Earning that win -- physically

I've brought up the importance of characters earning their wins, in a story, in risks being taken and work being done. Stories where solutions are delivered on silver platters don't interest me. Characters who sit on their butts whining and refusing to do anything useful are not people I want to read about. I have enough of those in my life already, thanks.

"Earning it" is defined differently by everybody, of course, but there are general consensuses. Erring on the over-working-your-characters side doesn't hurt -- a lot of writers do it, actually. Careful with the strained credulity, if you're planning to put your characters on a death march, though.

Physical barriers overcome
I'll admit, I'm biased toward character development being more interesting than physical challenges. I don't mean to slight physically-oriented stories -- they can be triumphant and a lot of fun, and fun is not to be overlooked as part of a story.

Earning a physical win involves making clear how difficult this is, what the potential consequences are, and putting the character through some amount of physical suffering in the process of reaching the goal. 

Mountains climbed
The simple, direct, physical challenge: your character must win a fight, survive what the environment throws at him, or build something. Whether success or failure results, give the effort the weight it deserves. Tell us about the preparations, the problems, the interesting things that happened along the way. OK, we're climbing Mt. Everest without supplemental oxygen -- why is that important? What could go wrong? What almost did go wrong?

Photo by John Evans, available at sxc.hu

Answers found
If your character needed more information before making a decision, or if The Answer is itself the solution to a problem, the reader wants to see it. Or at least, if the writer does not show us The Answer directly, demonstrate its impact clearly enough that we can guess at what it was.

Whether your character needed to climb a mountain to talk to the Wise Old Man or had to sort through mountains of dusty books for a bit of data, show us the work. Which leads us conveniently to the next point...

Journey made
Covering large amounts of time convincingly is difficult in any medium. On TV, you might get a two-minute training montage that's meant to summarize weeks, months, or years. It helps to have a yardstick for progress, whether it's an indication of time passing -- showing the reader seasonal changes in the background, for example -- or in the character's skills increasing -- being able to reach that brass ring their teacher set out at the beginning, maybe.

What are some stories of overcoming physical challenges that you've loved? At what point did you agree the character had earned their win?

Part 2 will be about character-driven "wins."

Crisis of confidence

For one of my guest posts, I sent a writer's-blog post to a reader's blog, and the owner emailed me to ask for something more appropriate -- which she was completely right to do, but in the course of that she said something that crops up in my head regularly.

"Who... are you...?"
John Tenniel's illustration, Alice in Wonderland

(paraphrasing) "Who are you to give how-to advice to writers?"

My first urge, naturally, was to find a sword and fall on it because: who the hell am I? Nobody. I'm nobody. I have no grounds for advising anybody.

Then again, we're all nobody out here in the writing blogosphere. Almost all. Big-name writers aren't going to give away advice for free (and I don't blame them) because their advice might actually be worth something. Though if you've hung around the blogosphere long enough, you've heard all the advice there is about writing, in a few dozen different forms.

Honest, it's all out here. The pros can explain it more concisely, or more thoroughly, but it's all the same advice and none of it is a magic formula for becoming a good writer.

As I said in the post about seeing: oh shit, nobody can tell me what to do.

So I can spew out advice to my heart's content because all of it is worth what you're paying for it. I can't tell you what to do. YOU HAVE TO GO AND DO IT.

And also, I've observed a recent rash of statements to the effect of: I queried too soon. I self-published too soon. Too soon, too soon. As soon as someone can quantify "too soon," please let me know. I expect it will involve the magical knowledge of what a given individual's peak skills are, charted against their current level of development. I'd pay real money for that. Seriously. Can you imagine? It would be uplifting and crushing at the same time: I'm near my peak, but I'll never be as good as (famous author).

You have to start somewhere. Or, don't start. That's an option.

The Olympics always strike me as having a certain relevance to writing. Wired ran an article recently about the astounding amount of training and technology that goes into sports at that level, and I always wonder about the balance between training/equipment and raw talent. Because if you put me through a training grinder, yes, I would undoubtedly become a better runner, swimmer, what-have-you. Would I be a good one? Would I be Olympic-level?

Probably not.

Being sensitive souls, writers don't want to talk about that thing outside our control, those limitations the Great Author wrote in our character profile. Talent. Charisma. Why does 50 Shades of Grey have it and I don't?

(shrugs) You have to go out and do it. Start somewhere.

Other Stuff

My Kickstarter project is a go! Three more days to pre-order an e-book or paperback -- I've created reward options for just the books and not the other stuff.

I'm building a book blog at Disciples of the fount for book-related info, updates, etc., so if you just want to keep an eye out for when it's released... that's the place.

Guest blogging at Cup of Porn

Confession: I lurk around Cup of Porn all the time. It's not all my cup of tea, but the scenery is nice. Today I am a feature on Mix-it-up Monday!

Yes, my Kickstarter project is a go! If we get to $3,600 in pledges, I will be producing two different bookmarks instead of the one that I'd planned on. Everybody who has a bookmark coming to them will get one of each design.

I'm building a book blog at Disciples of the fount for book-related info, updates, etc.

This has suddenly turned into a busy week -- I'm going to need to write Part V to its first stopping point ASAP. See you on Thursday for a blog post.

Spending the week at Unicorn Bell

They let me have a second week, so I guess it didn't go too badly last time... I will be blathering about plot over at Unicorn Bell this week.

Handy index of posts for the future:
#1 The five parts of a plot
#2 Walking backwards from the climax
#3 Plotting the way down the mountain
#4 Where the climb began
#5 Which domino fell first?
#6 Wrapping it up

<-- One more week and I will stop pestering everybody about this! Plan B will go into effect over at the book blog, Disciples of the fount. Stay tuned.

Positioning the camera: POV characters

Picking POV characters can be easy; if the story is mainly centered on one person, it they're sympathetic and/or interesting, then they're a shoo-in.

Whose story is it?

It can get trickier if your story isn't so focused. If there are several factions in play. If more than one character goes through major changes in the course of the story. Too many POV characters can dilute the story, though -- the story needs to be big enough to fit a large cast, and no that isn't an exact science.

I'm telling a smallish story, in the next Part of Disciple (Part V). In fact, it's so small and constrained that it's getting be a bit claustrophobic. And yet, I have four characters clamoring to be POVs. I don't think the story needs more than two, and I'm fairly sure that limiting it to one would mean missing out on too much. But four? Probably too much. So I've been weighing the pros and cons...

In the "for" column
Who's at the center of the action, if there's car chases and gunfights? (there aren't, in this story) Which character struggles to overcome the most important obstacles? Who has interesting things to say? Who would be good at explaining things the reader needs to know and/or would find interesting? And who do I find most interesting?

In the "against" column
How much overlap is there between this character and another potential POV character? How often will I need to decide who gets to narrate a scene because they're both there? Is this character's story important to the central, driving plot of the story? Would they just be a distraction? If it's not their story, are they sufficiently transparent to be a sideline narrator?

Control of information
POV characters are also a way to control the information the reader sees. This is one of the great advantages and disadvantages of first-person narrators. On one hand, you can spring stuff on the character because they weren't in a position to know about it. On the other hand, you're stuck with their eyeballs and sometimes you'll have to go through contortions to put them where they need to be.

POV characters are also a window into culture, since they bring their biases and opinions to the story. They work that information into their narration, and readers will pick up on it. That's another thing to assign a "for" or an "against" to.

I've mostly settled on which two characters I will use: one is kind of obvious, the other less so. A third one is still arguing her case. We'll see how it goes.

How do you pick your POV characters?

Beating a new horse

Query contest at Unicorn Bell! 

We're going to help you polish up that query letter for that finished manuscript you have, and then they'll be seen by our panel of editor judges. 

Check out the announcement page to see what the judges are in the market for.

Even if you don't have a manuscript ready, this is a great chance to work on query writing -- it's always difficult -- and get feedback on yours!

Guest post at Rebeka Harrington

Today I'm guest posting over at Rebeka Harrington's indie promo blog -- my first shot at blogging for readers, rather than writers. That's something I need to be doing more of.

I have one more mini-blog-tour post coming up next week, at Cup of Porn. My Kickstarter project ends on the 30th. I'm looking forward to that.

Practice seeing

I went to an arts college. Then I graduated and then the real problems began, but anyway...

At the arts college, there was an occasional evening workshop, open to all students, in sketching. From a nude model. It was a fairly traditional workshop -- it started with quick 15- or 30-second sketching and progressed to a few minutes per pose, and the final one was half an hour. It took me a while to get the hang of this. I didn't have any experience with being around casually naked people. It was intimidating for a shy fat girl.

After a while, it began to make sense. My sketching got better, especially in the short sequences. I thought it was the mechanical practice of putting pencil to paper -- and to a degree it was.

But then it hit me, unexpectedly: it was also practice seeing. Learning to pick out the important parts that would communicate the pose quickly. Getting them on the paper. This is an idea that has stuck with me ever since, that I should practice seeing and communicating what I see.

As a sketch artist, I'm mediocre. Words have always come more easily to me, and sketching with words has become my obsession.

I thought of this because of Bluestocking's recent post and her link to Catherine Schaff-Stump's post on vision. They're both right: after a certain point, you've absorbed all the basic lessons of writing and you have to go forth and do it -- and having the vision to do that is, in truth, the most difficult part of writing. The part nobody can teach you.

That's the point when tee-hee, nobody can tell me what to do morphs into oh shit, nobody can tell me what to do.

How does one practice seeing?

Well... 15-second word sketches. You don't need nude models. You can do it anywhere, anytime. Write down what you see, as clearly and accurately as you can. But briefly -- time yourself, if you need to. Little things, big things. How people pick up a coffee mug while reading and take a sip, all without looking at the mug. Or do they?

And no, that's not exactly what Bluestocking and Catherine were talking about. Vision includes the bigger themes of aesthetics, morality, hope. In my opinion, that's a matter of being honest and playful. Honest in sticking with what you believe and what your characters believe. Playful in the willingness to explore possibilities and develop them.

Nobody can tell you how to do it, only encourage you to keep doing it. Keep sketching.

I hope that made sense.

Obligatory Kickstarter flogging

I've also added a $5 e-book-only reward option! I know, I should've thought of that sooner...

I'm running a Kickstarter project to fund the professional editing, proofreading, and cover artwork for my gritty fantasy romance, Disciple, Part I: For Want of a Piglet. There will be six parts in total, published over the course of the next few years.

I'm offering e-books, paperbacks, promotional bookmarks, and more at various pledge levels (ranging from $1 - $100). Check out the project page for my book trailer, budget, and production schedule.

Kickstarter.com is a fundraising platform for all sorts of creative projects. Artists post a profile of their project and offer rewards in exchange for pledged money. The pledges are not collected unless the artist's funding goal is reached within a set period of time. If the goal is reached, the artist receives the money, carries out the project and distributes the rewards promised. It's a fascinating site and easy to lose time in!

The plot doctor is in

You might remember my Plotter FAIL! of a couple months back -- it got a lot of hits.

The fix I came up with worked, more or less, but a small comment from one of my CPs suddenly undermined it all. To paraphrase her: The scene where [big event happens] is kinda rushed. It needs more weight.

The patch I put in because of my Plotter FAIL was what put the squeeze on Big Event Scene. The patch kinda turned into a Big Event itself in the writing -- which meant I ended up with four disasters in my story. This violates the Rule of Three. The patch was causing multiple problems.

It was a good revision session. Pic from Showtime's series Dexter.

So, taking my lead from Dexter, I hung plastic sheeting and prepared to fix the problem. Obviously, the patch and the Big Event needed to merge into one. Tricky, but do-able.

Continuity
One of the biggest concerns in moving events around is the impact it has on the characters. I was moving a scene to slightly earlier in the story, but whichever way you're moving you still need to be aware of where your characters are when the scene begins, how that will impact their reactions to the events, and where they will be when the scene ends.

This is true of any scene, and I think it's easier when you're revising because you can see the whole story more clearly. You are more able to ask:

• Does this make sense dramatically? What problems does it solve and what problems does it create?
• Is there anything the character learned between the two scenes that they won't know when the order of events changes? Or anything they will know, if you're moving an early scene to later? Characters should never act according to information they don't have.
• How does this impact the emotional sequence? Especially if relationships loom large in your story -- moving an event will change its impact. Sit down with your characters and consider all the repercussions carefully.

Logistics
Don't forget about the mundane stuff, either. Worry about the gear the characters have on hand, what they're wearing, how much of the city will burn down in this iteration, what to do with the time you've added or deleted by moving scenes around.

And after you've re-written the whole scene, realize that the city was still on fire at the end... whoops, somebody want to fix that...?

Adjust the fallout
Don't forget to adjust the downstream action to reflect the new sequence of events. Since everything is connected to each other, in a story, shifting a scene will always have some impact further along in the story. Often, that's exactly why you moved the scene in question -- but unexpected details can turn up, so be vigilant.

Have you had to move a major scene? What sorts of problems did that create?

Kickstarter UPDATE! 

I've changed the $100 pledge reward! Go take a look!

I'm running a Kickstarter project to fund the professional editing, proofreading, and cover artwork for my gritty fantasy romance, Disciple, Part I: For Want of a Piglet. There will be six parts in total, published over the course of the next few years.

I'm offering e-books, paperbacks, promotional bookmarks, and more at various pledge levels (ranging from $1 - $100). Check out the project page for my book trailer, budget, and production schedule.

Kickstarter.com is a fundraising platform for all sorts of creative projects. Artists post a profile of their project and offer rewards in exchange for pledged money. The pledges are not collected unless the artist's funding goal is reached within a set period of time. If the goal is reached, the artist receives the money, carries out the project and distributes the rewards promised. It's a fascinating site and easy to lose time in!

Guest blogging at Elizabeth Twist!

I discovered Elizabeth Twist's blog during the A to Z Challenge and I've really enjoyed reading her posts -- so I was thrilled when she wanted to interview me about my Kickstarter project. Check out the interview here!

In other news, I have survived my first week of Kickstarter. And I thought waiting for responses to queries was nerve-wracking! Fortunately, the stress is driving me to take my frustration out on my characters as I start plotting Part V of Disciple. I should be able to get a few blog posts out of the process, too. (cracks knuckles and grins)

Sparkly things

GIVEN that I am trying to avoid checking my Kickstarter project every five minutes, let's try to distract me with sparkly things.

The little kingdom in my fantasy novel has a climate and geography loosely based on New England (see this post). That's because I'm from New England originally and I make no apologies for loving it.

One of many things that New England is not known for, though, is its supply of gemstones. And any kingdom needs a stash of jewels, let's be honest. I knew my fantasy kingdom was not going to be rich, powerful, or luxurious but they do need some sparkly things to pull out for important occasions.

I am not a geologist. But I did do some homework and here's what I turned up:

Rocks in general
What's under the dirt? In New England, it's essentially all granite under the thin layer of dirt that the glaciers left behind. Therefore, I went looking for gemstones that are often found in association with granite. To use a more technical term, granite is the matrix in which the gemstones will be found.

Quartz. Yawn?

Everyone's seen big, clear quartz crystals and yes, they're nice. Rose quartz is pretty and smoky quartz has a certain mysterious air. Quartz is a very common mineral, though, so it's not very exciting. Right?

Don't forget that amethyst is just purple quartz. Purple being a royal color (due to the difficulty of creating the color with natural dyestuffs), a nicely colored amethyst is a natural match for royalty. It was a valuable gemstone before they discovered tons of it in Brazil.

Tourmaline
This is not a gemstone you hear a lot about, but it comes in a variety of nice colors including green, yellow, blue, pink, and sometimes two colors at once. Which, you must admit, is kinda funky looking.

Topaz
Classic topaz is yellow, but it can also be found in blue, orange, or pink. I'm fond of blue gems, and while this might not be sapphire it's still a nice shade.

Pure topaz is colorless and clear. While that may sound as boring as clear quartz crystals, consider: like glass, it's hard and transparent, but this gemstone is tougher than glass. Topaz is on the high end of the Mohs hardness scale, so if you could find a nice, big crystal... what sorts of useful things could you carve it into? (assuming you have the tools to carve it!) For an idea of the comparison, glass ranks about 6-7 on the Mohs scale, whereas topaz is an 8. That's on par with steel.

Beryl
Like quartz, beryl comes in many colorful varieties. Some of them are quite pretty.

Red	Gold	Pink, aka Morganite

Oh, and don't forget beryl's most popular color...

Green, aka Emerald

Now that's a sparkly thing worth mentioning.

I'm running a Kickstarter project to fund the professional editing, proofreading, and cover artwork for my gritty fantasy romance, Disciple, Part I: For Want of a Piglet. There will be six parts in total, published over the course of the next few years.

I'm offering e-books, paperbacks, promotional bookmarks, and more at various pledge levels (ranging from $1 - $100). Check out the project page for my book trailer, budget, and production schedule.

Kickstarter.com is a fundraising platform for all sorts of creative projects. Artists post a profile of their project and offer rewards in exchange for pledged money. The pledges are not collected unless the artist's funding goal is reached within a set period of time. If the goal is reached, the artist receives the money, carries out the project and distributes the rewards promised. It's a fascinating site and easy to lose time in!

Guest Blogging at The Bluestocking Blog

I'm blogging over at The Bluestocking Blog today!

Since my Kickstarter project is for Part I of a six-part series, I blogged a bit about recursive plotting -- because the same structure applies to the series as a whole.

Happy 4th of July! Or, if you're recovering from Canada Day, I hope you're feeling better. I will be posting on Thursday with a regular blog post, unless I get in another guest blog before then.