Equall-Yoked POVs

I have about three or four books half-read at any time. I usually read the first few chapters, then get distracted by my crazy life or the inspiration to continue on my wip. Usually, I have at least read enough of each novel to know whose pov will be used. And since I read mostly romance novels, the typical povs used in one novel are the hero's and the heroine's.

One of the recent books in my reading list began in the perspective of the hero. It was intriguing, mysterious, unusual, and top-notch.

And then enters the heroine.

While she had some significant issues, the craft that shone in the hero's perspective was lacking in her's. I couldn't believe that the two povs were even written by the same person. Perhaps, I should read further and get comfortable with the heroine, but once I got back to the hero's pov, I sighed relief because it was interesting again!

So, after talking with my fellow Alley Cats, I think I have a grip on what makes alternating povs successful.

At first, I thought, well, maybe the reason I had such a hard time reading the above book was because the author went from “showing” the hero's situation, feelings, stakes, to using a LOT of telling with the heroine. But the Alley Cats talked about books they have read where the author was successful in this way, and come to think of it, I have read a few that use telling as part of the “voice” of a character.

So then, I thought about the stakes. Perhaps, each character should have the same intensity of what's at stake. If life is on the edge for one character, then it should be on the edge for the other. But that doesn't really work in real life or fiction.

Maybe it was voice. Maybe the voices of each character were too different, too simplistic for one and too complex for the other. But just the thought of that stirred my creative juices and I want to tackle that idea at some point in my own writing!

I kept trying to put my finger on it, wondering why I had such an issue with these unequally yolked povs. Every point I thought about, had some sort of exception. And as I sat down to write this post, it finally hit me...Whether you “show” with one character, and “tell” with the other, whether one character is in a “life” threatening situation, and the other is sitting by enjoying life, whether one character is a man and the other a woman, there is something very important needed when writing two different point-of-views:

CONSISTENT CRAFT

Each pov in a book must be as well-written as the other. It's as simple as that. If you don't have it in you to write a character well, if you feel like you are much more inspired by one character over the other, then seriously think about nixing that pov...or spicing up that character so that you care to write him/her!

Search for a distinct voice for each character, but make sure you mold and shape each person to be unique, endearing, entertaining, and well-written!

Consistent Craft vs. Inconsistent Craft would be:

• Fine-tuning voice in each character vs. giving a generic voice to the character you're not as thrilled to write about.

• Ramping the tension in one pov, then flat-lining with the next character. Even if a character isn't going through tragedy, use power words, make even the every day situation intriguing to bridge the gap between the characters until they are woven together in the plot.

• Language differences: Using power words, tight writing, good dialogue with one pov, then sprinkling adverbs, boring sentence structure, simplistic dialogue in your next pov. This is particularly tricky in historical and dialect of certain countries...for some reason we want to use adverbs for historical writing...it just seems...more proper, doesn't it? Something I am working on!

Final tips on Point Of Views:

Write each character's pov as if they are their own story, not as if one is assisting the other. Use the different perspectives to move toward the main plot-line of the book, to ramp up the tension toward the point of character collision or the characters' a-ha moment together.

Finally, two POVs are only powerful when they are both consistent in moving the story forward.

Thanks, Alley Cats, for helping me sort through these thoughts on POV. I am by no means an expert, so I would love to open the discussion to our readers and see if anyone else has tips or insight also!
****************************************************************************

Angie Dicken first began writing fiction as a creative outlet during the monotonous days of diapers and temper tantrums. She is passionate to impress God's love on women regardless of their background or belief. This desire serves as a catalyst for Angie's fiction, which weaves salvation and grace themes across cultures. She is an ACFW member and CEO of a family of six.

 

Guest Post: Kristy Wedge Cambron on Post Your Passion

So when I asked for some tips on social media from a few fellow authors, Kristy Wedge Cambron gave me so many good tips on her facebook posting guidelines I decided this was due its own post. Enjoy, I think these are truly gems!-Julia




 I do have some FB posting guidelines that if I were writing a blog post on the subject, I would be sure to share:


1) POST YOUR PASSION - Find that one thing that drives your FB page, your posts, your pictures - find what it is and do not hesitate to post about it. I adore Jane Austen. I love all things Paris. I have a soft spot for classic movies. All of these things make their way on to my blog and my FB Author Page. But the one thing that I have true passion for - the post that I will never be ashamed to share - is one that glorifies Jesus Christ. Post your passion.


2) STAY CONSISTENT - This isn't referring to frequency of posts, though I do believe it's important. But the real focus of consistency is to stay true to your brand. I write "Vintage Romance with a Heart for Christ". That tells the story of my author brand and I try to stick to it. That means that I post pictures of romantic Paris, classic literature quotes, scripture verses, pictures of vintage weddings, links to wedding blogs in the UK... anything that ties in with my brand will help readers to know what to expect when they come to my FB page/blog, and they'll come back because of it.


3) DO NOT ALIENATE YOUR READERS - To use a recent example in our country - I do not write for Republicans or Democrats. I write for Jesus. That means that despite my own personal views, I have readers that may have an opposite opinion. I try to remember that when I post. I won't reach anyone for Christ if I am driving away readers with non-writing, non-author, non-Christian posts. (But remember my POST FOR PASSION example - I will post Biblical, Jesus-focused posts, without shame.)


4) IT'S ALL ABOUT STRATEGY - What's hot right now and fits in with my personal brand? Downton Abbey is an excellent example. When I post a link for something specific that has a lot of attention on it - such as Downton Abbey - I follow that up with a post that links to my recent blog post, for example, so it sits right next to it on my FB Author Page. Readers will see that. Take the posts you know will draw traffic and use it to your advantage.


5) REMEMBER YOUR ALTER-EGO - Even Bruce Wayne and Clark Kent had to remember the fact that they had dual personalities. I am constantly reminded that while I am a Christian author, I also have an alter-ego as a Learning Consultant in Corporate America. My employer is also active on Facebook and I keep the two personas in very separate camps because of it. My author page does not mention my employer. My leader and peers at the office do follow my FB Author page, but I keep in mind the fact that I always represent my employer (even when I do not profess to).


6) POSITIVITY REIGNS - I don't care how terrible my day was at the office or how frustrated I am when my cable provider has me on hold for an hour - I don't post about it. Readers come to FB for an escape, for entertainment, for connectivity... they don't jump onto social media excited to read a rant of negativity. As with our personal brand and as a professed follower of Jesus, I do not see a benefit in passing on more negativity. Now, posting prayer requests is completely different - that builds connectivity with others/readers. But blasting another religion, political party, even another football team (and I am a HUGE football fan) - I won't do it. If I represent Jesus (POST YOUR PASSION




To add a couple of extra things... I always make sure I support my peers. If another author is having a giveaway, I will post a link to it. If a publisher is asking for shares of a particular post, I will share it. Giving your readers links to free Kindle books, giveaways, even links to Downton Abbey Season 3 - these draw readers to your page. But supporting another author just because you want to get more attention on Christian Fiction as a whole? That builds genuine relationships in our author community. I support other authors because I want them to succeed too. Any book that glorifies Christ deserves a mention on my page. ; )ain), I won't represent negativity at the same time.




One more thing... When readers comment on your posts, DON'T LEAVE THEM HANGING! Ask questions, engage, be authentic with your readers and they will with you in return.

Kristy Wedge Cambron has a gorgeous blog here: http://paris-mom.blogspot.com/

The Swell To A Black Moment

On Flickr by comedy_nose

Swell:  to well up, as a spring or as tears.

We've all written something similar to: 

Her throat tightens, the well of tears threatens to burst. A single tear escapes, and then another, until she can't stop the sobbing, can't contain the flood within her.

It's gradual, it builds, it culminates in a sudden burst. The emotion swells in the character until it overflows in their reaction.


We can apply this character study to our actual swell toward the black moment of our story. A black moment is when all is lost, when the bubble bursts, the sobbing brings forth the flood of tears. As we write the very first word of Chapter One, we must have a black moment in mind so our writing becomes "purpose-driven". Our characters, circumstances, symbolism, all culminate toward that black moment...for optimal BURST!

 If we don't build up the stakes, give the reader strong lungs to expand the bubble, imagery to provide the force that breaks the dam, our black moment might deflate like a balloon with a pin-size hole-- slow and weakly.


Two novels come to mind when I think of excellent weaving toward a purpose-driven black moment. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte and She Walks In Beauty by Siri Mitchell. One gives us a good example of a circumstantial burst, while the other gives us an example of a symbolical swell. Both are effective. 

***I will warn you, the black moments revealed may be a spoiler if you haven't read the novels, so read on if you don't mind.***

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte: The Circumstantial Burst


As a child, Jane is locked up in a haunted room by her cruel Aunt. The tiny girl must spend the night with the anticipation of evil spirits taunting her and torturing her throughout her stay. This is a turning point for Jane for she is sent off to school shortly after. 

This tiny hook sets up the circumstances Jane encounters as a young woman who works for a strange, troubled man, Mr. Rochester. An attraction begins to weave between the two as Jane aids him during several occasions of being awakened at night by shrilled laughter and evil doings, the very disturbance she feared as a child. The suspense of these episodes culminates to an explosion when Jane's wedding day is ruined by the knowledge that a woman had disturbed them all those nights, and that woman was Jane's fiancee's wife. 
Suspense was successfully woven through out the first part of the book, giving more and more air to fill the balloon, until finally, the burst of the balloon not only released the power of each building circumstance, but stripped away all happiness that Jane had hoped for, thus giving us the black moment.
Did Charlotte Bronte write the first scenes of Jane's childhood with the idea that she would carry on Jane's fearful nights to ones that created "swell" toward a devastating black moment? Maybe, but the swell is there, and successfully done.

She Walks In Beauty by Siri Mitchell: The Symbolical Swell

Clara Carter is entering her debut with much reservation. She is pushed along by her aunt, and suffers the headaches of socializing, and the measures taken for beauty, especially the restrictive corset. 
While she dances away the season, her corset is a constant reminder of the person she's suppose to be (beautiful, reserved, a catch for the most eligible bachelor). She can hardly eat, hardly breath, hardly enjoy anything without fear of fainting. As Clara learns more and more about herself, the corset comes to symbolize her forced identity by her family, holding her back from a future of her choice.

The black moment bursts forth its flood when Clara discovers the death of her mother was actually caused by the health risk of wearing a corset, the very symbol of her family's expectations.


Siri Mitchell's novel takes a physical element and weaves it through the book from the very beginning, revealing its symbolical significance at the black moment. Clara despised the corset, but succumbed to wearing it because it was expected. It was a physical part of debuting in New York at that time. But when we discover the black moment consists of the actual destruction caused by that element, the corset takes on a symbolic quality, the sob that pushes forth the tears of loss for Clara. Her mother's corset was the death of her.

Clara becomes aware that her prison is the corset, and to keep her family's approval, she must follow in their schemes. Any future plans for herself are impossible. Thus, she comes to a crossroads, the black moment brings her to the decision of choosing all she's expected to be, or choosing who she truly is.
 
When I read this novel, I had no idea the corset would become such a central symbol to the black moment of the story. And that is what we want, isn't it? To allow all the little droplets of tears hide within the story until they accumulate and break the dam into a flood of realization for the reader and the character.


Have you considered an effective way to build up to the black moment? Do you swell more with circumstance or symbolism? Can you give us a peek at how you get to your black moments?
****************************************************************************

Angie Dicken first began writing fiction as a creative outlet during the monotonous days of diapers and temper tantrums. She is passionate to impress God's love on women regardless of their background or belief. This desire serves as a catalyst for Angie's fiction, which weaves salvation and grace themes across cultures. She is an ACFW member and CEO of a family of six.

 

Branding: An (Almost) Simple Explanation with Jim Rubart

Had the chance to meet Jim Rubart at ACFW 2011!

Want to confuse yourself? Ask ten friends—or marketing people— to define branding. I predict eight to ten different answers.

My mission—which I’ve obviously chosen to accept—is to give a brief definition of branding you can keep in your head after you’ve read this post.

Branding has been a hot buzzword in the publishing world for at least ten years, but I want to go back farther than that. In 1904 Ivan Pavlov won the Noble prize for his research into branding. You’ve heard about his dogs. That’s branding. Ring the bell, give the dogs meat. Do it enough and the dogs salivate without the beef.

Psychologists call this planting an associative memory.

“I’m Tom Bodett for _______ and we’ll leave the light on for ya.” Most of you instantly inserted Motel 6 into the blank. Some of you even hear the folksy music in your head and are thinking about a “clean comfortable room” and “the lowest price of any national chain.”

Rooms

Mention Stephen King and we think horror. Nicholas Sparks equals romance (and tears).

How do we plant an associative memory into the mind of a reader, agent, or editor?

Consistency, frequency, and anchoring.

Consistency: Give people the same message every time. Did you know Pavlov did his experiment again with circles? Show dogs the circles then give them the meat. It worked. Then he changed the circles to ovals. It stopped working. The consistency wasn’t there. This is why it’s tough—but not impossible—to brand yourself as a nonfiction writer and a fiction writer at the same time. Or to switch genres. Once you get into the mind with a strong associate memory, it’s difficult to change it, or even add to it. For example, when you hear Harry Houdini, you think magician. But who can remember that he was the first person to fly an airplane in Australia? Even most Australians don’t know that. Why? He already was in there mind with a different brand.

Frequency: This is easy. Keep your message out there. Often.

Anchoring: This is the tough one. Many people think by throwing together some potent colors and coming up with a catchy tagline they’ve branded themselves. Huh uh. Anchoring is divided into three parts:

Book of Days

1.      Anchor to something no one else has anchored to. You must be unique. Telling people you’re the “Passionate author who shares the deep love of Jesus” will not be remembered. Showing up in your kilt at the ACFW awards dinner will. I’m serious. Agent Chip MacGregor knows what he’s doing when he goes each year in his kilt. Who is he promoting/branding himself to? Editors and writers. Do you think he makes an impact when he wears his kilt? Is it memorable? Unique? Yea verily.

2. Anchor to something the public wants. Picking on Chip again, people want entertainment, they want to be surprised. Are they, when he steps out in his MacGregor tartan? Of course. They love it. Randy Ingermanson has branded himself as the Snowflake guy to writers and editors. At an ACFW conference a few years back I smiled as I saw his branding had become so successful it was parodied from the stage during the opening session.

3. Anchor to something you already are. Anchor to something you already are. No, that wasn’t a typo. It bears repeating because this is where more authors stumble. Many try to create a brand out of nothing:

“Suspense that sucks you in and won’t let you go! Never! Ever! Really!”

“Making you hyperventilate after every chapter!”

“Romance that makes you a mush cake every time!”

The Chair

This is not branding. You can’t create or make up a brand. You can only discover and promote what already is. I worked with an author recently who claimed she didn’t have a brand, and there was no coherent theme connecting her three novels. She was wrong. She has a powerful brand/theme, one with universal appeal. She was thrilled after I showed her what it was. But I didn’t create her brand, I simply pointed out what was already there.

Branding is taking the unique elements about you and your writing that already exist and exposing them to the world. Your brand is there; your job is to uncover it.

Yes, it’s a challenge pinpointing what your brand is. Often we’re too close. Most people have trouble reading the outside of the bottle when they’re standing inside. So ask people close to you to describe your uniqueness. Brainstorm with other authors about what sets you apart. Ask your editor, spouse, kids, agent, and others.

Yeah, I know, we’ve only scratched the surface. That’s why Amazon is packed with books on branding. And why marketing people like me have jobs.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

I  love God, my wife, my sons, writing, speaking,
 playing guitar and golf, in that order.
And I dabble in photography.
(and yes that's me in the ski shot above)
www.jimrubart.com  

Now does that not make your brain stretch and swell just a little bit? But such helpful info for the beginning author, because NOW is the time to be figuring and discovering and finding our brand. I know from personal experience, taking the bit of time each day or week to learn something about marketing myself is a great way of getting the learning curve and overwhelming amount of "stuff" out there to do, out of the way now will better prepare me for the time when I do get to have a book on the shelves.

What do you think? Does Jim's comments open up a new understanding...and hopefully less daunting amount of info to consider while you do the preliminary marketing?

Self-Editing Checklist: Consistency (Plus a Dynamite Giveaway!)

No, I'm not giving away dynamite...That might get me arrested. But I am offering a fabulous giveaway for people who want to propel their writing to a dynamite level. Curious? Keep reading. :)

Remember that self-editing checklist I've talked about in my previous posts? We're moving on to Point #3 this week. I call this one Consistency. (For points 1 & 2, click here.)

Under consistency, consider the following items for each of your scenes.

a) Have you left any dangling subplots or story lines? If so, is it intentional or do you need to fill in the gaps? In my last post, you may have gathered that I'm a spreadsheet nerd. So how do you suppose I track my subplots? That's right...in a spreadsheet. :) Whether you're a plotter or a pantser, I highly recommend you keep track of your scenes somehow, whether it's in Excel or on index cards.

In Excel, I create a column called Plot/Subplots. In my latest book, I have the primary plot of the romance between my main characters Brogan and Ivy, but I also have subplots of Ivy's troubled relationship with her dad, her struggle to get out of debt, and her job for her ex-boyfriend, to name a few. Next to each scene, I indicate which plot/subplots are addressed. It's not foolproof, but it does help me recognize if I've ignored the debt subplot for 20 straight chapters.

Resources: Camy Tang talks about subplot threads in this Story Sensei post.

b) Does the character's emotional or spiritual arc flow? Does your character hate her father in one scene and then give him a big old hug in the next? If so, there'd better be a reason. Jerking the reader up and down with willy-nilly character emotions will just unsettle them. Make sure the emotional arc picks up where it left off in the previous scene and move it forward from there.

Resources: For a quick hit on emotional arcs, check out this article. If you want to take your character's emotional arc (and your writing) to the next level, I highly recommend Margie Lawson's AMAZING course, Empowering Character Emotions. In case you didn't sign up after Casey's post last week, you can buy Margie's lecture packets (over 280 pages!) for only $22. It's seriously the steal of the century when you consider the AMAZING (yes, I used that word twice in one paragraph) things you'll learn.

Your homework for the next two weeks, should you choose to accept it: Read the articles I've referenced. And if you're ready to learn like crazy, buy Margie Lawson's lecture packet and gobble it up like your Thanksgiving turkey. Then analyze your scenes for consistency.

But wait! (Do you feel like you're watching an infomercial yet?) Remember that dynamite giveaway I mentioned? For one lucky commenter, I'm offering the choice of any one of Margie's lecture packets! The winner will be announced in our weekend edition.

Do you keep track of your plots and subplots? If so, how? How closely do you pay attention to the character arc?

*Rock climbing photo by Bill Longshaw / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
** Curve photo by Filomena Scalise / FreeDigitalPhotos.net