I want to start this blog with a  disclaimer. There will be no writing revelations, awesome tips, or new tricks revealed in the following post. In fact, there are going to be a lot more questions than answers. So prepare yourself.

Though I’ve yet to finish a full novel rough draft, I did spend more than two years with my first story, and have spent nearly six months with my second. When I first started, it was all a mystery to me. How could you know how long a book would be until you wrote it? How do you find enough interesting material to fill four hundred pages? How much rum does it take to forget I’m a hack?

Okay, forget the last one.

I’m happy to report, I’ve found the answers to the first two. Or think I have and that’s good enough for now.

But one of the toughest questions I’ve yet to answer is how do I get into the minds of my characters? How do I know what they’ll do in any given situation? (That’s two questions, so sue me.)

In general, I know the answer to their reactions is in their motivations and partially in their back story. Unfortunately, “in general” has never gotten me very far. So, I kept going, hoping I’d find more answers.

Here’s the problem with finding answers, they often lead to more questions. Last night while writing, something happened in my scene I didn’t see coming. It moved the romance plot line forward big time, fit the story perfectly, and I hate to say, wasn’t my idea in the least.

It was Nate’s. That would be Nate Campbell, the hero of Playing For Keeps.

This same thing happened in my last WIP. I needed a way to throw my H/H together. In the middle of a scene in my hero’s POV, he pops out with the perfect answer. I didn’t see it coming and was amazed at how perfectly it would work.

The connection between these incidents is the source. The only characters I seem to channel are the heroes. Which leads to more questions. Why is it always the hero and what in the world does this say about me?

Since my heroines are often just like me, I can follow the trail to some obvious implications. But I don’t wanna. So I’m putting the questions to you. Any and all input welcome.

So I was thinking about the setting in The Wolfman. I watched the trailer and was completely sucked into the mood and setting of the story; and I thought, for a total remake, they did an excellent job of choosing the time and location—it was practically a character itself. And yet, description and setting are often disregarded in the realm of importance of writing.

Characterization and Plot are frequently featured like A-list celebrities, while things like Voice, Theme, and Setting often get shunted with Kathy Griffith to the D-list. Tragic, because these very writing techniques are the Jeff Bridges of the writing world. We all know they were absolutely essential to the overall product, but no one remembers to acknowledge them in their Oscar speech. Or give them their own Oscar.

Consider Dracula. A brilliant character, but nothing without the setting he was drawn in. The story wouldn’t work if he were in a setting like modern day California, with all its sunny weather and “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” people. His whole inner-makeup would dissolve like his face in the sun. He needs weather as moody and dramatic as he is, to mirror his moody and dramatic nature. We’re constantly reminded to write bigger, and using setting to the best advantage in our writing is one of the simple ways to show a Bigger Story. (Simple, but not easy.)

And the setting is much more than mere location. The when of the setting is extremely important. Timing is everything. The new movie, The Wolfman, takes place in Victorian England. What better time setting could you have given such a tale? It’s the perfect blend of science and superstition, of the modern and the old. We clearly see the progressive methods of solving crime using Scotland Yard detective work as well as new medical techniques and studies, but at the same time, the threat itself, a wolfman, is a realm of the old world. Not only are we experiencing the hero’s conflict with becoming a monster, but also the conflict of science versus magic (curse). It makes for a much dramatic telling of the story than say Teen Wolf. Which was quite a classic for me growing up, but is pretty much what would happen if we discovered a wolfman now, right? We—in theory—would be accepting of something that was different from us and wouldn’t try to trap it for the discovery of science. We’d bring it in the house and enroll it in high school.

I like to watch movies (obviously, since most of my blogs involve movies), but more than for the story. I like to watch what was included in a screen shot because I know, like scenes in a book, everything is there for a reason. And you can’t fit everything into a screen shot either. You have to focus on what’s most important, especially to the character. What shows character/story the most?

For example, I watched Adventureland and picked out all the very 80s things in the “description.” There were the girls who had their hair styled in that Gilled Lizard sort of fashion (very popular) and had their t-shirt collars ripped out and the bottom tied into a knot so we could see their midriff. Blue eyeshadow. Madonna-esque fashion accessories. All the cars the boys drove were Gremlins or those monster cars that their grandparents would drive. Cassette tapes were predominant; one boy bragged about his CD player that he paid a ton of money for. (In fact, the only thing not very setting authentic was Kristen Stewart, who not only pranced about in low-rise jeans, but whose hair looked exactly like it does from Twilight.)

The best description and setting (in my opinion) is active within the story, the little drops here and there that are explicit to the character themselves. Like the lemondrops on Dumbledore’s desk (you see them in the 6^th movie); or the way Dracula’s shadow moves outside of what his actual ‘reflective’ shadow should be. Doing what Dracula would actually like to be doing to Harker. (I always laugh at that scene.) I also think description and setting is probably best done during the second draft, after you’re done getting the story on paper because after all, character and plot are the A-list; and setting and description is more in the B- and C-list range. (You know, you gotta deal with the divas first before you return for the ones who help make the whole thing hold together cohesively. You can’t have A-list characters and plot in a white room. It doesn’t work.)

I agree with some articles that say less is more (mainly because when it comes to writing description, I definitely am a less is more.) However, I’ve read some books where description is definitely that writer’s forte and I wouldn’t have them change a word. I’ve also read authors, like me, who are minimalists and you see the story just as clearly as you do Harry Potter’s world. Both ways work—just don’t forget about it.

So how do you deal with description and setting? What tips and tricks work for you? What movies have you admired for their use of setting/description? Is anyone else looking forward to The Wolfman and not Valentine’s Day like I am? Who’s hoping Jeff Bridges finally gets an Oscar?

You’re going to see a lot of hard hitting guys today. At least you will if you watch the Super Bowl. (Am I supposed to say “The Big Game” so as not to get in trouble? Oh well.)

With all we hear about Alphas and tough bad boys, I thought it would be nice to go back to when a guy didn’t have to grunt and tear down a field like a Mack truck. When being suave, intelligent, and charming melted us into a puddle. Though no one would ever claim these men couldn’t hold their own if necessary.

One word described them all > TIMELESS.

Been a rough week, crew. I wrestled with deep despair over contest results. Again. (Crew, do not let me enter another contest. Ever. Club me with a rum bottle, hang me from the yardarm by my feet if I ever, ever babble about entering another one, ever.)

Our dear Bo’sun hauled me outta the pits and set me straight. So, I’m better now. But…still been a scrappy week. Felt like Hellion was going to toss me overboard a few times for disagreeing with her and refusing to acquiesce to being lashed.

So, let’s pick a few fights today. Get it all out there and bloody up the deck. The rum will flow… I’m serving up Feisty Friday Freezes.

Number one. I don’t read what I write. Who wants to take me on about this one? Now, I have a powerful green eyed jealous monster who rides me back. If I read something I felt I could have done better, should have done better, should have been first, could have been first… I shut down. Convinced it is too late, I suck…you name it. So I don’t read it.

Seldom read it.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know…how can I know the genre if I don’t read it. Well, I read about it! So, come on…tell me why I’m so incredibly wrong…

Number two. I also write what I don’t do. Never been a mother, but I’m writing about a conflicted mother. Sue me.

If writers only stuck to what they had personal experience with, no one would write historicals. So, there!

I have a mother, I talk to her…a lot. About being a mother. I read…a lot. And there are so many mothers in fiction. So, I can write one. And there are daddy’s that look good on paper and to a child’s eyes they are fabulous. But are really monsters that deserve walking the plant. Over a volcano. An active volcano. Moms, too!

I also write about alien abductions, fairy, pirates and a ton of things I have no personal experience with.

Sin? Every really killed anyone? Wallowed in blood?

Hal? Last arms deal you took part in?

Marn? Have any traffic with demons lately?

Hel? Last time you dated Lucifer?

Now, I know Bo’sun coached the girl’s version of baseball…softball. So, I guess she’s the only one allowed to keep working on her stuff.

OK, Hel might actually have dated Lucifer…

Number Three. Anyone can disagree with me and not be an idiot. I feel pretty strongly about this one.

And Frodo was too a hero.

Moms who go to work do raise their children. And moms who stay home are worth way more than any family can afford to pay them.

Avatar was a good movie.

Anyone else have any tidbits they want to throw in the ring from the last few weeks? Toss it up and see who steps into the ring to duke it out? Do you read what you write? Do you write only what you know? Can you know something well enough by reading about it to write about it, convincingly? Let’s go, I’m feeling feisty!

Alice Audrey is celebrating the release of her debut novel, MOVING IN, from Wild Rose Press this week and she’s been sweet enough not only to let us be part of the party, but she’s brought her hero along to charm us all.

About MOVING IN…

Diane, an insurance claims adjuster who secretly longs to be a housewife, and Trigvey, a doctor who loses faith in himself, move into the same building at the same time.  Due to a problem with the previous tenants, they get their luggage tangled together, and never quite manage to separate it again.

And now, the doctor is in.

Hi.  My name’s Trigvey Taylor.  You can find me between the pages of MOVING IN by Alice Audrey.  Alice asked me to come over here and talk to you today.

I’m a doctor.  I know, I don’t look like it, especially when I’ve been in the ER for too many days in a row and get a bit of stubble on my chin.  You should hear what Diane said about me when we first met.  Drug dealer?  Yeah, right.

Actually, I didn’t tell her at the time, but I do remember once when a patient told me he thought all doctors were drug dealers, front men for the pharmaceutical companies.  Of course, I don’t see it that way, but I can see his point.  Especially after what happened in the ER when…  Ah, but I can’t tell you that.  You wouldn’t want to read the book.

So, let me tell you a little about Diane.  She is really something.  I won’t say she’s hot because that isn’t really what’s important about her.  It’s her chicken dinner.

Yeah, I’m just kidding.  It’s her roast beef too.  *grin*

She has this way of taking care of people.  She just can’t stand to see poor, pitiful people like me suffering.  So she does stuff like help me find a good furniture store, cook, and clean, and listen.  She’s great at listening.  When she stands behind you and rubs your back and says just the right things you can end up spilling your guts to her.  But it’s all right. She won’t make you feel bad about it.  Sometimes it could even help, telling her everything.

Really, she was made to be a wife. No, strike that.  She was made to be MY wife.  Problem is, she doesn’t think that’s good enough.  I don’t mean she doesn’t think I’m good enough for her, which might be right, but that no woman should be just a wife.  Can you believe it?  What’s more, she’s afraid if she ever gets married, that’s what’ll happen.  She’ll end up quitting work and staying home all the time.  She thinks then no one will respect her.

Well, I’m going to fix that misconception. At least I hope I do, because Diane, she’d be a lot happier that way.

Both Alice and Trigvey will be hanging out all day to answer questions, so fire away. Maybe if we’re real sweet, Trigvey will offer some private exams.

“O Come, O Come Emmanuel” Casting Crowns. There is something about this instrumental song that brings me back to it over and over again. It’s been repeated over 300 times in my iTunes. It’s not at the record of my repeats. I’ve listened to Eclipsed (Evans Blue) almost 500 times.  (Love that song. Still need to write a blog in regards to that song. Hm, will put that on the burner for next time.)

Since I’ve gotten back into my writing, I’m finding that pounding out blogs each week is a little easier for me. Creatively, my well is feeling dry; but my brain is functioning at a higher level than usual. I’m trying to keep in mind that my year horoscope said I’m in for big successes and big life changes. I’m gearing it towards writing because I need all the positive influence and karma I can get at this point. I’ve become more of a circus act trying to pull everything together for entertainment purposes than a multi-tasker so far this year.

Writing for me is much like a production. You have all these players practicing their parts, learning their roles. Everyone has a purpose and a part to play. Like the circus. The main story is out for everyone to see. The daring acts, the high flying stunts and the stories we weave for the crowd, but underneath the surface lies the real truth. You play your part for the crowd, you turn it on when the light shines on you and when the light dims the real story begins.

My characters have taken on new life the last couple of weeks. Finally, I can hear them again through all the responsibility and chaos that has been my life for the past few months. Kiki is eager to get back to her life in the gray area and Sadie is ready to tackle life. Dex is ready to convince Kiki she can’t keep working her life alone and emotionally detached from everyone and everything. Ruiz is working pretty hard to convince me he should sleep with everyone. Ash is quiet. He’s always quiet. He’s making a case study of Kiki. Can’t say as I blame him. She’s pretty internal at this point. If I’d spent five years trying to locate someone who was legally dead in the system, I don’t know if I’d spend much time talking to someone I couldn’t trust any further than I could throw him.

Kiki’s emotional state is far from pretty. Her family is dead. Her life is one calculated risk after another. Kiki doesn’t care.

I’ve been told there is a fine line between making a character redeemable and making a character who turns into the bad guy at the end. Kiki is my tightrope walker.

Writing is a fairly new process to me. I’ve completed projects before. I know to seal the deal between characters. I know my way around a black moment. But this whole concept of reminding myself that a main character has to be redeemable is completely foreign. I know at this point I should just ignore all the rules and regulations but it’s one of those things that once someone puts it in my mind, I can’t let go.

Kiki can’t let go of the fact she’s alone in this world. She tells herself that it’s better for everyone if she remains that way, but when she’s alone at night, she spends her spare time looking for clues to Sadie’s whereabouts.

No one wants to be alone in the world. Not even Kiki, my uber headstrong stubborn main character.

I think I’ll just go with Kiki’s flow and see how we turn out. If she’s deemed unredeemable, well then maybe my writing is just unredeemable. I’m feeling rather indifferent about it at this point. Sort of like my apathy for V-day. It’s just another day in the record books.

More on that soapbox next week.

Do you have emotional tightrope walkers in your writing? How do you personally feel about your own writing and does that emotion sometimes bleed into your characters?

Typically Santa would be blogging about something profound, but…I’m not sure where she is. Or her blog. So I’m going to pirate her spot for a very important decision blog.

Meaning there are TWO online workshops I want to take, but I don’t want to take them at the same time because I know I will only have time for one of them. (Bo’sun is taking two, but she’s an overachiever like that.)

http://lowcountryrwa.com/online-workshops/#2010

I blame the Write Chic blog for even bringing them to my attention–darn though brilliant ladies!–and now I’m torn between the class about Goal-Motivation-Conflict-Diaster AND the one about Characters and Secrets. The GMCD would be great for me now; however, the character-secret one, well, that was just looks way interesting. Plus I think Eve is hiding a secret (though she won’t tell me what it is) and I don’t know if this is the sort of class that might reveal it to me. If I could find them being offered again later this year, I’d take one now and one later, but I can’t see that as an option.

So…what shall I take, pirates? Secrets or Disasters?

So I’ve run into a problem in my WIP. I run into this problem regularly, in fact. I’ll be cruising along, writing a new scene, playing with the dialog and making fiddling with the setting, thinking…Now, what?

And then the other day, I was flipping through a how-to book for a chart on structure, and I found the answer to my question.

Yes, but…

Let me explain. In each scene, there should be a goal, right? Something your protagonist is trying to attain or achieve.  And there’s some form of obstacle in her way, be it the hottie next door or the vampire trying to suck her…blo0d.  So she has a goal in each scene. Does she get it?

There are only four possible answers to that question:  yes, no, yes but, or no and furthermore.

Yes and no are boring answers. They don’t leave you with anything next. You say yes or no to the conflict of the scene, and then you’re stuck staring at the screen, going, “Now, what do I do?”

So how about the other two options? “No and furthermore” gets more interesting. No, she didn’t get attain her goal, but furthermore…fill in the blank with a way it can get worse.

“Yes, but” gets interesting too. Yes, she attains her goal. But…

Recently, I had a scene I was floundering with. Josephine, my protagonist, had a goal. She was being released from prison, and about to face the media storm standing between the gates of the prison, and the car taking her to the airport. And she did it. She withstood the media, made it into the car with her dignity intact.

And then. . .

So I thought, what if the answer was “yes, but” instead of just “yes.” What if she gets through the shit storm of cameras and questions, but there’s something worse waiting for her in the car?

Suddenly, there are new possibilities. The things I needed to have happen plot-wise can, yet the possibilities in front of me are now endless.

So how about it wenches? Anyone have a scene they seemed to stall out on, and are left going “Now what do I do?”  Check if the answer to the protagonist’s goal is a plain yes or no. Will giving that scene a “no, and furthermore,” or “yes, but” ending open up your future options? What else do you use to get you past the “Now, what?” sticking moments?

There are a lot of parts of the male body we can admire. The abs, the pecs, the face, the jaw, the thighs, the quads, the…

Where was I?

Oh yes, the good parts on hot boys. One that gets looked over is their arms. And man, do some of these boys have great arms.

So what else? What body parts do we not pay nearly enough attention to?

Blame it on the Bo’sun, if this blog holds together better than mine normally tend to. I was really floundering on this and have come to the conclusion…I take bad notes. So, trying to pull enough together to make sense and not meander about… I give you 3 items of interest from the Donald Maas workshop I attended last Saturday.

I’m going to start with the third point, because I like working backwards. It amazed, what I heard during breaks and at the end of the day. “Well, guess I’ll just scrap what I have and start over!”

No kidding?

And I thought, “What? No bloody way!” My inner censor held me back from standing up and staring then all down, “Are you all mad? He’s hasn’t said anything that isn’t fixable!”

I do have some instincts toward self preservation. And these were my chapter mates and I need to continue meeting with them once a month.

Now, I am not so egotistical to assume nothing he said pertains to me and my manuscripts. Quite the contrary! Some wonderful ideas for adding verve and excitement and sharpening the works… Lots of great ideas.

But this was an important point for me…I’m not writing perfect, but I don’t believe in pillage and burn. I mean, how can I continue to build a mutually satisfactory relationship with any manuscript if I just pillage and burn it?

He spoke of revisions. He spoke of receiving a rejection and resubmitting according the suggestions made. He didn’t say…burn it.  So, last thing I walked away with? Don’t burn it.

Secondly, protagonist! I discovered that I write great protagonist. Oh, boy, sounds egotistical again, don’t it? No, not that way! But Donald said that protagonists tend fit into two types. Those that are born great and those that have greatness thrust upon them. Say…the Navy Seal compared to the stock clerk. And he emphasized with both of these types…make the reader connect with them in the first five pages.

(I hate the first 5 pages stuff. I know, it’s realistic. But I struggle within the confines of reality all the time.)

But I listened and understand the gist. Those that are great need to be made fallible so the reader can relate. Those that aren’t great naturally…well, my notes suck here, something about giving them attributes to admire and enable to them rise to the greatness they are headed for. I create protagonists that are already great. (Not in an egotistical way, remember, but in a already a warrior sort or thing… Oh, never mind, I’m getting myself into trouble enough.)  

The gist of it? Examine where your protagonist fits into this world and make sure you bring them into the world. Not so great that no one can relate and not so…uh…not-great so that there is no suspension of disbelief when they end up doing great things. (Did I use a double negative there?) Suspension of disbelief? Yeah, that might be better.

Firstly, oh…I loved this one! Special Characters! This topic fascinated me. He spoke of how to use this tool to address a need for action, for information, for climax wrap up. Special characters, the larger than life presence that hovers over the action, but often isn’t ever introduced. The general in charge of the troops, the scientist, the head of the school board. The one we writers use as an off screen device.

Donald recommends bringing them on screen and let them relay information, spur action, add color.

I have the Guardians in my current WIP. They know why the world changed, they make rules, but for the most part, they are off screen and they don’t interfere. Until one of them pops up near the end and because he’s eccentric and disagrees with some of the original Guardian doctrine, he drops bits of information that changes everything for the H/H. But he does it in almost an accidental way.

I love it, I can use him more. Not just at the end. It’s going to be fun to incorporate him just a bit more. Just a bit….mostly at the end, but I can do some gentle foreshadowing using this character.

Delish!

There was more, of course. At one point I wanted to thrust my fist in the air and shout out “YES!” Because he spoke of how telling can be as important as showing. How an objective POV can be useful to make the intangible dynamic.

Donald is my hero.

Details? Give me more time to reflect and I hope I can give you more. And maybe I’ll read the book…find the specifics that struck me as wonderful. He did use an example of a paragraph from an author he represents. Daniel Depp. Yup, related to our favorite pirate actor. Wrote a mystery of sorts set in Hollywood. Great passage he read. (Gotta look for this book!)

The last question he addressed was great. Asked how he recommended an author approach revision, he replied that a linear approach was fine and good, but he suggested a more scattered and random approach. Work out of order. A sort of shuffle things around and grab a scene, a bit of dialog, some action…read it, apply the methods he suggested…grab another. From anywhere.

This appeals to the chaos imp that lives inside me and likes to play.

So, to reiterate…

3) Don’t burn. (Sin, this is for you. Stop the bonfires. Now.)

2) Great or greatness thrust upon them? Either way, still need a way to connect to the reader, for the reader to believe this could be them…

1) Special Characters are to be used.

.5) Edit out of order

Now, lets see how you might find some of this useful with your current WIP… (And keep tuned in…one last point he made I am writing up as an entire blog on all its own. One I know Hel is going to take great delight in…)

I’m up at me Mum’s and time will be tight today. Bear with me as  I pop in and out…and play nice! The bar is open!