Actions Speak Louder Than Words

I love complicated, flawed, devious, tempted characters. They’re fun to write and they’re a blast to read. It’s even better when these are main characters in a novel – the heroes of the tale, and not just the villains.

One of the ways you can show a character’s struggle against their inner bad boy/girl, is to have them say one thing and do another. Dialogue is powerful and can jack-knife a story in all sorts of directions – but you can create whopper moments by letting your characters be real. Real people renege on promises, they say they’re going to workout all morning and end up crashing on the couch watching The Quest for the Holy Grail (for the millionth time), they lie, they omit – often times increasing the drama in their lives.

Let’s give you a quick visual reference. Quentin Tarantino is the master of this kind of dialogue/action juxtaposition. Here’s my favourite bit from Pulp Fiction (lines courtesy of www.imdb.com):

Honey Bunny: [about to rob a diner] I love you, Pumpkin.
Pumpkin: I love you, Honey Bunny.
Pumpkin: [Standing up with a gun] All right, everybody be cool, this is a robbery!

The benign exchange of “I love yous” right before this young couple goes postal is insane, shocking, and good for a dark laugh. So why not employ a bit of deception, harmless, or otherwise? I wonder how your character’s contradictory actions will crank up the tension and reveal hidden depths...

Through the Good and the Bad: Crit Partners

This post is going to be a little short, because I totally lost track of the week and now work from my day job is waiting to be done. Despite its length, I think it's an important post. We've all felt overwhelmed in our lives. Once I hit the "publish post" button, I will have officially put my fears, apprehension and doubts away. We'll, at least for awhile.

Recently our crit group took a hiatus. It was much needed for the three of us. Between our personal lives, jobs and book launches (YAY Kitty and Tracy (ahem, I mean Judith!), we found that the group wasn't doing what we set out to accomplish. Instead of it being a safe haven for us to let down our guard as a group and go through our work with a fine tooth comb, it became stressful. At least, that's how it felt to me. We weren't consistent, weren't active enough to be helpful. I found that I would put off the crits and my chapters (we try to crit a chapter a week) until the last moment, because other things in my life were swallowing me whole. I wasn't enjoying it like I used to. In the past, I looked forward all week to their new chapters, waiting to see where their stories went. I sat at the edge of my chair, waiting for their critique of my new words, biting my nails in anticipation whether good or bad. Sadly, that went away.

I was working on two project at the time of our hiatus, but instead of feeling refreshed and creative when jumping back and forth, I just felt overwhelmed. It was like I didn't know if I was coming or going. I thought that I could take a break for a few weeks and then jump back in. To a certain extent I did, at least for awhile. I wrote a VERY rough draft (minus the last few chapters) of one of my ideas. I had fun, but it didn't have the spark I wanted it to. I didn't know why it had lost its whimsical feel that the synopsis, lore and first chapters had. Shrugging it off, I jumped into my other story hoping that I just needed to step back from the first one to get a new perspective when we went back. Writing the second story wasn't as easy. I struggled, and instead of working through it, I put it down. Stupid I know.

After a few months of reflection, I realized what was missing. It wasn't anything that changed with me specifically, it was that I didn't have the safe haven of my crit group to talk me through the bad times, cheer for me through the good. I didn't have them riding me when I didn't write, reminding me why I love to write and read every day. The last few months have been a nice getaway, where I can focus on other things in my life, but now I'm ready to jump back into it. I'm happy to saw that we will be back together starting this Sunday! I look forward to the roller coaster ride that is a fun crit group.

Thanks girls for making me a better writer and making sure that I stay on top of everything. Without you, my work wouldn't be where it is at today. It's all because of you.

(Okay, so I lied, this post isn't that short).

Launch Party Tips and Blog Talk Radio

What a crazy fun weekend! I'm still flying after the UMS Launch Party on Saturday, followed by a wonderful chat with Barry from A Book and A Chat on Blog Talk Radio. Seriously, I'm not sure how I was able to function at school today. I may have to do an inventory of the collection - did I really check in books? Or did I just scan UPC codes by mistake? (Yikes!)

Anyway - I thought it might be cool to pass along a few launch party tips for those of you embarking on a similar journey. So, here goes:

1. No matter how stressed / frazzled you get in the days before the launch - the number one thing to remember is - you have people who love you and will have fun no matter WHAT glitches the night may bring - RELAX already.

2. You have every right to be a stressball - so many things can go WRONG! lol...

3. If you get a cake, make sure it will feed twice as many people as you are expecting for the launch - better to extra cake, than not enough.

4. Breathe.

5. Make sure the smallest act of kindness / helpfulness is acknowledged - most people are out of their element at these events - if someone offers to help clean up tables when the show's over - hug them!

6. Start planning at least 2 months before the launch. Get your venue, have a theme, find an outgoing friend to MC, tap into the local art scene and see if you can feature other artists/musicians - the more you share the spotlight - the bigger the spotlight grows.

7. Invite / blackmail / seduce people into attending - drag folks in off the street if you have to....no one is safe from an author on a launch party mission.

8. Enjoy every second - it goes by in a blur! Thankfully, people like my friend, Dave, have amazing photography skills to help you remember it all.

9. Have another friend take some video footage and add it to the end of your rambling blog post:

Fiction, Non-Fiction and Somewhere in Between

We all know the difference between fiction and non-fiction. It's something we learned in elementary school. Fiction is a story from someone's imagination, not real. Non-fiction is the other beast and can be in different forms. Textbooks, memoirs, biographies, or just a story told that really happened. That's what they are in their simplest form, but what about the in between books that are both?

A lot of us remember the controversy of James Frey's A Million Little Pieces I'm sure. If not, here's a quick back story. Oprah picked the book as one of her book club selections. Mr Frey came on her show, as all the author's do who are lucky enough to be selected. He talked about his heroing experience through battling a drug addiction. Some of his stories were outrageous, but believed. Then it started to come out that the stories were partially true, but how much? James Frey was blamed for lying, the publisher was blamed for selling the book as non-fiction and even Oprah was slammed by the media. People had felt like they were misled. They were, to a certain extent.

It leads me to wonder, do people read a book, whether it is truth or fiction, for entertainment value, or something more? I was never a huge fan of non-fiction until recently. I'm in the middle of reading Columbine by Dave Cullen. It's a facinating breakdown of what happened before, during and after the terrible tragedy that took place at Columbine high school. The author dedicated his life since the shooting to this book and it shows. I know everything that I'm reading is real, it happened, or I'm told that the events took place as they are written so I have to believe it, right? I want my non-fiction as entertaining as any fiction book I could read. If I wanted a book to read like a textbook, I'd go back to school.

Then there is the in between books. I think most authors use their own stories in their books. It's only human nature. You are who you are due to your life experiences, right? So where do those books lie? Ellen Hopkins' Crank is based on experiences she lived through with her daughter, but it is fiction, because the story isn't exactly how it happened. She uses her life experiences in her books, but it's still fiction.

I'm currently working on a story along the same lines. I lived it, yet I'm changing the story because honestly, it makes for a better story when I bend it. I won't be pitching it as a biography, memoir or non-fiction, but there will be truth to it. I don't care if readers know that I lived some of it, all I care about is if it is a good story.

What are you thoughts on non-fiction and books that use a large portion of truth to tell a good (fictional) story?

Pimp My Line: Or…Bland Verbs / Weak Descriptions

When revising, it’s amazing how you can transform a scene, or thought, or sentence, by cranking up verbs, adding details and character quirks. For example, the following sentence is good and functional.

He walked into the busy room.

We have a subject, “he” (an un-named, expendable crewman perhaps?), a verb, “walked”, and a setting, “busy room”. But what we don’t have is the reader’s attention. There’s nothing here to grab, thrill, confound, or perk their interest.

The sentence is a lost opportunity. As a writer of flash fiction (as well as longer works), I’ve learned it’s possible to tell an entire story in as little as 50 words, complete with plot, character, setting, and conflict.

Here’s my second pass at that functional sentence:

Kyle burst into the guy’s john, did the happy dance as he passed a line of shocked faces at the urinals, and then bolted himself in a stall. “Lactose intolerance…” He gave them a single warning.

So, what did I really do here? I gave the character a name, a more active verb and an unusual setting. Then I expanded, pulled my writer’s camera back a bit from Kyle, and gave the scene some perspective. I included the urinal users as he uttered his dire warning. That small bit of dialogue gives us his motivation and hints at the scenes outcome.

Now, if I can do all that in just 36 words….what can YOU do to tweak your work-in-progress today? I dare you to find even just one functional sentence and crank it up.

I’d love to read examples. If you’re keen for a challenge, or could use a writer prompt-ish activity on this fine Monday, then take this sentence and run with it (posting your work in a comment would be marvy!).

Pimp My LINE: She wished everyone would go away.

Characters Who Change (or Regenerate) Throughout Time

Thanks to everyone who commented on my Dr Who post last week! I was pleased we had so many people who read this blog and are big Who fans. With that being said, I decided to write another post relating to Dr Who, but this one actually had to do with character development. If you don't watch the show, stick around. It's not just about Dr Who, but characters in general.

When I first learned about the world of Dr Who, I was shocked that the main characters change so often. For those of you who don't watch the show, throughout the years (1963-89 and 2005-present) 11 people have played the main character, the Doctor. That's a LOT of people playing the same character when you really think about it. Each actor brings their own take on the famous Doctor, making each one unique in his own way. The show explains the change seamlessly because the Doctor can regenerate. He is supposed to be the same man inside, with all the memories of the past doctors, but just have a different appearance. That being said, as I mentioned, each actor brings their own ideas to playing him, as I would expect them to.

This got me to thinking. Why is it accepted? Yes, the plot stays steady, the lore and world don't change (except with small plot changes that build the world each episode). That's all good, but don't people tune into a TV show each week because they have an attachment to the characters? I know I do. Once a character becomes unlikeable or even a little boring, I stop watching. Maybe that is why it is such a success, because the Doctor gets a refresher every few years.

Growing up on American TV, I always felt like an actor change meant the death of the show. Think about it, each time you heard the voice over come on as a new actor you had never seen before on the show enters the scene, you would hear "The part of ____ is now played by ____". Instantly, you knew the show wouldn't last. It's like the same curse of characters having babies on shows. It's like the last ditch effort to save it. One of my favorite shows, Mad About You, is a great example. They had a baby, because honestly, what else was left for Jaime and Paul Buchman to do? A year or two later, the show was off the air. I honestly think the only time actor changes on US TV (and I say US TV, because really that's all I can relate to) can be pulled of smoothly is on soap operas. It's expected. The same soap operas have been on since before I was born (but that's for another post).

I guess my point is, why do we accept it on Dr Who? It would be like a main character changing major aspects of themselves (their looks, and lets be honest, a lot of their personality) in our favorite book series'. Would you still read Harry Potter if he acted a different way and looked different from book to book? He wouldn't be the same character we all know and love.

On that note, how about his friends? We all love Ron and Hermione. What if all of the sudden, he got a new set of friends in each book, just as the Doctor changes out companions almost every season? Would the world of Harry Potter feel as familiar and comforting? I don't think so.

I'd love to hear everyone's thoughts, even if you don't watch Dr. Who. Do you watch a TV Show because you fall in love with an actor/character, or do you watch for the package, the world, lore, etc?

Fiction to DIE for

I’m developing a series of writer workshop presentations, under my pen name, Judith Graves. Judith is a paranormal sort of writer chick – so there’s definitely a gothic tone happening in these initial planning sessions. I thought I’d post a few of my ramblings – yes, I will be taking my own advice adding details, examples and then slicing these babies down to size. ;) ‘Cause, hell, I’m still learning how to write killer fiction…aren’t we all.

Anyway, here are a few tips on writing fiction to DIE for:

Dreadful Details

Readers desire to escape, to be immersed in another world – another life. To achieve this, the author must vomit out all the strange, dramatic, stark, perplexing, dreadful details that make their characters, settings, plot – the only world the reader cares about. This can not be done with vague impressions, throw away descriptions, and clichéd personalities.

Infectious Incidents

Each incident of action, or inaction, your main character faces must further infect his/her world, spreading like a puss-filled rash into every aspect of their lives, cranking the conflict to toxic levels. At their last gasp, your character’s prognosis must be clear – either they do X, or they die (or some part of them does).

Evil Edits

Edits and revisions are the necessary evil of all writers. No good writing comes without the swipe of an author’s reaper-ish scythe – hacking and slashing through the filler, or the maniacal re-working of plot lines and scenes. Edits may be writing’s dark side, but every author must face their own work and see its flaws in order to dig deep and bring their tale into the light.

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Yeah, so that's kind of the intro. Next post - how to get under your character's skin (see what I did there?!) and summon those dreadful details to the surface.