BookingIt

When we write characters, most of us know it's important for them to say more than "Good Morning", "How are you", and those types of things. Meaningless phrases of etiquette aren't necessary and are usually boring, unless they have an underlying reason. Subtext is a fascinating way to use dialogue. I actually just saw it used in a brilliant way at the end of a movie. That's for my next post. Today I'm in Orlando, attending a writer thing to learn writerly stuff from some authors. I'm very excited, especially since one author is teaching about characterization, a personal nemesis of mine. If you have time, click on that link for subtext and read about it. Have you seen it employed recently? In what and how? Did you find it effective?

I signed up for this thing at Thomas Nelson where I get to choose a book from their pile and they send it to me free. All I have to do is review the book on my blog, set up some links, and review it on book-buying sites, like Amazon, etc. I can go at my own pace and when I finish, I just go back and choose a new book! So right now I have the brand new Kiss by Ted Dekker and Erin Healy ! It's on my table, begging to be read. Just thought I'd pass this uber cool news on to any of you who like to read.

Here's some interesting links I found recently. First, Susan is having a contest. Wanna win a free book? Check out her blog. Second, you've probably heard of the Kindle and other e-readers. Have you thought about what it might mean for the future of publishing? Check out this interesting article by Time . Third, does anyone ever have trouble diversifying actions to describe emotions? Or do you use the same ones over and over, like me? (my crit partner suggested my heroine get some lip balm, for surely her lips would be dry with all the nervous licking of them she does. lol) Well, this blog has an emotion thesaurus . Extremely helpful! So, how do you diversify the actions your characters use to convey emotion? And....do you think you'll ever use an e-reader?

*Prayer Request for the little girl who has been kidnapped; check out Christina's blog * On to my post... As some of you know, I've been querying a manuscript. So far it's been fun. I didn't mind rejections because they just felt like a challenge to query a new agent. Reality settled in the other day as I scrolled to the very last name on my list. Done. Almost done. It hit me that after a few more queries, I'll only have the publishing houses left. And most CBA houses require an agent, meaning my manuscript will most likely be put under the bed. I'm more sad about that then I expected. This was my first completed manuscript. In all fairness, it probably doesn't have what it takes to sell. I knew that going in, but it's still disheartening to know the race is almost over. One thing cheers me up (besides the obvious like God and family). I have more. That's right. Hear me laugh victoriously and shove my fist into the air. I-have-more-stories. This is w...

Or at least it keeps the characters moving. Last post was about external goals. Many of you commented on internal ones too, which led me to think about the whole process. A character having an external goal must first have a motivation. This is delved into pretty well in the book GMC: Goal, Motivation, and Conflict . I haven't read this book, but the gist of it is that every character having a goal must have a motivation for achieving that goal, and in their pursuit of that goal, there must be a subsequent conflict. Your protagonist's (or even antagonists) desire to reach their goals can stem from some sort of internal conflict or value. For example, in The Bad Boy's redemption my PI protagonist is someone who believes strongly in justice. Therefore, when a client's husband wrongs the protag's sister, she investigates him and discovers that he's shady. And so she becomes determined to bring this man down. Her motivation stems from two things: one, her value of ...

At the beginning of a story, it's important for a character to have some sort of external goal. Does she want a promotion? To adopt a child? There needs to be something for the character to succeed or fail at during the course of the book. Not rocket science but I still didn't get it until my third manuscript. In my first completed manuscript, the heroine rode on her train to an uncle's house. Things happened to her, she reacted, but there was nothing she was striving for. So why should the reader turn the page? Granted, the emotional intensity could be strong enough to propell a reader into finding out what happens next, but it's unlikely. Give your character something to do and you give the reader a reason to keep reading. So I made my heroine on a mission to get an interview with an elusive government agent who purportedly lives near her uncle. A simple goal but it hopefully makes the reader wonder, will she get what she wants? To make your external goal stronger, cr...

Last night hubby and I watched a comic strip movie. You know, one of the ones with a genetically altered superhero? I'm not going to say the name 'cause I don't want to spoil it for anyone. Anyways, I really liked the movie, up until the end. To me, the heroine was a great foil for the superhero and through her gentle strength he discovers how to control his own power. It was great. And then the ending... Had nothing to do with romance or their love, but basically sets up questions for a sequel. All well and good, but not fulfilling in any way because the sequel was never hinted at in the movie. They just up and bam it at you in the end. The last scene was in the wrong place, in my opinion. For the movie to have left me with satisfaction, I think it should have ended with the heroine gazing at the pic she has of the hero, or something to that effect. The trail laid was one of love conquering anger. At least that's what I got out of it. Then, at the end, it's suddenl...