All About the Writing

What Makes That Goal So Important?

When a character starts out a story, he or she has a GOAL. They want SOMETHING. And the reason they want this is because they want things to change. 

The character's goal represents an improvement over their current circumstances, or a return to a situation when things were better than they are now. This is why they hold onto their goal so tightly when they experience setbacks and turmoil throughout the story. 

No matter what the goal is, there is an emotional reason underlying it. 

My favorite example for this topic is "Mrs. 'Arris Goes to Paris" because it's so simple and straightforward, yet emotionally appealing. It's a book by Paul Gallico, which I read a zillion years ago, and I remember it being made into a movie starring Angela Lansbury. 

The title character is a charwoman who wants to buy a dress from a French designer, and she's worked very hard to save the necessary money. Her goal is to actually go to Paris to buy that designer dress. 

Now when you think about it, it's not likely she'll have any opportunities to wear that dress, because her lifestyle is a simple one that doesn't include gala events. The garment will probably hang in her closet, never to be worn. Is it really worth scrubbing floors all day long for something so completely frivolous and useless?

For me, not so much. (That's why credit cards were invented after all.) 

For this character, though, the answer is an emphatic YES.

What's important to remember is that dress represents beauty, and wealth, and a life that Mrs. 'Arris aspires to, even when she knows the dress will be the only thing she can acquire of that life. Owning that dress means she is more than a simple charwoman.

So you can see how the emotional underpinning of a goal is the driving force for a character's actions. Even if they don't consciously recognize this connection, it is still what spurs them on, even in the face of adversity. It's not a simple, "it would be nice if. . ." kind of thing.  It's a yearning, a strong one. It motivates the character. In some cases, it defines them.

Once you know what a character's goal is, and WHY it is important to them, it is easier to plot your story, because now you know what they are willing to do to achieve that goal. Later, when the character discovers their underlying emotional need has been fulfilled, or it has changed along the way because of their growth, they are finally able to relinquish that initial goal. Even when it has motivated their actions throughout the book.

Recently I couldn't seem to figure out my heroine in the story I was working on. I knew what she wanted to do (retrieve something), but I didn't really understand why, or what that item represented to her. I also couldn't find the right name for her, so I kept auditioning different names, and character traits, when what I actually needed to do was understand WHY she wanted this particular item so badly.

The answer finally occurred to me--in one of those random moments that make me believe writing is 85% magic and 15% voodoo. And once I realized why she was so intent on this goal, and what it represented to her, her name instantly occurred to me, along with her personality. 

She wants to be free of the burden of taking care of her family's craziness, along with the business they want her to run. Even if she can only have this freedom for a short time, she wants to experience a carefree lifestyle, and she decides she can accomplish that by retrieving this missing item.

So now when I get stuck, I'm going to interrogate my characters, to make sure they tell me ahead of time what it is they want, deep down, so that I can make sure they get it. 

Eventually. 

Before that, they're going to have to work hard. And they're going to experience some adventures they never would have anticipated when they set out to achieve their goals. There will be growth, and change, as well as emotional satisfaction.

And while that's happening, hopefully there will be an entertaining experience for readers as well.

So what drives your characters? Are they aware of why they want what they want? What are they willing to do to achieve their goals? 

A lot of folks searching for writing advice end up on this post I originally wrote last year. I thought it was time to make it easier on the search engines by bringing it to the front of the line. Hope you find it enjoyable.

How to Vanquish Page Fright

Fear is an amazing, powerful creature. Most days it is relatively easy to keep it tamed, or at least confined in a secure holding cell. 

It can be frightening once it's unleashed, because it doesn't ever really want to go back into its cage. It comes out snarling and snapping, warning us of danger, yet causing perils of its own.

When fear is like this, it can paralyze us. It goes from an early warning system to an all-out assault on our brains and bodies and creative spirit.

It doesn't help that, as writers, we fuel the beast with our "what if" scenarios. We have an endless supply of them, each one more elaborate than the last one that detonates in our minds. We need this ability when we're creating new stories, but it can drag us very quickly to the dark side, derailing our best intentions.

Jean Sarauer has a post on the Write to Done blog titled "How to Write When You're Scared Spitless". She explains how writers have to learn to deal with their "page fright". One of the things she says about dealing with fear, so it won't hamper our creative flow, is:

"Fear is an instinctive, as well as a conditioned, response to the risk that’s part of living a creative life. When I remember that, I save my energy for writing instead of squandering it in an eternal wrestling match."

I think this is a great reminder, since we want to use our energy for those tasks that are more likely to produce results in this creative life we've chosen. Wrestling with fear doesn't build any muscles, or count as aerobic exercise. 

Even worse, fear isn't just ONE animal. It's an entire animal kingdom, with species and sub-species that emerge and then evolve as soon as one is successfully exterminated. While you may overcome one fear, say, the fear of failure, then up pops another one, maybe fear of rejection, to take the place of its fallen comrade.

So do you keep wrangling with the endless supply of these monsters until you finally cry truce?

Or do you acknowledge their presence, then sit your butt in your chair and get to work, ignoring their taunts?

Everyone struggles with fear. But maybe it's time to make fear struggle with us. 

Don't engage with it. Don't let it get a toehold. Keep working on that manuscript, even when fear whispers how it's the worst combination of words ever devised, or that it'll never sell, or the publishing industry will implode before you get a book deal. Acknowledge these threats to your emotional psyche and move on.

If we don't respond, fear will search out another fright tactic, because it will never run out of potential boogeymen with which to terrorize us. The best thing to do is turn that energy source towards our creative endeavors, completely subverting fear's original purpose. Let fear's warnings inspire us instead of incite us. Put it to work, in a way it never intended when it launched its campaign of dread.

Pretty soon fear will be running scared of us.

I thought others might benefit from this post I did a while ago. It was a good reminder for me--hope it is for you too.

Is Writing A Dream Job, or Just a Dream?

Writing seems like a dream job when we're fantasizing about spending all day effortlessly creating stories.

But when it's finally time to write, we end up being very creative in finding other things to do. We don't want to sit down and make our brain force out the words, because it's no longer a dream.

It's work.

Writing involves TWO wildly different jobs: allowing your heart to fantasize, while persuading your brain to do the heavy lifting. This means you are not only the employee, you are the boss.

Boss You: "I see that you've played ten games of solitaire and sent 200 tweets this morning. Good job. We couldn't be more proud of you. Well, actually we could. We'd like to see, at a minimum, a thousand words added to the WIP today. You get to choose when that happens. Even better, YOU get to choose which words you add. Let me know if I can do anything to help you out with this project."

Employee You: "Thanks. I'm good. This is a piece of cake for me." (Eight hours later) "Crap! I haven't done anything today. The boss is gonna kill me. Oh wait, I'm the boss. Well, I guess I could double up tomorrow. That's what I said yesterday though. Maybe I should call in sick. *coughs* After I tell my Twitter friends about this scratchy throat I've got. . ."

Boss You: "I've got to talk to HR and see how to fire them. Er, me. This isn't at all like I dreamed it would be."

Now your "dream job" sounds like an oxymoron, doesn't it?

Here are a few suggestions to help you be Employee of the Month in no time:

1. Be realistic – It's easier to dream about writing. We all want the acclaim, the adulation, the accolades. There's nothing wrong with that. A lot of people who dream of writing a book someday are probably motivated more by those "a" words than anything else. But for others, writing means scratching out the words no matter what, even if the books never hit the bookshelves, let alone bestseller lists. Decide if writing is a dream, or a dream job, and go from there, without guilt or regrets.
2. Be mindful of the dream – Remember, this is what you want to do. Nobody is forcing you to write. Even if your "boss" is standing over you, tapping their foot while you blithely try to close out fourteen browser windows. . .this is your dream. You want your books to be read and enjoyed by lots of readers. How will that happen if you aren't writing your stories down? Maybe oral storytelling will make a comeback, but until it does, your books need to be written.
3. Be willing to work – When it's time to write, it's time to write. There are plenty of distractions, no matter where you work on your WIP, and writers are willing to explore every single one of them in the name of "research". Set a minimum word count, or a minimum amount of time, such as an hour, where nothing but writing is done. It's amazing how inspired you feel when that's been accomplished. Don't be surprised when you want to do even more writing afterwards.

Now it's your turn. Give me some of your helpful tricks for handling the challenging writer employee that you can be. What works best for you?

Dare To Be A High Maintenance Writer

Dupioni silk. 

Gardenia blossoms. 

Thoroughbred racehorses.

These are just a few of the things that could be labeled “high maintenance”. But I think we’d all agree the care and attention required to maintain these exquisite items is definitely worth it.

Now it’s time to put ourselves in that category.

Look how much we accomplish in our lives when we are wiped out, knackered, face planted against the pillow, dog-tired. Yet we keep going, putting that slacker drum-pounding pink bunny to shame. Despite our constant efforts to hack away at the day-to-day chores, there’s ten times more on the list the following day. And that’s not counting the revising or daily word count we hope to get done.

Imagine if YOU were at the top of the daily To Do list. 

Everything, and everybody, will take your time and energy if you don’t take it for yourself. If you let everyone else have it, there’s nothing left when you try to write. And then you feel guilty for not wanting to write, or you tell yourself your writing is worse than crap, all because you’re attempting it after being drained by fourteen hundred everyday obligations.

How much kick-ass writing could you produce if it were your highest priority every single day? If YOU were the highest priority every day?

“You’re so high maintenance” is code for “you are fussy, entitled, self-absorbed, and WAY too devoted to satisfying your needs, generally at the expense of everyone else”. It’s synonymous with “Diva”, another word that has gone from complimentary (“leading lady”) to derogatory (“pain-in-the-ass”) in a very short time.

I’m not suggesting you ruthlessly flatten everyone else to fulfill your wants and needs. Not at all. But why shouldn’t you be all that you can be?

Why can’t you be the baked potato with all the extras? 

Why aren’t you considered the luxury sedan with the rich Corinthian leather seats?

Why shouldn’t you be first in line to get off the plane once it’s safely arrived at the gate?

I already know what you’re going to say about all the non-writing stuff that needs to be done every day: If I don’t do it, it won’t get done. 

You’re right, so I won’t even try to argue that point. However, I suspect the folks in your sphere--whether it’s work or school or family–-have become accustomed to you getting it all done, and they have no real motivation to change that scenario. So yes, if you want things to get done, you have to do it.

But you know what? The exact same thing can be said about your writing. If YOU don’t do it, it won’t get done. Nobody else can write the stories you write. Other people can fold the laundry, throw something in the microwave, toss Rover some of his favorite doggie treats. And they should be happy to do that. 

Because nobody else can write the stories you write.

I’m not promoting an arrogant or egotistical manifesto here. It’s simply acknowledging the desire to be more than a drone, a minion, a prototype first-generation robotic device. If those were enough, you wouldn’t dream up wonderful stories filled with pirates, and Kraken, and assassins, and hotties. Those imaginative, fantastical, romantic tales need to be written. Yet it’s difficult, sometimes next to impossible, when writing is last on the list, when energy levels are dim or non-existent.

I know it sounds like I’m being subversive. (I am.) I know it sounds like this will upset the daily routine. (Hopefully.) I know your friends and family aren't gonna buy me a birthday present now. (Dang.)

Still, it’s worth it. I don’t want to miss out on the breathtaking stories that are put aside because daily chores and mundane tasks rob your creative spirit. 

I’m asking that you dare to be high maintenance. 

Put yourself first, so that your books and your writing have the freshest, most inspired part of you, not the leftovers. 

So, what can you do to be High Maintenance? Does the thought of it make you uncomfortable? Or does it secretly thrill you? How do you plan to put your writing first today?

This was a post I originally did last year at Romance Writer's Revenge.

The Noble Hero

My latest post at Heroes and Heartbreakers is up today, and it discusses the noble hero who decides the heroine is better off without him, and then does everything he can to push her away. Stop by and leave your suggestions for other books that fit this category!

A Different Kind of Hard

Everything we do, whether it's writing, or life, is meant to be a challenge. We're not following a roadmap. We're creating one. Only we don't realize until much later we're mapping out a route for a trip we won't be going on again.

Think about it. Kindergarten wasn't anything like we'd experienced up to that point. Now it seems simple and easy, and boy, if only we could go back to those halcyon days. I remember going ahead of time to meet the kindergarten teacher, and I couldn't WAIT to start school. I was also scared, because I didn't know all those other kids, or what was expected of me. But I was definitely excited, and I eventually figured it all out, and then. . . I was nervous and keyed up about the next challenge.

Nothing is ever like you think it's going to be. College wasn't like high school, but I found my way through it and survived it, and I even enjoyed it. Law school wasn't ANYTHING like college, which was too bad, because I'd gotten pretty good at college.

Law school required me to switch gears entirely. It wasn't about memorizing and regurgitating. It was being browbeaten and humiliated in public with a series of questions DESIGNED to make you come up with the answer, but pretty much made you feel like the biggest idiot of all. Even the writing was completely different. 

I'm having PTSD just thinking of it, so let's skip ahead.

Whenever you think you have it all figured out, congratulate yourself, and then prepare for the next batch of uncertainty. I now know how to do all kinds of things I didn't know how to do before. And I'm pretty sure I won't be doing any of them again. Where's the fun in that?

It did teach me this: I have to be flexible and adaptable and willing to experience new things.

Writing is the same way. Each book challenges me, making me cry out, "Why aren't you acting like the last one?! I finally figured out how to do that story!"

So, that's my pep talk for today. It's a reminder to myself, when I get dispirited, wondering why life seems so crazy and unpredictable and, on some days, unbearably hard. It always has been. It's just hard in different ways, in new ways, ways that punch me in the head and force me to figure out solutions when I don't feel like I have anything to draw on.

I never knew how to do anything when I first tried it. So why did I expect that I'd be good at it right off the bat? Okay, laziness makes us want to do something good without practicing, but laziness is one short step away from sloth, which is just down the road from burnout. All of these things that make us want to tear our hair out are experiences we will treasure one day.

I won't proclaim, "Adversity is good for you", because then you'll run after me with pitchforks and blazing torches.

Let's just say we'll benefit from these moments when things seem tougher than we are. It will give us empathy as well as courage, the very things we admire in characters we read and write about.

It will also make us ready for the next challenge down the road.

Wherever it takes us.

Let's Backup Here a Minute

I read a headline the other day suggesting we need to back up our work by having a hard copy available. I scoffed, probably because I was in the midst of some spring cleaning, getting ready to chuck a box full of printed manuscripts.

Who needs these anymore?

However, the article asks, "What happens if there's an electromagnetic pulse that wipes out all of our digital forms of backup?"

Well, first there would be a scream heard round the world from every writer in existence. And mine would probably be the loudest, since I like to think I've got all the possible worry angles covered, and this one never occurred to me. In fact, it rattled me so much I forgot to bookmark the article to include here.

So am I doing enough to backup my manuscripts, or am I just giving my internal worry monster more food to fuel its addiction?

I can't quite decide.

I confess I don't backup as often as I should. It's kinda like exercise. I know it's good for me, but it's easy to let it slide further down the To Do list. I have Hotmail send me a weekly reminder to backup my computer, and I usually look at it, mutter, "Oh yeah, better do that", and of course I get another nudge before I've actually backed things up for the previous week.

I take turns where I back up my manuscripts: one week it's on an external hard drive, and the next time it's on a DVD. I felt like this was an extremely clever solution, just in case the hard drive had gotten itself corrupted without me knowing it. But what if the DVD is bad too?

So, just to be on the safe side, I also email my WIP from one of my Hotmail accounts to another one. This gives me two backup copies, one in the send mail and one in the receive mail. 

I used to use a thumb drive (aka "geek stick"), but I'm more worried about physically losing the little thing. I recently managed to misplace the can opener, something I don't even use all that often. It's a lot bigger than a geek stick and it's completely disappeared. I'd be a nervous wreck trying to imagine all the places a geek stick could hide itself.

I also haven't tried any of the online data storage options yet. They make me a little uncomfortable, as if somebody's digging through my purse, cackling at all the stuff I'm so protective of. What if they find something they like and decide to keep it? It's also hard to trust that something with "cloud" as its main descriptor is serious about the job of protecting my data.

For the most part I'm confident that I've got all the bases covered. But now I've got to worry about that dang electromagnetic pulse. How big a worry is it, really? I've only seen one in the Ocean's Eleven movie, and oh yeah, in an episode of Leverage. In both instances, con men are involved. Does that mean if I don't know any con artists I'm safe? I'd like to think so, but just in case. . .

I better stock up on ink cartridges and paper before I hit the Print button.

If Second Guessing Were An Olympic Sport

. . .I'd have a zillion gold medals.

We want to make our story "the best it can be". What kind of writer would we be if we sent our stories out half-dressed, looking like Jakey Lou? Just a few more tweaks over the next several months, and we could have that baby looking perfect.

Unfortunately, that story will never be perfect. We grow and learn as we write, so a story that we've made close to perfect will probably make us wince a bit when we go back later and see just how far we've come as a writer.

But, even if that story was absolutely flawless, earning a top score from Simon Cowell himself, we wouldn't see it that way. The curse of a vivid imagination is that we can always spot things that are wrong, or that could be improved, or if we moved this word here, and took out that scene there. . .

The story never has a chance to leave the house half-dressed, because we've convinced ourselves it is naked, with something gross stuck in its teeth, and if we let it out into the world like that, everyone will make fun of our precious baby.

I fall into this trap too. Today it feels like my brain is yelling, "Ack! Get away from the keyboard before you scare away all the words." I've deleted the last sentence at least three times. Not only am I second guessing, I'm triple guessing. (That's an overachiever for you.)

But this isn't the only writing project on my plate. I want to finish this blog post so that I can move on to some revisions, and also get back to the drafting on another WIP, and then work on a long line of things that have been waiting (semi) patiently for my attention.

So how do we get ourselves out of this endless cycle of writing, perfecting, and second guessing?

I remind myself that I don't want just one piece of work that is utterly flawless. I want a body of work, lots of stories and blog posts that are hopefully excellent.

Not one. A ton.

The way to achieve that is to write more stuff--different stuff--not the same stuff over and over. I stretch my skills with each new project, and each type of writing, because it exercises different writing muscles. If I keep reworking the same story, it would be like lifting barbells all the time, resulting in perfect Popeye-sized forearms, but spindly toothpick legs.

I also let second guessing work in my favor. Some days I'm convinced the words in the manuscript are deliberately playing hide-and-seek, or they play musical chairs when I close the laptop. Naturally that makes me want to chuck my manuscript into the fireplace, but I don't. Because when I read that crazy bit of writing a day or so later. . .it has been magically transformed into something delightful.

So try not to be hampered by the trap of perfectionism. Give yourself a chance to explore, and expand, your writing. Use second guessing to continuously craft better work, but with future projects. Lots of them.

That's the gold medal you're really after.

My Latest Heroes and Heartbreakers Posts

Just in case you haven't read my latest posts at Heroes and Heartbreakers, here they are:

1. Tattooed Romance Heroes: Marked by Love
2. My First Romance Boyfriend: Dating Georgette Heyer's Beauvallet
3. Fancy Meeting You Here: Historical Meet Cutes

If you missed the first few posts, you can find them here.

You can also see all of my posts in one spot on the Heroes and Heartbreakers website by clicking here.

Now, while you're busy reading, I better get back to some new posts I'm working on. . .before I manage to use the word post one more time.