Archive for 2011

>How to write a novel: part 3

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1st lesson: http://jessicajewettonline.blogspot.com/2011/05/how-to-start-novel-part-1.html

2nd lesson: http://jessicajewettonline.blogspot.com/2011/05/how-to-write-novel-part-2.html

Rather than write my own article about building character arcs (it can be rather complicated), I decided to give you all this article instead. It explains the process better than I could. Source: www.plottopunctuation.com/blog/show/81

Five steps to building a believable character arc

A commenter in my last article on crafting breakout stories asked for tips on how to demonstrate believable progress during the process of a character’s emotional growth.

It’s a fabulous question, because all too often I see writers take the all-at-once approach: a character has a problem, realizes it, decides to act differently, and is thenceforth cured. Like magic!

It’s exactly like magic, in as much as that’s not how life actually works.

In the real world, personal growth takes time and practice. We don’t usually just decide to be better in some way, and then presto, we’re better. For real people, it takes time. Fortunately, there’s a framework for personal growth you can use as a blueprint for how to show it in your novels.

  • The character’s internal shortcomings cause external problems. This makes sense. If some facet of his personality isn’t causing problems in his life, it’s probably not something he needs to change. The only things about which he needs to experience growth are the things that cause problems for him. So first of all, just to set the stage for your main character arc, you need to show the character failing at something because of his shortcomings.
  • The character experiences failure but doesn’t understand why. This is all about how the character reacts to his failures in step 1. It’s important to show the reaction, because not understanding why the failures are occurring sets the emotional conditions for growth. Not understanding why is bound to cause some negative emotions: anger, frustration, resentment, et cetera. These are what fuel a character’s growth; when he gets fed up with failing, he’ll do something to prevent it. Note, the character may not understand why he’s failing for a couple of different reasons. One, he may not be aware that the problem he has even exists. He may exist in a state of complete ignorance about the problem, and when confronted with it, his emotional reactions will include “gosh, I didn’t even know that was a thing, let alone a problem!” Two, he may recognize the existence of the problem, but is in denial that he has the problem. This latter is usually easier to defend in a novel.
  • The character still fails, but understands why. This is the natural next step after getting past denial. Like they say, admitting you have a problem is the first step in fixing it. Ok, we’re calling it step three, but you get the idea. The character is still blindsided by failures, but after they happen, can understand why. The character can reflect on the situation, and understand how his personal shortcoming led to the failure. Hindsight is 20/20.
  • The character sees failures coming, but still can’t avoid them. Next, the character gains enough experience that the failures don’t blindside him anymore. Now, he can see them coming but is still powerless to stop them. This is your alcoholic who knows he drinks too much, but can’t stop himself. Or your abusive spouse who knows his rage issues stem from how his father treated him, but can’t stop himself from using his fists to express his own displeasure. The character understands the dynamics of the situation, but hasn’t yet figured out how to act differently to produce a different result. Pro tip: Don’t shortchange stage four! There is enormous dramatic potential in this stage, because at heart it is a profoundly sad and distressing time for the character. This maps very closely to the depression stage of the five stages of grief, because just like in that situation, the character feels powerless against larger forces which seem to be controlling him. This stage can get ugly, and you shouldn’t be afraid to let it.
  • The character succeeds. Finally, after seeing enough failures coming, the character realizes how to act differently and thus can intervene with himself to make different choices. That’s emotional growth. That’s the culmination of the character arc. Pro tip: If you’re clever, you’ll time this moment to coincide with your plot’s climax, when the stakes are at their highest point. A chain of failures leading up to success at a critical moment can be a win-win-win: Believable, incredibly dramatic, and satisfying to read all at once. But only if you’ve supported it with a fully developed arc.

Emotional growth is nothing more than learning a new emotional skill.

It’s just like any other skill, such as surfing. Look at that kid in the picture. He’s gonna get dunked. You can tell just by looking at him. He’s got some failures ahead of him yet. But he’s up on the board and his hair is dry, so he must know something. He’s getting there. His first time out, he probably got dunked by even the tiniest waves. And he’s going to get dunked, time and time again, as he learns to read the water, feel the board—see failure coming—and adjust his actions. It’s going to take a lot of failures to teach him what he needs to know.

He’s lucky, though. He’s got his dad there in the background giving him helpful advice, helping him see the issues he didn’t even know he had. “Scoot back. You’re standing too far forward!” “Thanks, Dad, I didn’t know that was a problem!” But no matter what, it takes time. Neither this kid nor anybody else can immediately become an expert surfer just by listening to an expert explain how they do it, and yet novelists often try to turn a single moment of failure into an immediate and successful change of behavior. Doesn’t work that way.

Make it your own

You don’t have to follow this blueprint from end to end, just be aware that it exists. Plenty of great arc-driven novels have started at stage two or even stage three. Depending on the nature of the personal shortcoming facing your character, you may be able to skip some of the earlier steps. A character may make some progress but then slip back to an earlier stage.

However you do it, just remember that a single failure does not teach us everything we need to know to become an expert. At best, a single failure can teach us one little component of what we need to know. There’s a journey of many failures in going from being unaware that you have a shortcoming to having fully conquered the shortcoming so it doesn’t cause you problems anymore. Break that journey down into whatever smaller steps—and whatever sequence of failures—makes sense for your story, and use this framework to help you show a little bit of growth at each one.

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>How to write a novel: part 2

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Go here to read the first lesson: http://jessicajewettonline.blogspot.com/2011/05/how-to-start-novel-part-1.html

Today we are going to learn about character development. The process of character development is the most important of writing a well-crafted novel. If your characters are poorly written, transparent, predictable, boring, or cliched, then the rest of the novel will fall apart. No amount of planning the most fantastic plot can make up for the poorly written character.

Motivation is the driving force in the character that makes the novel progress through the plot. It’s important because it helps you write a better story when you know the reasons behind your character’s actions. Also, your readers have to believe in your character in order to buy into the character’s storyline. You can demonstrate your character’s motivation through action or through your character’s words. You don’t have to spell out your character’s motivations by writing, “Kim never had her father’s love so she choose bad lovers.” Trust the reader to follow the story by showing motivation through examples. In a scene, show the relationship between her and her father. Then scenes later, show her relationship with the men she meets. Readers will make the connection without you connecting the dots for them.

That brings me to another very important point in writing a novel. Show. Don’t tell. By that I mean, use your words like paint on a canvas. Make the reader see your points without spelling them out in a direct manner.

An important tool in character development is choosing the name of each character. Select character names that makes sense for characters. Never choose a character name simply because you like the sound of it. The name should represent the character and not your taste in names. Clever or exotic names can take the reader out of the story when the name is selected purely for the “cool” factor. The name should make sense for the time period, economic status, social background, etc., of the character’s setting. You wouldn’t name an eighteenth century duchess Shaniqua, for example. History and trends dictate the perception of names. Names that were popular decades ago such as Bertha and Ethel have evolved into older woman’s names. As a result, readers may not buy a young sexy starlet name Bertha. At the same token, readers may cringe at a seventy year old grandmother named Crystal. Invest in a baby name book. Reading through names jars your creativity and gives you access to names you may never have thought of on your own.

Learn the difference between a protagonist and an antagonist!

A protagonist is the main character in a story. In order for your character to work for the reader, the protagonist has to be believable. The main character is a good guy or gal. The reader roots for his or her success. The protagonist usually evolves as a person by the end of the story.

An antagonist in the story is the bad guy or gal. He or she puts obstacles in the protagonists way. Some writers believe the antagonist should be in his or own way likeable. The key is that you make the antagonist believable. The antagonist can also be a nonperson. For example, in Of Mice and Men, Curley is the antagonist but so are society and the cruel, predatory nature of human life (source: SparkNotes). Additional antagonist examples include: To Kill a Mocking Bird – Bob Ewell. Jane Eyre – There are several antagonists, including Aunt Reed, Mr. Brocklehurst, and Bertha Mason. Harry Potter – There are also many antagonists, including Draco Malfoy and Voldemort.

In order for your readers to buy into your story, creating believable character’s is important. Through character description, you can bring readers into the fold. Before you start working on your story, take the time to develop character descriptions for all the major characters in your book. Think about your favorite characters. What is it about the characters that draws you in? How did the author develop the protagonist, antagonist, and other characters? When you create character descriptions, you can include some or all of the following information. The character’s…

Name
Occupation
Physical Characteristics
Plight
Personality

You can write as much or as little as you want. For some stories you may need light character descriptions and for others more detailed character descriptions. There isn’t a right or wrong approach. All that matters is that you have the necessary information to create wonderful characters.

This is the character development worksheet that I use for all of my main characters.

CHARACTER CHART

Character’s Full Name:
Reason or meaning of name:
Nickname:
Reason:

PHYSICAL APPEARANCE:

Age:
How old does s/he appear?
Eye Color:
Weight:
Height:
Type of body/build:
Skin tone:
Skin type:
Shape of face:
Predominant feature:
Looks like:

FAVORITES:

Color:
Music:
Food:
Literature:
Expressions:
Expletives:
Hobbies:

BACKGROUND:

Hometown:
Type of childhood:
First memory:
Most important childhood event that still affects him/her: Why?
Education:
Religion:
Finances:

FAMILY

Mother:
Relationship with her:
Father:
Relationship with him:
Siblings:

ATTITUDE

Most at ease when:
Ill at ease when:
Priorities:
Philosophy:
How s/he feels about self:
Past failure s/he would be embarrassed to have people know about: Why?
If granted one wish, what would it be? Why?

PERSONALITY:

Greatest source of strength in character’s personality (whether s/he sees it as such or not):
Greatest source of weakness in character’s personality (whether s/he sees it as such or not:
Character’s soft spot: Is this soft spot obvious to others? If not, how does character hide it?
Biggest vulnerability:

TRAITS:

Optimist or pessimist: Why?
Introvert or extrovert: Why?
Drives and motivations:
Talents:
Extremely unskilled at:
Good characteristics:
Character flaws:
Mannerisms:
Peculiarities:
Biggest regret:
Minor regrets:
Biggest accomplishment:
Minor accomplishments:
Character’s darkest secret:
Does anyone else know?
If yes, did character tell them?
If no, how did they find out?

SELF-PERCEPTION:

One word CHARACTER would use to describe self:
One paragraph description of how CHARACTER would describe self:
What does CHARACTER consider best physical characteristic?
What does CHARACTER consider worst physical characteristic?
Are these realistic assessments? If not, why not?
How CHARACTER thinks others perceive him/her:
What four things would CHARACTER most like to change about self? (#1 most important, #2 second most important, etc.)
1.
2.
3.
4.
Why?
If change #1 was made, would character be as happy as s/he thinks?
If not, why not?

INTERRELATION WITH OTHERS:

How does character relate to others?
How is s/he perceived by…Strangers?
Friends?
Wife/Husband/Lover?
Hero/Heroine?
How does character view hero/heroine?
First impression: Why?
What happens to change this perception?
What do family/friends like most about character?
What do family/friends like least about character?

GOALS:

Immediate goals:
Long range goals:
How does character plan to accomplish these goals?
How will other characters be affected?

PROBLEMS/CRISIS:

How character reacts in a crisis:
How character faces problems:
Kinds of problems character usually runs into:
How character reacts to NEW problems:
How character reacts to change:

GENERAL:

Favorite clothing: Why?
Least favorite clothing: Why?
Jewelry:
Other accessories:
Drives:
Where does character live?
Where does character want to live?
Spending habits (frugal, spendthrift, etc): Why?
What does s/he do too much of?
Too little of?
Most prized possession: Why?

UNCATAGORIZED:

Person character secretly admires: Why?
Person character was most influenced by: Why?
Most important person in character’s life before story starts: Why?
How does character spend the week before the story starts?

Much help for this lesson was obtained from www.creativewritingsite.com

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>How to write a novel: part 1

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The greatest novels in the world didn’t happen overnight. They were born through months and often years of committed work. Learning the craft of fiction writing is very different from learning the craft of nonfiction writing and people seem to have their natural strength in one or the other. When I was in college, I butted heads with my English instructors a lot because I was trained as a fiction writer and nonfiction writers tend to look down their noses at us sometimes. It doesn’t matter. The English language is a living, breathing thing that constantly changes and evolves with history. It isn’t just the language that makes a novel great, however. Jane Austen probably would not be published today just like JK Rowling would not have been published in the nineteenth century due to the differences in the evolution of the craft.

When people come to me asking about how to begin a novel, I tell them that they need to ask and answer this question first: “What is the point of this novel?” All great novels teach a central lesson to the reader through storytelling. You need to be able to decide what lesson you want to teach before you build any characters, write any outlines, or commit a word to the page. If you can’t tell yourself what the point, the lesson of your novel is, then you haven’t gotten to a place where you can write it.

After you’ve decided what point you want to make and a basic idea of how you want to make it, the next step is to become comfortable with the structure of a novel.

Despite the differences in language styles, the basic structures of novels have not changed very much in the last few hundred years. It’s not unlike the structure of a play but far more subtle. Take a look at this diagram that shows the structure of a novel from beginning to end. I believe this is the most important thing a new author can learn about writing a novel because it’s like a map that guides them toward tying up all loose ends. The biggest issue people have with poorly written novels is that they lack structure and not every loose end gets tied by the last page. A reader should be left wanting more but not bewildered. There is a big difference.

Here we clearly see the three acts of a novel and roughly how much space they require in the total length. The introduction and climax/resolution sections should only make up about 50% of the novel, while the rising action and buildup of tension should take up the other 50% on its own. In other words: Act I – 25%. Act II – 50%. Act III – 25%.

Let’s discuss each Act in detail.

Act I
Introduction and Setup 

The beginning 25% of your novel should totally set the stage and give your reader an clear picture of where things will go without giving away the twists or the ending. Describe the setting within the narrative. Give the reader a picture of the main characters’ personalities but don’t introduce too many characters at once. Give the reader a little time to get used to being inside the main character’s world.

Plot Point 1 should be introduced by the end of Act I. “Plot Point 1 is a situation that drives the main character from their ‘normal’ life toward some different conflicting situation that the story is about. Great stories often begin at Plot Point 1, thrusting the main character right into the thick of things, but they never really leave out Act 1, instead filling it in with back story along the way.”*

Act II
Rising Action and Tension
This is the longest and most significant section of the novel. It’s also the hardest to write because if it doesn’t strike a balance between pacing, action and tension, the reader will loose interest and stop reading the novel. Think of Act II as a mini novel within the novel. This is where “…the story develops through a series of complications and obstacles, each leading to a mini crisis. Though each of these crises are temporarily resolved, the story leads inevitably to an ultimate crisis—the Climax. As the story progresses, there is a rising and falling of tension with each crisis, but an overall rising tension as we approach the Climax. The resolution of the Climax is Plot Point 2.”* Most authors go by the rule of three. Three acts and three mini crises that advance the story toward the climax. The climax is the point at which everything in the novel comes to a head, all secrets come out, life is shaken to the core, and all the characters must decide where to go from there.
Act III
Climax and Resolution
The climax should straddle the end of Act II and the beginning of Act III. In the final act, you must resolve the majority, if not all of your mini crises and side plots. Leaving things unresolved gives the reader a feeling of being lost and not truly grasping the point of your novel. All of the questions you asked in the beginning should be answered by the end. Don’t drag out the resolution either. Readers quickly lose interest after the climax, so wrap things up as fast as you can, yet still maintain your pacing.
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Next we will learn how to develop characters. After that, we will learn about character arcs within this structure of a novel.

*Source: http://www.musik-therapie.at/PederHill/Structure&Plot.htm

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