Novel Writing: Scandals and Credible Characters

Which are You? A Candle or a Mirror?

Backups and Blessings

2010 has come and gone and 2011 has arrived.  With it comes opportunities.  Ones for fresh starts.  For doing the things we intended to do last year, but didn’t.  Opportunities to review our pasts and set our eyes on our futures.

Change is hard for us.  We get comfortable and when things upset our apple carts, we typically first react with annoyance or, in some cases, despair.  A few weeks ago, my domain file corrupted.  I had over 79,000 things on that site, and 4 other sites that corrupted as well.
I’ve been faithful about making backups.  So much so that my “non-corrupt” copy was overwritten by my corrupt copy–a fact possible, I learned, after the overwrite and corruption occurred.  My safekeeping copy was also corrupted and the disk safe-safekeeping backup copy.

They all got zapped.

And so the reality of having to redo and recreate set in.  I promised myself a good attitude.  Focus on the solution, not the problem.  And I worked exclusively on this from arising to konking out for over a week.  But tonight, it’s done.

I have a uniform, clean site.  I have a separate book site.  I have recreated the additional sites.  And I’ve diversified segments on them so that never again will I have to recreate everything–even if backups do corrupt.

There were low points.  Like when I discovered that I couldn’t import a blog because I couldn’t get it in the right format.  After a little muttering, I set out recreating.  And after I’d done the last of them–days of work–I discovered that the file in the correct format could have been had, though everyone I asked said it couldn’t.  But in doing all this work, I discovered a way that I now can share with others.

So I’ve learned a lot and gotten new sites and diversified.  Not a painless task.  Not an easy one without sacrifice, as this happened during the holidays when I was supposed to finally have some time off.  But good has come from it.

In addition to the new sites all cleaned up and shiny, I gained a few new skills.  But maybe the best thing I discovered is that faced with calm and focused on the solution, not the problem, forcing myself to slow down and think before acting, I didn’t lose any of the 79,000 plus documents/tidbits/graphics, and I didn’t make myself sick with tension.  There was no tension.  Just nose down determination and lots of prayers that nothing else corrupted and wiped things out before I could get them.

Calm prevailed.  And won.

So I start the new year a wee bit tired, but also excited.  What was viewed as a bad thing actually turned out to be a good thing–a fresh start.  Learning lessons come all throughout our lives.  We can’t avoid them.  But it’s nice to know that sometimes they’re good things–proverbial blessings in disguise.  So I guess that makes it a blessing too that sometimes there just aren’t enough backups.
Seize your fresh start this 1/1/11 day and remember the solutions focus holds the key to calm.

Remember that even when there aren’t enough backups, you’re being given the opportunity for a fresh start.

Blessings,
Vicki
©2011, Vicki Hinze
www.vickihinze.com
www.vickihinzebooks.com

Ebook Update

This is an update on your requests to make my nonfiction writing books and articles available on Kindle.  We're making progress, and this lets you know what's now available...

Blessings,

Vicki

Writing Books/Articles on Kindle

My assistant Cheryl has been working to fill your requests of putting my writing books and articles up on Kindle.  She still has a lot to do, but she's gotten a good bit done on this project (see photo above).

You can read excerpts on the ebooks page on my website at: www.vickihinze.com, or read them on the Kindle site by clicking HERE.  (Note that there are two pages.)

When the next batch are up, I'll post a note to let you know.

As always, I hope the information is of use to you, and wish you every success in your writing.

Blessings,

Vicki

scene, structure, conflict, narrative, novel elements, fictional dream, writing and staying sane, one way to write a novel, mistakes we make, writing in the fast lane


 

The Changing Market, The Changing Author

Author--Adapt!

Because You Asked

Celebrate--It's National Book Week

FORMAT MATTERS BECAUSE...

Punctuation Matters

PSYCHIC DISTANCE

©2003-2010, Vicki Hinze

Psychic Distance is the amount of emotional space you put between the reader and the character.  Writers use psychic distance to manipulate the intensity of reader involvement in whatever event is occurring within a scene.

Largely, writers attempt to draw the reader in to experience the story firsthand.  But there are times when the author doesn't want the reader to experience an event firsthand, and yet the reader must know this information or this background in order for what is happening in the novel to make sense, or for the way a character is reacting to make sense.  (Motivation disclosure.)

An easy-to-grasp example:  Let's say you're writing a romance novel.  Now you know that the primary focus of the novel must be on the development of the relationship between the hero and heroine.  That's the novel focus.  But say your heroine had been a victim of rape at some time in the past.  The rape certainly influences her motivations and actions now, yet you're writing a love story.  You don't want the reader to be up close and experience the rape.  So you, the writer, generate psychic distance to buffer the reader, so to speak.  You make the reader aware of what happened and how it impacted (and continues to impact) the heroine, but you don't make the reader relive the rape.  Rape is not the novel focus.

Let me pull an actual psychic-distance shift from a published novel excerpt so you'll see exactly what I mean.  This excerpt is from Mary Higgins Clark's BEFORE I SAY GOOD-BYE, page 118:

       "Can I win?  Nell wondered as she walked up Madison Avenue.  Will you still feel that way when you find out Adam's former employers are trying to throw the blame for their own bid rigging and bribery on Adam and Winifred?

       It's so easy to blame two people who aren't around to defend themselves, she thought angrily.  And so convenient.

       Still, Nell realized that a persistent thought had been rattling around in her subconscious:  Was it possible that Adam and Winifred were dead because they knew too much..."

Note that you're inside Nell's head ("Can I win?"), then you're outside it, in the author's company when the author tells you that Nell is wondering and walking up Madison Avenue.  In paragraph three, ("Still, Nell realized"), the author again shifts the psychic distance.  We're not inside Nell's head anymore.  Now, we again have the author telling us what Nell is doing.   There's more figurative space, or psychic distance, between the reader and

the character.

I've been an avid fan of Ms. Clark's for many years, but in my humble opinion, in this particular book--where psychic-distance shifts are made continually--the story suffers for it.  The reason is that every time the reader attaches to the character, the author severs the attachment by shifting the psychic distance.  Each shift interrupts the fictional dream and reminds the reader that s/he's reading, which prohibits her/him from living the story.

So how do we eliminate the shifts, or narrow the psychic-distance focus?  By closing the gaps and getting rid of the filters.

These filters, which are also known as "author intrusion," (wondered, realized, and thought in the example) plant the author between the reader and character.  So let's ditch them, narrow the gap in the psychic distance, and see how it reads:      

     Can I win?  Nell walked up Madison Avenue.  Will I still feel that way when I find out Adam's former employers are trying to throw the blame for their own bid rigging and bribery on Adam and Winifred?

     It's so easy to blame two people who aren't around to defend themselves.  And so convenient.

     Still . . .  A persistent thought rattled around in her subconscious.   Was it possible that Adam and Winifred were dead because they knew too much..."

Now, let's use this same example and widen the psychic distance--without filtering Nell's thoughts through the author:

       Could she win?  Nell walked up Madison Avenue.  Would she still feel that way when she found out Adam's former employers were trying to throw the blame for their own bid rigging and bribery on Adam and Winifred?

       It was so easy to blame two people who weren't around to defend themselves.  And so convenient.

       Still . . .  A persistent thought rattled around in her subconscious.   Was it possible that Adam and Winifred were dead because they knew too much...?

Hopefully now you see (and feel) the difference in psychic distance in the examples.  Note too that when the distance remains constant, the reader isn't jarred or distracted.

This shift challenge is comparable to those created in "head-hopping" or constantly changing point of view (POV).  Like POV shifts, psychic-distance shifts hold diverse expert opinions on when shifting should and should not be done.  For that reason, I won't cite suggested rules.  (Any writing rule made can and has been broken.)

What I will share is a reminder that every time you switch POV characters, the reader needs a little time to settle in and attach to the new POV character.  Too many shifts and you lose the reader, who no longer can attach and get emotionally involved in the story.  The same holds true for psychic shifts.  Too many continually jar the reader, remind her she's reading, and prohibit her from living the fictional dream you've created.

That said, don't be afraid to shift the psychic distance, (remember the case of the romance novel, where shifting is vital to the novel's focus), but be judicious and make the shifts for a specific reason that strengthens the story.❖

Networking Parts 1 and 2

Recently I was asked to do a workshop for RWA PRO Members who are
preparing to attend the annual writer’s conference.
While geared specifically for PRO, I thought I’d share my notes here.
Perhaps something in them will be useful to you.

For Part 1, click HERE.

For Part 2, click HERE.

Email questions to:
infoandrequests (at) aol.com

Blessings,

Vicki

Why Write from Honesty?

Novelist I Am: Writer's Block and How to Avoid It

Once I believed that Writer's Block didn't exist. Sincerely, truly, and--I thought--irrevocably. Then, I woke up.

Actually, that wake-up call came in the form of it being pointed out to me that soldiers who go to war (and people in accidents) and lose limbs still feel toes or fingers no longer attached to their bodies. READ ARTICLE

Revision Tips

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DREADED REVISIONS

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Creating Unforgettable Protagonists

Here's a simple formula for Creating an Unforgettable Protagonist:

Find the character's Achilles' heel--their greatest fear or weakness or vulnerability.

That's the character's internal conflict.

Stomp it.

That's external conflict in the book.

The stomping is your plot.

WARNING: Do not develop a perfect protagonist. Perfect people are boring and boring is deadly--especially in lead characters.

An Important reminder on Protagonists:

Protagonists are our heroes. The people we WANT to be. So it's important to remember why we want to be like them.

Being a hero is not about what a man does.

It’s about who a man is--his character.

A man’s character governs what he does, to whom, and how.

His character is what makes us deem him heroic.

To hammer that reminder, I'm going to use hero. Know that's a synonym for protagonist and not gender-bias. :)

The method used to create novel elements, including an unforgettable hero, is insignificant. What is significant to developing an unforgettable hero, is incorporating specific and universal character traits that appeal to the majority of us and are perceived by us as heroic. We craft the remaining novel elements--plot, structure, tone, theme--to support and prove the hero is worthy of the name.

A character wants something. If no one, or nothing stands in the way of getting it, then you have no conflict, no story. So the writer needs an antagonist--a villain.

Who most wants to stop the protagonist, and why? What motivates the villain? What does s/he have at risk? Are the actions s/he will take in this novel worthy of a respectable villain? And are both the protagonist and antagonist likely to be found in this setting?

Story people emulate real people, though they are actually just the creative genius of the writer who develops them. Creating something or someone from nothing and convincing others the creation is real IS creative genius. As writers, our key responsibility in the creation process is to craft specific characters for specific story roles. Every character has to grow and change by the events encountered in the novel. Not as a reaction to what happens--reactionary characters are victims--but as a direct result of his or her choices made by experiencing novel events. This is where the angelic gems of simultaneous development of story people becomes evident.

Readers' most beloved characters are ones they most strongly identify with--people like them. Admirable people who entertain them.

Writers, remember that readers' are armchair adventurers who want to explore interesting places, dynamic events, and hard issues--but they want to do it from the safety of their recliners. Our characters give them the opportunity. Story people aren't truly like readers, but they are like the people readers want to be. They're admirable, heroic, logical. They have common sense, worthy goals, and they are tough opponents. Strong qualities--and that goes for villains, too. The main characters are all, in a word, competent.

Competent characters can carry a lot of weight--face more complex challenges that are worthy of our admiration. No unforgettable hero is incompetent. If a geek, he has other amazing qualities. If an Alpha guy, he has heightened sensitivity. If somewhere in between, he has other female-potent qualities that make women admire, respect, trust and adore him. His obstacles are credible, difficult and his motivations are ones women consider heroic.

CHARACTER TRAITS:

Heroic men are three dimensional: physical, emotional and spiritual. Writers cue readers on all three with details. Everything about a hero--speech patterns, body language, job, interactions with others; internal and external, physical and emotional actions and responses to others’ actions--identify him as heroic. No hero without clearly depicted universal and unique traits is unforgettable.

Universal Traits

Universal traits are those most of us, as human beings, identify with and feel empathetic toward, and are typically tied to emotions.

Core-level universal feelings. Emotional reactions that many of us human beings share.

Not all of us have had the same experience in which the character is currently engaged in our book, but we understand what the character is feeling. We all can associate love, hate, shame, embarrassment, humiliation, fear, grief, and/or guilt. We understand the feelings even if the event itself is alien to us. These are our common bonds with most other human beings. These are our universal traits.

Unique traits are those applicable to us. Convictions, ethics, beliefs, social mores--all of those traits that come as a result of our personal histories, backgrounds, and experiences. Those traits that mold our unique characters. Force us to take a stand, to see where on the fence we sit. We choose what we emphasize in our character, and that makes us unique.

An unforgettable hero reacts as the majority of us do to these emotional triggers.

Unique Individual Traits

The unforgettable hero, defined on all three levels, holds significant universal appeal and yet must be highly specific to the individual to set him apart from every other male in the novel.

Giving the reader the physical attributes provides a photograph of the hero, but even when amazingly attractive, it’s flat and dull.

At times, we all have to pick ourselves up and press on, just as we know that at times we need to kick ourselves in the butt and remember: "We are not the person we were. We are the person we've become." That’s critical insight into an unforgettable hero.

Our experiences and insights gained from those unique individuals experiences, make us grow and change, providing us with the tools--emotional and spiritual--needed to meet challenges constructively. Heroes meet challenges constructively.

These are the insights I can share on crafting your protagonist into an unforgettable character.

Blessings,

Vicki

What to Write? Single-Title or Category

For writers contemplating whether to write single title or category novels, you might find the following article helpful. It’s one of that I wrote and Jennifer Connors has published in the Seattle Examiner.

Here is a link to the complete article:

Category or Single-Title

Blessings,

Vicki

Effective Narrative

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