Writing 101: The Well-Crafted Character

I've blogged about the importance of creating a 3-dimensional main character before, but there are lots of other people who populate the pages of a book. Many writers develop a connection to their main characters, the hero or heroine who must go through all the trials and tribulations before they reach their happy ending...or tragic conclusion. But you should spend some time thinking about the supporting cast in your book, too, and make all of them as real as possible.

Who Am I?

With each and every character you create, take the time to think a little bit about who they are. I create a character sheet for all my books, with a brief bio for everybody who's going to appear. The bio tells me what the character's complete name is, what their nicknames are if they've got any, what they look like (and, in the case of the Deck of Lies series, which designers they prefer). But beyond this, there are other important details that writers need to include for many of their main supporting characters. If your main character is going to interact with these people, shouldn't they at least be interesting? 

• History. Did this person grow up in a wealthy household, or a poor one? Do they do well in school, or get terrible grades instead? Did something happen to them that shaped them in a significant way...or is this person special because nothing much exciting has happened to them at all? 
• Dialogue. This person might speak a certain way, depending on where they're from. Regional dialects are always important to observe, but a character's upbringing and history may also affect their speech patterns. The daughter of an English professor at Harvard, for example, is more inclined to speak quite properly -- or perhaps she rejects her parent's constant lessons in grammar and uses the worst possible slang instead. Louisa May Alcott made Amy, a supporting character in Little Women, stand out for the way she used dialogue. When it's done well, dialogue is a powerful tool for certain characters.
• Body language. Remember the "close talker" on Seinfeld? Some characters might have certain mannerisms, or use specific gestures when they speak. This makes the character much richer, and easier for your readers to envision.
• Flaws. Nobody's perfect. Does this character have any addictions, bad habits, major hang-ups? If readers spend a significant amount of time with any character, they should definitely pick up on some character flaws. Flawless characters aren't believable, and they just make everybody feel bad. 
• Motivations. What's this character's role? It's too easy to think about what drives the main character, and make all their actions clear, while forgetting that the supporting cast need some humanity, too. They're just there to play off your main character it's true, but you have to think about your characters as though they are real people. Real people never see themselves as a supporting character in someone else's movie, do they? Your characters should all have their own ambitions, goals and desires -- something driving them that's not necessarily wrapped up in whatever the main character is doing.

The well-crafted character is one who's fully realized in the pages of the novel, someone with a past and ideas about their own future, someone with current goals and former baggage. Make the supporting cast as interesting as the main character, and you'll make your writing even better.

Delving into the Deck of Lies

"I really enjoyed reading this book...it only got better towards the end." Another reader sounded off on Justice recently at Total Teen Fiction. Go read the full review to see what she liked, and didn't like, about the beginning of the Deck of Lies.

She's not the only one reading about lies, murder and family secrets this week. A new post on another book blog suggests that one reader may already be embroiled in a weekend Deck of Lies reading marathon. Visit Sarah Elizabeth's Bookshelf to see what she had to say about the beginning of Justice!

From the Trenches: In Love with Words, Afraid of People

Some writers are so afraid of being rejected or judged in any way, they won't even let others see their work. This was the case for one American woman who would go on to become one of the most celebrated poets of all time. It's only through a quirk of fate that any of us know she existed -- upon her death, she instructed that all of her writings should be burned to ash. 

Lucky for us, that's not what happened. 

Emily Dickinson lived in Massachusetts, and in her 56 years on Earth she barely saw any of the world. In fact, she barely saw what was going on outside her own room. This is where she spent most of her time, usually wearing white clothing, scribbling away furiously at her poems and her letters. Though she was a homebody who reportedly did not like to greet guests who came to the family house, she was a prolific letter-writer who maintained many close friendships through correspondence. 

But most of her time was spent writing poetry, usually on the topic of mortality (which seemed to fascinate her). Dickinson even put together collections of her own poems, binding them by hand. She never published those poetry books.

Meeting the World

During her lifetime, Dickinson published two poems...both anonymously. No one knows exactly why she was so reluctant to share her work, but some speculate that she received early criticism for her poetry early in life. More likely, Dickinson didn't publish for the same reason she didn't come out of her room -- she was painfully introverted and reclusive. Being an introverted writer is a bit like being a fish who wants to fly. But Dickinson could have been discouraged because her anonymous poems were edited heavily before being put into print; editors removed her dashes and changed some of her punctuations. 

In any time, Emily Dickinson's style of poetry was unique. She didn't exactly observe rules of punctuation or capitalization, her lines were short and her rhyming scale was strange. After she died in 1886, her sister Lavinia discovered a treasure trove of nearly 2,000 poems in Emily's room.

They, too, were heavily edited before they were published in 1890, where they met with rather ugly reviews for about 60 years. It wasn't until an unedited version of her poetry was released in 1955 that Emily Dickinson became recognized as the genius poet she truly was. Now, the critics can't praise her enough, and Dickinson's poetry is a must-read in high school and college classes around the world. 

They're always published in their original, unedited, style.

Emily Dickinson worked in the poetry trenches in private, keeping all of her beautiful words to herself out of shyness, or fear, or reasons we can't understand. But the woman who was always writing of death found a way to become immortal. Today, Dickinson's voice remains strong and her own singular style will be preserved in print for ever. She didn't share much of herself with the world, but at least she did share her words. Fear kept Emily inside her bedroom. The important thing is that it didn't keep her from writing.

Justice: Indie Book of the Week!

Justice (Deck of Lies, #1) has been selected as the Indie Book of the Week by the good folks at Bibliofreak.

Visit the site and click on the cover of Justice to read all the Amazon reviews and get your Kindle copy of the book!

Writing 101: Change Your Editing Approach

I went to the biggest middle school in my city, a monster of a 3-story building with annexes, outside buildings and yes, even an elevator. I went to this from a school housing maybe three classes per grade. The whole school building was one floor, and shaped like a big circle, so no student could possibly get lost. That middle school looked massive to me...until I went to high school for a while. Perspective changes everything, and the same can be said when you're talking about editing. You can't make your books perfect unless you change your editing approach, and change your perspective.

Changing Your Perspective

I've blogged about the logistics of editing before, so you already know how to edit your ebooks. But you're not going to catch all the mistakes (and everybody makes mistakes) unless you change your perspective. What does that mean? It means if you're only reading your book on your computer screen, you're not editing properly. 

Change the way you're looking at your words. If you've got an ereader, you can upload your book to the ereader before it's ever published live through any online bookstores. It's easy to do: simply connect your ereader to your computer using the provided data cable. Access the device through the computer (a screen should pop up for you once the ereader is loaded) and open up the folder where your ebooks are stored on the reader (on Kindles, the folder is called Archive Documents or something similar). Drag your ebook file directly from the folder where it's stored into the ereader folder; it'll copy itself automatically, so your book won't actually move from your computer hard drive. 

Once the file is on the ereader, you can view it the way your readers are going to be viewing it. And once you've changed your perspective, chances are good that you'll find a lot of mistakes you missed the first time around.

Editing...and Re-Editing

Yes, you should read your book the whole way through more than once. Even if you spend a lot of time editing and re-reading during your writing process, nothing can substitute for a good read-through of your work. When you're editing, you shouldn't just be looking for incorrect grammar mechanics and misspellings. You need to make sure you're not repeating yourself (or similar words and phrases) too often, you need to double-check that the plot is hanging together and you need to make sure that the whole book is smooth and cohesive throughout. When you're re-reading your work on an ereader, keep a notepad handy or use the device itself to make notes when you find mistakes, so you can go back to the manuscript file on your computer and make the necessary changes. 

If you make a print version of your book, you should absolutely buy a copy for yourself and read your work again. Things look different when they're viewed differently, so it follows that you'll find new mistakes when you look at your book in different formats. When you can read your book from cover to cover (or screen to screen) without finding a single mistake or something you want to change, then you're done editing.

Books on Film: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is one of the best-known children's stories ever written, and almost 150 years later it still delights children and adults today. This book has been put on film many, many times since film was first invented, but today we're only going to discuss a single adaptation: the best one.

The Book

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is one of the most enduring and beloved stories of all time, and it was written by a very boring math professor. Commonly shortened to Alice in Wonderland, the book was written in 1865 by Lewis Carroll, a pen name used by a professor who also published several ponderous volumes about math. Because of all the strangeness depicted in Wonderland, Carroll is credited with vastly influencing the entire fantasy genre. 

You probably know how the story goes: a little girl named Alice is sitting outside with her sister, and she's terribly bored until a white rabbit hops past. Alice chases the creature and follows him all the way through the rabbit hole, where she finds a strange refreshment table waiting for her. She drinks -- she shrinks. She eats, she grows big again. Things are dire. Alice begins to cry, because there's nothing else to do, and creates an ocean of tears. She fans herself and ends up shrinking again, only to be swept up in the sea.

This is her entrance into Wonderland, where things get "curiouser and curiouser" as she meets a strange cast of characters that include the smoking caterpillar and the mad hatter. 

Carroll's depth of creativity is fully on display in the famous novel. Alice in Wonderland is packed with amazing poems and intriguing characters, even a trial. It just doesn't get any better than this...unless you also watch the best film adaptation of the story.

The Film

The first film adaptation of Alice in Wonderland was made in 1903. It's been re-made in just about every decade since, but the very best version of the story ever put on film was released by Disney in 1951 (sorry, Tim Burton).

In this version, Alice has blonde hair and wears the blue dress that has been synonymous with the story ever since. Because it's animated, Disney isn't bound by physical laws or human ability: the Cheshire cat really does appear as just a smile, Alice really does shrink down and blow up in moments, mice actually talk and the Queen of Hearts doesn't look nearly as insane as she does in Tim Burton's much stranger live-action version.

It was made 60 years ago, but Disney's Alice is still the most iconic rendering of the heroine, and the animated movie is still the most popular and beloved re-telling of the tale. But if you just watch this film and don't read the book, you don't actually know the real story. 

I've said it before, I'll say it again: somehow, Disney always disappoints me. We all love Disney, but when it comes to changing stories (or history, or facts, or anything else that suits their fancy) Disney stands second to none.

What Got Adapted? 

Disney, in their inimitable manner, decided not to adapt just one book with their Alice film: they went ahead and changed two. Carroll's original Alice's Adventures in Wonderland actually has a sequel called Through the Looking Glass, and What Alice Found There. It's an amazing story involving a life-sized chess board, the red and white queen and all sorts of other fun stuff...including stuff that shouldn't have ever been adapted into the Alice in Wonderland movie.

In the film, Alice meets the memorable Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee, who tell her all about the Walrus and the Carpenter. This didn't happen in Wonderland; it happened after Alice went Through the Looking Glass. The garden of talking flowers also did not appear until the second book, and the caterpillar never changes into a butterfly in front of Alice. 

You'll completely miss the story of the pig and the pepper, truly an entertaining little vignette, and nearly all of the dormouse's story at the tea party. The incident with the Mock Turtle and the Gryphon are also left out of the film adaptation. Because of this, the entire meaning of the trial ("who stole the tarts?") changes in the Disney version. In the book, Alice isn't on trial -- she is only called as a witness for the Knave (Jack) of Hearts. The book's Wikipedia page has a surprisingly good summary of the entire book, but it's much more enjoyable if you read Carroll's original work. He was so outside-the-box with his writing, he actually invented his own words that we still use today. Among them are chortle, galumphing and sluggard. 

In any version (except Tim Burton's), Alice's Adventures in Wonderland are frightening, exciting, strange and just as wonderful as the title promises.

Writing 101: Paying for Reviews

Indie authors have to do everything on their own (that's what independent means), and it gets pretty overwhelming. Many indies have to pay for their copyright registration, their book cover, maybe even a book trailer or a professional editor, formatting software -- the cost of a single ebook can add up pretty quickly. Then, of course, there's the marketing: paid advertising, ad design, more software...the list goes on. Should you start paying for reviews, too, and invest in something that could potentially help you sell more books?

Reviews

Reviews are very important, and every indie author wants more of them. Just one 5-star review can cause more readers to become interested...but getting that review is a tedious, heart-wrenching process for many. Is it worth paying to get it? 

Kirkus

One of the most well-known names in paid review services, Kirkus makes it a point to reach out to indie authors who are looking for reviews. They also charge an absolutely astronomical fee: a whopping $425 for every book (feel free to wait for your heart to start beating again before you continue reading). 

Kirkus has some dignity to it, because despite how much you pay (even if you kick in the extra buck-fifty for the express service) they will give a negative review of your work if the reviewer feels it deserves one. But at those prices, they ought to send a butler to your home for 48 hours and get your car detailed, too. 

Those services are not included. You get the review, and just that, after around 7 to 9 weeks. If it's negative, you can choose whether or not it's posed. Once you've approved it, your review will appear on the site. Additional advertising with the site costs extra.

Other Paid Reviews

You'll find plenty of paid review services if you go looking for them as an indie author, because you are someone's market. In recent years, as ebooks and indie authors have become more popular, tons of different sites and services are appearing to help you find ways to part with your money. Everything, from editing to social media marketing to book reviews, is available to you if you've got the dough. 

If you are going to use paid review services, it's important to look for sites that give honest criticism and feedback. If you're paying for them, you might as well get something out of them. Paying for a bunch of fake reviews in order to trick customers isn't going to do you any good -- word of mouth will spread faster for a terrible book than a good one. If you get a reputation as a huckster, you won't be able to sell any books. And why would you want to, under such circumstances? 

Paying for It

Lots of indie authors and book bloggers are totally against the idea of paying for reviews (and, in fact, many other indie services). I look at it a bit differently. If you don't pay someone for reviews, et. al, you're going to have to put the time in to get them yourself. I've written about the best ways to get reviews before, and I'm not ever going to sugar-coat it: it is time-consuming. If you're doing it right, you should be putting in several hours a week just contacting book blogs and trying to push your ebooks to get them reviewed.

In so doing, you will have less time for all the other stuff you've got to do -- like writing. If you're one of the many indies who also must hold down a full- or part-time job, you'll have less time with your family, less time to exercise, less time for whatever it is you do when you're not working. If you're self-employed, and even if you're not, time equals money. The more time you spend looking at book blogs and writing emails, the more money you might be taking out of your own pocket. 

Is the money you're losing worth more, or less, than the money you might spend on paid reviews? That's what you've got to figure out. If spending the money will actually save you even more money, then get yourself a PayPal account and start shelling out the e-cash. If doing the work yourself will save you money in the end, then you already know what you've got to do. 

The Second Time Around: Biblical Reading

The Holy Bible is the best-selling book of all time...if you use that term loosely. The Bible has probably been printed more than any other book, but it is often given away free and that generates no sales figures. Even if you don't follow the various religions associated with the Bible, you can't deny that it contains a rich tapestry of stories. The imagery is fantastic: sulfur raining from the sky, Lot's wife turning in a pillar of salt, the rainstorm that swallowed the world. It all beautifully lends itself to fiction, and some fantastic books have been written with Biblical themes. One of the best re-tellings of a story in the Bible I've read was written by (who else?) a Catholic priest. 

 

Andrew M. Greeley has written many bestsellers that blend Irish lore and culture, religion, Chicago culture, history and modern-day settings -- not necessarily all in the same book. I've read lots of his works, but one of my favorites is based on a book in the Old Testament.

The Original 

The Bible is thousands of years old, and has been translated and printed for wide audiences for more than 1400 years. It's separated into two Testaments: Old and New, and divided into books with intriguing names like Deuteronomy. Each book is subsequently divided into verses, some longer than others.

And frankly, even the translated version is a monster to read. The language is archaic, the arrangement of words is strange, the themes are hard to understand and the names of places difficult to decipher. It's a nightmare to read the Bible, but there are many, many different versions available that are more readable. Book stores offer teen versions, children's versions, study versions -- every imaginable version of the Bible is out there.

The actual Book of Tobit, also known as the Book of Tobias, is difficult to read. The summed-up story goes something like this: a young man named Tobit has been exiled by his king and blinded by bird droppings. A young woman named Sarah is being plagued by a demon named Asmodeus, who has killed all of her husbands on the wedding night. God sends archangel Raphael to her. The archangel heals Tobit's eyes. Together, Raphael and Tobit travel to Media.

During the journey, Raphael tells Tobit about Sarah, his cousin (and therefore a marriageable female). The archangel tells Tobit how to banish the demon. They are married, Tobit drives the demon away, and everyone enjoys the wedding feast.

The Redux

Of course, in Greeley's hands the story becomes one of romance, a little history...and the Internet. Even better, the angel in the story becomes a woman.

Angel Light is the sequel to Angel Fire, but you don't have to read the first book to enjoy the second. In fact, none of the characters in the first book carry over anyway. This novel introduces us to G. Patrick Tobin, nicknamed Toby, who stands to inherit several million dollars.

But if, and only if he first goes to Ireland, then settles the long-standing Tobin family feud and, in a gesture of peace, marries his eighth cousin, once removed. Trouble is, Toby is a lovably clumsy and absent-minded young man with no real motivation to inherit several million dollars, and most certainly not to get married to an Irish girl he's never met. He's too busy working on his computer program, a search engine which will revolutionize the Internet. 

All the bugs haven't been worked out of the program. When Toby makes some tentative searches in a half-hearted effort to make the journey to Ireland, the computer brings up a strange sort of travel company that's headed by a rather bossy female. Almost against his will, Toby is soon taking passport photos while his travel agent makes all the necessary arrangements -- and then some. The agent ends up taking over everything from his wardrobe to his luggage, and soon Toby's on his way across the ocean.

The travel agent is, of course, the archangel Raphaela. She and Toby chat through his computer during the trip to Galway, Ireland, where Toby begins to change. He finds himself more confident, more natural, and more inclined to being called Patrick. 

When he finally meets the girl he's supposed to marry -- naturally, her name is Sarah -- he's even less excited about the strange quest he's on. She's a drunk, she's insolent, and she's trouble. But the reader eventually finds out she's having trouble because of the demon (who is a person in this version, and not an actual demon). 

Angel Light paints rich pictures of Ireland and Irish culture, and as always Greeley's characters shine with multiple shades of believability. The best part about this modern-day Bible redux is that Greeley acknowledge the source material for the story within the book; Toby and the angel talk about the Book of Tobit. It's all very well done and full of romantic comedy. Angel Light is much easier to read than the Bible, and the updated version of the story is completely delightful.