What If You Could Not Fail

Rules for Giving

Welcome to my blog.  Follow up as I talk about my adventures in writing.  Right now I am working on editing the draft for my novel--Rules for Giving:

RULES FOR GIVING is the story of happily married Gavin Oliver, celebrating his first day of business ownership by sneaking in an early morning golf game when he encounters Rose, the daughter of an old girlfriend. Her world has caved in—a philandering fiancé, a vengeful date rapist, and a recent abortion—and she asks Gavin for help. 

At the thought of again seeing the first woman he ever loved, Gavin consents. He has other problems, though. A former partner at the advertising agency he now owns is plotting against him, promising to take the firm’s cash cow client. Gavin also discovers Rose’s real goal: unraveling her mother’s demons—the same demons that haunt him.

In one week, from one Friday golf game to another, Gavin uncovers crimes, secrets and betrayals that threaten his business, his marriage and his life. 

The personalities in RULES FOR GIVING include the mercurial Rose, searching for the secret her mother is trying so hard to conceal. There’s Marjorie, the indomitable retired high school counselor who advocates castration for date rapists. Finally, meet Leona Kunckles, a 6-foot-2-inch lipstick lesbian, an Army Special Forces veteran and 5th degree black belt turned private detective, known affectionately as “Leo the Knuckle.”

Explaining Why Mongolians Don't Like Nepal

One of the nice things about going to a writers conference is being reminded of all the things you knew, but then forgot. Lisa Lenard-Cook, an editor and author—The Mind of Your Story, led a morning workshop. As with many of the workshops, it was an intense critique session focusing on specific aspects of a writer’s short story or novel.

One of the points Lenard-Cook made involved the word some. “Any word with ‘some,’” she said, “is a wiggle word. It is an intuitive nudge that tells you there is something deeper.”

Rather than saying:

Some members of the expedition deserted, you should say, Three members of the expedition deserted. You can also day, All the Mongolian members of the expedition deserted.

This latter sentence tells you nor only who deserted, but also hints that there might be a problem between ethnic tribes within the larger expedition. If you were to say: All the Mongolian members of the expedition deserted before we reached the Nepal border, you are now saying

1. Members of the expedition deserted.
2. They were all Mongolians, so this might be an ethnic problem.
3. The problem might also have something to do with Nepal

This is a layered sentence with multiple meanings

The next time you find yourself using the word some, or one of its derivations—someone, somebody, something—thank about how you can be more specific, and more layered.

See ya’ later.

WhatIfYouCouldNotFail.com by Tim Sunderland is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

 

Zzzzzz Zzzzz

Thanks to Jeff Keane

Must Your Lead Character be Likable?

by Randy Ingermanson

NOTE: One of my beta readers, upon finishing Rules for Giving, commented that the protagonist, Gavin
Oliver, certainly had flaws. I was concerned at first, then I realized that was a good thing. But what about if your protagonist is a real bad person. According to Randy Ingermason, that's not such a bad thing, either.

A friend of mine asked me recently to reread the newest version of her first chapter. Some of her test readers had said that her lead character wasn't likable enough.

I read the new version and I thought it worked better than the original. It was clearer to me who the lead character was and what she was trying to do in chapter one. And she may even have been a bit more likable.

That prompted me to ask myself whether it's really necessary to have a lead character be likable.

So I tried to think of some examples of unlikable lead characters for bestselling novels. It didn't take long.

Vito Corleone, the lead character for much of the novel, THE GODFATHER, isn't likable. Corleone is, in fact, a despicable person who runs an empire built on theft, bribery, and murder. The novel is the story of how his youngest son Michael, the only decent person in the family, is corrupted to become Vito's replacement.

The assassin known as The Jackal in Frederick Forsyth's novel, THE DAY OF THE JACKAL, is likewise unlikable.

The Jackal is a professional assassin, hired to kill Charles de Gaulle. As he worms his way toward his chosen kill zone, he casually murders a few people who get in his way or who could identify him. The Jackal has no conscience and you aren't supposed to like him.

Scarlett O'Hara isn't a murderer, but she's a selfish brat, intent on being the center of attention, willing to wreck other people's relationships if it suits her purposes. Scarlett is exactly the person you don't want your daughter to be like. She's the woman you don't want to marry. The one you don't want dancing with your husband.

If you think for five minutes, you can probably list several other examples of unlikable characters in leading roles.

So what makes them work? Why would anyone want to read a whole novel about these kinds of people?

I can think of a couple of main reasons:

• They're fascinating.
• The reader can still identify with them.

Vito Corleone is no two-dimensional villain. He's a "man of respect." He wants (and demands) that his friends show him respect. Anyone can identify with that. Everybody wants to be respected.

The way Corleone achieves respect is fascinating. He does it mostly with words. Corleone doesn't say a lot, but when he speaks, he terrifies people without ever making a threat. He's infinitely polite, but he's also subtle, leaving people to draw their own implications.

But when it's time for action, he's willing to do whatever it takes. If you've read the book or seen the movie, two words will remind you of exactly how far Vito is willing to go: Horse's head.

The Jackal is fascinating because he's able to maintain an air of mystery. Who is this man who knows when prospective employers are reading his dossier? What is his brilliant plan to murder the best protected man in the world? How can he be so sure he'll succeed?

One thing not mysterious is the Jackal's motive. He wants to retire to a life of comfort and ease. Every reader would like to do that. The Jackal is offered half a million dollars. In 1962, that's enough to retire well.

We see the Jackal at work as he builds his plan and executes it in excruciating detail. Yet we don't get inside his head enough to know what that plan is. No matter how much we watch the Jackal, we never understand him. In the final chapter, we learn that we knew him even less than we imagined.

Scarlett O'Hara is selfish, but it's easy to understand what makes her tick. She wants everyone to admire her--at least the male half of the population. She wants to be the belle of the ball forever. And who doesn't want to be popular? It's easy to identify with Scarlett's motives, even if you hate the way she operates.

If you're looking for a likable character, you've got Melanie -- the girl who gets Ashley Wilkes. Scarlett, for no clear reason, has always had her heart set on Ashley, so she hates Melanie.

But if you're looking for fascinating, then Scarlett's your girl, because she's way more interesting than Melanie.

It would be a mistake to believe that these characters are fascinating because they're unlikable.

That's not it at all. These characters are fascinating because the authors chose to go deep with them.

With Vito Corleone, we go deep into his background. How is it that a quiet, mild-mannered, polite young Sicilian became the Godfather? We see the exact points of decision in his life and we get right inside his head as he makes those decisions. And we wonder how we'd have chosen.

With the Jackal, we go deep into his methodology. He prepares for the assassination with infinite care. We don't understand exactly why he's taking each step.

That's part of the puzzle to work out. But we know exactly HOW he's doing it. And we finish the book believing we could do that too.

With Scarlett, we go deep into her emotions. She's not the sharpest brick on the woodpile, that's for sure.

But she might be the most emotive, and everybody has feelings. Everybody knows what it's like to want something they can't possibly have.

It's generally a good strategy to give your lead character some likable qualities. But it's not required.

What is required is to make your lead character as interesting as possible.

Find a way to go deep with your character. Find a way to make your reader identify with your character. Make your character fascinating.

If that makes your lead character more likable, then that's all to the good.

But if not, you might still be OK.

This article is reprinted by permission of the author.

Award-winning novelist Randy Ingermanson, "the Snowflake Guy," publishes the free monthly Advanced Fiction Writing E-zine, with more than 32,000 readers. If you want to learn the craft and marketing of fiction, AND make your writing more valuable to editors, AND have FUN doing it, visit

http://www.AdvancedFictionWriting.com.

Download your free Special Report on Tiger Marketing and get a free 5-Day Course in How To Publish a Novel.

 

 

Too Many Distractions

Pearls Before Swine, by Stephan Pastis

Thanks to Stephan Pastis.

Arrrrgh!!!

The Santa Barbara Writers Conference was the second writers conference I have attended. Whereas the previous conference was based on breakout session that were more lecture oriented, the sessions in this conference took on various forms of critique group. Some were based on humor, others concerned themselves with the first four pages of the story, and still others dealt with where the real heart of the story was (often it was not where the writer thought it was).

Something that both conferences had in common were nighttime sessions called the Pirate Workshops. These were extended, intense critique groups lead by seasoned authors and editors who served as moderators. The writers came from all levels of experience. These pirate sessions started around 9:00 p.m. and extended into the wee hours of the morning.

The input from both the moderator and the participants was invaluable, often highlighted by altered state you found yourself in from the exhaustion you experienced after a full day in the regular conference. You could tell you the real dedicated Pirate Workshop attendees. They were the ones napping in a chaise lounge by the hotel pool the next day at lunch or during the afternoon break.

The prirate sessions I attended were led by John Reed, author of Thirteen Mountain. John came complete with a pirate flag, skull and crossbone stickers, and costume jewelry that was handed out as pirate booty.

So when you go to a writers conference, if they have pirate sessions, try them out. If found the experience invaluable, and it gave me a chance to know my fellow writers at another level.

See ya’ later.

WhatIfYouCouldNotFail.com by Tim Sunderland is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Two Years Ago No One Would Have Understood the Humor of This

Bliss by Harry Bliss

A Positive Response, and a Change in Direction

A few weeks ago I posted a piece, The Wisdom of Crowds, in which I related how I shared with my critique group a new opening for my novel. I didn’t rewrite the lead as much as I shuffled around a few chapters and opened the novel with a scene in which the protagonist and his girlfriend visit an abortion clinic, seeking to terminate a pregnancy. Things take an unexpected turn.

My critique group shot it down for a number of reasons, divided into too major objections—1) It did not allow the reader to get to know the characters and, 2) The subject matter was too visceral.

I bowed to the wisdom of the group. But I still had one last sample out there, which I’d already sent to an advance reader at the Santa Barbara Writers Conference. This fellow is a New York agent and I’d already submitted the original manuscript to him. He had sent me a rejection on that submission. When I sat down with him at the conference though, he handed me the new chapter and said, “I like this.” We discussed some other things—my work habits, my social media efforts, my day job—and then he said, “If you get this professionally edited, I think you have something.”

It looks as if the new beginning is a keeper.

I spent part of my remaining time at the conference looking for references for an editor. I have a couple of good prospects. This marks another change for me. I have always looked at editors with doubt. I remembered the words of Lynn Price on Behler Blog:

“. . . Out of literally thousands of submissions I’ve read, I signed one author who I feel got her money’s worth, We barely touched her manuscript when we signed her because it was so clean. And at that, I know the author really didn’t need to hire third party help because I’ve seen the writing brilliance on her blog.”

I did meet several editors who were prospects. I described the experience with my query group to one, who told me what I already suspected, “Query groups often fall in love with the characters in your manuscript. You can’t always take them as the last word.”

Looks as if I have some decisions to make and more rewriting.

See ya’ later.

WhatIfYouCouldNotFail.com by Tim Sunderland is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

 

 

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The Friday Quote on Saturday

Got home yesterday afternoon—Friday—from the Santa Barbara Writers Conference. I’m still recovering from both the exhaustion and from the massive amount of information I acquired in the six days of the conference. As with every writer’s conference, we discussed the evils of adverbs, so here are some quick quotes from great writers about the subject.

• There are subtleties which I cannot master at all,--they confuse me, they mean absolutely nothing to me,--and this adverb plague is one of them. ... Yes, there are things which we cannot learn, and there is no use in fretting about it. I cannot learn adverbs; and what is more I won't.—Mark Twain
• The road to hell is paved with adverbs.—Stephen King
• To use an adverb this way (or almost any way) is a mortal sin.—Elmore Leonard
• How well [Evelyn Waugh] faces the problem of linking passages between the scenes. There is almost a complete absence of the beastly adverb--far more damaging to a writer than an adjective.—Graham Greene

See ya’ later.

WhatIfYouCouldNotFail.com by Tim Sunderland is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

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Two reasons to delete adverbs from your writing

More from the Santa Barbara Writers Conference

I’m into my fourth day of the Santa Barbara Writer’s Conference. Lots of interesting stuff, including a chance to meet some agents, hear from other writers, and gain wisdom about the industry and the craft. Here are some more gems that were overheard.

“HootSuite has saved my soul.”—Novelist Robin Winter, author of Night Must Wait, talking about social media and authors’ platforms.

“My house, my garden and my family have essentially gone to hell.”—Novelist Patricia Bracewell, author of Shadow on the Crown, about her commitment.

“If you are doubting yourself, you are a real writer.”—Novelist Melanie Thorne, author of Hand Me Down.

“Whenever I hear about self-publishing I hear 50 Shades of Grey . . . and that just made my microphone go off.”—Robin Winter.

“That was an automatic cut-out that happens at this conference when that title is mentioned.”—the moderator of the panel where the preceding comment was made.

“One thing that makes readers twitch is telling them something they already know.”—Author John Reed, 13 Mountain, moderator of one of the Pirate Workshops, in a discussion of overwriting a scene.

See ya’ later.

WhatIfYouCouldNotFail.com by Tim Sunderland is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

 

Hello from the Santa Barbara Writers Conference

Yesterday was my first at the Santa Barbara Writers Conference. It is a full schedule going way into the night. Not a lot of time for posting on the blog, reading a book or much else. But there is a lot of wisdom being passed around.

One thing I learned last night is that Perks of Being a Wallflower has to be next on my reading list. The opening night speaker was the author, Stephen Chbosky. Interesting story about the book and the movie.

What did Chbosky have to say?

• “Dialog is about taking something that is completely artificial and making it seem authentic.”
• “If you tell a story that’s authentic to you, it will resonate with people.”
• “If you make your writing dense enough, it doesn’t feel dense at all.”
• ”If you make your characters two-and-a-half dimensions, then you get the reader to bring the rest. They love your characters that much more then, because they helped create them.”

That’s it for now. The late afternoon First Book Panel is coming up.

See ya’ later.

WhatIfYouCouldNotFail.com by Tim Sunderland is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Image of Stephen Chbosky courtesy of Simon & Schuster.