Character Motivation

On this writing journey, one of the things I struggle the most with is GMC: Goals, Motivation, and Conflict. Actually, establishing a character's goal(s) is the easiest part. Motivation comes harder.

Motivation is the driving force behind the goals. Why does the character want this goal? Just about any goal is possible as long as you help your reader understand why the character does what he does, why he makes the choices he makes. The character must have compelling reasons for every action he takes. As the writer, you must show the character will walk into danger because he has no other choice. The motivation must be urgent, or no one will care.

The motivation must make sense. Too often, writers have their characters making choices that just make the character TSTL (Too Stupid To Live). And, remember, the characters are people. People generally will take the easiest action available to them. So, in order to get out of a burning building, if a character has the choice of merely walking through the front door or climbing up a ladder, across a beam, and jumping out of a second story window, you'd better have a compelling reason for the character to not escape via the front door.

It's just like in a horror movie (which I've been watching quite a few of here lately. Yay Halloween!). Everyone in the audience knows the monster is in the basement, yet there goes the hero down the stairs. How often have you found yourself yelling at the TV screen, "No! Don't go down there!"? Probably as frequently as I have. If the hero is going down there and you don't know why, he's TSTL. But... if the heroine is down there, or the hero's brother, then he has a compelling reason to go where everyone knows the monster is. Instead of rooting for the monster (because the dummy hero deserves to die if he goes down there), you're on edge for the hero, wondering how he's going to triumph over evil.

Writing isn't easy. It's a mixture of creativity and logic that sometimes defies description. But, done right, it's a beautiful thing.

NaNoWriMo and No Plot? No Problem!

Over the last few days, in preparation for NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), I read the book "No Plot? No Problem!" written by the founder of NaNoWriMo, Chris Baty. His philosophy: you don't have to have all the intricacies of a plot worked out before you write. Some of the gaps can be filled in during the rewriting process.

That's not to say that you don't have to do some work before you actually sit down at the keyboard. You do need to have the basics: your characters with an at least brief character sketch (who are they, what do they want, why do they want it, what gets in the way of their getting what they want...), a general idea of a plot arc (which he says is not as intimidating as it seems. Uh-huh.), and setting. Although, he says, if you don't have a plot, don't worry. Plot is nothing more than the actions of your characters as they move through the story. The plot will happen as your characters interact with each other and their surroundings. You just have to let it happen.

The whole point to NaNoWriMo is that you write. You don't edit, you write. If you get stuck on a scene, make some type of note there that tells you this part needs work (type something in caps or highlight the text) and move on. Keep notes of ideas and dialogue that pops in your mind that can be used later on in the book.

I'm psyched about this. I'm also a little scared. 50,000 words in 30 days. Less than that, if you take away a weekend day here and there and Thanksgiving Day. What has me frightened is that I participated in a Book In A Week (BIAW) several months ago, and what I wrote ended up being crap. Of course, this was something I wrote having no idea of plot arc or what happened in the middle of the book. I had my characters, an idea of how the book began and a vague idea of how it ended, and the setting. This story is in the process of being rewritten, and it's going to be very different in its second incarnation than it's first. It has been a painful--and educational--process.

Two more days, and the madness of NaNoWriMo starts. I hope my sanity survives.

Keep in Writing Shape

I recently read an article in a special "Get Published" booklet published by The Writer Magazine. The author, Michael P. Geffner, spoke of the things the serious writer needs to do: networking, deadline pressure, read, make friends with other writers, and other things. He charged us to be proactive. "Action breeds action. Don't be lazy for even one moment. Be relentless in your writing."

The part that hit me, because I seem to be having some difficulty with it of late, was "Write something every day. No matter what. Forget that you're tired or don't feel like it. You're supposedly a writer. So write. Don't be a pretender. And don't even think about that dreaded aspect of all things creative: writer's block. If you're convinced you have writer's block, just write about it. Write about why you think you're blocked. Trust me, this'll snap you out of it in a hurry. Remember, all writers, from Tolstoy to Hemingway to Stephen King, have written badly before they wrote well."

I refuse to be a pretender. There are too many years behind me where writing was a hobby, or took a back seat to my "real" job. So, I write. And, yes, there are days when the story just won't come. On those days, I plot. I read. I blog. And, of course, I angst. I am an artist suffering for my craft, after all. But then I read some more. And plot some more. And, on most of those days, I write. I give myself permission to write crap. Sometimes it's stuff that I can keep to refer back to as story or character history. Sometimes it goes in the recycle bin never to be seen again. And sometimes, on rare occasions, I glean a kernel or two that I can keep.

Because, when it's ready to go out to readers, it has to be as near to perfect as I and an editor can make it.

Write on!

Shara Lanel - Again!

Twice in one week! Shara Lanel has another story out, this time with Heatwave Romance.

A little bit about this short book: Adriana has had her eye on her sexy co-worker Gareth, but one disastrous date reveals his problem--Gareth is hopelessly shy around women. Adriana decides it's time to "Try a Little Magic" on Gareth, in the form of a sex spell designed to relax his inhibitions and get him to obey Adriana's every command. She's pretty sure it will work, though she's never tried it before, but what will the sexy man think after he "awakens" from the spell to find himself naked in Adriana's bedroom?

The review at Fallen Angels: "This is a hot little interlude, and you’ll need to make sure you keep properly hydrated so that you don’t overheat during these seven sexually charged pages. Readers will enjoy the flashes of personality that these characters display, and you’ll soon find that the summer sun is nothing compared to the heat given off in Try a Little Magic."

Go get it, now!

My First Author Chat

Last night I had my first official chat as a Whiskey Creek Press Torrid author. Lucky for me, there were only a couple of readers and about five or six other authors, so it was pretty easy. I got to blurb about my two stories with WCP that come out next year, and managed to do it intelligently. (I think.) There's got to be something to the idea that you don't drink prior to the author chat (right, Jenna and Kate?).

And it was fun, if a little confusing at times when there were two or three different discussions going on at the same time. I gotta tell you, there are some wild and wacky people writing for WCP Torrid. And I'm happy to be one of them! (Writers for Torrid, not necessarily the wild and wacky part. I'm actually a rather reserved person.)

There seem to be a lot of new authors joining the author loop, as well. That bodes well for WCP's growth.

The Struggle

All the best intentions in the world will not put words on a page. It was a complete slog through the peanut butter yesterday. Every word was grudgingly pulled from my miniscule fount of creativity.

It's so doggone frustrating. I have other stuff to get to. I am still completely immersed in this story, so I know I'm on the right track. But, have I met The Wall? A huge peanut butter wall?

I hope not. If I have, I guess I need to get out the sledgehammer. Or an ice pick. I never know if it will be easy or hard to chip away at the block. Maybe a butterknife, but chip I must. I have deadlines. Self-imposed, but they are deadlines, nonetheless. I have to move forward. Knife in hand, I'll make peanut butter sandwiches from this stuff 'til it's gone.

Anyone have some jam?

New Release From Shara Lanel

One of my writing buddies, Shara Lanel, has her new book available at Liquid Silver Books. Run over there right now and pick this up. She's a very talented writer, and you're sure to love her stuff.

Diera Rand dreams of dead people; dead people who open their eyes. Funny thing is, they always have the same eyes. Holt Pendragon dreams of being buried alive, while a red-haired witch hovers over him casting a spell. When he meets red-haired Diera, she's skulking in her car with a camera, investigating the disappearance of her boss’s daughter, and Holt is the one dancing around in a circle of witches, not her. Diera hates witches. But she needs Holt’s help to find the missing girl who has been sucked in by a High Priest working dark magic. Will Diera and Holt overcome their differences to find the girl--and maybe get in a little sex magick in between?


Now, a little about me. (It is my blog, after all. And here, it's all about me.) Yesterday I talked about procrastination. And my goals. I had huge intentions of writing all day. Wouldn't you know, about mid-morning, I realized I had the beginnings of a urinary tract infection? Talk about not being able to get much writing done. Between running to the bathroom because I felt like I needed to go, and running to the bathroom because I felt like I needed to go and really did need to go... well, it was rather difficult to concentrate. (I know, I know. TMI.)

I did manage to write just over 2,100 words on the short story, which puts me at just about the half-way mark. (Maybe it was a good thing, this bladder infection, because I apparently did just fine in between trips to the bathroom.)

Now, if I could just use the laptop while I'm on the potty... imagine what I could do!