The Science of a Sequel…

Please welcome guest blogger Leanna Renee Hieber

In May, the sequel to The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker, my debut novel (2010 Prism Finalist and optioned for a Broadway musical) released from Dorchester, first in a series of 4 “Strangely Beautiful” novels and a novella. The Darkly Luminous Fight for Persephone Parker picks up exactly where the first book leaves off.

We F, F and P authors are no strangers to sequels and series books. It’s the core of what most of us do. If readers really like your book, chances are they’ll be excited about a sequel, to tie up all those loose ends you left hanging in the first one. Still, it can be daunting to write a sequel, especially if it’s your second book, you’re still getting the hang of writing books, selling them, marketing them, organizing your life as a new author, and suddenly you’ve got reader expectations on you and the series. And especially, if you’re like me; a certifiable non-linear mess of a haphazard process and a “pantser” through and through, you need to check yourself. There seem to be a few core tenets that when observed, generally keep an author in the clear.

- Give them something new: So your characters may not be new, but their situations will be. The beautiful thing about a series is that you can layer in more and more world-building as you go, revealing it layer by layer like the opening petals of a flower. Both your world-building and your characters should experience this type of enrichment and a slew of ‘new goodies’ offered to the reader. This doesn’t mean re-inventing your own wheel, often it means just staying true to this following tenet:

- No, really, tie up your loose ends: If there’s something that was alluded to or foreshadowed, make good on it. Think about this on an emotional level with your characters in addition to all aspects of your world-building. A lot of times loose ends may involve your secondary characters, try not to leave them hanging. (For example, people were freaking out to me about my secondary characters Headmistress Thompson and Vicar Carroll. I fully intended to address them in the second book and did, and Dorchester has given me the opportunity to present their own novella in A Midwinter Fantasy, releasing October.) Even if its something small, honour all the many seeds you have planted, water them and make them grow. Re-read your own work as many times (and take notes) as you have to in order to make sure you’re following through on your promises. It’s the small loose ends that often get forgotten in favour of the larger loose ends but as a reader yourself, you likely don’t like any kind of loose ends either.

- Stay true to your characters. Make sure your characters read like the same people, only different for having gone through their respective journeys. Character development is one of the most important parts of our work, because in the end, if someone doesn’t like our world-building, they’ll often forgive it if they care about the characters. Characters are the vehicle in which we experience the book. Staying true to your characters may mean making a hard choice. I took a risk in making my hero at times very difficult to deal with in the sequel, and some people let me know they loved it, some that they didn’t, but I maintain that choice is true to his character, and we’ll see that change too as the series progresses. Stay true to your creations, and let them grow and change in the ways that’s right and justified for them to do so.

- Don’t break your conventions. This is a cardinal rule. Conventions are a covenant you have with the reader. If your magic works a certain way, if a character’s powers have certain strengths and weaknesses, make sure you stay true to the properties as they have been established. Sometimes in a sequel you’ll be revisiting something you’re a little “rusty” on, so just make sure it remains clear and consistent and if it needs to change, that’s fine, but offer a satisfactory reason why it changes if it does so.

- Clever revisiting. You’ll need to remind the reader where they are in the series and possibly introduce new readers mid-way through your series. Find fresh ways to re-introduce your world-building. Whether this is through a new character’s point of view, or addressing a change to the ‘status quo’ of your world, shy away from info-dumping but do offer readers a touchstone to your characters, their past and the world in which they operate.

- Have fun. Because it makes your writing better. If you’re not having fun, no one is.

I’m thinking about these basic things an awful lot as I’m working on Strangely Beautiful #3, The Perilous Prophecy of Guard and Goddess. It’s a prequel. I can assure you all of these things are even more true and even more important if you’re writing one of those!

Strangely Beautiful Blessings!

Leanna Renee Hieber

http://www.leannareneehieber.com

http://twitter.com/leannarenee

Facebook: http://tinyurl.com/sbsfan

Raised in rural Ohio inventing ghost stories, Leanna graduated with a BFA in Theatre, a focus in the Victorian Era and a scholarship to study in London. While a professional actress she adapted works of 19th Century literature for the stage and her one-act plays garnered national attention and continue to be produced around the country. Her Fantasy Romance novella Dark Nest won the 2009 Prism Award for excellence in the genre. Her debut novel, The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker, first in the Strangely Beautiful series of Gothic Victorian Fantasy novels (Dorchester) hit Barnes & Noble's Bestseller List, was named a favourite of 2009 by 14 genre book review blogs including Smart Bitches/Dear Author’s book tournament and Beyond Her Book Publishers Weekly, has been nominated for the 2010 Prism Award, multiple regional RWA awards and has been optioned for a Broadway musical. She has been named the 2010 RWA NYC Chapter Author of the Year. A member of the Romance Writers of America (RWA), Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA), Horror Writers Association (HWA) and the International Thriller Writers (ITW), Leanna is proud to be a co-founder of Lady Jane's Salon Reading Series in New York. A proud member of Actors Equity Association (AEA), the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) and the Screen Actors Guild (SAG), Leanna works often in film and television. 

When not writing or on set, she loves a good Goth club and adventuring about New York City, where she resides with her real-life hero and her beloved rescued lab rabbit Persebunny, Queen of the Undereverything. 

The Darkly Luminous Fight for Persephone Parker

With radiant, snow white skin and hair, Percy Parker was a beacon for Fate. True love had found her, in the tempestuous form of Professor Alexi Rychman. But her mythic destiny was not complete. Accompanying the ghosts with which she alone could converse, new and terrifying omens loomed. A war was coming, a desperate ploy of a spectral host. Victorian London would be overrun.  Yet, Percy kept faith. Within the mighty bastion of Athens Academy, alongside The Guard whose magic shielded mortals from the agents of the Underworld, she counted herself among friends. Wreathed in hallowed fire, they would stand together, no matter what dreams or nightmares—may come.

The Forest and the Trees - Editing Your Own Manuscripts

Please welcome guest blogger Rebecca York

At the beginning of my career, I used to write slowly and then edit a lot. About ten years ago I discovered I could write fast and then do the same amount of editing.

My first drafts are very rough. Left to my own devices, I’d probably write too many sentence with subject-verb construction, followed by more subject-verb. Honestly, that’s the way I think. Another one of my fun traits is grabbing one word and running it into the ground.

I envy writers with beta readers who go over their manuscripts and give advice. I don’t really have anyone I trust to do that. But over the course of more than 100 books, I’ve learned that there’s a very effective way to self-edit. I give myself time to put the book away for a few weeks or months and think about another project. When I get it out again, I’m far enough removed from the text that it feels like someone else wrote it, and I can be very objective about what it needs. Not to mention, I’m often pleasantly surprised to find that scenes I thought were crap are actually pretty good.

Since my handwriting is beyond horrible, I write my first draft on the computer. And I start each day editing what I wrote the day before because that pulls me back into the story. It also gives me the chance to fix things that I realize immediately are wrong. If I’m writing a fight scene or a danger scene or a love scene, I usually get the action down. Then I have to go back and fill in things I missed. More action? More emotion? More detail? In other words, I think of my first pass through a scene as the bones–that will need to be fleshed out.

After I’ve written the first three chapters of a book, I may go back and edit. For several reasons. First, I know the characters better so I can give the reader a better idea of who they are. Second, I always put in too much detail at the beginning, and I know I’m going to have to cut ruthlessly.

I might also stop and edit the first hundred pages of a book, particularly if I’ve been forced to put it down, perhaps to do a proposal or to deal with copyedits or galleys that have come back from a publisher. Then I’ll start writing again, hopefully until I’ve finished the book. After I’ve got a complete draft, I’ll start editing the whole book from the beginning again. I always do this on the screen because I know there will be a lot of cleaning up.

After my first screen edit, I do two to four more edits–on paper. Printing out the manuscript always lets me see things that I miss when I’m only working on the computer. Each time I edit, I put the changes back into the file. When I’m done, I print out the whole manuscript clean and start again.

I’ve been asked whether I add details to a manuscript when I edit or cut. The answer is–both. Whichever it needs.

What kinds of things do I look for and question when I’m editing? Here are a few examples.

"

Getting rid of the same or a similar word used twice in the same sentence.

Original:

After changing into the running shoes, she reached to shrug off her suit jacket, then changed her mind.

Edited:

After changing into the running shoes, she reached to shrug off her suit jacket, then hesitated.

"

Streamlining my work.

Original:

But as she walked, she heard the crunch of footsteps on the gravel shoulder behind her. Too bad she was dressed for a business meeting. Still, she started to run, wondering if there was any chance of getting away from whoever was stalking her.

Edited:

As she walked, she heard the crunch of footsteps on the gravel shoulder behind her. Although she was dressed for a business meeting, she started to run, wondering if there was any chance of getting away from whoever was stalking her.

"

Sometimes I’m only making small changes that allow the text to flow better for me.

Original:

Eugenia had said their heritage was everything, and that had always been the way Sophia had lived, without questioning her loyalty to the greater good.

Edited:

Eugenia had said their heritage was everything, and Sophia had always lived without questioning her loyalty to the greater good.

Additional things I consider:

"

Is this sentence too long and complicated. Would it be better if it were broken into two sentences.

"

How does this sentence relate to the one before and after. Is there a logical flow through each paragraph and from one to the other?

"

Can I cut some of this dialogue? Does it sound realistic?

"

Do I need this sentence at all? Did I say the same thing twice here?

"

Have I gotten trapped in an information dump?

"

Am I using past perfect too much? If I’m in a flashback, I should start it in past perfect, then switch to past tense.

"

Do I have passive sentences that can be made active without sounding stilted?

While I’m combing through sentences and words, I’m also thinking about larger issues in my book.

"

Do I need to add more detail to this action scene to make more of it?

"

Do I need this scene? Does it advance the plot?

"

Is the action here believable?

"

Would this character really behave this way, or am I jerking him around for the sake of the plot?

"

Is there enough threat and risk in this scene. Enough tension?

"

Have I worked in the setting and the back story so they don’t intrude on the scenes?

"

Do we know enough about the hero and heroine? Do we like them?

"

Have I kept the hero and heroine on page together as much as possible?

"

Do they grow and change enough during the course of the story?

"

Have I made my secondary characters interesting?

"

Is the villain a worthy opponent for the hero and heroine? Is he believable? Do we understand his motivation?

"

Does the story make logical sense? Did I say something on page 18 that turns out not to be true on page 218?

"

Are my hero and heroine thinking about the same things over and over? Do I have too much of what I call "wundeling." (Characters wallowing in thoughts.)

"

Are the issues I’m dealing with big enough? Do I need to add more meaning to the story?

"

How am I conveying information? Am I showing or telling?

"

Did I gradually unwind my plot, giving more and more information as it’s needed?

"

Did I make sure that I haven’t introduced a problem and solved it in the same chapter.

"

Did I keep the plot moving from crisis to crisis so that there’s no "slow" section of the book.

"

Did I end this chapter in the right place? Should I have cut it off sooner, or should I have gone on for another beat?

"

If I spring a twist on the reader, is it believable?

"

Is my action climax big enough and satisfying enough?

"

Will my romance climax gratify the reader?

Notice that I haven’t talked about editing for grammar, spelling and typos. I went to school in the generation where they drummed grammar into you, and I’m good at it. But I can’t spell my way out of a paper bag. And I don’t see typos, because I’m dyslexic and I read what should be there, not what is actually on the page. So I leave the proof reading to my husband, who can spot a misspelled word from across the room.

Also, I don’t have an actual checklist like the one I’ve given you here. (Or maybe I do NOW.) I just start working on the sentences and paragraphs while I’m thinking about what would improve my story in the larger sense. But I’ve tried to convey the kinds of things I think about as I’m editing my novels, and I hope I’ve given you something to think about in your own fiction.

USA Today best-selling novelist, Rebecca York (aka Ruth Glick) is the author of over one hundred books including more than 50 romantic suspense novels and 20 romances. Her MORE THAN A MAN is this year’s winner of the RT Best Harlequin Intrigue award.

KILLING MOON was a launch book for Berkley’s new Sensation Romance imprint in June 2003. Her first Berkley novella was in CRAVINGS, with Laurell K. Hamilton. DAY OF THE DRAGON will be published by Berkley in December 2010. For many years, she has also written Harlequin Intrigue’s popular 43 Light Street series. The next is GUARDING GRACE, July 2010.

Her many awards include two RITA finalist books, two Lifetime Achievement Awards from Romantic Times, five NJRW Golden Leaf Awards and a Prism Award.

A former University of Maryland English instructor, Ruth has taught Writing Popular Fiction and Romance Writing at Howard Community College. She has participated in numerous radio and T.V. interviews.

My July release is GUARDING GRACE (ISBN: 978-0373694822), one of my 43 Light Street books for Harlequin Intrigue. Like my other recent Light Street books, it has strong paranormal elements.

I came up with the title because it's a Bodyguard of the Month book, and I wanted a strong tie-in. It begins when Grace Cunningham witnesses the death of a prominent man. Is it really murder, and why is his staff so anxious to cover up the facts? As soon as she escapes from the scene of the crime, Grace knows she’s on the run from the bodyguards of the murdered man. And from his brother, private detective Brady Lockwood. At first he’s sure she’s part of a murder conspiracy. Yet Grace has an even more startling secret, one she fears will send Brady running from her. Can she and Brady uncover a massive conspiracy–and save their own lives from a man who’s been killing innocent victims for years?

Goldilocks Time

Please welcome guest blogger Shannon Donnelly

At risk of stating the obvious, beginnings are tough. Nothing new there. We all know that. So the question is, what to do about that 'hook', the super opening that grabs the reader and doesn't let go? Since it seems to be judging season right now for contests, I've been thinking about this. Because, honestly, the writing lately in contests has been good. Often very good. But the stories...well, not so much of the grabbing.

The balance is always too much information and too little. This is particularly tricky with paranormal, and if you add in romance, both have to be there. That's a lot to get in front of a reader. Add in the reader needing to understand the world, the rules of the fantasy, and yeah, pretty much everyone is going to get the too much or too little thing going. It's Goldilocks time.

Now, in the interest of learning from fairy tales, let's look at Goldilocks. She did not find the perfect bed on the first try. She did not eat the perfect porridge with her first taste. She had to try different options. And I think this is one place where folks are having trouble because sometimes you have to write a scene different ways in order to find out what works best. It's far too common for a writer to fall in love with a scene (particularly an opening) and not want to change it. That way to disaster, my friend.

But why not try the bigger bed (add more information, details to enrich the world and the story)? Try the smaller bed (try a bare-bones opening). Try the middle bed after taking on the other two to see what's the best balance (and a couple of readers here can be very helpful).

Why not try a different character's viewpoint for the opening (to see who really has the most emotionally at stake)? Why not try on first person to see how it feels and stretch your skills?

Now here's what I've noticed in teaching workshops--folks want to apply everything to the manuscript in hand. And want it all to work right off. That kind of focus can be a good thing. But not everything you write will (or should) make it into the book. So why not try new things on? Write scenes just so that you, the author, know the information. Interview your characters to get to know them better. Try writing the book as every page is the ONLY page you'll get anyone to read. And try writing a scene that you don't want in the book--see if you can keep it a secret scene.

IMPORTANT SIDE NOTE HERE: Withholding information from the reader is not suspense, it is irritation. Withholding information from the characters which puts them in jeopardy gives you suspense--so stop saving the best stuff for chapter five and later. Give the reader the best stuff right away, and then go think up even better stuff.

Now to balance this--after all Goldi didn't like the too hot or the too cold porridge, and let's not get into why bears were eating porridge--the other side of holding out on the reader, giving too little to go on, is loading the reader up for bear.

Personally, I think there are two kinds of writers: those of us who over-write and must cut and those who under-write and must layer in details that reveal the world to the reader. It's good to know which camp you fall into so you can compensate. If you're like me and you love the details, you have to learn to be picky about which details you use. And you have to learn to edit and cut. Even more important is to learn to layer and weave in back-story in small bites--a sentence here or there, instead of a few paragraphs here and here and here and here. If you're the type who writes sparse, that's good, but make sure there's enough details that a reader can see the same world that's in your head.

One caution here--it's boring to get too much information about people you haven't learned to like. So that's task one--engage the reader's emotions. Make them care for the characters and get them interested, then you can start peeling back the layers of the characters.

NEXT IMPORTANT SIDE NOTE: What you show your characters doing matters more than what you tell the reader about your characters. If you want a reader to think a character is brave, she must be shown doing something brave. That's why showing matters so very much.

Speaking of brave, there's one other lesson that Goldilocks offers, other than that a life of petty crime isn't that bad, and this lesson is that it pays to be picky. Goldi is a high-maintenance gal. If it's not just right, she's not putting up with it. That's a good trait for any writer--don't put up with crap, not even from yourself. Be very picky about the opening and getting it just right (you only have that one chance to hook a reader). Be picky about the words you use. Be picky about making sure it's not too hot or too cold, or too hard, or too soft. Be picky about the character's dialogue, about opening with a strong scene that SHOWS the reader something important about the main characters.

LAST IMPORTANT SIDE NOTE: Start the story as close to where the main character's life changes forever--but start also with a scene that sets the reader's expectations for the mood and type of story. (There is a reason to start off with Bella moving up North and not sooner or later than that.) It's very hard on folks when they're in the mood for fish and they pick up what looks like a fish and you've said it's a fish, but the first bite is all batter and breading.

With the last comes the first, and we're back to where a lot of beginnings seem to struggle. It's damn hard to write a good beginning without having the ending done. That's my take on it. I almost always revise the opening based on where the story ends up, but this is just about impossible if you don't have the book done. Which leads us back to Goldi.

The last lesson we can take from Goldilocks is that kid didn't give up. She ransacked that whole house--food, chairs, beds, everything she wanted. Start to finish, our Goldi girl. That's often where you can find your great opening, in that strong ending that gives you a mirror back to how it all started. You show your character at the end now able to do what was impossible at the beginning (in a romance, you show the character now able to have a relationship that was impossible at the start of thing). You KNOW where this story has to start because you know where it has to end.

And maybe that's what we need more of--contests for great endings. Ones where Goldilocks starts off a wear-bear herself and ends up married to the handsome were-bear of the family.

Shannon Donnelly's writing has won numerous awards, including a RITA nomination for Best Regency, the Grand Prize in the "Minute Maid Sensational Romance Writer" contest, judged by Nora Roberts, RWA's Golden Heart, the Laurel Wreath, the Winter Rose, the Bookseller's Best, and multiple finalists in the Holt Medallion, the Colorado ACE, the Golden Quill, and others. Her work has repeatedly earned 4½ Star Top Pick reviews from Romantic Times magazine, as well as praise from Booklist and other reviewers, who note: "simply superb"..."wonderfully uplifting"....and "beautifully written." In addition to her Regency romances, she has had novellas published in several anthologies, has had young adult horror stories published and is the author of several computer games. She can be found online at sd-writer.com

Show and Tell: An Interactive Workshop runs from August 2nd through August 30th

Rivet Your Reader with Deep Point of View

Please welcome guest blogger Jill Elizabeth Nelson

Have you ever read a book that melded your mind with the main characters’ psyches? Their every experience became yours, and your reading pleasure intensified. Why? How did that happen? What did the writer do to gain that affect?

The technique is called Deep Point of View, and we’ll plumb the depths (pun intended) of this fun and fundamental skill during my upcoming workshop, beginning July 26.

Even a novice writer is familiar with the concept of “point of view.” Most even know the difference between first person and third person. And if we’re really savvy, we’re up on the concept of tenses—past, present, and future—in storytelling. But Deep Point of View puts basic POV on steroids. It’s like a classic car—turbo-charged, or the difference between mastering Mount McKinley and conquering Mount Everest.

I learned this technique from my awesome editor in the school of deadline during the substantive edit of my debut novel, and my writing has never been the same since. Honestly, when she showed me the tips and tricks I wondered where I’d been all my life—or why my publisher picked up my rookie manuscript in the shape it had been in.

Curious?

Here are some identifying characteristics of Deep POV:

Deep POV eliminates narrator distance. The reader will feel like there is nothing between them and the events in the story. Even third person can seem like first person!

Deep POV is always immediate, which makes it an excellent choice for high action books or scenes. Or conversely, it’s a wonderful way to flow in the psyche of the POV character during contemplative moments.

However, Deep POV is not a long string of internal monologue.

Deep POV does not use italics like direct thoughts. Italics remain only for use in brief snippets of quoted thought.

Want to tame that nasty show/don’t tell monster? You guessed it! Proper use of Deep POV will have that man-eater purring in no time.

Deep POV will not allow lazy characterization because the writer must be so intimate with their characters that she can convey them as if she were them.

Consequently, in Deep POV, the voice of each POV character sparkles and shines.

A single blog post isn’t nearly enough space even to begin share the specific examples and practical applications I plan to share with my students later this month. I’m jazzed to pass the torch.

Jill Elizabeth Nelson writes what she likes to read—tales of adventure seasoned with romance, humor, and faith, earning her the tagline: Endless Adventure, Timeless Truth. When teaching classes for writers, she delights in bringing the Ahah! moment to her students as they make a new skill their own. Jill and her husband live in rural Minnesota where they raised four children and are currently enjoying their first grandchild.

Calculated Revenge, a May 2010 release, is Jill’s seventh novel and her third for Harlequin’s Love Inspired Romantic Suspense imprint. Her debut trilogy, the To Catch a Thief series, published by Multnomah Books (a division of Random House), was recently re-released in hard cover, large print by Thorndike Press. Visit Jill on the web at www.jillelizabethnelson.com.

Calculated Revenge

It’s been eighteen years since Laney Thompson’s sister was abducted and killed, but Laney’s pain and haunting guilt has never faded. Now the murderer is back, taunting Laney with mementos of her sister and threatening Laney’s young daughter. School principal Noah Ryder is her best hope for protecting her daughter—if she can convince the former investigator to take the case. As the threats escalate and clues lead to shocking secrets from the past, Laney’s survival—and that of her daughter—depends on the rusty gifts and skills Noah wants only to forget.


Deep POV runs July 26, 2010 through August 22, 2010

Author Press Kits

Please welcome guest blogger Laura Bickle

If you're an author, sooner or later, someone will ask you for part of your press kit. Rather than doing as I did, blinking with that deer-in-headlights look, consider assembling one early. Now that I have one, it's much more convenient to pull parts out as I need them for interviews, conferences, and guest blogging.

Though everyone's needs are different, my kit (thus far) includes:

-Author Bio. I have a long bio and a short one, including contact and website information. Bios should include publishing credits and information on current projects, as well as any quirky or interesting info about your offline life you'd wish to share...like belly dancing or feral cat ranching.

-Author Photo. I have these in a couple of different resolutions for various purposes...smaller files for the web, for example.

-Book Information. This includes title, publisher, release date, ISBN, and cover shot or jacket. I also have publisher's blurbs and my publisher’s press releases for these. Those small elevator-pitch blurbs will be critically important to have in front of you anytime an interviewer asks: “So, what’s your book about?”

I also keep long and short book excerpts handy, both in hard copy form and links to them on the web. Many blogs will only reproduce short excerpts, so it helps to have a punchy excerpt of less than a thousand words, in addition to the first book chapter.

I’ve also found that it’s very helpful to have a stock of the books available for review, both in physical form and as .pdf files. A reviewer may need a copy of your book yesterday, and .pdf seems to be the most universal way to get it there. Just make sure to get your publisher’s standard disclaimer language to send out with an electronic copy of your work.

-Promo materials. This includes bookmarks, cover flats, postcards, brochures, and business cards. Any snazzy promo materials. Lately, I’ve been seeing small staple-bound copies of excerpts at conventions, and I’m plotting how to put something like that together.

-Reviews and press clippings. I file scanned copies of reviews that have appeared in magazines and keep track of online reviews with links on my website.

I also maintain a list of where I’ve been interviewed or done guest posts on the web, with links handy.

Anybody else have other ideas or additional materials that they keep on hand, just in case? Anything odd or unusual that you've been asked for?

Laura Bickle has worked in the unholy trinity of politics, criminology, and technology for several years. She and her chief muse live in the Midwest, owned by four mostly-reformed feral cats. Embers, Pocket Juno’s April 2010 release, was her debut as a novelist. Sparks continues the series in September. More information is at www.salamanderstales.com.

Laura also writes as Alayna Williams. Alayna's "debut" was Dark Oracle, Pocket Juno's June 2010 release.

Dark Oracle

Can an oracle change the future she sees? 

Tara Sheridan swore off criminal profiling years ago. By combining Tarot card divination with her own intuition, she narrowly escaped the grasp of a serial killer who left her scarred for life. She put down her cards and withdrew from work and society. Now, Sophia, a member of an ancient secret society connected to the mythic Delphic Oracle, asks Tara to find a missing scientist who has unlocked the destructive secrets of dark energy. Tara resists— she fears reawakening her long-buried talents and blames Sophia’s Daughters of Delphi for the death of her mother. But, grudgingly, she agrees to search for the missing scientist, Lowell Magnusson.

Tara travels to Las Alamos National Laboratory, the location of Magnusson’s disappearance. She meets the serious, impatient, and highly attractive Agent Harry Li— and re-encounters her old partner, Richard Corvus. Corvus is now chief of the Special Projects Division, a position Tera might have held, had she not dropped out of investigative work. Corvus considers Tara mentally imbalanced and not to be trusted— but it may be Corvus who is untrustworthy.

Tara’s investigation and Tarot cards tell her Magnusson’s daughter, Cassie, may hold the key to her father’s plans, and that they both are in grave danger. Meanwhile, Corvus and the Daughters of Delphi have their own plans...and the fate of the world hangs in the balance.

He Had a Crappy Childhood: The Psychology of Character Motivation

Please welcome guest blogger Stacey Kade

When writing a story, “why” is a question you need to ask—and answer—over and over again. Everyone knows that stories, on the most basic level, are about people who do things. Or, perhaps, depending on the kind of story you’re writing, stories are about the events that happen to people and the choices those people make in reaction to said events. But either way, WHY—why those characters do what they do, why they make a particular choice—is the most important question in the world when it comes to keeping your readers involved in the story.

Whether they realize it or not, readers are always asking themselves: Why should I care about what happens to this character? It’s the author’s job to make sure readers understand the characters well enough to feel that connection, to empathize with their actions even if the readers don’t agree with the characters’ choices.

But we’ve all experienced it with a book—that moment when we stop caring about a character’s fate, or, worse yet, begin rooting for the character to fail because we’ve lost all sympathy and empathy for him/her. (*clears throat* Bella, I’m looking at you, babe. Edward? Really? Sorry, I’m Team Jacob over here. J)

One of the keys to maintaining that reader/character connection is by providing adequate and relatable motivation for your character’s actions. It’s like that old scenario about who is the greater criminal: the man who breaks into a pharmacy to steal drugs to sell them for cash or the man who breaks into a pharmacy to steal drugs to treat his sick child? Technically, it’s the same crime in both cases, but our sympathy for the second man’s motivation makes his crime seem more understandable and less “criminal.”

Motivation is the “M” layer in the GMC (Goal, Motivation, and Conflict—the brilliant concept created by Debra Dixon) sandwich. In the GMC class I’ll be teaching at the beginning of August, we’ll go over each piece in more detail, but for the purposes of this post:

Goal: what a character wants

Motivation: why he/she wants it

Conflict: all the reasons and obstacles preventing him/her from having what he/she wants

And generally speaking, I’d say that the greater the conflict, the stronger the motivation must be. In other words, the more difficult the goal is to accomplish, the more we, as readers, need a strong reason for it to be necessary. Think about it: how badly do you need to change the channel before you get up to look for the lost remote? At least that’s the way it works around my house!

Let’s go back to the man stealing the medicine for his sick child. If the man can wait until Monday until the pharmacy is open to buy the medicine or if his child simply has a headache but he’s out of Tylenol, readers probably won’t accept his choice to break in. Unless, of course, the author has constructed him as a desperate, unhinged man determined to prove to his child that he is worthy of trust.

But if the child is going to die unless the father gets that medicine RIGHT NOW and he can’t possibly afford it, well, then we understand and empathize with him breaking in.

So, motivation is closely tied to what’s at stake. What will the character lose if he/she does not succeed? James Scott Bell hypothesizes in his book, Plot & Structure, that the “most compelling fiction has death hovering over the lead throughout.” But it’s not always physical death. There’s also psychological (total devastation) and professional (destruction of a most valued career) death, too.

I’ve found the following tip from Plot & Structure incredibly helpful:

“Define how your Lead will die, either physically, professionally, or psychologically, if she does not achieve her objective. If you can’t, ask yourself if the objective is truly crucial to the Lead’s well-being. Find a way to make it so important readers will understand why it must be achieved.”

Okay, so with all that in mind, how do you figure out a character’s motivation? For me, it all goes back to Psych 101. Humans (and vampires, werewolves, humanoid aliens, etc.) are a product of genetics (nature) and environment (nuture). So, if you want to know what motivates a particular character, you need to closely examine his or her life up to this point. What are his/her parents like? What kind of values do they display? Where does he/she live? Does he/she fit in or not?

In my new YA novel, The Ghost and the Goth, one of the main characters, Alona, is fanatical about appearances and obsessed with looking perfect. Yes, she’s shallow and mean at times—there’s no denying that—but when you learn that her home life is a hot mess and filled with elements outside of her control, it’s a little easier to see how her obsession with her appearance is her way of controlling at least one aspect of her life. When you can’t control anything but how you look, suddenly it’s very important to have just the right clothes, hairstyle, etc.

In the upcoming class on GMC, we’ll delve deeper into motivation as well as the other pieces of the GMC “sandwich,” but this short post will hopefully give you an idea of how using GMC can aid you in creating a stronger story.

As an award-winning corporate copywriter, Stacey Kade has written about everything from backhoe loaders to breast pumps. But she prefers to make things up instead. She lives in the Chicago suburbs with her husband, Greg, and their three retired racing greyhounds, Joezooka (Joe), Tall Walker (Walker) and SheWearsThePants (Pansy). When she’s not reading or writing, you’ll likely find her parked in front of the television with her Roswell DVDs, staring rapturously at Jason Behr.

The Ghost and the Goth (Hyperion, June 2010) is her first YA novel.

Goal, Motivation and Conflict runs from August 1, 2010 through August 29, 2010

The Kitchen Sink, and Why You Don't Need It

Please welcome guest blogger Erica Hayes

A lot of talk goes on about worldbuilding in fantasy, futuristic and paranormal circles. And one thing we all seem to agree on is that your worldbuilding should be as rich and detailed and developed as you can possibly make it. One of the ways we can stand out in such a crowded market (crowded in the case of paranormal at least!) is to create a world so vivid and believable that you sweep the reader up and carry them along into your imagination.

Okay. So more is good, right? For a world to be rich and vibrant, it needs to be teeming with magical creatures, all fighting for space on the page?

Not necessarily.

The fabulous Nalini Singh teaches a workshop on paranormal worldbuilding, which I was lucky enough to attend in New Zealand last year, and one of the most important things she teaches is this: limit your world. Focus.

Don't throw in everything just for the sake of it. In Singh's Psy-Changeling world, we have just and only that: psy and changelings. Singh didn't need any other paranormal elements to tell her stories, and she's up to book 9 and counting.

Why does it work? How can she get nine books out of such an apparently simple set-up? It's because conflict is inherent in the Psy-Changeling world. (I'm talking about romantic conflict, because Singh's stories are romances, but also external conflict.) What does 'inherent conflict' mean? It means that the conflict stems from who and what the paranormal characters are. Psy are emotionally repressed; changelings are not. A simple conflict that's good for so much.

The simpler your world is, the easier it is to pin down a simple, inherent, easy-to-explain conflict. Angels versus demons. Vampire hunter falls for vampire. A human girl sees fairies, who are out to get her. And the simpler the concept, the easier it is to pitch--and the more compelling, on the whole, your story will be.

The Twilight universe is another great example of a limited world. The basic romance plot of Twilight is: Love Triangle Between Human, Vampire and Werewolf. So that's who we get. There's no need for anything else. Meyer doesn't add in fairies, for instance, though in a world with vampires and werewolves, fairies could be believable--because what would be the point? She didn't need fairies to tell the story.

Not all fantasy worlds are limited to that extent, of course. Take Charlaine Harris's Southern Vampire Mysteries. Vamps, weres, shifters, fairies, demons… you name it. And it works beautifully. But Harris set it up so that at the beginning of the series, only vampires had revealed themselves to humans. We discover all the rest along with the heroine, Sookie, over the course of many novels. We have time to take it all in. It's not all thrown at us in chapter one. Vampires Are Among Us. That's where we start. Simple, inherent conflict.

Rob Thurman's Cal Leandros world (urban fantasy) is another that contains all manner of creatures, because without them there'd be nothing for Cal and Niko to hunt. But Thurman introduces her monster-infested world with a few well-chosen examples--characters who are important in the story, not just standing about--and lets our imagination do the rest. She doesn't need to do any more work: show me a troll under the Brooklyn Bridge, and I'll extrapolate that the world is filled with bloodthirsty fae. Monsters Are Everywhere, And They're Out To Get You. Can't get a much simpler, more inherent conflict than that. And it's one for which you need a lot of monsters. But they're introduced as and when we need to know about them.

The same principle--limit your world--applies in sci-fi. You don't necessarily need a dozen different alien races or multiple star systems to make your universe vibrant. The TV series Firefly has only one star system and no aliens at all. No fabulous technology. They don't even have faster-than-light travel. Why? Because the inherent conflict--One Man Against The Establishment, or Wild West In Space--doesn't require it. They simply weren't needed to tell the story the writers wanted to tell.

Once you've figured out your basic conflicts, then by all means get as detailed as you want with the worldbuilding. It's the details that bring the world to life, even if not everything you've discovered makes it onto the page.

But by defining the concept--by nailing down the inherent conflict--you can limit your world to what needs to be there. If you can do that, your characters will have ample room in which to play, without getting overshadowed by an unnecessarily complicated world.

Erica lives in Australia, and writes the Shadowfae Chronicles, a dark urban fantasy/romance series, for St Martin's Press.

Shadowglass

A seductive magic mirror lies hidden deep in a demon’s lair, with a simple warning: don’t stare at the glass…
   
Ice is a thief and a scammer—a troubled fairy trying her best to eek out a meager living in the squalid underworld of the Shadowfae.  When she spends a hot night with a demon lord, she discovers a powerful magic mirror in his lair—and pilfers it, knowing it’s the key to escaping her bleak life as a two-bit con artist.  But Ice soon discovers that its power comes with a price…madness, which is slowly overtaking her.

Indigo oozes darkness, danger and tempting sensuality.  He’s been sent to destroy Ice and bring the mirror back to its rightful owner.  A mission that, if he fails, will cost him his life.  But when he meets Ice, he faces an even greater challenge: an insatiable sexual hunger that neither of them can deny, and dark passions that threaten to claim them both forever.  The trouble is, the longer he stays within the mirror’s reach, the greater its hold on his sanity—and his determination to save Ice…