Genetics and anomalies can play a part, but the overwhelming majority of deranged individuals are that way because of the negative people and events they were exposed to. Knowing what’s driving him and why he’s chosen his particular goal helps you to portray a villain who is credible. If you need help with this, pull out your Emotional Wound Thesaurus book, or visit One Stop for Writers’ vast collection of emotional wounds.

What’s your villain’s motivation in the story? Let me know in the comments!

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About Angela

 

Angela Ackerman is a writing coach, international speaker, and co-author of the bestselling book, The Emotion Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to Character Expression, as well as five others. Her books are available in six languages, are sourced by US universities, and are used by novelists, screenwriters, editors, and psychologists around the world. Angela is also the co-founder of the popular site Writers Helping Writers, as well as One Stop for Writers, an innovative online library built to help writers elevate their storytelling. Find her on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Janice Hardy

For some writers, a blank page is a scary thing to face. Others see all that white space as an opportunity, and can't wait to dive in and tell their story. The vast majority of us probably fall somewhere in between, with some ideas making us eager to write, and some fighting us every for word.

I've discovered through (often painful) trial and error, that my novels go smoothest when I spend some time planning them. I don't have to figure everything out, but knowing what my core conflict is, what my character arc will cover, and who my antagonist is makes it a lot easier to write the novel. I struggle less, my plot comes together more easily, and the first draft turns out much cleaner.

Since October is the planning month for writers gearing up for National Novel Writing Month in November (where you write 50,000 words in 30 days for those who haven't discovered this yet), let's look at some ways to help you jumpstart your next novel idea.

1. Know what your book is really about.

Not truly knowing what I was writing has caused me more writing frustration than anything else I've ever encountered. I've written hundreds of pages I later threw away because I had no idea what I wanted to do. Now, I take the time to figure out my story before I do anything else.

This doesn't mean I need to know every detail, or even have an outline (though I do prefer outlining), but I do need to know what the major problem of the novel is. If I can't clearly identify what my protagonist is struggling with, and what problem has to be solved by the end of the book, then I'm not ready to write the novel.

The best tool I've found for clarifying my idea is to write a one- or two-sentence pitchline for it. Capturing the essence of my story in a few sentences forces me to really know what story I'm writing. If that sentence is vague with nothing to plot from, that's a big red flag I don't have a story to tell yet.

2. Know what your protagonist(s) is going to do.

Many a premise novel has stalled around page one hundred, because a great idea was set up, and then the writer realized the protagonist had nothing to do once that idea was established. The idea was driving the story, not the protagonist--no goal, no motivation to act, no stakes, no conflict. The book was nothing more than the description and explanation of an idea the writer loved.

An idea you love is a great start, but strong stories are about interesting people solving interesting problems interesting ways (many of you have heard me say this plenty of times). I've written entire novels with multiple points of view and dozens of characters where not a dang one of them wanted to do a darn thing. Sure, they went where I told them to, recited their lines like good little actors, but it was all make believe. Nothing about the story felt like real people trying to solve real problems that readers would care about. And this holds true if the problem is saving the world from zombies, or finding love when you've given up on it.

Being clear on what your interesting protagonist needs to do makes it easier for you to have her do it, which creates the plot and gives you things to write about. But that's only half the battle. The other half is...

3. Know who your antagonist is and what he (or she) is up to.

The other half of writing a strong story is putting solid conflict in the way of your protagonist's goals. Once you know what she needs to do, clarify why the antagonist is making it hard for her to do it. Even if the antagonist isn't seen until the climax, his actions will have consequences to what the protagonist is doing, often from page one.

The easiest drafts I've ever written have been ones where I knew going in who my antagonist was and what he was up to. His plan was solid, his motives clear, and I knew how he was going to mess things up for my intrepid hero. So much of what the protagonist does is due to what the antagonist has done, so this is a partnership you want fully fleshed out. It's the back and forth of trying and failing, winning and losing, that keeps readers glued to the page.

4. Know why it all matters.

One of the harder bits of feedback to receive is, "why should I care?" but it's some of the most valuable feedback you'll ever get. If readers don't care, they won't read, and it won't matter how well written a story is, or how cool the idea is.

Whatever your protagonist is doing, give her a reason why doing it matters. Understand your characters' motivations and what's at stake for them if they fail. You don't need to know every detail at the start of the novel, but a general sense of why this is important will help you know what conflicts to use and where the story might go.

A question I like to ask is, "Why can't the protagonist just walk away?" If you can't answer this, or the answer is, "they can but then the plot won't work," that's a red flag that your stakes aren't where they need to be yet.

If you feel confident about the answers to all four of these questions, odds are that your first draft will go more smoothly and you'll run into fewer issues. There will still be things to work out, of course, that's the nature of writing, but you should have a lot fewer writing sessions where you stare at the screen in frustrations and have no idea what to do next.

Plotters or pansters, a little thinking about your story before you start writing it can make a huge difference in how easily that story makes its way to the page.

How much thought and/or planning do you do before you start a novel?

If you're looking for some motivation (and a lot more guidance than these four tips) for your newest novel idea, I'm running a free at-home workshop on my site, Fiction University, all October long. Come on over and check out Idea to Novel in 31 Days. It's also perfect for anyone planning to do NaNoWriMo next month.

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About Janice

Janice Hardy is the award-winning author of the fantasy trilogy, The Healing Wars, and multiple books on writing, including Understanding Show, Don't Tell (And Really Getting It), Planning Your Novel: Ideas and Structure and Revising Your Novel: First Draft to Finished Draft. Her newest release is Understanding Conflict (And What It Really Means). She's also the founder of the writing site, Fiction University. For more advice and helpful writing tips, visit her at www.fiction-university.com or @Janice_Hardy.

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More Help On Writing Your Novel  

Do you have a great story idea? Do you want to turn it into a novel?

Janice Hardy takes you step-by-step through plotting and writing a novel with her book Planning Your Novel: Ideas and Structure. She'll show you how to find and develop ideas, brainstorm stories from that first spark of inspiration to a complete story, develop the right characters, setting, plot, as well as teach you how to identify where your novel fits in the market, and if your idea has what it takes to be a series.

With clear and easy-to-understand examples, Planning Your Novel: Ideas and Structure offers ten self-guided workshops with more than 100 different exercises to help you craft a solid novel. Each workshop builds upon the other to flesh out your idea as much or as little as you need to start writing (useful for both plotters and pantsers). You'll find multiple options that allow you to find the right process that works for you.

For those who like a hands-on approach with easy-to-use worksheets, a companion guide, Planning Your Novel Workbook is also available in paperback.