R.M. Archer's Blog, page 11

5 Types of Story Structure to Help You Outline Your Novel

I’ve been wanting to have a post comparing different plot structures/outlining systems on the blog for a while, and today Rose Atkinson-Carter is filling that gap! Big thanks to her for this guest post.

I have added affiliate links to this post. They are marked with an asterisk, and purchases made through them earn me a small commission at no extra cost you. Plus, BookShop supports local U.S. bookstores! The books that I’ve recommended are all in my own personal writing library and I’ve referenced them myself for various projects.

All that out of the way, I’ll turn it over to Rose!

As you outline your novel, you’re juggling dozens of different parts. You have character arcs, pacing, and plot to consider and somehow put together into a cohesive whole. The process can be daunting. Writers often find themselves stalled in the planning phase, unsure where to go next.

Sometimes, what you need is a game plan: a dependable story structure that can set you on the right path and help you finish that outline. Even if you’re more of a pantser, an understanding of story structures and how a plot should progress will help you develop in your writing.

Let’s look at some common types of story structures and see how they can make planning your novel easier.

Three-Act Structure

Let’s start with a classic: the three-act structure. Found in everything from stage plays to page-turning thrillers, this structure is timeless and works for just about any kind of story. As the name suggests, there are three acts, each of which has three important beats.

Without getting too far in the weeds, every act has a specific purpose:

Act one is where you introduce your reader to the story, your characters, and their backstory, before propelling them into the plot with the inciting incident — an event that sets off the action and which causes the character to pursue a goal.The second act sees the character begin to pursue their goal and come across obstacles (and enemies) on the way.The third and final act sees the character at their lowest point so far, before the final confrontation with their antagonist — and, hopefully, the achievement of their goal.

It’s easy, simple, and familiar, giving your story a clear beginning, middle, and end. If you’re stuck on how to move the plot forward and need a nudge in the right direction, a three-act structure can function like a step-by-step guide to creating one. Maybe the best part is that the pacing is built right into it, so you don’t have to worry about whether the action is developing at the right pace.

But if you’re having trouble coming up with a plot at all, a more detailed form might be just what you need.

Seven-Point Story Structure

Though in part inspired by three-act structure, seven-point structure is a far newer type of story format. It was truly popularized by author Dan Wells in 2013 and features seven “points” that a story needs to hit. These are:

The hook — an introduction to the world and its characters.Plot point 1 (or inciting incident) — an event that drives your character to embark upon an adventure.Pinch point 1 — a conflict is introduced.Midpoint — the point where the character begins to take action in their adventure.Pinch point 2 — the conflict worsens.Plot point 2 — the character manages to turn a corner and resolve their conflict.Resolution — the story’s threads are tied together.

Don’t worry if this all seems a little confusing; the main point is that your story fluctuates between highs (plot points), where your character takes action towards their goals, and lows (pinch points), where conflict occurs.

You might notice that this is incredibly similar to the three-act structure. So you’re probably wondering what this structure offers that you can’t get from a more well-established method. The key with seven-point structure isn’t the structure itself but how you use it.

Dan Wells’s method has you start your planning at the end. You determine what you want your resolution to be and then you go to the beginning and consider the hook. Then you move on to the midpoint — the turning point of the story — before figuring out your plot points and pinch points. Essentially, you create your ending and your beginning before you make the middle.

Doing this allows you to craft a carefully balanced story that flows logically and has the tense stakes you need to keep your readers interested, as well as helping you maintain a sense of direction. The extra points that Wells added here are great if you need some extra help creating a plot.

Maybe you’re looking for something that provides even more guidance though. The next structure is probably the most detailed of them all.

Archer’s Note: I loved K.M. Weiland’s book Structuring Your Novel* for understanding the 3-act structure with Dan Wells’ additional points. If you’re looking for a deeper resource on these structures in particular, I highly recommend it!

Save the Cat

Hollywood can teach novelists a thing or two about plotting. Screenwriter Blake Snyder created the Save the Cat beat sheet for writing screenplays, but it’s since been adapted by storytellers across mediums to write compelling, well-paced stories.

The structure provides 15 beats that a story needs to hit, including the kinds of events that happen in each section. It’s the younger, more stylish cousin of the three-act structure and was specifically designed to help writers get through the saggy middle without the extra baggage to slow it down.

If you’re struggling with writer’s block or just aren’t sure where to take your story next, research this cutting-edge technique to see if it sounds useful. The detailed step-by-step nature of it means everything is already meticulously laid out for you. You also don’t have to worry about your pacing as much. Save the Cat lays out at what point each event should happen very specifically, so no need to worry about your plot being too fast or too slow.

While the structures I’ve looked at so far can be used for basically any story, the next two can be used for specific types of narratives.

Hero’s Journey

Joseph Campbell introduced the concept of the hero’s journey in his 1949 book, The Hero With a Thousand Faces*. Looking at various world myths, he found and described a common structure that underpins our oldest tales.

Building on the classic three-act structure, he divided the hero’s journey into three specific stages:

The Departure Act — the hero leaving their ordinary world.The Initiation Act — the hero travels into unknown territory, where they face challenges and obstacles which turn them into a true hero.The Return Act — the triumphant hero returns.

Screenwriter Christopher Vogler further expanded this formulation into 12 phases, and this is the form we’re most familiar with today.

Archer’s note: This expansion is outlined in Vogler’s book The Writer’s Journey*, which is another great resource—and one of the first plot resources I ever used.

Since the hero’s journey originates from mythological stories, it’s used most for adventure stories, specifically science fiction and fantasy. It’s a classic structure that is instantly recognizable and understandable for readers. And from a writer’s standpoint, it provides a specific guide for creating plot points and developing characters. If you’re focusing on a single protagonist and working on a fantastical story, using the hero’s journey can help you create a tightly plotted and well-rounded narrative.

But if you’re looking to write a less upbeat story, there’s a structure tailor-made for literary tragedies.

Freytag’s Pyramid

So-called for its triangular structure, Freytag’s pyramid was created by 19th century writer Gustav Freytag. This five-act pyramid can be used to describe the classic tragic narrative, such as those we see in Shakespeare’s plays. These five parts are:

Introduction — establishing the characters and what’s at stake.Rise — life seems to be going well for the characters.Climax — a point of no return, where everything suddenly changes.Return — the character’s descent begins.Catastrophe — the horrible ending,

Perhaps the most singular of all the structures I’ve examined so far, Freytag’s pyramid is only used to construct tragic narratives. So if you’re looking to write an emotionally-tense story that focuses on human flaws and has an unhappy ending, this is definitely the way to go.

There are many more story structures besides the five I’ve outlined here. Ultimately, there is no one-size-fits-all approach to plotting. It’s all about finding the structure that works best for your story and writing goals. Hopefully this guide has helped you identify some potential candidates that’ll be a great match for your writing, and let you know where to begin. Happy writing!

About the Author

Rose Atkinson-Carter is a writer at Reedsy, where she advises authors on all things publishing from the best writing software to how to make audiobooks . She lives in London.

Thanks again to Rose!

Now I want to hear from you, the reader. Have you used any of these structures before? Which have you found to work best for your process? Are there any you hadn’t explored before?

The post 5 Types of Story Structure to Help You Outline Your Novel appeared first on Scribes & Archers.

My Philosophy of Book Reviews

As I get back into reviewing books on a regular basis, I wanted to give an overview of what I endeavor to do with book reviews and my general philosophy toward them.

Honesty with Grace

As both an author and reader, I believe that being honest is the most helpful thing you can do as a reviewer. I will never pad a review to say I thought a book was good when it wasn’t. However, I will do my best to find the positives I can and highlight those as well. I do my best to remain honest about both sides of a book, and to write my reviews in full as graciously as I’m able. Authors put a lot of themselves into their work—their time, energy, and heart—and I try to respect that in my reviews even when I didn’t like a book or its execution.

I believe there is a line to be walked in being honest without being cruel, and I do my best to write along that line in negative reviews.

I try not to inflate my positive reviews, either, but to point out a book’s strengths—and weaknesses—with clarity for readers.

My Star System

Since stars can mean different things to different people, here’s a quick overview of how I use the 5-star system.

5 – Loved it; it’s a new favorite4 – I really liked it, but it was missing something3 – It was fine, but it had significant problems or just wasn’t my thing2 – The problems overshadowed its strengths, but it had great strengths1 – I made it all the way through by sheer willpowerThe Use of Negative Reviews

Before I launch into more on negative reviews, allow me to clarify that I don’t try to lean toward negative reviews or skew my reviews toward negatives; my focus on them in this post is a result of positive reviews needing no clarification, while negative reviews get more push-back and misunderstanding.

That aside, I think that negative reviews serve a purpose for both authors and readers. From an author’s standpoint, of course there’s the element of (ideally) constructive criticism, which—while helpful—can sometimes still be frustrating on a book that has already been published. But there is also the element of credibility that negative reviews provide. Readers have different tastes, and not everyone will like your book even if it is good. Having a handful of negative reviews on your book tells readers that the reviews aren’t all biased feedback from your friends and family (even if your positive reviews aren’t all biased feedback from your friends and family). It helps people trust that both sets of feedback are real and provides greater trust in your book, leading (ideally) to more sales.

Beyond the help for authors, negative reviews help readers, as well. There is, again, the factor of credibility. But reviews are informative for readers, and negative reviews provide additional information to help readers decide whether or not to read your book. While this information might dissuade readers from picking up your book, it can also encourage purchases if one person’s dislikes fit with what another reader likes to read. “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure” can be applied to the reading experience.

Reviews are a Double-Edged Sword

Positive and negative reviews can each have either positive or negative effects on your sales and audience. A positive review praising a book for its mature scenes is going to turn me away from a book as surely as a negative review criticizing a book’s weak writing. A negative review critiquing a book’s over-emphasis on its worldbuilding might draw me in just as much as a positive review that highlights strong family relationships.

This is another reason for honesty. When you review a book, you are giving a reader information to help them decide whether or not to read a book, you’re granting the author exposure and credibility, and you’re reflecting on yourself as a reviewer. So be honest, and be kind.

What do you think? What is your philosophy on book reviews, as either a reader or author?

Want me to review your book? Check out this post first and then submit your request here!

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Book Review: Orchidelirium by E.B. Roshan

Thanks to Ms. Roshan for offering a review copy of Orchidelirium! I’m not sure I would have picked this one up without prompting, but it was a fun read and I’m glad I had that push to check it out.

What is Orchidelirium about?

An heiress, a tiger, an artificial arm, a hatbox of stolen orchids: each one is a vine in the tangle of Opal Morris’s life. As she begins to discover how they all connect, she will find herself re-evaluating not only her botanical studies, but her whole life.

This illustrated novella, set in an alternative Edwardian England, will be a treat for fans of cozy mysteries and historical fantasy alike.

Let’s start with the characters. I had some difficulty getting the cast straight, at first; they’re introduced at a party, and the prevalence of family means many of them were referred to by shared surnames which made it hard to keep track of which were which. Gem and Opal gave me the hardest time, between both having gemstone names and the POV being somewhat unclear in the beginning, with Opal presuming and communicating Gem’s feelings as well as her own.

That said, the characters were quite enjoyable once you got them straight. I loved Opal’s passion for both her flowers and her family, and her fearlessness in confronting those who needed to be confronted. Gem’s better decorum seemed to balance her well, though I would enjoy seeing a sequel in which they both understand and appreciate that balance better and it can thus shine through more fully.

I enjoyed the Ardmores, as well, and particularly Leonidas. He was honorable and gentlemanly, yet willing to ruffle feathers as needed—albeit with somewhat more restraint than Opal. And his steampunk-style prosthetic was interesting.

Leonidas’s arm will bring us to the worldbuilding. While his prosthetic was interesting and the electric carriage provided some color to the story, the more steampunk elements didn’t feel like they overall had much bearing on the story. His prosthetic could have been more traditional, the carriages horse-drawn, the airships omitted altogether, and the story would have been none the worse for it. As it was, those elements didn’t contribute quite enough color to provide a full backdrop or quite enough influence to seem like a necessary and organic part of the setting. While I liked the idea of giving things a steampunk twist, that twist mostly felt extraneous in practice.

The Edwardian setting was nearly sufficient on its own (Leonidas’s prosthetic being the one truly relevant addition from steampunk), and the writing of it was a joy to read. The prose was smooth, and the dialogue sounded like it had come from an Austen novel. It was proper and veiled in the way you would expect of high society dialogue, with witty remarks scattered throughout (particularly courtesy of Opal). The focus on orchids, as well, was a lovely divergence from the norm, and described beautifully!

Not only was the emphasis on plants refreshing from a setting standpoint, but also in regard to the plot. While Gem had a courtship storyline that became a focal point, it wasn’t the main plot as would often be the case in an Edwardian-era novella; and while there was a mystery, it wasn’t a murder as you would often expect. And this in no way distracted from the importance of the plot to the main character, with Opal established so well in her affection for orchids and her passion for their proper upkeep.

I do think the plot is where the story was weakest, however. The progression of events, particularly after the crime is committed, was a little hard to track; and the resolution involved pieces that felt too coincidental, particularly for a mystery story where every detail carries consequence in most cases. I would have liked to see more time taken to establish those pieces upfront so they weren’t a shock at the end, and more time dedicated to the case in general to clear up the more awkward transitions. Because this story is more character-driven despite being a mystery (which sounds familiar), I wasn’t overly bothered by the weaker plot, at least until the deux ex machina feel of how some of the characters reached the resolution scene.

And as this is an illustrated novella: The art style wasn’t my cup of tea, but the illustrations were cute and they were a fun way to break up the text.

Overall, despite its few weak spots, I quite enjoyed the style of Orchidelirium and I would recommend it to readers of historical fiction and/or readers who enjoy passionate characters and plants.

Rating: 4 stars

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Crafting Emotional Resonance – Example Critique

In my series on crafting your stories to resonate with your readers’ emotions, I asked for excerpt submissions that I could take and apply those concepts to in order to provide an example of what I’ve been talking about. So today I’ll be showing you a piece of Grace A. Johnson’s writing which she submitted, along with my commentary!

In case you missed it:

Crafting Emotional Resonance: Part 1 – Character-Driven Description

Crafting Emotional Resonance: Part 2 – Character Reactions

Crafting Emotional Resonance: Part 3 – Repressed Emotion

Crafting Emotional Resonance: Part 4 – Precise Prose

Critique Structure

I’ve never done a critique for a blog post before, so you’ll have to bear with me as I develop a layout for it.

First, I want to lay out the excerpt as-received so that you can read the “before” version. If you’d like, you can make your own assessment of it based on what I’ve discussed in this series and practice your own editing skill before reading what I had to say on it.

Then, I want to give some general comments on its strengths and weaknesses in each category I’ve discussed to this point: character-driven description, character reactions, repressed emotion, and precise prose.

Lastly, I’ll link to a view-only document featuring my in-line comments on the excerpt so that you can see what specific places I would change and develop and what my editing process generally looks like on a line edit.

Sound good? Let’s dive in!

The Excerpt

From Daylight by Grace A. Johnson

Used with permission from the author; context included by author

For context: August and Sylvie, who have been friends and neighbors since childhood (and maybe something more), just experienced the events of 9/11. Sylvie’s dad died that day, even though August tried to save him, which landed him in the hospital. Sylvie has come to visit him for the first time since he was admitted the day before.

“Hey, Sly.”

I straighten, sliding my hand off of August’s forehead as I lift my chin and blink my tears away. My body still quivers, but I hide it beneath a small smile and the squeeze of his hand. “Hey, Gus.”

Just as I hoped, August moans and gives me his best glare from behind all the bandages. “How many times…do I gotta tell ya to stop—stop callin’ me Gus? For Pete’s sake, Sly, show a man…some respect when he’s laid up like this.”

His response elicits a laugh, one that’s moist and rueful, but still a laugh. I’ll take it. “Y’know you love it, Gussie. Just like you know you’re enjoyin’ three squares a day and round-the-clock room service from all these pretty nurses.”

“Pfft, pretty nurses?” He coughs out his next words. “Them harpies…ain’t doin’ nothin’ but shoving crap up my mouth and nose and all in my veins. Nothin’ pretty ’bout dat, gurl. Now—” he manages to lift his index finger and wiggle it around “—ya know what would be nice? Pizza, my couch, and the TV remote.”

“You’re becomin’ more of a bum every day, August Moreno, and I doubt your recent injuries will do anything to help that.”

“Don’t you call me a bum, woman,” he growls, those eyes of his narrowed into dark, smoldering slits.

Gosh, I love it when he looks at me like that. Part teasing, part angry, part…almost hungry, really. As if he wants me as bad as I want him.

But we’re just friends. Best friends. And the only people we have left in Manhattan, now that his mama moved back to the Bronx in the spring and Dad died.

Even if I wish we could be more. Even if I pray we could be more, need us to be more…because when I thought he was gone, I’d never felt so empty. Like a piece of my heart was ripped out of me and I was left with nothing but a gaping hole in its place.

Maybe this is it, our beginning…our new beginning. Maybe something better, something stronger could come out of the ashes and the debris.

My gaze snags on the monitors beside me, beeping just a tiny bit faster now that August is awake and chattering. As steady as he seems right now, his blood pressure is still too low and his heart rate a couple of beats off. And you can tell by looking at him and his sallow skin, sunken chest, and bloodshot eyes.

Or maybe we would just continue to deteriorate.

God, everything’s got to be all right. It’s just got to. I…I want to marry this man and have his babies and grow old with him…and I can’t do that if he gives up on me. You got to give him strength, Lord, please.

Please.

What a simple word. Sometimes it holds the power to change a heart.

And sometimes it’s absolutely worthless.

Right now, after all this, I’m beginning to wonder if it isn’t worthless after all.

“Sylvie.”

I lift my bleary eyes to August’s, holding my gaze firm even though I want to lay my head on him again and cry some more. I have to be strong. For him.

“Hey, we made it. We…we made it out. So many others back there…they weren’t as lucky.”

Really? That was the most encouraging thing he could come up with?

I sniffle, swiping at my wet eyes and running nose with the back of my hand. “That s’posed to make me feel betta? ‘Cause it ain’t helpin’ none.”

He just looks at me. You know those looks—you probably get them from your mama—the ones where they kind of cock their head and edge one eyebrow up and slant their mouth and just…look at you.

I hate those looks. Makes me squirm, which, come to think of it, is probably the point.

“I know…I know I shoulda got your old man out in time, but there ain’t no goin’ back. What matters…what matters is that you’re still here, Sylvie. Right now…” He sighs, clenching his teeth as though barring whatever else he wants to say from leaving his lips. “I did it for you, ya know. I wanted, I wanted him out of there for you. I guess because I thought th-that maybe this would change things. Maybe this’d fix ’em.”

My heart, as if there’s anything still left of it, breaks a little more. “Don’t. Don’t go there. You could’ve died because of me. Because you, you thought that rescuing my pops would somehow make him—what? Stop drinkin’? Quit hittin’ me? You can’t just fix people, and you can’t just expect somethin’ like this to make things better. I mean, really? Have you seen the world? Thousands of people are dead. More are dyin’. Like you.”

Blinking several times, he seems to deflate as his body sinks farther into the bed, the pillow almost swallowing his head. “I ain’t dyin’, Sly. I can’t. Not now. Just…not now,” he breathes out on a yawn, his eyes shuttering closed and releasing a drop of moisture to trail down his cheek.

Broad Critique

This is a good scene in which to practice emotion: it’s post-tragedy, the characters feel strongly about each other, the characters feel strongly about what’s happened to them, and August’s health provides additional tension.

But the scene, as-written, doesn’t make me feel much of that emotion. Fortunately, that’s what this sort of editing is for, whether you’re self-editing or have the help of an editor.

Character-Driven Description

There isn’t a lot of description here to critique; this is a very dialogue-heavy scene. What is there is largely focused on August and his health, which makes sense for Sylvie’s POV.

Because the two know each other so well and Sylvie is attracted to August, I would love to see more description of August’s appearance and maybe even his voice. The fact that he’s injured provides an excellent opportunity to compare his weakened self with what he normally looks like, comparing his sallow skin to its usual ruddy tan or his weakened grip to his usually steady touch (etc.).

Description like this early in the scene would especially help to set up their romantic affection before Sylvie’s thoughts of being in love with August pop up in the middle of the scene.

Character Reactions

Most of the reactions in this scene feel natural. The easy banter between Sylvie and August feels like that of friends who’ve known each other for years, and most of their physical reactions make sense.

To really amp up the emotion in this scene, I would have liked to see more by way of physical reactions. Tension in Sylvie’s shoulders releasing when she laughed, or easier breathing; August attempting to return Sylvie’s squeezing of his hand; etc.

Two places didn’t seem as smooth. One was Sylvie’s thought of her dad dying. Even with her relationship with her dad being what it was, there should have been much more shock and pain involved in the thought that he’d died, especially with his death being so recent. The fact that it nearly disappears amidst Sylvie’s romantic musings kills the potential emotion there—and the emotional conflict that could be explored.

Second was Sylvie’s outburst when August explained his motivation toward the end. It seemed inconsistent with her prior thoughts about their relationship, and I would have liked to see more done with that dissonance. Again, conflicting emotions have so much potential.

I did like Sylvie’s reaction to August’s smoldering look. A bit more could have been done with a physical response (accelerating heartbeat, having to catch her breath, a smile creeping onto her face unbidden, etc.), but overall her description of the look and what she thought of it were believable.

Repressed Emotion

This is one highly under-utilized tool in this scene. We know there is repressed emotion, both explicitly communicated where Sylvie says, “I lift my bleary eyes to August’s, holding my gaze firm even though I want to lay my head on him again and cry some more. I have to be strong. For him” or where she muses on their relationship, as well as implied by her outburst toward the end which is excessively intense for the prior dialogue. But we don’t get to see that do much in the scene.

When Sylvie would rather be crying, there’s no tremble in her lip for August to see and respond to, no blinking for him to notice and ask about. He doesn’t pick up on her mood like a long-time friend or a love interest would. Even if Sylvie doesn’t notice those subconscious responses in herself, August ought to.

Her outburst, too, has no communicated emotion underlying it. We don’t see her fear (whether in her acknowledgement or an accelerated heartbeat or a frantic grab for August’s hand…), we don’t see how she feels about her father (is she angry or resigned to the way he treated her?), and we don’t really see why she thinks people can’t be changed. When she’s criticizing August’s idea that this event could change things for them, she doesn’t give any indication that she even subconsciously realizes she’s criticizing the same thing she’s already been thinking (“Maybe something better, something stronger could come out of the ashes and the debris”); there’s no uneasiness, no snagging of her mind on the dissonance, forcing her to either acknowledge it or reason around it. This is a prime opportunity to show more of her character and the way she works through inconsistencies in her thinking, and I would love to see that utilized.

Precise Prose

This particular character perspective doesn’t demand as much precision in wording as some others might—the character’s dialect isn’t especially precise, and to make the bits of prose too clean when the dialogue is not would simply clash. In fact, Sylvie’s description of August’s sickly appearance might be a little too perfect, with words like “sallow.” That’s a great word; the only question is whether Sylvie would use it. So, by and large, I don’t have much to say on the precision of the wording in this scene.

However, there was one spot that really arrested my attention on this point, and it’s this line:

“Don’t you call me a bum, woman,” he growls, those eyes of his narrowed into dark, smoldering slits.

Between describing his voice as a “growl” and his eyes as “slits,” this sounds aggressive and hostile. Not like something attractive, as Sylvie describes it in the following paragraph. The simple change of saying that “those eyes of his narrow into a dark smolder” shifts the focus to a noun that implies more attraction and less of a sinister anger. With just that small change, the “growl” is contextually less hostile as well.

The Line Edit

The line edit document carries a lot of overlapping comments to those I went over here, but it places them into more precise context of the scene so that you can better see how the scene would change when edited straight down. Plus, I made a few technical edits as I went and I formatted my comments as I would ordinarily put them on a manuscript for a client. So if you’d like to see my comments in that format, check out the document.

I hope this example was helpful to illustrate the concepts I’ve laid out in this series! Feel free to post any lingering questions in the comments, or send me a message; I’d love to talk with you!

Looking for professional edits on a full manuscript? Check out my rates and book your spot!

Book now!

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Crafting Emotional Resonance: Part 4 – Precise Prose

Today marks the end of this series on writing emotionally resonant scenes and stories! There will be one more related post in a few weeks that covers writing effective dialogue—plus a critique post next week that provides insight into how all of these tips can be applied—but this will be the last how-to post that’s officially part of the series. Today I want to talk about how your prose can make or break the tone and emotion of your writing.

I’ve talked about why I love classic literature before, and one of the reasons is that classic authors took word choice very seriously. They made a point to choose exactly the right words to convey their meaning, connect to their themes, and highlight the emotion they wanted to resonate with readers. Mark Twain said well that,

“The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug.”

As authors, we know that words have power. This is certainly as true on the micro level as it is true of story as a whole! Yet our specific word choice within stories, within scenes, within sentences is often less careful than it could be, and our stories—and their impact on readers, by extension—suffer for it.

The question is: How do we fix it?

Words that Reflect Character

This first point goes back to the first topic in this series: character voice. The way your character thinks and speaks should impact the word choice and emphasis of your scenes. Think about where and how your character grew up, what sort of education they had, what they do or don’t read (or if they read at all), what sorts of people they surround themselves with. Maybe they talk in street slang, or know obscure technical terms when it comes to woodcarving, or they speak with an archaic (but beautiful) vocabulary because all they read is old literature.

Let’s imagine a scene from two different perspectives. Say, a bustling seaport from the POV of a sailing merchant and the POV of a noble scholar.

The thunder of chatter and horse hooves scraped against my ears like a knife against a barnacle soon as the tide carried us into port. I’d rather hear real thunder, omen of choppy seas as it was, than this racket. Almost drowned out the pulse of the waves against creaking wood, it did. Never could find peace with city noises and motionless ground beneath my feet as I could with the heartbeat of the sea beneath my boots and nothin’ but blue far as the eye can see. So, naturally, I stayed aboard and let my boys take care of any land-bound transactions, while the real important folk offered their chips in the comfort of my Isabel‘s hospitality.

**

I closed my eyes and breathed deeply of briny air, savoring the scent of reality. The smell of books was as sweet, but one needed to get back in touch with the corporeal every once in a while, to let their fingers graze adventure in the real world. The port carried the biggest lure of exploration outside of the library—at least as I perceived it—always bustling with exotic travelers, the curious (like myself), and the grandest ships this side of the Brene. Today I was reading the ships like spines in a library, my perusal ending when I found what I’d been seeking: Isabel. She was beautiful, lovingly maintained, a stunning specimen of the sloop family… or was she a ketch? For all my love of ships and all my study, I never could remember which were which. My mind had always preserved knowledge of the living beasts of the sea far better.

I’ll stop there, before I get too carried away. These are, of course, just chunks of description. And they have their weaknesses (for example, not utilizing all five senses, lacking in specific detail and direct interaction, lacking movement, and generally infodumping a bit). But hopefully they convey the point of word choice (as well as sentence structure and grammar) differing from character to character—and communicating the emotion and background of a character.

The sailor uses analogies and terms that he’s familiar with as a sailor (scraping barnacles, the “omen” of thunder) or that reflect the way he perceives things like the sea (describing the waves as a “heartbeat,” thinking of money like gaming chips), and his wording and sentence structure is overall less polished.

The scholar’s paragraph reflects his philosophy, uses a more advanced vocabulary (“savoring,” “corporeal,” “perusal”), uses analogies he would be familiar with (“reading the ships like spines in a library”), and conveys the knowledge he’s gained as a scholar. The way he describes the ship as a “specimen” and talks about his knowledge being “preserved” hints at his emphasis on biology.

Obviously much more time could be dedicated to this practice than I can put into a couple of paragraphs concocted for a blog post, but hopefully this provides a helpful example as you begin to practice and to edit your work.

Words that Reflect Tone

In the paragraphs I wrote for the previous point, the tone is rather neutral. There are hints of excitement in the scholar’s description, perhaps some arrogance and certainly a bit of annoyance in the sailor’s. But you wouldn’t be able to expect too much of the tone of a story if you were to simply read those paragraphs—and setting a tone wasn’t their purpose.

However, when you are working to set the tone for a story, specific word choice is a great way to do this. Check out this line, for example:

Darkness descended on the city. The sparkling lights of the towers tried to resist, but still it pressed down, as thick and vile as the blood coating Vix’s knife.

Reading this line provides a very strong idea of the type of story you’re getting into, right? It’s definitely going to be dark (that’s foreshadowed—no pun intended—at the very first word), there’s likely to be a lot of conflict (“descended on,” as in an attack, and the towers “trying to resist,” bloody knife aside), and that darkness and violence are equated with the comparison between the darkness and the blood on the knife.

You can set a lot of expectations for a story or a scene simply by using the right words. Likewise, you can set the wrong expectations by using the wrong words. If you were to weaken the above line, you might fail to set the proper tone, like so:

Darkness fell over the city. The sparkling lights of the towers pushed back, but still it lingered, persistent as the blood dripping from Vix’s knife.

Now, this line isn’t necessarily bad. Could it be stronger? Yes. Does it set clear expectations? Yes. Are the expectations the same as in the first iteration? No.

This second version doesn’t provide the same oppressive tone, instead painting the light as more successful (“pushing back” the darkness) and the darkness as something hiding on the edges (“lingering”), a mere shadow rather than a blanket, and there might almost be a fear or desperation implied in the “persistent dripping” of the blood from the knife. It’s less sinister, feeling more like a looming threat being foreshadowed than an immediate danger.

As you can see, the same scene can be written in different ways to convey a different tone, so if your scene doesn’t yet carry the tone you want it to, play around with the wording! Just a change in how you describe the exact same imagery can make a huge difference and take your scene from ineffective to effective, or simply from the wrong effect to the intended effect.

Words that Support Theme

Beyond establishing character and setting the tone, your word choice can also support the entire theme under-girding your story. To recycle the previous examples, you might find a theme of nature as something spiritual in the sailor’s description (thunder as an omen, the tide as a heartbeat), or the theme of incorporeal wisdom needing corporeal application in the scholar’s. In the knife line, you might find the equation of violence and darkness or the inability to completely snuff out light in the first version, the ultimate weakness of darkness against light or the persistence of darkness and sin in the second version.

If you’re already finding themes underlying your description, the question becomes whether or not that’s the theme you’re trying to communicate. If it’s not, is it one you would like to build on and make intentional or is it something you’d rather not be communicating at all? (For example, I think the theme I pulled out in the sailor’s description is a little weird; if I were editing a story where that scene actually featured, I’d be thinking about whether it can be changed or whether that’s a theme that needs to be contended elsewhere in the story.)

If you’re writing or editing a story that doesn’t yet have thematic prose, you’ve got a great starting point from which to practice and experiment. Think about the theme you want and brainstorm ways to reinforce that with word choice. What words or phrases would support a theme of faithfulness? Or unconditional love? Or storytelling as a weapon? Or whatever it is you’re writing about?

Tips for Stronger Prose

Now you know what strong prose can do. The question remains: How do you get there? How do you refine your prose so that it has these effects on your reader—even if they likely won’t notice it consciously?

Read classics. Seriously, the prose is amazing. Some particular favorites of mine would be Tolkien, Lewis (especially the Space trilogy and his nonfiction), George MacDonald, Oscar Wilde (though his themes require caution), and Mark Twain (whose nonfiction is also excellent for its word choice).Read poetry. Poetry thrives on specific word choice. Longfellow is one of my favorites for the way he paints such vivid scenes with his words; definitely one I’d recommend for authors of prose!Write poetry. This is great practice for choosing your words carefully, which you can then carry over into your prose writing.Copy and analyze passages that use words well. The act of copying a passage gives you a different perspective on it and helps you practice creating those words yourself. It also helps you think through why and how those pieces work, which you can take and apply to your own original work.

I’ll warn you ahead of time: a lot of your readers won’t consciously appreciate the depth of your prose. But they’ll feel its impact and sense that you’ve written a stronger story than has become the mainstream norm, all the same. Your prose has amazing potential to make or break your story; it is absolutely worthwhile to practice and polish for the sake of your story and your readers—even the readers who don’t understand its power.

Looking to polish your prose with some help? Check out my line editing services!

Comment below and let’s talk! Which of these points was most interesting to you? Which example helped the most? Which part of this series has been the biggest help to you? I’d love to hear from you!

If you’d like to see how these points would impact your story, submit a snippet to be critiqued next week! I’ll be demonstrating how to apply these points to your own work, as well as giving a sneak peek into my process as a line editor!

The post Crafting Emotional Resonance: Part 4 – Precise Prose appeared first on Scribes & Archers.

Crafting Emotional Resonance: Part 3 – Repressed Emotion

Last week I talked about the importance of your characters’ reactions to the people and situations around them as a tool to connect their emotions with your readers. I talked about how to write those reactions in general, from the character’s perspective. But your characters won’t always be aware of what they’re feeling—or how they’re expressing it. Writing about those surprise emotions and responses is the topic of today’s post!

Outside Responses

Expressions and emotions that your character isn’t aware of—or simply isn’t acknowledging—require you to dive into more subtle expressions, or make use of other characters’ responses to your MC’s (or POV character’s) expressions.

J.H. Moore talked about this latter option in a workshop she hosted a while back; she used the example of the MC pulling an expression and a side character pointing it out with something along the lines of, “What was that face?” Your MC/POV character might have no idea they were making a face, and the side character’s response can then lead to a realization—and a reaction to the main character’s own expression. Don’t forget that your main character can react to themselves just as much as they can react to external features of the story.

The same can be true of tone of voice. I once gave my fiancé the impression I disliked someone because I disliked a situation and that came out in my tone while I was talking about someone involved. Tone can be misheard or misconstrued, which can foster conflict or simple confusion on the part of one or both involved characters. Your POV character might realize they said something wrong as soon as it comes out of their mouth… or they might need a nearby character to point out their blunder. Which will lead you back to conscious character reactions differing from character to character, as discussed last week.

Another point exemplified by the scenario with my fiancé is that sometimes emotions from one area can spill into another scenario. When emotions go unresolved, they may come through in unexpected but related ways—for instance, while Character A is angry at Character B for forgetting an anniversary, they might be more prone to express annoyance or be passive aggressive about behavior that has nothing to do with the actual issue of the missed anniversary. In such cases, the response is still related to its root cause: the person involved serves as the common denominator.

In other cases, however, the emotion simply leads to tension applied to unrelated situations. If your character is upset about the absence of another character, they might not realize they’re upset about it—or those around them might not notice they’re upset about it—until they have a disproportionate outburst over a petty annoyance.

Consider how pent-up emotion may affect your character, and how it may differ from source to source. Are they more likely to be broadly upset when they’re lonely? Or perhaps when they feel something unjust has happened? Or does their emotion hone in on the source of the issue in those scenarios, leading to minimal spill-over?

Still trying to find the heart of your character’s behavior? Sign up to the newsletter for free access to my character voice worksheet!

Another question to ask is whether your character is personally aware when tension is spilling over into other areas or whether those around them have to challenge them before they realize what’s happening.

When Your Characters Know… But Don’t Know They Know

Often, a character will know when something is bothering them… but they might not slow down enough to acknowledge it. When that happens, you get to really put your writing skills to use with word choice and subtext.

If your character is preoccupied with, say, a love interest, they may be more prone to think of things in terms of that love interest. They may hear particular song lyrics and apply them to the love interest, seek out ways to be close to the love interest without realizing, bring up the love interest as their default topic of conversation, offer anecdotes based on the love interest… etc. This is another thing that your character may or may not be initially aware of. Preoccupations can be pointed out by other characters, or you can leave clues for the reader to piece together before the light bulb flashes on for the POV character. (And, of course, this can apply to any sort of preoccupation. Another character, a stressful situation, a problem the character can’t seem to solve, a goal ahead of them, etc., etc.)

Choosing your words carefully to tie back to whatever your character is feeling without knowing they’re feeling it—especially in editing—is an expert way to get your reader to feel along with your character without needing your character to be obvious with their emotions. Is smoke “circling” the room while your character dreams of Christmastime? Why not have it “wreathe” the room instead?

Looking for help honing the word choice in your novel? Book a line edit!

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These sorts of tips are applicable whether your character is completely oblivious to their feelings, can feel that there’s something going on internally but can’t figure out what, or know exactly what they’re feeling and just don’t want to face it.

Once you know what your characters are feeling and whether or not they’re aware of it, there’s a fairly minimal difference in what tools you can use to reveal those feelings to the reader. This post is really more of an extension of last week’s than anything exceptionally new, so do return to that post if you missed it or just want a refresher on different types of character reactions you can use—or if you want to submit a piece to be critiqued at the end of this series!

What did you find most helpful about this series entry? Is there anything you’d like to see expanded? What is your biggest struggle when writing character emotion? Comment below!

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Crafting Emotional Resonance: Part 2 – Character Reactions

Welcome back to the “crafting emotional resonance” series! This week’s topic is character reactions. How can the reactions of your characters to their surroundings, circumstances, and other characters really connect emotionally with your readers?

Dialogue

For many writers (myself included), dialogue is a character’s first response–especially if their reaction is to another character. Dialogue is a great tool for revealing character voice, motivation, and goals in a scene. When it’s done well, that is.

I’ll go into dialogue in more depth in a future article, so for now I’ll do my best to summarize.

Dialogue requires nuance. People rarely say exactly what they mean when they mean it. We pad our words, shape the implication of our sentences, or withhold information altogether. Sometimes this is conscious, sometimes subconscious (another topic I’ll be covering in this series), but it means that on-the-nose dialogue feels clunky and overly easy to readers.

As you’re shaping scenes or editing your dialogue, ensure that your characters are not only speaking in voice–which should influence how much they do or don’t talk as well as how they talk–but that you’re utilizing subtext (what they’re saying without saying it) and nuance as well. Again, more on dialogue in a future post.

Still trying to find your character’s voice? Check out my list of character voice questions to find their tone and worldview!

Non-Verbal Cues

Character reactions are not limited to words. Words are important, but so are tone of voice and body language. In fact, non-verbal cues can speak even louder than words–whether movement communicates more than dialogue, supports the dialogue, or conflicts with the words coming out of your characters’ mouths. Everything from posture to eye contact (or lack thereof) to general movement to interaction with the setting (as discussed in last week’s post) to any other number of non-verbal cues can influence your reader’s perception of a scene and the emotions within it.

Your character’s posture may communicate how they’re feeling in a given scene–if they’re shifting impatiently, standing straight and confident, tensely crouched in anticipation of attack, arms crossed and posture broad to intimidate another character, etc. And this may not only reflect their current emotion, but also history or a worldview that leads to that feeling in this particular setting. A character standing confidently at a state dinner will have a very different story from a character who’s slouched against the wall uncaring or yet another character whose leg won’t stop bouncing under the table because they’re terrified.

Eye contact can be another great indicator of a character’s interests or feelings in a scene. Are they locked in on their conversation partner? Is this to the exclusion of another participant in the conversation? Are their eyes wandering for something else to do or someone else to talk to? Are they distracted by someone else without even consciously realizing? If they’re not making eye contact, is it due to disinterest, lack of confidence, or training?

Movement in general can reflect your character. Is your character generally very contained and still? Or do they move around more by nature? Does your soldier character instinctively reach toward his hip for a gun or sword when startled? Does your pianist play melodies on her leg when she’s bored or distracted? Or maybe your character just tilts her head or shifts her weight into one leg when she’s thinking, or another tugs on his beard when he’s uncomfortable, or your more nervous character is constantly wiping his sweaty palms on his jeans.

In order for your characters to feel real rather than stiff (unless the character is meant to be stiff), they should be moving around and interacting with the setting, events, and characters around them. Your characters should be more than cutouts and your setting should be more than a backdrop; the two should interact with one another to the development of both.

Broader Responses

To this point I’ve mostly highlighted writing responses to specific situations. But responses to recurring, general scenarios are also important to consider.

What generally happens when your character is sad or angry? Does your character isolate themselves? Do they take their frustration out on those around them? Do they forget to eat (or consciously ignore the need)? Do they cry? Scream? Blast music through the house?

How are these responses the same or different when their surroundings are different? Do they hide their frustration when their friends are around and let it out at home later? Do they just not care? Or would they normally care, but the pressure is too much and they explode anyway? What emotions arise from that?

Considering your characters’ habitual responses to general emotions and stressors will give you a baseline to work from and can add interest to scenarios in which their habitual response garners an unusual response.

Character voice isn’t just dialogue, either! The character voice questions address subjects like confidence and worldview, too, that shape their overall behavior. Sign up to check out the list below!

What Does This Look Like?

At the end of this series, I want to provide an example of how to apply the concepts I’m talking about to an actual scene. As such, I would like to open the floor to you to send in an excerpt you’d like critiqued! You’ll get to see how these principles are applied, how I personally edit, and some ways these principles can strengthen your scene. If you’re up for it, shoot me an excerpt and the name you’d like attached to it (or tell me you’d rather have it critiqued anonymously) and I’ll make my commentary on it for the final post in this series!

Submit here!

Comment below! Which of these points do you struggle with most? Which comes easiest? I challenge you to apply just one of these tips to a scene you’re writing or editing this week and let me know how it goes!

The post Crafting Emotional Resonance: Part 2 – Character Reactions appeared first on Scribes & Archers.

Crafting Emotional Resonance: Part 1 – Character-Driven Description

Over the next few weeks, I want to focus on the craft of writing emotionally resonant scenes and stories. What does that mean? I want to give you the tools you need to not only convey the actions of a story, but connect those actions to the emotions of your characters and, by extension, the emotions of the reader. (Thanks to Courtney L for the topic of this blog post series.)

To kick off this week, we’re going to look at the details of prose. The biggest issue I see as an editor reading books and helping authors to build more emotion into their scenes is a lack of description that connects to the character. This leads to flat description that readers don’t really care about—and characters whose emotions are a mystery.

There are two potential issues at play here.

#1: You may be lacking description altogether.

#2: The description is there, it’s just not working.

Fortunately, both of these problems can be fixed.

When Description is Missing

If this is the case, my starting advice would be to practice description. Focus on it. Try to tell a story with as little dialogue as possible and use description to carry it. Accumulate powerful verbs and adjectives with which to construct strong descriptions. Read poetry and pay attention to its uses of imagery and theme. Write your own poetry and descriptive prose.

After that, the trick is to weave that descriptive skill into full stories without going overboard and with intention toward the story and theme you’re trying to convey. In addition to what we’re going to cover today to that end, I’ll link you to a post I wrote a few years ago about writing vivid, effective description.

When Description Isn’t Working

If you have description but your readers aren’t getting the picture, the most common culprit is that you’re not connecting your description closely enough to your character. This is a matter of character voice and action (which we’ll get to next week), and it requires a firm knowledge of both your characters and the world they live in—plus the willingness to finesse your word choice to perfect over almost-perfect.

As a preface, just because your description isn’t connecting doesn’t mean it’s bad description. Your prose may be stunning and paint a beautiful picture! But if it doesn’t tie in with the characters and/or story, your reader isn’t likely to care (unless you’re Tolkien). Don’t describe an ornate banister just for the sake of describing an ornate banister, even if it’s a stunningly gorgeous ornate banister.

Your descriptions should reflect your character’s emotions, worldview, history, and interests/vocation. If the character wouldn’t care, neither will the reader. If the character does care, the reader is much more likely to also care, even if the subject of description is something the reader would ordinarily be bored by or never notice themselves.

Not sure which problem you’re dealing with? Book a sample line edit with me and I’ll diagnose the first few pages of your story!

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Vocation & Interests

If your reader has no interest in ornate banisters or woodcarving, but your character is a woodcarver who discovers something about the home he’s in by the carving on the banister, you can make the banister ten times more interesting just by highlighting the character’s cultural knowledge. What does that information mean for the story? What does it mean to the character? Is the banister carved in the designs of royalty even though the home belongs to a simple merchant? Are they employed by the king directly, granting the main character a connection he needs to accomplish his goals? Or perhaps the banister is hand-carved, granting the main character an opportunity to discuss something within his wheelhouse with the owner of the house.

Emotion

Description in a scene can do one of two things when it comes to character emotion. It can either reinforce what your character is feeling, or contrast with those feelings.

As a cliché example, a rainy setting might reinforce a character’s grief or depression. The teardrops may look like (or mingle with) tears, the rain clouds may be as heavy as the weight on your character’s shoulders, the glistening sidewalks may shine like the tears in your character’s eyes… etc. etc. (You’ll generally want your metaphors to be more creative than off-the-cuff blog post examples. ;) )

As an alternate option—which can be just as interesting, if not more so—the setting might be at odds with your character’s emotions. If the character’s mother has just died and the sunshine yellow walls seem to mock her grief, or if this is the first time the color hasn’t made her smile, or if perhaps they comfort her with the thought that her mother is now experiencing eternal light, any of those could provide great insight on your character’s emotions and worldview and the way they’re processing this grief—allowing the reader to process it alongside them.

Backstory

Description can be a great way to sneak in backstory, as well. Let’s look at that yellow wallpaper again. How might a character’s grief over the loss of her mother be heightened if her mother helped her put up the wallpaper in the first place? Does it bring back memories, then, of how the character and her mother used to enjoy sharing projects? Or perhaps they found it difficult to work together, and your character feels guilty now for not appreciating that time together. Perhaps the walls are a reminder of that bitter relationship and your character would rather just forget.

The emotional combinations are endless, and any one of them can grant great insight into your character’s past. Not only are memories powerful, but they often tie to one another, which means one piece of present-day description could link to some other bit of backstory that appears at first blush to be disconnected. Or something your character may have even forgotten about in their conscious memory until now.

What if your main character thinks back to putting up wallpaper with her mother and suddenly remembers that the mother was acting odd for the whole project. What if she remembers her mother sealing something behind the wallpaper and is suddenly compelled to rip off the paper and find out what her mother left for her?

Past and present can be dramatically tied together through use of setting and description.

Mindset

Description can be a great way to reveal your character’s mindset and worldview, especially when the setting is presenting some sort of obstacle to the character’s goal.

If your character is walking through grass up to their knees, that might not only itch and sting their legs, but also hinder a hasty getaway from the riders chasing them. On the other hand, it may present a great hiding place. How your character responds, what they focus on, and their general tone in describing their surroundings should all reflect the way they think, and this will make the setting and scenario more real to your readers.

One character might describe that tall grass with a tone of complaint, using the most negative terms in their vocabulary. Another might compare it to the waves in the sea, either basking in its beauty or pining for the seashore they miss. Either provides a strong visual impression of the setting and a strong impression of the character and their thought process.

In Summary

Whatever element(s) of character you highlight with your description, descriptive prose ought to serve a purpose. To reveal backstory, to push the narrative forward, to reveal your character’s emotions or interests or worldview, to pose a challenge, etc. Description that only looks pretty won’t connect with your reader (9 times out of 10), though beautiful and intentional prose is part of creating description that does effectively connect (and I’ll talk about that more in a later post). So keep these questions in mind as you write and edit:

What does this description do?How is this description active?How does it reflect the narrator providing the description in the first place?

Those three questions will bring you much closer to building description that furthers your story and connects with your readers.

Need some help connecting your description to your POV character? Sign up to the newsletter for a free list of character voice questions!

The post Crafting Emotional Resonance: Part 1 – Character-Driven Description appeared first on Scribes & Archers.

The Problem with Arranged Marriages in YA Fiction

This post is part of a collaboration with several bloggers to discuss romance tropes and the philosophy behind them. Stay to the end to check out the other participating authors’ posts!

I have a problem with the arranged marriage trope in YA and NA fiction, and it’s not the issue you might think. I have no objection to portraying arranged marriages in fiction, even to portraying them to a (reasonably) young audience. In fact, my problem with arranged marriage in YA fiction is that it is almost always portrayed in a negative light.

Before you get too worked up, allow me to say that I don’t think arranged marriage is necessarily the ideal these days, and it can be problematic. I don’t believe that arranged marriage is always right, I don’t deny that the system can be abused. But it is a system that has been used (and used properly) for millennia and I don’t think it’s always bad, either. While arranged marriage has its potential pitfalls, I believe it also provides an opportunity to explore some powerfully positive themes and it doesn’t have to make your romance read any less sweet.

So let’s get into a few of those themes I mentioned and why I would like to see more arranged marriage stories portrayed in a positive light.

Trust in Family

A common objection, not only to arranged marriage scenarios but also to more middle-of-the-road structures like courtship, is that of parents not knowing—or caring—what’s best for the young people involved in a relationship. Unfortunately, there are situations in which this is the case. Again, not all situations are perfect—or even healthy at all. However, that is not true of all situations as it often seems in YA’s portrayal of arranged marriage. There are loving parents, conscious of their children’s needs and desires, who arrange marriages very much for their children’s benefit.

The positive portrayal of these healthy arrangements supports the portrayal of healthy families in general, and specifically highlights the theme of trust within families. A father who has his daughter’s best interests at heart, who protects and provides for his family well, will have a daughter who trusts him to provide for her and keep her needs and desires in mind as he chooses a husband for her. Likewise a son whose father has exemplified provision and love will raise a son who trusts that father to provide him with a fitting wife.

Trust is an important part of healthy family dynamics, and that’s something we should be showcasing in fiction—perhaps most especially for the sake of young adults who may be in a stage of questioning their parents’ judgment, or learning what that trust should look like for the first time if it hasn’t been fostered in their own family.

(Plus, if you’re a fantasy writer, arranged marriages can be quite telling of the cultural family structure within your created world.)

Responsibility

Many arranged marriages in YA fiction involve princes and princesses who are being “married off” for the sake of their kingdoms. Which is almost universally painted as a bad thing. But why? Why do we see taking responsibility and sacrificing personal pleasure for the sake of something greater as a bad thing?

(I have a particular peeve with stories in which this is the scenario and the betrothed isn’t even remotely unpleasant. I just want to tell the main character—or love interest—to get over themselves.)

Whether there’s a whole kingdom at stake or a character is merely beginning a household as a part of becoming an adult in their society, arranged marriage—in some cases, as simply as any marriage—is an opportunity to portray characters taking responsibility for something and someone beyond themselves. It’s a matter of growing up, putting others before yourself, and doing something difficult because it’s important.

We see very little of this type of responsibility in YA fiction. Characters may take on unusual responsibilities like battling dark lords or overthrowing corrupt governments, but even these don’t always carry the same weight or the challenge to grow in character and long-term responsibility. Characters are too busy trying to decide which guy to date mid-battle, and after the dark lord is defeated, life goes back to normal without any grownup responsibility.

Arranged marriage—for that matter, marriage at all—provides a prime opportunity to reveal the reality of this responsibility and encourage young adult readers to treat real-life responsibilities with the gravity they require.

Growing in Love

Love isn’t always easy. This is true even when people are married because they’ve “fallen in love”; eventually the enchantment fades and love comes down to choice. The choice to put the other person first. The choice to have the hard conversations. The choice to remain faithful to each other and the purpose you’ve taken up together.

In arranged marriage, this work is acknowledged from the beginning. The betrothed couple may not have feelings of affection for each other to begin with, but their commitment will still speak volumes—and in many cases, affection comes along with steady choices to love. (Remember what I said about your romance being no less sweet? This is where that comes in. Just think of it as strangers-to-lovers but they’re already married from the beginning.)

Arranged marriage stories are a great place to emphasize the commitment and work of marriage, as well as the rewards of that faithfulness.

Healthy Communication

Another frustrating element of many arranged marriage stories is a lack of healthy, adult communication—between parent and child, especially, as well as between those betrothed to one another. I don’t care if you don’t want to be in an arranged marriage… so long as you communicate about it maturely and don’t go leading people on because you want to get out of it without just owning up to that fact.

I would be far more tolerant of negative portrayals of arranged marriage stories if it were used as an opportunity to promote healthy communication—especially between parents and their children. This really goes back to the matter of trust that we started with. If the parent and child have a healthy, trusting relationship, discussions are much simpler and easier. And even if the young character doesn’t have that kind of relationship with their parents, you can highlight responsibility and maturity with characters who communicate anyway.

Have your betrothals end, have your characters “escape,” but at least have them understand it and talk about it first.

Good Examples

In case you couldn’t tell, I’ve seen very few portrayals of arranged marriages that haven’t neglected the points I’ve laid out. But there are two that come to mind as exceptional.

Daughter of Dusk* by Livia Blackburne really highlights healthy communication and responsibility in its portrayal of an arranged marriage. That was the first book that really made me happy with an arranged marriage storyline.

Harbinger of the End* by Nicki Chapelway is an excellent example of an arranged marriage done well, highlighting almost every one of these points. I had the privilege of proofreading Harbinger and absolutely loved it, and I recommend it to any fans of Norse mythology and/or the arranged marriage trope.

*This is a BookShop affiliate link; purchases made through this link earn me a small commission at no extra cost to you, plus support local U.S. bookstores!

There you have it. My thoughts on the arranged marriage trope. I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments! What do you like or dislike about the trope?

Don’t forget to check out the other bloggers participating in Romance Week!

Kellyn Roth – Second-chance romance

Grace A. Johnson – Enemies-to-lovers

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2022 Wrap-Up and Goals for 2023

Another year has come and gone, and boy… what a year it has been. Parts of this year feel like they belonged to last year, and in many ways this year has felt very long. How could so much have happened all in one year?? But I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s take a look at how this year stacked up against my expectations.

2022: An Overview

I split last year into three parts relative to my camp job, and I’m tempted to do a similar thing with this year… except I’m not certain where the divisions would fall, lol. I can say there were a lot more “seasons” to this year than usual; I’m on my 7th “seasonal” playlist of the year, as opposed to my regular 3rd or 4th. (Yes, I use music as a measuring stick.)

My “stewardship” theme lasted through some of the year; it turned out not to fit as well as I’d expected, so at some point I fell back on my theme verse of Matthew 6:33. I did a better job of stewarding some of my resources than others, I think.

The lack of hope that I had at the end of 2021 was definitely helped by the changing of the seasons, and God provided a lot of joy through work, my book release, and renewed appreciation for some amazing friendships. Plus some new relationships and opportunities, but we’ll get to those momentarily. ;)

Work was a pleasure this year! It’s certainly had its rough patches. A horse farm job I had for an early portion of the year turned out to not be the best fit after a while, but it was certainly not the worst opportunity and it helped to fund my book release. Calligraphy Guild’s release itself was so much fun, and it’s been amazing to see the response from readers. A HUGE thank-you to my street team who have been rock stars at getting the word out about Calligraphy Guild!

I was also thrilled to get to work with so many editing clients this year! One book I got to work on was genuinely my dream project. I could not have asked for a more perfect match, and it was so exciting to be part of the process of polishing it. And every last author has been an absolute pleasure to work with, with such unique projects that I am so grateful to have been part of. I cannot wait to see where these authors go next. (In case you couldn’t tell… I love my job.)

Oh! And I started a new novel project. It has kind of hit a wall at this point, but it was super exciting to get started on and I’m hoping to do more with it in the coming year as I’m able to turn my focus back toward writing as a whole. Which has been something of a challenge because…

I have a boyfriend. He is amazing, and I love him to pieces, and it has been such a blessing to get to know him better and better, to support him in his interests and his work, to share interests with him, and to have his support and encouragement in my own work. He’s an ever-present reminder that God is faithful… and that God has a sense of humor, because while I was resigning myself to my singleness for the time being and putting my oddly specific “I’d like to get married when I’m 20” wish back in His hands, He was preparing my boyfriend to ask me out. Go figure. (Lesson learned: Put stuff back in God’s hands and His timing will work out better than you’d even dare imagine.) So yeah. That’s been lovely, and I’m super excited to see how God continues to direct that relationship. ^-^

But I’ll stop gushing now and get to the more practical stuff. ;)

2022: Goals in Review

Finish 2 drafts of my non-fiction project

I haven’t even finished one draft yet. However, this project is moving forward–albeit slowly–and I’m very happy with how it’s coming along thus far.

Publish Calligraphy Guild

DONE!!! I am so so so so so excited that Calligraphy Guild is now finally in readers’ hands–and a growing number of readers’ hands! This book was such a labor of love, and I am so encouraged to have the opportunity to hear feedback from readers that it served exactly the purpose I’d hoped for, that God is using it exactly the way I prayed He would–and then some! I truly could not have asked for a better release. Thank you to everyone who helped make it what it was. And if you haven’t read Calligraphy Guild yet, I hope you will; I would love to share the magic with you.

Send out quarterly newsletters

This was a much more manageable goal than the monthly efforts I’d been putting in before! Quarterly emails allowed me to remain consistent without getting discouraged, but also allowed the freedom to email more when I had more content. I think I’ll be keeping this model in the coming year.

If you’re not signed up to my list yet, you can sign up here!

Write 12 new short stories

I announced when I made this goal that I might end up ditching it partway through the year depending on priorities, and that turned out to be accurate. I did write a piece of flash fiction and attempt to start a longer short story, but short stories weren’t a big focus for me this year.

Do 4+ blog collaborations

Lavender Bleu guest posted on the topic of language.

Rachel Leitch and I swapped posts about indie publishing and traditional publishing, respectively.

I hosted a blog tour for Calligraphy Guild‘s release.

I also participated in some other authors’ book releases (Nadine Brandes’ Wishtress and Victoria Lynn’s Once I Knew specifically), guest posted on Kingdom Pen, did a tag, and participated in a link-up, but I didn’t quite reach the four intentional collaborations I’d hoped for.

I do love working with other authors and bloggers, so if you’re a blogger and you’re interested in collaborating in the coming year, shoot me an email! I’d love to work with you. ^-^

Go to Realm Makers

This still hasn’t happened yet. This year it was due in large part to the awkward timing of Calligraphy Guild‘s release; if I’d tried to publish a book in June and attend a writing conference out-of-state a month later I think I would have gone insane. Now I know when not to release a book if I’m aiming to go to Realm Makers that year.

Write for Story Embers

I still have not managed to do this.

Write for Kingdom Pen

Yes! I got to write a post comparing modern vs. classic literature, which was a very fun topic to write on. And I had the honor of doing an author spotlight with KP as well!

Write for The Rebelution

Still no.

Revive my editing services

Yes! And I am so excited about it. I’ve gotten to work with five authors this year, and I’m hoping to work with at least as many next year. I have adjusted my services for 2023, so check out my editing page for the latest details or to book your spot!

Read 100 books

I’m at 58 and counting, but I’m not going to make it to 100 this year, lol.

Read 10 new-to-me classics

I reread The Fellowship of the Ring, Around the World in Eighty Days, Prince Caspian, and about half of The Two Towers, but the only new-to-me classics I’ve read have been Evangeline and The Courtship of Miles Standish by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (which I have quite enjoyed and which have prompted along a poetry habit).

Take 2 CLEP tests

I’ve returned to my disinterest with the idea of college and therefore this took a very back burner.

Have a 365-day Duolingo streak

Nope. Not even close. But I have kept French music on most if not all of my seasonal playlists, so I’m not totally abandoning French no matter what I do.

Plant vegetables

To be fully honest, I completely forgot about this goal. I did not have the energy for this at the time I would have needed to plant and upkeep a garden, anyway, so there was just no way this was happening. But hopefully in the not-too-distant future.

Complete two crochet projects

I’ve completed three, actually! The twin-sized blanket I was working on at the end of last year, a baby blanket that I gave to a couple at church just before their daughter was born, and a Christmas present for my boyfriend. And the hope is to get a few more blankets, a tote, and a pair of fingerless gloves made as Christmas presents for other people on my list. (I’m very pleased to have rediscovered my interest in crochet.)

2023: Concrete Goals

As always, this list includes only the more relevant and/or interesting goals on my list.

Finish 2 drafts of my non-fiction project

Finish the 1st draft of Lightning

The sci-fi novel I started this fall. Check out the book page for more info!

Finish the 1st draft of Lightning‘s sequel

It’s a back-to-back duology, so I want both books drafted together and edited together.

Send quarterly emails

And whatever else I come up with to help and/or encourage y’all. Sign ups are here.

Post at least twice a month on Scribes & Archers

‘Cause I’ve rather fallen off the blogging bandwagon and I’d like to fix that. I’m not sure I can jump right back into a post per week, but twice a month should be doable. (And hopefully I’ll get back to once a week as I regain momentum!)

Fix site shop

My WooCommerce plugin broke and thus my site shop is broken and I haven’t had the energy to fight to fix it. So for now my books are available only through Amazon, but I’d really like to fix that sooner rather than later. I’m hoping to have this goal completed by the end of January.

Attend Realm Makers

I have doubts about this happening due to some other life stuff that might happen and make attendance difficult, but it’s going to keep getting put on the list until it happens.

Do 4+ blog collabs

Write for Story Embers

Edit for 4+ clients

If you’re looking to get a book edited next year, I’d love to work with you! Details and booking here.

Read 52 books

A more modest goal for the coming year, which I’m pretty sure I can surpass but which I won’t be flailing to hit if something unexpected happens, lol.

Read 10 new-to-me classics

More Longfellow, maybe. Along with the C.S. Lewis essays that have been teetering on my TBR, Plato’s dialogues alongside them, and the Jane Austen I’ve been intending to read for years, among other things.

Finish 2+ crochet projects

Probably the Christmas presents I have no chance of finishing before the year is out.

Write 12+ poems

I’ve started four in the past two months that I just need to finish, and I have more assorted poem starts from times long prior, plus I’ve had plenty of inspiration the past couple of months and I’m liable to only start more, so… this goal shouldn’t be too difficult. I just need to sit down and coax my words into proper rhyme and rhythm.

2023: General Hopes

Matthew 6:33 remains a core verse I want to remember: “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added to you.” And in a similar vein, 1 Corinthians 10:31 — “Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” I have a tendency to focus on blessings without enough appreciation for the One who gives all good gifts, and I want to be better in the coming year about remembering where my gratitude belongs and Whom I ought to be pursuing first and foremost. Essentially, the same principle that Andrew Peterson addresses in Adorning the Dark when he says,

“We may want something harmless, but if it’s out of place, if it comes before the right thing, then what’s benign becomes malignant. We want the wrong thing. ”

In the coming year, I’d like to establish a balance between my online presence and my in-person community. I love blogging and editing and having discussions with other authors online, and I really want to do better about fostering those relationships and intentionally investing in the success of other authors. But I also have an amazing in-person community that I want to pour into the same way, and I hope to be able to pour into both with a lot more intention in the coming year.

And there’s a decent chance I’ll be planning a wedding for some portion of 2023, so… that would be very exciting.

So that’s about the gist of this past year and my hopes for the coming year. Now I want to hear from you! How was your 2022? What was your biggest win? What are you most excited for in 2023? What’s your most ambitious goal? Comment below!

The post 2022 Wrap-Up and Goals for 2023 appeared first on Scribes & Archers.