The Story Drop

[The Drop: source]

 I've been blogging about how to make writing more literary. A while ago, we looked at the normal world. Whether you're writing from a hero's journey perspective or not, there's usually a point at which your story really kicks into high gear, and you've confirmed your genre. You don't want the normal world to be exactly boring because you'll lose your reader. That is the time to really make your reader care as you develop your character and make them and their world interesting. But then, the drop comes, like a drop in music. The shift comes from the normal world to the real story, and that is when you should really engage your reader through the story. 

[Decisions: source]

That drop can happen in any of a number of ways. If you're writing literary fiction, it may be when a new character enters to alter the dynamic or when the first major choice on which your story is based is made. This is when Hamlet meets his father's ghost or Macbeth first decides to kill the king. If you're writing a romance, that drop may come when the protagonist meets their romantic pairing or when they go into the underworld, figuratively or literally, where they will meet or engage with their future significant other in the plot. Romeo meets Juliet. If you're writing an adventure story--western, sci-fi, fantasy, horror etc.--it should absolutely be when your story goes from world and character introduction to the first step into the underworld. Harry Potter meets Hagrid or is introduced into the Wizarding World on Platform 9 3/4. Either could be seen as a drop. 

[Engaging the Reader: source]

By this point, you should have made your character engage emotionally with your protagonist through the normal world, through loss, through humor, through empathy, curiosity, etc., so when the conflict comes, we care what happens. Sometimes, the drop comes, and there's no significant difference. They step into the underworld, and the character and reader don't realize it until they're in the thick of peril or engagement. Sometimes, the character doesn't realize it, but the reader does because they've spent the first several pages waiting for the protagonist to meet the future significant other. If the drop is too slow, too uninteresting, you could lose your reader. I held on with a sci-fi version of Pride and Prejudice until Lizzy showed up, and that moment was flat and dull. I walked away. Sneaking up on the reader can be good if it's done with subtlety instead of awkwardness or boredom. Especially if there's a solid payoff. However, it can also hit like a tsunami, launching the reader into a wild adventure

[Gandalf: Gatekeeper of the Underworld: Source]

Whatever is driving your story starts kicking into high gear. There should be some kind of ramping up, some increase in intrigue, suspense, excitement, tension, or the like. If your story is character-driven, there should be an increased awareness of their desire for things to be different. Val Jean yearns to break free of his prison cell, both exterior and interior. If your story is plot-driven, your character might just then realize the world is broken, whether or not they realize they will have to fix it. Harry Potter learns about Voldemort as part of learning about his past. If your story is question-driven, this is when the central question is posed. It's that moment the femme fatale walks into the gumshoe's office with her mystery. If your question is milieu or world-driven, this is usually when the protagonist enters the strange world. Gulliver sees the little people, or Gandalf introduces the Hobbit to a world outside his Hobbit hole. 

[Make the Drop Special: source]

One way or another, the author needs to be aware of that drop and take pains to make it mean something. This is when the story really starts. What do you do in your story to mark the entry into the underworld or the introduction of the other romantic lead? What do you do to really engage the reader to a higher degree? If you can't find anything, is there some way you can improve or rework that part to make the reader care? 

The Hero's Hand

[When somebody/something else saves the day; source]

I've been blogging about writing anything in a more meaningful fashion. I once listened to a presentation at a writer's conference by Chris Heimerdinger about how the big action should somehow be done by the hero's hand. I have since then read a lot of stories in which the protagonist either overcame or participated in the overcoming of the antagonist/larger forces at work and many in which the protagonist didn't. (Spoiler alert) In Jurassic World 2, the heroine leads one monster through the city strategically to make sure another monster takes it out. She took charge of her fate and saved herself. Meanwhile, in the latest movie, the director got all the heroes of the Jurassic Park series and the ones of Jurassic World together for a dramatic climax in which...none of them did anything but stand there while the dinosaurs took each other out. No hero had to do any heroing. I can't imagine a more disappointing way for a series to end. There is a huge difference in the impact of the two kinds of narratives, and I find myself agreeing that the best stories do, indeed, give the hero a big role in the climax. 

[Hand of God; source]

It's tempting to solve all the hero's problems with deux ex machina, God in the machine. There are a lot of books out there in which some divine power either literally or figuratively saves the day. Most of the best fiction avoids this because it's too easy. Divine powers can help, but if there is no participation by the main character we have followed along the whole book, it's a major let down. The hero can resolve problems through divine aid, but what's the point of watching a hero develop skills if those skills have little to do with the resolution? 

[Luke vs Darth; source]

I actually read a book recently wherein the heroine didn't have to fight the antagonist on any level. She prayed, and the divine power in the book took care of everything. The author was probably thinking she prayed, right? But the only emotional reaction I had to the climax was disappointment. If Luke Skywalker had stood by, watching a lightning bolt come down and blast away Darth Vader or Emperor Palpatine, the movies may have died a quiet death before they become a phenomenon that has affected generations of audiences. Many have compared the force to priesthood/divine authority, in the first series, and Luke's clothing was reminiscent of a priest in "Return of the Jedi," but he used the power, himself, and/or inspired his father to do so through his actions. 

[Helpless heroines--source]

It's almost as bad when some other figure in the book steps in and solves all the problems for the main character, but this is more common. I would have much preferred Disney's "Snow White" had the protagonist actually lifted a finger to take out her evil stepmother and "Sleeping Beauty" had it been the princess to slay the dragon. Of course, one can argue Aurora's prince is a main character, too, which makes the ending somewhat better. It's only with later generations of Disney movies that the protagonist gets to face off with her antagonist, when there's an antagonist to be found. Imagine how exciting it wouldn't have been to follow Harry Potter all the way to the end only to have Dumbledore or Snape stand up to Voldemort in the end. 

[Protagonist faces the dragons: source]

Does your hero take down your antagonist or at least have a serious hand in it? They may send forth the beast that faces the dragon, resolving their story arc and showing the themselves to be master of both the under and the upper worlds. But one way or another, do yourself and the reader a favor by making sure you, the writer, don't become their worst enemy through dull writing and a hero who can't save the day in the end. 

Avoid Bogging down Story and Character

[The Doorway to Understanding Writing is Reading: source]

I've been blogging about writing in a more literary and meaningful fashion. I've read thousands of pages of fiction in the last year, some of it very very good, some of it mediocre, some of it so painful I couldn't finish it. What often made the difference was when information/backstories weighed so heavily in the story that both story and character have been bogged down to the point of being sunk. 

[World and Character Building: Source]

Most stories and major characters need some kind of backstory. If you're writing in fantasy, sci-fi, or a similar genre, you also need to build a world. All of this can be fascinating if you slip it out little by little, allowing your character to fully immerse into the world as deeper and deeper levels are slowly revealed by interactions with each other and their slowly revealed world. Percy Jackson and Harry Potter, for instance, start in a normal world. As they interact with that normal world, we learn more and more about who they are and how they respond to a world that becomes increasingly bizarre, more magical, more surprising. 

[Wall of Words: Source]

However, if that second or even first page, had started like so many amateur writers do their worlds, a reader could not get past that positive wall of info dumping wherein we learn every detail on their past and every detail on their world right away. There are readers that will plow through that, who are just as fascinated by your narrative explaining every little thing about every character and the world right away. But most of us will be turned back. It does not invest us in either emotionally in character or world, which is the point of good storytelling. The reader wants to be swept up, not bored or walled off. 

[Informed Attributes: Source]

The other way you can really turn off a reader with data dumping is by telling your reader all about a character and then never fulfilling your promises. This is called giving your characters informed attributes. Man, this character is hilarious. But he never does anything funny. Wow, this character is a super genius. How smart is he? So amazingly smart. But he never does anything to PROVE he's smart. We just have to take the narrator's word for it. This makes the narrator a liar and unreliable. Which is a whole separate strategy if it's used intentionally. In general, it's better to SHOW he's smart or funny. Then, your narrator never has to say it. The reader just knows.

[Using Informed Attributes Used Intentionally for Humor: Source]

An author can use informed attributes intentionally for a specific purpose. They can work for humor or irony. "You're so hilarious," says the enemy in a dry tone, highlighting how serious that character is.  "What a genius," the main character's best friend says sarcastically. Then, the character has to prove his best friend wrong. Or you build up a big, evil, scary villain only to show the reputation was based on gossip and lies. He ends up being the protagonist's mentor. Or your characters are all about a quest to find the mighty wise one only to find out his reputation was exaggerated, and they're on their own again. Informed attributes can work if they're not used straight but as an emotional strategy. 

[Data dumping: Source]

Large spans of data dump all at once are touchy but can sometimes be done after the first chapter or two. Some authors can get away with it if they first spend the time to get the reader emotionally invested in the characters and world. The fastest way to do this is to show what your character cares about then steal it or some part of it away. Show they love their family and then slowly reveal that their dad already died or show their horror as their sister is stolen from them. Then, your reader is along for the ride, even if there is a bit of dumping here and there.

[A Heart-shaped Hole: source]

Give us the character's heart then punch holes in it. We first see Percy Jackson's bond with his mom, then she's gone. We feel Harry's ache for a family long gone. MCU's Black Widow enjoys an idyllic childhood with loving parents for the first few minutes, then it's all shown to be an illusion, all of them separate quickly. 

[Let Your Readers Be Detectives: Source]

The other place a reader rarely wants a data dump is at the end. The beginning and end of any piece of writing are the most memorable. You don't want to start or end on a data dump. Even if you're writing a mystery, the truth should slowly sneak out over the course of the story. It may be summed up by the detective at the end, but if it all comes out in one dump, the reader may find this frustrating and poorly written instead of satisfied they were able to make some good guesses based on context clues. The ending is about an emotionally fulfilling wrap-up. 

[Invest Time and Emotion in Your Characters and World: source]

Information is good and necessary to telling stories. The backstory is critical in most pieces. But if it comes in a huge dump truck first thing, you'll rapidly lose readers. Invest us in characters and your world as the truth behind them comes out. Now, it's time to look through your pieces and spread out any info you find and make informed attributes into real attributes that tie your reader closer to the story instead of walling them out. 

Character Arcing and Sparking

[Character is story: source]

I've been blogging about how to write any piece more literary. Character is story; story is character.  If your story isn't about your character's voyage on at least some level, there's a good chance your character will fall flat.  Even the hero's journey is supposed to show a hero's growth from some who denies the call to adventure to a master of both worlds. Otherwise, no matter what else happens in a story, a big part of it should be the protagonist's story arc, or your story will lack the spark that will make it resonate.  

[Velveteen Rabbit-source]

Even children's books can be about character growth through lessons learned, though there are still plenty of fun kids' stories about flat characters. If the characters of books like Captain Underpants did learn their lesson, the stories that grow out of their irresponsibility would dry up. But other children's books often show a child, or child stand-in like an animal, making discoveries and learning about their world. These are often Bildungsroman, coming-of-age stories about the child's discovery of the world. The beloved and ageless "Velveteen Rabbit" shows a story of growth of a stuffed animal to real rabbit capable of emotion and love because of the love of a child. The lesson taught by children's books may be about love, responsibility, or any other lesson the reader is supposed to learn. But the lesson is learned through the discoveries of the main character in a story, through a story arc.  

[Harry Potter's development--source]

Different authors and experts on writing describe this character arc differently.  Some show a mastery of magic, fighting, or other skill, a growth of a character trait, a movement from misunderstanding to understanding.  One way or another, it's about character development. If your character starts out perfect, there's no arc, nowhere to go. We can all imagine a wide variety of stories with the spark of character development.  Harry Potter grows from a lonely, scared child wondering if he'll ever fit in to a self-assured young man with friends and family who love him.  His mastery of magic is only a piece of this because he is meant to represent muggle children in the real world who grow into their own.  His growth happens one step, one lesson, one understanding at a time. Just as he turns one misunderstanding into understanding, he discovers another piece to the puzzle.  

[Elsa--source]

Movies and shows feature the same sort of character arcs, where it's clear the author planned the growth in advance, though the character makes the development one step at a time, especially when the story's primary audience is for children. Elsa of Frozen depends on her parents, thinking they can protect her from the world, then loses her parents and has to adapt to a world wherein she is in charge but not in control.  She continues to live the secluded life her parents taught her would protect her with her powers (code for disabilities). Then, she's forced out of her seclusion to take charge, only to do the very thing she most feared by displaying her power/disability, banishing herself to that same isolation. 

[Character growth/making connections--source]

She has grown to understand her parents and isolation at home won't protect her, so she isolates herself apart from others. She proclaims her independence to the rattle of her chains that still lock her to the misunderstanding of her youth. Only after her sister shows her how to love does she learn she can still be herself and make a human connections, overcoming that isolation imposed on her in her youth.  She does, indeed, become the master of both worlds. 

[70s Hulk--source]

Movies and shows for adults do it as well, though not all do.  "The Incredible Hulk" from the seventies showed a character stuck in his prison of isolation, migrating from one place to another, seeking understanding but never learning to accept all of himself.  The show ended with his character, always in pursuit of understanding but never really gaining it, ending his journey by defeating the bad guys in an explosion on a plane and falling (as Hulk) to the pavement, dying as Banner.  He never did overcome his demons, literally or figuratively because to allow him to grow would end the story.  

[MCU Hulk-source]

The recent MCU "Incredible Hulk" picked up the story where its predecessor left off, with Banner wandering the world, hiding away and treating the Hulk like a curse or disease for which he sought a cure. Its creators showed their loyalty and connection to that earlier show through the use of the familiar refrain of "The Lonely Man." But when he fell from an exploding flight as banner, hitting the pavement (with the same angles used to show the fall), he emerged as Hulk. Over the course of the MCU storytelling, he grew to first accept the Hulk then work with him, treating him almost like a friend, then, as of the most recent movie, merging with him to become "Professor Hulk," mastering the worlds of intellect and strength. This character took 40(ish) years to complete his story arc from fear and isolation to acceptance of the whole self.  

Read and watch stories with good character development and watch how they do it. What is/are your characters' arcs?  What growth or understanding does she/he/they attain?  What steps can you pursue with each scene, each chapter to get the character(s) to where they need to be?  

Avoiding Now-What?-itis.

 

[Trap! Source]

I've been blogging about making your writing more meaningful, more literary.  In this blog, I'll be writing about how to avoid building up so much excitement with your brilliant and intricately plotted first installment only to wind up with a mess in later works.  It's an easy trap to fall into if you don't plan in advance for where to go next with your story.  

[When part 1 and possibly even part 2 works--Batman-Source]

We've all seen it.  You watch the first season of a show like "Heroes" or "Lois & Clark" so many others, or you watch a first movie(s) like "Lilo and Stitch" or the nineties "Batman" (one and two) or the 2002 "Spider-man" (one and two), and so many others. You decide that is so well plotted with such great characters you can't wait to come back for more.  Then, you do come back for more, only to find it disappointing or even painful.  You think to yourself, "What gives?"  In many cases, it's that the creators focused so heavily on the design of season/movie one or even two then ran out of originally planned story.  They're left asking, "So, now what?"  What comes next is floundering to catch the magic of part one or even parts one and two but never succeeds. 

[Superman can work or not--source]

Part one is where creators/authors establish the world and characters then give a spectacular plot, or they'll lose audience/readership.  But if you complete your protagonist's story arc, if the sexual tension concludes, the primary antagonist dies or disappears, or the main struggle presented in season one ends somehow, the author(s) then have to come up a whole new story, a whole new reason for drama.  At the end of season one, the brilliantly plotted "Heroes" characters save the cheerleader and solve the problems central to first season.  At the end of season one of "Lois & Clark," the central dramas of sexual tension and romantic rivalry provided by the ever-plotting Lex Luthor wrap up.  Both series floundered and had a hard time finding footing because the arcs designed were over.  You could almost hear the writers say, "Now what?"  What came next in both cases was disappointing and lost audiences.  This is a trap to be avoided.  You may focus such time, attention, and intensity on book one only to say, "Now what?" to yourself.  

[Superman from the Beginning--source]

It's possible to have a semi-successful part one only to get better and better as the writers focus on deepening characters and plot already established.  For instance, "Smallville" started with a very formulaic season one that built an audience successfully enough to make a season two. Then, it built characters and plot, continuing to deepen and complexify a young Clark Kent's voyage from teenager to Super Man. Season one ends on a satisfying note that wraps up some storylines but then makes it clear there is more to the story. Those who kept watching all the way to season 10 got an overall conclusion to his voyage with Clark fulfilling his destiny.  One can argue the success or failure of each character or story arc or season, but the fact that it continued with a loyal audience to the end shows that it teaches a lesson worth telling on storytelling.   

[Writing-source]

But what would be better yet is to have an overall character arc and central plotting that go beyond part/season one.  Conceptualize the story AS IF you're going to make it past a spectacular season/book one.  Be ready with an overall story that has satisfying mini conclusions and character growth and depth on the way, with the vision of your story's overall trajectory.  

[Harry Potter-source]

Think of Harry Potter.  J.K. Rowling had a character and plot trajectory for Harry and his friends planned for book one, with questions, character arcs yet to be completed, problems yet to be solved, and just overall more to be said waiting after book one. They translated well enough to movies that audiences who were never exposed to the books still waited with baited breath for the next piece of the overall story.  Readers and movie audiences stood in long lines to see what would come next because it was clear there was a next to come to.  From the beginning, Rowling had her ending planned, so each book in the meantime took us one step closer to an exciting climax. Remember, however, not to focus so hard on sequel hooks that each piece of the main story falls apart. Make sure part 2 doesn't feel like a boring pathway to get to part 3. 

So, to recap, to avoid Now-What-itis, don't plan part one as if it's its own thing.  Plan it as a piece of the greater story, one that comes to various mini-conclusions but doesn't wrap up whatever makes your drama and tension work until your series has come to an end. Also, don't skip the build up to mini-conclusions; in other words, keep each installment exciting.  Each mini conclusion should bring you one satisfying step toward an overall climax.  

Balancing Flat and Round Characters

[Writing-source]

 I've been posting on writing with meaning.  Most writing classes will insist that characters have to be round, that they have to grow through the story.  And for the most part, that's true for the main characters of books for teens and adults.  However, flat characters do have their place in literature.  When you write a story, you need to decide which characters need to be flat with little to no growth and which need to be round.  

[kids' books-source]

Think through popular children's books, and you'll see they are often driven not by character growth but by adventure. Both Captain Underpants and Geronimo Stilton, some of the most popular books,.  Kids love the humor, the excitement, and the color in these books.  If the two kids of Captain Underpants learned to be good, emotionally mature boys, they wouldn't be funny,  Kids would lose interest.  If Geronimo Stilton changed, target audiences wouldn't know him.  They want him to stay the same as he goes on his adventures. 

[Luna Lovegood-source]

Furthermore, a lot of background and side characters in books for older kids and adults similarly don't need to change.  In Harry Potter, Dobby stays the same loyal character.  Luna Lovegood may change some, but she stays true her nickname "Loony" no matter what happens around her. Hagrid never understands that his stubborn love of dangerous animals puts everyone around him in peril.  If they ever stopped being themselves or became moving targets, you wouldn't be able to use them to measure the growth of the main characters.  Part of their charm is they stay the same. 

[Hogwarts-source]

Even villains often stay the same, though not always.  Voldemort doesn't learn as Harry Potter goes on adventure after adventure to face him and take him down.  He holds that he is the only one to take down Harry, even though he's often the only one who can't.  Malfoy gets taller but doesn't stop being the same bully he was as a first-year throughout most of the story.  Side and antagonistic characters don't have to grow any more than kids' story characters do.  

[Books for older kids-source]

However, if your character or characters are at the center of a book for older kids or adults, he/she/they should grow.  That's when you look at what kind of growth you want to explore.  It doesn't have to be about the moral of the story, as in a conventional moral, like be a good child or obey your mama. Few people enjoy reading a book more about agenda than story, regardless of what your point is.  However, think carefully.  What kind of misunderstanding does your character start out with that he/she/they can grow out of?  

[Frozen's Elsa-source]

For instance, in "Frozen," Elsa's misunderstanding is that she can protect the world, especially her sister, and find happiness through isolation.  First, she tries isolating herself at home, then, when she leaves home, she finds a new place to hide.  She even sings an anthem to isolation, "Let It Go," and banishes herself to an ice castle.  Her isolation protects no one and brings her no joy.  Anna starts with the misunderstanding that she needs a stranger to save her from the misery of her isolation. In the end, neither sister finds happiness until they both decide their true happiness is in each other.  They grow and mature through overcoming their misunderstandings.  They are the round characters, while Olaf, Duke Weselton, Hans, and the others remain more or less the same.  

Part of the joy of crafting characters is to decide who needs to grow and who will need the same as the adventure and scenery around them change.  How does your main character grow?  What characters can remain flat?  

Animals in Writing

[animals in lit-source]

Introduction: 

 I've been blogging about how to write in a literary fashion.  Someone asked me recently what that even means.  It just means writing with greater than surface meaning.  A lot of literature throughout history has employed animals in their writing.  Animals can be employed to show deeper meaning in a story or poetry. 

[Eden's Snake-source]

Animals-as-animals

Frequently in literature, animals play their conventional role in the lives of human characters.  Dogs, cats, horses, and so on show up in the Bible, in Shakespeare, and in so many other places as an animal, often simply a tool or companion for humans.  Eden is full of animals that later appear on the ark or that fill a lord's menagerie, a farmer's pens, or a child's backyard. In many places, they're just part of the setting, the source of the sounds of mooing, the smells that fill the nose, or the meal on the table. They can give your fictional world its flavor, sometimes literally.  They can also be called on for all the standard symbolism, snakes as sinister, dogs as embodiments of loyalty, foxes as sly creatures, etc. It's a little harder to recreate the symbolism into something less conventional, but many have achieved it.  

[horses-source]

However, their literary capacity comes alive when the writer transforms them into part of the meaning of the book. An animal can be employed to reflect and highlight some aspect of your main character.  In The Three Musketeers, one of the Musketeers shows his carelessness and deep character flaws by gambling away his and the protagonist's horses. Basically, horses mean mobility and power, both of which he loses.  Ivanhoe, meanwhile, is empowered and aided through the loan of a horse.  Likewise, riding a horse in Shakespeare often shows the power, grace, and might of kings and other important characters.  In each case, animals reflect some critical aspect of human characters, who play the primary role in a story.  

[The animal mask-source]

Animals-as-metaphoric-humans

In some works, animals play the part of animals-as-metaphoric-humans. Authors mask some aspect of the human condition or character in the guise of an animal. Stories like Aesop's Fables, Seuss's books, and fantasy novels, among others, feature animals as human-like characters. This kind of story has a long history.  In Aesop's Fables, animals act as human stand-ins.  We are to learn from their stories lessons we can apply in our lives, such as the tortoise who wins the race over a hare through steadiness or the ant whose practical preparation stands in stark contrast to the near-sightedness of the grasshopper.  The reader is meant to learn how to behave based on the animal's actions.

[Puss-source]

The personified animal continued to appear through oral and literary fairy tales, sometimes to show morals and sometimes for other reasons. Puss from "Puss in Boots," for instance, is the main actor, who outsmarts the enemy in order to bring the human character his happily ever after.  The cat, then, would be a stand-in for a clever human. Because of the fictional cover, he does things humans can't or won't do, such as eating the enemy transformed into a mouse, but he shows the reader they can solve problems. It's a melding of fantasy and triumph of the human(ish) spirit. 

[children's books-source]

Animals continue to stand in for the reader into the modern literary era, especially in children's books.  The characters in Green Eggs and Ham, for instance, are clearly meant to seem like an adult and a child having a conversation, though they are both clearly furry and animalistic. Through their whimsical dialogue, the reader learns to have an open mind. Animals-as-humans can teach the reader lessons. The lessons aren't so moralistic in more modern tales, but they're still there.  

[spider-source]

Today

In recent years, editors have taken to discouraging the use of talking animals, but yet, they continue to be available to writers as a literary trope.  In Harry Potter, the spiders act as speaking characters, but they are clearly meant to be alien and other, the dangerous and predatory side of human nature.  Their characterization also complicates the idea of a simple moral.  They are neither clearly good nor truly bad, neither clearly ally nor unequivocally enemy.  Aliens, half-humans, and others that are not human may appear in the same way, as something that is other and yet reflective of some aspect of human nature.  

How do animals appear in your writing, if they do at all?  How can you bring added meaning into your story by employing either animals-as-animals or animals-as-humans-in-disguise?  

               

Writing Comes Alive: Voices in my Head

Old vs New: 

I have read my old writing recently, and it stayed black words on the page, clunky.  Of late, my writing has come alive.  I actually hear the voices of my characters and have to put them down.  How did this happen?  It’s probably a combination of things.  

1. Humor: 

One of those things was the discovery of the critical nature of including humor.  I will be writing a blog on this soon as a guest blogger on a friend's wall.  I can scarcely read a book or watch a movie anymore that doesn't have at least a little humor.  I loved the 90s rendition of "Mission Impossible" when I was a kid.  I recently tried to watch it but couldn't make it very far.   Why?  Because the characters were too serious.  I don't do sitcoms.  I don't want a show or a book with a built-in laugh track, necessarily.  But I also don't want to watch an unremittingly grim slugfest.  "Dark Knight Rises" illustrates exactly how hard it is for many people to enjoy that.  More on this in a later blog.  

2. Writing out loud 

 Another factor in the life in my writing was the discovery I made last week, that the writing in isolation doesn't work for me.  You can just page to the previous post for that discovery.  If I can talk through the dialogue and the narrative, if I can read it out loud and hear the voices in it that aren't mine, my writing has started to come to life.  If it sounds like me, I still have work to be done. 

3. Character Planning:

Yet another factor is the careful crafting of characters in advance.  I have to know what kind of person this character is and often have someone I know to use as an emotional model in my head.  The character has to care about something or someone, which makes me care about them.  My blog about heart of the story is here.  

4. Read what You Want to Write:

A fourth factor is reading voices in fiction that come to life.  If you read oatmeal fiction, you write oatmeal fiction.  Oatmeal fiction is the kind that is sloppy and lazy, the kind that some writers tend to write early in their careers and some tend to write when they're constantly racing the clock, where all of the characters feel like stock and little effort seems to have been put in considering and crafting each line, each word.  When the book tends to feel more like a summary than a lively tale that comes alive in your head, it's oatmeal fiction.  Sometimes cold, lumpy oatmeal fiction.  

However, there are writers whose voice is fresh and fascinating.  Harry Potter books, especially the later ones, are like this for me.  The characters leap off the pages.  I can see them, hear them, and imagine myself sitting and chatting with them for hours.  These characters were meticulously planned out and often based on someone the writer knew to help the writer get the voice right.  The power of Rowling's fiction transformed the face of children's fiction, fiction in general, movies, and the world.  

The Percy Jackson is another popular example of a series wherein the writer's voice is fresh and unique.  It's clearly in the tradition established by the Harry Potter series but does not feel derivative since it draws from Greek mythology rather than fantasy fiction.  Every chapter title reveals, amuses, and keeps one guessing.  Percy's first person voice is snarky and full of personality.  And for me, a great charm is that he has both dyslexia and ADD.  He feels unique and real because he struggles with problems many readers may understand.  If one wants to hear what a lively, intriguing voice sounds like, skip the bland movies and go right for the book.  

The third of these writers that have blown me away with their unique voice is Shannon Hale with her Ever After High: Storybook of Legends trilogy, particularly the third one.  This series follows the fairly recent fad of following the adventures of high school-aged offspring of famous fictional characters, a la Monster High, but it is so much more.  The pages are full of wit and intriguing characters. In the third book, the narrator goes insane like the rest of the world.  The daughter of the Mad Hatter takes over as an unreliable and quirky narrator.  Later, the daughter of the Cheshire Cat joins the party as a narrator so unreliable, she's willing to make events up because what's actually happening isn't interesting to her.  For an example of unique voice, I highly recommend that book.  I didn't like how the text used the device of effectively erasing the story for characters involved, but the book is well worth reading.  

These writers employ humor, research, wild imaginations, and careful planning to create something new and compelling for readers.   Their characters are fully realized with quirks, flaws, sometimes trauma, and even occasionally disabilities (a topic I blogged about here).  Hearing the narrative and character voices of writers like these in my head helps my capture my own voice.  If I read oatmeal fiction, my writing may start to feel like oatmeal.  If I read lively, quirky fiction, my writing can pick up that flavor as well.  I can forgive a lot of issues if you have the voices down.  Clear voices share clear motivation, which helps push the plot.  I want to hear from the characters and know what they are doing and why.  This is what helps characters and the entire text come alive.   

5. Becoming the Character: 

Good writing is like method acting.  One doesn't just write about a character.  One becomes the character, hears the voices in one's head, speaks and writes with that voice.  I never know what my characters are going to say until they say it on the page.   But as hear their voices in my head, I become them for that short time.  

6. Writing Truth

As I’m writing, it feels real, exciting, funny, emotionally charged to me, and I tend to get a positive response from my readers.  I can cry over my own writing or laugh with my characters.  Good writing is unexpected, well-crafted, meaningful.  I find I write my best when I'm true to my heart and to my light within, when I write what I know to be true and real encoded in fiction. I share a version of my experience or the emotional realities of those I know through my stories.  When I write truth, my stories mean something, and my writing comes alive.  I feel guided, so I know it's not just me writing.   If it's meaningful to me, it will be meaningful to others as well.   

7. Polish: 

At the end of writing, do make sure to edit well.  Get readers to help you make sure your characters and story are complete and flow well.  Just now, I started looking into the editing software Autocrit.  The reviews are positive, and it looks like it may help me liven my writing by avoiding redundancies, filler words, adverbs, etc.  Whether you use a service or not, your lively writing will be easiest to read if well edited. But I save editing for later.  If I belabor one short fragment of the text as I write before moving on, I don't go anywhere.  

Your Turn: 

For a long time, I sought a voice.  Now, I've found that voice, and it comes from inside.  It makes writing fun and interesting for me and the reader.  For those still seeking, good luck finding yours.