EAS 2: Authentic Character Emotion – Flaws, Growth, Arcs, and Transformation

Our characters are people – real in our mind, real on the page, and real in our hearts. Make them as real to your readers as they are to you.

This is the most important part of a novel. We might have excellent plots that twist and turn with fresh surprises at every angle, or a beautiful, imaginative world that inspires us with awe. Maybe a fresh, fascinating story rarely told, or even masterful prose with transcendent knowledge and application of language. But take any book you love, replace the characters with flat shadows of people, and you are left only with empty, black ink.

From the first line of our story, invest the reader in the characters we create. Show us what they care about. It could be as important as saving the universe, or as small as caring for a single daisy. But if our characters care, our readers will care. So, how do we do this?

Real people have passions. If our character loves gardening, don’t tell us that she gardens everyday. Show us how warm she feels as the sun beats on her back, as her hands ache with the pressure of churning soil, how much she sweats as she labors away for hours, but show us her satisfaction of witnessing seeds of nothingness grow with time into delicious tomatoes, or red roses, or juicy watermelons. And she doesn’t have to be good at it. She just needs to be passionate about it.

Emotion is universal. Everybody can identify with it, so the stronger the emotion (well…this can be overdone), the stronger the connection. I recommend overstating emotion. In theatre, emotion is overstated, as it is in cinema and books. But the reader won’t be able to tell if you do it right. Exaggerated emotion is one of the keys to storytelling. This doesn’t mean our character runs around on a rampage shooting or slicing everyone up, neither does it mean our character should drive around crying everywhere after her boyfriend dumps her. Here’s what it can mean: Our character reacts internally after witnessing a herd of buffalo stampede over her freshly budded grove of plant life. Depending on what kind of person she is, she could scream, “NOOOOOOOO!!!!!!” (not recommended), or we can show her feeling the strong loss of creating something from nothing, then shoving down the exaggerated emotion, only to unleash it at a later time – directed at someone undeserving. Which is the more interesting story? Who do you identify with more? If your answer is the screaming psychopath, perhaps you should join Darth Vader and the Dark Side.

Point is, when readers identify with the characters, and when they have a stake in the story, we become invested. And when we become invested, we now have a stake in the story. We’ll flip the pages from cover to cover to see what happens next, unable to set the book down. We’ll feel both satisfied at the end, and disappointed there is nothing of the story left to read.

In the title, I also mentioned growth. In a great story, not only does our protagonist change, but our antagonist also changes. Many writers miss the latter point. This doesn’t necessarily mean our antagonist transforms into a saint, but it can mean they learn an important life lesson, or devolve into something even worse.

So, growth of our protagonists. (We can also show protagonists devolving.) What better way to show growth at the end, than flaws at the beginning. Real people have flaws, right? You have flaws, don’t you? I certainly have no flaws, but we all know you do, right? Right, where were we? Flaws, yeah. It’s okay for our characters to have flaws, especially if they’re universally identifiable. What makes a story interesting is how our characters deal with those flaws. Do they learn from their mistakes and get over hard-learned obstacles? Or do they fall to the Dark Side like our forever-friend Darth Vader? Show the story, don’t tell it. Make the reader a friend by showing our characters’ experiences as they endure them. Then leave that lasting impression by showing how far they’ve come. Key is to show our protagonists’ progression little at a time, then compound the growth with extreme experiences. But never leave them stagnant. On the opposite end of the spectrum, if our characters grow too much too quickly, they might lose that ever-so-important quality – reader identification.

Transformation also ties integrally with growth, the difference being, they are rarely recognizably the same person when comparing them at the beginning of the book to the final page. We need to be careful here. As advised above, if our characters grow too quickly, we will lose our audience. Want your characters to transform? Throw unique, interesting, and hard – very, very hard – decisions and obstacles in their paths. They need to make the emotional or logical choice for who they are at that time – which changes them forever. Then keep doing it again. But beware, always change the pace. If we have a non-stop, hard-hitting pace from start to finish, our readers will never be able to come up for air. And breathing is important for most of us.

In Elements of Advanced Storytelling, I promised to dig into the differences between active, reactive, and proactive characters, and which are the most interesting in stories. Okay everyone, raise your hands. Active? Eh, might get a few hands in the air. Reactive? Hmm, probably only one or two. Okay, what about proactive? AHA! There they are! Raise them nice and high! Yep, you are right. Proactive characters are by far the most interesting, and here’s why.

Reactive characters only do what? That’s right – react! Our antagonists will likely be the most interesting characters in this type of character story because they are making everything happen. They are making the decisions for our protagonists – shaping them, forcing them to enact whatever evil plans our antagonists are concocting. Just about the only interesting thing our protagonist can do in this situation is react unexpectedly. But that’s a far cry from our other two types. Active characters are good. They will react, but will also push back. They will create tension, and exert a moving role to drive the story forward. Now, proactive characters take charge. Proactive characters don’t necessarily always know what they want, but they always make decisions (good or bad). This makes for a much more interesting story. It is highly common for the inciting incident in our novel to cause a reaction in our character that impels the story forward all the way to the last page. But if our protagonists are actively doing something in the beginning, and drive the story forward all on their own, that’s when we get caught staying up into the wee hours of the night reading that novel we just can’t put down. This is real tension – driven purely by our proactive characters.

Outlines. Some of us use them, some of us don’t. But I recommend everyone sketch out at least enough about our main characters to understand who they are. The worst thing we can do is think we know our characters, then make them do something they normally wouldn’t for the sake of the plot. If you want a good reference for an outline, here’s my advice. Make your own. There are numerous character outlines you can download off the net. Some are very detailed, some are vague. But, we all need to find that character outline that fits our story, then make it. It could be as little as describing their personalities, their likes/dislikes, tastes, experiences, and what they would do if held at gunpoint. Yes, many characters will never face that latter problem, but you need to know your characters. What better way than to consider what they would do in a life or death situation?

Want more outlining? Okay, write down how you want them to change throughout your novel. Who do they meet? How do they interact? Write down a few jokes they would tell, or physical tics or eccentricities. Show us their turning points and future moments of clarity. The list goes on and on. We should never put it all in our novel, but as writers, we need to know. Key is, stay organized, stay on track. And remember, sometimes when we write that novel, the outline flies out the window. Allow our characters to change, to experience life beyond the bounds we’ve set forth in an outline.

Any questions or comments? Feel free to express yourself. I want to hear your thoughts. I’ve found the above to be some of the best methods (that by the way work universally), but I always keep an open mind, and I’m always striving to learn and grow – to be better than I was yesterday. Thanks for reading, and I look forward to your comments. Thanks!

Advertisement

EAS 1: Hook Your Reader!

From the first line in a story, it is important to suck the reader in by showing immediate tension with the protagonist. So what makes an exciting first line? And at what point in our novel or short story do we “re-hook” the reader?

Make interesting things happen – preferably bad things. That’s the base of basics of hooking. But please, PLEASE, don’t start your piece with one of the following first lines. They are overused and generic, and unless done in some awesomely unique-never-before-seen-blow-your-socks-off way, agents and editors will cringe, and will not read on. Remember, agents look for an excuse not to read further. And don’t you want to make your piece as interesting and unique as possible? Anyway, here are my top 5 “cringers”:

• Waking up – especially from an alarm clock: This is one of the most common first lines agents and editors read. And complain about. Whether it is or isn’t, most believe it to be lazy writing. So come on! You’re a writer! You can do better than that!
• “It was a dark, and stormy night…”: Weather in general – whether the weather is dark and stormy, or bright and sunshiny, this is one of the most overused, so try to avoid it.
• The bad day at school: This is more common with YA. This has both been done very well and muy terrible! But it’s still the bad day at school. As unique as your character’s bad day at school is, it is, still, indeed, the bad day at school. Most agents and editors will stop reading.
• It was all just a dream: Starting your story with a bang is great, but if the opening turns out to be just a dream, many readers will be disappointed, and agents will in all likelihood stop reading…
• Running through a forest (especially if it’s a nightmare): This at first glance might seem like a great idea, but many, many, many others have also come up with this idea. As many twists and turns, near-death experiences, or lost loves they have while running through this forest, agents and editors will smack their foreheads, shake their heads, and punch “delete” on their keyboards – (that is if the “delete” key has survived the abundant daily abuse).

Still reading? Okay good. You might have thrown a few expletives my way, chucked your keyboard at me, or revisited your novel a moment to check how you started your story… But there’s good news! There are PLENTY of great first lines! Here’s what makes a great hook:

• Begin with the character. Not description. Not the weather. Not the building. Not the world. Not a prologue. The character.
• Give the reader an immediate stake by putting the character or something the character loves in imminent danger, or start with a special flavor of comedy. Could be physical, could be emotional or psychological.
• Start with an interesting action or thought. Make it fresh. Make it immediate and impactful.
• Show the reader who the character is in that first line. No back story. Who are they NOW? Show what they are doing right now that will impel your story forward all the way to the last line.

Want some good examples? Here we go:

• “Our story opens where countless stories have ended in the last twenty-six years: with an idiot – in this case, my brother Shaun – deciding it would be a good idea to go out and poke a zombie with a stick to see what happens.” ~ Mira Grant, Feed
• “Prince Raoden of Arelon awoke early that morning, completely unaware that he had been damned for all eternity.” ~ Brandon Sanderson, Elantris
• “It was a pleasure to burn.” ~ Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451
• “We go about our daily lives understanding almost nothing about the world.” ~ Stephen Hawking, A Brief History of Time
• “There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it.” ~ C.S. Lewis, Voyage of the Dawn Treader

Nuff said? Who would stop reading any of these novels after those phenomenal first lines? Albeit, Brandon Sanderson woke up his character in the first line, but being “damned for all eternity” kind of overpowers the former. Point is – there are exceptions to everything. We can argue about genre, preference, and style, but a great first line is a great first line.

In Elements of Advanced Storytelling, I promised to dig into not only the first line, but also show how to hook a reader throughout a piece, keep them intrigued. This goes along with a later post I’ll write, “Tension, Conflict, and the Driving Force,” with a couple big differences. We establish tension by hooking a reader. The catalyst is the hook. The reaction is the tension and conflict. And oftentimes, the hook is a one-liner, or small paragraph that escalates emotion or impels action.

Introduce something new when it makes sense, but surprise the reader. Keep them on their toes. At the end of chapters, throw in a one-liner to re-hook the reader – to keep them turning the pages. In the new chapter, throw in another hook. These first and last chapter one-liners aren’t nearly as important as the first line in a novel, but most great writers understand how to cause us poor readers those many sleepless nights. This isn’t the end-all be-all of writing, but you must know where your story is heading. Keep it moving forward by keeping the reader hooked.

Re-hooking can come in many forms – dialogue, emotion, action, comedy, even literary prose. But it must make sense to your novel. I wouldn’t tell a joke at the end of a chapter if the next one begins with a torture scene. Well…unless you want to shock the reader. But that’s a different subject. Anyway, the mood of characters, the voice of your story, and the pace of your prose dictates where those strategic hooks can be placed. Sometimes, it won’t make sense to begin or end a chapter with a hook, but the key is to watch for it. Write. And read. Look for those turning points or moments in your book where one line could make a big difference. Use this in conjunction with tension and character, and you are well on your way to a best-seller.

A Very Special Day

To many, I say Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Today, everybody is Irish! Drink a green beer, wear a green pin, or take your family and loved ones on a special outing.

But today means much more to me, personally. It signifies the fourth year my wife and I have been married. Happy Anniversary to us! Each year continues to be better than the last. We have been together for nine years, and I must say, I have grown immeasurably. I am a far happier person today than I was nine years ago. And those few people who knew me back then can vouch for my extreme turnaround. I owe it all to my wife for her patience, for showing me it’s okay to be happy.

Reflecting back to those beginning years, I shake my head. It’s a wonder how far I’ve come. In every way – even my writing. I’ve only been at it for 10 years, and after comparing my first draft to where I am today, it’s the difference between a kindergartener’s toy car and a humming Dodge Viper. There’s still room for growth, but wow, what a difference.

When I finished the first draft of my novel, I thought to myself, “Okay, what’s next?” So I began writing book 2 in the series. It didn’t take me long to realize there was something wrong with my writing, but I couldn’t put my finger on it.

So, I hired an editor. She scoured through it – fixed some grammar issues, sentence structure problems – she did her best for what it was. It needed more. Much more.

I put it down for about a year, feeling stuck, not knowing where to go. Then, I had an idea. Without going back to college and earning a degree in English, perhaps there was a better way to learn that thing I was missing. A writers group.

I found Stonehenge. And on that first night I attended, I learned something. I had a long way to go before I could ever consider myself to be a writer.

Through listening, practicing, hard work, and dedication, I can now proudly call myself a writer. My work is publishable, and in fact, I even have a Literary Agent! The awesome Pam van Hylckama Vlieg, book blogger and Twitter extraordinaire with Foreword Literary.

Today, I celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, the memory of how far I’ve come, but most of all, I celebrate my anniversary with my beautiful wife. She is the greatest gift to my world, and forever inspires me to be better than I was the day before.

Foreword Literary Agency

As has been recently revealed, I am now represented by Literary Agent Pam van Hylckama Vlieg. Some of you are probably getting sick of me talking about it, but there’s more news! Exciting news! This agency has shifted, been created anew under a fresh name. It has adapted to the digital age, and is the very first agency to make this shift. Not only will this new agency be working with traditional publishers, Foreword Literary will also be getting their fingers dirty with e-publishing. Here’s the press release:

FOREWORD LITERARY DEBUTS IN SAN FRANCISCO
New agency to concentrate on traditional and emerging aspects
of book publishing for their author-clients

March 5, 2013—San Francisco Bay Area—A new literary agency was formed today in California’s Silicon Valley…one focused on technology and innovation in addition to the more traditional aspects of publishing. Laurie McLean and Pam van Hylckama Vlieg, both former literary agents with Larsen Pomada Literary Agents, along with Gordon Warnock, formerly a senior agent at Andrea Hurst & Associates, have joined forces to create FOREWORD LITERARY, INC. with headquarters in the Silicon Valley and offices throughout the country.

“My background for more than 20 years before I entered publishing was in high tech marketing,” McLean said. “So in 2008 I recognized the emergence of Smashwords, Kindle, self-publishing, and ebooks, as a disruptive force that would revolutionize the publishing industry. I’ve seen this type of transformation many times before, and I know how to take advantage of the opportunities that are cropping up everywhere. This is where I want to make a difference for authors and publishers.”

Foreword Literary will be a virtual agency with professionals in the San Francisco Bay area, Sacramento, Chicago and the Central Coast of California to begin with. But geographic limitations will be swept away through the use of cloud-based technology.

“Like the name says, Foreword Literary was created to move our clients’ careers and publishing forward. We keep abreast of all current and upcoming technology and plan to utilize every aspect of publishing to our clients’ favor, be it print, digital, or the newest thing since Gutenberg that hasn’t been invented yet,” said van Hylckama Vlieg.

New York Times and USA Today bestselling YA fantasy author Julie Kagawa, who landed three seven-figure deals while McLean’s client, will make the move to Foreword, as will 24 of McLean’s clients, 23 of van Hylckama Vlieg’s clients, and all of Warnock’s clients.

Warnock said, “I’m excited about what this means for our clients. We all have writing backgrounds, and we bring that passion and understanding to each of our projects. We’re also very aware that we can only be successful when our clients are successful. We’ve created an environment that is conducive to building promising writing careers, and I honestly think they’ll be some of the best served in the business.”

About Foreword Literary

Foreword Literary, Inc. is a new hybrid literary agency, blending the knowledge and skills of traditional publishing with the brash new opportunities engendered by digital publishing, self-publishing, ebooks, and technology. Partners Laurie McLean, Pam van Hylckama Vlieg, and Gordon Warnock are joined by assistant agents Danielle Smith and Jen Karsbaek, and interns Laura Cummings and John Hansen. Visit the website, http://forewordliterary.com for more information. Or follow us on Twitter @forewordlit.

Testimonials

“Gordon’s support and attentiveness are positively unwavering; it has been his compassionate encouragement and unfailing literary expertise that have carried me through the arduous process of revising and pitching my manuscript. I can’t imagine where I would be without his guidance, and would never think of making a decision regarding my career without consulting him first. Gordon has many times over proven what an excellent agent, writer, reader, and editor he is. Above all else, he has become one of my dearest friends, and a welcome addition to my community of literary folk.”
Tanya Chernov
A Real Emotional Girl

“I’m so excited to be part of the launch of this exciting, new literary agency. From working with Pam and Laurie, I’ve learned that they understand our hugely changed and ever-changing publishing culture. I have great confidence that Foreword will be uniquely positioned to grow my career as an author on every level.”
Jeffe Kennedy
The Twelve Kingdoms Series

“I honestly wouldn’t have gotten where I am without super agent Laurie McLean.”
Bestselling YA Author Julie Kagawa

Step Up That Game

It has happened!

What, you ask? We’ll get to that in a moment, but first, allow me to show how I got here.

As a writer, my immediate payoff for writing is in fact…the joy of writing. Slaving away those hours upon hours in front of a computer, brainstorming ideas throughout the day, locking ourselves in a closet as we outline…(well maybe not ALL of us can relate to that), all of these things don’t always feel like work. Because face it, most of us write because we have a passion for storytelling, a love of the craft, or a character that keeps pounding on the inside of our skulls, begging to be released onto paper.

But it isn’t all fun and games, is it? No matter how we cut it, writing is hard. Very hard. The first draft of my novel read worse than a kindergarten drawing. My parents thought it was great, but then, they are a little biased, aren’t they? Only after I joined a writers group – Stonehenge – did I understand just how terrible it was.

And then, the real work began.

First, I studied the craft. I learned the basics of grammar – by reading books, practicing what I learned, listening to podcasts, then doing it all over again. And yes, my friends, this was work. A lot of work. I then unearthed the value of great storytelling, discovered the advantage of 3rd person limited versus omniscient. (For those unfamiliar, stay tuned for a post about this.) Learning and practicing. Learning and practicing. It was hard work, but once I felt comfortable with my writing, and felt that it was publishable, do you think I stopped there?

Good guess. No. While continuing to read about and practice the craft, I researched the publishing industry and conferences. I learned about agents, query letters, synopses, pitches, developmental editors, the various forms of publishing…and my head was spinning. How, oh how, was it possible for my baby to get published? Why did I ever pick up the pen? Of all the talent, all the writers in the world, why would I ever believe anything from little old me would be put into print?

Well, I also believe self-doubt, self-loathing is a part of most every writer’s process. Yes, process. And when we find a way to get over this, the cycle repeats. But, that’s for another post…

Above, I mentioned conferences. Browsing on the internet one day, I discovered this thing called San Francisco Writers Conference, and it was super expensive. But the more I read about it, the more I knew I had to attend. I read it was a great way to not only learn more about the craft and industry, but to also meet published authors, agents, editors, and publishers.

So I signed up with an excited, but heavy heart. I wasn’t sure it would pay off. Couldn’t that money be better spent elsewhere? I have a family, mouths to feed. How could I justify paying so much for this little hobby? Well, writing is more than a hobby to me. It is a passion. I strive to learn more, to build upon myself, to make my writing better than I’d ever thought possible.

My lovely wife has always supported me, (though she rarely cracks open a book). But, there are many ways to support those you love. She knows my passion, and she felt justified to encourage me to pursue my dream.

In 2012, I attended the San Francisco Writers Conference. I left renewed, invigorated, and felt more connected to the industry. I met lots of great people, and discovered us writers are one giant, family. I took what I learned back to my writers group, worked on a few more revisions, then decided to go again this year.

This year, in 2013, this year, I did not expect this to happen. With a much improved manuscript, I reconnected with some great people I met at the conference the previous year, and thought to continue to improve upon it even more. I write Fantasy, which is only 6%-8% of the market. But those hopes, those dreams which haunt in the dead of night, those passions that keep my fingers punching the keys, would not allow me to see reason.

The final day of the conference, the awesome Pam van Hylckama Vlieg – book blogger, agent, and social media extraordinaire – offered me representation.

Often times, I daydreamed about that moment – what I would say, how I would feel, how I would act if that moment ever arrived – but none of those dreams compared to the emotion that moment elicited. My jaw was on the floor. I was confused. Could this really be happening? Me? Joe Shmoe? I looked from Pam to my manuscript sitting before her, then back to Pam. And I was still confused.

But yes. She nodded, confirming that impossible notion. And like any unintelligible cave man, all I could say was, “Really?”

Obviously, I’m a writer, not a speaker.

And now the journey begins. I look forward to working with her on the last revision of this manuscript, look forward to the moment she finds a publisher, and I look forward to our many future projects together.

You can find us here: Pam’s Clients

Here are my final words. I wrote a book before I knew how to write. If I can do it, so can you.

Hold Me To It!

January 25th! This is the date I plan to have my beta copy of Eyes of the Eidolon out in print. No. Not “plan to.” Will.

Stonehenge has inspired me over the years to rewrite this manuscript several times over – each marked by significant improvement. At the end of each, I found myself asking, Is it good enough now?

The answer became apparent in the form of subsequent rewrites…

After finishing the first draft of this manuscript, I felt I was not yet a writer, but I didn’t know how to improve. I couldn’t understand the differences between my manuscript and the published works of those many professionals who spent years developing their craft. Fortunately, I found my critique group – Stonehenge. They massaged me with hot coals, diced me up with samurai swords, pounded me with meat hammers, but yet, they never left a bruise. Their honest words, kind encouragement, and realistic critiques allowed me to grow and understand those differences I lacked.

And so, the rewriting commenced. First draft, second draft, third draft, and fourth. Mind you, the original manuscript was 214,000 words. Fifth draft, sixth draft, and now seventh. I read books about writing, then wrote more. I listened to podcasts, then wrote again. I read books outside my succor, analyzed classic literature, studied genres of today, and learned through hard work, time, dedication, and by forcing my mind open to the thoughts of others. I attended writers conferences, met with agents, publishers, editors, and authors…

Now, I know my writing is publishable. The core story remains the same, but every aspect of this manuscript has changed for the better.

Why so many drafts? What was I thinking? I attribute this partially to my perfectionism, partially to my love of writing, and partially to the inspiration of my writers group and friends. But here’s the answer. After finishing the last words of every draft, I read the beginning and found myself saying, (aloud mind you), “Ugh, this is crap!”

Was it crap? I don’t know – I think the first few drafts were, but I continued believing this because I had learned so much over the course of rewriting each version. When I started rereading each, it was ridiculous to think this thing was publishable. Yes, I was down on myself and depressed. I tried to stay positive, but at times it proved nearly impossible. But the love of writing inspired me to continue my goal of perfection. And now I realize, writing is an art. It cannot be perfected. And I must say – as a perfectionist – this idea was very challenging to overcome.

Am I still improving? Yes! And always will! I will never be better than my potential, and this idea does not, nor ever will, depress me. It does not weigh me down. It thrills me. It testifies that I can always improve, that I can always be better than I am now.

But the acceleration of growth has reduced. I reread my last draft and thought to myself, This is pretty good! It’s not perfect, nor will it ever be, but for the first time, I am satisfied with it. I am satisfied with the writer I’ve grown into. I know my voice, have a definitive style, and understand so much more than I thought possible.

January 25th! Hold me to this promise. Bug me. Prick me with red pens until I turn black and blue. The paper copy of Eyes of the Eidolon will be available to my beta readers by this date. I look forward to your unique perspectives, inspiring views, careful hands, and final words. Thank you all for the gift of learning.