Angela Ackerman's Blog: Writers Helping Writers, page 128

How To Accurately Write About Your Character’s Pain

The best thing about this online world of ours is you never know who you are going to meet. I don’t know about you, but one of the areas I struggle with is writing a character’s pain in a way that is raw, realistic…but not just “one-note.” So when I crossed paths with a paramedic-turned-writer, I got a little excited. And when she said she’d share her brain with us about the experience of pain, and how to write it authentically, I got A LOT excited. Read on, and make sure to visit Aunt Scripty’s links at the end. Her blog is full of more great medical info for writers.

Writing About Pain (Without Putting your Readers in Agony)

[image error]Pain is a fundamental part of the human experience, which means that it’s a fundamental part of storytelling. It’s the root of some of our best metaphors, our most elegant writing. Characters in fiction suffer, because their suffering mirrors our own.

In good writing, physical suffering often mirrors emotional suffering. It heightens drama, raises the stakes, adds yet another hurdle for our hero to jump before they reach their glorious climax.

So why can reading about pain be so boring?

Consider the following (made-up) example:

The pain shot up her arm like fire. She cringed. It exploded in her head with a blinding whiteness. It made her dizzy. It made her reel. The pain was like needles that had been dipped in alcohol had been jammed through her skin, like her arm had been replaced with ice and electricity wired straight into her spine.

For your characters, at its worst the pain can be all-consuming.  For your readers, though, it can become a grind. Let’s be honest, you gave up reading that paragraph by the third sentence.

In another story, a character breaks his ribs in one scene, then has, uhhh, intimate moments with his Special Someone in the next. Where did the agony go‽

There’s a fine line to walk between forgetting your character’s pain, elucidating it, and over-describing it.

So I’m here today to give you a pain scale to work with, and provide some pointers on how to keep in mind a character’s injuries without turning off your readers.

How Much Does It Hurt? A Pain Scale for Writers

Minor/Mild: This is pain that your character notices but doesn’t distract them. Consider words like pinch, sting, smart, stiffness.

Moderate: This is pain that distracts your character but doesn’t truly stop them. Consider words like ache, throb, distress, flare.

Severe: This is pain your character can’t ignore. It will stop them from doing much of anything. Consider words like agony, anguish, suffering, throes, torment, stabbing.

Obliterating: This is the kind of pain that prohibits anything else except being in pain (and doing anything to alleviate it). Consider words like ripping, tearing, writhing.

Metaphors, of course, are going to play somewhere on this spectrum, but I would suggest picking one level of pain and targeting it. For instance, don’t  mix stinging with searing when finding a metaphor to build.

How Often Should We Remind Readers of a Character’s Pain?

[image error]Most pain that matters in fiction isn’t a one-and-done kind of a deal. A gunshot wound should burn and itch and ache as it heals. A broken bone should send a jarring blast of lightning into the brain if that bone is jostled or hit.

Injuries need to have consequences. Otherwise, what’s the point?

There are three main ways to remind a reader of your character’s suffering: show them suffering, show them working around their suffering, and a third, more advanced, technique that I’ll mention in a moment.

If you want to show their pain, the easiest way is to tell: “her shoulder ached”; “she rubbed her aching shoulder”; “she rolled her shoulder subconsciously, trying to work out the aching stiffness” all convey what we want.

For frequency, try to limit those mentions to once per scene at the most, and perhaps as rarely as once per chapter.

However, we can choose something closer to the show route, by watching the character work around their injuries: “she opened the door awkwardly with her left hand to avoid the burn on her right”; “she led each step on the staircase with her good leg”; “Martin fiddled with his sling irritably”. That can be a little more frequent. It’s a reminder, but it’s also a small challenge that they’re solving before your very eyes. Huzzah!

One Final Technique: The Transmission of Agony

My best friend is a paramedic. She’s also had spinal fusion, has multiple slipped discs, and takes a boatload of pain medication. And yet I can see how much pain she’s in when we work together by the way she walks, talks, and carries herself.

Her pain isn’t constant. It changes. It ebbs and flows like the tide. It can be debilitating in one minute, bearable the next. So, too, can the agony of your characters:

“The agony had faded to a dull throb.”

“The pain in my shoulder ramped up the from stiffness all the way to searing, blinding agony faster than I could blink.” 

“And, just when the pain was at its worst, it dissipated, like fog off some terrible lake.”

Go forth. Inflict suffering and woe upon your characters!

If I can offer one more piece of wisdom, it’s this: research the injury inflicted upon your character. At the very least, try to get a grasp on what their recovery might look like. It will add a level of realism to your writing that you simply can’t fake without it, and remind you that they should stay injured beyond the length of a scene.

Thank you for your time and your attention.

xoxo, Aunt Scripty

[image error]Aunt Scripty is a veteran paramedic and author of the ScriptMedic blog at scriptmedicblog.com . In just three short months, her blog has attracted several thousand followers and accidentally started a writing advice blog revolution on Tumblr.

She lives in an undisclosed location with her beautiful wife and imaginary pibble, Steve, and can be found @scriptmedic on Twitter. If you’re not careful, she’ll sneak up on you in a dark alleyway and give you a free ebook.

Have a question about PAIN? Now’s your chance to get some serious A+ feedback. Comment below.
Image 1: BrookLorin @pixabay
Image 2: LeoNeoBoy @ Pixabay

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Does Your Character Description Create A Powerful Image?

[image error]Your job as a storyteller is to create IMAGES. This is true not just for screenwriters, but for anyone presenting a story to a reader or an audience.

Whenever we read a novel or hear a speech or see a story as part of a marketing email, we immediately picture what is happening. It is your responsibility to make your characters, your settings and the action of your stories come to life clearly and vividly.

The most common weakness of character descriptions I read or hear is that they generalize.

The details are broad, vague or not visual at all. They neither create a specific image, nor do they reveal anything important or emotionally involving about the character.

When you define your character only by their function – a boss, a mother, a teenager, a customer – that person is hard to picture and hard to care about. The same holds true when the description is a summary – giving us a character’s personality or conflict or need with no visible evidence, and nothing to allow your reader or audience to draw their own conclusions. It may be true that your character is “the hero’s sister-in-law” or “mean and vindictive” or “a loser” or “my son” or “from Macon, Georgia”, but none of those statements will draw us to the character, or your story. (And if you’re a screenwriter, you must omit such descriptions altogether – you can only write what the audience will see and hear on the screen.)

[image error]Sometimes storytellers provide visible descriptions that create an image, but the details are unimportant to the story and reveal nothing of what’s inside the character. I’ve read countless screenplays which introduce characters in this way: “JOHN, 29, tall and thin,” or “MARY (mid 40’s) an attractive brunette.” As you read those two descriptions, did you get any kind of clear image of John or Mary? Neither will your reader or your audience.

Your goal must be to reveal two or three clear, succinct and vivid details that create a picture in the minds of your reader or audience, and that convey something of the essence of that character.

Your focus should be on three things:

What a person wears reveals far more about her than her height, build and age. Imagine reading about a woman whose Salvation Army dress was crisply ironed, and whose perfectly polished shoes hid the holes in their soles. Not only would you be able to picture the character, you would immediately know that she was desperate to hide the fact that she had fallen on hard times.
Telling us a first person story about how you once “got angry” will make your speech vague and uninvolving. Instead describe how, as you waited endlessly in line for your prescription at CVS, your jaw bulged as your teeth began to clench and your face grew increasingly red. Now your audience will imagine they’re in line with you.
How would your character enter a room full of people? Burst through the door followed by his entourage? Stick his head in and scan the crowd before quietly sliding behind a potted plant? Stagger in, shirt untucked, before colliding with a waiter? Each of these is more visual, and more revealing, than the word “enter.”

Consider the following example:

A seven-year-old girl sits watching [a beauty pageant] intently. She is big for her age and slightly plump. She has frizzy hair and wears black-rimmed glasses. She studies the show very earnestly. Then, using a remote, she freezes the image. Absently, she holds up one hand and mimics the waving style of Miss America. She rewinds the tape and starts all over again.

[image error]Even if you haven’t seen LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE (and if you haven’t, why not?! It’s a terrific movie!), I’m guessing that screenwriter Michael Arndt’s description of Olive gave you a very vivid image of the character. And notice how her black-rimmed glasses, intent expression and mimicking wave tell us volumes about her beyond just her appearance. We know what she longs for, how determined she is, and how out of reach her dream seems to be for her.

Reveal just two or three carefully chosen details when introducing a character. That character will come alive for your readers and audiences, and they’ll be emotionally hooked into your story.

What’s a defining feature of your character’s appearance, and what does it say about who they are? Let us know in the comments.

[image error]Michael has been one of Hollywood’s top script consultants, story experts, and speakers for more than 30 years, and is the author of Selling Your Story in 60 Seconds and Writing Screenplays That Sell.

Find out more about Michael here, check into his articles and coaching packages at Story Mastery, and catch up with him on social media.

Facebook | Twitter

 

*The original posting can be found at Story Mastery.

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Character Motivation Thesaurus Entry: Overcoming Mental Illness

What does your character want? This is an important question to answer because it determines what your protagonist hopes to achieve by the story’s end. If the goal, or outer motivation, is written well, readers will identify fairly quickly what the overall story goal’s going to be and they’ll know what to root for. But how do you know what outer motivation to choose?

If you read enough books, you’ll see the same goals being used for different characters in new scenarios. Through this thesaurus, we’d like to explore these common outer motivations so you can see your options and what those goals might look like on a deeper level.

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Courtesy: Pixabay

Character’s Goal (Outer Motivation): Overcoming mental illness

Forms This Might Take: Coming to grips with one’s mental illness diagnosis can be a long and painful process. Many times, the illness cannot be fully overcome. But it can be managed in such a way that the character can achieve certain goals. Some of the crippling illnesses a character might have to gain control over are

Bipolar disorder
Anxiety disorders
Phobias
Eating disorders
Addictions
Impulse control disorders (kleptomania, pyromania, etc.)
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
Depression
OCD
Tourette’s Syndrome
Autism-spectrum disorders
Dissociative identity disorder (formerly called Split Personality Disorder)
Schizophrenia

Human Need Driving the Goal (Inner Motivation): Mental illness can impact a person’s life and their basic needs in so many ways. It can hurt relationships, making it difficult for the person to find love and belonging. The accompanying roadblocks and limitations can make it hard for the person to achieve long-sought-after dreams and feel fully actualized. But one of the most devastating effects can be on the person’s self-esteem. For purposes of clarity, this entry will focus on overcoming mental illness as a means to the character filling the missing need of self-esteem and recognition.

How the Character May Prepare for This Goal: 

Studying the illness to better educate oneself
Seeking therapy
Creating a schedule for medications and sticking to it
Being honest with one’s doctor (about missed medication doses, side-effects, new developments, etc.)
Trying new therapies and possible cures
Reprioritizing one’s life to decrease stress
Focusing on positivity rather than negativity
Actively pursuing hope and shunning despair
Tracking one’s progress (via a journal, daily checklist, blog, etc.) to identify what’s working and what’s not
Avoiding the triggers one knows will set one off
Leaning on the supportive people in one’s life
Embracing one’s faith
Letting go of impossible goals and pursuing doable ones
Ending toxic relationships that are holding one back
Finding the wise people in one’s sphere and seeking their advice
Relying on others temporarily so one can eventually become self-sufficient (moving back home with one’s parents, taking on a roommate, entering a treatment live-in treatment program, etc.)
Getting involved in a support group
Taking better care of one’s health (getting plenty of sleep, adopting healthy eating habits, etc.)
Seeing things in the long-term rather than the short-term and making decisions accordingly (e.g., going to a party though one would rather stay home because one realizes getting out and socializing is a good idea)
Turning one’s attention to include others instead of being focused only on oneself
Celebrating the small victories

Possible Sacrifices or Costs Associated With This Goal: 

Giving up one’s free-spiritedness or individuality in favor of a more traditional lifestyle
Having to live with side effects from medication (fuzziness, lack of drive, sexual dysfunction, etc.)
Having to depend more on others; decreased independence
Giving up delusions or perceptions that one enjoyed having (imaginary friends, increased creativity, etc.)
Losing “friends” who shared one’s lifestyle and don’t care to follow the patient into health and well-being

Roadblocks Which Could Prevent This Goal from Being Achieved: 

Denial; refusing or being unwilling to see the need for change
One’s own mind working as an enemy, convincing one that things are fine as they are
Unhealthy influencers who encourage one not to change
Low self-esteem that causes self-doubt and negative thought patterns, making success difficult
Medications and treatments that work but have unpleasant side effects
Having to use a trial-by-error method to achieve results, and becoming frustrated with the process
Not having the money for treatment
Being isolated (due to one’s past actions or the discrimination of others) and not having a support system in place
Other mental or physical problems that could mask one’s mental health issue, making treatment difficult
Recurring set-backs that thwart one’s attempts to get better

Talents & Skills That Will Help the Character Achieve This Goal:

Organization
Strategic Thinking
An area of giftedness that provides an outlet (Sculpting, Carpentry, Archery, Baking, Sewing, etc.)
The ability to recognize truth when it’s spoken

Possible Fallout For the Protagonist if This Goal Is Not Met:

Broken relationships due to one burning bridges with others
Never being able to achieve self-fulfillment due to one chasing impossible dreams
Being unable to fulfill realistic dreams and goals because of one’s mental illness
Continued esteem issues arising from one’s inability to cope with or overcome the illness
Being victimized by those who would take advantage of someone’s compromised mental state (bullies, scam artists, toxic friends, violent criminals, etc.)
Losing one’s job
Growing old and having no financial security due to one’s inability to be responsible with money
Homelessness and isolation
Health issues arising from living a prolonged unsafe lifestyle
A premature death

Clichés to Avoid: 

A story about a protagonist that ends up being a figment of the mentally ill person’s imagination (Shutter Island)

Click here for a list of our current entries for this thesaurus, along with a master post containing information on the individual fields.

Describing Your Character: How To Make Each Detail Count

Describing a character’s physical appearance is a tough job.

Most writers either really get into it and share every dimple, curl, and laugh line, or they sprinkle in just a few details so readers can make up the rest. No surprise, the best approach lands somewhere in the middle, but even so, ALL description should wow readers.

[image error]We all know it’s important that our description paints a picture. Readers need a way to connect with characters and the story. But like everything else with writing craft, it’s all in the HOW. If we don’t choose details with care, we will miss an opportunity to draw readers deeper into the story, and our writing can come across as bland or boring.

Make Every Detail Count

Description should be deliberate, with each detail pushing the story forward rather than holding it back via a bloated word count. This means making careful selections, and only describing things that are meaningful.

A character’s physical appearance is a big chance to make a memorable impact. Meaningful bits will pull readers in, help them understand the character better, and most importantly, make them care. BOOM, just what we want, right?

Let’s look at different ways to make sure your physical description is pulling its storytelling weight.

1) Choose Details that Show Personality

Choosing features that hint at who the character is deep down is a great starting point for physical description. Consider:

I approached the woman seated behind the front desk. On the phone, her gaze flicked up only long enough to dismiss me as someone unimportant. Her pale blond hair was a bondage experiment gone wrong, yanked back and knotted, then skewered with pins. The skin on her face, bloodless and stretched, barely moved as she spoke. Ten bucks said that if I leaned in a little, I’d hear her pores screaming.

Can you see hints of this woman’s personality from this description? Haughty, controlling, frigid…this is what comes to mind for me. The tone is also set for what is to come: that this woman will lack warmth, friendliness, and likely will be less than helpful when she does finally decide to end her call and speak to the POV character.

2) Choose Details that Reveal Emotion

As writers, we want to weave in emotion wherever we can, and physical description is a great place to do so. Readers will feel closer to the POV character as necessary physical description is being delivered about another character, or themselves.

Hank leaned back in his chair, hands laced lightly over his expansive torso, considering me. I couldn’t look at his eyes so I stared at his chin—dimpled and pale as a baby’s bottom. Yet, if it gave just one tiny jerk left or right, his goons would turn me into a bloody smear. I dropped my gaze to the floor.

Here we can imagine Hank, an intimidating force who holds all the power in the room. And we know this through the terrific descriptive contrast of a physical detail that is the exact opposite of imposing: a chin, smoothly shaved and dimpled. But when this description is delivered through the filter of the POV character’s fragile emotional state, we see Hank as the danger he truly is.

3) Choose Details that Show Motivation

Physical description can also reinforce a state of mind to readers while alluding to motivation. Consider this scene:

Alan didn’t savor his food. He didn’t take small, considerate bites, pausing to reflect on the complex flavors of the citrus duck and saffron stuffing. Instead, he shoveled in bite after bite, his teeth tearing and mashing, consuming calories for the sole purpose of burning them off on the football field.

Eating, while a necessary part of a character’s daily routine, can create some pretty boring description. But this sparks great imagery; we can imagine an incredible spread of food that someone went to a lot of work to prepare, yet our footballer is so focused and motivated by his goal that to him it’s only fuel. We can’t help but wonder what’s on the line here, and why is winning so all-consuming.  Not only can we picture the scene, the description’s focus is on a feature that is rarely described in fiction, making it all that more fresh and interesting: his teeth.

4) Choose Details that Create Hooks

The old man in the faded Army cap carried a misshapen, string-tied package up the city hall steps. At each concrete riser, his knees strained and groaned, trying to hold their weight. Like soldiers carrying too-heavy packs, they struggled gamely on, doing what they’d been trained to do: finish the mission.

A description about knees that draws a reader in? Yes, it can be done. In this example, the details act as hooks. Not only do we want to know more about this man, we want to know his why: why he’s at city hall and not at home napping in front of the TV. Why he’s struggling up these steps on a mission. Why he’s carrying a package so resolutely, clearly a burden for someone in his condition. (And heck, I want to know what’s in the misshapen package, and who it’s for.)

Using physical description to make readers wonder about a character puts questions in their minds, and the desire for answers will keep them turning pages.

Remember Your Character Is More than a Pretty Face (Or, You Know, an Ugly One)
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Click to enlarge

It’s easy to get caught up in the face when we describe our characters (especially the eyes, hair, and smile combo). Give your readers something fresh and different to work with by thinking about the whole body. Different areas might better deliver the emotion or meaning you’re going for than an overused facial feature.

If you need more help, I recommend checking out the Physical Feature Thesaurus at One Stop for Writers. There’s an entry on every physical feature, and a load of different ideas on how to describe your character, including how to use simile & metaphor effectively. Plus, we list all the cliches to steer clear of to ensure your description is fresh!

Have you used one of these techniques to show readers your character’s appearance? Have a snippet to share? Let me know in the comments!

Image 1: OltreCreativeAgency @ Pixabay

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Build Your Author Life BEFORE Your Book Release

Donna Galanti is BACK, people! She’s here to day to give some very thorough tips on connecting with other authors and building a community of writers before a book’s release. Get ready to hit that “Bookmark” button, because there’s some truly helpful stuff here :).

As writers, the rejection never ends with queries, book proposals, editor notes, or bad reviews. But there is a key to creating and sustaining an author life while surviving endless rejection: build a support community. We can write alone, but it’s very hard to get published (or succeed) alone.

To enhance success, we can build the foundation before we’re published, just like the railway built to connect Vienna and Venice. It was built before any train could travel up such a steep grade. A feat of civil engineering that took 20,000 people!

You won’t need 20,000 people, but you will need a few, along with these 3 steps:

Put Yourself Out There (Get Out of Your Writer’s Cave!)

As authors we get out of our comfort zone when we write, but we must also publicly get out of our comfort zone. Once your book releases, participate in conferences, panels, guest blogs, or school visits. Each YES will build your confidence and community connections.

How to start? Be active in genre-based writer organizations. Attend meetups and make friends with industry peers. Engage with co-author blogs. Follow and connect with authors you admire. Create a local writer’s group. I meet weekly with a writer’s group where we write and share advice. We are one brain collective with celebrated successes, partly through our connections.

Tips:

Create a business card to exchange at meetups so you can connect with others online.
Volunteer within writer organizations for the opportunity to work with agents, editors, authors, and writers. My first volunteer role was doing social media for International Thriller Writers Organization. I’m now a contributing editor for their Big Thrill. Through this, I’ve befriended authors, many who’ve blurbed my books.

Rookie Mistakes:

Thinking you need to know what you’re doing before you say yes (saying YES will force you to learn and increase your confidence).
Believing that veteran authors aren’t open to helping new authors (they were first-time authors once).
Asking for advice or help before establishing a relationship (be patient—it’s a long-term gig).
Adding new connections to groups without asking.
Not mentioning how you met in your friend request.

Connect with Readers Before Your Book Comes Out!
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Courtesy: Pixabay

Readers are your friends. Follow bloggers and book tubers in your genre. They’re a direct line to your readers. Build a connection with them so when your book releases they are first in line for your review request and are willing to say “Yes!”

How to start? Run a Google search for “book bloggers” plus your genre/age-range. This will give you a list of potential book bloggers to contact. To find ideal book reviewers, first identify any authors who write books similar to yours. Search the author’s name plus “review” to find reviewers who might be interested in your story.

Tips:

Connecting now with book bloggers improves your chances of getting best-fit reviewers later. Invite them to be interviewed on your blog. Organize them in a Twitter list to easily engage.
Clean out your bookshelves and hold a book-grab Rafflecopter contest for books within your genre. Promote and provide extra entries if entrants follow you on social media, your blog, or newsletter, thereby increasing your best-fit reader audience.
Connect with other debuts. Each year, debuts band together to help cross promote their books to readers. To find likely partners, search for “debut author” plus the year your book releases.

Rookie Mistakes:

Mass emailing book reviewers about your book (personalize each one)
Not following the reviewer’s blog, not commenting on posts, and expecting them to buy your book.
Not offering incentives along with your review request (they could accept a guest post/giveaway if not a review).

For more help, try: 5 Steps To Finding Your Ideal Book Audience

Position Yourself as an Expert (Share What You Know)

You may be saying, “I’m no expert,” but you are! You can talk about writing to writers by covering topics like good revision tips, sharing your publishing journey, and discussing the benefits of attending a conference. But also talk to your readership about fiction: where your ideas come from, creating characters, research, etc. Bonus: Giving a talk or being on someone else’s blog instantly positions you as an expert!

How to start? With all of those community connections you made in step #1! If a new contact loves to share quality content, invite them as a guest on your blog (I started my blog with writer/author interviews). With book bloggers, share a book excerpt and include a swag giveaway to gain pre-orders. Introduce yourself in person to your independent bookstore and offer them a free copy (or ARC) of your book to encourage them to carry it. Schedule a book launch with them, or pitch doing a workshop for readers or writers in-store. Gain speaking experience by asking your writer organization (and other local ones) if you can speak at their monthly meetings.

Tips:

For guest posts, pitch with your article idea and why it’s a good fit, your bio, and where you’ve blogged before. Ask an open-ended question at the end of your guest post to engage readers. Post your guest post links on your site for ‘evergreen’ content’. Re-share your guest posts if they contain timeless content. Create a “cheat sheet” of your posts/guest posts, schedule them on Twitter in rotation, and tag the blogger/guest in it. This extends goodwill, reinforcing your connection.
To prepare for an in-person audience, take notes at other presentations you’ve attended. Did they have a handout, a PowerPoint presentation, or exercise? Was it quality information in a manageable chunk? Mimic what worked for you as an attendee so you can deliver your own passionate, quality presentation. Provide a survey to your audience, gather emails for your newsletter, and follow up with positive responses to request a testimonial.

Rookie Mistakes:

Not following the guidelines for the blog you’re guest posting on, not engaging in comments, not sharing on social media, and not thanking the host for having you on as a guest.
Not gathering names and emails from your in-person audience to build your email list.

For more help, try: Need Online Exposure? Asking Bloggers For Help

Final words. Think “community” for everything you do as an author and it will strengthen and sustain your author foundation. Support the writers and readers you meet! Promote their books and their successes. In turn they will support, advise, and promote you – and help you overcome that next rejection lurking in the wings.

What has your experience been in building an author life? Do you have any tips for us? Have you had success in building a support community or are you still struggling? What’s the #1 thing you’d like to know about building an author life?

Donna Galanti is the author of the paranormal suspense Element Trilogy (Imajin Books) and the children’s fantasy adventure Joshua and The Lightning Road series (Month9Books). Donna is a contributing editor for International Thriller Writers the Big Thrill magazine and blogs with other middle grade authors at Project Middle Grade Mayhem. She’s lived from England as a child, to Hawaii as a U.S. Navy photographer. Donna enjoys teaching at conferences on the writing craft and marketing and also presenting as a guest author at elementary and middle schools. Visit her at www.elementtrilogy.com and www.donnagalanti.com. She can also be found on Twitter, Facebook, and Goodreads.

 

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Character Motivation Entry: Being a Leader of Others

What does your character want? This is an important question to answer because it determines what your protagonist hopes to achieve by the story’s end. If the goal, or outer motivation, is written well, readers will identify fairly quickly what the overall story goal’s going to be and they’ll know what to root for. But how do you know what outer motivation to choose?

[image error]If you read enough books, you’ll see the same goals being used for different characters in new scenarios. Through this thesaurus, we’d like to explore these common outer motivations so you can see your options and what those goals might look like on a deeper level.

Character’s Goal (Outer Motivation): Being a leader of others

Forms This Might Take:

Becoming a mayor, senator, premier, president, or prime minister
Leading the charge for a social initiative, group, or organization
Taking the lead position of a non-profit organization
Being a CEO
Having a role of senior leadership within an company or corporation
Becoming a chief, elder, or member of a band council
Being a admiral, general,  or other military official/battle leader
Leading others in social change (arranging fundraisers, public awareness seminars, committees, demonstrations, public rallies and events)
Leading a church or religion
Steering the monarchy
Heading a important committee or task force responsible for the welfare of others
Leading a cult, commune, or religious community
Leading a police department, the prosecutor’s office, and other roles within the legal system
Leading out of necessity (emergency situations, in the aftermath of a terrible event (terrorism, natural disaster, etc.)
Guiding one’s neighborhood or community to become stronger and more inclusive to all
Leading a minimized group to promote equity and awareness
Leading a club or group involved in a specific interest or activity
Leading a self-help group
Being the head of a school or educational center
Being the manager of an office or operator of a business
Leading an army or group to rebel against oppressors, or flee to safety
Leading one’s peers (on a team, a committee, during an important task or mission, etc.)

Human Need Driving the Goal (Inner Motivation): physiological needs, safety and security, esteem and recognition, self-actualization

How the Character May Prepare for This Goal: 

Obtaining a mentor
Rallying support to run for office or vouch for one’s strengths (if needed)
Seeking out experts who best understand the needs of those one will lead
Surrounding oneself with legacy advisors to ensure critical knowledge is not lost
Meeting with the citizens or people one wishes to lead to better understand their needs and concerns
Obtaining any necessary training or education to be more effective in one’s role (accounting, leadership training, public speaking, economics, government processes, learning the laws and HR practices associated with the position, etc.)
Practicing active listening skills as well as learning how to negotiate and act with diplomacy
Understanding and respecting the values of the company one will work for (or the people one will serve)
Learning to shelve one’s ego and put the needs of one’s charges about one’s own
Bringing on capable, trusted aides so one may delegate tasks and better manage situations effectively
Understand the difference between inspiring people and strong-arming them through fear tactics and punishments
Making informed decisions that benefit the many and do the least harm
Owning one’s mistakes and learning from them
Understanding that collaboration and showing respect are important aspects of governance or leadership at any level
Learning how to become more open-minded, to listen to feedback and council,  and understand that being a leader and being an expert are not the same thing

Possible Sacrifices or Costs Associated With This Goal: 

Being overworked and over-stressed
Being held accountable when things go wrong
A poor work and home life balance
Being unable to afford the luxury of “bad behavior” (losing one’s temper, childish outbursts, getting drunk, etc.) as one is always in the spotlight and expected to hold the dignity of one’s position at all times
Relationship issues (due to neglect of one’s spouse or children, the amount of commitments associated with one’s job, having no energy for family time, etc.)
One’s kids growing distant because one is never around
Missing special moments because one is at work (birthdays, a child’s concert, etc.)
Backlash from rivals and critics who wish one to fail
Making a decision that turns out to be the wrong one, leading to costly (and highly publicized) repercussions
Having little to no time for hobbies and interests
Having one’s actions constantly scrutinized by other important entities (a board of directors, leaders at the peer level, one’s constituents, etc.)
Not getting enough sleep or exercise; developing poor eating habits
Increased risk of health issues (especially those tied to stress)

Roadblocks Which Could Prevent This Goal from Being Achieved: 

Skeletons coming out of the closet and damaging one’s reputation (an affair, taking a bribe, a video that casts one in an unfavorable light, etc.)
An addiction that causes one to be unreliable and irritable
Competition from someone who is equally as suited for the position
A lack of skills or experience in a critical area
Lacking a willingness to learn or adapt; being set in one’s ways
Losing the faith of one’s people (employees, a group of members, citizens of a country, etc.)
Doing things that make people question if one is trustworthy (being secretive, not being transparent in one’s dealings, lying and stretching the truth, etc.)
Not having enough faith in oneself, low self-confidence that makes one not seem to be “leadership material”
Having a lack of an imagination or creativity
An illness or accident that impairs one’s ability to lead
A scandal emerging that is blasted all over the media
An inability to sacrifice one’s own desires for the needs of others
Assembling an inept team that is sure to fail (and likely cause a lot of fallout)
Refusing to be accountable, or learn from one’s mistakes
Trying to do everything oneself rather than delegate to competent parties
Being emotionally immature or volatile

Talents & Skills That Will Help the Character Achieve This Goal:

A Knack for Languages
Good Listening Skills
Blending In
Gaining the Trust of Others
ESP (Clairvoyance)
Empathy
Enhanced Hearing
Enhanced Sense of Smell
Enhanced Taste Buds
Charm
Hospitality
Lip-Reading
Lying
Making People Laugh
Mentalism
A Knack for Making Money
Mimicking
Multitasking
Organization
Photographic Memory
Promotion
Reading People
Strategic Thinking

Possible Fallout For the Protagonist if This Goal Is Not Met:

The disappointment of losing and letting one’s supporters down
Being unable to affect change at the leadership level
Frustration with the direction another leader steers the organization or group
Feeling unfulfilled and needing to seek how to apply one’s skills elsewhere
A loss of control; putting one’s fate (and possibly one’s physical well-being) in another hands

Clichés to Avoid: 

The power-motivated candidate for leadership who is completely unsuited for the position yet somehow ends up in the running
A candidate who tries to strong-arm into the position using one’s family’s power and influence
A David and Goliath situation where one rival has all the influence and advantages while the other has grit and ingenuity


Click here for a list of our current entries for this thesaurus, along with a master post containing information on the individual fields.

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Lesser-Known Character Archetypes

One of the biggest pitfalls for writers is falling into cliché, and some of the biggest clichés happen with our characters. While the common archetypes work and are typically necessary, there are others that can be utilized to add interest, uniqueness, and dimension to our stories.  Jonathan Vars is here today to talk about some of these characters and how they might be of use to you.

Every story contains certain character archetypes—custom molds, if you will, that carry with them certain recognizable traits. These types are instantly recognizable, the most famous being the hero and villain matchup. Other favorites are the sidekick, the mentor, and the love interest.

While these archetypes are perfectly acceptable, writers should be aware that there are literally dozens of others, all of which contain valuable assets to thicken the plot of a story. Here are three lesser-known archetypes that writers should become familiar with and consider adding to their toolbox:

[image error]The Waif

The waif is best described as that innocent character caught up in a situation which is potentially threatening due to the character’s vulnerability. 99 times out of 100, the waif is represented as a child. In fact, the literal definition of “waif” is a homeless and helpless person, especially a neglected or abandoned child. A classic example of the waif is Oliver Twist, arguably the most famous fictional orphan of all time.

The waif can add to the plot of a story in several ways. The most notable benefit is the empathy this character garners from the audience; even the most heartless soul will root for a homeless child to be brought into a loving environment, and readers will continue reading a story to the very end to make sure it happens. The other benefit of including the waif archetype is that the presence of a helpless child intensifies danger tenfold. Sure, the special ops agent can protect himself in a shootout, but throw a wandering child into the mix and the stakes rise exponentially. This character is best added to a story that needs more intimacy with the audience. Consider using a waif to represent the “inner child” of the main character.

The Analyst

The analyst is that reserved and often quiet character who processes life and reality solely through cold reason. When presented with any situation, rather than react emotionally, the analyst will gather facts and figures to cope with the matter at hand. Sherlock Holmes is an obvious example of this kind of character.

The analyst can add to a story through two distinct scenarios: success and failure. In the first situation, the analyst becomes an incredible problem solving weapon, able to untangle seemingly inexplicable dilemmas through his/her purely logical approach. On the flip side of the coin, when the analyst fails, we, the audience, get a glimpse into the character’s psyche. When the analyst is confronted with a problem he/she cannot comprehend (such as a particularly emotional dilemma), the resulting “program shutdown” reveals the character’s humanity, allowing the audience to empathize with his/her truly human side. One thing to keep in mind when using the analyst archetype: don’t be afraid to let them say “I don’t know.” Remember, even Sherlock Holmes gets it wrong occasionally.

The Cloudcuckoolander

This character has been saved until last for one specific reason: it’s one of the most overlooked yet invaluable archetypes. The cloudcuckoolander is that very unusual character who seems to live in an entirely different reality than everyone else. While the other characters are trying to figure out how to escape the booby-trapped mansion, the cloudcuckoolander is talking about the price of nachos in Switzerland. One of the more entertaining examples of cloudcuckoolander in modern fiction is Dory from Finding Nemo, the forgetful fish who prattles on about “P. Sherman 42 Wallaby Way Sydney” while evading sharks, jellyfish, and other ocean perils.

The cloudcuckoolander has many uses in writing, but two stand out in particular. Firstly, the cloudcuckoolander often adds comic relief to tense situations. Because of their skewed and quirky personalities, these characters frequently amuse the audience with their off-color observations and strange perceptions of events and circumstances. The second, and crucial, advantage this archetype offers to the story is unexpected salvation. When everyone else fails, it is often the cloudcuckoolander who conceives the idea so crazy that it works. Returning to our Finding Nemo example, though Dory views the world through a different lens than most, it is often she who arrives at the solution to the given problem. In fact, one of the attributes that makes her different from other fish (her ability to read) proves to be invaluable to the rescue of Nemo. The cloudcuckoolander reminds us that our differences often prove to be strengths—a message that resonates deeply with audiences.

It can be easy to fall into the habit of cooking “easy recipes with easy ingredients.” As a valuable writing exercise, in your next work, try including archetypes with which you are not familiar; you can start with these or one of the countless other available archetypes. You will find that your writing improves as you explore different characters with different mindsets and motivations. When exploring these character archetypes, here are a few questions to keep in mind:

What is the motivation of the character?

What value or hindrance does the character provide to the plot?

What is this character’s relationship to the protagonist?

How should the audience respond to this archetype?

Make it a point to develop these archetypes to the best of your ability. Make it a point to try to write like you’ve never written before. And as always, make it a point to love every minute of it.

[image error]Jonathan Vars is a Christian fiction writer from New England, founder of the writing website voltampsreactive.com. His work in literary analysis of classic films and literature has been published by academic websites and he is the author of the soon to be released novel “Like Melvin” for which he is currently writing a sequel. In addition to writing, Jonathan enjoys running, painting, and trying not to freeze to death in the winter. He is currently willing to consider guest blogs for his website.

Critiques 4 U

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Courtesy: Pixabay

Critiques 4 U!
CONTEST CLOSED!

Happy weekend, everyone! We missed our monthly critique contest last month due to December craziness, so now that we’re fully into January, I’m excited to get back into the critiquing groove.

If you’re working on a first page and would like some objective feedback, please leave a comment that includes: 

1) your email address. Some of you have expressed concern about making your email address public; if you’re sure that the email address associated with your WordPress account is correct, you don’t have to include it here. But if you do win and I’m unable to contact you through that email address, I’ll have to choose an alternate winner.

2) your story’s genre (no erotica, please)

ONLY ENTRIES THAT FOLLOW THESE INSTRUCTIONS WILL BE CONSIDERED

Three commenters’ names will be randomly drawn and posted tomorrow. If you win, you can email me your first page and I’ll offer my feedback. Best of luck!

5 Things Psychology Can Teach Writers

From our books, most of you know Becca and I love psychology. This is largely because the most captivating fiction pieces are those that closely mirror the real world, especially when it comes to characters. Knowing who a character is deep down and what motivates him or her to act is rooted in knowing ourselves, and what pushes us to leap into the unknown, despite fear, pain, or both.

Today we have a treat. Tamar Sloan, Psychologist and YA author is lending her brain to us to talk about what psychology can teach us about writing, so please read on!

[image error]Being a psychologist I might be biased, but I believe psychology is the ultimate compliment to writing. Think about it, psychology is the study of human behaviour and emotions, relationships and social interactions, psychopathology and human dysfunction. What do novels explore and ultimately mirror? You got it; what characters do and feel, their relationships and interactions, the worst of humanity and our inspirational best.

So what can psychology teach writers?

We are products of our past

I’ve touched on this when discussing attachment theory, but our perceptions, core beliefs and aspirations are all a powerfully influenced by everything that has been. It was the basis of Freud’s theoretical framework, and although his theories such as penis envy or the use of cocaine as an anti-depressant haven’t really stood the tests of science (or feminism), he was right about some things. Our past matters. I’m talking your childhood, your adolescence, what you learnt in your first job, but also your parents, their parents and the hundreds of generations before us. Our history makes and shapes us, and the ones struggling and succeeding in your book should too. If you want authentic, relatable characters then know your characters backstory, their triumphs and their failures, and how that shapes where they’re going next.

We’re all afraid of something

[image error]Fear is hardwired into our brain. Deep, deep in the primal part that we don’t have a lot of conscious control over.  I won’t go into the science of it all (I could, but it would be a whole other blog post…) but what it means for you is that every character in your book is going to be afraid of something. And I’m not just talking about heights or spiders. As social creatures (also powerfully programmed into our grey matter) the fear of rejection, being alone or the threats other humans can pose to us (as competitors or predators) are powerful influencers on our behaviour. The visceral reactions we experience facing a sabre tooth tiger or a shaft of light bouncing off a blade is just as real and physical as the response to the loss of a loved one or being dumped.

And fear is tied in with avoidance. Our brains protective instinct is to evade and escape anything that could be potentially unpleasant (incidentally, the ‘fight’ part of fight or flight is also an avoidance strategy – it’s a means to get away or make something stop). So whatever your protagonist is afraid of – brain sucking zombies, their parents disapproval…loving again – they are likely to go to some very unhelpful lengths to not experience it. In essence, it means fear is a powerful motivator, can be born of a deep wound, and is the part that our readers ‘get’ on a universal level that connects us all.

We all need a purpose

When a client is sitting across from me sharing their hardships and their hopelessness I listen and validate. What I often hear is that they don’t have a direction or a purpose, and it’s going to be something we’ll explore in a therapeutic context. That’s because humans need to know where we’re going, and have an idea of how we’re going to get there. It’s how we learn, progress and move forward. Thinks about it, have you ever been stuck? How did it feel? I’m going to hazard a professional guess and say not so fabulous. But the moment you caught a glimmer of a solution, a way forward, things changed huh? Even if was the most unhelpful, counterproductive solution you could have conceived, you still had a direction. And direction feels better than stagnation.

This should reflect in the art form you’ve chosen. Readers don’t want a character wandering aimlessly thorough the pages of your book. A goal is what we connect with. Readers want to know, need to know, why your protagonist is making the choices they’re making – even if it’s the worst idea ever.

We’re not one thing all the time

Now this is a tricky one, because research shows that personality is relatively stable over time. If you’re born an introvert, you’ll always have introspective, hermit tendencies. If you were a worrier as a child, you’re probably a bit of an anxious adult.

[image error]But personality characteristics function on a continuum, meaning we fluctuate. I’m an introvert, I love my alone time, in fact I need it to recharge. But I can be highly social, almost extroverted in certain contexts. Put me with close friends and I talk over people. Work social function? I’ll mingle and smile like I know what I’m doing.

To write authentic, realistic characters you need to remember that depending on what’s going on around them, they may do what they’ve always done, but they may also surprise us. To write characters with depth and complexity you’ll have to capture the human capacity to be whatever we want to be if we put our minds to it.

We grow and change, grow and change

As a psychologist I get to see the power of human choice unfold in my office every single day. It’s a beautiful, inspirational sight to behold. It’s also has devastating and life-long outcomes. But it’s what drives our personal evolution, it’s how we become…more. It’s the pivot point of our lives and needs to be in your book.

Think of all your favourite novels, the ones that had you losing contact with reality and precious sleep. Was the character different at the end compared to when you inhaled that first line? I would bet my registration on it. Even the ones that end up worse off than when they began, that have loved and ultimately lost, change still occurred.

That’s the part that stays with a reader. To be honest, the dammed good ones changed us as we traveled alongside that transformation. So if psychology was a mentor, an advisor, what would she say? Capture that in your book.

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[image error]Tamar really struggled writing this bio because she hasn’t decided whether she’s primarily a psychologist who loves writing, or a writer with a lifelong fascination for psychology. Somehow she got lucky enough to do both. Tamar is the author of the PsychWriter blog – a fun, informative hub of information on character development, the science of story and how to engage readers.

Tamar is also a passionate writer of young adult romance, with her first book, Prophecy Awakened, set to be released in April 2017 by Clean Reads Publishing. You can find out more about Tamar’s books at www.tamarsloan.com

Connect with Tamar on Twitter or Facebook.

Image 1 GDJ @ Pixabay
Image 2: intrographics @pixabay
Image 3: Pexels @ Pixabay

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Pacing and Momentum in Revision

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One of the elements I like to focus on when I revise is pacing. Pacing is the manipulation of momentum and time in a piece of writing and how the characters and reader experience it. Pacing influences how time and events unfold in the rise and fall of action, how characters move in scene, and the effects of time on the story itself. When we control pacing, we also control tension. If you want to create tension, look at your pacing.

A lack of momentum or lack of control over the momentum is not uncommon in the constructive phase of writing. The writing may feel tight and consistent: the scenes playing out in our heads seem to match what is happening on the page. “Consistent” is the problem: the action may be playing out at the same rate of speed and emotional pitch in spite of the kind of action occurring. This creates a flat dramatic experience for the reader.

Narrative momentum is not merely speed in action: momentum is the forward progressive force of the shapely dramatic arc of your story. It is what pulls the reader through your story with increasing power and velocity. It is the physics of narrative. It is essentially what compels the reader to read the next sentence, to turn the page.

There are many ways to control pacing and create a sense of fluid, dramatic movement, create and release tension, and contribute to momentum. If we were to illustrate momentum it would look more like a sinuous line instead of straight one.

Protracted action through summary, description, backstory, flashback (analepsis), flashforward (prolepsis), and foreshadowing all serve different purposes, but in terms of pacing, they ease up on acceleration and slow things down. And yet, you also can create tension and a sense of urgency with these slower devices by permitting the reader to experience the sensory aspects of the story and the characters’ emotions through description and action–of setting, character actions, thoughts, feelings, emotions. This is when we can indulge in telling along with the showing. We can draw out the action with a line, paragraphs, or pages. However, meander too much into protracted action and risk losing the reader in a thread of backstory or extended sensory experience, when instead what we want is to compel the reader through the story.

Rapid, staccato events, dialogue, and scenes will accelerate the sense of time in your story. Minimal descriptions, transitions, and dialogue tags compress time and create a sense of urgency. They ratchet up the tension and suspense. In contrast, extended incidents and dialogue slow things down, permit character and story development through more internal means, and give the reader more time to take in the story world and the characters.

Structural changes on the sentence and word-level have great effect on pacing. The use of active voice and strong, active verbs, concrete nouns, unambiguous sentences, and shortened paragraphs all contribute to velocity. The limited and deliberate use of implication, symbolism, metaphor, alliteration, and rhyme also influence pacing and create or stall momentum.

Switching the setting, the characters within it, and even the character perspective will increase the pacing because the reader is required to pay attention to what’s going on around them in the story. But don’t make it so convoluted that they neglect to turn the page. The unexpected and unanticipated is part of what keeps readers reading.

I’d love to know what aspects of revision you like to get into. Let me know or ask me about an aspect or issue. Revision is my favorite part of writing—it’s what I do most.