Monday, September 30, 2013

The 10 Greatest Books Ever

Open Culture has an article called The 10 Greatest Books Ever, according to 125 Top Authors. Read the list, see if you agree. It's also fun to read the comments, most of which consist of their favorite books that weren't ON the list. Come on, people, the author of the article didn't choose the Top 10, the "125 Top Authors" chose them! An interesting read, regardless. And no, I didn't agree that those were the Top 10. Maybe I should do a Top 10 of my favorite books...

-Sonja

Thursday, September 26, 2013

Writers and INFJ's

Several days ago, Kristen Lamb's blog post stated something that caught my attention. She said, "As artists and writers many of us fall in the INFJ or ENFJ sectors of the Myers-Briggs. What this means is that we process information and interpret our reality through intuition (N) and emotion (F). We have a heightened sense of empathy." That passage stuck out to me because I'm neither an INFJ or an ENFJ. In fact, I'm the opposite. I'm an ISTJ (note the two letters in the middle are different - that means opposite in the Myers-Briggs stuff).

(Photo courtesy of Pinterest)

Let me back up a bit for those of you who are lost. To figure out what personality type you are on the Myers-Briggs scale, ask yourself four questions:

1. Where do you get your energy? If you feel energized in a crowd or around people, you are an Extrovert (E). If you recharge your energies by being alone, you're an Introvert (I).

2. How do you deal with incoming information? If you filter what you see, hear, touch, taste, and smell, you are a Sensing (S) person. If you are introspective, highly imaginative, and think problems through, then your'e an Intuitive (N).

3. How do you deal with decisions? If you are objective and analyze the pros and cons, you're a Thinking person (T). If you look at multiple points of view and take into account how others will feel about the decision, you're a Feeling person (F).

4. How do you live your life? If you like planning, organizing, settling and deciding for yourself, you're a Judgment person (J). If you're flexible, spontaneous, and adaptive, you're Perceiving (P).

Pick one letter from each question, and that spells out your personality type. (See previous posts for tons of detail about each of these personalities.) As noted above, I'm an ISTJ. That means I recharge by being alone (many writers are this way), I see the world analytically through my senses, I like things orderly, I'm a hard-core pragmatist, and I rarely take into consideration other people's feelings. That's not to say I can't empathize, but I'm often accused of being rude or insensitive. Doesn't bother me a bit, but I digress.

Kristen, in her blog post, mentioned that many writers aren't like me at all. I can live with that. Differences make the world go around. It just got me to wondering: How many of you fall into the INFJ/ENFJ camp? How many aren't anywhere close? Please share! I think it'd be fun to see how many different personality types think of themselves as writers, and how different we all are from each other.

-Sonja

Tuesday, September 24, 2013

Creating a Vibrant Secondary Character

I've been mining goodness out of Donald Maass' workbook Writing the Breakout Novel. Chapter 10 is all abut secondary characters. I'm usually pretty good at coming up with secondary characters, but there's always room for improvement. Maass says secondary characters have to be every bit as engaging as primary characters--they can't be forgettable, boring, or predictable. How do you turn a boring character into an interesting one? 

(This is Watto, a secondary character from Star Wars. Photo courtesy of wikipedia)


Here's what Maass says about creating vibrant secondary characters:

Choose one of your boring characters. Now write down his defining quality (in a separate document from the novel, obviously). Is he charming? Clever? Witty? Have a knack of being at the right place at the right time? Write it down. Then write down the opposite of that quality and create a paragraph in which the character demonstrates the opposite quality you have identified. Do it now. I'll wait.

Now give that character an inner conflict. What does he want most? What's the opposite of that desire? How can he want both things simultaneously? How can they be mutually exclusive? Write it all down.

Next, come up with things this character would never do, say, or think (is this all sounding familiar to you? It should, because we did these same exercises with the protagonist last week). Find places in your novel where your secondary character must say, do, or think the things you've come up with.

By developing your secondary characters as fully as the protagonist, they become more interesting, more vibrant, more indispensable to the story. Granted, most of their back-story may never come out, but it can. Play with it in your novel. As long as the secondary characters don't take over the protagonist's role, they'll help the hero rather than hinder.

Care to share what you came up with? Your comments are helpful and desired.

-Sonja

Friday, September 20, 2013

Reversing Motives

I'm studying Donald Maass' book Writing The Breakout Novel  for the umpteenth time. Every time I look at it, I see something I need to work on. Today I want to share an exercise he gives on reversing motives. 

(this photo of Luke Skywalker's motive is brought to you by rerolled.org)

Your protagonist has a reason for doing what he does--even if it's just the "I wanted to" excuse. Every scene should have a scene objective, or what your protagonist hopes to accomplish, and the protagonist's attempt to get what he wanted. No self-respecting protagonist would do something for no reason whatsoever--reader's won't believe it. So what happens if your protagonist's motives aren't powerful enough to sustain the scene? What if they're boring? What if your middle is sagging and you can't figure out how to fix it? Maass suggests an interesting exercise in reversing motives. Maybe that will fix your dilemma.

1.  Your first step is to choose a scene from your WIP and figure out what your protagonist is trying to accomplish, obtain, or avoid. Write down your protag's objective. 

Using the above example, Luke's objective is to rescue the princess and fight for the good guys. When the bad guys kill his family, he has no excuses for NOT going, so he does.

2. Write a complete list of the reasons why your protagonist is doing what he's doing. Find as many motives as you can. Go ahead, I'll wait while you write them down. 

Luke had many motives: avenge his father's death (or so he thought), avenge his aunt and uncle's death, use his skills as a pilot, see the beautiful princess face-to-face, get out of the backwater and into the world, and learn about the Jedi ways so he can follow in his father's footsteps.

3. Circle the last reason on your list. (I'll drop the example now, since we couldn't/shouldn't rewrite this story.)

4. Re-write the scene using only that motive for reaching the objective.

Maass follows this exercise with another bit of wisdom:

In my workshops, nearly three-quarters of participants find that they prefer the approach to the scene that this exercise yields. Why is that? First choices in writing a scene often are the easiest: the ones that make sense and feel safest. But safe choices make a scene predictable. Reversing motives shake up a scene. It makes its course less expected, yet no less logical since the action still comes from your character's true, deep motives. 

Step outside the safe boundaries and see if this exercise helps your scene. Maybe the last motive on the list doesn't work, and you'll need to choose a different one from the list. Maybe your original was the strongest and shouldn't be changed. Examine six more scenes and re-do the exercise. If you're feeling dedicated, do every scene.

See if all that unpredictability makes your story a better read. Share your successes in the comments section, please.

This is completely off-topic, but Kristen Lamb's blog post from yesterday was hysterical. Go read it and see if you agree that she's a funny lady. I'll admit that I, too, am of Viking ancestry, and the idea of being laid to rest in a wooden Viking ship (shaped like a dragon, of course) then set adrift and set on fire sounds like an excellent way to leave this mortal plane. Since hubby has to deal with the permits, I'm in the clear.

-Sonja

Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Building an Awesome Protagonist

I've been re-reading Donald Maass' excellent book Writing The Break-Out Novel. There's also a workbook that goes along with it. In the chapter dealing with creating protagonists, there's an interesting exercise I'd like to share with you. 

(photo courtesy of amazon.com)

First, answer the following questions:

1. What is the one thing your protagonist would never, ever say?
2. What is the one thing your protagonist would never, ever do?
3. What is the one that your protagonist would never, ever think?

Now find a place in your story where your protagonist must say, do, and think those things. I know it sounds hard, but look at these examples:

  • Bilbo Baggins would never, ever say that wizards can be trusted. He'd never, ever embark on an adventure. He'd never, ever think about going on such an adventure. And yet...

  • Luke Skywalker would never, ever say that Darth Vader could be an agent of good. He'd never, ever leave his aunt and uncle to rescue a princess. He'd never, ever think that he could master the Jedi ways. And yet...

  • Cassandra Christofides (the heroine of one of my novels) would never, ever say she could be used by God to save another person's life. She'd never, ever drive herself to Seattle. She'd never, ever think that she could make a difference. And yet...

Maass gives this tidbit at the end of the exercise:

What qualifies as a larger-than-life action? Winking at a stranger is easy for a flirt; to a shy person it is huge. Taking a swing at someone is no big deal for a boxer; for me it would be life changing. Whatever it is, it is a surprise. If feels big. It feels outrageous. It is satisfying because once in a while we would all like to let loose our inner devil--or angel. Here is your chance. Let your character do, say, or think something memorable.

Now try it on your protagonist. Share your thoughts with the rest of us in the comments section, please.

-Sonja


Monday, September 16, 2013

Heroic Protagonist

First off, let me say that Pinterest can be a major time-suck. Wow, is it addictive! I saw the cutest picture the other day (see below). Believe it or not, this actually has to do with my post.

(I have no clue where this photo came from - I got it off Pinterest. Please don't sue me if you're the legal owner of this shot, just send me a note and I'll give you all the credit for it.)

Every novel has a hero. Usually he's called the protagonist (or she - I'm being generic here). But sometimes we strive so hard to make our protagonist an Ordinary Joe, we forget to give him that something extra special that makes him stand out from the rest of the characters. Think about your favorite superhero. I'm going with Wonder Woman, since I wanted to grow up to be her. Now brainstorm what it is about that hero that makes you love him/her so much. I loved Wonder Woman's combo of justice-seeking and compassion. Plus she could kick butt with those smoking boots. But it was the justice that really appealed to me.

Now examine the protagonist in your current WIP (work in progress). Does he/she have a unique, heroic quality, something that makes him/her shine? If not, you need to come up with one. I'll give you a minute...

Excellent. The next step is to find a way to actively demonstrate that quality in the first scene or two. Yes, you read that correctly. Showcase this dandy trait right away. The reader will instantly love the hero/protagonist and want to stick around to see what happens.

Or you could give the hero the exact opposite and work it into the inner journey. Incorporate that heroic quality into your final conflict: the hero NEEDS that quality to overcome the final obstacle. If he doesn't have it, the antagonist wins. Here's a simple example: your hero needs to selflessly put himself in a potentially deadly situation to save another. The heroic quality he needs is bravery. At the beginning of the novel, you'll put your hero in a situation where he needs to be brave and put himself in harms way, and he can't. Somewhere near the middle, give him another shot at it. Again he fails. Then, when he's faced with the ending conflict, the reader doesn't really know if your hero will succeed for fail. 

This second scenario makes for a more exciting read, but it leaves your hero looking like an Ordinary Joe at the beginning, so you'll need to come up with something else to make him appealing: he's vulnerable, or he cares about someone else more than he cares about himself, or he helps weaker people when it's in his power to help, or he's in the midst of a hardship, something like that.

Share your thoughts in the comment section. What heroic quality does your protagonist have, and how did you showcase it in the first or second scene?

-Sonja

Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Get Destructive

Have you ever gotten stuck in the middle of your novel and don't know what happens next? Or worse, you know exactly where the middle is supposed to lead, but it's too boring to write it down? Or maybe you're cruising along and you realize that things are just too easy for your protagonist, but you don't know how to fix that problem.

The solution: Destroy Something.

(this destructive force courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net)

Destroy a relationship. Pick someone your hero is close to, then ruin that relationship somehow: a miscommunication, a divergent set of life goals, a disagreement over a core value, or an injustice perpetrated by someone else that, if discovered, would mend the relationship instead of destroy it. The closer the relationship, the better. Best friends are awesome, but having a spouse walk away is much more devastating.

Destroy a core value. Maybe your hero begins the novel believing that good always triumphs, but suddenly comes face-to-face with proof that sometimes the bad guys win. My mom always told me "life isn't fair," but I didn't want to believe it because my sense of justice and fair-play are so finely tuned (read: totally out of whack). It shakes up a person something good when they realize that what they thought was Truth is not true.

Destroy a special place. Tornado, fire, flood, pick your Act of God and knock out the family home, the retirement community where Grandma lives, or the gravesite of a lost love. Your hero will need to work through the grieving process (denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance), and while working through that process is healthy, it can also through a major wrench into the time-sensitive catastrophe known as the Main Plot Line.

Destroy hope. Your hero is working to Get What He Wants. Then, like in The Empire Strikes Back, everything goes wrong and all hope is lost. Now your hero can't see how he could possible achieve is goal and Get What He Wants. This is part of Making Things Worse, but if you're stuck, it's a great place to start getting un-stuck.

Destroy a life. This is a variation on Destroy a Relationship, but it's much more permanent. The death of someone close to the hero will definitely shake up his world and alter his course. I know it's a bummer to say goodbye to a beloved character, but sometimes you have to. Give it a shot and see what happens.

Can you think of anything else to destroy? Share with us all in the comments section.

-Sonja

Thursday, September 5, 2013

The All-Important Book Title

I had a major disappointment yesterday. While searching for comp titles (those are books that are similar to mine) for my unpublished book RELENTLESS, I discovered the perfect match: a book about a guy with superhero powers, written by a Christian (so it didn't have the ubiquitous sex scene), that had decent sales. The problem? The name of the book is RELENTLESS (by Robin Parrish, if you want to read it based on that description).
(These awesome words are courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net)

It's nearly impossible to come up with a one-word title that hasn't already been taken (I concede that there probably isn't a book out there entitled TOEJAM--I'm talking about a good title). Since titles can't be copywrited, it's possible to find two books with the same title, but they're usually in different genres, or from different decades, or one's mainstream (ABA) while the other's Christian (CBA). If the title you absolutely love for your book has already been taken, there's a chance you could still make it work.

But not in my case. The other book is within my genre, it's CBA, and it's within this decade (2006). Obviously, I can't keep the truly awesome name I came up with for my book. The name that inspired the entire book. The name that kept me slogging along to finish the thing because the title was so blessedly awesome. Okay, maybe I've gone a bit overboard. The fact still remains, I have to come up with a different name, and it's going to feel all wrong. 

There's no getting out of it, though. I'll have to start brainstorming soon. Has this ever happened to you? Or worse, you couldn't find a great name for your book at all and had to settle for a mediocre one? Please share.

-Sonja

Monday, September 2, 2013

Creating Inner Conflict

The best novels feature characters who grow through their trials (or in the case of tragedies, fail to grow). It's called the inner journey, or inner arc, or as Donald Maass puts it in his book Writing The Break-Out Novel, inner conflict. I'm working with this concept now in my current WIP (work in progress), but it's tricky. This is the second book of a series. My character already grew in book 1 and conquered one of her biggest fears. What's left for her to conquer?
(This inner conflict brought to you by freedigitalphotos.net)

Maass has an excellent workbook to go along with the text that includes an exercise sheet. The questions say, "Thinking about your protagonist in the novel as a whole, what is it that your protagonist most wants? Write that down." Then, "Write down whatever is the opposite of that." Finally, "How can your protagonist want both of those things simultaneously? What would cause your protagonist to want them both? What steps would he actively take to pursue those conflicting desires?"

This exercise is making me dig deeper in my character, to discover things that hadn't occurred to me before. Cassie still has her besetting fears (agoraphobia, xenophobia, arachnophobia, and the list continues), but she's working on them. She began the conquering process in book 1. Now book 2 deals with a new set of issues: she wants to use her "gift" to save people. But she still wants to hang onto her comfort zones. How can she save people if she refuses to leave her home? How can she use her gift and avoid strangers? She obviously can't have both.

Interesting dilemma. I'll play around with this idea and see what I come up with. In the mean time, take a look at your own WIP and identify what your protagonist wants most and how the opposite would create a beautiful mess of your story. Feel free to share your results in the comments section.

-Sonja