Lovely Links

I need to start writing blog post ideas down when they hit me.  For the second week in a row I've had some great ideas over the weekend and then totally forget what they were on Monday night when I'm scrambling to write my post!

Photo Courtesy: freedigitalphotos.net

My attention is all over the place, which means I've been gathering information on a variety of subjects including editing, editors, websites, marketing ideas and plot development.  Anyone who thinks self-publishing is the easy way out doesn't know all what it entails. Heck, I'm just scratching the tip of the informational iceberg and the amount of work is a little overwhelming.  But, guess what?  I'm really happy and calm about it all.  Just busy.

Since I can't really focus on any one topic right now to save my life, I thought I would share with you a couple of the links to blog posts I've read that have been helpful.

First, I've been working on plot development for a second book using the characters from Finding Meara.  I'd always planned to write more about Hazel and Arden, but thought I'd have some time before I needed to start.  Self-publishing wisdom indicates I need to get a second book out as soon as possible after the first, so I'm casting around the dark recesses of my brain for an interesting, book worthy plot idea.  

http://www.robinlafevers.com/books/

With Nano coming up there have been lots of posts around about plotting, but I found the posts Pre-Writing: It's All About the Character and Growing Plot from Character by Robin LaFevers, author of Grave Mercy, particularly helpful. I've got the characters, I just don't have the plot.  The questions listed in the posts have started my brain whirring.  Besides the great posts, I just have to say I love Ms. LeFevers' website. It's absolutely beautiful!

I've worried about marketing ideas for quite a while, even before deciding to self-publish.  It's no secret that the weight of the majority of marketing falls on an author these days.  With self-published books increasing by 287% since 2006, the competition for a self-published author to gain positive attention and readers is at an all time high.  The post The New Path to Writing Success by Jon Bard on the Writer Unboxed site was both enlightening and uplifting, but the link to the post How to Build a Network of Fans on Mr. Bard's own site was marketing gold.  In the post he gives several practical and not at all difficult ways to connect to the ever-elusive reader.  It was after reading this post that I decided I needed to go ahead and get my own website going, and soon.  Hopefully, before the end of November, I'll have a shiny new website to show off, and can start implementing some of his ideas.

Laura Howard

I've also read several great posts on Laura Howard's blog Finding Bliss, and also The Writer's Guide to E-Publishing (WG2E). If you're interested in all things self-publishing, head over to either homepage and take some time to browse.  The series of three posts A Business Plan for Self-Published Authors on WG2E was a real eyeopener for me.

It's quite fun to list Laura Howard today, because I actually met her through the My Name Is Not Bob Platform Building Challenge in April.  Between then and now her blog has become a hot spot for Indie reviews, interviews and information.  She's also super nice!

Have you read any posts in the last several weeks you've found helpful?  If so, feel free to share in the comments!

Have You Ever Met One of Your Characters?

When I create a character, I get a general impression in my head of who they are and what they look like.  Throughout the creation of the story, their appearance doesn’t change much, except to maybe come into sharper focus.  I think I tend to "see" actor-types as the characters in my stories because when I'm writing, the plot plays out like a movie.

Because Finding Meara, my first completed novel, is written in first person, the female lead character (Hazel) didn't really have a face to me.  She had a personality all her own, but the "I" point of view put me in her head, so it wasn't like I ever "saw" her.  However, the other characters all have their own actor whom they resemble.

Rodd is the relationship character to Hazel.  He teaches her about sacrifice.  In my head Rodd looks similar to Matt Bomer, the actor who plays Neal Caffrey in the USA television show, White Collar.  If you want to see a picture (I'm not about to post it on my blog because it's pretty much a given it's copyrighted) go here.  Picture No. 5 is the one that matches closest with the Rodd in my mind.

Last spring I dropped by Little Cesar's to get a pizza on the way home from work.  The man in the back making pizzas came to the lobby to offer me help getting my pizza out to the car.  He opened the door for me, I looked up into his eyes and my eyebrows shot up almost off my forehead.

He looked exactly like Rodd.  I kid you not.  

Crystal blue eyes, square jaw, dark hair -- he had it all.  I thought he was a little short, but over the last six months (we do Friday Night Pizza at our house) I have come to find out he is sufficiently tall to pass for Rodd.  I can't tell for sure how old he is, but he looks to be around the same age as Rodd.

The embarrassing part of this story is my reaction.  It's lucky we like pizza in my house, because I love to look at this poor guy.  So amazed at the similarities, I think in the beginning I might have stared...a lot.  It's not like he's been hiding in the back when I come in (at least I don't think so--I hope not) but I think he's probably noticed that I tend to look at him when I'm in there.

I don't want to make him uncomfortable, but dang!  He looks like Rodd!  And Rodd is such a neat character. He's wise, and handsome, and moral.  It's not that I think this guy has those traits (although he has demonstrated being helpful and polite), but he's like a physical representation of that character I got to know and cried over when he died.

I've confessed my staring issue with some non-writer friends, who think I'm nuts.  They can't understand why I'm worried about what the pizza guy thinks about me.  The truth is, I don't want anyone to think I'm some sort of cheating cougar, you know?  What else is this guy who is at least ten years younger than me, if not more, supposed to think of some married middle-aged woman staring at him.

As misunderstood as I may be, I keep going back to Little Cesar's.  It's the best pizza in town.  I just try not to stare as much... Or at least not get caught doing it.

Have you ever met a person who looks like your character?  How did you handle it?

The Relationships of Writing - Part 1

Photo: Simon Howden

The term relationship has a broad meaning.  It isn't just about friendships, or romantic involvements.  Relationships are the interactions between us and the world and people around us.  They can be as close or as distant as we want, or let them, be.

Typically, I've stayed away from blogging about the craft of writing.  As I've only been writing for a short period of time, I haven't felt qualified to speak about the topic. There are so many great craft blogs out there (such as two of my favorites, Writer Unboxed and Story Fix) with experienced professionals giving fabulous advice, I've felt it best to leave the topic of the craft of writing alone.

Relationships, on the other hand, are my area of expertise.  As a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, I deal with other people's relationships day in, and my own relationships day out.  We've all experienced the intersection of writing with our personal lives, and I have found such an intersection in the areas of writing and relationships.

The further I delve into writing fiction, the importance of relationships surfaces again and again. I have noticed three relationships that are obvious in writing fiction; those of our characters to the setting, to each other, and the use of cause and effect.

Character and Setting


Setting can be a character unto itself.  The way I view the relationship between character and setting is very similar to our own lives and the environment in which we live.  As individuals, we are shaped and formed as we grow up by our family of origin, our economic class, our religion, the friends we keep, the culture in which we live, the list goes on and on.  We can be comfortable within our environment, or it can chafe against us.

So it is with our characters.  Setting is not just location, although that's an important part of a story.  The setting of a story interacts with our characters, and can be a catalyst for change or a source of conflict.

Characters and Other Characters


This seems like a given.  Of course our characters are going to have relationships with other characters.  But this is where that broad term becomes important.  Each character (even the minor ones) have their own view of the world around them - their own setting.  Each character has it's own needs, wants, and fears.  Each character has it's own ideas about what they need to survive, and how to go about getting those needs met.

Each interaction is greater than "friendship" or "romantic involvement."  Conflict arises out of Character A needing something from Character B that maybe Character B can't (or won't) give, because of their own wants or needs.  Or maybe Character A has a belief that doesn't align with Character B's belief system, and how are they going to work together when that is the case, because they have to work together to save the world.

Cause and Effect


When I started reading how-to books, one of the best that helped me to understand story structure was Scene & Structure by Jack M. Bickham.  In the book, Mr. Bickham says that cause and effect is key to understanding story structure.  He says that, by understanding the relationship between cause and effect, we create a logical chain of events that helps a reader suspend disbelief.  They trust the story because there is a reason why what happens in the story happens.

The part I like best, though, is that by creating order that the real world often doesn't have (truth being stranger than fiction) we, as writers, offer hope to the reader that everything will turn out all right.   To quote Mr. Bickham, "Because this kind of presentation shows a world in which things do make sense...the resulting story also has the effect of offering a little hope to the reader...that bad things don't always happen to good people for no reason...a hint that maybe the reader can seize some control of his own life after all, and that good effort may sometimes actually pay off-and our existence may indeed even have some kind of meaning."

Come to think of it, maybe that's why writing is such good therapy.  We are able to take those events in our lives that confuse the heck out of us, and turn them around and give them some order. We're able to gain some control over the chaos that is everyday life.

Have you noticed relationships in other areas of writing?

Three Things I Learned About Writing at a Social Work Conference - Part I

The infamous “they” say that inspiration for writing can come from any source.  In my case, “they” were right.  This week, my understanding of the craft and my personal process of writing was influenced by lessons I learned at the NASW-Wyoming Chapter’s Annual Social Work Conference.  As the post became rather lengthy, I have broken it into two parts.  This week I focus on an aspect of craft that gained clarity in my mind.   Next week I will finish with lessons  about some personal aspects of the writing process.

About the Craft:  Characters and plot are intertwined.  I understood this intellectually, but I never really grasped the simplicity of this concept until this conference.

The opening speaker at the conference, the Rev. Rodger McDaniel, spoke about systems of care, and made a statement to the effect of “A judge lives in a world where he/she gives an order or direction and expects it to be followed.  Our clients don’t live on that planet.”  Light bulb moment.  Conflict exists between the judge and the client, not because they are at enmity with each other, but for no other reason than they have differing world views.  The planet our protagonists and antagonists live on is their worldview, their needs and desires - what makes them human and real.  It’s their character.  The conflict that arises because of their worldviews is plot. 

The best thing about this understanding is it makes sub-plots (finally) understandable.  Who we are spills out into a variety of areas of our lives.  For example, if I had been abandoned as a child, I may have difficulty trusting others.  This trust issue would present itself in my life in many different environments and situations.  I might have difficulty with authority, I may have poor intimate relationships, the list can continue in myriad directions.  Therefore, if I’m writing a romance about a woman with trust issues, the main plot would be her relationship with the male lead character, but I can throw in a sub-plot about her trust issues at work and the difficulty she has with a controlling boss.  Still working on the main plot, but it is augmented and strengthened by the sub-plot.

That’s it for this week.  Please come back next Saturday, when I explain the lessons I learned about writerly passion and myself.