Writing 101: What Makes a Story Great?

Everyone who wants to be an author thinks about writing a great novel, not just a massive bestseller but something that lasts through the ages. Think Pride and Prejudice, Gone With the Wind, A Christmas Carol. Then you start writing...and realize you'll settle for just getting the damn book finished. But after you write three or four, it might not be out of line to try and reach for greatness again. So I've got to ask: what makes a story great?

All the Earmarks of a Great Novel

We've all read great books...and we've all read bad books. The differences between the two can be very minute indeed -- the wrong word, the wrong ending, a missed opportunity can be the determining factor in a brilliant story and a horrible one. But truly great stories do tend to have a few things in common. Master them, and you may find your greatness.

• Strong main character: Notice the adjective. Great main characters do not have to be good, and they do not have to be heroic. They do not have to be beautiful. They don't even have to be likable. But they have to be strong. Make that character come alive and leap off the page. You don't necessarily root for Scarlett O'Hara to get what she wants, but you can't stop reading about her. 
• Clear narrative: You don't have to tell a linear story, and you don't have to tell it in the past tense. You do have to tell me a story that I can understand. Make sure I can follow it.
• Plot: Stuff has to happen. Make sure you're adding love scenes, action sequences, other exciting stuff to keep readers engaged. Remember that all these plot developments should serve the story; each scene should be taking us closer to the end.
• Flow: The way the words flow is arguably the most important aspect of any book. The writing should be smooth, and it should be easy to understand. You don't have to pull out the five-syllable adjectives or wow me with the most uncommon irregular verbs in the English language. Simple words allow the story to shine through. 

And that's about it. The setting, the genre, the theme -- all that stuff is important, but it can be changed at will and won't make your book any less great. Weak characters, confusing wording, a messy story and a boring plot are things that will kill your story. Put your focus where it matters, and write a great one.

Jumping into the Tower

"Thrilling sequel. I can't wait to read the next book!"

The Tower (Deck of Lies, #2) has been reviewed at Counting in Bookcases. Go read it if you're all caught up on book 1, Justice. If not, go buy both right now!

The Best Story Starters are Nearby

Need a good story starter? Feeling lost at the beginning of  a book project is common, and many writers find themselves staring at blank screens (I do it all the time). Start your story with the right tools, and you'll see it through all the way to the end.

I visited Lisa Fantino's blog recently to write all about the best story starters you can find. Visit her blog at Amalfi Blue to find out what they are!

Writing 101: Find Your Motivation Again

Writer's block takes many forms. Sometimes you just lose interest in a story, or writing in general. Maybe you suffer from a lack of focus, or you just feel the well of ideas has run dry. There's an easy way to find your motivation again, and get yourself back to writing. 

Writing for Writing's Sake

When you're having trouble writing, it's often because too many thoughts are getting in the way. Over-thinking it is a common problem, and it's also common to feel sort of "blah" about writing. When you need to motivate yourself, think about your favorite movie. 

What's your favorite scene from the movie that you like best? If it's really your favorite, chances are good that you know at least one scene backwards and forwards. So, write it. Describe the scene with your words, using as much of the real dialogue as you can remember. Think about every little detail, and put it on the page. Just start writing it, and get into the rhythm of punching the keyboard. Notice how nicely the words flow. It's not your scene, but they are your words. So write out the scene and go back and re-read it.

When you're done reading, you may find that you're ready to write something else. Maybe it's time to dust off one of those neglected stories, or maybe there's a new idea in your head all of a sudden. Try it, and see what happens.

Writing 101: Write What Interests You

I watched crime shows and court shows all day, every day while working on the final book in the Deck of Lies series. They inspired me, and helped me stay in the right head space to get the story together. Also, I really like those shows...it's why I like to write mysteries. I've found that if you write what interests you, you write better.

What the Heart Wants

Suzanne Collins got the idea to write The Hunger Games while watching news and reality TV. She watched politics and brutal competition, so that's what she ended up writing about. She wrote about what she likes, what interests her, and it became a hit.

It's a pretty simple formula. If you're interested in something, and passionate about it, your story is going to be much richer. Your love of the topic itself will enhance every aspect of your tale. Research will be easier and the words will flow more freely. So now all you have to do is figure out what interests you...and parlay that into a bestselling book.

Should be no problem.

Wait...What Does it Want?

Pay attention to the things that interest you. Are there similarities in the TV shows you watch, your favorite movies? Certain themes or ideas that strike you?  Maybe it's a setting that grabs you the most. Do you like movies and TV shows about life near the beach, in the snow, in fancy mansions or maybe in the mean streets of the city? Figure out your interests, and you might find some story ideas in there.

For example, maybe you watch a lot of cop shows and shows that are set in high school. You like movies that take place in big cities with plenty of singing and dancing. Why not write a story about a high school girl who moonlights in the city as a private detective -- and she's in the school glee club? It could be a zany comedy filled with hijinks as she tries to balance these two seemingly disparate interests (something you could write well if you share these interests), or a romantic drama in which she helps apprehend a ring of vicious criminals and wins the heart of the lead singer in the rival glee club. 

Play the game with your own interests, plucking out various pieces of them and putting them together in a plot. Who knows? Maybe you'll find your own Hunger Games.

Writing 101: Limit Your Characters

Have you ever forgotten someone's name that you went to school with, someone you met a few times, that neighbor who lives down the street? If it's possible for you to forget the name of real human beings who are standing directly in your face, just think how I must feel when I'm trying to memorize the 52 characters you put into your book. As an author, you have to limit your characters. Otherwise, I'm going to start forgetting them...so why should they be in the book in the first place? 

Bob and Jim and Nancy and Fred and Donna and Phil and Becky and...

Frankly, I'm lucky if I can accurately remember my own address and two phone numbers. I walk around all day with several of my own characters rattling around in my head, plus I'm juggling storylines from like a dozen different totally interesting shows at any given time. So honestly, it's just cruel for you to expect me to keep track of the 30-plus characters you've added to your 200-page book. Give them names that are any more complicated than Jill and Bob, and I'm in danger of getting a short circuit in my brain. 

Here's the rub: I've got way less stuff going on than the average reader you want to target. That's because I only read one book at a time, and I do it pretty darned slowly. The readers you want to target? They devour books by the day, absorbing and picking apart plots for breakfast, lunch and dinner. What are the odds that they're going to remember all your multi-faceted characters three weeks from now?

The odds start to get better if you focus on creating just a few really great characters. In every book, there are three basic character types. It's in your best interest to keep the names in each column down to a reasonable level. 

• Main character: Your protagonist is, clearly, the most important character in the book. I should get to know everything about the way this character works, how they think, what they want, and so on. Make sure you give me the chance to do that by keeping the focus on this character. Don't dazzle me with 17 love interests or 7 best friends, along with 12 siblings and 34 cousins. I want to know this character. Don't be afraid to put this person in a room, alone, with only their own thoughts. You don't have to have additional characters in every single scene to make scenes interesting.

• Supporting cast: Of course, every main character does need to have some sort of plot to follow. Your supporting cast might be made up of close friends, family members, love interests, fellow students and/or co-workers. These are the people the main character interacts with most frequently. I want to get to know these characters, but only well enough to figure out their relationship to the main character. That's who I care about. They're called a supporting cast for a reason -- they're here to complete the protagonist's story, not to tell their own. Keep the supporting cast simple, focusing only on the key players, and make each one of them distinct enough for me to tell them apart. I shouldn't have to re-read every name and ask myself "wait. Who the hell is that person, again?" Continue to remind me who the hell that person is, because if you don't I will forget.

• Extras: There are going to be background characters in every story. Teachers, background co-workers, the parking lot attendant, a grocery store clerk -- into every life, random faces flit by constantly. I don't care about background characters. Give me a name and a little bit of description, so I can picture the scene, but don't give me their whole life history. I just don't care, and it's too much to memorize. Let background characters enter the scene and then leave; that's their job.

Too many characters only clutters up the story. It becomes a distraction and forces me to constantly question and double-check. If I'm looking back through chapters to figure out what's significant about Cathy, I can hardly focus on the plot you've so carefully constructed. You don't need a lot of people or a lot of extras to create a great story -- you just need the story. Highlight the characters who count, and let the others linger in the shadows. I don't need to know them all, and I'm not going to love them all. Put a spotlight on just a few of them, and they'll be a lot more meaningful to me...and all your readers.

Dramatic Justice

"This book throws you into the drama and it NEVER.STOPS. The writing is spectacular!"

"I loved it! It was exciting, crazy and full of twists and turns you never see coming. I highly recommend it!"

Justice (Deck of Lies, #1) has been reviewed at Lily Bloom Books. Read it to find out what the reviewer found jaw-dropping about the book.

Writing 101: What You Should Know About Taxes

It's March...do you know where your income is coming from? Before you break the federal law, figure out what you should know about taxes as a self-published author. 

Two Sides to Every Coin

Once you sell a certain amount of books through any venue, from Amazon to Smashwords, you will receive a check in the mail or an automated payment of some sort; it all depends on the payment information you've submitted. When this happens, it's an amazing day. You earned money as an author, and you are a success.

And you are liable for it as a taxpaper. Because here's what you may not know about self-publishing: you're doing it as an independent contractor. What does that mean?

It's pretty simple. You have sold something, a product, on Amazon (or B&N, or whatever). Amazon has taken their cut of the profits and now they are giving you what you have earned as the author. But they have not taken taxes out. Amazon is not your employer. You didn't fill out tax paperwork with them, they are not filing for you with your state or federal agencies. You are an independent contractor.

And you're responsible for claiming your taxes yourself. As a citizen of the United States or any other country (and I am assuming you are), you must pay income taxes. Everyone who lives and works in any country must pay taxes to the central government. The government uses this money to build roads, pay teachers in schools and put cops on the streets -- your basic public service stuff. Amazon isn't claiming your income for you because you do not work or Amazon. You have to claim your income yourself.

When you earn money as an independent contractor, you are technically self-employed. And you're in luck, because so am I.

In the United States, this is how it works: when you earn income as an independent contractor, self-employed professional, freelancer or a self-published author, you must claim this income in order to pay income taxes. Your income taxes are based upon a percentage of what you earn; it's roughly 25% unless you earn more than $200,000 a year but if you earn more than $200,000 a year you probably already know what you need to know about taxes. Here's the fun part: you must also pay self-employment taxes. This is about 15% of your total self-employment earnings. The SE tax pays for Social Security, Medicare and other programs that are usually covered by payroll taxes. As a self-employed professional, you do not pay payroll taxes, so that's why.

Confused yet? The good news is, you are only liable to claim your income and pay self-employment taxes if you earn more than $400 as an independent contractor. More good news: the money you spend on your books is tax-deductible. That cover you bought from that artist? The editor your hired to help clean up your words? That tester Facebook campaign you launched? Yes, even the cost of the official copyright -- it's all tax-deductible, because it's a direct business expense. Claim all your expenses, and this is deducted from the independent income you've earned. That means your tax payment is lessened.

Due to new tax laws taking effect in this year, as a self-employed professional you can no longer claim your taxes and pay them only once a year. In the past, many independent contractors have managed their taxes this way. This is no longer allowed. If I'm reading all the information correctly, which is admittedly questionable, self-employed professionals are now obligated to make quarterly tax payments -- the means every three months. This April 15, you must claim all the self-employed income you earned in 2012, and pay all associated taxes. You must also claim all the self-employed income you have earned in 2013 up to April 1. You must claim your taxes, and pay them, again every three months for the remainder of 2013...and for the foreseeable future, until the tax laws change.

It's pretty frightening, I know. Tax forms are pretty much impossible to understand. If you're confused about it, don't be afraid. Call the IRS and get help. They're always there and they will absolutely help you, even if the problem is that you can't pay the taxes you owe. They'll work out a payment plan with you and they're very flexible, so don't be afraid. I've called them several times, and their customer service is far better than what most private corporations are willing to offer.