Writers in the Storm

by Linda O. Johnston 

If you’re a writer, what’s your favorite part of writing a story--and how do you make an element your favorite?

How about character?

I always like to focus when I’m starting a new book on determining who my protagonists are going to be.  What are you going to do to them in your story, and how will they deal with it in a way that makes you, and your readers, care?

If you do it right, characters are a shoo-in for being your favorite part of your story.

So how do you decide on your characters?  So much about who your protagonists are depends on the kind of story you’re writing.

If it’s a romance, you can imagine even as you start thinking about your story who you’d like your hero and heroine to be.  What will make them attracted to one another?  Their appearances?  Sure.  But there’s got to be more.  Something about the personality of each of them will draw the other.  But there also must be differences and flaws so they’ll not run into one another’s arms at the very beginning but fight their attraction till the end, and the happily-ever-after.

There are as many different kinds of characters as there are real people.  It’s so easy for a writer to fall in love with their human creations... and that’s half the fun of writing about them!

So... yes, a writer’s favorite part of a story can be its characters.

But wait!  There’s also plot.

Do you love figuring out what happens to your main characters, and why?  How does that plot develop in a way that keeps you writing and will keep readers reading?  Oh, yeah, if you have the most fun deciding what will happen in your story, then plot can be your favorite element.

Your plot depends a lot on what you’re writing--what genre or subgenre.  Plus, there are different ways of plotting.  Let’s say the story is romance, yes--but romantic suspense.  Now you have the fun of figuring out even before you begin not only who your characters are and what their characteristics are that keep them apart, but also the external factors, like danger, that they additionally have to overcome.   That danger can make them work together, fight together... make love together.   So plotting a romantic suspense story can really be enjoyable.

Or make it a mystery.  Yes, there can be a romantic interest there, but the focus on that kind of plot has to be on figuring out what the mystery is--a murder, or something else?  And if someone is killed, who and why--and how will your protagonist figure that out?  It has to be over the course of the story, and plotting it out can be lots of fun.

Yes, plot, too, can be a writer’s favorite part of a story.

Then there’s setting. 

It’s important in the development of both the characters and the plot.  In fact, location can be a character unto itself.  And just think of how much fun you can have if you decide on someplace far from home... and just have to take the time and effort to go research it!

Okay, maybe it’s too far and too expensive.  But there’s always the Internet to help.  So, location as a favorite part of a story?  Sure!

For example, a story set in Alaska, like my Harlequin Nocturne ALASKAN WOLF, may have similarities to others in the Alpha Force miniseries about a covert military unit of shapeshifters, but the atmosphere is quite different from the others such as the first story, ALPHA WOLF, set in Maryland’s Eastern Shore, or the newest one, UNDERCOVER WOLF, set in Bar Harbor, Maine, and Acadia National Park.  In my Pet Rescue Mystery Series for Berkley Prime Crime, and the series from which it spun off--my Kendra Ballantyne, Pet-Sitter mystery series--nearly all the stories are set in Los Angeles where I live.  L.A. becomes a character of sorts, too, and helps the stories develop.

Okay, what else can be your favorite part of a story? 

That’s up to you.  But you can also have fun with minor characters and subplots.  They each help to support the protagonists and keep the stories going.   For example, in my Harlequin Nocturne miniseries, the protagonists of one story may become supporting characters in subsequent ones.  That’s because, the main characters are always the hero and heroine in romances, but the covert Alpha Force military unit remains the background for all the stories.  And in my Pet Rescue Mysteries, I usually have something else going on besides the murder mystery, often involving--what else?--rescuing pets.

What part of a story I’m writing is my favorite? 

Usually it's a combination of factors, that can often change.  Mostly, I like to get to know my characters, get them talking to me about who they are and how they want to address whatever is going on in the story.  And they do talk to me--usually when it’s late at night and I’m taking a bath or lying in bed.  I always have pen and note cards so I can jot down what they tell me.

They’re all different.  Lauren Vancouver, protagonist of my Pet Rescue Mysteries, is quite different in her outlook and activities from her predecessor Kendra Ballantyne, from my Pet-Sitter Mysteries.  The various characters in my Alpha Force Nocturnes are always unique, and yet many--but not all--of them have the common trait of being shape shifters.  And, yes, the werewolves talk to me, too.

So... do you know, starting out, what your favorite part of what you’re writing will be?  Or does it come to you as you’re writing?

Is everything equally fun? You know, as I reread this, it’s pretty clear that everything is entwined (as if I didn’t know!).  So maybe you have a favorite element and concentrate on it as you write, but each other element must fit with it for your story to work.  Keep that in mind as you both plan and write.

Now, how about you as a reader:  what’s your favorite part of reading a story?

Linda O. Johnston is the author of 31 published novels, with more to come.  She currently writes the Pet Rescue Mysteries for Berkley Prime Crime, a spinoff series from her Kendra Ballantyne, Pet-Sitter mysteries, also for Berkley .   The first Pet Rescue Mystery, BEAGLEMANIA, is part of the Penguin Group’s Read Humane Program promoting animal rescue and the Humane Society of the U.S. , and its spokesperson is Nora Roberts.  The second Pet Rescue Mystery THE MORE THE TERRIER, was an October 2011 release, and the third, HOUNDS ABOUND, was an April 2012 release.

Linda additionally writes paranormal romance for Harlequin Nocturne--the Alpha Force miniseries about a covert military unit of shapeshifters, and her first Harlequin Romantic Suspense, UNDERCOVER SOLDIER, is a July 2012 release.

Our guest today is Amy Sue Nathan, a debut Women's Fiction Author, with great tips on how to get out of your character's way.  I've heard great things about her novel, so be sure to check it out! Here's Amy:

When I hunkered down to write a novel about a divorced mom in the suburbs whose ex-husband had suddenly died, I had a little bit of trouble separating the words and actions of Evie, my main character, from my own words and actions.  After all, I was a divorced mom in the suburbs whose ex-husband had died suddenly.  Yet, I wasn’t writing a memoir, nor was I writing a novel ripped from the headlines, based on a true story, or even inspired by one. While the springboard for The Glass Wives was born in truth, I wanted the main character, Evie, to bear little resemblance to me. But when I started writing, I kept forgetting that.

I inserted myself into the pages and the characters (all of them) much more so that was necessary, or warranted, or let’s face it—desirable.  This method did not allow for individual characters to take shape with their own arcs, their own back stories, and their own drive toward the end of book.

In those first drafts the characters were all different parts of me instead of whole characters unto themselves. No wonder they seemed so familiar.  No wonder the story had little conflict and lots of resolution (chronic conflict-avoider at your service). No wonder the writing was, dare I say, flowing.

After getting plenty of feedback on the quiet nature of my story, how the conflict wasn’t intense enough, the characters exciting enough, I was convinced that no one “got it”. What did they know?  But the story taunted me.

I needed to tell the story of a single mom and a newfangled family. I wanted to tell the story of moving forward after exponential loss.  I needed to give single moms a voice louder than my own.

So I kept writing.

Then one day, while revising a tense, emotional scene for the umpteenth time, a scene I had been told was not tense or emotional enough (jeez) I kept thinking how I would never do or say the things Evie needed to do and say in that scene.  It was barely believable, I thought. I felt bullied by my attempts and annoyed at my intention to deviate from reasonable ways to behave in that situation.  The situation I’d created on the page!

And then it hit me.

I didn’t have to think it was normal or okay or reasonable or meaningful or necessary.  Evie did.  She was her own person.  And frankly, she told me to go blow. To go blow and keep writing, I should say.

I adopted WHAT WOULD EVIE DO as my mantra and posted W-W-E-D around my computer, my desk, on the notepads that surrounded me in my various writing stations around the house. Some muses have harps.  Some muses have wings.  My muse had four simple letters.

Seeing the WWED acronym everywhere changed my thinking as if it were a light turned on after hours in a pitch-dark room.  It was so damn bright it almost hurt, but made everything clear.

After that, anytime I thought about myself in a situation presented in the book, I said it aloud: What Would Evie Do? It was direct. It got me back on track.

When I wasn’t writing, but was thinking about writing or when a scene or line of dialogue was harassing me while I was doing something else, I doodled WWED instead of doodling hearts and flowers and squiggly lines. I wrote it on napkins, grocery lists, and a few times, on the top of my hand. This acronym lifted me out of my own head and life and landed me in Evie’s.  And then I grew quite comfortable there.

The result was that Evie behaved very differently than I would most of the time.  It became natural to write in Evie’s headspace, on her behalf, fighting her battles, suffering her losses, winning her wars, and baking her cookies.

Without that writing and character revelation I believe that The Glass Wives would be in a drawer, or defunct file folder or in yet another round of mild-mannered revisions.

Allowing Evie to have things her way is what enabled me to finish the book, sign with an agent, and for him to sell the novel. It is what enabled me to revise it again with an editor.  And then get a book cover. Start promotion.  Schedule events.  Plan for book clubs.

So, What Would Evie Do now?

I think she’d tell me to leave her alone, and finish writing my next book.

Amy Sue Nathan’s debut novel, The Glass Wives, is forthcoming from St. Martin’s Griffin, May 14, 2013. She hosts the popular blog, Women’s Fiction Writers, and has been published in many newspapers and journals.  Amy is the mom of a son in college, a daughter in high school, and two rambunctious rescued dogs.  You can visit her website AmySueNathan.com and follow her on Twittter @AmySueNathan, where she tweets about writing, par

Just a quick announcement -- Liz Flaherty won the Advanced Reader Copy of Anne Clelland's Historical, Tainted Angel.  Liz, you'll leave her a review everywhere, right?

Charlotte Carter is back, sharing with us her experience as the author of 57 books (no, that's not a typo!) When you talk, Char, we listen!

I was absolutely exhausted the first time I finished a scene with 5 characters on stage at once, and I hadn’t lost a one. Working with multiple characters can be tricky. It’s easy to confuse the reader. You may have more he said/she said than you’d like. And the mother-in-law sleeping on the couch in the scene may vanish amid all the chatter.

Fortunately, there are a few ‘tricks’ you can use to make the scene work.

1. Characters do not necessarily speak in order.

If you listen to a conversation around the dinner table, A doesn’t speak first followed by B and then C and D. It’s more likely that A speaks, then B, A again, C jumps in and D may be too shy to speak at all. So vary the order of speech and make every bit of dialogue work to move the story forward.

2. Characters can move without talking.

Shy character D (as seen by the Point of View [POV] character,) may get up from the table to get a glass of water, answer the phone or walk out in a snit. Or when D sits down again, she may have something profound to say.

3. When a character does talk, the dialogue needs a tag or action to identify the speaker, often by name, if there are several characters present.

Here are some examples. I’ve included the proper punctuation because, yes, in contests I have seen the punctuation done incorrectly. Ack! Talk about a dead giveaway that the author is inexperienced.

Dialogue tag - “I’m going to the store (comma)” Mary said (comma)

holding up her car keys.

Action - “I’m going to the store (period)” Mary held up her car keys.

“I won’t be gone long (period)”

Action first - Mary grabbed her car keys and said (comma) “I’m going

to the store (period)”

If you’re not sure of the punctuation, check any of your ‘keeper’ reference books.

4. The POV character can interpret what the characters are saying or thinking.

He can see that ‘shy’ D may not be speaking but her face is growing redder by the moment because she is so angry. Meanwhile, he recognizes that Mr. B, her boyfriend, is totally oblivious to how his words are effecting D.

5. Last, but equally important, Don't lose the baby or the dog or the mother-in-law.

The POV character may note that D glances at the sleeping baby to be sure she’s okay. Or the POV character may, in internal thought, be glad his mother-in-law is snoring away, or he may slip the dog a bite of meat under the table.

Another tip: Introducing a cast of thousands in the opening scene of your book is deadly. You may want to introduce all the major characters - brothers, sisters, cousins - but the reader does not need to meet them in the first ten pages. Start small. Give the reader a chance to get to know and care about one or two characters. Assorted relatives and friends can wait.

What problems do you have writing dialogue?

Happy reading and writing....

Char.......

www.CharlotteCarter.com

Char frequently visits Harlequin.com forums; watch for her comments and writing tips. http://community.harlequin.com/forumdisplay.php/12-The-Writer-s-Circle