I’ve had my nose to the grindstone the last few weeks editing a manuscript I wrote a few years ago.  I still love the characters and the plot is solid.  Also, I think my writing is much better now  That’s the good news.  The bad news . . .  I know more [...]]]>

I’ve had my nose to the grindstone the last few weeks editing a manuscript I wrote a few years ago.  I still love the characters and the plot is solid.  Also, I think my writing is much better now  That’s the good news.  The bad news . . .  I know more about the craft now and while my art has covered many sins, covering up won’t work anymore.  The mechanics must be sound.

What am I looking for?  Pretty much the same things you’ve heard a thousand times before.  I skip right over the most common errors lists simply because I’ve seen them so often.  But in real life, you’ve gotta do something.

Backstory

I’ve rarely been accused of writing too much backstory.  In fact, I have the opposite problem, not giving the reader enough information to understand what’s going on.  Still, I’m wrestling with removing the first scene.  It’s a dinky scene, more of a vignette, really, but packed full of info, and a teensy bit funny, too.  My critique partners like it.  Fresh readers who’ve been given the same chapter but starting with the second scene weren’t confused a bit.  So I still don’t know which way I’m going with that one.

One thing I know for sure, too much backstory is the kiss of death, and a very high percentage of contest entries I judge are loaded with it.  As a matter of fact, many entries are so loaded with backstory, that the current story doesn’t even start until after the entry ends.

There’s a fine balance, and part of it involves telling versus showing.  Some things need to be told because they don’t warrant the screen time to be shown.  Some things need to be told because showing would distract the reader from the current story, and force her to indulge you until you think you’ve told her everything she needs to know.  Please don’t think you’re fooling the reader.  She knows exactly what you’re doing.

Dialogue

I try to avoid dialogue tags simply because if the reader knows whose head you’re in and what’s going on in the scene, then she also nearly always knows who’s talking.  Brief narrative action prevents dialogue from becoming “talking heads.”  That said, sometimes several lines of dialogue are called for, and a tag here and there can be helpful.

The other killer with dialogue is when characters say things they already know.  Example: The foreman says, “John, do you remember when you were my only trusted hired hand at the Rocking JW back in ‘67?  We’ve been working together for a long time.”  Yes, I know there’s a line almost like this in <i>Open Range</i> that works well, but I think Robert Duvall’s talented delivery gets the credit.

Narrative

When I read, I skip a lot of narrative, so when I write, I keep the narrative to a minimum.  Yes, I know lots of authors do well with books that have three, or eight, or twenty paragraphs of narrative without a dialogue break, but they’ve nearly always lost me.  And, in discussions with other readers, I’m not alone.  Lots of readers get bored with long sections of narrative, particularly if it’s not in deep point of view.

If I find two paragraphs of narrative, I take a good, hard look at why all that yammering is necessary.  Is it showing?  Is it in deep point of view?  If you take it out, will the reader miss anything?  Have you told them the same thing six times already?  Yes, some repetition is necessary, but please don’t underestimate your readers’ intelligence.

Description

And if that narrative is description, whoa, baby!  No one’s going to read that.  Description needs to be worked in with action, it needs to be necessary, and it also needs to be something the point of view character would notice.

That said, a scene has to be set, and the reader has to know where/when they are, so of course some description is necessary at the beginning of every scene, although it can be written in a variety of ways.

“Let me out of here!”  The dandy scraped his tin cup over the jail cell bars.  “I will never come back to Oreana.  It’s a god-forsaken town.”

What can we tell from this bit?  We know we’re reading a western historical, an unhappy man dressed in attire too citified for his current location is in jail, and the jail is located in a small, remote town named Oreana.

Vivid Language

And, as always, I find non-descriptive weak verbs and nouns: lazy writing.  Yes, I admit this is a shortcut that’s always tempting for me.  But a writer must create a picture.

Example 1:
He went to the store.

Example 2:
John Wayne leapt on his horse and kicked him into a gallop.  Once in front of Gardner’s General Mercantile, he pulled the horse into a skid.  Alkali dust billowed around him, and when it settled, Mrs. Gardner stood in front of him like a warrior queen, her broom aimed straight at his noggin.

Example 2 says the same thing as the first example, but you have a much better idea of the setting, action, and tone of the story.

And on that note, I need to get down to business and finish editing my story.  But first, some unfinished business.

Winner of the gueta CD is . . . Peggy Q!!!

Jacquie

Down Home Ever Lovin’ Mule Blues (See the Book Video featuring Justin Saragueta)
Jacquie Rogers *** Myspace *** Twitter *** Facebook
Faery Special Romances * Book Video * Royalties go to Children’s Tumor Foundation, ending Neurofibromatosis through Research

Every detail we include about our characters define who they are and determine how they react. If those details are shown in an unobtrusive way, the reader absorbs the character rather than being force-fed, and thus, the reader internalizes that character, roots for him, cries for him, laughs with him, but is always [...]]]>

Every detail we include about our characters define who they are and determine how they react. If those details are shown in an unobtrusive way, the reader absorbs the character rather than being force-fed, and thus, the reader internalizes that character, roots for him, cries for him, laughs with him, but is always with him.

Our goal is to make sure every reader does internalize the characters we create. How do we do that? By showing. We’ve heard a bajillion times, “Show, don’t tell.”   But show what? Truth is, some things don’t warrant the screen time of showing and just need told straight out. Others do need to be shown.  Here are a few things that in my opinion can reveal a lot about a character.

What mode of transportation does your character own or use?

If you’re writing a western, does your hero ride a blooded horse, or a mustang? Does he take care of his animal himself or do other people do it? Is the saddle plain leather, or is it decorated with silver conchos?

Let’s say the character rides an Appaloosa of excellent conformation and training. His tack is plain but good quality and well cared for. Our man rides tall and smiles at a little boy who’s practicing with the lasso. Yep, that’s a hero, all right.

But what if there were lash marks on the horse’s hind quarters, and spur gashes in his side. Defintely the villain. Mistreating animals is not a heroic trait. The wounds show the villain’s true nature. We don’t need to be told anything else. He doesn’t deserve our loyalty and we readers won’t root for him no matter how rough of a childhood he had or how his wife two-timed him, or any other excuse. We don’t like him.

Ah, but wait! What if his True Love and six children were dying and he rode into town as fast as he could to get a doctor?

What if he’s riding a donkey? Who is this character now? It takes context, but all these things come with pre-conceived notions and we can use them as shortcuts to creating character.

We can take this into contemporary times. The hero in Down Home Ever Lovin’ Mule Blues drives this:

So what do you know about him? Well you’d know more if this rig were the correct color, which is candy apple red, and had his log emblazoned on the side: Brody Alexander: Rodeo Clown, Bullfighter. Because it’s a late model pickup, and an expensive one at that, you’d know he is successful in his chosen career. You’d also know he hauls livestock, which he does–Socrates the Cogitating Mule.

But what if he drove this:

You wouldn’t think he’s much of a hero at all since he can’t even afford a decent ride. Could you root for this hero? I’d say that depended on other factors. In this case, Brody does drive this pickup. When he bought his new rig, he just couldn’t bear to get rid of his old pickup–they’d been down many roads together, through thick and thin–so he retired it to his ranch. Brody is a daring, gutsy man, willing to cheat death in front of a 2,000-pound angry bull, but this pickup shows he has a soft side, too.

Yes, our characters come alive in our minds and sometimes even take over the story. We want our reader to experience it as well. With details and the correct choices, our characters come to life.

To hear more about Brody’s pickups as well as vehicles used by Rowena Cherry’s characters and others, please tune in to Internet Voices Radio for Crazy Tuesday on April 7.

Happy Magical Monday!

Jacquie
Down Home Ever Lovin’ Mule Blues (See the Book Video featuring Justin Saragueta)
Jacquie Rogers *** Myspace *** Twitter *** Facebook
Faery Special Romances * Book Video * Royalties go to Children’s Tumor Foundation,
ending Neurofibromatosis through Research

On May 1, Ann Charles and I will be launching a new website community called 1st Turning Point.  It’s aimed at helping writers and artists build their promotional platforms before that first sale so that when The Call comes in, he or she is ready for the Big Dance.  We [...]]]>

On May 1, Ann Charles and I will be launching a new website community called 1st Turning Point.  It’s aimed at helping writers and artists build their promotional platforms before that first sale so that when The Call comes in, he or she is ready for the Big Dance.  We plan to feature experts in promotion and public relations each week, and on occasion, have a few classes.  While most of these classes will be directed toward platform-building, now and then we’ll have a writing class.

The feature today on Texty Ladies is an excerpt of Judith Laik’s Sales Busters class.  This class will be offered at 1st Turning Point later on this year.

“Try and . . .”

by Judith Laik
Copyright © 2006-2009, Judith Laik

Why should I write a whole article on the misuse of “try” in sentences?  It’s become so common that even many grammarians have thrown up their hands and called it a lost cause.

I have a couple of major problems with the word, that I believe justify dealing with it at some length.

First, let’s discuss and dispose of the grammatical issue.  One does not “try and” do something, one “tries to.”  Here’s why:

Look at the following sentences:

I like to eat fried grasshoppers.
I want to buy a new pair of shoes.

These are sentences that we tend to write and say correctly without even thinking about them, even though we may not understand why we do so.

Grammar Lesson

A transitive verb is one that takes a direct object:

I love him.
Johnny hit his little sister.

The verb usually shows an action, and the direct object is the recipient of that action.  In the sentences just above, these words are the pronoun “him” and the noun “sister.”  In the previous group of sentences, the direct object is a verb phrase, doing duty as a noun.  In such a sentence the verb cannot be left in its original form; it makes a sentence nonsensical.  (Read them in that form and see what I mean.)  So, the verb is changed into a gerund (an “-ing” form) or an infinitive (adding “to” in front of the verb).

I could have written I like eating fried grasshoppers just as well as to eat; that’s a matter of sentence flow, rhythm, and personal preference.

“Try,” like the other verbs above, is a transitive verb.  You can try a case, try your mother’s patience, or try a new sport.  So, if instead what you are trying is another verb, it follows the rules of the other sentences.  You “try to” or “try ___ing.”

If you’re not convinced, diagram this sentence using “try and”

I will try and be on time from now on.

What you have now is, on the face of it, a sentence with a compound verb.  The speaker will try and also be.  Such a sentence needs to make sense if you remove  one of the verbs.  So, to test out the rule I cited, read the sentences without the object verb.  I will try on time from now on. It doesn’t make sense.

Now, let’s move on to the other issue I mentioned above.  You should be very sparing in your use of “try” in your characters’ vocabulary and thoughts.

Try implies the possibility of failure. It opens the door to doubts, and weakens the power of any declaration that contains it.  Looked at from the viewpoint of intention and your thoughts bringing about one’s reality, “try” says “there’s not a chance it’ll happen.  I opened the door to doubt and that’s a killer of all intention.”  If your characters are merely going to try, they’ll come off as wishy washy.  You may get away with having your heroine think she’s going to try to lose five pounds at the beginning of the book, but by the end, she darned well better have banished that word from her vocabulary if you want your readers to be in her corner and believe in her.

Think of Scarlett O’Hara in one of the most memorable scenes in Gone with the Wind, standing in the desolate, sun-baked fields of Tara, fist raised in the air.  She says “I will never go hungry again.“  Would the scene have conveyed any of the power it does if she had said, “I’m going to try my best never to go hungry again“?  You know it wouldn’t.  As it stands, though, the audience knows that she’ll do anything she must to follow through on her vow-she’ll scrabble, manipulate, charm, and sacrifice nearly anything else that means anything to her.

*  *  *

Judith Laik wanted to be a romance author, so she majored in math, even though she can’t balance her checkbook. Now she’s the author of several books, including two Regency romances with Kensington. She lives on a small farm in Washington with her husband, daughter, and various animals. http://www.judithlaik.com

We’ll hear more from Judith Laik this fall at 1st Turning Point.

*  *  *

There’s still time to Join the Hunt at Night Owl Romance.

Four Fabulous Prize Packages!

Deadline: April 1

Have a Magical Monday!

Jacquie

Down Home Ever Lovin’ Mule Blues (See the Book Video featuring Justin Saragueta)
Jacquie Rogers *** Myspace *** Twitter *** Facebook
Faery Special Romances *** Book Video *** Royalties go to Children’s Tumor Foundation,
ending Neurofibromatosis through Research

I spent a wonderful (actually, Lori would say “fabulous”) weekend in Portland, Oregon at the Celebrate Romance readers’ conference held in the Benson Hotel. First, Portland is one of my favorite places to visit. Second, what better place to stay than at the Benson Hotel, which has hosted every [...]]]>

I spent a wonderful (actually, Lori would say “fabulous”) weekend in Portland, Oregon at the Celebrate Romance readers’ conference held in the Benson Hotel. First, Portland is one of my favorite places to visit. Second, what better place to stay than at the Benson Hotel, which has hosted every US president in office for the last 80 years. And third, but really first, as we all know, spending a weekend making friends who love romance novels as much as I do is just about the best treat there is.

So what does one do at a romance readers’ conference?

1. Eat chocolate. Cacao — Drink Chocolate (yes, that’s the name of the store) presented a variety of chocolates for us to taste. Don’t chew! Chewing releases the flavors too quickly and the flavor burst might not taste as full. OMG. We tried at least ten different chocolates and our hosts, Jesse and Aubrey, knew the country of origin and sometimes the even plantation as well as exactly how each chocolate was processed. We were very happy romance readers. What a way to launch a conference!

2. Dedicated romance readers. Lemme tell you, these ladies know their stuff. They know who wrote what and when. They know what they like and don’t like, and they love to talk about it. I love to hear about it (okay, and talk about it, too). I was thrilled to meet the owner of Night Owl Romance, Tammie King. She’s just as nice and in love with books as her online persona, too. Awesome!

3. A margarita or two. Friday night closed out with a few of us trickling over to El Gaucho for a little relaxation and conversation. Marilyn, Josie, Susan, Debbie, Mary, Judith and I laughed until we could barely breathe.

4. Groan . . . Get up early! Saturday morning started at the crack of dawn–8am. My roommate Judith Laik and I could have used another two hours’ sleep for sure. But we splashed water on our puffy faces and dragged our weary hineys downstairs to the conference room. Everything at the Benson is great–the beds and even their standard buffet breakfast, always with friendly and helpful wait staff. Which, believe me, we needed. But then . . .

5. Cathy Maxwell! She’s so full of energy and such a positive person that even Judith and I were revved by her energy. You just haven’t lived until you’ve heard Cathy’s enthusiastic comments delivered with a genuine smile. Wait, there’s more!

6. Ahem. Sex Toys. I’m not sure I was ready for Delilah Marvel’s History of Sexual Apparati so early in the morning, but she showed us some rather interesting cave man carvings and Egyptian pictures, along with a few fun items from Pompeii.

7. Isabo Kelly discussed the art of reading romance and how a sf/f reader ended up writing romance. Many of us seem to have taken this circuitous route but Isabo’s sense of humor carried us right along with her. And you wouldn’t believe how cute her baby is! He stole the show Friday night. Except for the chocolate, of course.

8. Judith Laik told us all about Regency pantomime (not what you think of as pantomime today) and its leading star, Joseph Grimaldi. Ms. Laik’s discussion of the music, the characters, of Grimaldi and his life, all kept us riveted. Great job! And remember, we’d had a late night, which made her talk all the more wondrous.

9. Discussions, a booksigning at the Border’s store in Beaverton, and the trials and tribulations of Marcy. Now THERE’S a bookseller. Even though she had considerably more authors than she’d planed to seat, within 20 minutes she had the entire area rearranged, all of us seated with our books in front of us, AND she remembered our names. Oh, wait, our books were in front of us. Nevertheless, the woman is simply amazing.

Uh, we didn’t drink on Saturday night. No sirree bob. Not that we did on Friday, you understand.

10. Did I mention they made us get up at the crack of dawn? At 6:30am, Judith and I, two night owls, were slurping caffeine and packing. I was also getting my notes together for . . . more about that later.

11. Breakfast/Booksigning. Yes, at 8am. Authors had to find their names on a balloon tied to the chair. With help from all, we finally were seated. It was a fun (and tasty) beginning of our day.

12. A reviewer’s perspective. Cybil Solyn is not only one of CR’s organizers, she is also owner of Rakehell.com, a website dedicated to reviewing Regency-set romance novels. She cued us in on the pros and cons of being a reviewer and pointed out that lots of the pros are also cons. For instance, you get free books, but then you also have to read all those books and find a place for them. Another thing she mentioned is that all books have to be read from page 1 to the end. You can’t review a partial read. And she had a few humorous examples for us that weren’t supposed to be humorous at all, which of course made them much funnier.

13. Jane Porter. If you don’t love Jane Porter, there’s something wrong. She’s a genuinely nice, warm-hearted person, a talented author, and a dedicated mom. Plus, she’s gorgeous. Her talk was rousing and cut right to the soul of all women. What an inspiration to us all!

14. Here, There Be Dragons. And I’m not kidding. This is where, with ten minutes left, Eilis Flynn and I fly through our dragon workshop. I did Western Hemisphere dragons, most of which have wings, and Eilis discussed Eastern dragons, mostly with no wings. But wings or not, the dragons and the readers flew through this one and we all had a lot of fun doing it. I do admit, however, that our visual aids weren’t as interesting as Delilah Marvel’s.

Of course, all through Saturday and Sunday, romance fans bought raffle tickets hoping to win one of the beautiful gift baskets that were donated.

I have to say that as soon as the 2009 Celebrate Romance was over, I immediately hoped I could attend again. Something was going on every moment (although I must admit that the schedule was, in the spirit of the pirates’ code, more like a guidline), and the focus was always on the enjoyment of reading romance novels. What a great bunch of people we met. I’m still on a high.

Next week: John Klawitter. Now this guy is amazing. No way will you want to miss his interview–and I’m hoping we can pick his brain on several interesting topics before he gets bored and toddles off.

Hopefully, on March 16th we’ll hear from Justin Saragueta, singer and songwriter.

Coming up, but not scheduled yet: a workshop on Show, Don’t Tell, which may be multi-part. I’m working on it, folks. So we have lots of good stuff coming up.

Have a Magical Monday!

Jacquie

Down Home Ever Lovin’ Mule Blues (See the Book Video featuring Justin Saragueta)

Jacquie Rogers *** Myspace *** Twitter *** Facebook

Faery Special Romances *** Book Video
Royalties go to Children’s Tumor Foundation,
ending Neurofibromatosis through Research

If I knew what to write, I’d write it!

How many times have you heard that? Or said it yourself? Or thought it?

or . . .

Breakfast of Champion Writers

I’ve run into some fabulous sites while researching my books or learning the writing craft. At the same time, word of a fabulous new site sends me running to see what great resource I’ve been missing. So . . . I thought it [...]]]>

or . . .

Breakfast of Champion Writers

I’ve run into some fabulous sites while researching my books or learning the writing craft. At the same time, word of a fabulous new site sends me running to see what great resource I’ve been missing. So . . . I thought it would be fun to share our favorite internet sites on this Magical Monday.

Dictionaries

Give me a new resource for words and I’m in seventh heaven. Here are a few I’ve bookmarked over the last few years that I use frequently.

Dictionary of Sexual Terms and Expressions
Medieval and Renassaince Dictionary & Glossary–House Brigatta
Merriam-Webster Online
OneLook Reverse Dictionary
Mythology Guide – A dictionary of Greek and Roman Myths
Twists, Slugs and Roscoes: A Glossary of Hardboiled Slang
Language of Love, Lust, Sex
Random House Word Origins
Etymology Dictionary
WordWeb Online Dictionary and Thesaurus

Language

The language of those who came before us is often used in historical or paranormal novels. I know American English but other than my mother tongue, I only know bits and pieces. These sites have helped me out a lot.

Gaelic Greetings
Irish Dialect
Listen to Irish Language Sayings
Scottish Dialect
English to Latin Translator
English Translated to Spanish, French, Italian, German, or Russian
Old English/Anglo-Saxon Writing Systems
Cymraeg (Welsh) Language Guide

On Another Note . . .

I’ll do more links on another Magical Monday. For now, I’d like to congratulate all those who gave NaNoWriMo a shot, and yell a big woohoo for those who won or came close. Yay!

Me? Nope, didn’t do so well. I definitely set myself up not to win, and that’s not wise. It seems as though starting along about March of this year, I started to feel overwhelmed, so every time someone would ask me to do something, I’d say, “Sure! How about November?” You can see how this works . . . or doesn’t, as the case may be. Still, I made major headway on one novella and came up with some ideas that completely outshine what I started with. Overall, I feel good about my experience and I know how I could make it even better next time.

Some friends and I are going to do another writing challenge in January. I will be more prepared, you can be sure. Plus, I’d like to give NaNoWriMo another shot. Writing like a crazy woman, not stopping for anything, is an awesome feeling. I feel like a boulder rolling down a steep hill, gaining speed, collecting even more ideas, and knowing there is a The End at the bottom, which will be the ultimate in satisfaction.

Now we’re full-bore into the holidays, which makes any accomplishment difficult, but I’m determined to finish this novella before Yule!

Back to links . . . Please post your own favorite word usage links. Honestly, I think I’m addicted.

I hope you have a Magical Monday!

Jacquie
Down Home Ever Lovin’ Mule Blues (See the Book Video)

Jacquie Rogers *** Myspace *** Twitter *** Faery World
Faery Special Romances *** Book Video

Royalties go to Children’s Tumor Foundation, ending Neurofibromatosis through Research

lotting Your Story, Part 3: Structure by Jacquie Rogers

Without Conflict, There’s No Story!

This is the third class in a four-part workshop exclusively at Texty Ladies, Plotting Your Story. If you’d like to read the other classes, they are:

Part 1: Theme Part 2: Character

Today’s class is on Structure.

In the first [...]]]>

lotting Your Story, Part 3: Structure
by Jacquie Rogers

Without Conflict, There’s No Story!

This is the third class in a four-part workshop exclusively at Texty Ladies, Plotting Your Story. If you’d like to read the other classes, they are:

Part 1: Theme
Part 2: Character

Today’s class is on Structure.

In the first class, we developed a solid theme–a premise that plunged our characters into a life-changing journey. In the second class, we let the characters reveal themselves to us. We learned their strengths and weaknesses, their vulnerabilities, secret hopes and genes, and personal guilts and shame. Our situation is set and our characters are there.

Now all we need is for something to happen.

Ever look at a blank screen and wish something would magically appear. I have, but nothing has magically appeared yet. I’ve had to plow through some hard-thinking, some brainstorming, bother all my friends, ask my husband and kids a few hundred questions, and at some point, all this information solidifies into a story.

Let’s take a look at events. Events are what create emotion in the character: his reaction to a dilemma. Readers read because they want to experience the character’s feelings. So what must an event do?

Several things. First of all, each event must up the stakes to some degree. Granted, some events don’t up the stakes much, but always at least a little. Rising action carries the reader along. It’s what makes a book a page-turner. An event blends the action with the character to create conflict.

Without conflict, the character has no dilemma.

Without dilemma, the character can never be multi-dimensional.

No matter how fantasic the premise is, or well-drawn the characters are, the story will fall flat if the events don’t allow the characters to change. Each event should carry the character to an emotional place he’s never been before. We read to see how the character handles that. We read to feel his feelings.

That explains why we have to have events, but just exactly how do we know which events will help in our pursuit of eliciting character growth? Most writers have an inate understanding of what makes a story work, but describing it is a little more difficult. That’s why I rely on those who have ventured into this territory before me.

Carolyn Greene has a fabulous method for plotting a story. Actually, she touches on all aspects of storywriting. Her workbook as well as Joseph Campbell’s The Hero with a Thousand Faces, Dwight V. Swain’s Techniques of the Selling Writer, and You Can Write a Romance by Rita Clay Estrada and Rita Gallagher.

All the above, as well as workshops given by Stella Cameron have contributed to the form I use to develop the structure of my story, Story Bones. Let’s take a look:

***Note: This form is a bit antiquated because many houses have now gone to actual computer word count rather than page count at 250 words per page. I have intended to update it for about six months now . . .

Call to adventure

This is the change in the protagonist’s life the propels the story forward. I judge half a dozen contests a year and in nearly every judging packet, half the entries start with backstory. Please don’t. Readers want to know what’s happening now. That means something must be happening now. Go to the NYT Bestsellers rack and read all the opening paragraphs. In nearly every bestseller, you know the character, the conflict, and the story question right out of the gate. Questions that arise from that, backstory, and whatever else, is fed in bits at a time . . . later.

First Turning Point

The first turning point signifies the end of the story set up and the beginning of the escalating conflict. In a romance, the hero and heroine should be at least smitten with one another, and the event you chose for the first turning point should give them a platform to show their growing attraction (even if they’re annoyed with one another) as well as up the stakes in the external conflict.

Crunch

The crunch is generally a reversal, whatever you expected to happen, the opposite did. Just as the protagonist thought she was getting somewhere, back down the hill she goes. This event, should set up the house of cards for the midpoint. In a romance, there will be growing affection as well as attraction by this point.

Midpoint

At the midpoint, everything appears to go along swimmingly: the quest is on track, the romance is getting hot and heavy (maybe some hot sex) . . . but then . . . Yep, you guessed it, everything goes to h*ll in a handbasket. The treasure map is burned, the only car is stolen, and the cat’s mad at them both. And the lovers know that true love is elusive, if not lost. All is not lost,however, because we’re saving that for later. This is only a medium crisis, but it is a crisis.

***Note: Keep in mind that if you plot your story with high action at the midpoint, it will be impossible for your book to have a sagging middle, and you’ll be the envy of all your friends.

Third Turning Point

Christopher Vogler calls this Tests, Allies, and Enemies. (Actually, he would include anything from the first turning point on, but I find that too big a chunk of story to process at once, so I like to break it down more.) So now the hero and heroine face a series of challenges, physical and emotional. They must determine who’s the enemy and who’s the friend. There might even be a mentor thrown into the mix. And romance fills the air. The hero and heroine are falling in love and each event draws them emotionally closer.

In all these events, the author needs to keep tabs of the characters because sometimes it’s easy for a character to depart from her established path, confusing and annoying the reader. I remember a mini-series called A Town Like Alice. The British heroine, Jean Paget, was a wonderful character and throughout the series she’s shown overcoming hardship, making lemons out of lemonade. She’d find out what the townspeople needed and empower them to meet their own needs. A wonderful character. Until Jean got to Willstown in Australia. All of a sudden, she starts telling the townspeople what they must do, a complete departure from her established character. What a disappointment for me as a viewer. I’d greatly admired the character until she pulled a magic switcharoo on us. (I haven’t read the book, but I’ve always hoped the book didn’t have this flaw.)

Fourth Turning Point

I only stuck this fourth turning point in because this is the event that has to set the ball rolling toward the Black Moment. Everything looks good–the quest is on track, the enemies are sorted out from the allies, the Force is with them, and the hero and heroine are madly in love, even if they know obstacles will keep them from ever being together–they still have hope.

Dark Moment

I used the term dark instead of black because I write humor and, well, things really shouldn’t get too dark in a lighthearted book. All stories require a moment of utter loss, though, or else the dawn’s light simply won’t look as bright. In a romance, this is where the protagonist has to sacrifice his or her goal in order to save the person he/she loves. All is lost.

Resolution

But things work out! The character reaches deep inside and because of their character growth, can overcome even the darkest obstacle. The trick here is to remember this is ALL about the character’s arc, and each one of the above turning points is a milestone in the character’s journey. The resolution and in a romance, Happily Ever After, come from the character’s growth and realization of self in relation to his/her partner. The characters are happy, the author is happy, and the readers are happy. Whew!

What a journey for us, too.

I’ve enjoyed hearing about all the character development methods. Thanks to all you who commented or emailed me privately. You’ve given me even more great ideas and you can bet I’ll be trying them on for size. I’m really looking forward to hearing what people have to say about structure, conflict, and events. (And yes, I know this was too much to cover and I skimmed a lot, but we’ll be discussing more about these topics in 2009.)

OT: I’m happy dancing about Book Reviews by Crystal’s review of my latest release. Thank you, Crystal!

Happy Magical Monday!

Jacquie
Down Home Ever Lovin’ Mule Blues (See the Book Video)

Plotting Your Story, Part 1

by Jacquie Rogers

Thanks to Jane and Pam for inviting me to be with you at Texty Ladies during the month of November. We were discussing how to plot a story, and how we all love to add new tips and tricks to our toolboxes. Since 1997, [...]]]>

Plotting Your Story, Part 1

by Jacquie Rogers

Thanks to Jane and Pam for inviting me to be with you at Texty Ladies during the month of November. We were discussing how to plot a story, and how we all love to add new tips and tricks to our toolboxes. Since 1997, that’s exactly what I’ve done—collect pearls of wisdom from here and there, adding what I could use to my repertoire, and saving the rest for later. A few times I’ve thought that a technique would never work for me but then I ended up using it five years down the road, so I’ve learned to store, not dismiss, new tricks.

This workshop will be divided into four parts:

Situation/theme
Character
Events/pacing
Point of View

Most writers probably think only the third part and maybe the first have anything to do with plotting, but I agree with Robert McKee on this: character is story and story is character. To paraphrase Dwight V. Swain, the events are only there to show how the character reacts to the dilemma presented by that event, and the feelings evoked. Story is about feelings. We read for feelings.

Ultimately, the author hopes that after a reader has finished her book, the memory of the feeling will linger long after the details of the story have faded away. That is a successful story.

Some people love lush language, some readers prefer a fast-paced terse read, but all want to buy into the theme of the story, so that we can root for the hero and heroine, hiss at the villain, and laugh at the sidekick. To understand theme, I went straight to Dwight Swain’s Technique of the Selling Writer.

***An aside: This book is dreadfully difficult to read, and circuitous at that. The only way I (with my short attention span) could get through this book was to outline it. I’m not kidding about that. But it worked: I managed to get the entire book read and assimilated into my recalcitrant brain. This book, hard as it was for me to digest, really made a difference in my writing and I heartily recommend it. Whatever it takes to get this book read, it’s worth it.***

On page 130-133, Swain talks about the key elements of a story. These are:

Situation
Character
Objective
Opponent
Disaster

If you know these five elements, you can answer Blake Snyder’s question, “What is it?” (Save the Cat, ISBN: 0-8061-1191-7) which he considers the very most important part of plotting a screenplay or book. We have to know the genre and what to expect, or else we have no desire to view or read the story.

So back to Swain’s key elements. If you string these together, you have the theme (or some call it a premise) of the story. Look at the handout I made using this structure. The first three components, character, situation, and objective, form the first sentence, and then opponent and disaster form the second sentence. What do you have?

A pitch!

You haven’t even written the story but you can already pitch it. Expand on this and you have a back cover blurb. Expand a little more and you get a nifty two-page synopsis that’s so popular now.

Let’s take a look at my theme. This is taken from a short story called Single Girls Can’t Jump, originally printed in No Law Against Love, and now available individually as an ebook. Oh, and I forgot to say that no matter how short your piece is, it still needs a theme. It has to be about something.

The first element is situation.

Thrown a thousand years into the future and sitting in jail with a crazy blue-haired woman bent on social reform

This tells you the setting and the heroine’s circumstances. We know it’s a time-travel to the future, and she’s in jail with an aging social activist.

Second component is character.

social activist Shelley Clark

Aha! And the main character is a social activist, too, so why does she think this other lady is off her rocker?

Now we need to know Shelley’s objective.

just wants to get back to 2006 and work to repeal the silly Florida law that bans unmarried women from parachuting on Sundays.

Shelley wants to complete her original goal, but . . .

Her opponent comes on the scene.

When Kael busts her and his mother out of jail

That doesn’t seem like much of an opponent, since he wants to help, but Shelley is a social activist, not a fugitive. Well, until now, anyway.

And if that weren’t bad enough . . . Disaster.

how can Shelley fight a matchmaking mother, a gang of bounty hunters, and the loss of her heart to a man she can’t allow herself to love?

So now we know this is an exciting adventure story and a romance, similar in tone to Romancing the Stone.

You try it! Let me know how you’re doing.

Is anyone participating in NaNoWriMo? If so, be my writing buddy. My username is jacquierogers. Jane is participating, too.

I’ll be checking in throughout the week, so if you have questions, additional remarks, comments, I’ll respond shortly. Have fun!

Jacquie

Down Home Ever Lovin’ Mule Blues (See the Book Video)

Jacquie Rogers *** Myspace *** Twitter *** Faery World

Faery Special Romances *** Book Video

Royalties go to Children’s Tumor Foundation,
ending Neurofibromatosis through Research

I’m so pleased to announce that Jacquie Rogers, author of the Faery Special Romances, has agreed to join us as a Textylady!

Jacquie will have Mondays, and will start things off Monday, November 3rd with her plotting workshop. She will be doing the workshop every Monday in November. What a treat!

Welcome to Textyladies, [...]]]>

I’m so pleased to announce that Jacquie Rogers, author of the Faery Special Romances, has agreed to join us as a Textylady!

Jacquie will have Mondays, and will start things off Monday, November 3rd with her plotting workshop. She will be doing the workshop every Monday in November. What a treat!

Welcome to Textyladies, Jacquie!