Like Sand through the Hourglass

I was supposed to have this article finished for Savvy on Friday, but I waited until the very last minute to sit down and write it. Now it’s Sunday morning and I have about an hour to get it done. I’m pissy and agitated. Where’s my coffee? Why does my husband keep talking to me as though I’m not working? Why can’t my kids be quiet for five minutes? I’m seriously on a deadline here and I’m about to get out of this chair and open a can of whoop ass on the next person that bothers me.

At least the mayhem and looming deadline have given me this week’s article theme: time constraint and intensity, and why every book you write needs both.

Intensity blossoms under time constraints. Case in point – I’m stressed out now because I have about fifty minutes to get this damned article written. (That’s ten minutes less than I had in the paragraph above.) Time is flying and so are my fingers. Will I get this article done in time? Should I go back and edit? Just hit send? Delete everything and start over?

If you don’t have intensity in your book, what’s going to make the reader turn the pages? What’s going to push your characters to the edge and back? How are they going to grow and learn? Adding a time constraint to your plot will add stress to your characters’ lives and therefore ratchet the intensity level.

If I had started this article on Friday I wouldn’t be suffering from all this stress. I’m literally hyper because of my stress level. I have to get this done. I have no extra time. I’m only at three-hundred words. Son of a bitch!

We can all identify with time constraint in our personal lives. Adding this stress-inducer to our books is a no-brainer. You’ll create an instant page-turner. Remember, time constraint is in addition to your conflict – it is not the conflict itself. Time constraint amplifies the conflict and adds intensity.

Think back to the movie, Speed. Talk about a time constraint plot! First our sexy hero finds out there’s a bomb on a city bus. Then he finds out the bomb will go off if the bus goes below fifty-five miles an hour. Then he hits traffic, but can’t slow down. He finally finds a place where he can do a loop-de-loop to keep the bus moving but the damn thing is eventually going to run out of gas – oh wait – the bus starts to leak gas (adding more time constraint).

So let’s take a closer look at the time constraints applied in the film Speed.

Introduce the time constraint.

Howard Payne: Pop quiz, hotshot. There's a bomb on a bus. Once the bus goes 50 miles an hour, the bomb is armed. If it drops below 50, it blows up. What do you do? What do you do?
Jack: I'd want to know what bus it was...
Howard Payne: You think I'm going to tell you that?
Jack: Yes.
Howard Payne: Aha, very good. There are rules, Jack, and I want you to get this right. NO ONE goes off the bus. If you try to take any passengers off the bus, I will detonate it. I want my money by 11AM.
Jack: We can't pull that kind of money in time!

Time constraint leads to intense situations & stress.

Howard Payne: Good! Now you tell them that the drop point is Pershing Square. You drop the bags and leave. I don't show until all your people are gone. It's getting on to 11AM, Jack, and I think it's gonna be a very pretty day. [hangs up; Jack flips out]
Annie: Jack, stop it! We're really scared and we need you right now. I can't do this by myself! Jack, please?
Jack: [chuckles] We're gonna die.

***

Annie: What is that smell?
Jack: It's gas.
Annie: We're leaking gas?
Jack: We are now.
Annie: What, you thought you needed another challenge or something?

Intense situations and stress forces characters to make difficult decisions.

Annie: You didn't leave me. I can't believe it... you didn't leave me.
Jack: Didn't have anywhere to be just then.

Let’s sum this up (because I’m running out of time).

Time constraint leads to intense situations & stress which leads to character’s decisions which leads to revealing your character (and their heroic decisions)! Oh…and don’t forget about the HEA:

Jack: I have to warn you, I've heard relationships based on intense experiences never work.
Annie: OK. We'll have to base it on sex then.
Jack: Whatever you say, ma'am.

Love is a Battlefield - Rockin' the Black Moment

Every great romance builds up to an intense moment in which the hero and heroine can see no way out. They’ll never overcome the obstacles holding them back. They’ll never have that white picket fence. No bouncing babies for them. They may even face death.

Writers have come to call this the Black Moment. If your book or novella doesn’t have it, make no mistake, you will leave reader disappointed.

Creating the black moment is like walking a tightrope three hundred feet above a concrete parking lot with no safety net. You lean a little toward the left and rush through the black moment, you’ve cheated the reader. They’ve followed the characters through their journey, flipped the pages in anticipation of that Big Bang at the end of the book, always wondering what will happen. Will the hero and heroine make it through the Petrified Forest and survive the field of ghouls waiting for them? If that field of ghouls ends up being a few slobbering, easily-defeated monsters, then you’ve just fallen off the tightrope.

If you lean a little too far to the right and drag out the black moment, you have a reader whose ready to put down the book due to over-stimulation. I know you’ve read a book like that -- a battle that goes on and on and on, until you want to kill the characters yourself just to end the suffering (theirs and yours).

And don’t get me started on The Misunderstanding. That plotting fail deserves a blog post all its
own. I’ll just say this: if your hero and heroine can solve everything with a simple conversation, you haven’t just fallen off the tightrope, you’ve incinerated the damn thing.

So how do you know what your black moment should be? Most plotters will know the black moment before they begin writing chapter one. Plotters can work their way to the black moment, sprinkling in some foreshadowing and teasers since they know exactly where they’re going.

Creating the black moment can be a little harder for pantsers. Just ask yourself this question when you get close to the end: What are my characters working toward? What will bring them to their knees? What would destroy their very WILL TO LIVE?

Your character’s goal is the KEY to your black moment. So…your heroine has to get through the Petrified Forest in order to save her daughter who’s being held in a castle (Her goal). The hero is there to help, of course. He’s the King’s son – an outcast who knows that dangerous forest like the back of his hand. He’s determined to claim his kingdom now that his father has passed (His goal). Their SOLE MISSION: Get through the Petrified Forest alive. Their ULTIMATE MISSION : Save daughter/Become king.

What possible black moment can we whip up from this?

Let me introduce you to the beauty of the black moment = SACRIFICE.

Sacrifice can lead to heroism. Heroism comes from making a difficult choice, but deciding the outcome is worth it, which leads right back to sacrifice. As Jack from Meet the Parents would say: “This is the circle of trust.” The reader TRUSTS you to deliver the sacrifice aspect in the black moment. You don’t want to merely finish the book, you want to finish strong. Some authors think the black moment is when everything comes falling down around the characters – which is true. However, if a sacrifice hasn’t been made, what have the characters given up to achieve their goal? Don’t just hand the characters a HEA, make them work for it.

A hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself. ~ Joseph Campbell

Did you think the ghouls at the edge of the forest would lead to the black moment? I guess it could. But let’s take the black moment a little further. After battling the ghouls the hero and heroine are absolutely exhausted and wounded. They still have to save the child.

What if saving the child meant the hero would never become king? Sacrifice – check.

What if saving her daughter meant certain death for the heroine? Sacrifice – check.

You can play around with What Ifs all day long. There are so many great outcomes, which is what makes reading a book so wonderful. You never know what’s going to happen, because each author would take a different route or create a unique twist on the black moment of any given plot.

Just remember that the black moment is a *temporary* disaster that must be overcome to achieve the HEA if you’re writing a romance, and too little or too much will destroy the equilibrium of the plot.

Happy writing. :)

Writing a Paranormal, Fantasy or UF Novel?

Write a Paranormal, Fantasy or UF Novel Using Existing Myths for Worldbuilding ~ SavvyAuthors will be offering this course starting on March 7th. The instructor is Marcy Weydemuller. Here's a little about the course (Copied from the site):

Do you have an interesting twist on an old myth or mystical world?Do the worldbuilding elements take over when you write and you lose the story?Do you want to learn how to better incorporate existing mythology into your worldbuilding?

Join us for this Masters Level course where you will learn to better incorporate existing mythology into your worldbuilding. Build better worlds based upon existing myths and history as you spend a year exploring your world and writing your novel with hands-on help from Marcy Wydemuller and your peers.

Through reading, writing and analysis of literature surrounding their novel's myths and history, participants will hone techniques to produce the type of myth-based novels that speak through metaphor, symbolism, allusion and echo. Excerpts from novels and movies will be deconstructed to provide workable models for your own research and story.

Writing produced during the course will be critiqued weekly in small peer groups. In addition to daily instructor feedback to lectures and assignments, authors will post a full chapter or scene weekly with professional edits during the first three quarters. A personal analysis will be returned to the student only. Once a month, the middle Wednesday, there will be an open class discussion online. During the final quarter, each student will have a private one hour, one-on-one with the instructor regarding their novel and any specific questions they may still have regarding final polish and marketability.

Course Objectives:

* to complete a draft of your novel with daily and weekly goals.
* to apply mythic impact appropriate to your narrative.
* to create a fully developed believable world for your genre.
* to deepen analytical skills through study and discussion of various myth-building techniques through assigned readings and movies.
* to develop critique instincts and revision skills in peer groups.
* to create a polished submission package.

TRACK
Masters Level – Will cover topics in detail, with the assumption that the student has more than a basic understanding of the craft elements of writing fiction.


WHEN: Mar 7, 2011 - Feb 18, 2012

**************************************************************************************

I've been thinking about writing an urban fantasy lately, and this course caught my eye. I used an existing 'myth' for my paranormal series, so I know how difficult some aspects can be. Remember, this is a master's course, so keep that in mind if you choose to sign up.

Crash Course

In the past four years I’ve read countless articles on writing. I’ve attended conferences and panels at both the Romantic Times Convention and the RWA National Conference. I’ve bought enough craft books to sink a small rowboat (Make a Scene, Creating Character Emotions, GMC by Deb Dixon, Writing a Romance Novel for Dummies, Revision & Self-Editing, to name just a few.) I’ve interviewed NYT bestselling authors, spoken personally to industry professionals, and blogged myself stupid.

After all of this information overload it’s a wonder that I can still craft a sentence, let alone write a paragraph or a chapter. There are so many rules and suggestions floating around in my noggin, it’s amazing that I’m still sitting at my desk and not stuck in a fetal ball.

Let me give you a sneak peek to what’s in this writer’s mind. I’m putting it all in one paragraph so you can *feel* the insanity. Make sure you’ve had your coffee, because this is going to be a wild ride.

HIGH CONCEPT, HIGH CONCEPT, HIGH CONCEPT. If you can’t break your story down into a single sentence, you don’t know your story. RESEARCH. Do too little and you’ll regret it. Do too much and you’ll be starting your book sometime during the next ice age. PLOTTER VS PANTSER (or, as some like to call it, ORGANIC WRITER). Should you outline? Storyboard? Start typing and hope for the best? Well, whatever you do, always start with an INCITING INCIDENT, and end each chapter with a CLIFF-HANGER. DO NOT drop back-story into chapter one, for God’s sake! If you do that you’re either a newbie who knows NOTHING or Sherrilyn Kenyon – and you, my friend, are no Sherrilyn Kenyon. HERO. Is he a bad boy? A rake? An alpha? (Are there any other types right now?) HEROINE. Is she quiet? Strong? Is she kick-ass? (Are there any other types right now?) SETTING. Some say this is just another character. Just do your homework and make sure it doesn’t talk. WORLD-BUILDING. Make it fresh. Make it original. Good luck with that. NARRATIVE. Too much can dull your manuscript, unless you’re Christine Feehan. DIALOGUE. Listen to people talk and do your best to emulate that. Go easy on the Scottish brogue. POINT OF VIEW. Stay in one point of view for each scene. Only the best can get away with head-hopping. ACTION VS REACTION. Are your characters just reacting to all the bullcrap that’s happening to them, or are they DOING something about it, which leads to CHARACTER DRIVEN VS PLOT DRIVEN. Do events drive your story, or are your characters moving the story forward through decisions and action? There are times the two combine, and that separates the good books from great books. Again, good luck with that. GMC. What is your character’s goal? What motivates your character? Is there any CONFICT in your novel whatsoever? INTERNAL VS EXTERNAL CONFLICT? Yes, there are two kinds of conflict. Deal with it. VOICE. What is it and where do I find it? Hint: could you ever read a paragraph from one of J.R. Ward’s Brotherhood novels and mistake it for another writer? I think not. DEEP POV. You’re not writing about your character. You ARE your character. Let the reader see what’s happening through the eyes of your hero and heroine. PACING. 2 slow or 2 fast for 2 long = not good. ADHESION. What keeps your hero and heroine together throughout the book? FLAWS & QUIRKS. Just because your heroine is a size two with fair, unblemished skin and long, shiny hair doesn’t mean she’s perfect. That goes for the hero, too. Give him a quirk or flaw to go with his washboard abs. SEXUAL TENSION. Doesn’t matter if Satan himself is tracking your hero and heroine by chapter two, they’d better want to hump each other by chapter three. EMOTION. Visceral emotions. Live them, love them, include them in your book. AVOID CLICHES. I’m trying to think of a cliché to put here, but I’ve trained myself so well I can’t come up with one. SEX SCENES. Remember, this isn’t your mother’s romance novel. (Even though those historical bodice rippers were OFF THE HOOK. Ever read one? And they say our books are hot. Whaaaat?) SUSPENSE. Romantic suspense isn’t the only genre that needs it. BACKGROUND. Little like back-story. Don’t bore the reader with the details, but tell us how your hero was tortured and why the heroine is afraid of bald men on rollerblades. SECONDARY CHARACTERS. Better make sure they add something to the story. Otherwise readers will be skipping some of your scenes like they do with the Lessers. (I didn’t just say that.) (Yes I did.) BLACK MOMENT. The climax. The time when the hero and heroine realize they are going to DIE. They are going to LOSE. There is NO future for them. (Until the next chapter, of course.) RESOLUTION. Time to wrap up everything that happened up to this point. Hopefully you took some notes while you were writing. HAPPILY EVER AFTER. I luv you! I luv you, too! I can’t quit you! You’re my destined mate, my one and only, my future and my life, my soul mate. THE END.

There it is – the condensed version of rules and suggestions that run through my mind every time I sit down to write. Maybe that’s why most of us wear headphones and rock to our favorite music while we write. If we thought about all the rules, plot points and must-haves when writing, we’d never get anywhere close to the HEA.

Novellas

We’ve all seen the titles. The Billionaire’s Pregnant Mistress, The Sheik’s Mistress, The Italian Billionaire’s Secret Baby, Taming the Tycoon. What do these titles have in common (other than the obvious)? They are smaller works, ending around the 55K mark – the original novella. The novella is the middle-child – not quite novel-length, and a bit larger than the novelette. Harlequin has dominated this market for years, spitting out these fun, quick reads as avid readers gobble them up. Introduce the e-market...

The e-publishing market is rising quickly. More and more readers are flocking to e-pub sites to snatch up titles right from the comfort of their own home. Just this past year an RWA Special Chapter was created for electronic and small press authors – ESPAN. Here is the beginning of their mission statement: “The Electronic and Small Press Authors Network (ESPAN) exists to enhance the careers of those members of RWA who are contracted with or have released books through electronic and small press publishers.”

Recent discussions about the e-publishing market have raised many questions, arguments and tempers, but today I’m going to focus on e-publishing houses as a possible venue for those snappy little novellas.

Awesome Advantage #1 - The submitting turn-around time concerning e-publishing houses is significantly lower than New York. Can you say instant gratification? Personally, I’ve heard back from an e-house the very day I submitted. It’s not uncommon for writer’s to wait months upon months to hear back from New York.

Awesome Advantage #2 - There’s a wide range of opportunities when going the e-pub route. The red tape isn’t so thick, so you can write the types of scenes and plots that other, more traditional, publishers won’t touch. I’ve seen e-book erotic romances with the eye-popping tag of M/M/M/M/F. Try to sell that to New York.

Awesome Advantage #3 - It’s a way to learn the biz and get paid for it. Many e-book authors have gone on to New York, and they cut their teeth on digital novellas. You go through the same process – submission, contract, editing, cover art and final line-edits. Then the reviews pour in…and you learn from those, too. Trust me, if you ever get Giggled, you can’t pay for that kind of honest critique.

Just Plain Awesome – Hey, New York authors are doing it. Not only is the submitting process quick, so is the payday. (Yeah, I went there.) You get your royalties monthly or quarterly, and who can’t use a little more spending cash?

Just like any business venture you should weigh all your options when submitting your work. There are good e-publishing houses, and then there are not-so-good e-publishing houses. Before you submit, chat with the authors of a particular house you are interested in. Ask them what they think of their editors, what they’ve learned from the process, and most importantly, would they submit to that publishing house again?

The publishing industry is a hard shell to crack, especially during these past few years. The more you educate yourself concerning all facets of the industry, the better off you’ll be. If you’re interested in going the e-publishing route, check out ESPAN and what their authors have to say. Buy a few e-books from the house you’re considering submitting to. Peruse their message boards if they have one, or join their Yahoo Group.

A few links for your surfing pleasure…

A large number of E-Presses all on one page (Thanks to ESPAN) - http://espan-rwa.com/links/

E-Publishing – The beginning (To learn a little more about the e-publishing industry - http://www.romancingtheblog.com/blog/2009/02/19/epublishing-the-beginning/

E-publishing FAQ - http://www.writing-world.com/publish/FAQ.shtml

Deep POV

So you think you’re an author? THINK AGAIN.

If you plan to sit down and write about your character, you’re making one hell of a mistake.

I’ll admit that I’ve jotted down what I’ve believed to be a kick-ass scene, sent it to my crit partner, then sat back in my chair after I’ve hit send, all excited and antsy. She’s going to love this shit. My heroine just got shot, she’s hanging on by a thread, and the hero is out of his ever-lovin’ mind with concern. The villain is closing in and their world is about to come crashing down around them. Bwahahahahaha…

Yeah, and then an IM from my crit partner shatters my euphoria when the box pops on my computer screen.

Crit Partner: I’ll call you.

Oh, crap. Oh, crap! As I wait for the phone to ring, knowing damn well she didn’t like it, I try to dissect the scene in my head to figure out where I went wrong. I churn it over in my mind, think about the details and the environment, the plot structure and the motivation. Nope. Pretty sure I rocked that bitch.

The phone rings. I pick it up and the first thing I hear is a sigh, like my crit partner doesn’t want to say just how bad she thought my scene was. Even better, she goes on to explain that the scene was great, the action was there, the story picked up…but she didn’t feel it. I nod my head, even though she can’t see me, and think, WTF? How did she not sympathize with my heroine who’s bleeding all over the wet asphalt in a torrential downpour while the hero holds her gently in his arms, rocking her back and forth? Not to mention the villain is about to pop on the scene and obliterate their pathetic asses. Break out the Kleenex!

Me: “Uh, so you liked scene, you thought the action was good, and the plot thickened. What exactly is the problem?”

Crit Partner: “Lack of deep POV.”

All right, let’s just pause right there. Listen, I’ve been published before. I know my biz. I’m not JR Ward, Christine Feehan or Sherrilyn Kenyon, but I think I can produce a pretty decent paranormal. Reviewers often give me great reviews – one reviewer proclaiming, “I stayed up until 5 AM because I simply couldn’t quit reading this book. That, dear readers, is a sign of a good book if ever I’ve seen one!” and another, “I could go on, but suffice to say this book has it all as far as I'm concerned - fabulous characters, an original plot, humor, and scorching sex. This is an absolute must-read!”

I’ve even received fan mail, for God’s sake. And now, after having published four books someone tells me I’m missing an integral piece of my craft? I struggle with deep POV? Seriously?

So I did what every other author would do. I got out my favorite romance novel, Lover Awakened, and read some of it. Oh yeah, deep POV all over the place. In fact, I find it hard to put the book down, spending over an hour with it in my greedy little palms, even though I’ve read it several times before. Ward immerses you in the character’s emotions, and you come to a point where the words on the page blur and you’re just IN the story and experiencing everything her characters are going through.

Then I do the unthinkable. [WARNING: Don’t try this at home after reading a Ward book.] I open up my manuscript and read through the scene I sent to my crit partner earlier that day (who’s all butt-hurt because she didn’t want to tell me I sucked, btw). I come up on a whole lot of he did this and she did that, and B-O-R-I-N-G. Sure, the heroine is wrapped up all snug-as-a-bug in the hero’s arms as her life blood seeps out, but what the hell is she feeling? Gah! I created a visual scene, went all psycho with blood pooling around them, the downpour of the storm and the shadows of the darkened alley, but I did it all with zero emotion. Does the heroine regret that the hero has to watch her die? Is she scared shitless? Is she growing cold? Does the hero’s hand shake when he smoothes the hair from her face? Does he feel incompetent to save her, or is he trying to show a brave front in hopes of making her passing easier? (Well, of course she doesn’t die, but he doesn’t know that.)

I keep reading, thinking I’m all sneaky with the villain closing in. Bring on the conflict! Hit the main characters with more crap and the emotional impact will blow the reader away!

Um, no. I didn’t really write it that way. What I saw in my head was not on the paper (er, screen) at all. The hero gritted his teeth. The villain smiles that evil little smile only those a-holes with black hearts can pull off. I read it again, figuring I must have missed all the awesomeness I was sure I’d slathered all over the pages.

Nope. Gritted teeth from hero. Smile from villain.

Well, I’ll be damned. Don’t shed a tear or anything as the LOVE OF YOUR LIFE DIES IN YOUR ARMS, and the man responsible for it traipses into the picture and points a gun at you. Yeah dude, grit your teeth and act all beta hero. Jerk.

So, after I got all mad at my pitiable hero (who’d only done what I told him to do, the pathetic jackass), I went back to square one to think about it for a while. I put the scene in the hero’s point of view. [This is very important, so if you’re going to highlight anything, highlight this]: Don’t sit down to write about the hero, BE the hero. Flex those biceps, baby! [End highlight. :)] Suddenly, I AM the hero, and the scene unfolds in my mind as I live it, and I just let the emotions bounce around in my noggin for a while…

My palms are sticky with warm blood, I see the ashen pallor of my woman’s face, and it’s then that the implication of the certain outcome hits me…I’m not just losing someone close to me. I’m losing my heart. My soul. She’s immortal. How can she be dying in my arms –

The motherfucker responsible steps out of the shadows of the alley, drawing my gaze. My eyes sting when my pupils dilate ominously.

I open my eyes to edit, allowing the disturbing emotions free rein to submerse me in the character. Um, I mean I AM the hero.

Now that I’m the hero, I have to write down everything I’m seeing, and all my emotions, while my lover dies in my arms. Cue 80’s love ballad, (I just) Died in Your Arms tonight.
Lesson to be learned from this article: Become your character. (<-- I’d highlight that as well.) :)

One way to tell you’re not in deep POV is passive voice. Here are a few tips on passive voice I received from my editor for my first manuscript. (I still have to weed these words out of my first drafts because I’m a slow learner or something. Someone pass me a Xanex, please.) Keep an eye on the following phrases:

– “he felt” “she felt” “he knew” “she knew” “knowing” “realizing” “found herself wondering” “heard” –

For example: She found herself wondering if he even had a heart.

Better: Did the bastard have a heart, or was he as cold as his reputation suggested?

So, if you plan to sit down and write about your character, you’re making one hell of a mistake.

You ARE your character.