Megan Morgan's Blog, page 6

Author Toolbox Blog Hop: Getting To Know You

[image error]It’s time for the Author Toolbox Blog Hop! The hop takes place the third Wednesday of every month (minus November/December) and focuses on the sharing of resources and learning tools for authors.

Stop by the hop page and check out all the participants and their posts this month! Also check out #AuthorToolboxBlogHop on Twitter.

Building Character

Creating characters is much like meeting someone new in real life: when you first meet them, you know nothing about them–their personality, what they like, what they hate, what they do for a living, who their friends and family are. You only know what you can immediately observe, like their appearance, the sound of their voice, and their mannerisms. And even then, most of those things can be misleading because people act differently around new people and they cultivate what they look like. It takes time to get to know someone and start to understand them. It takes time for your readers to get to know your characters too, but most importantly, it takes you, the writer, time to get to know them as well. And you’re the person who’s going to have to know them inside and out by the end of the book.

Some authors build characters before they even begin to write, working out their entire life story on paper first, but I’ve never been like this. I also feel that even though this gives you a sketch, it doesn’t fill in all the details until you actually start working with that character. Just as a potential employee can give you a detailed resume, you still learn new things when you interview them. I’m the type of writer who likes to learn my characters as I write them. Sometimes they really surprise me. Of course you go in with an idea of who they are, but you let them really start to express it in the framework of the story.

What are some important ways for you–and the reader–to get to know your characters? It can be a bit like peeling an onion, going down layer after layer until you get to the core. Then again, some characters will never show you their core–because that’s who they are as people.

Physical. As I said, the first thing we take in about a person is how they look. But most people also build their appearance. They choose clothes they like, do their hair the way they prefer, and decorate and adorn themselves to show off their personality. The way your character looks says a lot about them. Are they a wholesome, clean-cut type or a wild and rebellious type with neon green hair and piercings? This can say a lot about them with a single glance–and it can say deeper things about them, too. For example, in my Siren Song series, my main character, June, has spent her life being ashamed of and terrified by her supernatural powers, and of how other people react to them. As such, she’s covered in tattoos, to distract other people from that fact about herself and to give them something else to focus on. Sometimes we use our looks to direct attention elsewhere.
Their preferences. As you get to know a character better, you’ll find out what they like and dislike. Their favorite foods, movies, music, and color can say a lot about them, especially if the information is delivered at the relevant time. Maybe your character hates the color pink because her mother decorated her entire bedroom in it as a child. This not only says something about the character, but about her family dynamic and feelings toward her mother.
Emotions. Now we’re getting deeper. As we see the emotions your character goes through, it tells us a lot about their personality. Especially negative emotions–what frightens them, stresses them out, or makes them angry. This can say a lot about how they handle the world around them and what sort of emotional and mental constitution they have.
Reactions. How your characters react to things that happen to and around them is a very important key to their personality. It shows their level of resilience, morality, perseverance, and empathy. How a character reacts to a dramatic or important situation can say more about them than any other character trait you give them–and it tells the reader a lot, too.
How other people react to them. It’s also equally important how your characters react toward each other. How people react reflects their personalities, but it also shows how the other person projects a personality that people respond to. Even if that projected personality is all a sham, the fact that other people react to it tells us how well or poorly constructed it is.

Those are just a few tips for getting to know a character. Sometimes the best part about writing is the little things you discover along the way, things you couldn’t have worked out beforehand. It’s like getting to know a new friend. How do you get to know your characters?

Cover Reveal

I got the lovely cover for my new, upcoming book! I tell you, the folks over at Evernight just make the best covers. Their artist, Jay Aheer, is out of this world!

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Boyfriend Material (The Man Catalog #2)

Need a date? Or a temporary boyfriend? How about a husband in a hurry? The professionals at SASS—Singles Arrangement Service Specialists—are here to help.

Grace Bennington used to live the good life: from cocktail waitress to the heights of society via a rich husband, it all came crashing down when he went to prison. Now, she’s left alone with their elitist friends—wealthy, contemptuous sharks circling her as she drowns. During a weekend in Barbados, she needs a hot man on her arm to save face.

Tybalt “Ty” Rossi is a Greek-Italian store owner trying to make ends meet. One of the ways is to sell his services to needy women. Being dumped in the same pool with a bunch of sneering snobs is a job hazard he’s not prepared for, but at least Grace and Ty connect on a deeper level—and they’re going to need each other’s help to stay afloat on this trip.

Coming June 27th from Evernight Publishing

What would you do?

It’s Friday! Which doesn’t mean much to me since I work on the weekends, but I hope some of you get to enjoy it.

Entitled

Last week, –and boy, does it hit close to home right now!

Titles are something I struggle with, except when I don’t. Sometimes, wonderfully, the title comes to me along with the story. I start getting an idea for the plot and my brain says “and by the way, this would be a perfect title.” That’s always an amazing thing and I bless whatever muses decided to bestow such a gift upon me. But, that only happens about half the time. The other half, it’s like the muses forgot I exist and lost my phone number.

[image error]I was struggling to come up with a title for the book I’m looking to submit soon, and I think I found one, but…it might change before I actually go through with the submission. I’m not sure I’m satisfied with it. Ugh! Why does it have to be so difficult? I wrote an entire book, surely I can come up with one measly little title!

The problem is, titles are a BIG DEAL, even if they’re the smallest thing about the book. They have to do a lot of things: be catchy, be interesting, encapsulate the book, and be appropriate to the story, genre, and the feeling you want to convey. No pressure! It’s only a huge marketing tool, after all. And we’re supposed to be creative, right? We should be able to do this. Well, as I said, sometimes we can, and sometimes it’s a struggle. Also, sometimes my own personal feelings about the story make it so I don’t think anything I come up with is worthy of the book. I need something grand and perfect, but I just can’t find it.

Here’s a few suggestions that might help you come up with titles. Feel free to also use the “pulling your hair out and screaming into the night” method, although I’ve used this somewhere between ten and five hundred times, and it doesn’t really seem to help.

Brainstorm. Sometimes it helps to just throw anything out there that comes to mind, in the hope that while you’re dumping the trash you come across the diamond earring you lost. Let it all flow no matter how bad it is, putting random words and phrases together, testing ideas. Something might pop out that works. It doesn’t have to be practical, either–just throwing anything out there, including silly stuff, can really jog your brain. And who knows, ‘The Story About That One Thing That Happened That One Time’ might turn out to be a bestseller.
List your themes. Make a list of major themes and plot points in your story–things that are important, including people, objects, ideas, places, and emotions. Something might be hidden there that will spawn a title. And dammit, we’re writers, we should be able to connect things and make metaphors work on multiple levels, right? So looking at what our story is ABOUT should help us tell readers what it’s about in one catchy, amazing phrase, CORRECT? Please let me know if this works for you or if it’s just me that has a brain that immediately goes on vacation the second I type the last word of the book…
Look at other titles. Browse other titles in your genre with similar themes or plots, and see what they’ve come up with. Unfortunately, this may lead you to discover someone else already stole THE PERFECT TITLE and more tearing of your hair. The good thing is, multiple books can and do have the same titles, but if there’s a popular book already named that you’ll probably want to try something else.
Title generators. There’s lots of book title generators on the internet, but I’ve never honestly come up with a title from one. I have, however, amused myself with the ridiculous titles they come up with sometimes, so if you need a break from the stress and a good laugh, these are a fitting place to look.

TITLES are HARD. May your muse be kind and give you plenty of good ideas. And while they’re at it, tell them to stop by and visit me, huh?

Telling Lies

Recently, I read an article in which an editor talked about what sort of fiction is popular right now. They said the best selling thing right now is “suspense with an unreliable narrator.” I admit, sometimes I really enjoy a story with a well-written unreliable narrator–because it can be so complex, layered, and really force you to think–so I see why readers are enjoying stories like this and want more of them.

But what is an unreliable narrator?

[image error]It’s too simplistic to say an unreliable narrator is a POV character who is lying or omitting things from the story, because it’s more complicated than that. If you’ve never heard the term before, it means literally that your character can’t be trusted in how they’re living in and experiencing the plot. In other words, the way the story is being told is a lie, or at least, not quite honest. It’s not always about lying, though–sometimes, the character is simply telling the reader their version of the story that they personally believe, even if it’s not the truth of the matter.

Have you ever had someone you know tell you about an event and make themselves look good/like a victim/make it sound like it wasn’t their fault–and then later, you discover their version of events is not quite how it happened? That’s an unreliable narrator. They have their own best interest at heart when pleading their case. In fiction, the character can also be mentally impaired in some way, imagining all of it, or delusional. Remember Fight Club?

One of my favorite instances is from Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles. In Interview With the Vampire, Louis is an unreliable narrator because he’s telling the story of his life with Lestat through a skewed lens of hate and anger. In The Vampire Lestat, Lestat refutes much of what Louis said as being either exaggerated or untrue–but again, perhaps Lestat is unreliable too, because he’s telling things based on his point of view and his own feelings. It’s very much a “vampire said/vampire said” situation. Just like in real life but with more blood and fangs.

Reading and writing an unreliable narrator can be fun. Here’s a few notes about this type of character:

The reader needs to realize they’re unreliable. You’re probably going to make readers angry if you write a whole story and then just reveal at the end it was all a lie. There should be clues that the narrator is not exactly being honest–or at least, you should give your readers reason to doubt and question along the way.
The narrator should still be engaging, interesting, and/or sympathetic. Even if they’re telling a big fat lie, we should have reason to want to continue reading. Not many people like a liar, but if we’re made to understand and even sympathize with the reasons they’re lying, it’s going to make us want to keep reading.
It doesn’t always have to be lies. As I said, feelings skew a person’s perspective. It can make them misremember and misunderstand things. We all have our own way of viewing events–even if, objectively, that viewpoint isn’t correct or accurate. In the narrator’s head, this could all very well be true because of what they personally believe.
The narrator can be unreliable due to circumstance. This is especially found in books based around younger people–children and teenagers often misunderstand the world and the motivations of adults and others, leading them into convoluted, unreliable situations. The narrator can also be sick, impaired, or forced into some situation that skews their beliefs. Unreliable doesn’t always mean malicious–it just means their version of things isn’t quite right.

There are many kinds of unreliable narrators. Have you ever written one? Do you enjoy them in fiction? What do you think makes a good, and engaging, unreliable narrator?

Naming Names

[image error]This post is part of the Insecure Writer’s Support Group blog hop. The first Wednesday of every month is Insecure Writer’s Support Group day. Post your thoughts on your own blog. Talk about your doubts and the fears you have conquered. Discuss your struggles and triumphs. Offer a word of encouragement for others who are struggling. The awesome co-hosts for the June 6 posting of the IWSG are Beverly Stowe McClure, Tyrean Martinson, Tonja Drecker, and Ellen @ The Cynical Sailor!

Welcome to June! I feel like every month I say “I can’t believe it’s ___ already,” and again, I can’t believe it’s June already and summer is actually here (at least, for us in the northern hemisphere). Before we know it, Christmas will be back again, huh? Let’s not rush the snow, though…

This month I’m feeling a little better about things–regular readers know my life has been chaotic lately due to work, but finally things are starting to smooth out a bit. I can focus more on writing and blogging, which has fallen by the wayside. At least–fallen away at a level I’m not comfortable with. I HAVE gotten some writing done and I even have a new book coming out this summer, but I wish I could have done more. I tend to get anxious when I don’t live up to my own ridiculous standards.

And even knowing they’re ridiculous doesn’t make it better for me, unfortunately!

So, this month I’m hoping to get back in my groove so I feel more like myself. Even if I take it easy for a while I’m hoping to be productive and get some real work done. And then maybe one of these days I won’t have to worry about a crazy day job robbing me of my creativity–writing will be my day job!

June 6 question – What’s harder for you to come up with, book titles or character names?

BOTH! I can certainly tell you if the title for a book doesn’t arrive with the idea for it, it’s going to be an uphill battle for me trying to figure out a decent title when I’m finished. I always hope a title will come to me while I’m writing, and sometimes it does, but not always. I’m very happy when the title pops in my head along with the plot. That means less agonizing at the end.

As for character names, sometimes they’re easy, and sometimes I have to scour baby name websites, make lists, and keep my ears open for good-sounding names. Sometimes they just pop in my head along with the character. I’ve also changed the name of characters midway through a story because they didn’t sit well with me.

Names and titles are hard!

How is your June going so far? Off to a good start?

Back on the Blog!

[image error]Yay! Look who’s back!

Hello out there! As you may remember, life and job has kept me away from blogging lately, but this week, I’m going to try to get back into the swing and start posting here regularly once more. Things are calming down somewhat at work and life looks like it might be a bit smoother in the near future so–I’m baaaaack! I want to thank everyone for sticking around through the hiatus. You must think I have something good to say and I really appreciate it.

Author Toolbox Blog Hop: The Real Life Blues

[image error]It’s time for the Author Toolbox Blog Hop! The hop takes place the third Wednesday of every month (minus November/December) and focuses on the sharing of resources and learning tools for authors.

Stop by the hop page and check out all the participants and their posts this month! Also check out #AuthorToolboxBlogHop on Twitter.

Life Isn’t Easy

This month for the blog hop, I thought I’d tackle something I’m going through at the moment: real life getting in the way of writing. Unless you’re a professional writer (meaning you make most or all of your income through writing) you’ve probably had the “day job” block your creative flow. Most writers, I think, have dealt with the trials of life bludgeoning them in their writing kneecaps: a job, kids, family issues, illness, tragedies, stress, and all those other nasty curveballs life likes to throw at us to knock us off our feet. By the time we get a moment to write we’re too physically and/or mentally exhausted to make the words come. What we’re slogging through not only makes us tired, it makes our brains sluggish as well.

My job has been difficult for the past month or so and it’s draining my resources. The good news is this will end eventually, but not until sometime in June. Until then, my focus will continue to be off, I’ll continue to resent that I don’t have enough time/mental capacity to write, and I’ll continue to be bitter, feeding into this awful angry, non-creative cycle I’m stuck in right now. Sounds fun, doesn’t it?

Well, it’s not.

I’ve decided to try to come up with a game plan to make this, if at least not better, then more tolerable–and maybe, if you’re stuck in the mud too as real life continues to dump more dirt on your head, you can use it as a shovel. I’ve come up with a few ideas that might help me wedge writing in around all the chaos:

Schedule time. I’m not a scheduler, so this is hard for me. I tend to write when I write, and I don’t really like to make a rigid structure out of it. If you do, you’re already ahead of me on this one! If I know I’m going to have a stretch of downtime where I don’t have to focus on anything else, I can pencil my writing in there. Will I want to write when I get to that time? I might not, but they say the best way out of a rut is to do things anyway, even if you grumble and groan, and eventually they get easier. Just like exercise–it hurts at first and you feel resistance, but eventually your muscles get stronger and the workout easier.
Break the writing down into smaller chunks. This is also hard for me, because when I write I tend to write a lot, but I don’t have the time or energy for that right now. If I promise myself I’ll do smaller portions, eventually those will all add up to something big, even if it’s not as fast as I’m used to. And that’s okay! I need to give myself reasonable assignments and goals during this tough time. I can write only 1,000 words or edit one chapter and still feel accomplished.
Be consistent. This is a hard thing to maintain when life is a whirlwind, but consistency also makes the wind feel less like it’s trying to knock you over. When I tell myself “I’m going to do X and Y on these days, and I’m not going to waver from that,” it helps things feel a little more stable. Hopefully, this will also give me small things to look forward to. Routine is comforting, especially when the rest of your life is out of whack.
Stick to one project. If you’re like me, I always have several writing projects going on at once. That’s just how I am. If you don’t do the same thing this bullet point won’t help you and I envy your dedication! I definitely like to juggle several balls at once, but right now that’s making me not do ANYTHING because it all feels so complicated and overwhelming on top the other difficulties in my life. During this time I’m going to try to focus on one thing only and get it done, bit by bit. At least then I won’t just lay around crying about how I’m not getting anything done.
Don’t beat yourself up. This is the most important task for me, and one I really, really need to take to heart. Is the world going to end if I don’t get another book written by the end of summer? Of course not. Is everyone I know going to hate me and refuse to ever speak to me again if I don’t stick with my writing right now? Why on earth would they! Are the writing police gonna show up at my house and arrest me if I don’t get some writing done every day? The writing police don’t even exist! Or do they…

I’m trying to be easier on myself right now, as well as trying to get my brain to shut up about how I’m being lazy and not taking care of my muses. Wish me luck!

How do you deal with life when it gets in the way of your writing? Any tips or tricks?

Life!

Happy Monday, everyone! I’m trying to get back to putting more content on the blog but my day job continues to make life difficult. Last week was a somewhat busy week in my writing world as well, as I did a Facebook live for the ECAC convention, and my City Nights books were (and still are) on sale for 99 cents each! Annnnd, I have some news….

EVERNIGHT PUBLISHING SAID YES TO THE NEXT BOOK IN MY MAN CATALOG SERIES! Another acceptance!

[image error]A true life snapshot of me when I got the news.

I seem to be on fire in 2018–now if only my job would get out of the way and let me keep burning! The second book, Boyfriend Material, is tentatively scheduled to be released in August. I’m super thrilled about it. Maybe one of these days, I won’t need the day job anymore? Ha!

I’ll be participating in the Author Toolbox Blog Hop on Wednesday, and I’m going to try to get back to regular blogging at some point this month. Thank you everyone for sticking around!

A happy belated Mother’s Day to all you mommies out there, by the way!

Books on sale!

Want some cheap books? Now through May 15th, both of my City Nights titles are on sale for 99 cents on Amazon.

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Get One Night in Cleveland here.
Get One Night in Chicago here.