Talking Shop: POV ~ Keeping it in Your Head

I recently did some beta reading for a young writer hoping to submit her first manuscript for consideration. I thought the story had some great potential, but of course as this young writer is still testing her wings, there were definitely a few things she needed to learn about the craft.

This provided an excellent opportunity for she and I to discuss elements of writing, common concepts which all writers run into at some point or another. One concept in particular, which has been my own bane and can prompt my editor to bring out the riding crop, is the infamous problem of "head-hopping".

Wednesday Writing Challenge: Flowers

Welcome to the Wednesday Writing Challenge!

Every Wednesday, I pose a new writing challenge here on the blog. 

The Wednesday Challenges are open to all readers. In order to participate, simply comment on the challenge post with your response to the exercise. Not only is it good practice, but you could win something nifty and fun!

 

September Prize: An Advance Reader Copy of 

Satin and Steel

The Books of Blood and Fire, Book 2!

~ For Full Contest Details, See Here ~

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Talking Shop: Tips for Pacing

"Well.  That escalated quickly."

 Have you ever been reading a book or watching a movie and suddenly think the plot jumped waaaaay ahead of the timing?  Here's a common one I run into in my genre: two characters meet, discover they dislike and sometimes even hate each other, and on the next page they've never felt such incredible magnetism, never been so drawn to another. On the next page, they're inexplicably in love.

Talking Shop: Don't Overdo It

Last week Foreplay and Fangs went dark, as I dealt with some severe heat-related fatigue. We're back this week and preparing for a Lotus Petals blog tour, soon to be posted. For today's Talking Shop, let's look at character development, and the dangers of "overdoing it".

What is a caricature? The dictionary defines it as "a picture, description, etc., ludicrously exaggerating the peculiarities or defects of persons or things".  When most of us here the word "caricature", we think of something like this:

As a literary device, caricature is described as "a device used in descriptive writing and visual arts where particular aspects of a subject are exaggerated to create a silly or comic effect".

Here's a very recognizable example of caricature: in the Fox animated sitcom Family Guy, a character is introduced as a part of a domestic violence plot in Screams of Silence: The Story of Brenda Q (Season 10, Episode 3). The character—Jeff—is the loud, obnoxious, abusive boyfriend of Brenda Quagmire.

Talking Shop: Bisexuality and Reflections in Romance

I read a blog recently about coming out as bisexual, and it got me thinking. I hadn't realized until recently there's such a controversy about bisexuals and their place in the LGBTQ spectrum. We seem to fall between the cracks when it comes to gay issues, maybe because we can "pass" for straight. There are those who feel bisexuals aren't truly BI-sexual, but straight and "confused", or gay and "pretending".

 

I've been fortunate in that I've never run up against biphobia in my own experience, but it saddens me to see it exists, just as much as any other phobia against the LGBTQ community. And of course, much like the other orientations and gender identifications on the spectrum, bisexuals are greatly under-represented or mis-represented in romantic fiction.

Talking Shop: Sexual Identity and Storytelling

While recently chatting with a friend and sometime beta-reader of mine, I asked him how he felt about the main character, Sadira, in my current work-in-progress, tentatively titled Master Me.

My beta reader kind of shrugged and said he didn't really care for stories of BDSM, and Sadira's character was (to him at least) entirely defined by her involvement in power exchange. He had some of the usual stereotypes about power exchange in mind: why would an "abuse survivor" return to a lifestyle of abuse, for example, and assumptions aplenty that the story was really about the character's "warped mindset". All ideas that I hoped to unravel in the story of Master Me, really. What struck me, though, was his expectation that Sadira's sexual identity was only about what happened in the bedroom.

Talking Shop: Dressing Sexy Characters for Success

Normally I'm not the most fashion-minded of people. If I don't have to be dressed up I'm pretty much in a cartoon-character-like repetition of the same outfit day in and day out: jeans and a tank top. When it comes to describing a character's outfit, though, I am anything but lazy.

 

Why? Because it's costuming. I'm painting you a picture! While I couldn't care less how my closet ranks against the beautiful women of America's Next Top Model, when I have to describe a character's wardrobe my inner fashion designer arrives in a flurry of caffeinated enthusiasm.

 

So I get rather grumpy with romance authors who keep falling back on this is the only way a woman can dress sexy:

 

 

Google Image Search: tight clothes short skirt killer heels sexy

 

Wednesday Writing Challenge: Who Are You?

Welcome to the Wednesday Writing Challenge! 

It's the Last Wednesday of the Month!

Our final Writing Challenge!

And this one's a toughie...

~~~ 3 Challenge Entries for Participating! ~~~

Every Wednesday, I pose a new writing challenge here on the blog. These challenges come from books on writing, classes I've taken on creative writing, or sometimes just from my own imagination. If you're an author, hopefully they will help you get your writing juices flowing and help you improve your craft.

 

Some of these challenges may be very good ones or may include an element I consider highly important for writers to learn...so occasionally I may cycle through some of my favorites more than once. 

 

??  Want to Participate  ??

The Wednesday Challenges are open to all readers. In order to participate, simply comment on the challenge post with your response to the exercise. Not only is it good practice, but you could win something nifty and fun!

 

August Prize: A Lotus Petals journal

Including a personalized message from Brantwijn Serrah

~ For Full Contest Details, See Here ~

PLEASE REMEMBER YOU MUST BE SIGNED UP FOR THE NEWSLETTER. OTHERWISE I MAY NOT BE ABLE TO NOTIFY YOU IF YOU WIN!

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 And now...

***Here's Today's Challenge!***

Every character is more than what you can possibly see in the scope of one story, and perhaps even over the scope of a series. Every character has (or should have) inner feelings, motivations, philosophies, values and beliefs that make up their very core.

Today's challenge is this:

 

Choose one of your (existing!) characters. List the following:

1. Name and age.

2. Brief description (hair color, eye color, height)

3.  Astrological Sign and why it is their sign.

4. Political feelings.

5. Religious feelings.

6. Favorite pizza topping.

 

But wait a second, Brantwijn, you say.  A lot of that isn't relevant to my story!

 

Sure it is. It is part of who your character is. Even if it doesn't come up in a written form, you should be able to know your character well enough to know what they'll ask for on a pizza.  Maybe there's something in their attitude that just screams at you that they're a spicy sausage kind of guy, or that she loves pepperoni and pineapple. You should know where they'll fall on a political spectrum and on a religious one (politics and religion can be found in any setting; another part of knowing your character is knowing their background world).

 

Think of it this way: you are sitting down to a nice glass of wine with your character and interviewing them. You're interested in the whole package, not just what comes up in their story. You want to get a good scope of their personal feelings, beliefs and wants.

 

Now, obviously, these things can't be summed up in just six bullet points. This is just a stepping off exercise to get you thinking about the scope of your character's beliefs and experience.

**NOTE**

This is not an exercise in language. You don't have to write a flowing narrative to include all these details. This is an exercise in getting familiar with your character "offstage". You can list responses as bullet points, just like I have, with a brief "why?" to accompany your answers (1 sentence or less).

 

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Hints and Tips:

Astological Sign: You'll probably figure out your character's astrological sign one of two ways. First, you know when their birthday is. No need to delve into how it affects their personality or if they are a fire or air sign; simply, "she was born June 13th". Second, you have an idea for their personality and you find a sign that fits it, such as: "she's passionate and a little stubborn and hot-headed, so she's an Aries".

 

Politics: Every world has politics, but not every political system is going to be divided into the parties and platforms as here on Planet Earth. If your character does not belong in an established modern political system, you'll need to know a little bit about the system he does exist in. You don't have to list a party but give a generic idea of progressive/conservative/liberal/radical/fascist/anarchist, at least. Include a short one-sentence "Why".

 

Religion: Same as above. Even if your character does not belong in a world populated by those religions we know and accept in ours, give an idea of his religious views anyway. Monotheistic, Polytheistic, Pagan, Agnostic, Atheist (please do not choose Atheist to get out of choosing a religion... remember your character needs to have a reason to believe what he does!). Include a short one-sentence explanation.

Give me your best, darlings!!

Wednesday Writing Challenge: Blood on the Floor

Welcome to the Wednesday Writing Challenge!

Every Wednesday, I pose a new writing challenge here on the blog. These challenges come from books on writing, classes I've taken on creative writing, or sometimes just from my own imagination. If you're an author, hopefully they will help you get your writing juices flowing and help you improve your craft.

 

Some of these challenges may be very good ones or may include an element I consider highly important for writers to learn...so occasionally I may cycle through some of my favorites more than once. 

 

??  Want to Participate  ??

The Wednesday Challenges are open to all readers. In order to participate, simply comment on the challenge post with your response to the exercise. Not only is it good practice, but you could win something nifty and fun!

 

August Prize: A Lotus Petals journal

Including a personalized message from Brantwijn Serrah

~ For Full Contest Details, See Here ~

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 And now...

***Here's Today's Challenge!***

Thursday Taste: Another Nibble of "His Cemetery Doll"

I decided it had been far too long since I had anything really steamy to post. This Thursday, let me share another delicious taste--a sinfully good one--from His Cemetery Doll, my current work-in-progress.

 

Every Thursday, a group of writers gets together to post excerpts of current works in progress. This week I'm sharing a little more of my current project, His Cemetery Doll, a story of a ghostly lover in a haunted graveyard.

Please support the Thursday Tasters by visiting the link at the end of this post and visiting the other wonderful works posted this week!

 

Talking Shop: What's My Motivation?

Sometimes even the most beloved characters can be the biggest assholes.

I used to be an avid fan of House, M.D. As any fan of House knows, though, the cynical and delightfully sarcastic doctor constantly screws things up for himself by just plain being an asshole. Recently my husband and I re-watched Season Seven, in which, shortly after declaring his total love for Lisa Cuddy, House completely lets her down by failing to be there when she needs him most, showing up only after he's fallen back on an addiction he'd been diligently fighting for almost two seasons.

Way to go, asshole.

Now, I can understand how a drama like House is dealing with layers and layers of character development and plot, so I can at least say this wasn't necessarily an example of bad writing...just incredibly frustrating writing. Let's look at another recent example: How I Met Your Mother.