Writing 101: Writing in Black and White

Have you ever told a lie? Had a drink before you were legally allowed to do it? Taken something that wasn't yours? Did it make you a completely evil person? Have you ever met a completely bad person? 

So why would you write a character that way? If you're writing in black and white, you're not writing at your best. The world, and every person in it, is filled with shades of grey. 

Good vs. Evil

Novels often pit a hero, a good guy, against a villain, a bad guy. This is the oldest literary plot device, the most basic foundation of many stories, and there's no reason you can't use it in your novels. Just remember not to get too literal about it. Rarely are people all bad, so inherently evil that they have no spark of human kindness or compassion, guilt or regret, anywhere inside them. Writing a villain that's totally evil is going to make that villain feel two-dimensional, a caricature rather than a character.

But you can get away with it. Villains are supposed to be bad, and writing a really bad one can make your story that much more thrilling. The argument can even be made that people who are nothing but evil have existed in the real world. Some have said this about people like Charles Manson and Adolph Hilter. But you aren't going to find a person in the real world who is all goodness, and you'd better not present me with a character who is. 

We all have flaws, and we all want to read about characters who are flawed, too. Why is that? Because in your story, if the character who is all good defeats the character who is all evil, that's great. But it's not going to be relatable to me in any way, because I'm not all good and I know it. I make mistakes. I fall down. I say the wrong things. I eat that third piece of cake when no one's looking. What are the odds that I want to read about a character who never screws up, never falls down, never fails and does only good things?

You guessed it: zero. Readers root for heroes the hardest when they can see bits and pieces of themselves in those heroes. It's much easier to cheer for a guy who's a little bit shy and unsure of himself, a guy who gets tongue-tied in front of the pretty girl, rather than the guy who does everything right and knows just what to say every single time. It makes the hero's triumph much more satisfying when the hero overcomes not only the villain, but his or her own flaws and failings. 

And sometimes, villains aren't really evil people. They might be at odds with the hero, sure, but in their version of the story, the villain is the hero. They're the main character of their own story, and they have their own motivations for doing all their "evil" deeds. What are those motivations? Everyone's done wrong things in their lives, told those little lies, cheated on that test, all that stuff. Make your villains three-dimensional and real. Make them human. And make them relatable, too. 

All your characters should feel like real people, and real people don't come in shades of black and white...so don't write them that way.

Jade in the Spotlight

I'm being featured on Spotlight Monday at Goodreads. Visit to find out some of my writing secrets, and how I like to relax when I'm not writing!

Review: Dance With a Gunfighter

Author Joann Pence gave me a list of books to potentially review, and I selected Dance With a Gunfighter right away. The title immediately brings to mind an incongruous image of a hardened bad guy...dancing to the sound of fiddles. I figured this couldn't possibly be what takes place -- the "dance" referred to has got to mean some sort of exciting Western shoot-out occurs. I was wrong about that, but this book didn't disappoint. 

There are a lot of dances in this book. There is the very real, literal dance referenced by the title. It's a romantic little scene: young girl, sweet sixteen, at her first dance. She's a wallflower, and doesn't expect to get asked to dance. Something about her touches the hardest man in the room, a gunfighter by the name of Jess. 

This is where the book gets confusing right away. The girl's name is Gabriella, but she's a tomboy so she goes by Gabe. The guy's name is Jess. It's two neutral names, and I have the focus of a squirrel so I spent the first 50 pages trying to figure out who was saying what to whom. My inner monologue is playing along the entire time, asking "did the girl or the guy just say that?" after every fourth sentence. But once you get that part of it down, there's still a whole lot of plot to get through. 

Maybe too much. In some spots, this book tens to drag. The constant push-pull between the characters is true to the genre, and I get that, but it's way, way too much and way too drawn out. The inference is there that their love is passionate, but it takes months and years for the couple to get together in any sort of tangible way. He walks out on her, more than once, which is a bit self-defeating on the story's part. In romances, as a woman I'm supposed to fall a little bit in love with the hero of the story. I was never close to falling in love with Jess -- whose main physical attribute seemed to be a ragged blonde mustache -- and never really identified with Gabe. 

This isn't a traditional romance story, though some of the basic formula is there. In this case, the couple faces way too many obstacles and challenges. Remember what I said about a lot of plot? Most of it is strictly designed to keep the main couple apart, sometimes in totally unbelievable ways that are just too contrived. At one point, the couple flees from a gang of bandits straight into the blistering desert. One of them is grievously wounded, and this is clearly just bad planning. Well of course they run straight into a mean band of Apaches, because that's likely, and instead of being murdered right away they're held captive for several months. This is all done on the promise than an exciting action/fight scene will soon occur, but this of course never manifests because this of course wasn't the point of that extremely long scene. The author really had to stretch to come up with new and bigger obstacles to throw between the couple. 

Other types of dances do occur, and the promised gun scenes do manifest. There is a lot of action in the book, which you'd expect in an Old West setting, but there are mystery elements as well. The author shows her writing roots in the form of a few head-turning twists. 

There's a lot the author got right. She researched her desert cuisine very well, and I was only able to find one tense error and a handful of run-on sentences -- and you know how I look for that sort of thing. Many of the scenes between the couple are sweet and touching. It's a story mainly about emotional pain, and how that affects us, and how it defeats and changes us. Weaving a love story into all that is no easy writing feat, so if some things don't feel so smooth I guess that's to be expected. 

This is a good romance with plenty of heart and sweetness, some mystery and action sprinkled in along the way. If you're into that sort of thing, you'll definitely appreciate this finely-edited, well-written tale of revenge and romance.

Find Dance with a Gunfighter on Amazon!

Being Indecisive

Being indecisive is one of my biggest flaws. I can be tenacious once I set my mind on something...but getting to that space can be a tough journey.

What Am I Writing?

For example, my newest book project. Like many writers, I get lots of ideas. They aren't necessarily any good, but I write them all down anyway. So when I finished the Deck of Lies, of course I pulled up my idea notes.

One of them struck me right away, a story that's really different for me because I settled on the idea of a male protagonist. I don't know, maybe I was feeling brave.

So for over a week I worked on two pages of this new novel, as yet unnamed. I thought about it and pictured it and made up all my cast lists and notes and all the crap I collect when I'm working on a book.

Then last night, I got to being indecisive again. I pulled up some old notes that I put together over a year ago, while I was still writing Justice. And I started working on a totally different novel. This one focuses on three protagonists who get sort of thrown together.

I'm determined to make this one stick...but like I said, being indecisive is something I do very well. So what is my next book about?

It's either a dramatic tale about class structure, friendship and societal oppression...or, it's a story about material value and money, and how it controls us.

Heady stuff, I know. It probably sounds like I'm about to go way out there with my next book, no matter which decision I make, but you can be sure you'll still find some mystery, romance and twists no matter what I end up writing next -- even if I scrap both projects and go back to my list of ideas. 

Going Non-Fiction

In the meantime, I'm also working on a freelance article for a colleague's blog. She saw the post I wrote last week when I re-capped all the things I did in 2012. I wrote in the post that I lost 50 pounds over the year, and she was interested. So I'm writing an in-depth piece about my experience with that. The working title is "The Day I Realized I'm Fat." I took some pictures and wrote a really long first draft, and I'm really excited about the piece. I'll add links to the blog once it's published, for anyone who wants to read about what I learned and how I plan to stay thin. 

It was harder to write than I expected, because I found myself being indecisive again. I didn't know how to approach it or where to start, so I finally made up my mind to just tell the story from beginning to end. This explains the title, because I start the article with the exact day I realized I was fat and had to lose weight. 

 Indie Author Month

I'm also happy to announce that I'll be participating in Indie Author Month at Aside From Writing, one of my favorite blogs, again this year. I'm doing a double feature that will highlight one of my books (maybe one of the two I'm being indecisive about) and an interview with me. Friend of the blog and author Melanie Cusick-Jones will be conducting the interview. I'm very excited about it, because I had a lot of fun doing the event last year. Some of my Writing 101 posts are featured at Aside From Writing, so add it to your readers! I'll post a bunch of links once Indie Author Month kicks off, so be on the lookout for that.

Until then, I'll be waffling between ideas and storylines...just being indecisive.

Interview with River

Find out what happened when River Scott, from the Deck of Lies series, visited Mia Darien's blog for a character interview!

Books on Film: Mommie Dearest

Mommie Dearest was the very first book of its kind, and since it was printed it's been highly debated, studied, quoted and called into question. Depending on where you stand in the argument, it's either the very first non-fiction Book on Film I've featured...or it's not.

The Book

No one knows for certain whether or not the events depicted in Mommie Dearest are true in entirety, embellished for dramatic effect, or fabricated in whole. One person who would know is dead, and has been since before the story was released. The other person swears it's true...but then she would, because she authored it.

Mommie Dearest was the very first tell-all book written by someone close to a celebrity, and relationships don't get closer than this. It was penned by Christina Crawford, daughter to the mega-star Joan Crawford. She was on Hollywood's A-list before it had an A-list, married into its most famous family, and ruled the screen for so long they were still making movies about her after she died. But after you read this book, you might want to add one more item to Joan's resume: abusive mother.

Published shortly after Joan's death in 1978, the book details the day-to-day life of Christina, eldest child to Joan. She, like her brothers and sisters, was adopted by the actress in the 1930s and 40s. At this time, Joan was in the bloom of her lucrative movie career. She was a star's star, and so well-to-do she managed to adopt several children despite being a single woman in a very conservative world.

One scene depicts a tense dinner between mother and daughter. Christina refuses to eat meat that is too undercooked. Joan rages and screams at her, and makes her sit at the table for many, many hours. Another shows Joan returning from a disappointing meeting with her movie studio, and hacking her own garden to pieces with a set of shears in the middle of the night.

The book talks as much about Joan as it does about Christina's own feelings. An extensive beauty routine is detailed, where Joan dips her face in steaming water, then alcohol, then a bowl of ice cubes. A parade of men dance through Joan and Christina's lives, but none can tolerate the volatile star. The book makes it clear that Joan suffers with OCD-like tendencies, going over-the-top in all manners of cleaning and household-running. 

The most famous scene of all, undoubtedly, involves the way Christina keeps her closet. Joan finds a wire hanger in the closet in the middle of the night and shouts down the house, screaming "no more wire hangers!" at Christina and raging like a madwoman.

Needless to say, the brutal portrayal of this much-loved star was incredibly shocking to readers and Crawford fans. But even on its own merits (or lack thereof), the book has drawn criticism. Many reviewers find it poorly written and very poorly edited, though others enjoy the "easy to understand" and "simple" prose style.

The content of the book has also been called into question time and again. Many of Joan's close friends, and at least one ex-husband, came forward to speak out against the book after it was published. Two of Joan's children, a pair of twins who were the youngest, also said they did not witness any abuse in the household. Some critics say that Christina's own actions are proof that she embellished these tales of torture by turning her own words against her.

By her own admission, Christina Crawford continued to spend time with Joan well after she turned eighteen, got finished with her schooling and began her own acting career. At the reading of Joan's will, Christina and her brother Christopher did not inherit. The will stated that the reasons were "known to them." Some suggest that Joan learned Christina was writing her book, and this is why she cut her off. Others point to this and say this is the reason Christina wrote the book in the first place -- she wanted to spite Joan for disinheriting her. To this day, Christina Crawford stands by her words.

The book was a sensation, but never a long-lasting hit or a must-read. It did spawn a movie that has become a can't-miss flick, however, and it really is one you can't miss.

The Film

The film version of Mommie Dearest was made as soon as possible. A story like this is too good to resist, and it involved one of Hollywood's elite. No way was it going to be ignored. So Faye Dunaway was cast as Crawford. Two actresses you aren't likely to recognize played Christina, a child and adult version.

Like the book, it received a lot of mixed reviews. Dunaway's performance has been both acclaimed and highly criticized, and the film won a really jaw-dropping number of Razzie awards. She screeches and rages through the entirety of the movie, and the editing leaves very few coherent or sympathetic moments -- but then, Christina's book didn't give filmmakers much to work with in that regard.

Crawford is still an alcoholic on film, and remains verbally and physically abusive to Christina. In one memorable scene, she strangles the girl in the presence of a magazine reporter. Even after Christina has grown older and won herself a role on a soap opera, Joan remains a constant presence in her life. When Christina becomes ill and cannot perform on the show, Joan even filled in for her -- something which absolutely happened, by the way. But Christina is ultimately fired, and there's an inference that she blames Joan for this, too.

The film ends much as the book does, with Christina learning that she won't inherit any part of Joan Crawford's estate. The lawyer says something to the effect of "well you know Joan. She always had to have the last word."

Christina intones "we'll see" darkly and stares at the camera. It's a clear message: she's going to be the one with the last word this time. And the movie exists, so clearly it was a plan forthrightly followed. But taking an arguably badly written tell-all and turning it into a feature film depicting a Hollywood legend...this is tricky stuff. Some things were altered for the sake of simplicity, so you really have to read the book to find out what you've missed.

What Got Adapted? 

In reality, Joan Crawford raised four children. She adopted five. Crawford originally adopted a little boy and named him Christopher, but his natural parent re-claimed him so she got herself another little boy and he became the Christopher Crawford who was Christina's oldest sibling. Joan also raised a pair of twin girls who were never referenced in the film, truly an oversight. 

And, disappointingly, the wire hanger scene is changed around. Joan did go on a wire hanger rant in the book, but the night she raged at Christina over the bathroom floor with cleaning powder in her hand was a separate incident. On film, the two are shoved together into a long, traumatic rant. Faye Dunaway, by the way, is wearing cold cream on her face throughout the scene. 

The scene where Joan squares off against the Board of Directors at Pepsi Cola did not appear in the book at all, as much of the book focuses on Christina, and Joan, and no one else. 

The MGM scene is riddled with fiction. In the scene, Crawford is disrespected and practically kicked out of L.B. Mayer's office. This didn't happen. She actually asked to be let out of her contract, but didn't expect Mayer to agree. He did, and she was stuck.

The book doesn't skip so many of Christinia's teen years, and provides a great deal of detail about her innermost thoughts and feelings. Christina has been criticized by many, but she's also gained a lot of fans with her book. Many have praised her for coming forward with her tale. 

And in either case, it's an intriguing story. Whether it's all true, part fiction or none of the above, Mommie Dearest is sad, a little bit funny, chilling and all about Joan Crawford. That definitely merits a read, and the film is truly an event. Watch it!

Writing 101: Split Infinitives

It already sounds scary, right? Split infinitives -- they're a grammar no-no, but most people have no idea what the heck they are. Some writers wouldn't even know one if it fell right out of their own books. The truth is, most people write with split infinitives. Try to observe this outdated grammar rule, and I can just about guarantee that you'll make yourself crazy.

Splitting Infinitives, and Other Grammar Rules to Ignore

My favorite example of a split infinitive is to boldly go. It's a common phrase, thanks to Captain Kirk, and by strict rules of proper English it's totally wrong. An infinitive is an unmarked form of a verb -- and go is a verb. You split an infinitive when you put an adverb between the verb and its companion to.

Need some examples? Split infinitive look a little something like this:

To quickly walk

To forcefully push

To uncharacteristically yell

Any of these phrases might appear in a sentence that reads well, and sounds correct:

I didn't mean to quickly walk past the library.

You just have to forcefully push it open, that's all.

I wasn't ready for you to uncharacteristically yell at me like that.

Anything wrong with those sentences? Most people would think no, but technically they're all incorrect because they've all got split infinitives. To make them correct, you'd have to re-phrase them:

I didn't mean quickly to walk past the library.

I wasn't ready for you, uncharacteristically, to yell at me like that.

And if you were going to clean up Kirk's dialogue? He'd be saying boldly to go instead...and really, that just doesn't have the same ring to it at all. 

Some professional editors despise split infinitives, and in very high-toned academic writing they might be frowned upon. But the fact of the matter is, most writers split their infinitives. Start looking, and you'll find them in everything from blogs to novels to movie scripts. Trying to write without split infinitives can actually make sentences more cumbersome and clumsy, which is exactly what you don't want. 

You should always write the way people talk to make your books readable, and most people talk in split infinitives. So forget this grammar rule, and split away. In fiction writing, split infinitives are practically expected.

Writing 101: Are Your Sentences Too Long?

Every English teacher cautions against using run-on sentences. It's the writer's job to totally ignore them. A little extra prose is to be expected in novels, where description reigns and dialogue is meant to sing. But there's always a line that any author can cross. Are your sentences too long...and do you know how to tell? 

Running On and On

Novels are supposed to be descriptive. You are supposed to literally paint a picture, only with keystrokes instead of brush strokes. It's not always easy to find the right words to use to describe events, places and people. It's even harder to put those words into the proper structure, and long sentences are a perfect example.

She looked out over a horizon painted in shades of red and gold, an endless sea of color in hues of danger, a warning that she was running out of time and the bandits were drawing closer and closer. 

That sentence is pretty descriptive. It's also too darned long. Many authors struggle with finding a cutoff point, myself included, because they're trying to be descriptive. Basically, the sentence above describes a woman standing and looking at the sky. It only describes this one action, so it seems logical that the sentence should continue until the action is complete.

But it's not. Even if you're describing a single action, you have to break your sentences up into reasonable chunks. Look closely at your long sentences, and you'll find the cutoff points. You can find them in the example above, too: 

She looked out over a horizon painted in shades of red and gold. It was an endless sea of color in hues of danger, a warning that she was running out of time. The bandits were drawing closer and closer. 

Drop in a period, re-word a few things, and you can create cutoff points in all your too-long sentences. According to the strict rules of proper English, sentences are supposed to contain one subject and one predicate. The predicate is the action. By this rule, She looked is a proper sentence. In some cases, that can actually work as a whole sentence: 

Missy pointed at the sky, screaming "look!" 

She looked. 

But you couldn't write a whole book this way -- not a very pretty one, anyway. Many authors tend to write in compound sentences, which may contain multiple subjects and corresponding actions.

She looked where Missy was pointing, and felt a ripple of shock when she saw the clouds above their heads. 

In the above, the subject is looking and feeling, and Missy is pointing -- all sorts of mess is going on. The sentence is a bit long, but not excessively so. It's pretty normal, as far as sentences in novels go. The first and last halves of the sentence could each be a single sentence:

She looked where Missy was pointing. She felt a ripple of shock when she saw the clouds above their heads.

But the very last part of the sentence, when she saw the clouds above their heads, cannot be a sentence on its own. If you wanted to break things up differently, you could use this fragment to begin the next sentence in the story:

When she saw the clouds above their heads, she knew nothing would ever be the same. 

How Long is Too Long?

So, you know how to find cutoffs. How do you know when you need them? Just how long is too long when it comes to long sentences? 

Seventeen words. No, that's a joke. There's no exact formula for sentence length, because everyone writes differently and some words feel a lot longer than others.  A sentence is too long when it becomes clumsy. Every author writes with a natural rhythm of words. Some break this rhythm on purpose, jarring readers with a short sentence or an exclamation every now and then. Wow! Some slow it down by writing longer sentences, but once it starts feeling unnatural and becomes too much to digest it's just too long. 

When is a sentence too long? When it's asking readers to absorb too much information at once:

She walked forward with murder on her mind, the leather strap wrapped around her right hand as if in preparation for the the dark deed ahead, her long skirts brushing the ground as she moved down the wall-worn path that was known to be used by the Evil Ones. 

There's a ton of information in the above. I'm meeting a murdering female, I'm finding out about her weapon, I'm being given a setting and I'm even getting introduced to the bad guys. There's even some data on her wardrobe hidden in there somewhere. That's too much stuff happening in a single sentence. My mind can't absorb all of that at once. Now I have to go back and re-read, and now the flow of the story has been interrupted. If this keeps happening and my flow keeps getting interrupted, I might get frustrated and stop reading altogether. 

Read your sentences. They're too long when you start to get bored with them, or get confused yourself and have to read them twice. If you're struggling with a sentence and you're the author, just think how the readers will feel.