How To Use Free Mind, Part One: Creating A Simple Plot

It’s been a while since I blogged, and I thought I’d start blogging regularly again. The idea for this 3-part blog series came to me randomly while using the free mind map software called “Free Mind”, which you can download here (it lists the versions by operating system).

I’ve found mind mapping to be an effective way to just get an idea down on paper, without worrying about structure or character development or anything specific about the story. When you mind map a plot in particular, you just focus on the basics first and anything specific later.

The basic things you’d need for your mind map are:

·         Title

·         Main Character(s)

·         Conflict

·         Theme

·         Setting(s)

·         Genre(s)

 

For an example, I’ll show you the mind map process I’d use if I were to mind map an old story I wrote years ago, back when I had no clue what the rules of writing were. If I were to rewrite it now, it would need a major reworking of both the plot and the characters. But for the sake of the mind map example, it will also allow me to keep it simple.   

The story, at its core, was a coming-of-age fantasy (specifically, portal fantasy) novel, about a girl named Lucille who discovers a mystical doorway in a forest and a wolf chained by that door. The wolf—a shape shifter—explains that he has been waiting for years and years for someone to set him free and for that someone to journey back to the world beyond the door, and help him vanquish the evil. Now, we have our basic idea.

Opening Free Mind, you should get a blank mind map. If not, go to File> New to get a fresh mind map.

In the middle of the page you should get something like this:

 

 

 

       Click that circle and you should be able to edit the text inside the circle (called a “node”)

Here’s where we insert our title: SAPPHIRE PRINCESS. Depending on your novel, the title will be different. If you are still trying to figure out your title, put: WIP in the node bubble. To help figure out your novel’s title, I wrote a previous blog post on finding titles here.

Next, right-click that bubble and you should get a lot of options. Click the option with the light bulb, labeled ‘New Child Node’. A line should appear with a text box.

Label this text box: Main Characters.

 



Next, who are your main heroes? Do you have a name for them? If so, right-click the Main Characters node and click New Child Node (or press: Insert, on the keyboard) however many times to insert one or more main characters. In this case, I have at least four main characters: Lucille, who is the main heroine. Her mentors—the wolf-shifters—Akoto and Silver and, finally, the main villain, Resmiel.

Within each character’s text node, write as many attributes about them that you know. Age, gender, race, odd clothes or physical looks, favorite color or pet, anything specific to them within the story like powers, or their past, or their role within the story—anything that comes to mind.

If you can’t figure out something or if there is a reason for that trait important to the book, write the question or elaborated answer in a child node connected to that particular trait, like in the example below:

The next thing you should put in a node is: Conflict. Conflict could be as simple as your character missing the bus and having to get to their destination another way, or as complex as saving the world from alien invaders. A few questions to ask yourself when considering the different threads of conflict are:

·         What or who will your characters face in the story?

·         What will your hero have to face in regards to the villain?

·         What will he/she need to come to terms with?

·         What will tear her down, both physically and mentally?

·         What will be her goal/goals within the story?

·         What or who will stand in her way, in regards to succeeding those particular goals?

Create a child node from Conflict to include each main character. Then create nodes from their names, put a possible conflict or conflicts, and add additional details (in more nodes) if required. Some conflicts will involve each character or will be between two characters (such as the main hero and the villain). For this example, I’ve just done a few regarding the character Lucille.

 

Creating a new node from the title node, the next thing you will detail is: Theme. Theme is possibly the most challenging thing to boil down in a book. What are we trying to say, beyond all those perfectly constructed metaphors? What are we trying to tell the readers? What does this scene, this character, this idea, object or symbol contribute to the overall book, to the big picture—the theme of the book? Your theme could be anything from racism, to good vs evil to love conquers all…so long as the scenes and the plot reflect it.

Next would be Setting. Where does your story take place? What time period? What’s the name of your city or town or fictional world?  What details about the place(s) are important? Put them in nodes if needed.

 

 

Finally, the final node you can add is: Genre. What is your novel? Where would you put it on shelves? Would it be a paranormal romance? A fantasy? A historical? A science-fiction novel? As each genre has its rules and requirements regarding plot, it’s important you know what exactly you’re going to write. You can’t have novels straddling too many genres, otherwise it gets confusing for both readers and publishers to know exactly what group and to whom this book is marketed for.

 

Hopefully this process, while time-consuming, will be helpful in creating a sort of outline and a plot for your novel.

Stay tuned for part two of this series, How To Use Free Mind, Part Two: Figuring Out Character Conflict.

 

Thanks for reading!

- HC



Creating Cultures In Fantasy: Beliefs

So you’re thinking of creating a fantasy race for your novel? As discussed in part one of this series, you choose the physical aspects of your race—you know what the creature looks like 24/7 or what it turns into on certain nights. Besides knowing the breeds of your fantasy race, one important aspect you should consider when creating a fantasy culture is the beliefs of the people. Who or what do they believe in? When creating a fantasy religion, there are a few things to consider.  

  

1.  Society    

What’s the core societal structure of your fantasy race? Before you begin to think about how the beliefs are structured, you should know the ins and outs of your culture.

First of all, how is the society organized? Are they a race that’s primarily patriarchal or matriarchal? Look within your fantasy culture’s myths and legends; see how the hierarchal structure is. Do the males inherit or do the females? Is there a reason—such as a god or a mythological prophecy—deeming which gender is meant to rule?

Or perhaps, there’s something physical that only males or females can do—such as, in Piers Anthony and Mercedes Lackey’s If I Pay Thee Not In Gold, only females can use the powers of conjuration—and thus allows them to have great power and influence in the culture. Find out if your own fantasy race has a gender-specific power and see if you can use that within the beliefs to enrich the culture, make it seem unique.

As with any real world religion, each culture has different views on sin and what is considered a sin. In your fantasy race’s culture, what is considered improper or vulgar? Depending on how your fantasy race is set up (hierarchy, the sources of power or income, and the line dividing the different class systems) take a look at the laws and limitations that you put on your race, and try to find something that would mock their systems or be different/odd to them. For example, in a fantasy race that prides itself on honesty and modesty; they may find telling lies, or showing too much skin in public, to be offensive.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, what are your race’s opinions on virtue? Again, depending on how your fantasy race is set up, take a look at the laws and limitations that you put on your race, and try to find something that they would find acceptable or good. Things such as kindness or honesty or a physical feature/attribute, for example.  

2.      Purpose

Greek mythology had many gods for many different purposes—Artemis was the virgin goddess of the hunt and of women, Aphrodite was goddess of love, and Hades, the god of death. Likewise, in your fantasy race’s beliefs, a god or gods must serve a purpose.

A few things to find out regarding the purpose of the god or gods in your pantheon are:

Myths. Who are your mythological creatures or people? Did they cause an event to happen— such as when Persephone was bound to the Underworld for six months creating winter, or where they the basis of a creature—like Arachne, a weaver who boasted her skill, was turned into a spider.  

What are you fantasy race’s views on creation and destruction? Which force or god is connected with each? Within a pantheon, there always seems to be that dividing line between good and evil, heroes and villains. In your pantheon is there a clear distinction between the heroic gods and the villainous ones or is there a gray area? It’s always good to have a mixture, to add depth and potential tension to the culture.

Speaking about creation and destruction, the powers of the gods should fulfill some key role in explaining how the world works, and how world incidents came to be. Which god or gods control life and death? Love or magic? How do the gods affect each other or connect in your pantheon to explain world events—such as the change of seasons, natural disasters, or the lunar cycle? Give each god a power (or multiple powers) and a reason for controlling that force. Consult your fantasy culture’s myths and legends and try to interweave the culture of the race deeply within this created pantheon.

3.      Worship/Ritual

In your world, your races beliefs can also be shown by the rituals they preform, the holidays and rites of passage they celebrate or things that are shown in your world such as signs and statues. A few things to consider when creating rituals in your fantasy religion are:

Color: The symbolism of color can play a key role in the culture and thus also in the rituals they perform. Different colors also have cultural significance to the reader, such as red for blood and death or purple for royalty. This chart lists different colors and the common associations with each.

Fruit/Vegetables: Fruits eaten or shown during rituals also have cultural/religious significance. Depending on your myths and legends, certain fruits and veggies might symbolize certain gods or invoke certain things such as pomegranates (in Greek myths) symbolizing long life and rebirth.

Symbols: Think of certain symbols such as a sword or a crown and apply them to your culture. Depending on the ritual and the god(s) being called upon, there may be many different symbols attributed to them, such as a loom or a hammer for a god of trade or a shield or arrow attributed to a god of war. If there are many symbols, be specific in the way they are used, and choose one universal symbol for each god to avoid confusion for the reader.

The next topic in our 4-part Fantasy Culture Creation series is “Powers”. Besides creating the physical appearance and beliefs of your fantasy race, it’s important to look over the powers of your race—the magical and physical abilities that can make your race stand out from all the standard races of fantasy and make the creatures your own.

Creating Cultures in Fantasy: Part 1: Breed

Anyone who reads even a little bit of fantasy knows that fantastic or mystical races are a common element to the genre, easily as common as magic. If you’ve read books like Lord of the Rings, or Dritzz Duordan, you know how easily a well constructed, original culture can elevate a story to a whole other level of greatness. Where would LOTR be without the furry footed Hobbits of Hobbiton, or the creepy creature Golom? What would the Elvin race, rather white as they were before him, be without the last black elf called Dritzz? But have you noticed that when it comes to fantasy, but for a few exceptions, most books feature the same beings? Vampires, werewolves, faeries, Elves, Dwarves. And few new authors bother to develop a culture behind their race, a deep and complex system of habits, taboos, and beliefs. At least if authors added a few cultural quirks to their vampires or faeries, they would feel a little more original. I think that’s because for most, the concept of building an entire race from the ground up is such a daunting task that it’s too overwhelming for most. But could you imagine developing your own culture and having it become so much a part of the world’s consciousness that everyone, everywhere knows it by name? A writer’s dream come true, that. But in this day and age, when there are so many other stories to compete with, how can one hope to stand out from the crowd and get noticed? And with the endless possibilities that could go into the creation of whole race, how can you be sure you have a winning combination?

The task of building an entire culture from the ground up is a massive undertaking and a huge topic, enough that I’ve decided to collaborate with fellow FTLOW author and veteran creator Madelaine Bauman, to bring you a 5 part blog on the subject.

After talking with Maddie, we saw that there are literally dozens of elements that can go into a single race. Consider the real cultures of our world. Every race on this planet has a way of dressing, thinking, acting, that is as different from the others as light is to day. All over the world, everything our many cultures do differs, from the music we listen to, to the language we speak, from our faith to what we eat, to the way we view other races. In many cultures, there are various sub-cultures, sometimes with a different dialect of the same tongue, sometimes with slightly altered belief systems, ones that to us, seem like a different shade of the same hue, but to them, seems a vastly different as light and dark. What one culture considers the norm another might consider an enormous taboo. With so many possibilities, how does one even know where to start? Not to mention, races in fantasy have other layers that those of this world do not. The race in your story may have other features besides human, and may also have magic or other abilities that make it even more complex than the races of our world. After much discussion, Maddie and I decided that creating an effective fantasy culture can be broken down into five basic components: Breed, Beliefs, Powers, Language, and Purpose. I don’t think development has to go in that order, but I personally find it easiest to start by giving my new race a face, or, more definitively, a physical framework to build from. So for this first installment, we’ll discuss Breed - that is, what physical traits your beings should have.

For those of you who’ve been reading me for a while, you know I’m fond of breaking things into smaller steps. It makes it easier to organize a larger topic. Where we've cut the construction of a race into four sections, the subject of breed is also broken into parts. For me, it breaks down into three. Relatability, appeal, and plausibility. 

To my mind, the physical aspects of creation is perhaps the most difficult. This is partially because of the sheer scope of possibilities. Are your beings bi-peddle or four legged? Do they have smooth skin, scales, fur or something else? Do they have claws? Wings? Two eyes or eight? The other reason this aspect is so difficult is that there’s a fine line between coming up with something unique and interesting, and something that is still relatable to readers.

Consider what’s been done. The most common ancestry seems to be birds, bats, wolves, and winged insects (faeries). When creating a race, a first step toward making it unique can be to use a creature or traits that haven’t been used much, or combine several. Winged beings are all too common, but why not give your beings the wings of a bird, and the pointed ears of an elf? And throw in blue skin just for fun? Many novice writers who try to create a new race will use a more unlikely creature thinking that it will score them points on the originality meter. They’ll give their beings a half spider form, or make them look like a hybrid of a worm and a human. Nine times out of ten, that won’t work. So many of us are unsettled by creepy crawlies that beings who possess too many such traits will be an instant repellent and not at all easy to relate to. I’m not saying certain traits from any creature can’t work. Who doesn’t love Spiderman? I’m a firm believer that anything can work if it’s used right. In the case of Spiderman, the idea of a man with the abilities of a spider worked because, other than his ability to sling webs and scale walls, he was a normal everyday guy. That and there was nothing horrifically gross about him. He didn’t spit acid out of his mouth, or molt his skin like a snake. Yuck. Your beings have to be relatable, and like it or not, that means giving them some human traits that make us see them the way we see ourselves.

I think there’s a second reason certain creatures are overused – it’s because they’re safe. We already know people will accept Vampires and Werewolves. Creating a new race with as yet unused traits is risky. Readers might not be able to suspend their disbelief enough to accept them. They might be seen as b-movie material. But if you combine features the right way, and you put it right on the page, readers will accept anything. It’s all about the appeal of the race and the writer’s ability to make a reader believe in what they say. Which brings me to the second part of the segment.

When I say appeal, I’m not referring to whether or not readers find your new race of people attractive. I’m talking about whether or not they have a mass market appeal. So, whether or not your beings will be accepted by a wide range of readers. The trick to creating a race of beings that appeals to many is to give them traits that appeal to most humans. I know it sounds shallow, but that’s why creatures with eight legs or a head full of eyes is so hard to pull off, and if they are used, they’re usually villains or henchmen, temporary challenges for the heroes to overcome, without big roles or heavy interaction. We as humans have a hard time relating to that. You can still avoid your people being overly attractive or generic without making them so unusual that people can’t take it seriously.

Consider the concept of a Werewolf. A huge, hairy creature that mauls and kills people. How is that attractive? But why does it work? Because Werewolves are only like that part of the time. In most stories that feature a werewolf, the character is human for the bulk of the time, perhaps with certain traits of the wolf left over while in man form, like heightened senses or super speed, the kind of traits that makes people look badass. Not to mention, predatory animal traits in a sexy package generate a massive hottie appeal. :D. *Wipes drool from mouth* (Actually, I don’t like werewolves or vamps, but I love creating races with badass animal traits, and if used right, they are sexy).  

Getting back on track, if you combine human traits with those of another creature without losing the being’s humanity, you make it easier to believe in. Which brings us to the third and final element. Plausibility.

If you think about it, any being with human and animal traits combined seems a little far fetched. Take a mermaid. A being with the head and torso of a woman, (a man if it’s a Merman) and the tail of a fish? How weird is that? And yet, stories the world over tell of these half fish beings who live in the sea, and people love them. Why? Partially it’s because we have the other two elements, relatablity and appeal, at work here. Mermaids are just human enough to see as being like us, but just “fish” enough to seem exotic. Plus they come from a place that is universally mysterious and still relatively unexplored. This adds to the mass market appeal and the exotic allure of a race. But Mermaids are also effective because, from the perspective of readers who like to escape into a fantasy world, they seem plausible. The sea’s largely unknown depths leave open the plausibility necessary for readers to suspend disbelief enough to accept the concept. Plausibility in creating a new and original race lies in cultivating the ever tantalizing question all humans have in the back of their minds - What if. It lies in starting with the seed of an idea and then building off it by answering other questions. Other questions that spark our curiosity and make us want to learn more. Questions like, if you create a race, how do they act? What do they believe in? What might their religion be like? How different might they’re every day lives be from ours? When we begin to explore these concepts, that’s when a whole culture starts to come to life in our minds. 

This Monday, Madelaine Bauman continues our blog with Part 2: Beliefs, through which she’ll delve into perhaps the most interesting aspect of building a race, developing a belief system that will keep your readers wanting to learn more, and offer your story a real world feel that makes your readers forget the world they’re in is just a fantasy.

Building Effective Heroes

Earlier in the week my FTLOW sister ReeVera did a post on identifying your hero, listing attributes that make a character a hero, as well as the traits that are often mistaken for those of a hero, but aren't.  Here, in a second part to that post, I'll explain how to create effective heroes your readers will want to read about again and again. Since I write fantasy, and some of the requirements for fantasy heroes are different than for other genres, most of my tips revolve around that, but many of them apply to other genres too.

Creating an effective story hero or heroine is as hard as creating any other main character, be it a protagonist, a villain, a love interest or a sidekick. In fact, if the hero happens to be the MC, it's harder, because they're the person the reader has to identify with and care about the most. Equal only to the villain at least in a fantasy, they also have to stand out the most in the reader's mind. It should be understood that while heroes are generally thought of as brave, bold, moral, and strong, this alone is no longer enough. Readers look for something deeper in their heroes than they did in the 80's, when characters were either good or bad, strong or weak. Such characters now come off as cliche, one dimensional, and even cheesy. So how do you create a hero who makes a lasting impression and is immediately likable to your reader? Here's some tips I've found.

Make your hero human

I'm not referring to race, here. If you write fantasy or sci-fi, you might want a hero who isn’t actually human. What I mean is, give them human qualities. Even if they are an angel from heaven, or even a god, don't make your hero perfect. Have them make mistakes, and pay the price, fall on their face, argue, or be temped by evil. If it fits the plot, perhaps even have them turn evil. Just make sure that when they do make mistakes, there are consequences, and they face them. And if they turn evil, have them come back from it in the end. Also, have your hero effected by loss, pain, injustice or evil. Make them feel sad when they lose a loved one, angry when the villain hurts someone, frustrated by major setbacks, strike out when someone beats them down. Strong heroes are great, but if they don't have moments of weakness or believable emotional reactions, they won't feel relatable. Machines don't feel pain or emotions, and God is perfect, but in stories, the reader should sometimes forget the cybernetic hero is a machine, and even gods mess up once in a while.

Give him/her a quirk

Oddities and unique attributes are a great way to make a character stand out. This can be something as simple as a habit of rubbing her temples when she's under stress, pinching his nose when he's frustrated, playing with the hair or a necklace when nervous. Or it can be something more complex, like an obsession with monkeys, or a strong dislike for a certain television show.  Aside from making the person unique from your other characters, when used correctly, these can help to identify the hero when he speaks without telling it in tags or descriptions, create interesting dialogue, enhance personality, and make them feel more real. Everyone has a quirk. So should a hero. 

Give your hero a dream/goal

Everyone who's been reading me for a while knows how much I love to pull tips from writer and literary agent Donald Maass, especially those from his book, Writing The Breakout Novel. One of the first things Maass tells us in his section on characterization of a hero is to make your hero want something. In any good story, in any genre, the main character has some sort of struggle they must overcome. There is something they want, so badly that they're willing to face impossible odds to obtain it. It's integral to a good plot to have your main character driven by some overwhelming need. This creates strong personal conflict, and either builds the foundation for the main conflict, or produces a secondary conflict that enhances and adds depth to the main one. Also, lack of ambition or personal stakes can make the most otherwise dynamic character seem flat and drain an otherwise great storyline of tension. The hero's goal or dream can be the need to cure a loved one, fly to a distant planet, save a pet, get a certain job, get revenge on a villain, or finally get the girl of his dreams to give him the time of day. Conflict or something at stake is what keeps readers wanting to see how things turn out. It creates the struggle that is at least part of the basis for your story, or sometimes it's entire focus. It's the reason the hero must get the girl, return home, get the job, or save someone they love. In some cases, it can also be an added motivation to stop the villain, on top of the moral need to set things right, because unless they complete the struggle, they can't reach their personal goal. Dreams do not have to be huge or lofty, but it should suit the hero and set the tone for the character. They should also be something the hero can't stand to lose.

Make your hero suffer.

What makes a hero's dream matter to the reader, and what makes them want to see the hero obtain that dream, isn't just that it's important to the hero, but that they must overcome constant obstacles to obtain the dream they're after. This is what makes readers root for the hero, want to see them win. If your hero has nothing driving them, nothing personally at stake, there is no struggle. If there is no struggle, the reader has no reason to want to see the hero win. Likewise, if everything comes too easy for them, readers lose interest. So give your hero a goal or dream, and then make sure you find ways to let them get only so close before it's pulled away from them until the end. The back and forth struggle will keep readers wanting to read on in order to see if the hero gets what he or she has been working for the whole novel to achieve.

Make your hero strong..but not too strong

Along with making your hero suffer, it's important to make them a strong, determined personality. They need to be someone who won't turn tail at the first hint of danger or whine about everything that goes wrong. This doesn't mean they don't feel fear. It means they keep going in spite of it. This doesn't mean they don't ever complain or that everything is roses all the time. It means they note their misgivings when necessary and then do something about it. It also means they defend what's right even when no one else will, even when it could, and sometimes does, cost them everything.In addition, where possible, if you can rob the hero of what he or she cares about the most without destroying the plot, do it. Just be sure they find a way to resolve the loss in the end. Creating suffering for the hero brings more obstacles to face, and the more your hero overcomes, the stronger and more heroic they will be to the reader.

Make your hero someone to look up to/Larger than Life

One of the fastest ways for readers to identify the hero in a story is that it's the person who always takes extraordinary actions to set things right. Every time something major happens that forwards the plot and brings the hero closer to the resolution, it should be an action on the part of the hero. Heroes need friends and should rarely get to the end of the journey on their own, but the most profound actions should be the hero's. It's ok if a hero is saved by others, but not all the time, and not without the hero trying to do it his or herself, taking actions that, without having done, the rescuer couldn't rescue them. Make your hero stand up and take actions no one else would. Make them proactive. Make them bold and defiant. This is a key factor in what makes us see them as heroes, what makes us want to be them.

Create a fear/weakness for your hero

While heroes should be brave and take on challenges others would never face, they should also be afraid of something. Fearless heroes are great in theory, but that's rarely to be taken literally. Your hero's fear doesn't have to be a phobia, though it can be. A fear can be that of losing a loved one, of a certain object or animal, a particular nightmare, or a fear that something horrible that happened before will happen again. If there is a fear or weakness that holds the hero back from resolving the conflict, it adds tension to the story, depth to the character, and provides ways to make their overall struggle more powerful. If it's placed right, it will also enhance the degree of suffering the hero must endure, thus evoking stronger emotions from the reader. I should note that, while it's fine if your hero's fear is paralyzing, the fear should be something that the hero eventually overcomes, especially in this case, and it shouldn't hold them back to the point where they won’t take action. Cowardice is not an admirable trait. Also, the hero's fear should be something that ties into the main plot and keeps them from the resolution in some way, even if it's only for part of the time. If it’s integral to the plot to have the hero held back from the goal by his or her fear until the end, that's fine, but make sure they always find another way around the fear and keep heading toward the goal. This will allow you to show the hero's fear and make it powerful without them coming off a coward, and it will make the hero's triumph over the fear in the end a stronger victory for the reader.

Make your hero weaker than the villain

I've heard people say that a hero should always be the villain's equal. In some ways this is true. The hero should be able to take the villain on, and in most cases, win in the end. But if the hero starts out as the villain's perfect match, the villain ceases to present a challenge (While you're here, check out this post on what makes villains memorable from Madelaine Bauman). In order to create conflict, it's essential that the hero have difficulty overcoming the major obstacles the villain presents. Whatever your villain's strengths and skills are, at least some of the hero's counterpart strengths and skills should be weaker. Much weaker at the start, and growing closer to equal as the story goes on, thus making it harder for the hero to defeat him, while at the same time, drawing the hero closer to their resolution.

Give your hero strong dialogue

Have you ever been in a situation where you had the perfect comeback right there, screaming to be said, but you didn't have the guts to say it until it was too late? Or, the perfect gem of a reply didn't come to you until long after the moment is lost? In real life, we rarely get a second chance to deliver our genius one liners until the bully is gone, or give that perfect pickup line until well after the guy or girl of our dreams has already walked away.  But in a book, you have that chance. You can pause and take time to consider what the hero will say when the villain puts him down, the abusive husband beats his wife, or the most popular girl is still standing there waiting for the hero to say something smooth. Is there something you have always wanted to say, but you didn't because you knew it would get you in trouble? Make the hero say it! Is there something you'd kill to tell the woman you've been mooning over for months, but you know you'd never be able to pull it off without going red or the words coming out bass ackwards? Make the hero say it! Like quirks, well thought out lines and unexpected zingers make memorable heroes that stand out from the crowd and make us fall for them every time.

Next to the villain, effective heroes are the hardest characters to create. It's difficult to strike the delicate balance between morality and temptation, humanity and larger than life traits, strength and weakness, fear and bravery. It's so easy to overdo one trait and end up with an unlikable or unrelatable personality. But if you imagine your hero as someone you and your readers can aspire to be, yet still identify with, if your hero faces and takes on challenges you only wish you could overcome, you'll build a hero readers will love and never forget.

So tell me who is your hero? Whether in a story or in real life, who do you look up to most and why? Share with us. One day, someone might name your character as their hero.

Until next time everyone, write on!

Voice (Part 3): Silence is Golden

Have you ever started reading a novel that just captivated you right from the start, draws you in, only to lose you halfway through the book because you realize you're actually...reading?

When you pick up a pen, pencil, or touch fingers to a keypad to begin laying out your story on paper, it's only too easy to lose ourselves in the world which we are creating. When we are in that 'zone' it's easy to forget everything else and become so focused that we literally become one with our writing. Your characters come to life in ways that surprise even you--every detail pours from your fingertips effortlessly.

Then the unthinkable happens...We confuse our author's voice with our opinions and in the process--obliterate the character's voice. Let's jump right into this with an example. This is an excerpt from my novel Yours for a Day before editing was applied....

Kiley felt dumb sitting on the back of a motorcycle with no idea where they were going. She had her arms wrapped tightly around him. There was only one helmet and she was wearing it, along with a bandanna, which covered her eyes. "I can't see."


Royce had to slow down to be heard. "You don't have to." He was the one driving after all.

“That’s what I’m worried about. Motorcycles are for young people. You’re a thirty four year old man.” When he didn't respond, Kiley knew she'd rubbed him the wrong way, so she changed the subject."Where are we going?"

“You’ll see.”


She sighed, clinging tighter when she felt the bike tilt to the right.

“You’d better be nice to the driver," he told her.


“Or what? You’ll push me off?”


“Maybe.” He sped up suddenly and then laughed because it made her yelp.


Not horrible but not good either. I let my opinions be heard in this by telling what the characters were doing and feeling instead of letting them show it. That is a common mistake. We might be tempted to 'set the stage' for our readers but we need to resist that urge and allow the story to reveal itself through the actions and dialogue of our characters. Make it a part of the story instead of creating a pause to tell what's going on. Nothing will make your readers close your book faster. It makes them realize they're actually reading. We don't want any of that. Now here is that same passage, revised....


“This is so dumb,” Kiley complained loudly. “I can’t see where I’m going behind this stupid blindfold.”



She felt Royce’s chest rumble beneath her arms as she clung to him. "You don't have to,” Royce slowed the motorcycle down to be heard. “I’m the one driving.”


“That’s what I’m worried about. Motorcycles are for young people. You’re a thirty four year old man.” Kiley felt him stiffen beneath her and she suppressed a grin. “Just kidding. But seriously, where are we going?”


“You’ll see.”


Her sigh was lost in a sharp left turn. "Hey! Watch it!" She tightened her grip, feeling a thrill prickle her skin.

“You’d better be nice to the driver.”


“Or what? You’ll push me off?”


He sped up suddenly, laughing when she let out a yelp. "Maybe."


Still not great but that's the wonderful thing about editing--it never ends. :) Well, it should at some point but we all know the feeling.

The author (us) should never be present in our stories. Our characters come to life in our minds for a reason--they want to come to life on paper. They have a story to tell damn it and you should not get in the way of that. Don't confuse your voice with that of your characters. A way to do that is a.) Practicing, as in write! b.) Learn how to show and not tell. It's true that most of our characters portray us in one way or another. We make them act and handle situations in a fashion similar to what we'd do but we have to remember that they are NOT us. It's hard to separate ourselves--our opinions--from that of the narrator (the character) but we have to! Otherwise how will our characters be heard?

So as you glance over your writing, repeat after me:
"I am not my character."
"I will not use my character to echo my opinions/views."
"My characters will have their own voice in telling their story."

Embrace your author's voice. Resist adding your opinions. Show--don't tell.

Write your story and write it well.

Happy Writing!

A good novel tells us the truth about its hero, but a bad novel tells us the truth about its author. ~G. K. Chesterton

Voice (Part 2): A Change in Tone

In Part 1 of this discussion, we talked about finding your 'voice' and how who we are in reality affects the way we write and the tone our stories take on. But what about when something happens in our lives?

It can be simple, like moving or switching jobs/careers to something huge like losing a loved one. We go through things that change us not only on the outside, but on the inside as well. It happens to all of us at one point or another...Such is life. We live, we breathe, and we grow up. Older. Wiser. (sometimes both)

These things change us. Nobody is the same now as when they were younger. If that was true, I'd be desperately in love with Johnathon Taylor Thomas and still believe the moon was made of cheese. The stuff I've gone through has turned me into who I am now and I know that will probably change ten, fifteen years from now. I'll still be me--nobody really changes so drastically that there is no trace of who they started off as--but new experiences will take its toll on your personality.

For example: I used to believe in love at first sight. Oh yes, that Your-Eyes-Meet-Across-A-Crowded-Room-And-You-Know-He/She-Is-The-One type love. Every time one of my girlfriends gushed over how her latest guy was 'the one' I would gush right along with her. And I gushed sincerely. As I grew older, things happened, and I came to realize (ok I was jaded) that hmm...love isn't always that great. Sometimes it sucks. If you were to read the things I wrote throughout my teen years compared to now, you would definitely notice a difference, and it's because of what I went through. Not only did my mindset change, but so did I.

I could list dozens of situations like this that could affect your writing voice.

Loss can play an important role in your life. You lose a loved one, lose your home, lose in love. Those things can change a person. What if you lived a sheltered life? And suddenly you're living on your own with no help from anyone.

Maybe when you first started writing you swore you'd stick with it no matter what--even if you were broke and living off fifty cent boxes of mac and cheese--you were a writer and by God you were going to be published! Then you fell in love and suddenly it's not just you who's eating those cheap dinners or struggling to keep the heat on in that little apartment of yours. So you put your writing on hold to get a 'real' job. Years may pass by before you put pen to paper again and by that time you're ten years older with a small passel of munchkins that look like you. Suddenly, you no longer feel like writing those gory tales you used, or those slightly naughty stories ;) but instead something those little ones can enjoy. (When they learn to read.)

Now, there is also genre jumping. (not sure if it's a coined term but I like it) like the example above. You start writing one genre and then switch to another--that's something a little different. A genre is something you enjoy writing--you're good at it and you want to keep doing it. Your voice is the way you write it. Your voice is the one thing that stays pretty much the same no matter what genre you choose to write. Changes to the tone of your voice is what happens when changes in your life occur.

Let's stray from writing a bit and take music artists. Singers in particular. Let's use....Barry White.

If you haven't heard anything from him--omg!--I suggest YouTube.

Barry White has a very distinct voice. It's not hard to pick his voice out amongst the clutter of music blasting from our stereos because he is known to have that smooth, devilishly deep baritone that melts women's bones. But what if Barry decided to take on the rap culture and bust a few rhymes here and there? Would we still know it was him?

The answer: YES. His voice is distinct, it's known, and it will still be recognizable even if he decided to rap like Mr. 50 cent.

Much like your voice is (should be) recognized no matter what storyline or characters you write. It is not YOU but more like bits and pieces of you that makes the words fall on the page a certain way. An essence of who you are. Think of your voice like a fingerprint--readers should be able to identify you by it.

Now let's take Hinder. While this singer has a voice that is pretty recognizable, I'm not going to talk about whether or not you'd be able to pick him out at a country concert. Instead, take two of this artist's songs: "Lips of an Angel" and "Get Stoned." Yes, yes, his voice is there, but look past that for a moment to the words of the songs and the way he uses his voice in both. Does he scream in "Lips of an Angel"? No. His voice sounds pained, there is longing in it. In "Get Stoned," the artist sounds a little more edgy, louder, even angry. He doesn't change his music genre to folk or polka--he changes the tone of his voice because the story behind the song changes.

Sometimes the tone of your writing voice changes because the story behind it (i.e., your life) changes.

What about you? Has your tone changed at all since you first picked up the pen x-amount of years ago? How has it changed? Or--has both your genre and voice changed? Why?

Untill next time :)

Happy Writing!

Voice (Part I): Finding Your Voice

If someone handed you a book and told you to read without looking at the author's name, would you be able to tell who it was?

I could dump all my books into one big pile, pick one at random for you to read aloud, and I could tell you who wrote it. Why? Well, first of all, they are my books and therefore, from my favorite authors. Most importantly, however, I've learned to tell each of those favorite authors apart by their writing 'voice.'

Take Susan Elizabeth Phillips for example. (One of my all time faves!) Her characters are usually witty, charming, and her stories are always as funny as they are deep. There is not a book I've read from her where the characters aren't stuck in some unfortunate, or perhaps fortunate, situation that calls for humorous banter.

I went to the library the other day and picked a novel at random, flipping through the pages and reading here and there so I could get an idea if I'd like to read it or not. It was one of those three-fer--three lovely romances by three lovely authors. Though, I didn't glance at the names right away. As I read, one of the stories caught my attention in an instant. Yes, I looked at the front cover to see if I was right (which I was!) but honestly, I didn't have to. I knew it was Robyn Carr from the very first paragraph of her short story. Her way of paying attention to even the tiniest details, and love of realistic story settings is unmistakable.

But what is author voice??

Well, I typed in above question (minus the but) in a search engine and guess what I figured out? It seems that there are a LOT of definitions out there and yet it's hard to find one that is 'just right.' Frightening, isn't it? We work so hard to get everything right, down to the punctuation in our query letters, and now we have to figure out what the hell this 'voice' of ours is supposed to sound like so we can get it down as well.

We all have a voice. In fact, if you're a blogger you can probably tell what that voice is just by going back and reading some of your previous posts. Who we are in reality often has a great effect on the way we write and the tone we take in our stories. It's the way we our turn a phrase, the words we choose to say certain things, why we choose them, and our overall style of telling a story.

My voice is often sarcastic--I like to think witty--and full of humor. It doesn't matter what the plot, character, or subject is--if I wrote it, you can be sure to notice it's mine. Yeah, my stories might have some heavy subjects in them sometimes and pretty strong characters, but they will never be filled with elegant details or fluffy makes-me-weak-at-the-knees, heroes. Why? Because I can't escape who I am and being sarcastic, funny, and yeah...sometimes a little snark...is who I am. That's the beauty of author voice--It's already in us! We just need to figure out what it is and own it!

How do you find your voice?

I so wanted to write horror. In fact, one of my very first novel writing attempts was a horror. I know what you're thinking--Oh no!  Ha ha, oh yes.

I started writing something dark and terrifying and bloody. Or so I thought. What ended up happening was a very frightening murderer making sarcastic comments where he should have been serious, inserting funny dialogue when there should have been people screaming, and getting a little nauseated when trying to describe the insides of a human body oozing out on the concrete. I also had the guy (the murderer, keep up) falling in love with his victim and actually trying to change his ways.

So I stopped halfway through and moped about it for weeks until I got over my failure and picked up a pen to write again. This time, I decided to write a romance. Guess what? I practically melted onto the page. Here was a genre where humor and snark were welcome with open arms! I didn't have to work so hard to get the right feel anymore--I was free to unleash my funny bone while doing what I loved.

The problem that comes from not knowing your own voice is that sometimes we try to imitate someone elses.
"I want to write books like..."
"I think my voice is like..."
Be very careful not to let who you want to write like or think that you write like, take over what your true voice is. You are who you are, so be the best at it. Trying to imitate will always leave you looking like second best. You can't change your voice but you can hone it. Keep it from getting out of control, or strengthen it so it shows more. And we do it all by--what?--writing! Write, write, write!

So here is my challenge to you:  Take a moment to think about who you are.
Are you serious or carefree? Do you find humor where most don't or do you lean toward viewing things in a more darker perspective? Are you blunt and honest or more politely reserved? Would you be more prone to follow that mysterious stranger to scream "Boo!" and then run off screaming? Or would it be to stalk him?

How would you describe your author's voice?