Lost by Karen Fainges

There are times when you just feel totally lost. Everything is too hard and there are a 100 reasons to get out of bed and none of them are worth it.

As a depressive, that is a bad spiral to get into. You feel so guilty about not doing something that you end up doing nothing at all.

Well, I just found one way to get myself out of it, read back over past successes.

I was in an online writing group and reading back over the years of posts, I could see times I wrote really good stuff, times it was full of typos and times it stunk. Most of all though, I saw that for years, I was writing and having a ball with people who became my friends. People from all over the world that I probably would never meet but I would miss when they were gone. People who I had shared jokes and tears with. People who had created an online world and let me join in. Being a part of ASR will always be something special to me.

Sometimes you need to be part of something. Writing can be a lonely business and being part of something special gives you that reason to go on.

Your Inner Editor by Karen Fainges

My daughter recently celebrated a joint birthday party with her friends from school, all born within a few days of each other. They played games, swam, ate, talked, probably drove the poor mum who volunteered her place crazy, and read each other’s books.

It amazed me that Jess spent time at a party getting someone to look at her writing and tell her what they thought. Still, we all want that feedback, so I suppose it makes sense. What really amazed me was that Jess listened and took it on board, something she rarely does with me.

Our most critical reader is often ourselves. We look at it and rewrite, judge, pick on single words, spend ages with a thesaurus, a dozen changes big and small. Sometimes you need to tell the inner editor to shut up and just let you write. I call mine Fred. Fred gets locked in a cupboard when I really need to do some writing. I only let him out when it comes time to proof.

I wonder if I should get a stuffed toy or something called Fred so I can shove him in a cupboard for real. Could be fun. The dog would probably chew him though. …. now that’s a thought.

Love … thou art fair – By Karen Fainges

With Valentines just gone, perhaps it is time to think about love and lovers. This is one area where the audience has very definite expectations about what they want to read. And even more definite expectations about what they don’t want to see on the page. One obvious example is when you cut to the fireplace for sex scenes. Are you a Jane Austen that hold all passion to a kiss on the hand – ungloved? Or do the characters rip off all their clothes and invite a friend?

I have already spoken about sex in a previous post, as have my fellows. I was thinking more the everyday king of love. Do your characters use pet nicknames for each other? Do they touch while walking? Is it hand holding or a full arm around the body? How do they show their love?

I once knew a couple that were still hopelessly in love after 40 years of marriage. They had their ups and downs, but you could see in their eyes, they could see the other person, warts and all, and loved them. Coming from solid farming stock, they were not the type to ever show physical affection. I don’t think I ever saw them touch unless he was helping her out of the car. Then a shared look, a brief smile and a twinkle in the eyes, and you could see they were still feeling the other’s warmth.  It was like an invisible blanket covering them both in soft, gentle comfort. That couple have always been my picture of true love. Seated on opposite sides of the table, teasing about dirty shoes and the need for clean tea cups, they were more in love than Juliette on her balcony because it was real, and it had lasted.

But how do you show that sort of non-physical love? How do you capture that moment of shared intimacy that defines a relationship and takes place with the characters clothed and vertical? A shared joke is one way. I know it is cliched bordering on sickening when you have people finishing each other’s sentences, but it is also true. My dearly beloved and I don’t even need to finish the sentence anymore. We have started speaking in shorthand because after 18 years, we have seen too many of the same movies and read the same books, met the same people, for us not to think of the same things. We definitely aren’t joined at the hip, and I can assure you that we disagree on a few things from time to time. But we have become that weird thing that is the joined name. Going over to Keith and Karen’s, is almost said in one breath. We are the Fainges to most people, a matched set. I am definitely not complaining, but that can be hard to write. And worth every word. For many, the ideal is not the passionate embrace, it is the comfort of constancy.

The Characters I’ve Raised by Chelle Cordero

I gave birth to my two fantastic kids in the 1980’s. I nurtured them, taught them, listened to them, and was surprised when they did the unexpected. Now as responsible adults, they are out in the world on their own, making decisions that have both made me proud and made me worry, and living lives that, even while I care and interject unasked-for advice now and then, are no longer within my realm of control.

While the depth of passion, labor pains and financial backing hasn’t been nearly as intense, the characters I’ve created in my novels have also been nurtured, taught and sent into the world to live lives beyond my reach. Each character though has been a labor of love and they became very real to me while I was recording their stories.

Especially since I allow my characters to make decisions for themselves based on the pasts I created for them, there are times that they have surprised me as well. The time that I spend immersed in their problems, laughing and crying along with them creates an emotional bond that doesn’t go away the moment I write the words “The End”. Blogging about my stories and promoting my books does help keep them “under my wings” for just a little bit longer.

Occasionally my characters will return for a brief visit just as Caitlyn and Brandon of Forgotten returned in Within the Law to support Caitlyn’s cousin Tom in his story. In my current WIP a supporting character from Final Sin, paramedic Matt Garratti, will return for his own murder mystery along with his previously unseen wife Sudah; I am not sure yet if Julie and Jake will come for a visit. In the long run I’ve sent several of my “children” out into the world often beyond my reach and the feeling of an empty nest settles over me until my next project.

Writers like me tend to live in a whimsical world where we have the power to create people and situations. My characters become so real that I “cast” my stories and give them faces I can look at and remember. We wind up sacrificing our omniscient power as we invest time and emotion caring as our characters meander their way through the hurdles we throw at them. I will sit here and cheer when they overcome, cry when they are in pain and scold when they do something foolish. Then there comes a time when we must move on and let others, our readers, experience the ups and downs and know them as well as we do.

Sending your offspring into the world is scary – Will they be accepted? Will they be understood? Will they be loved and remembered? For the characters in my books the only measurements are books sales and reviews. I take it all very personally. These are my creations, my progeny, characters that I hope will have some influence in someone’s life. My love for each remains even as I create new characters – but to move on and dedicate myself to my next group of beings I must “cut the apron strings” and it isn’t easy.

This blog is in honor of Paige, Lon, Caitlyn, Brandon, Ali, Tom, Davie, Adam, Julie, Jake, Deanna and Ryan. My publisher and I just introduced Samantha and Ben in A Chaunce of Riches. Waiting to pop into the world in February will be Layne and Justin; Matt and Sudah will be returning down the road. I do love each of my characters and I get a thrill each time someone mentions them.

Favorite child status, though, remains with the two I actually gave birth to – Jenni and Marc.

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About the author: Chelle Cordero is the author of Bartlett’s Rule, Forgotten, Within The Law, Courage of the Heart, Final Sin, Hostage Heart, and A Chaunce of Riches. She is published in two anthologies, With Arms Wide Open (VHP, 2009) and Forever Friends (Mandinam Press, 2009) and writes Living, Breathing, Writing, a Kindle blog designed to assist writers of every level. Chelle is also a partner in By-Lines, a freelance writing and photography business based in New York. Learn more about Chelle Cordero at her website http://ChelleCordero.com

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Chelle Cordero, Author

Chelle Cordero Website

http://bylines333.com/chelles-resume/Chelle’s Online Portfolio

Complete Characters by Karen Fainges

Well rounded characters are one of the main features of a good book. So how do you create them? And how do you get them on the page without boring the reader with irrelevancies?

Ever received one of those emails that asks a ton of questions like steak or potatoes, first pet and favourite TV show? Filling one of those out as your characters is a great way to really get to know them. It allows you to really get into their history and feelings. As an author, knowing your character’s favourite colour is red is important. It says a lot about them. But does the reader need to know it? Well probably not.

The important thing is to add emotions to the mix.

Her last step heading for the interview, was to reach for her red jacket. The colour was her favourite and even if it didn’t really compliment her dark looks, it did bolster her confidence and she needed all the confidence bolstering she could get.

So we learn that she gets her confidence, not from how she looks, but from having things she likes close. The jacket is a talisman not an accessory. 

Adding emotions has its own problems. What if the reader really thinks appearance is important, especially for interviews? Will they keep reading or write the character off?

Here, I doubt the impact is that great but for other issues, like saying a quick prayer, kicking a dog away or swearing at a child, those will give very strong reactions. You might want the reader to hate or love this character. Subliminal clues help in this regard, but different people have different reactions. Don’t assume that they way you think is the way they do.

What is something that really turns you off characters?

By Any Other Name

There was a discussion this week on one of the mystery group lists about names. It really got me to thinking. Yes, what you name a character is important, not only to you but to your reader. You don’t even have to think much about it to know that. If you name a character Ethel, you have already sort of given me a discription. She’s old. You know it when you hear the name. She is one of those old ladies who wears flowered dresses and support hose to church, if she can still make it there.
And how about Bob? Sure kids are still named Robert but most of them go by Rob now just as boys named William usually go by Will. If you hear of a character named Bob, or Bill, you know the guy’s retired, don’t you? You can almost see him, his graying hair line receding, his stomach sticking out of his undershirt, answering the door.
But what got to me on the discussion about names on this writing list is the claim that the wrong name could make a reader put the book down. Really? Would you put a book down because the kid’s name was, say, Horatio Hornblower Howard? I mean, let’s face it, there are a lot of people out there who name their kids some really odd names. Songs have been written about that. (A boy named Sue) It seems believeable to me.
My grandmother named one of my uncles Raphael because she liked the name of the artist. No one ever called him anything but Ralph in my hearing but there you are. One of my other uncles was named Morant. I don’t know where she got that one. But I wouldn’t put down a book because of it.
It is amazing what a cycle this name thing is. When I named my eldest 20+ years ago, my mother wondered why I named her Melissa. In my Mom’s mind, that was an old woman’s name. So was Sarah, and Emma yet none of those names bring that picture to mind to me or anyone, I’d guess, under the age of 80. My mother’s own name, Mildred, on the other hand, is an old lady’s name. What goes around….

The Worst Thing

The surest way I have ever found to get myself out of writer’s block is to ask, “What is the absolute worst thing you can do to your character?”  Bujold put me on to the idea and I love her for it. Find the one thing that would really disturb the character and do it. This tends to work in two ways.

1. You really have to get to know their motivations to answer that question, and
2. They start to do all sorts of interesting things to avoid it.

One of my favourite characters that I have ever written was born from just this process. The world I was writing was based very strongly on survival of the fittest. So what if they met someone who was surviving quite well but was in a wheel chair? How would they cope?

To my considerable surprise, the main character fell head over heels in love with her. Who knew he had it in him? As I typed, I could see it unfold and really threw me. No one reacted the way I thought they would. I really got to know them in a whole new way and the characters became a lot more real. Just like us, facing adversity really made them grow as people and gave them substance.

            One of my favourite movies is Soapdish. A line in that movie goes something like, “I’m normal, who wants to watch me on TV?” While characters can be normal people, they should always be given something extraordinary to overcome, losing the farm, finding their father’s murderer, finding the ‘Forgotten Crystal of Doom’, whatever the genre, giving them something to battle makes them interesting. And what should they battle? Well ask yourself – what is the worst thing that can happen to them? And see what happens.

Be True….

Multi-pubbed author, Anne Whitfield is visiting Rule of Three today to give us a couple of writing tips.
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Do your characters speak to you?
They should dictate what happens and how it happens. Have you ever written yourself into a corner and couldn’t understand why the story isn’t moving forward?

Often this could be you taking the character where it doesn’t want to go. Read back a few chapters and analyse where the change happened.
If you force a character to behave in a way that is not true to them, the reader will notice it and wonder why. Don’t give the reader pause for thought in a negative way at any time.

Your goal as a writer is to sweep the reader into your character’s world – their world, not yours.

To add to this subject — be true to your period, especially if writing historical fiction.

Historical writers must know their era well. A reader can tell when the author has done her research or when the author has fudged along the lines. You don’t have to bog down your novel with details – you aren’t writing a textbook! Information dumps aren’t interesting. Instead, you need to sprinkle all the little facts you know about those times throughout the story. Sometimes, all it can take is an extra word.

You also have to be true to your genre. Don’t write a romance and query it as a mainstream, or the other way around, etc. Know what genre you write and which publishers release those kinds of books.
It might sound common sense, but you’d be surprised how many people get this wrong.

The large publishers know what is selling and what will sell. They have to fit your book into their marketing production demands. So make it clear what you write, what readership it is aimed for and who will buy it.

Small publishers are a little more flexible, so if your book is cross-genre, you can sometimes have a better chance in being published by small companies who are willing to take a risk.

As I’ve said many times before, write the book of your heart, but then use your head when it comes to selling it.