From Susi at The Geeky Bookworm:
Really special about this books are the wonderful written letters in the beginning of each chapter. They brought tears to my eyes. And the poetry was heartbreaking, too. One of the best books read so far this year and I will buy more of her books ASAP.
Read the entire review here plus a great run-down of many other books. Thank you so much, Susi!
I’ve talked a lot about characters; just take a look at the Character Clinic and all the great articles and resources. There are a million ways to build a character. For me, each character comes to life in a slightly different way. Sometimes I do loads of prework and still don’t have a good handle on the character. Other times, I set out to write up detailed history and the voice comes through so loud and strong that I discover I’m actually writing the book (e.g. Chanda in Survive My Fire. That’s why her sections of the book are in first person–I was actually trying to write her “character letter” below).
With Victor’s story, I cheated a bit. As soon as I finished the first draft of Conn’s book (then called Letters), I immediately started working on his brother’s book. I have about 10K of loose sections written out. I didn’t do character planning, plotting, etc. — I was just writing out the ideas as I got them. That work gave me the basic external plot.
But who was Victor? Oh, I knew he was the CEO of VConn, an up and coming Dallas cable company. I also knew he was a Master. No mere dominant title will work for Victor. But none of this gave me his heart.
There are a few crucial tools I come back to over and over as I develop a story. If I do these things, I can usually plot the story or simply begin writing.
1. Greatest Strength/Greatest Weakness. Every character should have a strength, that can also become a weakness and be used against him. Victor’s strength is that he never loses. Never. He’s so driven, so competitive, that he’ll pay any cost to win. Sometimes he gets so caught up in the victory that he doesn’t realize what he’s lost.
Now I take that strength and come up with one word that fully describes it. Then I come up with its opposite that reflects his weakness. Usually one is an adjective and one is a noun, but they can be in any order. The trick is to come up with an oxymoron for the character that encapsulates this strength and weakness.
Victor is the victorious loser. Shiloh is the unburied treasure. (Note: I don’t think Shiloh’s is as strong as Victor’s. I’m playing off the idea of “buried treasure” and its opposite, unburied or “found” treasure.) They don’t mean anything to anybody but me, but they’re powerful reminders of who these characters are. Note, too, the importance of the characters’ names. Victor’s name IS his strength, and so is Shiloh’s, because she’s definitely a gift. She means to gift herself to Victor, if she can convince him to unbury the need he’s hidden away in his heart.
2. The Character Letter. So I know that Victor has this extreme drive to win. Knowing, though, doesn’t give me the details I need. I wanted a specific instance in his past that showed me how he’d won — but lost. That event still haunts him. I also needed to know how he realized he was a sadist. How did he feel about that?
The best way for me to figure these defining moments out is, of course, to write about it. I could always choose to write it out like backstory (and I’ve done that — like Letters, the backstory for Dear Sir, I’m Yours that’s a Free Read), but I can kill two birds with one stone by writing it in first person. This lets me get deep into Victor’s head AND figure out his voice. What words will he use that no other character would? How did he FEEL? So I sit down with him and write in his voice, his words, about these defining moments.
And yes, as my beloved sister requested, I’ll post some of that letter this week–after I edit it a bit.
Background: that’s why there are so many letters in Dear Sir, I’m Yours. I started them as a character-building tool for Rae, and I found them so powerful and moving that I continued to write them. Then they became so integral to the story that I ended up writing many more.
3. The Emotional Toolbox. I love this site. It highlights everything I love about the hero’s journey. A moving story is all about removing the mask and revealing the character’s deepest fears. When I’m stuck at any point in writing the story, I can always go back over the six questions and my notes. The answer is there.
Usually I can get plot ideas just by answering the six questions. I also figure out supporting characters I need to add in order to highlight the theme and the journey. In particular, the most important thing I get out of the Emotional Toolbox is the fear.
Deep down in the darkest corner of Victor’s heart, he’s very, very afraid, and that’s where the magic is.
My major project for the fall is a follow-up novel to Dear Sir, I’m Yours for Conn’s brother, Victor Connagher. When I begin a story, there are a few things I need to know in advance.
Working Title: Gifted
Target: Samhain
Target Length: 70K
Genre: contemporary erotic romance with elements of BDSM
Protagonist: Victor Connagher. Yes, I know it’s rare for the hero to “star” in a romance, but he has the most to lose in this story and the largest character arc, although the heroine has a very strong, important role.
Love Interest: Shiloh Holmes.
Setting: Dallas, TX
This is all basic information. The KEY information that will decide the rest of the story is the THEME.
The theme is the promise I’m going to make to you. Every character in the story will prove the theme. Every scene will illuminate the theme in some way or it will be cut. The antagonist(s) will prove the opposite, dark side of the theme; the supporting characters will help the main characters prove the theme.
Theme will drive every single aspect of the story.
For this story, my Beloved Sister provided the theme. She told me every time she listened to Time is Running Out by Muse, she always thought of Shiloh. Absolutely, Sis.
I won’t let you bury it. I won’t let you smother it. I won’t let you murder it.
Or in other words,
Victor must learn that revealing his deepest, darkest, most hidden needs to a loved one frees his heart and soul. Burying–and denying–those needs will only murder his soul.
Next up, characters.
I think I was actually more productive when my laptop was in the shop.
I’ve been working on Gifted using Scrivner on the Mac. The problem is…it’s a desktop. It’s upstairs in my office. My character letters and background are on that computer. Lately, I’ve been getting my ideas while the laptop is handy, but I don’t want to start a new file when I’ve already got the file upstairs. It’s not as easy to simply e-mail the file to myself (like I would if I were writing in Word). I’m sure I can export those files to txt or rtf — I just haven’t bothered to figure out how yet.
I guess it sounds silly, but I can’t get the organization right for this story. I can’t find the “routine” that will get me from blank page to the end. I know it’s there — I just need to figure it out.
I’m on a yahoo group where people have been talking and asking questions about Storyboards. I may document some of my background preparation as I build this story. I’ve done it before, but I lost some of those entries when I moved my site. What do you think — are you bored by process entries? Surely it would be better than blog silence while I dink around between computers!
Maybe it’s the whole “going back to school” business, but September is always the start of a really productive fall for me. Many businesses restart their fiscal year in July; I tend to restart my word meter in September.
Not that I didn’t write in June and July. I did. But the level of intensity was completely different. I did get a major project kicked out the door (finally!!) and finished and submitted a shorter story by the deadline. I also worked more on promo behind the scenes stuff for the print release of Rose. (Boy, the post office is going to looooove me in the next few months!)
Now, though, it’s time to get down to business and get the next major project churning. This month, I’ve been character building Victor and Shiloh in their story tentatively called “Gifted.” I’ve talked about my process before, so I won’t bore you again, but suffice it to say that the character letter is still one of my most important tools. Victor wrote me a letter this weekend, where I learned about how he blew out his knee (if you remember from Dear Sir, I’m Yours, Victor was a star college quarterback), discovered his greatest strength/weakness, revealed some old lingering guilt and fear, and how he came to find–and use–the riding crop for the first time.
I’m working on Shiloh’s letter, but she’s been a harder nut to crack. I don’t have her cast as anyone yet, which is a problem. She’s not firm in my mind. I know some general elements of her personality and even some of her past, but not the key parts that will make this a killer story. I need her fears, her failures, her deepest darkest longings. So far, all I’ve got are her longings for Victor. *laughs* I know she’s gone to extreme lengths to get Victor to admit what he feels when he looks at her. She’s planned this whole elaborate scheme out just to net herself…for him. But I still don’t know enough about her to see her face.
A blog plays a part in this story (or at least it did when I first sketched it out). I think the key to figuring out Shiloh will involve a series of blog entries that will actually kill two birds with one stone. They play a part in the plot; they play a part in me understanding her character better. That’s how Rae’s letters developed too — and they ended up HUGELY important to the story. I want Shiloh’s blog to be just as crucial. Yes, I already know what she calls it: V’s Gift. You did catch that Shiloh means “gift,” right? I’ll be playing on “gift” and “gifted” throughout the story.
I’ll continue working on her this week, and I’ll run both characters through the Emotional Toolbox. I know most of the external plot already, but I need the inner workings all laid out. I have a few side characters that need to be more than shells, so I’ll also flesh them out. I already know the theme, thanks to a song that Molly directed me to ages ago. Time is Running Out by Muse:
I won’t let you bury it. I won’t let you smother it. I won’t let you murder it.
Come September 1st, I want to be grinding through a minimum of 1K a day.
Even back in 2007 when I first jotted ideas for this story, I knew Victor had a riding crop that was very important to him.
Why a riding crop in particular? It’s not like he’s a jockey, nor is this a historical. So why would a man have a riding crop, other than the stereotypical reasons? (Yeah, he uses it like that, too — he’s a sadist after all.)
I got the answer last night. I’d just gone to bed and I was sooo sleepy, so I was afraid I’d forget it this morning. Thankfully, I did not. I guess it was too magical. Not that this little tidbit is so amazing — it’s not, just an item of his backstory. But the process becomes magical. I love to figure out how or why one little seemingly innocent item can suddenly carry so much value and emotion.
Victor wants to write me a letter explaining all this good stuff. Once I get an important item like this for Shiloh, I think I may be in a position to write the full outline. I have to get the backstory right first before I can hope to write the main story — it makes it so much easier to torment them. 🙂
Gregar has his ivory rahke; Victor has his riding crop. For both characters, it’s a symbol of their most secret heart’s desire, and their greatest fear of all.
I’ve been feeling a sense of anticipation…and fear.
Yes, it’s that time again. The beginning of a new project, fraught with decisions.
I thought this project would be easy to begin. I have about 10K I wrote back in 2007 to outline a rough plot and sketch out the characters a bit. I’ve also finished quite a bit of research since then about the BDSM lifestyle. As a result, the characters have morphed in my mind, taking on lives of their own, voicing their desires and fears and totally messing up my old outline (which is actually a good thing).
Yet there’s that lingering since of fear. It’s not the unknown, because I have very clear purposes defined, both for myself and the characters. I think it’s fear OF the characters.
The only other character who has managed to make me afraid…is Gregar. It’s no coincidence in the slightest that I originally cast Adrian Paul as both Gregar and Victor. They share more similarities than I ever expected when I started outlining Victor’s story back in 2007.
So yeah, “Gifted” is shaping up to be one whopper of a story.
Have you ever had a character that scared the bejeezus out of you? What’d you do to work through it?
Today was one of those days where I swear the stars are aligned against me.
I had to take two of the three monsters to two different schools (at different times) to deliver their school supplies. (Don’t ask how many trips I’ve made to Wal-mart to pick up said supplies). The other monster (Middle) had already met her teacher, etc. but she wasn’t feeling well, so I decided to get her to the doctor before school starts. Since I worked today, I had to time everything around my lunch and getting off work.
So first I ran one kid to school and then to urgent care. I swear, everyone in town must have a last minute injury, sickness, or physical required, because we waited forEVER. Gah. I had a meeting at 1:00 and I was really starting to stress that I wouldn’t make it home in time. Finally, we saw the doctor, yes, she has an ear infection, and away I raced to drop off her prescription at Walgreens.
Of course, we got behind an irate customer who’s going to Zurich tomorrow and MUST have her prescription and she’d been calling since Sunday and WHY don’t they have it ready, blah blah blah. Finally, it’s our turn, and now I find that Walgreens has no record of this child on their system. Never mind that she’s the sickest of the three monsters. She’s had three surgeries, ear tubes before she was even one year old!
So I had to send over my insurance card and answer all the questions about where we live, etc. Time’s a ticking. Finally, we zip home and That Man handles their (late) lunch while I return to work.
Fast forward to after hours, and we took the other monster up to her school to drop off her supplies since it’s on the way to Walgreens to pick up Middle’s prescription. We go through drivethru and lo and behold, they had a problem with my insurance.
Never mind that at least half my life savings has been spent in Walgreens over the years, now, suddenly they have a problem with my insurance. We pulled out of drivethru and I went inside the store, to sit for 45 minutes while they called my insurance company. Good thing all we needed was a basic antibiotic!
I love my insurance, though. I do. They saved me $142 on this ONE prescription.
So I’m a bit frazzled tonight, but in the end, nothing can ruin my mood. Why? Because the monsters go back to school tomorrow!
Wheeeeeee. Let the return to school party begin!
On the writing front, I finished reading a friend’s story and now I’m working through my beloved sister’s wip. I also have Jenna Reynold’s Sweet Spot on my iPhone that I’m highly enjoying (thank you, thank you, I had something to read while I sat at the doctor’s office and Walgreens today).
Victor is present and we’ve been talking. Gregar’s being a jerk. I might have to write up a complaint post later if he doesn’t cooperate.
This morning, I reached a place in this writing journey that I’ve never been before.
Awhile back there was some blog storm about when a story should be submitted. Jessica Faust at BookEnds wrote that Good Enough is Never Enough, and obsessive-compulsive writers everywhere panicked. At the time, I totally agreed with Jessica. I would never send out less than PERFECT work, but I also realize that perfect today is not what I will be able to write in a year or more.
Heh, at one time I was perfectly happy with a little story titled “My Beloved Barbarian” and proudly sent it off to an RWA contest, only to be mortified when the judge sheets came back. Head hopping? What’s that? You mean, the horse can’t have its own point of view? *wails*
*snickers*
Personally, I’m always driven. I’m in a rush to finish, and submit. Now, not yesterday. NOW! Go go GO! However, I’m also painfully obsessive about making sure the work is my best.
If you’ve been reading here long, you know that I’ve been struggling with the Maya story. I’ve already detailed its long painful history, but suffice it to say that I just couldn’t get the blasted thing RIGHT. Every time I thought it was done, I decided it needed yet another revision pass. I’ve spent months in Revision Xibalba since the first draft in 2007, toiling over massive, painful revisions or struggling to whip out a synopsis that captured the spirit of the story. I felt trapped in Xibalba myself — constantly drowning in this imperfect project that I simply couldn’t get off my back.
Don’t get me wrong, I love this story, absolutely. It’s a total heart-wrencher and satisfies my personal craving for Story and Mythology; however, even though it’s one of the most complex and rich stories I’ve written, I could not get it to a place where I felt like I could really say I was finished.
After at least four major revision passes and four different attempts at a synopsis, I made my declaration yesterday: Synopsis or Death! I wrote out that synopsis in painful, brutal detail, refusing to go to bed until a cohesive draft was prepared. Nearly two full packs of index cards met their death in the attempt.
Braced for the worst, I re-read my synopsis this morning. I made a few slight changes.
And then I kicked that blasted submission package out of the nest with the first query.
Yes, friends, I reached a point where I was so sick of a story that I knew it was time to let it fly, or crash and burn. If I polish the manuscript one more time, I think its obsidian-mirrored shine will simply rub off. If I dink around with the synopsis again, I’m going to cut out my own heart and offer it as bloody sacrifice at the peak of the pyramid.
It’s the best damned story I can write today, and so, farewell blithe spirit. I wish thee safe travels out in the scary wilds of Queryland. May your hunt for Agent be fruitful.
It’s time for me to move on.
Victor, here’s fair warning that Gregar and I are coming. We’re coming for YOU.
So here’s how I tackled the synopsis from Xibalba today.
First, I jotted all my misc. notes onto the index cards. I also read each of the previous synopses and wrote down the key phrases I wanted to keep onto cards. I had two really shitty drafts completed, and one partial. Each one I’ve really struggled with, and they’re definitely not fit to send out.
Even if I ended up with duplicate information, I went ahead and wrote the best pieces down, trying to keep each idea short and sweet so it fit on the card. With this pass, I ended up with 51 cards in no particular order.
For the second pass, I started going through the cards to consolidate or eliminate as I went. They naturally began to fall into a semblance of order. I rewrote the ideas card by card, tossing each attempt until it read almost exactly how I’d want the synopsis to read. I concentrated on the opening first, and ended up with about 10 cards. Then I tackled the next chunk and smoothed, revised, etc. until I had about 20 cards. Repeat. Until I finally had 52 cards in order. As I went, the three story threads began weaving together, just as they did in the main story.
Yeah, I added cards at this point, but I decided not to stress about it. I just wanted a complete and cohesive picture of all three story threads, start to finish, with all the necessary emotion and motivations I wanted to convey.
For the third pass, I concentrated more on elimination and streamlining. I rewrote most of the cards, fine tuning and working to get down to 42 cards. That’s still way more than I expected to have, but I felt that each card was pretty important. I had to open the second pack of index cards because I’d tossed so many.
Finally, about 9:30 PM (after the monsters went to bed) I began typing up all my notes. It ended up complete at 2,151 words. Is it just another shitty synopsis that I’ll have to throw out? Lord, I hope not. My fingers and hands are KILLING me from all this hand writing and then frantic typing!
But I’m finally done. At least for now.
