Kristen Lamb's Blog, page 12

Creating a Story-Worthy Problem That Will Captivate an Audience

Image courtesy of IMDB and Netflix’s ‘Extraction.’

The story-worthy problem is the beating heart of all superlative fiction. Unfortunately, creating this central core can often be overlooked. This is particularly true for writers relying on school training.

English teachers didn’t mind we used twenty-five metaphors on one page because their goal was to teach us how to properly use a metaphor…not how to write successful commercial fiction.

Creating the core problem and then—possibly (depending on genre)—the many overlapping layers and misdirections, is tough mental work.

Story as Structure

Like any structure, a story demands a strong foundation and sturdy frame. Without structure, it’s easy for author (and audience) to become lost.

Without those elements? The story caves in. But, foundations and framing aren’t nearly as fun as picking out paint, furniture, or drapes.

Face it, for most of us, decorating a house is much more fun than building one. This can be the same for stories. Crafting the perfect sentence, poring over descriptions, tinkering with dialogue is fun.

Alas, like our ‘building’ everything has a certain order. The story-worthy problem is critical.

It will be this problem (requiring a satisfactory resolution) that holds the structure together and gives meaning to the existence of all the players on the field (characters).

Lack of a Story-Worthy Problem

I began this craft series not only for those who want to write at a professional level, but also for those who might find themselves stuck. Writer’s block has often been attributed to laziness, but I don’t wholly agree.

I believe—for those stuck—your subconscious begins by pumping the brakes. This is the warning something is missing.

You start off writing and the word count soars. Usually this lasts about 10,000 words. Then, your pace steadily slows. Finally, around the 25,000 to 32,000 word mark everything begins to collapse.

By this point, it can feel you’re trying to drag a boulder through a swamp.

My opinion? This is your subconscious now slamming the brakes. Something is missing. What?

The reason for the story.

Finally? You set your hard work aside, frustrated. This is why most writers keep going back and reworking the beginning, which makes sense. It was the only time the words came easily.

We long to revisit that carefree flow. Description is easier.

Why Are We All Here?

The story-worthy problem is why we’re all here. It’s the sole reason for the MC (main character) to even exist. The story-worthy problem is the sole reason for any and all characters to exist.

Without that core problem, everything is fluff and window-dressing.

Notice I keep using the term ‘story-worthy’ problem. Not all problems are created equal.

We have to ask, ‘Why are we here?’ ‘What is the point?’ ‘Why would an audience CARE?’

We live in a world with innumerable other distractions and ways to be entertained. This said, WHY would a reader choose to dedicate 10-15 hours (average time to read a novel) to your book?

Frequently, when I edit, the lack of the core problem is the single largest reason writers either can’t seem to finish. Or, if they do finish, sales are lackluster.

They’ve not defined that compelling reason an audience would choose reading over social media, video games, or another episode of The Bachelor.

Audiences MUST CARE

I know this seems simple. But guess what? A basic soufflé is very simple, yet one of the most challenging dishes to successfully create. Simple doesn’t mean easy.

Compelling story problems actually begin very simple. How much is then layered onto this is a matter of genre and taste. Yet, the problem is the hook.

Even a work as soaring as Game of Thrones has a simple goal—secure The Iron Throne, stabilize the realms before winter arrives. Granted, this ‘simple’ story-worthy problem evolves into a vastly complex web of lies, betrayal, and intrigue.

But, the core goal is simple—secure The World’s Most Uncomfortable Chair.

Elementary, My Dear Watson…



Image from BBC’s ‘Sherlock’, courtesy of IMDB

In a mystery, the story-worthy problem is frequently the crime. It might be a murder, a burglary, a forgery, a stolen identity, whatever. The point of the mystery is to solve the crime and deliver justice.

During quarantine, I’ve been watching the fabulous and binge-worthy BBC Sherlock series. I’ve simultaneously been inhaling The Complete Sherlock Holmes. Sherlock is presented with a case and how do we know the story has ended?

The great detective has not only solved the case and identified the what, how, where, and who, but the perpetrator is exposed and apprehended.

That is the point of a mystery. Same can be said for detective and crime novels (eg. Harry Bosch series).

Genre & the Story-Worthy Problem

Genre acts as a useful guide to answering WHY we (the audience) are there. Thrillers usually involve beginning with an initial taste of the far larger plan the MC needs to stop.

In thrillers, there are BIG consequences (e.g. stopping a terrorist attack on The Palace of Westminster). Say a seemingly random bombing in the tube is anything but.

This initial act ignites the story-worthy problem. It’s no random bombing, rather a race against time to stop the larger and TRUE goal…a much larger bomb attack when the House of Lords and House of Commons meet to pass a certain piece of legislation.

Story-Worthy Problems: Thriller or Suspense?

Suspense differs in that the consequences are more personal. Many serial killer books are a good example. For instance, Red Dragon follows Thomas Harris’s hero Will Graham who nearly died apprehending Hannibal Lecter.

In Red Dragon, however, Graham is on the trail of a killer known as The Tooth Fairy who’s infamous for wiping out entire families indiscriminately (or so they believe).

Graham’s goal is to figure out the pattern that will reveal the identity of the killer and then stop him.

But, notice the difference between thrillers and suspense. The collateral damage differs in scope and scale.

Save future families from extermination (suspense) versus a plot to implode the Western political system (thriller).

For more on details on genre (and the many variations), I recommend my older posts Fizzle or Sizzle? How Genre is Fundamental for Story Success and Choosing a Genre: Anatomy of a Best-Selling Story.

What’s Missing?

Why am I talking about the story-worthy problem? First it follows as a natural progression from our initial discussions of The Big Boss Troublemaker.

The core problem can be simple for a short story as well as for a sweeping and layered space opera. The only difference is in plot and how much is layered on top of that strong core problem.

The Story-Worthy Problem MUST Exist

Sadly, as an editor, what I see too often is writers believe they have a novel, when in truth, they have 80,000 words of ‘bad things happening.’

Me: What is your story about?

Writer: My main character wants to find out about her past.

Me: Why?

Writer: Because she does.

Me: Why? What happens if she fails? What is so important about her finding out about her past?

Writer: *blank stare*

Most audiences aren’t interested in the literary equivalent of watching over the shoulder of a stranger reconstructing a family tree for no purpose other than ‘to know.‘

This isn’t a story-worthy problem.

Yet, this is a ‘story’ I’ve been presented with more times than I care to count. But look at what’s missing. There are no stakes, no burning reasons to learn about this character’s past that can engage an audience.

It’s like being trapped on an airplane with the passenger next to you relaying her nasty divorce. Not only do we not care…we probably would resort to feigning air sickness to escape.

But with some minor changes, it’s EASY to change this ‘bad situation’ and ‘non-story’ into something interesting. We add in the story-worthy problem…the WHY.

Everything is in THE WHY

The WHY influences the stakes, the ‘what will happen if the MC fails.’ So our MC wants to find out about her past. WHY?

What if she discovers she is adopted right after becoming newly married? Shocking enough, but then, during a routine medical exam, she finds out she has a very rare disease even the best specialists can’t figure out.

They only can surmise it’s a congenital illness and fatal. If she can find her birth parents, she might find the cure.

But, to make matters worse (raising the stakes) the same routine examination reveals she’s pregnant. Now her life isn’t the only one on the line.

She (and the physicians) don’t know how much longer she’ll be able to carry the baby without terrible consequences.

Now, it is a matter of life and death to find out about her past if she hopes to live, if she hopes to save her child. The stakes are about as high as they can get.

Additionally, the clock is very much ticking because her health is failing and two lives are on the line. Or, if you’re feeling froggy, raise the stakes and on the second sonogram she realizes it’s TWINS!

Enemy Without a Face: When Dealing With a Different Sort of ‘Villain’

The ‘enemy without a face’ is probably the hardest sort for a new writer to wrap his around. If you’ve been following along the recent blogs, I’ve been discussing a concept I developed to help you plot leaner, meaner, faster and cleaner.

I call this concept, the Big Boss Troublemaker. Identify him/her/it? And smooth sailing. Discovering then refining your BBT will also help you know if you have a story or not. If you do? Great! If you don’t? You can fix the story at Ground Zero instead of wasting tens of thousands of words.

Anyway…

We all took high school English and learned the basics.

Man vs. Man (easy). We see this in pretty much every action movie, right? John Wick versus the dudes who stole his car and worse? THEY KILLED HIS DOG.

Stealing the car? Possibly forgivable, because it was a pretty incredible car. But the dog? They must ALL DIE.

Then we come to Man vs. Nature. Errr. Okay. Um who wants to read a novel (which can span 60,000-90,000 words) about bad weather as the enemy?

Disease can work. Plenty of popular books on pandemics especially now, but they have to be handled with care. If one thinks about those books or movies, they can pretty easily devolve into a gore fest.

The actual story is in the HOW the pandemic or plague or outbreak is handled and usually will zoom in on a small group of people. The tension is in a race against time to find the cure. It’s about the relationships, tensions, bonds and infighting that is created in the worst of all times. The stories—good ones anyway—really aren’t per se about the disease.

The disease acts a backdrop. Go read anything by Richard Preston and you’ll see what I’m talking about. When the disease as enemy doesn’t remain in its rightful place?

We call it a low-budget horror flick.

We’ll table that for now.

Man versus Society! All right. A little better, but to warn y’all ahead of time, society as the enemy can devolve into a soap box rant pretty easily. Or navel-gazing.

These days, when most of us can barely tolerate our social media—which does come with funny memes AND cute kitten videos—a long-winded diatribe about social wrongs is a tough sell. The 1800s didn’t have Netflix.

Next? We have Man versus Himself. I get this one A LOT from emerging writers when I try to make them articulate exactly WHO their core antagonist (their BBT) exactly is. I get a lot of, ‘Well, he/she IS her own worst enemy.’

*face palm*

To be blunt. We’re ALL friends with people who are their own worst enemies…and that’s the reason God gave us the ability to screen our calls.

The Big Boss Troublemaker

As I mentioned when we began, it is imperative to identify what I call the BBT, or Big Boss Troublemaker. The Big Boss Troublemaker is responsible for creating the core story problem in need of resolution by the end of your story.

Usually this must happen by Act Three or at least the final act—some of you use might choose to use a four-act or even five-act structure.

Why is this a ‘rule’? Well, stories have to resolve. We require a satisfactory ending, and if we don’t get one? It pisses us off.

Humans are wired for story. Don’t believe me? Try reading only part of a story to a four-year-old and see how well THAT goes.

No, they’ll call you out. How does it END?

This is where some of the more existential stuff becomes problematic.

Nature as the Enemy

Man can’t defeat weather. Trust me. I’m a Texan. If there was any way to do this, we’d know.

This is one of the reasons that disaster movies with large tsunamis or taking on volcanoes almost always are flops. If a movie can’t engage an audience for an hour an a half with nature as enemy using cool CGI?

Good luck keeping an audience’s attention for 12-15 hours (average time to read a novel) with an MC trying to battle Mother Nature.

Taking on Nature as the enemy is tricky without it the audience’s eyes glazing over. Audiences struggle to care, to relate. Humans can’t wrap their heads around large numbers. Large numbers, oddly, dilutes the power of story.

To illustrate my point…

Back when Stalin was Commissar of Munitions, the highest ranking Commissars met to discuss the famine ravaging the Ukraine. One official stood and spoke out about the tragedy of having millions of people dying from hunger and began citing the death figures.

Stalin interrupted him to say: ‘If only one man dies of hunger, that is a tragedy. If millions die, that’s only statistics.’

Making Stalin an @$$#0!% of the highest order, but one with at least *grumbles* a point.

Put a pin in this thought, we’ll circle back to it later. Not about Stalin being an @$$#0!%, but about the idea of what makes a tragedy.

Society as Enemy



Image via ‘The Purge’

When we have a protagonist up against ALL of society, or even an element of society—POWER GRABBING, XENOPHOBIA, CLASSISM, RACISM—it’s too existential. For the record, humans don’t do so great with existentialism.

Our brains require a focal point and so do good stories. When your MC is fighting a concept as an enemy, how can we (the audience) know your hero has triumphed at the end?

Because I hate the be the bearer of bad news, but humans suck. Yes, we can also wonderful and fantastic, but we also seriously, seriously suck (refer to Stalin above). And we never change. Don’t believe me?

One word. Shakepeare.

Hamlet (Betrayal, Power-Grabbing), The Merchant of Venice (Xenophobia and Racism), Romeo and Juliet (Classism), and I could go on but I think I made my point.

Society doesn’t change because humans make up society. If we don’t change, then society doesn’t change either, not really. We just find new and improved ways of being jerks.

But, don’t be discouraged. We can evolve. Just if we want to tackle BIG SOCIAL problems, we can’t do it all at one time, and don’t have the luxury of being vague.

A story that tackles a social or moral issue as the enemy needs to ‘zoom in’ so to speak.

Man as His Own Worst Enemy

Aren’t we all our own worst enemy? There is nothing per se wrong with an MC being his or her own worst enemy, it simply has to be handled—like the others—with care. Because seriously….

Who likes hanging out with people who are their own worst enemies?

No matter how much help or advice, they do the same stupid crap over and over? Hard to root for these people in life for any long period of time, let alone in a book.

While in quarantine (and still getting over being sick), I was listening to a lot of audio books. I picked up a thriller that, initially had me excited…but the MC was too friggin’ dumb to live.

When you find yourself rooting for the psychopath wrecking the MC’s life? Time to turn in the credit and get a different book. If this character got any stupider she’d be able to simply lean toward sunlight and photosynthesize her own food.

Was a shame because the author had created a worthy adversary and a terrifying villain. Problem was, the MC was unforgivably dumb and unworthy of such a well-crafted enemy.

Initially, every MC is his or her own worst enemy. They need to be. They lack something critical to beat the core challenge of the story. The story problem is there to develop them and give them the lacking ingredients which allow them victory in the end. This is called character arc.

I mean, think of what I wrote earlier. If the MC has to defeat the BBT in the end, makes for really weird Big Boss Battle if the ONLY thing we have to offer is the MC/Hero fighting themselves.

*flashback to tormenting my little brother*

Stop hitting yourself. Stop hitting yourself.

Not saying it can’t be done. But suicide might not be the best ending of a book. I did say might.

Villains, Antagonists, Enemies

First of all, if you go back and read my previous two posts on the Big Boss Troublemaker Ideas Collide: Powerful Storms at the Center of All Great Stories and The BBT: Meet the Big Boss Troublemaker, the Brain Behind All Stories you’ll see why I created this new term.

My apologies for being misleading in the title. One of the reasons I created the term Big Boss Troublemaker was the term ‘antagonist’ confused the bejeezus out of me for YEARS.

Even in writing seminars, craft teachers would often use the term villain and antagonist interchangeably when they are not.

The antagonist is simply whoever is standing in the way of whatever your MC wants in a particular scene.

An Example

Let’s look at, say, Sherlock Holmes, the modern BBC version...because Benedict Cumberbatch. Need I say more? No.

Holmes might want to barge in through security using a top secret security clearance card he pickpocketed off his brother and use his superlative mind powers to figure out what’s really afoot at a secret lab in Baskerville. Why not? Sherlock has a ‘noble’ goal.

Sherlock believes whatever is going on at the lab has something to do with a young man who’s on the edge of going insane, as well as the death of that man’s father.

But his brother, Mycroft Holmes, is high up in the government and is responsible for a lot of lives and can’t allow Sherlock—who is VASTLY reckless—to go traipsing through secret labs using his name and clearance.

Is Mycroft a villain? No. Unlikable? Yes. Villain? No.

But when Mycroft shuts down Sherlock’s ability to use the stolen top secret clearance, he sure seems like a villain to Sherlock.

This said, Sherlock IS a loose cannon and cutting him loose in a top secret lab would be the height of recklessness for a man in Mycroft Holmes’s position.

Mycroft is standing in the WAY of what Sherlock WANTS. Thus, he is an antagonist. This is what adds story tension, because NOW Sherlock will have to find another way to get answers.

Sherlock Holmes can’t simply waltz in and solve the mystery in fifteen minutes, which would make for a very dull story.

This is why antagonists are WONDERFUL. The more pushback the BETTER. Bad situations are not story. It’s the push and pull of conflicting agendas that keep readers turning pages.

Now Sherlock Holmes is an iconic character who does have an arch-villain, Moriarty. Sherlock Holmes solves crimes, so this is a clear Man versus Man scenario. But I wanted to use Sherlock to demonstrate the notion that antagonists aren’t all villians. In fact, most aren’t.

This is what will, hopefully, help with the next part—the existential part—when your BBT is not necessarily a villain. Yet, I think you’ll find that often you might need one.

Enemy a Mixed Bag

Often when we believe we have a Man Versus Nature or a Man Versus Society or Man Versus Himself, if we really study the story, we’ll see that we actually have a mixture. The reason has to do with what I explicated above.

A character battling weather just isn’t going to keep a reading audience engaged for that long.

Nature as Enemy

I do my best to choose books that have also been made into movies. This is WAY harder than one might imagine and it’s often why I end up with the same examples.

The Perfect Storm by Sebastian Junger, on the surface, seems like a clear example of Man versus Nature. Hey, it’s in the title, right? But really the storm is more of the backdrop.

It’s a story of men who depend on fishing for their livelihood and, after suffering a dismal season, most are about to lose everything—businesses, homes, marriages.

The captain, knowing the season is over and that they are in the most dangerous time of year to venture into the North Atlantic, offers the men a final chance to save themselves from financial ruin.

Because triumphing over financial ruin is the CORE STORY PROBLEM.

Despite knowing it is a possible suicide run, do they go for it? They do (duh) or no story. And once out they land the haul of a lifetime. Of course they do. They’ll be set! All their debts paid and plenty to live on…but then the refrigeration systems fail. Because of course they would.

The fish will rot unless they haul @$$ back.

Now they have a real life and death dilemma.

The storm of the century is forming between them and home. Do they let the fish rot and lose everything? Or try and test their abilities and chance it home?

Two distinct camps break out very quickly—those who want to go for it and those who don’t want to die. It’s borderline mutiny. But we can guess who wins and they all die and…it’s a French film. And likely why I hated the book and the movie.

What? I am an American. I dig happy endings.

As you can see, though, the storm really isn’t the Big Boss Troublemaker. Financial Desperation manifested in the captain’s gamble to take the Andrea Gail and her crew out to sea when it was a suicide mission is the BBT…manifested in the PROXY of the captain.

Had he not made the decision? No story.

They’d have just all lost their shirts and gone to bartending school.

Society as Enemy

The best example I can think of for this one that is a movie and a book is Bridget Jones Diary. Talk about a one-eighty, right?

Bridget is a personal improvement junkie. She obsessively documents her caloric intake, measurements, any consumed ‘alcohol units’, as well as other unsavory habits in a diary. She’s consumed with the superficial and how she looks (Eg. her weight).

Why does she do this? Because of the societal pressure that she should not only be married, but married to a particular sort of man by a certain age. She feels the tick-tock of her biological clock.

Her family pressure, the pressure from friends, magazines, media, culture that constantly barrages her with how, no matter how hard she tries, she is never and never will be…enough. She will never be thin enough, pretty enough, exotic enough, rich enough, etc.

In this case, we can see a case of Bridget being her own worst enemy.

But notice how it doesn’t stand alone. We can also see clear proxies of society as the enemy in well-meaning people around her constantly shining the spotlight on her being single ‘at her age.’

How do we know she’s won at the end of the story?

When she ditches the diary, sees through the coworker who’s playing her, and finally notices and sees the truth of the ‘abrasive’ Mark Darcy.

She’d done to HIM what she’d accused the world of doing to HER. Judging by appearance.

She also had written Darcy off, had automatically assumed someone so successful would never be interested in her due to her own low self-esteem.

It’s only when she sees through her own self-delusion, how she’s bought into the societal lie and how much its trashed her view of herself that she realizes Darcy actually wasn’t meaning to be abrasive. He actually LIKED her and valued her as she was.

SHE was the problem…and when her eyes open to that reality? Bridget wins. Society loses.

Existential Enemies & Great Villains

Existential enemies make for some fabulous villains, but we’ll tackle those another day. Again, I DO try to give examples where you can study the book as well as the movie (and movies that did a pretty good job of staying close to the book). Talk about being rare as unicorn tears.

Sigh.

But if you want ALCOHOLISM to be the BBT, fine. Then a person represents the addiction. Maybe it’s the hard-partying lover your character can’t seem to break free of. But, there is something better ahead if she does…like she finds out the child she put up for adoption twenty years ago is reaching out.

And she can either get clean and give up her drinking buddy or remain where she is and never have a relationship with that long-lost child.

I could go on, but let’s leave some for another time. Probably would be good to blog on each of these separately.

I LOVE HEARING FROM YOU!

Oh, and please SUBSCRIBE! The more the merrier weirder. You can do that in the upper right hand sidebar and you’ll only ever get the blog. I don’t believe in newsletters.

Did this help clear things up?

There are other good examples. Footloose (Religious Fundamentalism that forbids dancing and town preacher as proxy), Joy Luck Club (Chinese Culture and notion of Obedience as BBT and mothers and and grandmothers as proxies), Steele Magnolias (Death as BBT and daughter Shelby as proxy), Fried Green Tomatoes (Domestic Abuse and Ed Couch and Grady Kilgore as proxies), Thelma and Louise (Toxic Patriarchy and Darryl & Harlan as proxies), The Mirror Has Two Faces (Toxic Beauty Beliefs & mom Hannah Morgan as proxy) to name a few for your viewing pleasure.

If you have a CONCEPT you don’t know how to make into something of substance, to give a proxy, feel free to put into the comments!

As to the winners of the free class from last post, keep commenting. I need to load classes to give one away. Still been on the mend and need time to load those, so hoping to have some up next week so you’ll have something to choose from!

And I will extend that contest to today, because I’m LONELY! Been cooped up too long and love hearing from you. So I will pick one from last post and one from this post for a free class to show my love for taking the time to comment…even if it’s to say hello or offer ideas for what you’d like me to blog about!

Lots and lots of love and STAY HEALTHY!

The post Enemy Without a Face: When Dealing With a Different Sort of ‘Villain’ appeared first on Kristen Lamb.

The Truth About Introverts & Why the Quarantine is Hard on Us, Too

Introverts tend to get a bad rap. No, we are not ALL serial killers. Okay…known serial killers.

They have to catch you first

The BBT: Meet the Big Boss Troublemaker & Brain Behind All Stories

Last post in our ‘Introduction to Writing’ series, we discussed how stories are namely a collision of IDEAS. I also introduced the core antagonist, what I call the BBT…or Big Boss Troublemaker.

Sorry for the delay in posts. This quarantine has been…wow. Who knew March had 666 days? It’s like 2020 was doing just fine, then March came flying in screaming, ‘Leroooooooy JENKINS!’

There’s been good reason for the delay. First, I have part of my family quarantined in Northern Italy, and then last week my nephew went to the hospital and tested positive for COVID19. And he lives with my 67 year old mom. *face palm*

Last week I just…didn’t get to the blog. Btw, everyone is fine for now. Nephew home and better. Mom and family in Italy so far have not gotten sick. *fingers crossed*

Moving on…

Like a lot of the cooped up world, seems we can’t help but have heard all about the Big Boss Troublemaker, Carol %$#&!@ BASKINS. Even if Carol Baskins is a BBT conjured in the meth-addled brain of megalomaniac Joe Exotic, without Carol?

Hundreds of millions of bored quarantined people would never have heard of a bat$#!@ crazy gay zookeeper from Oklahoma or the train wreck that is Tiger King.

*evil laugh* We’ll get there…

Anyway, the BBT is our central opposition. This is the force responsible for creating the core story problem in need of resolution. While stories have all sorts of ‘antagonists’ we’ll get to them another time.

The CORE (IDEA)

The BBT is a wholly unique sort of antagonist. This specific antagonist, the Big Boss Troublemaker, is the Baskins BRAIN of all great stories. Why? Because all great stories involve an IDEA that must be defeated. We talked about this last time.

Fantastic. But, how do we do this?

Great stories are almost like living creatures. Like all living creatures, there are critical limitations when it comes to structure. What this means is not all ‘components’ are equally necessary for an organism to be considered ‘alive.’

If a kitten is born with no hair? We call it a Sphynx then sell it for big bucks to people who adore cats that resemble space aliens.

If our kitten is born with unusable back legs, it’s sad. But, we humans get creative and craft a Lego ‘kitten wheelchair’…producing a kitten now drunk with power. ZOOOOOOM! LOOK AT HIM GO ALL THE PLACES!

Ah, but a kitten born with no brain stem? Little to do but mourn. We can’t work around this missing ‘organ,’ no matter how much we may want to. Regardless how creative we get, actual life requires a brain that directs every other system.

The Living Story

We can say the same about story. It, too, must have a brain (core story problem/IDEA generated by BBT).

Some ‘elements’ of story are not, per se, required because they’re NOT the brain. These ‘components’ might simply be a matter of stylistic choice.

Loads of detailed description and weighty prose? Unnecessary. For instance, Hemingway’s Old Man and the Sea. Hemingway chose literary austerity to elicit a highly specific ‘feel’ in his work. Bold, exposed, nowhere to hide. No flowery exposition to ‘cover’ any plot weakness.

I happen to love flowery prose, which is why I don’t care for Hemingway’s stories but can respect the art.

***Bet you never thought anyone would put Ernest Hemingway and Joe Exotic in the same blog post. Did ya? Did ya?

Linear plotting, as in Point A to Point Z in sequence and in order? Not necessary either.

Sure, this three-act linear Aristotelian structure is the most common and the best place (in my POV) for emerging writers to begin and to master FIRST. It also happens to be the easiest structure on readers, which is why it’s the structure most commonly used.

But, again? It is not imperative for our story to progress linearly in time. This, again, is a stylistic choice and will often be employed for a purpose. There’s a specific effect the author desires to create.

Examples of Structure as Art

Purple prose and a hundred-page lexicon of new terms, kingdoms, creatures are not the only ways (or even the best ways) to transition a story into art. Structure, when truly understood, is extremely powerful.

For instance, Chuck Palahniuk deliberately used nonlinear plotting for Fight Club. Gillian Flynn also employed nonlinear structure in Gone Girl.

Why? These authors chose these advanced plotting methods for excellent and very specific reasons: to craft the unreliable narrator. 

Anthony Horowitz uses a timeline within a timeline in The Magpie Murders. Horowitz threads a fictional and prototypical Agatha Christie-style British whodunnit into a real life murder mystery.

When Alan Conway, mega-author of the runaway successful Atticus Pünd series—and bread-and-butter top-earner of the publisher—dies mysteriously, the final chapters of his latest manuscript are missing. Is it an oversight or a clue that something far more nefarious is afoot?

The dueling timelines are woven together brilliantly. Solve the fictional murder and solve the real one and vice versa.

Brilliant stuff.

Yet, we must grasp the BBT or it’s impossible to create a simple linear plot. Forget about the fancy tricks. It imperative to fully grasp the power of the BBT or characters fall flat and stories will struggle to break out from the ‘meh.’

So, basics first.

Dead or Alive?



LOL.

It doesn’t matter if we choose to use tons of detailed description or almost none, if we plot linearly or nonlinearly. We can include maps, made-up languages, on and on.

These are all stylistic preferences which can all work so long as at the center of it all, the story must have a BRAIN (the idea).

The BBT is the IDEA that creates the core problem in need of resolution/defeat. Every book mentioned above has a Big Boss Troublemaker (and corresponding proxy/proxies).

Problem is, far too many emerging writers spend far more time pondering the color of their main character’s eyes (amethyst or peridot…no jade!) than they do considering what the heck the MC is even up against.

WHY does he/she/it exist?

The BBT is the sole reason for our MC (main character) to exist. Period.

Whenever I blog about the BBT, inevitably I get the whole ‘But my MC is his/her own worst enemy’ counterpoint (which really isn’t a counterpoint at all).

Let’s go back to Joe Exotic to make my point because he does this so well. You don’t even have to watch the show to get the story. If Carol Baskins had never entered Joe’s life, likely we’d never have heard of him.

But, she did and Joe cast himself as the hero and her as the villain to be thwarted.

Without Carol’s desire to shut down Joe, there is no story. We’d be left with The Jerry Springer Show with tigers. Yet, by adding in ONE element—Carol Baskins—now we have more.

Also, this ties into my preference for a BBT. I like for the antagonist to make a really good case. When it isn’t easy-peasy black and white, it makes for a better story (my POV).

In the Joe Exotic saga, the memes have been flying (like above). Joe is SO OVER THE TOP upset with one person and taking zero responsibility for his own bad choices. No, it’s all another person’s fault.

Sure.

But, if we look at Carol, she brings an excellent argument to the table, which is WHY she is such a good foe.

Joe believes in breeding tigers. He feels that people won’t part with money to save what they can’t see, touch and have a personal experience with.

Conversely, Carol and her organization is there to pick up the mess of what happens when people are reckless with owning exotic animals. She wants to stop the breeding because she’s seen the dark side of the animals being neglected or harmed and she’s had to bring in animals who’ve been abused.

Both Joe AND Carol make very good points…which is WHY this is a seriously interesting story. That and just about everyone involved in this drama pileup is crazy or a sociopath.

Sigh.

The MC as BBT

I would also like to use Joe to shut down the ‘my MC IS his/her own worst enemy and thus the antagonist’ argument. First, a properly crafted MC always is his or her own worst enemy, especially in the beginning. It’s what makes stories interesting. If Joe made good decisions, Tiger King wouldn’t be hitting #1 on Netflix.

But let’s get back to the world of fiction. We don’t know if Joe will ever arc, though I suspect it’s a morbid mob curiosity to wait and see if he DOES mend his ways that keeps people watching.

This is why the character must arc in order to win. If our MC is flawless and fully self-actualized and able to overcome the BBT from the starting gates, this is not a story, it’s a sedative.

Bad decisions are the beating heart of great fiction.

We don’t pick up a book or watch a series to see people who make all the right decisions in life. That is the realm of self-help and non-fiction. When it comes to telling a really good story, the messier the better.

Granted, we have to balance that fine line of flawed and ‘Too Dumb to Live’ but perfect people make for lousy stories.

This is generally why most video games don’t translate well into movies. The characters are too flat and have nowhere to grow.

But the central point I want to make is that the BBT is the best place to start with your novel/story. Once you have the BBT pegged? Everything else falls into place a LOT easier.

Remember, Tiger King without Carol Baskins is just The Jerry Springer show with lions. Carol Baskins is the key ingredient that transforms what could have just been a bunch of meth-addled vignettes into a revenge-and-cocaine-fueled story.

Rules of a Strong BBT

BBTs manifest differently depending on genre. This is why it helps to have at least a basic idea what genre you’re writing when you’re coming up with your plot. Genre is VERY helpful. It will help you find readers and readers find YOU.

Genre will impact your BBT, namely because a rule of the BBT is that your MC must defeat the BBT in Act Three. Once our lowly protagonist has learned all the lessons and evolved into a hero, he/she is then finally equipped to face down the opposition.

If you’re writing romance, then you need a Happily Ever After or at least the more modern Happily For Now. Utter defeat not a great start for a relationship.

This is why romance written in what is referred to as a ‘buddy love structure’ where the two come together to defeat the BBT in the end.

Overall though, the ‘rules’ for the BBT are pretty simple. The BBT needs to be introduced early either directly—Carol Baskins—or via a proxy or an effect.

In mysteries, the BBT is introduced via the dead body. Thrillers it might be an attack on an embassy. We see early on some extension of the BBT and his/her/its agenda.

The BBT must be far stronger than your MC can handle in the beginning. In fact the entire point of the story is to refine SOME characteristic your MC lacks that is critical for the final showdown.

If it is a mystery or thriller, then the MC is lacking in information. The BBT knows all the information and the MC is in the dark. This genre generally doesn’t have a lot of character development and is heavy on procedurals and fight scenes and a race to figure out what happened.

Other genres, there can be some personal flaw, a blindspot, a secret, a shame, which we’ll go into at another time. Some personal demon that has to be dealt with in order to rise to the occasion and defeat the BBT.

Just remember, the greater the odds of failure, the better the story. We want to be on the edge of our seats wondering how on EARTH the MC is going to pull it off. If everything comes too easily? We’ll wander off and go watch Tiger King.

What Are Your Thoughts?

I do love hearing from you. Where you struggle, because we ALL do. What you want to know more about? Where you get stuck, etc.

I look forward to helping you guys become stronger at your craft. What are some of your biggest problems, hurdles or misunderstandings about plot? Where do you most commonly get stuck?

I love hearing from you!

My goal is to get back on track with regular post. If there is some area that is particularly a sticky wicket you’d like me to address, toss it in the comments!

The post The BBT: Meet the Big Boss Troublemaker & Brain Behind All Stories appeared first on Kristen Lamb.

Ideas Collide: Powerful Storms are the Center of All Great Stories

Every story begins with ideas. Alas, stories can only be created when at least two vastly different ideas collide. The place where these ideas meet is the BOOM, much like the weather.

Storms erupt because two very different bodies of air meet…and don’t get along.

Only one idea, however, can win. In the meantime, lots of metaphorical rain, lightning strikes and maybe some tornadoes. After the powerful storms, the landscape is altered, lives are changed, some even lost.

It’s the same with powerful stories. Yet, instead of weather fronts colliding, differing ideas are colliding.

It’s wonderful to have a great story idea. Alas, an idea alone is not enough. It’s a solid start but that’s all. Loads of people have ‘great ideas’ and that and five bucks will get them a half-foam latte at Starbucks…one day when it reopens.

Ideas are everywhere…especially now *sighs*

What differentiates the author from the amateur is taking the time to understand—fundamentally—how to take that idea and craft it, piece by piece, into a great story readers love.

Rolling It BACK

I’ve not been blogging for a while because I had pneumonia that—for whatever reason—would NOT GO AWAY and finally has after four months of being bedridden…just in time for a global pandemic.

Oh-kay.

Everyone is now learning social distancing. As a professional writer for almost twenty years… welcome to my life. So *waves*

Quiet: Have We Forgotten to Be Still in a World That Never Stops?

Can I just get off? Please?

Quiet. It’s a rather strange experience if one has grown too accustomed to the go-go-go pace of the modern world.

Recently—well, not too recently—my grandfather died. I was raised by my grandparents, so when a week and a half before Christmas he suddenly passed away? It was a blow.

Sure, he was 93. But, he was feisty like me and was far from the typical elderly person. He’d golfed (and played the entire course) until he was 90 and even a bit past that. He played cards and continued to battle crabgrass in triple-digit Texas summer heat armed with only a hand-sharpened garden hoe.

I kid you not, I went to visit one day and my sweat-soaked grandfather was digging up holly shrubs in 102 degree heat. He was almost 90 at the time. I suppose part of me expected he’d live forever. I’d at least expected to have him until 100.

Anyway, I caught a cold this past October, which, because I refused to slow down ‘enough’—which ‘slow down enough’ might as well be a friggin’ Leprechaun for me since I’ve yet to spot it—the cold turned into bronchitis in November.

This already had me down.

The stress of my grandfather’s death? Fair to say it was a large part of what tipped my bronchitis into pneumonia. Since December it’s been touch and go. It’s been so bad that I even gave into taking two rounds of antibiotics (I’ve not taken an antibiotic since 2004).

I’d feel better for a day and think all was well only to not be able to get out of bed the next day. Wash, rinse, repeat.

I’d caught pneumonia once before, back in 2003 and remembered how long it took to recover.

But this was different. Something was wrong.

Sometimes, I Hate Being Right

Last Thursday, I couldn’t take the nonstop cough anymore. Was no longer chalking it up to Texas pollen irritating my already raw lungs.

#Denial

As I mentioned, I’d taken the two rounds of antibiotics, every vitamin, probiotic, decongestant, etc. and yet I coughed all the time.

All…the…time.

I wasn’t sleeping. No one was sleeping. I was exhausted and couldn’t think. My cough went on and on…and on.

For the record, my mom was a nurse. Virtually every female in my family is/was a nurse. In my opinion, children of medical professionals are the second worst sort of patient.

As a kid, my favorite scene was the Black Knight in Monty Python’s The Holy Grail, the scene where his arm’s been cut off. Though the stump is spurting blood, he boldly declares—‘I’ve had worse!’ And continues the fight.

And…there’s a nurse’s kid for you.

Finally, last week, I gave in. Oddly, I was shocked with the results. Despite the persistent cough, I was certain the fatigue was me just being overwhelmed.

It was in my head. I just was avoiding getting back to work. Surely, I was just suffering allergies and making mountains out of molehills.

Yeah. No.

I had a 100 degree fever, Type B flu, bronchitis…and residual pneumonia. Apparently, the antibiotics hadn’t been strong enough to kill off the bug entirely. Then, as a bonus gift, the bronchial pneumonia weakened me enough to let in the Type B Flu.

Not even Type A. I earned a B in FLU. WTH?

Suffice to say, they prescribed me Godzillacillin and a crap ton of other drugs. #YayMe.

Quiet is Making Me BONKERS

I’ve been trying to make peace with quiet. Resting? NOT my strong suit. I’ve turned off all the dings, bings, and chirps. Usually, I’d fill my head with audiobooks and podcasts so I’d be doing something productive. But I’ve even made myself turn those off, too.

I have a bit of a Pollyanna streak in me in that makes me strive to see the lesson even in every darkness, every setback. Then I feel compelled to share here.

Hey, I’m a blogger. Oversharing is my thing.

First, in the quiet, I’ve learned that it took a lot to get the chatter to shut down. I’ve also learned that I haven’t the foggiest idea how to grieve. Being trapped in quiet, unable to busy myself working, writing, teaching, cleaning has made me acutely aware of this hard truth.

Even Spawn (my ten-year-old son) asked why I never cried about Grandfather. Not even at the funeral. He fell apart, but me? Mom was stone. What was with that?

Hard to confess to your kid that you don’t know how to cry. Harder still to explain something you, yourself don’t even understand. I told him I grew up in another time, in a different world.

I told him that he was a million times stronger than me because he was brave enough to grieve. Not to let my stoney demeanor fool him. Mine wasn’t the face of a warrior, it was the face of a total chicken.

The bravest faces are wet with tears.

My greatest desire is he grows up to be better than me.

I didn’t mention how, in a broken family, you learn early to be like lichen, to never want or need or hurt or draw too much attention.

Compartmentalization becomes natural, and so does being busy. You start avoiding quiet, surround yourself with noise because it becomes a sort of barrier from everything you’re ill-equipped to face.

Incessant noise and activity drowns out everything inside that’s yelling what you aren’t, what you forgot, who you let down, what you might have done better.

If only, if only, if only….

But that is only ONE side. Sure, quiet has a downside, but in my forced timeout, I’ve thought about all I’m missing out on because I’m drowning it out. Does the benefit merit the cost?

Even Nature Appreciates Quiet Time

Right now we’re at the tail end of ‘winter’ here. Winter, like all seasons, serves a crucial purpose.

Trees go dormant for a lot of reasons, but the best one is TO STAY ALIVE. Metabolism slows and the tree goes into a sort of hibernation to survive the cold months and low sunlight levels.

But trees also go dormant because it’s impossible to be fruitful 365 days a year. There has to be some time to REST.

Plants are smarter than some of us *points at self.*

No Quiet Time = Brain Drain

Ferris Jabr wrote an excellent article in Scientific American, Why Your Brain Needs More Downtime that I recommend reading in its entirety. Our modern Western culture’s puritanical devotion to chronic busyness, in my POV, is nothing short of psychotic.

Though study after study empirically demonstrates that humans are not created to be ‘perpetual doing machines,’ the data does little to deter our world’s increasing determination to pile more on our plate.

Multi-tasking, email overload, meetings, meetings to discuss meetings, deadlines, through-lines, pipelines, downlines.

Our workplace has begun reflecting our world…borderless. The 9-5 workday is relic of our not-so-distant-past.

In 1989, we got mail…in a mailbox or in a ‘finite’ In-Box (which was a LITERAL BOX). We could leave work at work, read our mail and see our in-boxes actually EMPTY.

When we got home, if we wanted? We could ‘take the phone off the hook.’ The younger folks might have to look that up. We had evenings of QUIET. Restorative time.

Now? We wake daily to digital avalanches. Data poured over us from reservoirs with limitless capacity, all dumped into a human brain that can only hold so much. Our In-Boxes never empty…ever.

I gave up on my Yahoo e-mail and finally just let it go feral a few years ago. It’s easily at over 100,000 messages by now. Every SUPER IMPORTANT message promises to only take a couple minutes.

Now multiply a couple minutes by twenty or fifty. We maybe make it through our URGENT messages just in time for…another meeting. We eat breakfast and lunch over our keyboards or in our cars while listening to voicemails and memos.

By the end of the ‘work day,’ we aren’t even close to ‘finished,’ but frankly we wouldn’t recognize finished if it peed on our leg.

Quiet is the ‘Nessie’ of Modern Life

And ‘finished’ is Sasquatch riding a unicorn.

Since we aren’t ‘finished’ we take work home. Work bulges over its boundaries into our marriages and family lives where we check our phones instead of paying attention to what our significant other is saying or our children are asking. We do all of this because we are ‘working hard,’ but are we?

No. I can tell you for a fact, since I am a Corporate America refugee.

This same ideology has oozed into the schools. Every moment crammed with no time for reflection or play.

Then, children emulate what they see from their parents. We’re plugged in nonstop, seemingly unable to be still or quiet. How are they going to fare?

No Rest for the Weary

Invariably, all this noise, this chaos, this busyness has a cost. One cost is that stress, like alcohol, impairs our prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain we use for making sound decisions.

There’s a reason we have designated drivers if we’re going to imbibe while out on the town. The reason is because after one or two drinks we might not ‘feel’ impaired, thus because we don’t FEEL impaired, we make bad decisions.

When we fail to be still, to embrace the quiet, we begin running on adrenalin and…

Welcome to the Land of Bad Decisions

We’re constantly checking email, Messenger, messages left on 42 social sites and this behavior—like drugs or booze—impairs our ability to discern we’re tired…or that we’re teetering on the edge of a nervous breakdown.

We also make a lot of bad decisions. Or, in my case, fail to make good decisions.

We miss red flags, like taking a break and going to the doctor before a simple cold becomes pneumonia.

Fundamentally, the speed of our lives isn’t allowing enough interstitial time—code for REST BREAKS—for us to process all the influx. Downtime, particularly quiet time, is critical for us to make sense of all the information we’ve ‘taken in.’

We sort through ideas, tie loose connections, note patterns, and ‘hot wash’ our decisions.

The Benefits of R&R



What? Looks fun to me.

When we get quiet and take time to rest intentionally our brain shifts into another mode that sifts through conversations, seeks ways we could improve, where we messed up, what we could do better.

In ways it reminds me of my childhood when my mom helped me clean my room (since FEMA was unavailable).

She’d dump out all my dresser drawers and we would sort through clothes that no longer fit, needed repair or were plain worn out. Then, the good stuff, we folded and organized and it made room for NEW STUFF.

Same with the toys.

We’d sift through what was broken to trash, or what didn’t interest me for donation.

I’d always find Barbies and Barbie clothes (and a crap ton of Barbie shoes) all buried places where I couldn’t enjoy them.

Mom and I would return pieces of games back into their correct boxes so, instead of the games simply taking up space, I could actually play them with my friends.

Our brains do the same thing. Rest allows the mind to sort, sift, repair, reconnect, and get JIGGY creating and thinking and innovating!

Brain Management



YES! I have a dark sense of humor….

I’m sure you’ve heard of pain management, but REST is brain management. A lot of y’all might be like me and believe if you’re not doing something every minute of every waking hour you’re—GASP—lazy! *screams* Yet, again neuroscience to the rescue.

Our brains frankly never turn off.

All the writers TESTIFY!

In fact, when we rest, nap, sleep, or even take power naps or do mini-meditations, our brains shift over to what’s referred to as the default mode network.

According to Jabr’s article (above):

‘…the default mode network is especially active in creative people. It’s believed that the default mode network may be able to integrate more information from a wide range of brain regions in more complex ways than when the brain is consciously working through a problem.’

This is why I tell consulting clients with a plot problem to give me a night. I do my best problem-solving when I sleep

Story Power: Why the Lecture? Why Can’t a Book Just Be a Book?

Story power. Human Power. Black Power. To me, story power, human power, female power, black power, et. al. are all trains that run along the same vast system of tracks known as ‘publishing.’

It’s why Black History Month is such a fantastic time to highlight authors of color, to maneuver otherwise fringe/invisible authors—schedule those ‘trains’—to travel into the public view.

In an age where discoverability is a nightmare for all authors, Black History Month offers an organic time to highlight authors of color and treat readers to writers they might never otherwise see. This is critical because stories are important.

Stories shape cultural values.

A new breakout author could completely tip the pop culture world on its side. But how can these authors break out if they’re never even unboxed?

As we’ve learned from pop culture history, shows like Star Trek did far more to change public opinions, to ameliorate racial tensions, close the gender gap, push women’s lib, and ease xenophobia than a hundred protests.

‘Star Trek’ featured one of the first interracial kisses—Captain Kirk & Lt. Uhura on American television in the episode ‘Plato’s Stepchildren.’ Image Fair Use and courtesy of Wikipedia.

Sure, Star Trek was TV (crossing the streams) but it was STORY, and these days Netflix and Amazon are scooping up books for production.

Just sayin’.

Story power is real! Stories bridge gaps legislation can’t. Why? Because stories allow us to empathize and understand another perspective in a way like no other. We can BE another gender, race, or species!

Story power is…well, POWERFUL.

That was why, when Random Penguin and Barnes & Noble decided to put literature in blackface to celebrate Black History Month, I was livid. A chance to highlight new, fresh voices was squandered.

Their loss, my gain.

What did I have? I’m blessed with a big mouth and a large platform of wonderful readers who CARE. I also have no filter, and passionate fans and friends eager to help. Which is how I can bring you *drum roll*….

Story Power From a Fresh POV



Meet my friend and colleague Lynn Emery.

I stalked reached out to a subscriber and colleague, the brilliant author Lynn Emery. Since she likes mystery, murder, suspense and a high body count as much as I do, I figured we’d hit it off well.

I’d tell y’all ALL about her—SO much to gush about—but this is one seriously accomplished lady, so her full bio is HERE.

A couple of highlights? Lynn Emery has won three coveted Emma Awards. Romantic Times Magazine not only recognized her earlier works in romance but also nominated her later fiction Good Woman Blues (August 2005, HarperCollins Publishers) for Best Multicultural Mainstream novel of 2005.

BET turned her third novel, After All into a movie, and I need to stop there because the gushing will just get absurd.

***So, seriously, y’all can go read her full bio.

Suffice to say, Lady Lynn is a force.

Granted, I was angry about the shenanigans with Random Penguin and Barnes & Noble. But, I was also self-aware enough to appreciate that my anger came from the position of a spectator, a consumer, an ally maybe?

So, I wanted a voice from the inside. A voice of authority, and so I reached out to Lynn. What did she think of all this, especially after the RWA meltdown? We had a fantastic and enlightening conversation. Lynn, the amazing lady she is, generously put part of our conversation into a post I know you’ll enjoy…

Take it away Lynn!

Story Power: Why Can’t a Book Just Be a Book?

Black people—mostly women—who love a good romance are super stoked about The Photograph. I know what you’re doing right now. Looking at the title of this post and wondering why I’m talking about a movie.

Hang with me a minute.

Articles have been written on black pop culture sites praising the heavens because it’s just a romance. The authors of said articles contrast The Photograph to Queen and Slim.

They pose the question…

‘Why can’t we have a black romance without trauma?’

In other words, why does every love story about a black couple have to involve the themes of oppression, suffering, and death? Or prostitutes, gangstas, and drug dealing?

They point to how many years it’s been since we had such sweet classics as Love and Basketball, Love Jones and Brown Sugar.

***Btw, Love and Basketball is my favorite (sigh).

Sometimes we simply want a cute meet, flirtatious banter, trouble, arguments, and then loves wins. Okay, back to books.

Let me make this clear, I’m not the Black People Whisperer. So, don’t take this as the definitive ‘How All Black People Feel’ on this topic, but sometimes we just want a book to be a book.

And black writers?

Sometimes, We Just Want to Write

No heavy topics or weighty issues. Another caveat, we love and devour books that tackle the meaty (and sometimes depressing) subjects of slavery, racism, mass incarceration, and more.

We know those are issues that need to be voiced, written about, and tackled. Daily. Relentlessly. Thank you very much.

And yes, there are black prostitutes, criminals, and drug addicts. BUT… sometimes we just want to read and write mysteries, sci-fi, horror, fantasy, etc. No lesson, no message.

And please Lord, no trauma.

Okay, story time!

Several years ago, I attended a writers conference, as writers are wont to do. As part of the draw for authors was the chance to have one-on-one appointments with editors and agents.

For around ten minutes or so, we could pitch books in progress with the goal of getting an agent or editor interested.

I’d switched genres, having written around twelve romance novels for various publishers (Kensington, HarperCollins, Penguin). Yet my true love (see what I did there?) had always been murder mysteries. Which is why most of my books were romantic suspense.

To quote my late husband, ‘A dead body always has to be in there somewhere.’

So, I’m at the conference and I go into my appointment. An agent who already had my synopsis and the first three chapters. Btw, she didn’t know my publishing history.

I walk in with a smile and noticed her bright expression dims. To her credit she recovered fast. I almost didn’t catch the reaction. Almost. I sit.

She looks down at the proposal in front of her, sighs and says, ‘So, these characters are black.’ It went downhill from there.

To my credit I didn’t cuss her out.

Deep Breaths

You see, I could tell she’d been at least engaged with the characters and the story. Until I walked in with my brown skin self. I let her squirm and stammer through some BS to kill the time.

I may have controlled my temper, but I wasn’t going to make it easy. She struggled to make negative points about the proposal. I didn’t try to help with self-deprecating statements, although I didn’t argue with her either.

After twelve books from NY I knew better. It’s all opinion. Educated opinion, but still subjective to a large degree. She could have been correct, and I sure as hell hadn’t written the next great mystery masterpiece. But it was good.

Three middle-class black women who turn amateur sleuths to solve a murder, the ex-husband of one of them.

Best Enemies stars a soccer mom, an ex-stripper, and a committed gold digger. A professional freelance developmental editor agreed with me (to my immense relief when I got her notes).

And so, we return to our topic.

You see, black authors have historically faced a challenge if our fiction doesn’t include misery or the fight for civil rights. It’s not that we don’t include some of that in our genre fiction, but mostly not or at best a light touch. And we get dinged for it.

Translation—rejected and ignored, or even told the stories aren’t ‘real enough.’

Sometimes a cozy mystery is just a cozy mystery. Sometimes a space opera is just about traveling to other worlds and cool tech. Sometimes a horror novel is just about getting the bejeezus scared out of you.

Authors of color have the glorious freedom to write the stories inside us. Some of us will write about white privilege, racism, mass incarceration, and other issues that affect us daily.

But some of us will just write about amateur sleuths, space travelers, ghosts, and more. No message. Just fiction. We’re making room for all the things. Join us.

It’s Black History Month. Yay!!! Here’s my blog post Badass Black History to help celebrate story power.

Story Power & Books to Love

I present my reading list. Please know I had to restrain myself to limit the number. I kept finding something else on my Kindle app and going ‘Oh, that’s so good!’ Yeah, I’m all over the place lucky for you. Feast upon this buffet. You’re welcome.

Horror

Spook Lights by Eden Royce

Sisters of the Wild Sage by Nicole Givens Kurtz

Forever Vacancy, a Colors In Darkness Anthology

The Adventure of the Spook House by C. Michael Forsyth

Mystery

Blanch on the Lam by Barbara Neely

My Darkest Prayer by SA Cosby

Tangled Roots by Angela Henry

A Rage in Harlem by Chester Himes (and anything else he writes!)

Sci-Fi/ Fantasy

Order of the Seers by Cerece Rennie Murphy

The Wolf Queen by Cerece Rennie Murphy

Taurus Moon: Relic Hunter by D. K. Gaston

Steamfunk by Milton Davis and Balogun Ojetade

Griots: A Sword and Soul Anthology by Milton Davis and Charles Saunders

The Acacia Trilogy by David Anthony Durham

Story Power & Thank You, Lynn

I INHALE books, so I’m really grateful for this new list. When Lynn and I spoke, it was funny/interesting to me how we’d come to similar conclusions. Her from the author’s perspective and me from the reader’s perspective.

Not that I haven’t read the heavy books or shy away from them, but when Lynn gave me a list of new horror, mystery, and sci-fi/fantasy I hadn’t before heard about? Better yet, from authors of color? I was like a kid in a candy store.You mean I can just enjoy stories with a fresh cast of characters?

Story power is real regardless. It’s why I believe all genres serve an important function and meet readers where they are. It doesn’t all have to be hard core literary stuff.

Again, Star Trek?

***Trekkies know no color.

We (readers) can learn about others who aren’t ‘just like us’ simply by being consistently immersed in their worlds and struggling by their side facing their problems and sharing their victories. When we come to care about the characters, we form a unique bond.

In fact, the MORE stories like this are in circulation, the better the odds readers will be exposed to a wide and varying array of characters they’ll come to better understand, love and enjoy.

I hope y’all will check out Lynn’s books and the books she was kind enough to curate for us. As writers, we all bleed red (ink).

I LOVE Hearing from You!

If you have some questions of comments for Lynne, you can leave them here. I also would love some suggestions for classes, and am putting together the upcoming classes for spring.

I’ve had a bugger of a time getting over my cough, so I am offering these three ON DEMAND classes on sale before I delete them.

On Demand Branding: When YOUR NAME ALONE Can Sell

Normally $55, and now $35. This class will be deleted to make room for a newer version. Most of the content will remain the same since what I teach is evergreen, so it is definitely a bargain.

ON DEMAND: Bring on the Binge: How to Plot and Write a Series

Normally $75 and now only $50 and this is over four hours of instruction on everything you need to know about plot. So if you want to know about the synopsis? You will BLOW it out of the water after this.

Also…

ON DEMAND: The Art of Character for Series

Normally $75 and also only $50 and this class pairs excellent with the plotting class (like a fine chardonnay and a Chilean sea bass). Treat yourself!

The post Story Power: Why the Lecture? Why Can’t a Book Just Be a Book? appeared first on Kristen Lamb.

The Synopsis: Why Love Hurts & Pain Can Be Good for Our Writing

There is one word known to strike fear into the hearts of most writers. Synopsis. Most of us would rather perform brain surgery from space using a lemon zester and a squirrel than be forced to boil down our entire novel into one page.

Yes one.

But alas we need to embrace the synopsis for numerous reasons. First and foremost, if we want to land an agent, it works in our favor to already have an AWESOME synopsis handy because the odds are, at some point, the agent will request one.

Sigh. I know. Sorry.

A Quick Aside

When it comes to synopses, I lean toward the, ‘Better to beg forgiveness than to ask permission’ camp. Which is where already having a seriously spiffy synopsis helps.

Think of it this way. E-mail sucks. Getting lots of email and having to juggle it all sucks. Agents get a lot of email.

Since I am also a person who gets a ridiculous amount of email, I can tell you with conviction that I LOVE people who save me work. They do this by saving me steps.

Most queries these days are via email and since agents don’t like getting their computers crashed by a virus? This means the query will be pasted into the body of the email (no attachments).

Believe it or not, agents like writers. In fact they need writers. They don’t get paid without a writer and last I checked agents also really like being paid in money—not adorable pigmy goats and trust me you will only make THAT mistake once.

Where was I? Oh, the Synopsis



Most new writers trying to explain their first book.

Agents need writers. Just as much as they are looking for reasons NOT to read our book, they are simultaneously looking for reasons TO read our book.

I know it’s a paradox much like time travel. Don’t think about it too long or your brain will cramp.

In my opinion, there is nothing wrong with ending your query with: I have taken the liberty of pasting the one-page synopsis of my novel below for your convenience.

Worst case scenario? They don’t scroll down and read the synopsis. OMG!

But best case is they DO scroll down, read the synopsis, and they like it! Better yet, you’re off to an awesome start because you just saved them a crap-ton of time and email Ping-Pong.

Why Do We Need a Synopsis?

If you don’t want to automatically include the synopsis that’s fine, but if you write a really good one (which IS possible if the story is strong)? Why wouldn’t you?

All right, so what if you aren’t brave enough to include a synopsis and are just praying that the subject never comes up and the agent just asks for a full.

Okay, great! Problem is, if you do get a book deal, often the editor will want you to write a synopsis of the book you are writing next (for approval of course).

Ugh, so if you go with a traditional/legacy publisher, really no dodging it.

Some of you might be saying, Oh, but Kristen! Traditional is sooo yesterday and I am self-publishing. I don’t need a synopsis.

First of all, any indie house worth their salt will ask for a synopsis, so sorry to burst your bubbles there.

Also…

Technically correct, but actually I do recommend a synopsis for all the reasons writers loathe writing them.

Why All the Angst?



Dramatization of writer forced to write a synopsis.

So a big reason that writers hate writing a synopsis with the power of a thousand suns is that we believe every word we have written is precious and every character vital and necessary.

We lack perspective, especially if we haven’t had any time or distance away from the work. This is normal.

But a bigger reason that many writers hate writing the synopsis (particularly for first-time novels) is it makes it painfully obvious we have no story or a terribly flawed story.

The synopsis strips away our pretty prose and all our verbal glitter and it lays our story bare.

Today I want to talk about the BIG PICTURE stuff. What is it our synopsis is really out to reveal? If we don’t first grasp that, no amount of tips I give for writing a great synopsis will help.

Synopsis as Skeleton



Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

We don’t need a lot of imagination (or a medical degree) to see how this skeleton above is going to flesh out, pardon the pun. One can see just at a quick glance that this human skeleton is going to have a lot of problems because of the various deformities.

The same holds true with a story skeleton. If the narrative orbital sockets are located in the posterior, we don’t care how pretty the eyes are if they are in the @$$.

Methinks this is NOT a series in the making…

There is no amount of witty dialogue or clever prose that is going to rescue a plot that is missing vital parts or has them in the wrong place.

Yes, we are sending a synopsis in hopes of selling a story, but how is the synopsis doing this? Plain and simple? The synopsis is letting the agent see if the skeleton is solid, symmetrical and is of a creature that is rare, cool and maybe never seen before in this rare, unique FORM.

Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

Too many new writers want to create the ‘NEVER seen before story.’ But that is way TOO weird. Readers need a baseline. A same, but different. Think dinosaurs. MILLIONS of visitors flock to The Field Museum. We all know what a dinosaur is, but we all wanna see a T-REX.

Same…but different…and COOL.

Note that The Field Museum doesn’t get MILLIONS of visitors annually to see part of a T-Rex. A tail, a jaw, a spine. No.

Visitors want to see the entire skeleton. Even without flesh, tendon, muscle and bone, their imaginations go WILD even with essentially the synopsis of a dinosaur.

Synopsis and Fatal Flaws



It’s true.

Remember, an agent is namely looking at a synopsis because she knows it is the fastest way to reveal terminal (deal-breaker) errors.

For the self-published folks. Technically you don’t need to write a synopsis, but if you can’t for any of these reasons below, the novel might not yet be good to go and this could save a bunch of nasty reviews, or no reviews, or your novel never selling and remaining in literary limbo forever and ever amen.

It’s also a FABULOUS way to contain plot bunnies. When I have a fantastic idea for another book?

The best way to maintain focus (I have found) is to sketch out a quick synopsis and file it. Let the ‘boys in the basement’ work on it while you FINISH the current WIP.

The synopsis will be there when you’re ready to dedicate the time and full attention to it. After you’ve had time and space away from it, you’ll be able to see if it is still as AMAZING as it seemed when it popped in your gray matter and tried to distract you from editing and revisions.

Is the premise weak?

I get pages all the time from ‘finished novels’ but there actually is no story. Just because an author has 80,000-100,000 words does not mean he has a story. Nope, it means he has 80,000-100,000 words. It’s better than no words, but not a story.

Is it really a novel or just melodrama?

Do we have a solid plot or just ‘scene’ after ‘scene’ of bad situations? This is what I call ‘soap opera writing. There is no core story problem to be resolved by the end of the book.

We just get page after page of talking, eating, shopping, bad stuff happening, characters talking about other bad stuff that has already happened. Loads of plot puppets, flashbacks. Great for Days of Our Lives, bad for the page.

Does the ‘plot’ rely on trickery? Gimmick? 

Often writers are having a panic attack about writing the synopsis because the entire book rests on a ‘clever’ twist ending that often really isn’t a twist but rather a gimmick.

E.g. It was all really a bad dream.

NO.

Does it require deus ex machina to resolve?

I call this a Luck Dragon. So protagonist is enduring plight after plight and all seems lost when she finds—dun dun dun—a journal!

NO.

Does it really resolve?

New writers often don’t understand structure, which naturally means they don’t yet understand that series follow similar structure guidelines to a singular novel. And btw, it is OKAY to be new, so breathe!

Even series still follow three act structure. But say the story follows four or even five act structure. Doesn’t matter. The story is not over until the core story problem introduced in the beginning is resolved.

Series work the same way. If it is a connected series, then it works a bit like those Russian nesting dolls. Every book has a bigger and bigger problem to solve until finally the CORE problem is solved/antagonist is defeated.

In LOTR: Uruk-Hai defeated—> Saruman defeated—>Sauron defeated

Which means NO 1960s BATMAN ENDINGS.

Stay tuned for next week book!

Often I get, Oh well the reader will have to read the next book to know if she lives. Nope, not how that works unless we write for As the World Turns.

No matter the structure we use, our story must come equipped with a satisfying resolution or that skeleton is missing arms. In the case of a connected series, often a gatekeeper to the Big Boss is defeated but the journey continues toward that final showdown. No being clever by withholding a resolution.

There is only one The Lady or the Tiger? and the only reason that story is read at all is because it’s one of the only ways English teachers can get back at us for having to read our crappy essays.

Is the writer breaking genre constrictions in unforgivable ways?

For instance, romance comes with an HEA (happily ever after) or the more modern HFN (happily for now). No HEA or HFN? It ain’t romance.

And, if the author is selling it as romance in the query, but the story ends in a breakup? The agent knows this is a new writer who doesn’t understand her genre and the very strong and clear expectations.

Is the story just not all that remarkable?

Once the plot is laid bare, is it truly anything unique? A fresh twist on an old idea? Or is it really just more of the same?

My book is about a thirty-eight-year-old female executive who decides she wants to have a baby and the struggle of being an older mom.

Okay *falls asleep*.

My book is about a thirty-eight-year-old female executive who finds out she’s pregnant with her first child at the same time her teenage stepdaughter reveals she, too is expecting.

*perks up* Hmmm, interesting.

The Good News About the Synopsis

When we can write a concise and interesting synopsis, it shows our level of skill and the strength of our story. If we can write tight and clean here, it bodes well for the book. If your brain is in knots writing your synopsis, relax.

If the story is there the synopsis is too. It’s just a matter of unearthing it.

Though we will talk more on how to do this later, I do recommend starting with forming a log-line. If you can boil your entire book into one sentence? The synopsis can be built using that and it is far easier to build UP TO one page than whittle DOWN three hundred pages into one page.

Here is an earlier post about how to do the log-line. Additionally, if you need more help, I do a class on how to do your log-line and the added benefit is I do your log-line WITH you so you walk away from class with that in hand.

We’ll be scheduling that class next week when we put the classes together. Getting over bronchial pneumonia is a BEAST. I have missed teaching!

But, if you struggle with plot, I am offering my two FAVORITE CLASSES. I’m doing a For the LOVE of WRITING Special. The prices are NOT as low as the New Year’s Specials but still really, really low.

ON DEMAND: Bring on the Binge: How to Plot and Write a Series

Normally $75 and now only $50 and this is over four hours of instruction on everything you need to know about plot. So if you want to know about the synopsis? You will BLOW it out of the water after this.

Also…

ON DEMAND: The Art of Character for Series

Normally $75 and also only $50 and this class pairs excellent with the plotting class (like a fine chardonnay and a Chilean sea bass). Treat yourself! Tell your sweetheart that THIS gift won’t require extra gym time.

Also, though these classes are gems, unlike diamonds, these won’t last forever.

Once I put in the new classes and curriculum these classes will be deleted/go into cold storage. Would have happened sooner but bronchitis has had a different schedule in mind

Barnes & Noble Puts Literary Classics in Blackface for Black History Month

For those who might not know, in the United State, Black History Month is celebrated for the entire month of February. The point of dedicating an entire month is so we can bring focus to the works, art, history, and voices of a specific community within our vast and diverse nation.

We can learn, grow, heal hurts, right wrongs, increase understanding and create and deepen friendships that will (ideally) endure far into the future.

Like most other authors, I’m a huge advocate of literacy. Books, stories open up new worlds, and place us in perspectives we have no other way to experience.

Reading is Crucial for Understanding

Stories allow us to be another gender, race, or even species (Um, Trekkies?).

It is a level of empathy we can experience no other way, which is why it’s so vital.

Which is why for the LIFE of me I cannot understand what the HELL Barnes & Noble was thinking with their Black History Month initiative…which apparently to only THEIR shock was canceled midday Wednesday after massive online backlash (which I hope to fuel).

*pours out gasoline* *strikes match*

I know I’m going off my usual script here, but it’s been a long time since something made me this angry.

When I first saw the Barnes & Noble ‘diversity initiative’ I thought the same exact thing as Frederick Joseph, the black author of the upcoming book The Black Friend: On Being a Better White Person.

“Instead of platforming black writers during Black History Month, they’re basically doing blackface. They’re using our imagery, our likeness, to still sell white narratives.”

Frederick Joseph

AMEN! I could not agree more. Who was smoking what when they approved of something as insulting as to put white literary characters in blackface to honor Black History Month?

No, I am NOT making this up.

New covers on classics only illustrated with multiethnic characters. They PAID good money to be this insulting.

They were PROUD of this.

Penguin Random House, I literally frigging give up on you. We are DONE. Barnes & Noble I will never spend another cent in your stores EVER.

*throws furniture*

And Barnes & Noble is being run by a British C.E.O.? I thought y’all were supposed to be teaching us rube Yanks something about sensitivity.

Pound sand.

Black History Month: Literature Goes Blackface



I literally can’t even…

Barnes & Noble has screwed up so catastrophically that I am embarrassed I ever envisioned my books gracing their shelves.

So the bright idea Barnes & Noble had to honor African Americans this month? Redo covers from classic books like—I kid you not—Moby Dick, The Wizard of Oz, Alice and Wonderland—but make the characters on the covers dark-skinned.

Oh-kay, so classic books written by white authors, for white audiences chronicling white problems are appropriate for Black History Month…if we just change the color of the characters on the covers? Just put them in blackface?

NO ONE THOUGHT THIS WOULD BE OFFENSIVE? Yes I am posting the pic again because *screams*…..

What the ACTUAL %$#@?



What About Actual African American Authors?

Last I checked, there are actual living breathing African American authors that Barnes & Noble could have used its remaining power and influence to highlight and promote.

In an age where discoverability is a nightmare for ALL authors who aren’t Stephen King (no hating on King, just we’re down to a handful of mega brands commanding most of the name-recognition), why not help authors of color?

Why NOT? There is a DEDICATED MONTH TO DO THIS!



Pic via @DiverseBooks

Readers are wanting something new and fresh to read. We’re in a unique time in history where readers are WANTING to read authors of color. Race relations are a hot topic right now, and this was a huge window of opportunity.

And you missed it. You could have used this moment in time to take a primed audience and introduce them to authors of color, but instead, you squandered it on titles that anyone over the age of six knows exists and has seen a movie version.

Barnes and Noble, do you really think we’ve NOT yet heard of Alice and Wonderland? That we somehow missed The Wizard of Oz?

Who in your marketing department thought that we wanted to spend our very limited free time reading Moby-Frigging-Dick?

Oh, but the book is somehow better and less mind-numbingly boring because Morgan Freeman posed for the cover?

Bite me, Barnes & Noble. Just…bite me.

What I find fascinating is I’ve been on the hobby horse of exposure-dollar bullsprinkles, and how this industry will do everything it can to screw over authors and avoid paying them.

You Know What I Think?

Some beancounter crunched numbers and it was cheaper to redo some covers of white people books with dark-skinned characters than it was to risk that some authors of color might break out and sell big.

Don’t have to pay Lewis Carroll or Shakespeare royalties. I never thought I’d be mentioning Lewis Carroll in Black History Month. Wonders never cease.

I really have fallen down a rabbit hole.

Barnes & Noble has lamely offered what I will call The J.K. Rowling Defense, how Rowling claimed she never expressly described Hermione Granger as any race. Publishing and B&N then used that lamely to go back through the classics where race was never expressly described and **POOF** make the characters ethnic. And THERE is some diversity!

No one is going to imagine Alice in Alice in Wonderland as anything other than a wealthy white girl of a privileged time. The entire POINT of Black History Month is to highlight black people and their works, their art, their history, their voices and THEIR STORIES.

It is the entire frigging reason for the month. There is SO much to learn about. An incredible richness of language, custom, culture, history, myth that too many people–READERS–are missing out on. That you—YOU—Barnes & Noble, that YOU publishing industry could have done something REAL about.

Instead, you offer people of color this petty token? When y’all could have offered something real? As in tables or giant glorious displays of books by black authors in the flagship store in NYC on 5th Avenue? But you didn’t. You could have. But you didn’t.

SHAME ON YOU!

This is…

Is there a stronger word for atrocity? To do this is essentially saying that people of color are incapable of having their own art or their own stories…so let’s lend them some white stories and help them out.

God, I just can’t! I am so, so, so sorry that the publishing industry has done this to you. It’s appalling.

White People Get Offended Too



Me and ‘exposure dollars.’ Hold my ax.

I get it. I know that I’m whiter than a paper plate of Minute Rice trapped in a blizzard. But I’m a human and also a female, which comes with a bag of worms there. I can also empathize and WANT to empathize.

It’s why I want to know about books from authors with perspectives I NEED to see from, and I don’t believe that perspective includes a half-mad sea captain hunting an albino whale.

God even the WHALE is white! Did they make the whale black, too?

*sobs into laptop*

Granted, I can never truly know what it’s like to be a person of color. The closest I can get is pretty much STORY.

Which is why saying the publishing industry and Barnes & Noble dropped the ball does not BEGIN to cover cataclysmic proportions of how they’ve insulted a) people of color b) authors of color c) authors d) readers e) anyone with a brain f) anyone with half a brain g) anyone with a moral compass…

AHHHHHHHHH!

*breathes into paper bag*

This is why I strive to read many different genres from a wide array of authors, time-periods, opinions, and backgrounds. I WANT to be uncomfortable, to be challenged. This is how we form bonds, common ground, understanding.

Black History Month and Focus Time

Time can get away from me, which is why it’s good for me to be deliberate about what I’m choosing to read.

One day tends to blend into the next and the next into the next until a year has passed. So Black History Month or Women’s History Month or Asian/Pacific History Month is helpful for me.

These months are earmarks. Reminders. Black History Month is where I discovered novels like Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God, and Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye. Most of my favorite African American authors are non-fiction, so I rely a lot on Black History Month to discover the novels.

I’ve read fiction, non-fiction, memoirs and more, and I count on booksellers to help me.

Booksellers Should Be There to Help

I generally can count on Audible to offer up suggestions, books I might never have found on my own, stories that I may have never discovered. Librarians will do their magic and curate wonderful tables highlighting authors other than the megas we see donning every airport bookstore.

Historically, Barnes & Noble would do the same. But this? This is why the aliens don’t land.

Seriously Publisher’s Weekly, Random Penguin, Barnes & Noble? Y’all need to go sit in the corner and really think hard about what you’ve done. More importantly about what you’ve not done.

Shame on you.

For Authors of Color

My goal with this blog has been to help ALL authors. I’ve spent over ten years and millions of words going to the mattresses for creatives—traditionally published, self-published, indie published. I’ve stood behind all forms of publishing namely BECAUSE so many voices are being ignored by traditional publishing.

Or y’all get this…I don’t even know what to call this. I’d meant to blog on something else when I saw this headline and I was so angry I couldn’t see straight.

This is sickening. Just know it did NOT go unnoticed. We see you. We see the charade and we will not tolerate this behavior and will not let this pass. You deserve the best.

Go create because the world needs more stories. We need YOUR stories!

The post Barnes & Noble Puts Literary Classics in Blackface for Black History Month appeared first on Kristen Lamb.

Amazon Past Prime: Why Major Retailers & Publishers are Going it Alone

Is Amazon past prime? I really can’t speak for all business fads, just ones American. Americans do love…business. What do we love more than business? Duh. A great business fad.

Hey, we DID invent the forty-hour work week just so we could ignore it *hair flip*.

As I mentioned in my December post Penguin SOLD: Publishing, Change & Lady Chatterley’s Lover, Oh MY! everything fluctuates. Markets don’t get a pass. The world changes, technology shifts, and business that want to survive are wise to remember this.

Businesses exist to serve the customer…which is why Blockbuster is no longer around #ByeFelicia.

Which brings me to an interesting point. In the Amazon paradigm, who exactly is the customer? Did Bezos, in his frenzy to build an empire, forget that he actually had multiple customer vectors? Or, did he believe he could build something ‘too big to fail’?

Let’s talk about this, shall we?

The Amazon Paradigm

If you want the 411 on exactly HOW Bezos built a company that very literally changed the world, please feel free to go check out this post. Because, in the beginning, Amazon really didn’t, per se, sell anything,

Initially, Bezos sought to master gathering, sorting, collating, then being able to effectively utilize information. If anyone understood the old axiom, Knowledge is power? It would be Jeff.

See, Bezos was around for Web 1.0 and understood the longterm goal to create…well, what we have now. HE wanted to be Web 2.0’s Baby Daddy…and well, he was, er is.

Thanks, Jeff. LOVE my socks.

In the early aughts, Bezos knew where the trends were heading. That Big Box stores were going to become obsolete, which was why Amazon dedicated every resource into not simply dominating the online shopping paradigm, but essentially creating it.

Amazon did what Web 1.0 failed to do. They made buying goods and services on-line so seamless, easy, safe, and affordable that they moved this buying behavior from nerd-early-adopter over to the mainstream.

Not only that, but SO many consumers began shopping online, that it was a) business suicide not to have a virtual store but also ironically b) virtual suicide for retailers to try and compete and open their OWN on-line store.

Just ask Borders. Wait, you can’t.

Amazon literally changed the commercial landscape in such a way that made pretty much every form of business with a physical product dependent on Amazon (and where Amazon got a share of their profits).

Sell t-shirts, yarn, vitamins, dog food, plumbing supplies, toupees, electronics, hair gel, camping equipment?

Are you a BIG SIX PUBLISHER? A Big FIVE? Spiffy FOUR?

Well, we’ll need a small piece of those book sales if you want to stick around.

Big Box, Big Vacuum

We’re now in 2020 and business is changing yet again and guess what, my lovelies? While writing is first and foremost an art and a craft, it is also a business.

It’s also our job to understand the business of our business…which is why I write these lovely tidbits for y’all and try to make them fun enough so you don’t want to stick your head in a blender.

It’s a good thing for authors—TRUST ME—that the Big Box bookstores went away. I wore a red dress to Border’s funeral and brought it out again for Barnes & Noble’s. The Big Box bookstore killed the small indie stores and almost obliterated the author middle class.

***If you long to know why the good old days really weren’t good at all and WHY I am a big fat meanie about B&N? Check out The Hard Truth About Publishing—What Writers & Readers NEED to Know.

All this said, Amazon did a superlative job. Mission accomplished. They restructured modern business, remolded consumer behavior, and even created this leviathan industry to support a logistical operation unlike anything witnessed in human history.

Big Trouble in Little Made in China

According to the January 2, 2020 Forbes article Is This The Beginning Of Amazon’s Meltdown?...

Last November, the world’s largest sporting goods company, Nike, announced it was leaving Amazon. It would yank all its products from Amazon.com and sell them exclusively on its online store.

Stephen McBride, The editor of RiskHedge Report

Since then, other major and respected retailers have also defected including, but not limited to Rolex, Louis Vuitton, Ralph Lauren, Vans, Patagonia, North Face and even Ikea. They’ve opted to selling their own wares on their own sites instead of partnering with Amazon.

Why?

They no longer HAVE to.

Remember, when I started this post I mentioned that everything has cycles, including business. Amazon paved the way for e-commerce, but it was absurd to believe they’d ever keep a lock on it. The entire point of entrepreneurship is to look at what isn’t being offered and then fill that vacuum.

These days, there are companies that—with the major advances in technology—can make businesses competitive without having to bend the knee to Amazon.

Shopify, Wix, Squarespace allow businesses of all sizes to create a small on-line store (even an author who wants to sell books and merch