Randal Houle's Blog, page 2
March 10, 2013
Featured in the Summer in Words lineup. I’ll be talking a...
Featured in the Summer in Words lineup. I’ll be talking about Social Media Marketing and how authors can use virtual relationships to move books.
Over the last twenty years, Randal Houle has sold everything from pots & pans to cemetery plots. Some of his work from the flash fiction project 52/250: A Year In Flash was included in several anthologies. His short story, “Eyelashes” appeared in Smash Cake Magazine. He teaches workshops at Clark College in Vancouver, Washington which include “The Novel Road,” “Creating Complex Characters,” and “ePublishing: A Primer.”
March 9, 2013
Creating Complex Characters
More info and link to registration.
Novelists and story writers alike recognize the importance of solid characters. We’ve all read stories where the characters come off as flat, uninteresting… and usually someone says, “This story just doesn’t do it for me.” In almost every case, the problem isn’t with the story at all, but with presentation of character.
Characters with yearning, strengths and (of course) a fatal flaw, are most important to good storytelling. If a reader identifies with the character, or with (the character’s) yearning, (love, life, survival, redemption, revenge, etc.) then we’ll go almost anywhere in a story environment. Rob your readers of these important elements and you create a story that even beautifully written prose cannot bandage.
What is yearning? Let me answer that question with a question: What is it that YOU want? That’s right, yearning is no more complicated than that. Your heart’s desire, your yearning, is what drives you. Everything that is opposed (internally and externally) to that goal is conflict. That is where the story resides, and in overcoming those obstacles.
Of course, it is always more fun to read of a character that overcomes obstacles only to discover that a fatal flaw is preventing the (or at least making it more difficult) character from achieving what they want. That’s just good storytelling whether it’s mystery, romance, or literary.
In my workshop at Clark College, we’ll discuss the above in detail and more. If your yearning includes writing short stories or novels, follow the registration link above and see if my workshop becomes a little helper on your way to achieve your writing goals.
March 8, 2013
ePublishing: A Primer
more links and registration.
Summer In Words
Summer in Words link and info here.
